Chapter 448 a.s.sa.s.sination
Jiang Qizheng and Qiu Yelan were worried about something so they were absent-minded at the whole wedding banquet. It was already midnight when they returned to the Mansion so they didn’t want to disturb Madame Zhuang.
It was until the next day that they went to find Madame Zhuang to greet her and tell her about the banquet. They took the opportunity to ask her, “Is what Miss Lu of the Lu Family said yesterday true or false?”
Madame Zhuang frowned and said, “The Lu Family? How dare they provoke Man’er and Zui’er?” After saying that, she continued to say, “Zui’er’s people in the backyard haven’t left yet and it’s not Man’er’s intention instead of Zui’er’s.”
Qiu Yelan and Jiang Qizheng all felt incredible, “What did Man’er think?”
With years of friendship, the two of them really didn’t see that Zhuang Man was so broad-minded.
“She said that Zui’er would clean the backyard before she entered the family. Although it is a tacit rule and elders will act in their capacity for her, which does not embarra.s.s her, those people have served Zui’er for many years. They have done hard work even if they don’t perform meritorious deeds. I’m afraid it’s not appropriate to drive people away like this. If Zui’er doesn’t say it, she will feel guilty. She may have complaints in the future!” Madame Zhuang sipped her tea, feeling guilty, “So, it’s better to wait for her to deal with this matter after the marriage… I’m confused that we have acted in our capacity for her. Why did he blame Man’er? Besides, I also asked Zui’er. He used to be young and ignorant, but now he is eager to send them away so that he can have a happy life with Man’er!”
Qiu Yelan and Jiang Qizheng looked at each other for a long time and they said, “Maybe… It is because… Man’er is sincere to brother Ling Zui so she really cares about his thoughts. When they are familiar with each other, they should know each other’s thoughts.” When did Zhuang Man become gentle and virtuous? Why didn’t they find out?
Madame Zhuang whispered, “Since she insists, let her do it. It’s up to her! After all, Princess Royal pays more attention to rules and she will not let people mess up the order.”
After hearing that, Qiu Yelan thought that Zhuang Man was persuaded by her family to cater to Princess Royal. After all, there were only a handful of mothers-in-law like Madame Zhuang who couldn’t wait to provoke her daughter-in-law to kill the concubines. Most mothers-in-law were still fond of virtuous and tolerant daughters-in-law such as Madame Tao Junior.
“But Man’er seems not to be the kind of person who will deliberately please her mother-in-law!” Zhuang Man could rely on Madame Zhuang, her dear aunt. She was not as concerned about her reputation as Madame Zhuang Junior. She refused to say her grievances after marriage. Although Princess Royal Maode was Emperor’s aunt, she was quite afraid of this daughter-in-law. As long as Zhuang Man was not too bad, how dared Princess Royal bully her?
After thinking for a while, Qiu Yelan was still confused. She decided to ask Zhuang Man when she met her. She changed her focus to talk about Miss Lu’s matter. She and her mother-in-law together with Jiang Qizheng felt that things were very suspicious, “If the Western Army is really defeated, even if I am in Jing City, I may not be able to protect Chunjun! Unless it is your father who can protect him.”
Madame Zhuang said seriously, “But Beijiang needs your father, which makes it more difficult. Now what we can do is to send a message to Shazhou. Let Chunjun pay attention to it and especially remember to protect Mr. Ren.”
“Yes, mother, you’re right.” Qiu Yelan nodded, “I’m going to write a letter.”
Jiang Qizheng whispered and said, “Or let my husband go to send this letter? Just let him stay in Shazhou and help General Qiu!”
“My nephew and niece are still young. How can I take care of and teach them without their father?” Qiu Yelan refused without looking at Madame Zhuang’s eyes, “Sister, I appreciate your kindness on behalf of my brother, but my brother-in-law should stay in Jing City to accompany you and your kids. Fu’er is three years old and begins to have memory. Now he always regards me and Jiang Yashuang as parents. So, how can you let it go?”
Of course, Jiang Qizheng was reluctant to separate from her husband. In order to thank Qiu Jinglan, she made this suggestion. Now she was refused by Qiu Yelan. She felt relieved and was just about to say something. Madame Zhuang whispered, “That’s it. Let’s check again. Are there any people in the first branch and the third branch who can join the Western Army?”
