Changying The Lady

Although Old Madam Song decided to win over Mo Binwei for his beloved lineal grandson, things were not as smooth as she thought. Due to the carefulness of Lv Zifang, no one knew whether Mo Binwei was dead or alive, let alone where he was. Besides, there were some changes in dealing with Song Han and Song Duan.

“Although Xinping is only my cousin, they are just two collateral branches. I will write a letter to him. I don"t think he is too old and confused to protect them. They cheated the lineal daughter of the clan of our Wei Family for marriage. If Xinping wants to speak for them, what situation would he put Zaishui in?” Old Madam Song asked with surprise, “Why can"t they get punished?”

Wei Huan"s complexion was awful. He said two words slightly, “Zhiben Hall!”

Old Madam Song"s expression became cautious immediately, “What else did they do?”

“Weiqi reported the news of victory to His Majesty.” Wei Huan said disappointedly, “In recent years, the Great Vi has never had such a victory, so His Majesty was very happy and held the grand royal meeting. His Majesty not only praised me and Shengnian, but also sent an imperial edict about the rewards of Song Han and Song Duan. Now the envoy of the Emperor is probably on his way.”

Old Madam Song fulminated and she struck the table by her side, “How dare they? Do they really think that Wei Qi is far away in the capital and can protect them with the imperial edict?” And she realized, “No wonder they even dare to cheat our granddaughter! It turns out that the reason is that the old guy Wei Qi is behind them!”

Wei Huan was still calm and said slowly, “Now Song Han and Song Duan have been brought back by Biwu. Because of the praise of His Majesty, it"s not easy to put them to torture in the open now. They still refuse to admit that they have an agreement with Wei Qi….”

“Does it need to be admitted?” Old Madam Song said with a sneer, “What are you going to do? To avoid having His Majesty"s spirits dampened, do you want to admit defeat this time? Can you swallow this?”

“In recent years, His Majesty has become more and more unwilling to be disobeyed.” Wei Huan sighed and said slowly, “Since the imperial edict says to praise Song Han and Song Duan, that"s all we can do about the matter that they took credit for others. Otherwise, His Majesty will lose face. Won"t he blame our family?”

Old Madam Song frowned and said, “But the credit was reported by Wei Qi. Isn"t the memorial you sent to ask for merit recalled? If His Majesty loses face, it will be Weiqi who followed others blindly and misled His Majesty!”

Wei Huan shook his head, “Since Wei Qi has private contacts with Song Han and Song Duan, and dares to talk to His Majesty in advance, how can I not guard against this? I suppose that when he reported this, he set a trap in his words and waited for me. For example, he would have said that Song Han and Song Duan were not the children of my Wei Family, I might be dissatisfied with them and take their credit; or that our family wanted to marry Gaochan to Song Duan before, but now we wanted to cancel the marriage and deliberately slandered him.”

“This world… the right and the wrong are really reversed!” After a pause, Old Madam Song sneered and said, “It"s the commoner named Mo who has been taken credit for. It"s the black-hearted father and son who want to cheat Gaochan for the marriage…. Wei Qi! The old man is so unconscionable. Isn"t he afraid of the retribution?”

Wei Huan was the Family Head of the Wei Family. Although he was plotted against a lot by Zhiben Hall, he was far less angry than Old Madam Song. He still said calmly, “These are all minor matters. Now we only have Shengyi in the Royal Court, so it"s better not to offend His Majesty! It"s no more than an imperial edict and some awards. What if Song Han and Song Duan are promoted to the capital after this matter?”

He said slowly, “Compared with finding Mo Binwei, Song Han and his son do not worth mentioning at all.” Even if he couldn"t kill them in the open, he still had “Biwu”. Would he be afraid that they couldn"t be a.s.sa.s.sinated? Song Han and Song Duan were not very talented people. Even if Wei Qi had now brought them to entrap Ruiyu Hall, could he find ways to protect them all his life?

Old Madam Song frowned and said, “Of course, we must find Mo Binwei. Although he is a commoner, he has great talents. Changfeng is young, and you and I are old. Now the world is unpeaceful. It"s just the right time when such talents can be used. If we get him to help Changfeng, we will rest a.s.sured when we die later. But how about Wei Qi? Last time, Changying was entrapped by him. This time, we were all cheated by him! Are we going to swallow it?”

