Both Mrs. Song’s and Mrs. Yang’s maternal families came.
Mrs. Yang’s stepmother, Mrs. Xu, also arrived.
This stepmother, Mrs. Xu, was a clever woman herself. She treated Mrs. Yang badly at home, always scolding her. Yet outside, she really put on the guise of being virtuous and loving.
In the mourning hall, Mrs. Xu was really asking after Mrs. Yang with feigned concern which made others think how good their mother-daughter relationship was.
Mrs. Yang, seeing Mrs. Xu act out this charade, couldn’t help but think of Anning.
She remembered how Anning appeared cold towards her on the surface, but deep down, she truly cared for her, quietly helping her a lot without ever speaking of it.
She began crying again. As she looked at Mrs. Xu, Mrs. Yang’s tears became even more bitter. She said she was crying for Anning, but in truth, she was crying over her own situation.
Moreover, Mrs. Yang intentionally wanted to disgust Mrs. Xu; as she cried in mourning, she did not cry for the Old Madam, but directly called out to her mother, to her "mom".
"Mother, I came to pay respects to you yesterday, and you told me it’s getting cold, advising me to wear more clothes when I come, and if it’s too cold, there’s no need to come and risk getting a chill. Yet today, I never imagined that I would never see you again. This breaks my heart, my dear mom. Now that you are gone, whom else can I ever call mom?"
Mrs. Yang wailed, and Mrs. Xu’s affectionate face could not maintain its expression any longer.
She was furious, but this was a mourning hall, and she couldn’t just do anything about it. After all, the former Marchioness Zhongyi, wife of Marquis Zhongyong, had once saved the Grand Ancestor. Her funeral concerns even Emperor Jianyuan himself, and anyone who felt uncomfortable here would certainly be sought out by Emperor Jianyuan later.
Mrs. Xu’s face showed a very interesting expression.
Mrs. Yang took a brief look and felt a tinge of satisfaction in her heart, but her crying became even more sorrowful, "Since my childhood, I never knew what it felt like to have a mother’s love until I married into the Tang Family and met you. Mother, how can you leave so soon? My heart is truly aching..."
She cried out row upon row of tears, putting on a performance that made several children, including Tang Bai, cry with red-rimmed eyes—especially Tang Bai.
The boy was scolded by Mrs. Song just today.
Yesterday, after being punished by Mrs. Song, Tang Bai could seek protection from Anning, but today, there was no one to protect him.
Thinking he would no longer have his grandmother’s love, Tang Bai too cried uncontrollably.
Mrs. Xu could not bear to stay in the mourning hall any longer and found an excuse to leave.
Once outside, Mrs. Xu huffed angrily, "I thought she had little blessings, but it turned out she had such good fortune.
Indeed, Mrs. Xu did have some regrets now.
When she had married Mrs. Yang into the Tang Family, they had not yet been ennobled. Tang Fang was just a military general of humble origins and could not compare with the Yang Family.
Moreover, Mrs. Yang was the legitimate eldest daughter, while Tang Baoguo was the second son by birth.
Traditionally, the legitimate eldest daughter would marry the heir to inherit the family business and such.
Seeing Tang Baoguo as an unsuccessful second son, who would have no business to inherit, and with the Tang Family’s daughter-in-law being so astute, Mrs. Xu intended for Mrs. Yang to suffer and thus persuaded Mr. Yang to marry her into the Tang Family.
For so many years, Mrs. Yang had been suppressed by Mrs. Song, and Mrs. Xu, thinking about it, felt quite pleased with herself, believing that her own daughter had married much better than Mrs. Yang.
Resultingly, that fool of a Duchess Zhongyong actually let Tang Baoguo inherit the title of Marquis Zhongyi, and also divided up so much of the family business for him. No sooner had the division of the inheritance been dealt with than that old biddy died—it was truly a good turn for the Yang Family.
Now with Mrs. Yang in charge and without a mother-in-law or a sister-in-law to suppress her, and with a loving marriage with Tang Baoguo, her children obedient and filial as they seem, there really is nothing lacking. Newest update provided by novel✦fire.net
Most crucially, Mrs. Yang is now a super first-class lady, something Mrs. Xu’s daughter could never compare to.
This makes Mrs. Xu absolutely furious.
Inside the mourning hall,
Tang Bai watched Mrs. Yang cry so sorrowfully, a cry so genuine without a hint of falsehood; she felt much closer to Mrs. Yang.
Then she saw Mrs. Song, her head lowered as if crying, but laughter occasionally flashed in her eyes. Without knowing why, Tang Bai felt somewhat indignant.
Tang Baoguo, tired from crying, looked at what Mrs. Yang was doing and saw that she nearly fainted from weeping so hard. He thought highly of her, believing that Mrs. Yang was truly good and sincerely filial to Anning.
He also heard Mrs. Yang cry out "Mother" repeatedly, lamenting, "Mother is gone, and my heart can’t get over it; it’s as if my heart has been plucked. I’m truly moved. Just for Mrs. Yang’s true affection for Anning, if I were ever unkind to Mrs. Yang in the future, that would make me less than human."
Anning didn’t care about what would become of Duke Zhongyong’s Mansion after she left.
Sitting in the carriage now, the farther she got from the Capital, the lighter the pressure on her felt, and Anning knew she had guessed right.
At this time, An Xin finally dared to appear.
She surfaced, wiping her cold sweat: "That was close."
Anning chuckled, "Indeed, almost lost my life there."
"Ningning, what’s going on?"
An Xin didn’t understand what was going on with this world: "You can’t just say it’s the world rules doing this, Heavenly Dao’s suppression. Even if it’s the Heavenly Dao of a minor world, it wouldn’t bother to target just you specifically. Moreover, Heavenly Dao is inherently impartial. It wouldn’t selfishly make you unable to live. Even if the original body was meant to die, you’ve already passed that phase, and Heavenly Dao wouldn’t bother with you anymore. But now..."
An Xin made a valid point.
Heavenly Dao is impartial, operating according to certain laws. As for the mortals living in this world, as long as they don’t deviate from the major trajectory, it never involves itself.
To the Heavenly Dao, all beings in this world are mere ants; who would care which one lives a few seconds longer in a colony?
Anning was somewhat at a loss on how to explain to An Xin.
After a pause, she sighed and then spoke in a way An Xin could understand, "I think there’s something very wrong with this world. This world seems to be constrained by a higher-level Plane, and it’s like we’re in a game played by those from that Plane."
Upon hearing this, An Xin instantly understood.
"Do you mean, this world is just a toy for someone, or rather, it’s like a game world created by some people, and you are the NPC inside it?"
An Xin was especially shocked: "Isn’t that strange? But, it’s the only explanation for why you’re oppressed. Some words you instinctively can’t say. NPCs are simply not allowed to have thoughts. Where they move, how they live, what kind of words they speak, when they die, aren’t all these predetermined? You not dying at the scripted moment might disrupt the entire game. The same goes for words NPCs shouldn’t say; you can’t speak them either."
Anning frowned, "After I fixed the Feng Shui of Duke Zhongyong’s Mansion, my body suffered a heavy blow. After I divided the inheritance between my two foolish sons, my health started to decline day by day. This must be a warning to me."
She said this and couldn’t help but snort coldly, "If I didn’t have some means of self-preservation, had it been someone else, they probably would’ve been dead by now."