Chapter 485: Sent to the Duke’s Mansion as a Concubine

Chapter 485: Sent to the Liu Duke's Residence as a Concubine

"What is it?"

Cheng Lanying was dragged to the side of the stable, frowning as she looked at Wei Dahai.

"Second Miss, your mother and brother are planning to send you to the Liu Duke's Residence as a concubine!"

"What?!"

"I heard it with my own ears!" Wei Dahai said dead serious. "While you were in the kitchen cutting the meat, they were in the room discussing marrying you off!"

"But they’re completely cruel—they want to send you to the Liu Duke's Residence to be a concubine for the Second Master, who’s over sixty!"

After hearing Wei Dahai’s words, Cheng Lanying stood frozen.

Seeing her like this, Wei Dahai grew anxious for her. "What should we do? Ah, right! Why don’t you go back to the Marquis's Mansion and ask the mistress for help? You’re still the Cheng family’s Second Miss, even though you’ve moved out with your brother. You’re still of the Marquis's family. If you beg her, she wouldn’t let you become a concubine!"

Wei Dahai’s suggestion made Cheng Lanying curl her lips into a cold, bitter smile.

Ask Lu Lingyun for help?

If she had been able to recognize back then who was truly reliable and who was a den of wolves, if she had been fortunate enough to choose Lu Lingyun as her mother early on, her fate wouldn’t have turned out like this.

But she’d had countless chances—even Lu Lingyun had personally taught her for a time—yet she hadn’t cherished any of them. From then on, she had no more chances.

She could still go to Lu Lingyun once. Given Lu Lingyun’s kind nature, she’d probably help.

But she wouldn’t beg her.

"Wei Dahai, you like me, don’t you?" Cheng Lanying suddenly turned to Wei Dahai and spoke.

Hearing her words, Wei Dahai’s face instantly turned beet red. He stammered, "I-I’m just a stablehand!"

"Wei Dahai," Cheng Lanying seized his hand. "I don’t care if you’re a stablehand or anyone else! If you like me, take me away—somewhere no one knows us!"

At her words, Wei Dahai’s face turned so red it seemed to drip blood. His eyes widened like saucers as he gaped at her. "Second Miss..."

"Lan Ying!"

Just then, Li Bihan’s voice called from the front courtyard.

Hearing her mother calling, Cheng Lanying fixed a fierce stare on Wei Dahai. "Meet me at midnight tonight at the stable. If you don’t come, I’ll go to the Liu Duke's Residence as a concubine!"

With that, she turned and walked back to the front courtyard, leaving Wei Dahai alone where he stood.

She wouldn’t ask Lu Lingyun—it wouldn’t change a thing.

She would still be forced into a marriage she arranged, to some respectable stranger.

But what did it matter whether she was a wife or a concubine?

What she lacked wasn’t the title of a wife, but love.

In her childhood, she had received love that others envied—but in the end, it had proven as fleeting as a reflection.

Her father didn’t love her.

Her mother loved her even less. After they moved out of the Marquis's Mansion and she lost her usefulness in winning favor, her mother stopped pretending.

And as for her brother, needless to say, Cheng Bingzhi's words still echoed in her ears.

No one in the entire world loved her.

At this moment, she couldn’t help but recall what her father had said to her before he left to become a monk.

Follow your heart and do what makes you happy.

If her father could leave home for his own happiness, why couldn’t she elope with someone?

She walked back to the front courtyard and saw Li Bihan waiting for her in front of her room.

"Lan Ying, where have you been?"

"I was feeding the horses." Cheng Lanying replied expressionlessly. "Brother has an exam soon—the horses need to be fed."

Hearing this, Li Bihan smiled. "I knew you’d take care of your brother!"

As she spoke, she linked arms with her for the first time, affectionately leading her into the room.

Cheng Lanying glanced at the hand on her arm, her eyes filled with mockery and coldness. "Mother, shouldn’t you be with Brother? Why seek me out?"

"Do you think I only have eyes for your brother? You’re my child too!" Li Bihan wore a doting expression. "I love you just as much in my heart!"

Cheng Lanying remained impassive.

Li Bihan pulled her further into the room and continued, "You’re not a child anymore—I’ll find you a good husband!"

"Your elder sister, Cheng Suying, married into a Duke's Mansion. You, Lan Ying, are also a young lady from the Marquis's Mansion—you deserve just as much!"

Cheng Lanying scoffed lightly. "Mother, how can I compare to Eldest Sister? She was raised as the Madam’s proper daughter, while I’m just an illegitimate girl who grew up outside with a concubine-born brother!"

"Lan Ying, don’t think like that! I’ll beg on my knees if I have to—I’ll get you a match just like Cheng Suying’s!" Li Bihan spoke with exaggerated emotion, like the perfect, self-sacrificing mother.

If Wei Dahai hadn’t warned her, Cheng Lanying might’ve believed her mother actually loved her.

She might’ve thought her mother cared for her, even though she always prioritized her brother—she was still her birth mother!

But now, as Cheng Lanying watched Li Bihan’s exaggerated display of maternal love, she found it utterly nauseating.

She remembered—her mother was always acting.

In the past, she acted devoted to her father, played the helpless victim for the Madam, and for her, she faked motherly affection.

When she was younger, she had often been fooled by this act.

But now, she could truly see the revolting ugliness beneath this false facade.

Her heart was cold, but she couldn’t help probing. "Mother, you’d really get me into a Duke's Mansion?"

Li Bihan’s eyes flickered, then she put on an even more loving expression. "Lan Ying, your sister married into Duke Xu's Mansion—I’ll get you into a Duke's Mansion too! Don’t worry—tomorrow I’ll plead with the Madam at the Marquis's Mansion. I won’t let you suffer!"

At that moment, Cheng Lanying’s heart froze.

Not only was her mother sending her as a concubine to a sixty-year-old man in a Duke's Mansion, but she’d also blame Lu Lingyun for it!

If she ended up in Duke Liu’s Mansion as a concubine, by the time she figured it out and confronted them, her mother would say Lu Lingyun made it happen!

And then it’d be too late. She’d be stuck as a concubine in the Duke's Mansion, making them both richer while Lu Lingyun took the fall.

Oblivious, Li Bihan went on, "Once you’re in the Duke's Mansion living the good life, don’t forget your mother and brother!"

"We’re your only family! You owe us everything!"