She had no mother, nor a proper sister-in-law to take charge. In the eyes of those people, lacking a mother meant a lack of nurturing; perhaps it was for that reason she, the legitimate daughter of a first-rank official, could only resign herself to being a prince’s consort without a fight.
Just thinking about it made her angry.
"Smash the lock open for me," Xie Qinyun said furiously.
"Yes!" the old women responded and began to smash at the door.
The large copper lock was indestructible, but the door itself was in poor condition. After a few smashes, the already dilapidated red lacquered wooden doors started to wobble as if they were about to collapse. Seeing this, Xie Qinyun lifted the hem of her dress and kicked the door, which completely fell apart, pathetically crashing down to the ground.
The maids and old women were terrified. The third miss, lacking a mother’s discipline, was really uncontrollable—so fierce! How would she ever get married?
Alas, it was a pity that the madam died early, and the eldest young madam died early, and the second young madam was in such a state.
Once the door collapsed, people in the courtyard naturally heard the commotion and hurried out.
Seeing the furious third miss, Cuiya promptly knelt down with a "plop," trembling all over.
"Third... third miss, I don’t know where my young miss has offended you, you want to..." to kick down our courtyard door.
She didn’t dare to finish her sentence.
Seeing Cuiya, Xie Qinyun was equally surprised.
"You’re here? Then why did you lock the courtyard door?"
No sooner had she finished speaking than she realized something was wrong. If people were inside, how could they have locked the door themselves?
Immediately she asked in a deeper tone, "Who did it?" Who locked that courtyard door?
"It was... it was Concubine Du!" Although Cuiya was a maid brought out from the Du Residence, she had long ceased to refer to Concubine Du as the second young miss. Over the years, she always called her Concubine Du.
Her own young miss, whom she should have addressed as the second young madam, had never changed her address because the relationship between Miss Du and the second young master was not good, so she continued to call her young miss.
Miss Du herself did not consider herself a wife of the Jie Family, so she had never minded Cuiya’s form of address.
Xie Qinyun looked at Cuiya with a steady gaze for a moment before asking, "Does my second brother know?"
Cuiya remained kneeling on the ground, head down, replying, "Cuiya doesn’t know, the second young master forbade us from leaving the courtyard. Except for receiving the meal box at the door daily, Cuiya did not dare to leave this courtyard."
Hearing these words, Xie Qinyun’s eyes darkened even further.
It had been two years since she last entered her second brother’s rear residence, and quite some time since she had seen his principal wife.
In the past, she had helped her second sister-in-law to vent anger, but after Concubine Du’s attempted suicide and the second sister-in-law’s subsequent harsher punishment by her second brother, she had been less involved.
What mattered most was that she increasingly disliked her second sister-in-law’s timid nature; if one were born weak, no matter how much others tried to help, they couldn’t make bricks without straw.
She detested Concubine Du, and her feelings for her second sister-in-law weren’t any better, so she simply chose to turn a blind eye.
Yet she had not expected that her second sister-in-law would end up living .
Seeing the overgrown weeds in the shabby courtyard bathed in the setting sun, she let out a wry smile.
That’s right, her eldest brother was always away, and their father was always preoccupied with court. None of them cared for the matters of the rear residence.
As for herself, she had been at school in the previous years, and when she returned home from school, no one took charge, so she sought out the company of other young ladies to play. Only her second brother, who had always been at home, sided with Concubine Du, probably spending every day and night in her room—no one cared for her then.
Xie Qinyun took a deep breath and said to Cuiya, still kneeling on the ground, "I heard the second sister-in-law is ill, take me inside."
Cuiya quickly got up and led Xie Qinyun into the house.
During the day, Miss Du had been treated with acupuncture by Gu Youyou and had recovered somewhat, but she still lay weakly in bed, completely drained of strength.