Xiao Shuning turned her head and, upon seeing Mu Jinyuan, asked anxiously, "Yuan'er, are you alright? Are you hurt anywhere?"
Feeling her mother’s care once more, Mu Jinyuan felt a warmth in her eyes, and tears nearly spilled over. How wonderful it was that she could see her mother again!
"Mother!" Mu Jinyuan held her mother tightly.
Xiao Shuning, assuming her daughter was simply terrified by the horrifying ordeal she had endured, thought nothing more of it and held her just as tightly in return.
Wan Niang let out an ill-timed cough. *Putting on a show of mother-daughter affection—how pretentious.*
That cough served as a reminder to Old Madame Mu.
"Mu Jinyuan, get on your knees! Do you have any idea what a mess you’ve caused? Dressing up like a peacock to lure men, causing people outside to gossip and bringing shame upon the Mu family! Like mother, like daughter, truly!" The Old Madame glared viciously at Mu Jinyuan, dragging Xiao Shuning into her venomous gaze.
Xiao Shuning’s expression stiffened. Humiliated yet unable to refute the claim, she felt the weight of her own perceived failings. Her voice lacked any conviction as she spoke: "Mother, Yuan'er surely did not do this on purpose. She has been badly frightened. I will be sure to instruct her well from now on and not allow her to leave the house again."
Having said this, she pulled at Mu Jinyuan’s hand, signaling for her to kneel and apologize to the Old Madame to appease her anger.
But Mu Jinyuan pulled her mother behind her, eyeing the Old Madame, along with Wan Niang and Mu Jinxia, who were standing to the side waiting to see the spectacle.
Her tone was cold and resolute: "Mother, we have done nothing wrong. We will not kneel."
In the past, she had always believed her grandmother favored Mu Jinxia only because of the girl’s pitiable background, and that she should always be the one to yield. If she protested even slightly, she would be accused of having no manners, failing to uphold the upbringing of a legitimate Mu daughter, and causing her mother to be punished.
Just like now.
But Mu Jinyuan knew everything now. She knew this family had deliberately bullied her and her mother. She would never let her mother grovel for them again; she would not suffer another bit of this injustice.
"Has the world turned upside down? Who gave you the audacity to speak to me like that?" Seeing that Mu Jinyuan dared to defy her, the Old Madame raised her hand, intending to strike her.
But the hand she raised never landed; instead, she was pushed back by Mu Jinyuan, staggering off-balance.
"You!"
"Mother!" Wan Niang rushed over to steady the Old Madame, staring at Mu Jinyuan in disbelief. "How could you lay hands on your own grandmother? This is gross insubordination!"
"Sister Yuan has the Qionghua Marchioness as her aunt; with the entire State Protector Estate as her backing, she naturally has the confidence," Mu Jinxia muttered under her breath.
These words only enraged the Old Madame further. Her cheeks puffed up as if she had stuffed two balls of cotton into them. "The Marchioness has no right to interfere in the affairs of the Mu family! Who does she think she is?"
"The State Protector Estate just relies on brute force and winning a few battles—what's so great about that? Scholarship is what matters most! If not for that, they wouldn’t have raised a legitimate daughter who fornicated with a man before marriage, leaving my son to be the fool who cleaned up the mess!"
"Now, they’ve even reached out their hands toward my granddaughter—are they trying to raise her into some kind of soiled, impure thing as well?"
As the Old Madame finished, all the grievances Xiao Shuning had been holding inside turned into tears that streamed down her face. "It is my fault, it is all my fault..."
Seeing her mother’s submissive posture, the hatred Mu Jinyuan felt for the Old Madame grew even deeper. Why didn't she mention that if her father hadn't married her mother, he would never have risen from his humble, impoverished beginnings to become the Vice Minister of the Ministry of Revenue in just over a decade? To call it a "carp leaping over the dragon gate" would hardly be an exaggeration.
