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Chapter 68

After they returned from Qian Temple, a major event happened at Duke Ying’s residence.

The argument between Second Master Wei Cheng and Second Madam Song-shiwas so awful that it even alarmed Wei Zhang Chun and Old Madam. After three years, Second Master had returned from Jiang Nan. But, he didn’t return by himself. He had brought back a daughter that was born by the Second Master’s outside mistress.

This daughter was fourteen years old and had reached a marriageable age. Second Master had brought her back to Duke Ying’s residence in order to give her a status, so that it would be easy to find a good husband for her.

Once this matter was known, everyone in the residence was surprised, even Old Madam.

Fourteen years old! He had actually hidden this for so long. Song-shi felt as if her heart had died and turned into ashes. Instead of trying to resolve the problem, she took the stance of worsening the problem by having a huge falling out with him. No matter what, she wouldn’t allow someone else’s daughter to take even one step inside Duke Ying’s residence.

Song-shi had been married to Second Master for sixteen years. They currently had two daughters and no sons. Her older daughter Wei Sheng was fifteen years old and was already betrothed. Her second daughter Wei Dong was fourteen and was waiting to be married. Originally, she had though they were a couple that had conjugal love. They had treated each other with mutual respect for so many years.

She hadn’t expected that he would hurt her so badly. This daughter was fourteen years old, which meant that he had started this affair at least fifteen years ago when she was newly married into Duke Ying’s residence. While dealing insincere affection towards her, he was having illicit sex with another woman. When Song-shipictured this scene, her disgust and hate towards him was unbearable!

If he had honestly told her that he wanted to have a concubine, she might have agreed. But, he had deliberately chosen this method and the feelings she had developed towards him over these many years had disappeared like smoke into thin air.

After this matter, Song-shi hated Wei Cheng and his daughter to the point that her teeth felt itchy with the urge to bite them. She almost drove Wei Cheng out the door.

When Wei Luo and Fourth Madam Qin-shi arrived at second branch’s courtyard, they heard the sound of Song-shi shattering porcelain in the main room. One after another, cloisonné cups with flower designs, sculptures for the three gods of blessings, fame, and longevity, enamel vases decorated with evergreen pine, bamboo, and plum flowers were flung at Second Master. Standing at the door, Wei Luo felt sorry for the shattered first class antiques.

After Song-shi had thrown all of the porcelain on the shelves, with red eyes, she said to Second Master, “If you want that wretched woman’s daughter to enter here, gather all the porcelain fragments on the ground and restore them to their original forms. Whenever you finish doing this, I’ll allow her into this home.” This prerequisite was ingenious. She had shattered over ten porcelains with different patterns and shapes. In addition, some of the fragments were only the size of a pinky finger. It was too difficult to restore them. It was basically an impossible task.

There was an injury on Second Master’s forehead from her smashing and it was currently bleeding. He didn’t show any indignation on his face. He probably wasn’t inclined to lower himself to her level. He flung his sleeve and before he left, he said, “It doesn’t matter if you agree or not. It’s fine if only my mother agrees.”

Second master’s biological mother, Lan-shi, was Old Madam’s personal servant. She had once saved Old Madam’s life. Because of her affection towards Lan-shi, she treated Second Master like her own son and had never been ungenerous with him. So, if he were to ask his biological mother, Lan-shi, to speak with Old Madam about this matter, Old Madam would definitely agree to Lan-shi’s request.

It was only adding another pair of chopsticks to the table. It wasn’t a difficult thing.

Song-shi probably also knew this. After Wei Cheng left, she sat down on the Eight Immortal chair with disappointment and frustration. She took out her silk handkerchief and bitterly cried.

Song-shi had a splendid family background. Her father, Song Ying Qi, was Wu Ying Hall’s Minister of Revenue. Although she was born from a concubine, she was her father’s favorite. Her status at home wasn’t any worse than a daughter born from the legal wife. In terms of social status, Song-shi and second master Wei Cheng were well matched and very close to each other’s. They couldn’t be better suited for each other. This marriage was predestined by fate and everyone had been optimistic about it. But now, this type of problem had arisen.

