The Yun Family gathered around the dining table, with Wenren Luoshui and Yunjian sitting together.
Madam Yun watched the way the two interacted, smiling all the while.
It felt like watching her own unreliable youngest son finally find himself a wife.
The thought suddenly popped into Wenren Luoshui's head, making her shudder. She hurriedly chased it away.
Although it was a family dinner, there were so many people that the men and women still sat separately.
Yun Zheng's wife was the youngest daughter of the Director of the Imperial Academy. She had always been rather meek, so neither the director nor his wife had originally intended to marry her into a powerful household. Her temperament simply made it impossible for her to hold her own.
They would have been better off finding her a scholar. With her father serving as Director of the Imperial Academy, even the scholar's mother would not dare mistreat her at will.
But no one had expected Yun Zheng to take a liking to her at first sight during a flower-viewing banquet.
Yun Zheng's wife's maiden name was Ye Qianyi, and her temperament suited her name quite well.
At home, she followed her parents' arrangements and never expressed her own opinions.
After marrying, she obeyed her husband in everything.
Fortunately, Yun Zheng was not a womanizing lecher. Otherwise, with her temperament, his rear courtyard would probably have been packed to overflowing.
Sitting beside Ye Qianyi was her adopted daughter, Yun Shuang.
Beside Yun Shuang sat a girl with a sallow, emaciated face and dry, brittle hair. She was Yun Zheng's biological daughter, Yun Fei, who had been switched at birth.
[Tsk, tsk, tsk. Little Yun, look at your second sister-in-law. She dares to show such blatant favoritism even in front of your mother.]
[Yunjian: I never imagined she could be this biased either.]
Ye Qianyi thought, Who says I'm biased?
After my biological daughter returned, I prepared everything for Feifei to the same standard as Shuangshuang. If she can't carry off those clothes herself, what am I supposed to do?
Hearing her little sister-in-law accuse her of favoritism in her thoughts, Ye Qianyi nearly exploded with anger!
She believed that ever since her biological daughter returned, she had held the bowl of water level between both daughters, favoring neither. What did those two outsiders know?
[Look at the colors of Yun Shuang's and Yun Fei's clothes. Yun Shuang's brings out her best features, while Yun Fei's only makes her look darker!]
[Yunjian: And compared with Yun Shuang's jewelry, the pieces Yun Fei is wearing are practically street-stall junk!]
[If she really cared about her biological daughter, even if she didn't want to use her adopted daughter's jewelry to make her look presentable, she could still buy her a better set. Your Yun Family hasn't fallen so low that it can't afford a set of jewelry, has it?]
[Yunjian: At any rate, I've never seen my eldest or third brother's daughters wear anything so cheap.]
The two gleefully traded complaints in their minds, while Ye Qianyi's expression grew darker and darker beside them!
I spent years painstakingly tracking down all of my Shuang'er's jewelry.
How could I wrong my Shuang'er just to make this newly recovered daughter happy?
All of them only feel sorry for Feifei. No one feels sorry for my Shuang'er, so I'll cherish her myself!
Feifei already has enough people feeling sorry for her anyway, but my Shuang'er has only me left!
The system, never afraid of fanning the flames while watching a spectacle, actually displayed Ye Qianyi's thoughts.
[Tsk, tsk, tsk. Your second sister-in-law actually thinks she's been wronged? That daughter who fell into her lap enjoyed ten years of comfort at her side, and even sent money to her biological grandmother every so often. Each sum she sent that midwife was enough to match a seventh-rank official's annual salary in the Capital City. And what happened? That woman raised your second sister-in-law's biological daughter like livestock.]
[And she still feels wronged! Wronged by what? By her biological daughter coming back? Or by her biological daughter refusing to obediently let that family sell her to an old man who likes beating his wife?]
[Yunjian: My mother used to say only that my second sister-in-law was rather meek. Who knew she was this muddleheaded?]