Yet, the Old Madame insisted on keeping up the facade of a refined scholar, attributing her son’s success entirely to his own talent. In reality, it was because her mother had been pregnant before marriage that the State Protector Estate had always provided extra support to her father—all for the sake of making her mother’s life in the Mu household a little easier.
If her maternal grandfather and uncle had known that her father was keeping a concubine as a "sister" right under her mother’s nose in the Mu Mansion—and even swapping children—they would have come to settle the score long ago. But she could not act impulsively; she had to plan carefully.
"Grandmother, I was the one who invited the Marchioness. It has nothing to do with my mother." Mu Jinyuan stood straight, shielding her mother. "If I had not invited the Marchioness yesterday, my purity would have been destroyed by that animal."
As she spoke, Mu Jinyuan secretly pinched her thigh, squeezing out a few tears. "If my purity had truly been ruined, my father would certainly be a laughingstock in the imperial court. How could he hold his head high if people said he had an unchaste daughter?"
"And most importantly, if Zhou Zi'an had succeeded, it would have encouraged those with ulterior motives to follow suit. I am a legitimate daughter of the Mu Mansion, and my grandfather is the State Protector, yet they dared to scheme against me! Sister Xia has no father and is taken in by the Mu family; she is merely a granddaughter-in-law. Wouldn't any random hoodlum be able to abduct her?"
"What does that have to do with me?" Mu Jinxia, suddenly dragged into the conversation, felt a surge of resentment.
Mu Jinyuan did not give her a chance to lash out and continued: "Brother Yunyuan has just reached his coming-of-age year. He is a man of exceptional talent and noble bearing. At the Spring Banquet, I heard many young ladies singing his praises. If he were targeted by some small-minded women from lesser families who tried such schemes, would that not be a grievance to him?"
Mu Jinxia glared fiercely at Mu Jinyuan’s earnest expression, wishing she could gouge her eyes out. How had she become so glib-tongued?
Seeing the Old Madame’s expression soften considerably, Mu Jinxia realized she wouldn't be able to see the mother and daughter punished after all. *No!*
Wan Niang seemed to sense what Mu Jinxia was about to do and immediately pulled her back.
"I have been learning etiquette since I was young, and with Grandmother’s constant guidance, when that animal slandered me yesterday, all I could think of was not implicating my father and brother. That is why I boldly invited the Marchioness and endured great humiliation to prove my innocence. If not for the beast’s fear of the Marchioness’s authority, our Mu family would likely be the laughingstock of the entire city by now."
"Grandmother, tell me, am I at fault?" Mu Jinyuan blinked innocently, and large, bead-like tears fell down her cheeks onto the floor.
The Old Madame was merely a village woman who had been widowed for many years and had struggled to raise Mu Bingwen; she knew nothing of the complexities of high-ranking noble families. Hearing Mu Jinyuan’s words, she felt it made sense.
Her anger was mostly spent. "Yuan'er did the right thing. We must never let anyone bully our Mu family!"
She didn't care whether Mu Jinyuan had been bullied, but if it affected her son’s future or her eldest grandson’s marriage prospects, that was absolutely out of the question!
"It’s not as scary as Sister Yuan makes it sound. She’s just fear-mongering." Mu Jinxia shook off Wan Niang’s hand, unwilling to let the matter drop so easily.
"Is the future of the entire Mu family so insignificant in Sister Xia’s eyes?" Mu Jinyuan looked up at Mu Jinxia. Recalling something, she added, "That’s right, Sister Xia is only staying at the Mu Mansion as a guest. I suppose since you don’t truly consider this home, you wouldn’t value it."
Mu Jinxia’s teeth itched with rage. Mu Jinyuan kept reminding her that she was an outsider, even though she was clearly her father’s first daughter—she was the one who was truly the extra person.
"Enough! I’m exhausted after all this tossing and turning. Everyone, go back and rest!" The Old Madame interjected to smooth things over, primarily because she feared Mu Jinxia might get provoked into saying something she shouldn't.