Song-shi cried endlessly. No matter what Qin-shi said, she couldn’t improve her mood. As she cried, she talked about Second Master’s wrong doings, “Will I even have to prepare another woman’s daughter’s dowry…”

On the side, Qin-shi persuaded her, “Things have already reached this point. What’s the use of crying? Second sister-in-law should be thinking about a way to deal with this matter… Doesn’t second brother-in-law want her to get married? You’re the person in charge of second branch’s household. When the time comes, you’ll have the final say in who she marries.”

Although this was true, Song-shi still felt nauseous. At the moment, she couldn’t accept the truth and wasn’t able to listen to any of Qin-shi’s words.

In her previous life, Wei Luo didn’t grow up in Duke Ying’s residence, so she had missed many things including this matter. She was at a loss to what the ending of this matter would be. At the side, she didn’t have any words to add, so after silently sitting there for while, she stood up and left.

——–

Half a month later, Second Master brought the daughter that was born outside back to Duke Ying’s residence. Wei Luo heard that there was another period of turning the sky and earth upside down level of disturbances at Bamboo Courtyard

The madams in the residence didn’t approve of this daughter entering the residence. However, it wasn’t good to interfere with their brother-in-law’s family matters. They could only hide their thoughts in their heart and quietly observe this change. During this period of time, Qin-shi had gone to Bamboo Courtyard too many times to persuade Song-shi and Wei Cheng. Her lips and tongue had long turned dry. She became seriously sick because of this matter and no longer had the energy to be concerned about the two of them.

However, Qin-shi still couldn’t let go of her worries, so she entrusted the task of going over there to look to Wei Luo. If Song-shi was being too impulsive, she could lend a hand by stopping her.

When Wei Luo arrived at Bamboo Courtyard, the silent main hall seemed out of place. She looked inside and only saw a girl kneeling. The girl was wearing a yellow satin weave robe with wide sleeves. She had a beautiful face and a delicate body with a waist that was like a willow. A single glance would be enough to know that she was a girl from Jiangnan. Hearing footsteps, the girl looked up to see Wei Luo. The girl’s dark eyes were full of uneasiness as if she were an easily startled bird. Although she was beautiful, she didn’t seem very clever.

She was probably the daughter that second uncle’s had raised outside the residence.

Wei Luo’s gaze stopped on her face for moment, then without a change in her expression, she left and walked towards the back of the main hall.

On the way to the back of the main hall, Wei Luo asked a servant girl where Second Madam was. The servant girl said she was in the main room, so Wei Luo started walking in that direction.

On the way to the main room, the verandah was empty. As she passed by a window on the way to the door, she suddenly heard people talking. Normally, she felt it was beneath her dignity to eavesdrop, but she heard a familiar voice and froze. Before she had time to think it through, the people had already stopped at the window.

There were two voices. One was second aunt Song-shi. The other was third aunt Liu-shi.

Liu-shi was speaking. Her words were intermittent and Wei Luo couldn’t clearly hear everything, “…. Men are all scoundrels who can’t control themselves. They’ll fancy any woman that knows how to curry favor with them. Things have already reached this point. Come to an acceptance with this unpleasant fact. Don’t continue being angry…”

Song-shi was sobbing and sniffling as she said, “Do you think I don’t want to get over this? It’s only that I’m too disappointed with him. To think that the feelings from this many years of marriage didn’t matter…”

Liu-shi interrupted her in a sympathetic tone, “What does the feelings between a married couple count for? I’ve been married to Third Master for so many years. How does he treat me?” She sighed and indignantly continued, “His heart only has Jiang Miao Lan. I haven’t even entered his eyes. He treats me with cold indifference. Some women have the type of skill to charm men into loosing their senses and willingly to do anything for them. We don’t have this skill. We can only know our place and support our husbands and educate our children. One day they will discover our goodness.”

Song-shi didn’t say anything. She was stilling sobbing.

Probably because she had brought up the topic of her own heartache, Liu-shi couldn’t hold herself back for continuing to say, “Back then, if Du-shi and I didn’t act together… Jiang Miao Lan would probably still be here. As long as she was here, there wouldn’t be peace in the residence.”

Underneath the window, Wei’s Luo’s expression sank as she listened.

Liu-shi was comparing Jiang Miao Lan to Dong-shi? Dong-shi was an outside mistress that couldn’t be brought out into public. Jiang Miao Lan had been Wei Kun’s officially wedded wife! Could these two people be compared?

