The next morning, Song Zaishui came to ask how the things about her going back to the capital were going. Wei Changying was woken up by her forceful shaking, so the whole person was speechless for a long time, then she finally came back to earth. She said angrily, "Last night, grandpa said not to disturb him. I didn"t go to my grandparents directly. What can I say to my grandmother?"
Seeing that Song Zaishui was disappointed, Wei Changying yawned lazily and said, "But I mentioned it to my mother at dinner. My mother said that she would write to discuss with my uncle to cancel the marriage."
Hearing "cancel the marriage", Song Zaishui suddenly brightened her eyes, jumped up to hug her with cheers, and said, "My best Changying! You are the savior of my life!"
Seeing her like this, Wei Changying was scared to wake up and said, "But my mother didn"t say that she would make it. I dare not give you this guarantee."
"What? So, she intended to just mention it?" Song Zaishui turned her face like turning the pages of a book. She said angrily, "I thought my aunt had a perfect plan! You didn"t make your words clear. I was happy for nothing!"
Wei Changying said, "Oh, look at the way you burn the bridge after crossing it. Anyway, my mother is the same generation as my uncle. We can count on her somehow."
Song Zaishui sneered and said, "What can the same generation do? I"ll tell you. I begged my grandmother when I was in Jiangnan. My grandmother sent some people to inquire and found that the Eastern Palace was really good-for-nothing. She also wrote a letter to my father, trying to put forward that because the Crown Prince was good-for-nothing, it would not be good for the Song Family even if I became the Crown Princess! But my father refused! Otherwise, how could I linger in Fengzhou? How comfortable it is to live directly in Jiangnan! I"m not saying that my Grandaunt and Aunt are not good to me. But when I live here, my father is urging me with letters, which inevitably makes Grandaunt and Aunt in a dilemma."
Hearing that, Wei Changying was surprised and said, "How could this happen?" She thought that Old Madam of the Song Family was also in favor of that Song Zaishui would become the Crown Princess, so Song Zaishui could only stay in Fengzhou. Unexpectedly, Old Madam of the Song Family was compa.s.sionate to her granddaughter, but Song Yuw.a.n.g acted arbitrarily.
According to the fact, Song Yuw.a.n.g"s official position now was the minister of the public, which was regarded as a superior minister. Even if his daughter became an Empress, the benefits he could get were very limited. In the Song Family of Jiangnan, Song Xinping, the current Family Head, was the father of Song Yuw.a.n.g. Song Xinping, like Old Madam Song, suffered the pain of losing a child. He had only one son and three daughters who survived to adulthood.
As Song Xinping"s only son and legitimate son, Song Xinping"s honor of the senior commander, the hereditary t.i.tle of Duke Duanhui, including the position of the Family Head, are all Song Yuw.a.n.g"s in the future. In this case, Song Yuw.a.n.g didn"t have to send his daughter to the royal palace.
After all, the other five families were not so easy to be crowded out. Especially now, the world was gradually getting disordered, the positions of the Shen Family, the Liu Family and the Su Family who controlled the military power had been improved subtly. The Duanmu Family and the Wei Family were increasing the number of their marriage with these three families. Song Yuw.a.n.g had only one daughter, Song Zaishui. How could he not let her marry into these three families but send her to the palace to a glorious Crown Princess, who would lose all standing and reputation once the Empress fell into disfavor?
Besides, Song Yuw.a.n.g and his first wife were an affectionate couple. His two sons and one daughter were all born by his wife. Song Zaishui was the youngest. In any case, Song Yuw.a.n.g had no reason to push this daughter into the fire pit.
Wei Changying couldn"t figure it out. Neither did Song Zaishui. In her memory, her father, Song Yuw.a.n.g, was a gentle and elegant man who had always been patient with his children, especially the daughter he always indulged in. But only in the matter of her marriage, Song Yuw.a.n.g insisted on it very much. Even when Song Zaishui fl.u.s.tered and exasperated, and threatened him with death in a letter, Song Yuw.a.n.g"s determination was not shaken.