Wei Huan understood his old wife"s meaning. She still didn"t trust his promise. Instead of letting the Wei Family win over Mo Binwei, she wanted to make Mo Binwei only loyal to Wei Changfeng. As the Family Head, Wei Huan was more inclined to the former, but now Mo Binwei was missing. He didn"t care to quarrel with Old Madam Song on this issue, and said, “I have a plan to deal with Wei Qi. Now it"s so dry and hot…. He takes the advantage of that I am not in the capital, humph!”

Although his words were a little pointless, Old Madam Song had lived with him all her life and she knew him very well. When she heard this, she understood it immediately. Then she smiled and said, “That"s it! Let"s see whether he will be still so arrogant if so.”

“It"s not necessarily safe. After all, he"s been favored by His Majesty over these years.” Wei Huan said with a light smile, “But it"s nothing. If this doesn"t work, we"ll make other plans.”

Wei Huan was a very complex man. Even though Wei Qi succeeded in plotting against him, his mood was not disturbed at all. He was still planning slowly, “I"m afraid that the envoy of the Emperor has already left the capital now, so we have to get ready for welcoming him.”

“Yuwei saw this kind of situation when she was in the capital. I"ll tell her later.” Old Madam Song didn"t take it seriously. Ordinary people or officials would be naturally extremely afraid when receiving the imperial edict. However, famous families, especially the six families with such status, saw a lot of outstanding people and scenes in their lives. The last thing they were afraid of was this kind of situation.

However, since Wei Huan mentioned specifically, Old Madam Song asked, “Who is the envoy this time?”

Wei Huan stroked his beard on his chin, smiled calmly, and said, “It"s Shen Zhou, or how can I remind you so carefully?”

“It is him?!” Old Madam Song was stunned, but not because Shen Zhou was so amazing and talented or so powerful that even Old Madam Song would feel stunned when hearing his name. She didn"t even care about the imperial edict. None of the talents in the world could shock her.

Therefore, the only reason why Old Madam Song was surprised that the envoy of the Emperor was Shen Zhou was that Shen Zhou, the son of the original clan of the Shen Family in Western Liang, was the lineal brother of Shen Xuan, the Grand Preceptor of the dynasty!

Actually, after Wei Changying got married, she would call him uncle together with Shen Cangfeng.

Wei Changying was going to get married next year. Shen Zhou was now coming to Fengzhou to send the imperial edict. Undoubtedly, he planned to both the official and the private matters. While he was sending the imperial edict and giving the praise, he discussed about the details of the marriage next year with the Wei Family.

Since it had something to do with her beloved lineal granddaughter, Old Madam Song immediately took the matter seriously and said solemnly, “I know. This time, I"ll prepare for the reception of the envoy of the Emperor in person!”

Wei Huan added, “The marriage between Changying and Shen Cangfeng has been settled for a long time. It"s a marriage between families of equal social rank. We just need to discuss about the details now. As long as we keep an eye on Wei Qi and others, in case they make trouble, there will be nothing to be worried about. But….” He frowned and said, “Song Zaitian will also come here this time.”

Old Madam Song thought for a moment and then remembered that Song Zaitian was the lineal eldest son of her nephew, Song Yuw.a.n.g and the lineal nephew of her eldest daughter-in-law Madam Song—the brother of Song Zaishui!

Of course, Old Madam Song knew why Song Zaitian came over. She couldn"t help sighing, “In fact, it"s not a good thing to marry to a member of the royal family. If Wei were alive, in this case, she would definitely not agree to marry Zaishui to the royal family. What"s the matter with Yu w.a.n.g?”

“Song family often has a lot of spoonies. Although Wei is dead, it is not strange that Song Yuw.a.n.g still remembers his promise made before she died….” Wei Huan said something casually, but suddenly he thought it was wrong. As expected, the face of Old Madam Song went gloomy. The spoony of the Song family was Song Yuw.a.n.g in this generation. In the last generation…. Wasn"t it Song Dan, the father of Old Madam Song? For this reason, Old Madam Song was mostly wronged. Up to now, Song Mianhe, her younger sister of a concubine, married to Marquis Jingcheng Wei Qi, still had trouble with Ruiyu Hall!

Wei Huan realized that he had said something wrong, and hurriedly changed the topic. He said, “After all, it"s the Song Family"s business. What"s more, it"s the royal family that they arranged marriage with. Song Yuw.a.n.g wrote to us before, but her daughter refused to leave. We didn"t interfere much in it. But this time, Song Zaitian comes here himself. The parents are in charge of the marriage of the children. He is the eldest brother and comes with his father"s command. He really wants to bring Song Zaishui back to the capital to get married. Let"s not worry about it. Song Yuw.a.n.g who asks her daughter to keep the promise is also to protect the reputation of the family. It"s his family"s business. Although we are relatives, we can"t interfere.”

