Chapter 7: Huai City
Qin Yan changed into a pale apricot qipao and draped a cream-white long-fringed shawl over her shoulders before heading to the Governor’s Mansion.
She pinned her hair up with a pearl comb, and wore a diamond bracelet and earrings—gifts from Cheng Tianxun.
It was rare for her to dress so formally. She held the Governor’s Wife in high regard.
Before the wedding, when the Governor’s Wife learned that Qin Yan had opened a newspaper, she gave a slight nod. “If you run into difficulties, tell me. Building something of your own isn’t easy—do it well.”
She had not told Qin Yan to shut down the paper and devote herself to husband and children.
The Governor’s Wife handled the mansion’s diplomatic affairs herself, spoke several foreign languages, and was remarkably capable.
Of course, some mothers-in-law had careers of their own yet still expected their daughters-in-law to be idle rich ladies. Qin Yan did not take her mother-in-law’s support for granted.
She was grateful to the Governor’s Wife.
Even though the Governor’s Wife had always been cold toward her, Qin Yan gave her the utmost respect.
“Mother.”
“Sit.” The Governor’s Wife was as stern and unsmiling as ever. “I called you here today to remind you of something.”
“Please go ahead.” Qin Yan sat up straight.
“Your paper’s chief editor should stop attacking the Du family for now. Tianxun struck someone, and you fired a gun at Miss Du—you haven’t lost on that front.
But the Governor is displeased. He may be looking for a chance to catch you out, to ‘kill the chicken to scare the monkey’—use your case to teach Tianxun a lesson,” said the Governor’s Wife.
Qin Yan said, “Rest assured, Mother. I’ve already given the orders. I’ll personally review the proofs.”
The Governor’s Wife nodded slightly.
Then she added, “Tianxun also hit Chief of Staff Lan. If you have time, come with me to the Lan residence. Pay them a visit.”
Chief of Staff Lan had suffered an undeserved disaster.
Qin Yan hesitated.
The Governor’s Wife looked at her. “I’ve never told anyone outside that you’re Lan Changming’s illegitimate daughter…”
She was telling Qin Yan not to fear the Lan family.
Qin Yan raised her eyes. “Mother, I am not Lan Changming’s illegitimate daughter.”
The Governor’s Wife didn’t understand.
The Governor had told his wife not to ask about Qin Yan’s background, and he was unwilling to explain in detail.
So Qin Yan recounted what she had told Cheng Tianxun a few days earlier.
After listening, the Governor’s Wife still showed no expression, but fell silent for a long moment. “There really are no end of damned things in this world. These people, bullying a little girl of a few years old—that actually surprises me. Worse than beasts.”
Qin Yan did not wallow in bitterness. Her expression stayed calm.
The Governor’s Wife went on, “I thought you were… Well, since we’re not going to the Lan house, then don’t go. That kick from Tianxun was too light.”
“Thank you, Mother, for understanding my difficulties.”
“I’m not unreasonable,” said the Governor’s Wife.
Then she asked, “Lan Changming only gave you twenty thousand silver dollars as dowry?”
“Yes.”
“Next chance I get, I’ll help you demand more. Twenty thousand is too thin,” the Governor’s Wife said.
As they spoke, a maid came in and whispered to the Governor’s Wife, “Madam Lan and Young Master Lan are here.”
The Governor’s Wife’s expression turned icy. “Tell them I’m busy. Send them away!”
“Madam, didn’t you say earlier you wanted to visit the Lan household? Since they’ve come…”
The Governor’s Wife fixed the maid with a silent stare.
The maid swallowed the rest of her sentence.
Qin Yan exchanged a few more pleasantries with the Governor’s Wife. Neither of them cared for small talk; apart from serious matters, they only chatted about Cheng Tianxun.
And there wasn’t much to say.
Qin Yan knew nothing about Cheng Tianxun’s private affairs.
The Governor’s Wife never asked about them—whether Qin Yan was pregnant, whether Cheng Tianxun had taken concubines. She had no interest whatsoever.
The conversation grew dry, and soon ran out of steam.
“Mother, it’s getting late. I should head back,” Qin Yan said, knowing when to take her leave.
