Chapter 5 — The Queen Feigned Illness For 3 Years, The Marquis Palace Was Completely In Chaos

I received a tangerine segment from Xuan Dao and ate one segment. So sour that the roots of your teeth are numb.

"Tham Nhuoc Lan, when you received the benefit, you never came to ask my opinion. Now that disaster has struck, you remember that I am your sister."

Her tears fell even more intensely.

“Sister, do you really hate me that much?”

We put the tangerine segment down.

“You are wrong.”

The girl raised her head.

“I'm just too lazy to save you anymore.”

Tham Nhuoc Lan finally arrived at Tinh Vuong's palace. During the reward party tomorrow, the Princess of Tinh Vuong Palace openly asked her:

"Second Miss Tham used her sister's name a few years ago to receive a gift from the Royal Palace. Coming here today, is it on your sister's behalf, or on your behalf?"

The whole hall burst into laughter. After returning to the palace, Tham Nhuoc Lan fell ill. When Thi Chu at the family temple heard this news, she cried until she fainted that night. When those stories reached my ears, I asked Xuan Dao to write down a box of Nam Chau in the notebook. Not a single pill is missing. Everything must be returned. The net that someone else has spread can no longer be kept in one's hand and treated as a treasure. The day Zhou was taken away, it was snowing. She wore a plain cloth dress, with only a wooden hairpin on her head, no longer having any of the old Hau Lady's demeanor. Before getting on the carriage, she turned her head to look at me. Those eyes are as sharp as a blade.

“Tham Thanh Mien, you pretended to be sick for 3 years, causing the Marquis Palace to become like this, are you happy in your heart?”

I held the fireplace in my hand and stood in the hallway.

"Mother is joking. My daughter is sick, so where do I have the strength to cause chaos in the Marquis Palace?"

She was so angry that she was shaking.

“You will face retribution sooner or later.”

I nodded.

“Then wait and see.”

The carriage rolled on the snow, leaving two very deep tire tracks. Father stood beside him, not saying a word for a long time. Waiting for the carriage to go away, he quietly said:

“Thanh Mien, you have changed a lot now.”

I looked at the snow falling all over the yard.

“People are sick for too long, then everyone will change.”

He wanted to say something, but in the end he didn't. By early spring, my illness gradually recovered completely. He got better at the right time. After Thi Chu was taken to the family temple, Tham Nhuoc Lan broke off her marriage, Tham Thua Trach was sent to the prince's house, no one in the Marquis' Palace dared to arbitrarily push things onto my head anymore. When the old lady heard that I was able to go out, she just smiled bitterly.

"It's not like he's cured of his illness. He just doesn't want to continue to care for us anymore."

When that sentence reached my ears, I was reading a letter sent from Giang Nam. My grandmother said the spring water had risen and the willows on the riverbank had sprouted, and asked me when I was coming to stay for a while. My response letter only wrote 6 words:

“After the Qingming period, it will come.”

The day he left the capital, his father came to see him off. His sideburns have more gray hair, and he is also much quieter than 3 years ago.

“Do you really want to go to Jiangnan?”

“How long are you planning to stay?”

“See your maternal grandmother.”

He understood. The return date will no longer be decided by the Marquis. He was silent for a long time then said:

“Next month Nhuoc Lan will be married.”

Finally, Tham Nhuoc Lan married a sixth-grade official. Not too bad, but still very far from the high branch that she once longed for. I nodded. Parents said:

"Thua Trach in Trang Tu already knows his fate."

I still just nodded. Perhaps those words were to tell me that the Marquis had already must pay the price. But so what? In my previous life, what I had to pay was my whole life. Standing in front of the carriage, his father finally said:

“Thanh Mien, the Marquis Palace is sorry for you.”

This saying, in my previous life, I couldn't wait until I died. Hearing it now, it's like hearing a leaf fall to the ground. There is no more weight left.

“Father.”

I held Xuan Dao's hand and climbed into the carriage.

“In the future, don't force your daughter to understand things anymore.”

His eye rims turned red. I let down the car curtain. When the carriage left the long street, I never looked back. 3 years later, I returned to the capital. People in the sutras mention me and no longer call me a weak and sick woman. They said that the eldest lady of the Tham residence is currently managing two silk shops, a spice shop in Jiangnan, and several estates. Saying that I bargained very hard, looked at the books very quickly, laughed gently and gently, but played the abacus with more resonance than the old treasurers. Xuan Dao liked hearing those words the most. Now she no longer wears her maid's uniform, her hair is tied in a neat bun, and she looks very presentable as the store manager. On returning to the capital, she sat in the carriage laughing half the way.

“Miss, tell me, if the people of the Marquis Palace saw you now, would they regret it?”