“As long as they don’t have such a person in their hands, even if the Western Army is defeated, they can only wait without any actions!” After Madame Zhuang said that, Mrs. Chang, who was talking to them outside and guarding the door, came in with an odd face and said, “Madame, Mrs. Zhao who serves Madame Wen wants to see you!”
Madame Zhuang only said that the Zhuang Family married her daughter yesterday and sent something to her today. She said to her daughter and daughter-in-law, “Let’s talk about things when Mrs. Zhao leaves!”
So, they stayed and stopped discussing, asking Mrs. Chang to lead Mrs. Zhao to come in. After kowtowing and saluting, Mrs. Zhao didn’t mention anything about sending gifts. Instead, she said with embarra.s.sment, “Madame, Hong Shan has always been an honest child. She serves my Madame since young. My Madame also arranged a marriage for her six months ago, but she was only engaged. Moreover, the steward’s mother died. So, it was delayed because of this matter. Madame, if you remember that, you can know that Hong Shan’s appearance is not the best, but she is fairly beautiful! However, what can we do… This thing… ”
After hearing that, Madame Zhuang was confused. Qiu Yelan and Jiang Qizheng were used to such things. They looked at each other and Qiu Yelan coughed, slightly leaned towards her mother-in-law, and whispered, “Yesterday… Jiang Yadan went to my uncle’s house alone to celebrate!”
She intentionally emphasized the word “alone” and Madame Zhuang understood it at once. She couldn’t help but be furious, “Go and call Dan’er for me!”
In this case, the younger sister and the younger sister-in-law must persuade, “Mother, please calm down! I think yesterday was a good day for my cousin Man’er. Jiang Yadan was happy for her and drank too much for a while!”
After hearing that, Mrs. Zhao sighed, “Yes, he drank too much. Otherwise, in the past, the Eighth Young Master used to be served by Hong Shan, and there was no accident.” As she said, the girl was not very good-looking, but she was fairly beautiful and couldn’t be the type of girl Jiang Yadan who had ever seen. The Zhuang Family didn’t intend to introduce a maid for nephew so Hong Shan had been serving him.
However, it happened that something went wrong last night!
Now, what was done couldn’t be undone. The reason why Mrs. Zhao came here was that, “My Madame wanted to give Hong Shan more money to do dowry and cover up the matter. However, after the steward who was engaged to her knew it, he asked my Madame to introduce another maid to him. Even if it was a rough girl, he could marry her as long as she was clean… Although my Madame felt that Hong Shan was wronged, since the steward didn’t want her, it was also harmful to force Hong Shan to marry him… So, after thinking for a while, I had no choice but to tell you, Madame!”
Madame Zhuang was persuaded by her daughter and daughter-in-law and so she couldn’t lose her temper. She had to contain her anger and asked, “What does my sister-in-law mean? Although Dan’er is my son, as you know, he is a pervert! It will not be a good thing if a girl marries him. Besides, his wife is not well these days. If we tell her the news, she will be very angry.”
Mrs. Zhao said carefully, “My Madame is thinking that Hong Shan is not a virgin anymore so she is always inferior. If the Eighth Young Master can give her a status and then let the Eighth Young Master get her married.”
When it came to marriage, the ident.i.ty of a maid who had been played was different from that of a concubine of a n.o.ble family. It could be seen that Madame Wen was fond of Hong Shan and she couldn’t bear to let Hong Shan regret it for the rest of her life.
However, although Madame Zhuang didn’t want to provoke her sister-in-law, she asked about Hong Shan’s appearance and made sure that she could never hook up with Jiang Yadan under normal circ.u.mstances. And then she nodded, “How about sending her here in a few days? You also know about the Eighth Young Master’s wife. Now it really makes her sad if we come to tell her! When she is recovered, I will tell her the story.”
Mrs. Zhao was also afraid that Hong Shan would make Chu Yitong unhappy when she married and so she just promised, “I will represent Hong Shan to thank you.”
