Stay away from the Concubine!

"Miss! Miss!" yelled Ming'er

"What now?" asked QiuLan.

"Concubine Zhang is outside, " said Ming'er.

"Why do people have to disturb me when I am sleeping?! Ugh. By the way, why is she here?" asked QiuLan. "She said she just married into the Li mansion and has to pay respects to you. She says she wants to come to pay respects and talk to you, but I bet she is here to cause some trouble. She even barged in here with so much noise, " said Ming'er with a sassy tone. Ming'er scoffed and got QiuLan ready.

"You must really hate her, " said QiuLan. "Of course I hate her! She is so rude and loves to make you in trouble, " said Ming'er. "Then we must be cautious, " said QiuLan. "Yes."

QiuLan went outside and saw concubine Zhang sitting on a chair drinking tea. QiuLan smiled and bowed at her. "Please come in, " said QiuLan. "Thank you, " said concubine Zhang.

{...It took you long enough. I could make an excuse that you made me wait for a very long time, and I am very weak. Then my husband would come and see me...}-Concubine Zhang.

"Why are you here?" asked QiuLan. "I am here to pay respects to you because I just married your father, " said concubine Zhang. "I thought when you married my father, the first thing you do when you wake up is to go to my grandmother. Why are you here with me? You would be late. I don't want you to blame me in front of my grandmother, " said QiuLan.

{...I feel like roasting you. This is fun...}

"Uh. Uh..." said concubine Zhang. "What's wrong. Do you feel unwell? Should I call a doctor for you? Did you work too hard at night?" asked QiuLan with a sneer.

{...Are you gonna make an excuse that you want to leave?...}

"I do feel unwell, but no need for a doctor. I still need to go to my mother to pay my respects. Goodbye, " said Concubine Zhang. "But how are you going to pay respects when you feel unwell? Let me help you, " said QiuLan. "No, thank you, " said concubine Zhang. "Father would blame me for not helping you, " said QiuLan with an innocent look.

Concubine Zhang clenched her fists. She forced herself to smile and nod. QiuLan helped concubine Zhang and brought her to her grandmother's mansion. They walked away and QiuLan's grandmother was sitting on the chair. She looked annoyed. She saw QiuLan and Concubine Zhang.

"What took you so long? I've been waiting here for more than half an hour, " asked old madam Li. "Sorry, mother. I was feeling unwell, " said concubine Zhang. "You should have told your maid or your daughter to tell me. Why didn't you go to rest? Did you call for a doctor?" asked old madam Li. "It's alright. I still needed to pay respects to my mother. So I went here, " said concubine Li.

Old madam Li looked more annoyed. "You didn't answer my question, " thought Old madam Li. Old madam Li rolled her eyes.

"I, QiuYing, pay respects to grandmother, " said QiuLan. "Get up. What are you doing here, QiuYing?" asked old madam Li. "I was helping concubine Zhang, " said QiuLan. "Ah. Why are you helping her? Where's her maid, " asked old madam Li. "I was helping her because she said she felt unwell. I don't know where her maid went, " said QiuLan.

"At least QiuYing answered all my questions. This concubine Zhang is getting more bad and disrespectful" thought old madam Li.

"My maid went to get some medicine for me," said concubine Zhang. "Do you only have one maid? That's very sad. Let me give you some maids. If you are tired, you should go back, " said old Madam Li. Concubine Zhang nodded and bowed. Concubine Zhang and QiuLan were walking away. "QiuYing. Stay here, " said Old madam Li. QiuLan turned around and stayed while concubine Zhang left.

"Come here, QiuYing, " said old Madam Li. QiuYing walked to old madam Li. "Where have you been?" asked old madam Li. "I was in the forest and roaming around." "You must have gone through a lot of things during these two weeks, " said old Madam Li. QiuYing nodded. "Tell me the truth now. Why was that woman with you?" asked old madam Li. "She went to my place and wanted to pay respects to me. Then she said she felt unwell, " said QiuYing.

"Stay away from her. She is a bad person. She has married into the Li family and she would now cause a lot of trouble. She dislikes you and she put a wall between you and your father, " said old Madam Li. "Understood.

Why do you dislike concubine Zhang?" asked QiuYing.

"One time, I went outside to buy something for you. At the clothing shop, I met her and YaHui. Whichever robe and tailor I chose, they also wanted it. Concubine Zhang grabbed the tailor away from me and yelled at me. She said I was poor and would look bad in it. She said she was from a rich family and said that I couldn't steal what was hers. YaHui tried to stop her mother from doing that but she couldn't stop her mother. That woman brought it and left. She even wanted to marry into the Li family. I opposed it but your father wanted to marry her. That woman found out that I was your father's mother so she tried to apologize to me. But it was too late. I already knew what she truly was like and I hated her. She even tried to get you in trouble! What a woman!" said old Madam Li.

{...So my grandmother also hates concubine Zhang but she might like YaHui. But too bad her mother is bad. Why does grandmother like me though? I thought people hated me...}

"Grandmother. I thought everyone hated me. Why do you like me?" asked QiuYing. "I did hate you but that was before. You helped concubine Zhang to marry into this family. But I found out that concubine Zhang always tried to get you in trouble. So I am now telling you to stay away from that concubine, " said Old madam Li. "Okay. I would now stay away from concubine Zhang, " said QiuYing. "Good."