Old Madam Song sighed and frowned, “If I want to interfere, will I let this child live here for such a long time and pretend to be confused?” She agreed with his husband and thought it was inappropriate for her family to intervene in this matter. First, there was an appointment in advance, and with the status of gentlefolks, it would be self-destruction if they broke the promise rashly. This was also very shameless and taboo for gentlefolks. Secondly, it was the royal family that they arranged the marriage with. Although the emperor didn"t care about the affairs of the state and the people in the Eastern Palace were dissolute, they were all in the imperial family! In particular, Ruiyu hall was now in decline, only supported by Wei Shengyi in the court, and Wei Huan was retired…. Even Zhiben Hall attacked them more frequently. At this time, it was very unwise to offend the royal family for Song Zaishui.

After all, no matter how Song Zaishui was worth sympathy. Wei Huan and Old Madam Song should consider themselves and their descendants first.

What"s more, it was her father, Song Yuw.a.n.g, who insisted that Song Zaishui married into the royal family, let alone Song Yuw.a.n.g wanted to marry her to the Crown Prince to fulfill his promise, even if he wanted to marry his daughter to a beggar—that was Song Yuw.a.n.g"s daughter. Song Xinping didn"t say anything. How could someone else plan for Song Zaishui to refuse the marriage?

However, during a few months that Song Zaishui lived in the house of the Wei Family, her temper, behaviors, and talent were shown to everyone. Such a lady who really had the potential to become a virtuous empress in this generation was going to marry the obscene Crown Prince with unstable status. Although they couldn"t help her, everyone felt sorry for her.

Wei Huan also knew that although his old wife could be rude and unreasonable, she always had plans. Especially if Old Madam Song hadn"t had her own grandchildren, she would have helped Song Zaishui on a whim. Now Old Madam Song was full of thoughts about how to pave the way for Wei Changfeng and plan for Wei Changying. How could she have the energy to pay attention to her grandniece? Even if she could pay attention to her, in order not to cause trouble to her own grandchildren, Old Madam Song would still pretend to be confused.

So he pointed out that Song Zaitian had another purpose, “This child lived in our family for several months. She not only was reluctant to go to the capital to get married, but also expected you or your eldest daughter-in-law to help her. But it"s really hard for our family to intervene in this matter. We can"t make this child feel resentful. Although His Majesty dotes on Miao Jieyu these days, the Empress wins over the first two empresses and two Crown Princes to take charge of Changle Palace. She holds the Feng Seal for the longest time in this dynasty. She is deeply rooted in the imperial harem and has deep thoughts. Miao Jieyu has no sons of her own. Even though she has adopted the sixteenth Prince and the seventeenth Prince, they are still young. His Majesty is getting old now. The world is not peaceful, so the country needs an experienced emperor. It"s still hard to tell what will happen in the future.”

With these words, Old Madam Song certainly understood what he meant. The emperor was old. Although Miao Jieyu was his new favorite and the Empress seemed to be in a bad situation, the foundation of Miao Jieyu was shallow. If she couldn"t prepare a complete plan for the sixteenth and the seventeenth Princes before the death of the emperor, even though the last imperial edict appointed one of the two princes to be the new emperor and Miao Jieyu to be the empress dowager, according to the current situation of the Great Vi, the court would not support the young prince to ascend the throne.

So people said that the new emperor was unpredictable. If Song Zaishui became the motherly model of the nation, but she resented that the Wei family didn"t help her today, she would become the rival of the Wei family for nothing. This needed to be prevented. Old Madam Song nodded, “She is a clever child. She knows why Yuwei and I can"t help her. She hasn"t mentioned it for several months when she lived here. I"ll make it clear to her later, and I"ll never let her complain that our family doesn"t stand by her.”

“Ask our eldest daughter-in-law to talk to Song Zaitian about it.” Wei Huan reminded, “His younger sister has lived in our house for several months against his father"s orders. I"m afraid that Song Yuw.a.n.g is disappointed. He might think that our family intends to instigate her daughter. We have to explain clearly, so as not to turn the relatives into enemies and regret in the future.”

Although Old Madam Song felt pity for Song Zaishui, now she was most concerned about her own grandchildren. Hearing Wei Huan giving advice endlessly, she said impatiently, “I know all this. Send someone to find Mo Binwei quickly! If we can get this man and he is really as talented as many people have said, it"s not our losses to be plotted against by Zhiben Hall this time.”