… Although Madame Zhuang let people keep it a secret, she won’t allow anyone to tell Chu Yitong before she finished her postnatal confinement. But Chu Yitong still knew that at last. After all, some people from Mansion of Duke of Huainan also went to the Zhuang Family to attend the wedding banquet. As Madame Wen’s maid, Hong Shan was forced into the house by Jiang Yadan, and several people of the Zhuang Family saw it. Since Mansion of Duke of Huainan knew it, how could they not tell Chu Yitong?
“Sister, just take it easy. She’s just a maid. She’s nothing.” The next day, Young Princess of Duke of Huainan was ordered by her husband and came to snitch and comfort her sister-in-law. After asking others to retreat, there were only her and her sister-in-law. She held Chu Yitong’s hands and earnestly advised her to be broad-minded, “And I have asked other people about the maid. She is not neat as a maid who sweeps the courtyard in our house! If your husband didn’t drink too much, he wouldn’t have let her wash his feet! Even if the Zhuang Family backed her up and provided support for her marriage, she would be very busy and finally die in this backyard!”
“And your mother-in-law hates such things the most. I don’t know if she will agree to her marriage!”
“Besides, the Zhuang Family did wrong in this matter. If you can’t bear it anymore, wait for a few months after the marriage, and when your mother-in-law goes to Beijiang, you can bully her for some reasons. Although the Zhuang Family is your mother-in-law’s maiden family, can they punish you just for a maid regardless of your mother-in-law’s opinions?”
Young Princess talked about it for a long time. When she saw Chu Yitong calm down, she was relieved to leave and reported to Chu Weixian.
She didn’t know that as she just left the yard, Chu Yitong immediately changed her face with deep hatred. Chu Yitong grabbed the jade Ruyi on the couch, severely whipped it to the ground, and denounced it, “B*st*rd!”
Jiang Yadan had done a lot of such things. Madame Zhuang thought that the reason why the eldest son used to be dissolute was that he was not supervised by his parents and no one really advised him to be a better man. Now that she was here, her son would never do bad things again. So, Madame Zhuang was angry when she saw Jiang Yadan repeating the old tricks.
Others, including Qiu Yelan and her husband, and Jiang Qizheng and her husband, were not strange to this.
As a saying went, “A leopard can’t change its spots.” They lived with Jiang Yadan for a long time so they didn’t expect that Jiang Yadan would be a better man. So, they were just surprised that Jiang Yadan was wrong again before Madame Zhuang went to Beijiang. After all, Jiang Yadan treated his parents very well.
The daughter, the youngest son, the daughter-in-law of the youngest son all comforted Madame Zhuang for a few days. However, Madame Zhuang was still angry and she asked Jiang Yadan to kneel in the ancestral temple for three days. She felt guilty for Chu Yitong so she brought many things from her private account for compensation. Moreover, she was afraid that Qiu Yelan felt unfair so she deliberately asked Mrs. Qu to explain it to Qiu Yelan. Qiu Yelan smiled, “These are my mother’s things. Only she can make a decision. After all, I also took benefits from my mother. Moreover, the eighth sister-in-law ranks as my senior in the clan so it also makes sense that she can take more benefits.”
After knowing that, Madame Zhuang sighed to Mrs. Chang and said, “Daughters-in-law are all good. Yashuang is good, and I don’t have to worry about my daughter and son-in-law very much. Only Dan’er makes me worry about him!”
Mrs. Chang stopped her and said, “Madame, you’re very young. How can you say that? Besides, the Eighth Young Master was raised by people of the first branch who were bad. Is it possible for him to be a better man in three or five days? Actually, he needs you to teach him.”
“I just hope that he can become a good person before I go to Beijiang this year!” Madame Zhuang was upset, “Although my husband didn’t say it, he also wanted Dan’er to make progress and be positive, and more importantly, not always think about women all day. But I just hope that I can tell him good news when I leave. And it is also worthy of the hardships that we have suffered over the years.”
Unfortunately, Madame Zhuang didn’t tell Dan’er good news. At the end of April and the beginning of May, the n.o.bles in Jing City began to pack their bags and prepare for the summer vacation. There was also bad news from Kui County. Jiang Jingzhan, the eldest grandson of the fifth branch and the eldest son of Jiang Yawan, was a.s.sa.s.sinated. After the bad news, Kui Xiannan was ill on his couch and was dying.