After thinking over about it, she thought it can only be explained by that Song Yuw.a.n.g valued promises very much.
If it were another matter, Song Zaishui would not be a liar. However, it was the main affair of her life and she was not that kind of person who pursued wealth. How could she resign herself to desting in this way?
Shen Cangfeng, the fiancé of Wei Changying who was chosen in her infancy, was also a highly respected and outstanding young master of this generation in the capital! Afraid of that she was born in a well-educated Wei Family, and Shen Cangfeng was a martial arts heir, so they would have no common language, Wei Changying thought she would be bullied and was nervous enough to learn martial arts diligently.
Compared with Song Zaishui, who had a delicate mind, Wei Changying was careless. She had worked so hard for her married life. Should Song Zaishui give up self-help when she was going to marry a dissolute man and even put her life in danger at any time?
Song Zaishui said gloomily, "If I can"t change that, the only way for me is to spoil my own face! I"d rather be ridiculed as an ugly woman in the future. It would be better than..."
"Don"t worry, my cousin!" Seeing her going to extreme, Wei Changying comforted her, "Or I"ll go and talk to grandmother and see if grandmother has an idea."
Song Zaishui sighed and said, "OK."
Although they planned to ask Old Madam Song for advice, in fact, there was not much to expect. Song Zaishui stayed at the Wei Family for so long. What was it about that? She had talked to Wei Changying several times in private. Although she tried to avoid servants every time, Old Madam Song and Madam Song were so smart, how could they not know?
Although they didn"t drive her away directly, after receiving these letters from Song Yuw.a.n.g, they repeatedly implicitly reminded Song Zaishui that it was time to go north as soon as her father ordered her to. It could be seen that her Grandaunt and Aunt either couldn"t help her or didn"t want to interfere too much with the Song Family. In the end, although their surname was Song, they were already married to the Wei Family and became the wives of the Wei Family. They had their own children to worry about. How could they plan for her like their own daughters? What"s more, her father, Song Yuw.a.n.g, was so determined that even his mother couldn"t stop him.
So, although Wei Changying was going to ask her advice, her response would just be perfunctory.
Song Zaishui thought, "If it goes on like this, my father will send a letter directly to the bodyguard sooner or later. At that time, if they take me by force, it will not be easy for the Wei Family to manage the affairs of the Song Family here. From now on, I"ll keep a hairpin with a sharpened tail in my sleeve. I am the legitimate daughter of the Song Family. Even if I lose my beautiful appearance, it will be OK for me to marry a poor man in a distant branch of other n.o.ble families with the virtue of my ident.i.ty and dowry. Anyway, it"s far better than marrying someone like the Eastern Palace!"
When she swore to herself secretly here, Wei Changying rushed to the upper room and entered the door. She realized that there were fewer servants around and most of them were basically the confidants of Old Madam Song.
Chen Ruping even moved a small stool and sat at the door. When she saw Wei Changying coming, she hurriedly got up and said, "First Miss, why are you here? Unfortunately, the Old Madam is tired now. No one is allowed to disturb her!"
Wei Changying didn"t speak yet. Suddenly, an angry shout of Old Madam Song came from inside. Her voice could be heard clearly even though the door and window, "You take care of Wei Shengyi"s children. Aren"t Zhenghong"s children human?"
Wei Changying and Chen Ruping looked at each other with embarra.s.sment on their faces. Lvfang and Lvchi, who followed Wei Changying here, looked up at the sky and down at the earth, and almost covered their ears.
There was no one else in Ruiyu Hall except Wei Huan who could make Old Madam Song send other people away and shut the door to quarrel with.
Wei Changying didn"t expect to see her grandparents quarreling. When she was trying to escape, she heard Old Madam Song saying loudly, "I don"t want to talk more with you. Ruiyu Hall must keep some people in the Royal Court. Well, Wei Shengyi can stay in the Royal Court as an official, but Changyun and Changsui have to come back!"