And what had she just said? She said that she and Du-shi had worked together to force Jiang Miao Lan to leave. So Jiang Miao Lan didn’t die?

She quietly turned around and walked back to Pine Courtyard. On the way, she kept thinking about Liu-shi‘s words.

Jiang Miao Lan didn’t die. She had only been forced to leave by Liu-shi and Du-shi. If she hadn’t died, why didn’t she come back to see her and Chang Hong? In her previous life, Du-shi had sold her off and Li Song and Li Xiang had ruined Chang Hong, but Jiang Miao Lan had never appeared. Where did she go? She might as well have died. Wei Luo admitted that she blamed and hated her. Even though she knew Jiang Miao Lan had suffered through hardships, she still couldn’t forgive her.

However, while she hated her, she was also curious about what happened that year. What had Liu-shi and Du-shi done to cause her to callously leave behind Chang Hong and her? If she didn’t find this out, there would be a festering knot in her heart.

Wei Luo had originally intended to go to the study to look for that painting. Perhaps, she would be able to find some clues by looking at that painting. However, just as she was about to walk there, a servant girl came from the front courtyard to say, “Miss, Marquis Ping Yuan’s daughter is here to see you. She’s currently waiting for you at the receiving room.”

Liang Yu Rong?

Why was she here? What happened?

With doubts in her heart, Wei Luo walked towards the receiving room.

Arriving at the receiving room, she saw Liang Yu Rong sitting on an ironwood chair and drinking tea as she waited for Wei Luo. Seeing that she had arrived, Liang Yu Rong hurriedly came forward to grab her arm and smilingly say, “Ah Luo, I’m going shopping at Ba Zhen to buy candy and pastries today. Come with me, okay?”

Wei Luo was in messy and chaotic state of mind and was originally going to refuse.

However, when she slanted her head and saw Liang Yu Rong’s eyes that were full of hope, the words of refusal hovered inside her mouth instead. In the end, she nodded and said, “Okay.”

——–

Ba Zhen was located in the middle of West Main Street. People were closely line up inside the store like the teeth of a comb. It was very boisterous.

Ba Zhen’s candy and pastries were very well known. They had an endless stream of visitors every day. Wei Luo and Liang Yu Rong came down from the carriage and walked through Ba Zhen’s front doors. In front of the pastries, they saw the back of a young man wearing a sapphire blue robe embroidered with the four blessings pattern. This store usually only had women coming here to buy their products. Men didn’t like to eat this type of sweet foods, so when a man came inside the store, it attracted the gaze of many women.

Furthermore, his appearance was radiantly handsome and hearty. It completely moved the hearts of the women. From time to time, they would sneak a peak at him and blush.

The young man inclined his head, pointed at the round flat pastries with dried peach and roses and the fried twisted dough with honey and pine nuts, and said, “I want these two types.”

Wei Luo finally had a clear look of his face. It was Fifth Prince Zhao Zhang!

The storekeeper quickly and solicitously wrapped up those items from him. Zhao Zhang also ordered a few types of candied fruit and small, flat and round pastries dusted with sugar. He turned to leave after the guard at his side stepped forward and paid.

When Zhao Zhang turned his head, he saw that Wei Luo and Liang Yu Rong had been standing behind him.

He only recognized Wei Luo. On Spring Lantern Festival, he had apologized on behalf of Li Song and had invited her and Song Hui to Emerald Restaurant. Seeing her now, he froze for a moment, then he smiled and asked, “Does House Wei’s Fourth Miss also like to eat the pastries from here?”

Wei Luo shook her head, pulled Liang Yu Rong forward, and said, “I’m accompanied Yu Rong here.” She paused, looked at the oilpaper packet in his hand, curved her lips, and asked, “Fifth… Sir, do you like to eat sweet things?”

Zhao Zhang knew that she had misunderstood. He faintly smiled and explained, “I went outside for work today and passed by here on the way back. This isn’t for me to eat. I bought this to give to Lin Lang.”

Oh right. He was Lin Lang’s older brother. Wei Luo had almost forgotten this.

She smiled and nodded. She didn’t ask any other questions. She pulled Liang Yu Rong with her to the side. Her meaning was clear without any words.

