Country Maiden: Fields and Fortune

411: What Is (5 more)

The father couldn’t be said to be particularly good to them, nor could he be said to be particularly bad. They had what they should have, but if they wanted anything extra, they had to fight for it themselves.

The concubines vied for Marquis Weiyuan’s favor, the illegitimate sons and daughters for Marquis Weiyuan’s care. Even those regarded highly by Marquis Weiyuan never dared to cross the bottom line set by the Marquis’s wife.

“They’re growing up; they should have something in their hands. I’ve also prepared a portion for Shuyue. I’ll send it over to you later, and you can give it to her then,” he said.

The Marquis’s wife raised an eyebrow, neither agreeing nor refusing.

A pair of clear and piercing beautiful eyes stared at Marquis Weiyuan.

Subconsciously, Marquis Weiyuan straightened his back. “By the way, how is she feeling? Has she improved?”

“She’s better,” replied the Marquis’s wife softly.

She reached out to ladle the soup.

Marquis Weiyuan had shown her face tonight, so she couldn’t fail to respond in kind.

Placing the soup in front of him, “This is soup that has been stewed in the kitchen for a long time. It tastes quite good. Please have some, my lord,” she said.

“Good, good!”

Marquis Weiyuan accepted with a delighted surprise.

After all, in ten years, the Marquis’s wife seldom spoke to him. Not to mention ladling soup for him; even during the New Year’s Eve dinner in previous years, the Marquis’s wife rarely attended-her health wasn’t good, she missed her daughter, and she was fed up with seeing all the concubines, illegitimate sons, and daughters, tiresome as they were.

In fact, in the beginning, she was willing to smile at him too.

But ever since her mother brought her cousin into the household, since he took his first concubine, she scarcely smiled at him and wouldn’t allow the concubines in the house to conceive until she gave birth to Nuannuan, the daughter she had longed for. Then she stopped caring about him altogether. Whether concubines or illegitimate children, she paid them no heed, leaving him to bring one after another back to the house. Children were born one after another.

It was then that he realized that in her eyes, he was merely a father to a few children, her husband in name only.

She would never know how overjoyed he was when he learned she was to marry him, how marrying her felt like the best thing in the world to him.

But she…

Did not get along well with her mother.

She was of noble birth, the legitimate and eldest daughter of a high official, brought up with the finest instruction and proud at heart.

He was afraid she would be aggrieved, and so he carefully shielded her, advocating for her in front of his mother. But everything changed after he drunkenly awoke from the same couch as his cousin, and she caught them, from that moment, she changed.

She became fierce and jealous. In his heart, he was secretly pleased because her jealousy meant she cared for him. He cautiously tested the waters, watching as she possessively monopolized him, feeling indescribable joy and pleasure.@@novelbin@@

However, all the happiness vanished the day Nuannuan was born, like a puff of smoke.

It was as if it were all a dream. She looked at him as if he were the most disgusting thing in the world, despising even an extra glance from him. Her heart and eyes were filled only with her children; she had no place for him, not even when he had concubines outside or brought a pregnant one back home. She didn’t utter a word more, nor did she confront her mother-in-law anymore.

In these ten years, she never asked him for anything, whether it was for her son or in search of her daughter; she handled it as if it were her own business alone.

And the three sons also rarely appeared before him to express their desires or hopes. Everything was meticulously managed by their mother, even when she was seriously ill.

The Marquis’s wife ladled another bowl and pushed it toward the old lady, “Old Madam, please have some soup!”

“…” The old lady glanced at the Marquis’s wife and then at her no-good son.

“I’m old. This soup is too nourishing for me; it’s better to eat something lighter,” she said.

Marquis Weiyuan’s hand, holding the bowl, paused slightly. He turned to the old lady, and without a second thought, he said, “Mother is indeed old and should eat lighter foods, but this soup is very good. There’s no harm in trying it!”

Chapter 413