"What do I want to do?! Once this vile thing left my sight for a moment, he will not miss the chance to make trouble! I"d like to see whether he has some humanity besides the black heart of plotting against his brother and whether he can treat neither of his sons as a human!" Old Madam Song paused for a while. It seemed that Wei Huan had said something. The Old Madam then shouted, "I don"t want to talk to you! In a word, if Changying and Changfeng are well, his two little things will be fine. If he dares to take action again, these two little things won"t live in peace! Does he think that he already grew up and with his family far away in the capital, I can"t do anything to them? I"m not dead yet! He dares to bully the eldest branch like this. Zhenghong is weak. If I die today, won"t he be sent down to h.e.l.l to find me tomorrow by this cruel thing?! Yes, they are all your sons, and all call me mother, but I only gave birth to Zheng Hong! At that time, I lost several children, but I still have to bear the pain to accept your concubines, in the concern of your offspring. But now you treat my only biological son like that?! Do you have a conscience?! Which is your legitimate son!? So, if Mrs. Lu lived until now, would you like her to step on my head?"
"Shut up, you old thing!"
A sound of porcelain being smashed came from the room. It sounded like that not only one thing smashed into pieces. Old Madam Song was obviously very angry.
"Before Changying was born, I could tell that he was heartless! He hurried up to put his son under the name of Zhenghong. What for? He was looking forward to Zheng Hong"s childless life and take all the advantages of Ruiyu Hall! But heaven is pitiful. The eldest branch didn"t end up without incense. Can Changying and Changfeng not be regarded as the thorn in his eye? Changying is a girl. He can"t get in her way. Now he even wants to entrap her in her marriage! Let alone Changfeng!" Old Madam Song shouted in a shrill voice, "Shut up! You"re an old man who deserves to be cut by a thousand knives! Anyway, from now on, if anything bad happens to Changying or Changfeng, I"ll put all the blame on the head of the second branch! If you dare to speak for the second branch, I will fight with you!"
With the last angry shout of Old Madam Song, a loud bang came out of the room. It sounded like a very heavy thing had been pushed down.
Wei Changying secretly wiped her cold sweat and asked Chen Ruping in a low voice, "Granny, grandmother, she..." She knew that her grandmother had a strong disposition. But Wei Huan was the master of the family after all. How could he be scolded by his old wife like this?
With this noise. Maybe Wei Huan couldn"t stand it and hit Old Madam Song.
Chen Ruping wanted to ask Wei Changying to leave, but she was afraid of being heard by Wei Huan and Old Madam Song and getting embarra.s.sed. She quickly put up her forefinger and pressed her lips, motioning to her to keep silent. She looked back at the closed door and listened for a moment, then pulled Wei Changying to the back of the flower tree and said in a low voice, "Good lady, go now. n.o.body should talk about what happened today, or the Family Head would be embarra.s.sed. Just pretend that you hadn"t come!"
Wei Changying couldn"t help but say, "Just now the noise was loud. And grandmother stopped talking. Is grandmother... not so good?"
"... No." Chen Ruping tried to say something but held it back. She said strangely, "The Old Madam is fine. But the Family Head... emm... The Family Head is OK, too. First Miss, just leave. The Old Madam will call someone soon. If she knows that you are outside, as you can imagine, won"t both of you feel uncomfortable?"
Wei Changying took a suspicious look at her and thought for a moment before saying, "OK, I"ll leave."
But just after she went out of the door, she sent Lvfang and Lvchi back. When she was alone, Wei Changying looked round with her hands clasped behind her back and confirmed that there was no one left. She smiled slightly, lifted her skirt, leaped lightly without a run-up, stepped on the wall, walked several steps horizontally, just stretched her arms over the wall, and jumped over about seven meters high courtyard wall at once with the strength of her waist!