She looked at Cui Lingyao. "You went to see my brother again today. Was his attitude toward you any better?"
"…" Cui Lingyao slowly shook her head. "No."
'The matter with Chen Minrou was weighing on her mind.' She hesitated for a moment but couldn't resist asking, "What happened with Sister Chen Peirou? Why does she have to marry her brother-in-law as a replacement wife?"
"…" Shen Hanyue was speechless for a moment. 'She's truly a lost cause.'
'Pitiful, yet pathetic.'
Seeing the eager look in her eyes and how much she cared about Chen Peirou's marriage, Shen Hanyue felt a pang of pity and decided to answer after all. "Chen Peirou's elder sister had a difficult childbirth half a year ago. After giving birth to her youngest son, her vitality was drained. She's been recuperating for six months, but she's beyond recovery. I hear she won't make it through the year. The Duke Mansion is already preparing for her funeral."
As outsiders, they wouldn't know the specific illness.
But it was more or less a case of postpartum hemorrhage.
Even for a household as illustrious as a Duke Mansion, which lacked for neither fine clothes nor precious medicinal herbs, half a year of meticulous care still couldn't save her life.
It just went to show how dangerous childbirth was for women in this era.
"Don't worry," Shen Hanyue said. "Since the news is already out, Chen Peirou marrying into the Duke Zhao Mansion is almost a sure thing."
In these times, marriages among the nobility were never spoken of unless they were already set in stone.
So, Chen Peirou would have nothing to do with her brother.
Shen Hanyue's intention was to reassure her, but Cui Lingyao went completely stiff upon hearing her words.
Her mind felt like it had been dealt a heavy blow, leaving her dazed.
'Don't worry…'
'What was there to not worry about?'
'Chen Minrou was going to die.'
'The girl from her memories—with her beautiful smile, so lively, playful, and understanding—was about to die.'
The first time she came to Great Yue on a mission, she was only ten years old.
She met Chen Minrou, who was also ten.
Their friendship lasted for ten years.
In those ten years, they were the closest of sisters who told each other everything.
Chen Minrou married before her, wedding Zhao Shijie, her childhood sweetheart. They were a perfect match of talent and beauty, and their engagement was set early on. The moment they came of age, the Zhao Family eagerly came to propose marriage.
That union was the talk of the Capital City back then, a truly celebrated romance.
Cui Lingyao had witnessed their love with her own eyes.
From innocent childhood friends to their respective adulthoods.
Their love was deep and devoted.
She had seen how patiently Zhao Shijie would coax and soothe Chen Minrou.
Back then, the handsome young man had eyes only for his young fiancée.
Cui Lingyao knew perfectly well how sweet their journey together had been.
She had even once sighed with emotion, thinking that in an ancient era where having multiple wives and concubines was commonplace, for Chen Minrou to meet a childhood sweetheart who adored only her was an incredible blessing, a match made in heaven.
And now.
Counting the years, it had been less than seven years since Chen Minrou's wedding, and she was already about to die.
And what had Zhao Shijie done in the face of his wife's impending death, a wife who had drained her vitality and was beyond saving just to bear his child?
He was actually planning to marry her legitimate younger sister.
While his wife hadn't even drawn her last breath.
Who was Chen Peirou?
She was six or seven years younger than Chen Minrou and loved to follow her around as a child. Chen Minrou had been incredibly patient with this little sister, willing to take her everywhere. Their sisterly bond was extremely close.
As a result, both Cui Lingyao and Zhao Shijie had also doted on this little sister.
Zhao Shijie had practically watched Chen Peirou grow from a little baby into the tall, graceful sixteen- or seventeen-year-old young woman she was today.
And now, he was going to take her as his second wife?
Cui Lingyao could not understand.
Even though she had lived in this world for ten years and was used to the men here having multiple wives and concubines, she still could not understand.
In Cui Lingyao's eyes, Zhao Shijie marrying Chen Peirou was no different from Cui Mingrui marrying her.
Both were relationships of brotherly and sisterly affection.
'Or can time really change a person so completely?'
The young man who once had eyes only for Chen Minrou was now, at twenty-five or twenty-six, planning to remarry while his wife was still alive.
He had completely forgotten the jubilant joy he felt when he married his sweetheart all those years ago.
As for Chen Peirou… was she marrying her brother-in-law out of worry that a half-sister from a concubine's line wouldn't be a good stepmother after her sister passed, and was doing it to take care of her sister's two children? Or had she actually developed feelings for Zhao Shijie?
Cui Lingyao didn't dare to think about it too deeply.
Her expression was terribly grim.
Shen Hanyue found this strange and asked her, "What are you thinking about?"
"…" Cui Lingyao was silent for a moment, then said, "I just find it a little hard to accept, a man remarrying his wife's younger sister."
'To think she was actually feeling indignant on Chen Minrou's behalf.'
Shen Hanyue was even more astonished. She studied her for a long time, as if seeing her for the first time, then suddenly laughed. "And here I thought you were solely focused on becoming my brother's concubine, treating every other girl as an enemy. I never imagined you could be so empathetic."
"…" Cui Lingyao was speechless.
'Of course, she knew she couldn't change too quickly, or people would notice something was wrong.'
'But the original owner had been so crazed… She really couldn't bring herself to be like her—a love-struck fool who threw away all her self-respect and dignity for a man.'
'Not even as an act.'
'Maintaining the original owner's persona was harder for Cui Lingyao than winning over Xie Jinbai.'
'It was just too exhausting.'
She said, "I just heard that Chen Minrou and the Heir of the Duke Zhao Mansion were childhood sweethearts and a deeply devoted, loving couple. Seeing them come to this, as a woman myself, putting myself in her shoes makes my chest feel tight. It's very upsetting."
If even a bystander felt this upset, what kind of bitter sorrow must Chen Minrou, the person at the center of it all, be feeling?
Shen Hanyue was taken aback by her words.
"Actually, I heard it was Chen Minrou's own idea to have a half-sister from her maiden family marry in as the second wife. After all, as a mother, how could she feel at ease entrusting her two children to a stepmother whose background she doesn't know?"
If a half-sister married in, there would be a blood connection. That was, in the end, much better than a stranger.
It would also be more convenient for the Chen Family to look after their grandchildren.
In this era, it wasn't rare for a man to marry his wife's sister after the original wife passed away.
However, just as her cousin said, the union between Zhao and Chen was truly a celebrated romance, different from those arranged by parents, so it was inevitable that people would find it a pity.
The more Cui Lingyao listened, the more upset she felt. "Do they have to have a stepmother?"
"…What do you mean?"
Shen Hanyue's confused expression turned to shock when she saw her face. "Prince Zhao is losing his wife at such a young age. If he doesn't remarry, are you suggesting he should remain a widower?"
Her expression was one of shock, her tone implying that for a man to remain single for his deceased wife was an utterly preposterous notion.
Cui Lingyao lowered her eyes to hide her emotions and said flatly, "It's not uncommon for a woman to remain a widow for her entire life."
"So what? Men can have multiple wives and concubines, they can sleep around. Can women?"
Shen Hanyue hadn't expected her cousin to have such thoughts, and her brow furrowed tightly. "This is just how the world is. Men are simply more fickle than women. A man like Prince Yu, who was so deeply devoted to his first wife, is a rare find in this world."