The Governor’s Wife nodded, rose, and went upstairs without waiting for Qin Yan to leave first.
Only after her figure disappeared around the bend of the staircase did Qin Yan step outside.
At the gate of the Governor’s Mansion, she spotted a car.
The window rolled down, revealing a young man and a middle-aged woman in the back seat—the Lans the maid had mentioned.
They looked at Qin Yan.
Qin Yan saw the young man push open the door and step out. She got into her own car, started the engine, and drove off.
Dust kicked up, blurring the rearview mirror slightly. Qin Yan kept her gaze straight ahead and left.
Lan Zheng, the Lan family’s eldest son, got a faceful of exhaust fumes.
“Mother, shall we go back? Or wait for the Governor?” Lan Zheng asked, settling back into the car.
Madam Lan was annoyed. “This is too much. The Governor’s Wife won’t see us, and that Young Madam has no manners at all. Won’t the Governor give us an explanation?”
She went on, “You’re on personal terms with Cheng Tianxun, and he beat your father and your uncle without the slightest mercy; his Young Madam injured your cousin…”
Lan Zheng had nothing to say.
Madam Lan remained dissatisfied.
Lan Zheng had only recently returned to the country, and he had picked up a few things.
“Mother, let’s go back,” Lan Zheng said again.
Madam Lan did not insist further.
On the way back, Lan Zheng asked her, “Mother, do you know the Young Madam’s background? Did you attend her wedding banquet?”
“I did. Her origins are unclear. Some say she’s the illegitimate daughter of Governor Qin of Guangzhou—the Qin family sent gifts at her wedding, and she bears the surname Qin herself. Others say she’s the illegitimate daughter of the Luo family of Harbor City,” said Madam Lan.
Lan Zheng: “Which Luo family? The one that runs the Hongmen headquarters in Harbor City?”
“Yes.”
“…Whose daughter is she, really?”
“Some also say she’s the illegitimate daughter of Ling, the richest merchant of the Thirteen Factories in Guangzhou. Photos of her with Mr. and Mrs. Ling have circulated,” Madam Lan said. “In short, she comes from wealth and nobility, with powerful backers—otherwise Cheng Tianxun would never have married her.
She dislikes socializing, and the Governor’s Wife is aloof and cold. In the past year I haven’t met either of them, so there’s nowhere to inquire.”
Lan Zheng pondered for a long while before saying, “Mother, she looks a bit like you.”
“She does bear some resemblance to Zhuojun,” Madam Lan said.
Du Zhuojun was her niece—nieces often resemble their aunts.
Perhaps it was precisely because the Young Madam resembled Du Zhuojun that Cheng Tianxun was willing to marry her?
“Mother, does she look like Muhe?” Lan Zheng asked suddenly.
At the name “Muhe,” Madam Lan felt a flicker of irritation.
She disliked Lan Muhe very much.
Her own youngest daughter had been raised by her mother-in-law since childhood and was not close to Madam Lan. She found Muhe’s manner and conduct unpleasant.
But she could not tell anyone that.
The girl was her own flesh and blood. How could she hate her? Even beasts knew to protect their young.
It was wrong.
Every time resentment toward her daughter rose up, Madam Lan reflected that it violated human nature and immediately suppressed it.
“No!” Her voice was stiff. “Muhe looked like me when she was small, but the older she grew, the more she resembled your father.”
She and her husband shared a deep bond; she did not dislike him. She could not even say she hated her mother-in-law much.
So why was it that she simply did not like Lan Muhe?
She must be ill—that was the only explanation for her flawed attitude toward Lan Muhe.
“…It seems many families have illegitimate children. Mother, could Father have one?”
Madam Lan laughed softly. “No, that wouldn’t happen. Your father knows his limits.”
Then she asked, “What have you heard?”
Her tone was light, without a trace of suspicion.
Lan Zheng shook his head.
Cheng Tianxun’s words—“your sister Qin Yan”—had set Lan Zheng thinking. His sister Lan Muhe’s childhood name was Qinyan. Was that too much of a coincidence?
And he had vaguely heard military men say that Cheng Tianxun had married Chief of Staff Lan’s daughter.
From that distant glimpse earlier, the Young Madam did bear some resemblance to his mother.
What exactly was going on?