She had to go and receive Madam Chen and Miss Chen.
"It’s no trouble, no trouble, who are we if not family? I’ll take my cousin to stroll through your garden; you go ahead and attend to your duties."
"Alright, just don’t blame me for neglecting you."
Lin Qianqing tugged at Gu Youyou’s sleeve, whispering, "See, having a mother is indeed better."
"Alas! This is Qinyun’s courtyard, and she doesn’t allow that Du Concubine to enter, so it’s all up to her to receive the guests. The Du Concubine still shamelessly acts like she’s the lady of the house outside, but anyone who knows the pickles of her family situation wouldn’t pay her any attention."
Xie Qinyun was the only young lady of the Jie Family; her courtyard was exquisite and beautiful, especially that apricot forest.
In this season, most apricot flowers were just budding, with only a few early bloomers unfurling their petals amidst the morning dew, each looking so delicate and enticing.
Gu Youyou, mindful of the business at hand, had no interest in appreciating the garden or the blossoms, and merely asked, "What does Lord Jie think then? I’ve heard that Lord Jie’s family is strict about being monogamous, the Jie Family’s second son taking a concubine is a first."
"Yes, well, how to put it, Lord Xie is a stubborn man, and so is Qinyun’s second brother. They were at an impasse over this issue."
Gu Youyou, with intent, slinked towards a less populated area of the courtyard. Seeing no one around, Lin Qianqing had no qualms about spilling all the juicy gossip she had been holding inside.
From Lin Qianqing’s account, Gu Youyou learned that the second young master of the Jie Family’s wife and concubine were sisters, differentiated by birth status. The legitimate wife was none other than the Du Concubine’s own elder sister, who was the second young master’s official wife.
She herself was born to a concubine.
As for the Du Family, they had long been close friends with the Jie Family. Strangely enough, both families had been short on male heirs, and with the Du Family line ending with two daughters and no sons born to any of the women of the Du Residence, it was thus extinguished upon the successive deaths of Madam Du and Lord Du.
Because the two families had been close friends for generations, the eldest Miss Du was betrothed early on to the Jie Family’s second son. With Lord Xie’s character, he wouldn’t have treated his friend’s two daughters unfairly after their passing, so he took the two Miss Dus into his own residence early on, intending for them to marry his son once his own daughter turned of age.
This should have been a happy arrangement, but the trouble was that the second young master of the Jie Family had his eyes not on the eldest Miss Du, but on the second. Lord Xie, a high-ranking official of the court, couldn’t possibly allow his legitimate son to marry a woman born to a concubine as his official wife, especially since the initial agreement with the Du Family was for the eldest, not the second daughter.
The eldest daughter had already lived in the Jie Family’s home for two years as the second son’s fiancée. If they broke off the engagement with the eldest, she would have no prospects for another marriage.
Someone like her, without the support of a natal family, would struggle to find a good match, even as a legitimate daughter. The second daughter was different; she was born of a concubine, and with no one left in her natal family, sticking with her sister and relying on her sister’s marital family to find a good match was understandable. Lord Jie, weighing all interests, couldn’t comply with his second son’s request.
The conflict hence unfolded. The second son quarreled with Lord Jie for a long time and, seeing that Lord Jie wouldn’t relent, he finally decided to marry both sisters.
Of course, according to Lin Qianqing, the pragmatic solution was proposed by the Du Concubine because Lord Jie, wishing to resolve the nuisance she posed, had already sought a marriage for her elsewhere.
The Jie Family did not take concubines, and to break this familial rule, the second son and the Du Concubine took their actions before reporting them, creating a fait accompli.
Boiling with anger, Lord Jie enforced the family rules and thrashed the second son half to death.
In the end, he couldn’t subdue him, and seeing the pitiable state of the second Miss Du, orphaned and alone, he relented.