Yunjian was utterly speechless too. She had still been young when her second brother left to serve as an official elsewhere, and she did not remember much about her second sister-in-law.
After seeing her this time, she truly could not warm to her.
Neither her husband nor her son was close to her, so she poured all her attention into her daughter. There was nothing wrong with that, but ignoring her biological daughter for the sake of her adopted daughter was something Yunjian simply could not understand.
She could understand that the adopted daughter was innocent, but what about the biological daughter?
Did her biological daughter deserve to suffer all of this?
Madam Yun and the members of the Yun Family's eldest and third branches also heard Wenren Luoshui's thoughts.
They all agreed with the two women's silent discussion.
Madam Yun sighed inwardly. She knew her second son disliked dealing with matters of the rear courtyard, but she had never imagined he would neglect them to this extent.
Not a single aspect of Yun Fei's etiquette today had met the proper standards.
If Ye Qianyi had paid even a little attention to her biological daughter, she would never have left her looking so helpless.
Yun Shuang could not hear Wenren Luoshui's thoughts, but she did not mind displaying her kindness before everyone.
"Little sister, try this piece of braised pork. It's delicious."
Using the serving chopsticks, Yun Shuang picked up a piece of braised pork layered with fat and lean meat and placed it in Yun Fei's bowl.
Ye Qianyi looked pleased at the sight.
Just what I'd expect from the child I raised myself. Outsiders don't understand her. That's why they've been so critical of Shuang'er ever since the truth about her birth came out.
Anyone who spends time with my Shuang'er will naturally be drawn to her.
[Eat, eat, eat! Eat, my foot!]
[Giving someone who's lived on vegetarian food for years such greasy braised pork! Is she trying to give her diarrhea until she collapses?]
"Feifei, don't eat that braised pork yet," Yunjian said. "You've been eating vegetarian food for so long that your stomach won't be able to handle something this greasy all of a sudden. The vegetarian dishes in our household are quite good too. Once your stomach gets used to richer food, just tell the cooks whatever you'd like to eat."
Yunjian had been the treasure everyone in the Yun Family cradled in their palms since childhood, so she never had to weigh every word in her own home.
Others might find it difficult to criticize Yun Shuang for putting braised pork in Yun Fei's bowl to demonstrate their sisterly affection, but as their young aunt, Yunjian had no such fears.
Yun Fei could hear Wenren Luoshui's thoughts. When she had first returned to Yun Zheng's residence, she had eaten meat once, only to spend that entire day running to the privy.
Afterward, her mother had said she did not have the good fortune to enjoy meat, and from then on, her meals had contained not the slightest trace of it.
Before today, she had truly believed she could not bear such good fortune.
So this was the truth.
[Tsk, tsk, tsk! Little Yun, your second sister-in-law really is something! On the very first day her biological daughter came home, she prepared an entire table of meat dishes. After eating them, the girl couldn't get out of the privy. The next day, there wasn't a scrap of meat in your niece's meals. Her excuse was that your niece didn't have the good fortune to enjoy meat!]
[Good fortune, my foot!]
[Make her eat nothing but vegetarian food for two or three years, then suddenly give her a whole table of meat dishes. If she doesn't get diarrhea after eating them, I'll bow to her as my master!]
The atmosphere around the table inexplicably grew awkward.
Madam Yun spoke kindly to Yun Fei. "Fei, my dear, your stomach can't handle meat dishes yet. Tomorrow, I'll send someone to Clear Duckweed Nunnery and invite a cook who can make vegetarian dishes taste just as good as meat."
Yun Fei hurriedly refused. "No, no, Granny, that would be too much trouble. The vegetarian dishes our cooks make are already delicious."
Ye Qianyi suddenly spoke up. "I've already told you, from now on, in this household, you mustn't say 'Granny.' You must say 'Grandmother'!"
At Ye Qianyi's words, Yun Fei slowly lowered her head. She was already trying hard to change her old habits.
But in her mother's eyes, she fell short of Yun Shuang in every way!