Zhao Zhang passed by them, then he seemed to have suddenly thought of something. He turned his head and asked, “I heard that Duke Ying’s family went to Qian Temple recently. My second brother also went there on the same day. Did House Wei’s Fourth Miss meet him there?”

At the mention of Zhao Jie, there was a slight delay in Wei Luo’s response.

Wei Luo quickly returned to her senses and remembered that Zhao Jie said he was traveling incognito. He probably didn’t want other people to know about his whereabouts. She appeared sincere when she smoothly replied, “We went there to seek a meeting with Abbot Qing Wang and didn’t pay attention to the other guests. I’m afraid I won’t be able to answer Fifth Sir’s question.”

Seeing her suddenly indifferent attitude, Zhao Zhang froze for a moment, then he lightly laughed and apologized, “I was lacking in manners.” As he said this, he bowed to Wei Luo, then turned around, left Ba Zhen, and went into his green canopy carriage to return to the palace.

Watching Zhao Zhang leave, Liang Yu Rong couldn’t resist the curiosity in her heart and quietly asked, “That person was…”

Zhao Zhang was still living in the palace and hadn’t established his own residence, so it was normal that Liang Yu Rong hadn’t met him before. In addition, they were different genders. Even if they went to the same banquet, they would be sitting in different area. It wasn’t only Zhao Zhang. Liang Yu Rong hadn’t seen Zhao Jie’s face either.

Wei Luo took back her attention and set her gaze on the numerous pastries in the store. Without a change in her expression, she said, “He’s Zhao Jie’s fifth brother.”

Hearing these words, Liang Yu Rong immediately understood. Zhao Jie was the second prince. His fifth brother was the fifth prince! At the sudden realization, she patted her shoulder from lingering trepidation. “Fortunately, I didn’t say any wrong words just now.”

Wei Luo curved her lips, softly laughed, and couldn’t resist making fun of her, “What were you thinking of saying to him?”

Liang Yu Rong drew back her head and said, “Eating so many sweets, take care that you don’t get a toothache…”

Actually, this was a great truth.

The two of them didn’t continue talking about Zhao Zhang. They started to earnestly select which pastries to buy.

Liang Yu Rong had originally intended to only buy a candy called snowflake fruit for Wei Chang Yin. But after looking at all of the cute and exquisitely made pastries and candies, she wanted all of them. After hesitating, she bought snowflake fruit candy and two types of pastries for Wei Chang Yin, a few types of pastries for Wei Luo, and several types of pastries and candies for herself before leaving Ba Zhen perfectly satisfied.

——–

After leaving Ba Zhen, Zhao Zhang’s carriage slowly moved forward.

Zhao Zhang lifted the curtain and asked a black-robed guard that was at the carriage’s side, “Have you found out what second brother asked Abbot Qian Wang that day?”

The guard was keeping pace with the carriage on horseback. In an ashamed tone, he said, “This subordinate is incompetent and hasn’t found out any inside information.”

Zhao Zhao’s face slightly showed his unhappiness. Abbot Qing Wang was an enlightened senior monk. For Zhao Jie to ask for a meeting with him, he must have asked him questions about the imperial court. If Abbot Qing Wang told him the right paths to take for those issues and Zhao Jie achieved a speedy enlightenment, it would certainty put himself in an unfavorable situation.

Currently, the imperial court was divided into three groups. One group of officials supported him, another group supported Zhao Jie, and the third group consisted of officials that remained neutral and didn’t enter muddied waters. He had already been firmly suppressed by Zhao Jie’s influence and power. Now that Zhao Jie had obtained Abbot Qing Wang’s assistance, his position had become even more precarious.

After thinking about this for a while, he decided that his most urgent priorities would be to support his loyal confidants and to draw over to his side some of the officials that were on Zhao Jie’s side.

He thought of Count Zhong Yi’s eldest grandson, Song Hui. Song Hui was a young scholar that had an encyclopedic knowledge of state policies and studying wasn’t his only talent. He had a flexible mind and mastered his knowledge of state policies through a comprehensive study of surrounding areas. He was a very promising individual and definitely a talented person that would be assigned to an important position in the future. Before too long, the April court examination would be taking place. If Song Hui could score in the top three and obtain Emperor Chong Zhen’s appreciation, then the number of his capable helpers would undoubtedly increase based on his current relationship with Count Zhong Yi.

Count Zhong Yi’s family had a close relationship with Duke Ying’s family. It would be excellent if he could capture Duke Ying’s family in one move and incorporate them into his group of subordinates.

After thinking, he asked, “I heard that House Wei’s Fourth Miss was betrothed to Song Hui when her mother was pregnant with her?”

The guard nodded and said, “Yes.”

Hearing this, his lips curved up and he fell into deep thought.

——–

The next day, Emperor Chong Zhen had him and Zhao Jie go to the imperial study for a discussion. It would soon be the court examination, so he wanted to know their views about it and if they had any talented people they wanted to recommend.

In order to test their abilities, Emperor Chong Zhen often called them into his study to ask them about minutiae topics.

Currently, Emperor Chong Zhen was sitting at a black table outlined in gold and decorated with twin dragons made of precious stones. He was holding a list of this year’s candidate for the court examination and inspecting the names of the candidates one by one as he waited for Zhao Jie and Zhao Zhang’s replies.

With a careful and respectful attitude, Zhao Zhang cupped his hands and said, “To respond to imperial father, your imperial son believes that Count Zhong Yi’s eldest grandson has outstanding talent and will reveal his talent in this year’s court examination.”

Having a slight impression of this person, Emperor Chong Zhen put down his list and thoughtfully asked, “Oh, are you speaking of Song Hui?”

Zhao Zhang nodded.

Emperor Chong Zhen nodded in improvement and mused to himself, “This emperor has seen him a few times. He’s politically astute, doesn’t stubbornly adhere to old ideas, and has an intelligent mind. Indeed, he is pretty good.”

Receiving the emperor’s praise, Zhao Zhang curved up his lips into a smile.

On the side, Zhao Jie lowered his eyes. Without the slightest ripple in his voice, he calmly said, “Although Song Hui has outstanding talent, his temperament is too weak and gentle. He’s capable in writing essays, but he may not be suitable as an official.” He looked up to directly look at Emperor Chong Zheng and said, “Your imperial son also has a person to recommend.”

Emperor Chong Zhen asked, “Who?”

He answered, “The Minister of Rites Zuo Zong’s heir, Zuo Cheng Huai.”

Emperor Chong Zhen was slightly surprised. He also had an impression of this person. Zuo Cheng Huai had participated in last year’s civil service exam and had successfully passed the first grades of the examination system, but not the court examination yet. It wasn’t because his literary talent was bad. It was because his words had been too sharp and unconventional. Last year’s scoring examination official was an old man that inflexibly acted in accordance to convention and disliked his conduct. Although every sentence of Zuo Cheng Huai’s essay was incisive, it still received a low score.

Zhao Jie recommended him because he greatly admired him after meeting him a few times by chance. Although Zuo Cheng Huai wasn’t suitable at writing essays, he would be very suitable as an official. If he were the one managing the details of disaster relief, it would definitely be done in a methodical manner.

Emperor Chong Zhen pondered this for a moment, then he said, “This emperor will personally review these two people’s examination papers. After seeing which person has the superior paper, I will give you two a fair answer.”

After saying this, he asked a few questions about taxation and this year’s disaster in the northwest. The two of them stuck to their own viewpoints. Neither of them would yield even one step to the other.

About an hour later, Emperor Chong Zhen was exhausted from listening to them. He waved his hand to signal for them to leave.

Zhao Zhang suddenly stepped forward and said, “Your imperial son has something else to say.”

Emperor Chong Zheng was holding a purple brush and marking the court examination list. Without looking up, he said, “Speak.”

Zhao Zhang looked down and slowly said, “The person that this subject recently mentioned, Song Hui, had an engagement with Duke Ying’s family’s Fourth Miss, Wei Luo since they were children. If he receives the top score in this year’s court examination, could imperial father bestow this marriage for him?”

(Note: Just in case it’s confusing why Zhao Zhang is requesting this. Song Hui and Wei Luo’s engagement is only an informal agreement. If the emperor were to bestow marriage for him through an imperial edict, they would probably get married very soon instead of an indefinite date in the future.