Chapter 23 A Farce

  Just as Zhang Chaoyi's servant was about to step forward on orders, Gao Cheng immediately blocked him: "How dare you...you must not be presumptuous!"

  Zhao Kuang looked at Gao Cheng with appreciation, knowing that he should maintain his master's dignity at this time, what a loyal servant!

  Unfortunately, Zhang Chaoyi didn't think so. He scolded Gao Cheng: "Where did you come from, a slave like you dare to be rude to your uncle?"

  Gao Chengyi's face turned red with rage, and he argued loudly: "What kind of uncle are you to me? Our Lord Hou's uncle is..." He paused for a moment, sneaking a glance at the Qian family in the crowd, but they hid behind others without showing any intention of intervening. Having no choice, he changed his words: "Our uncle's surname is Qin!"

  Who would have thought that the Qin family had also set up a shrine nearby to offer sacrifices, and just happened to see it clearly. On the spot, they spat out: "Our Qin family wouldn't dare have such a vicious nephew! We came today to mourn the old county magistrate and his wife, and we don't care about others. When our aunt was alive, she never heard the marquis call her 'mother', but now he's come to acknowledge his uncle."

  Gao's face turned red with anger, but he could only continue to block the way. Zhang coldly snorted: "Aren't you a servant who came with the Jiang family as a dowry? Your mistress is actually willing to promote you, she has the energy to spare, why not teach her son instead? Maybe I should let the world know what good deeds she's done!" After finishing, he loudly shouted: "Get out of my way!"

  Gao Cheng's heart was both shocked and angry, wondering if Zhang Shi knew some secret about his own family's aunt, how come every word and phrase had a threatening tone? He hesitated for a moment, unsure whether he should give in. If he gave in, Lord Hou might get angry with him; if he didn't, Auntie still had some unknown leverage in her hands.

  Zhang Chaoyi saw that he still didn't move, so he went forward and kicked him hard, kicking him away. He turned his head and spat at Zhao Jiong: "The Duke of Jianan is so arrogant! Seeing the legitimate mother, he still rides a horse with great fanfare, without even a hint of courtesy or respect. What etiquette has been lost? The servants by his side are also extremely bold, not putting the words of their master in their hearts, but instead wanting to maintain a fake coffin!"

  Zhao Jiong was seething with rage, but had no choice but to dismount and approach with a hypocritical expression of respect. "Second Uncle, please don't be angry," he said. "Earlier, the servants didn't investigate clearly and assumed Mother was dead when they couldn't find her body. I was afraid it would delay Father's burial, so I had them put Mother's clothes in the coffin as a substitute for her body. Now that Mother has returned, of course we won't need that fake coffin. I'll just have them take it back."

  Zhang Chaoyi sneered and walked around him, directly to the coffin of "Zhang's family", and ordered the pallbearers: "Put it down!" The servants carrying the coffin looked at each other in dismay, not knowing what to do.

  Suddenly, it seemed as if something had struck one of the servants' knees, and he let out a cry, falling to the ground. The coffin tilted over and slid to the ground with a deafening crash due to its excessive weight. Zhao Jiong's eyes were wide with rage as he rushed forward, kicking the fallen servant fiercely, and pushing Zhang Chaoyi away: "Don't touch it!"

  Zhang Chaoyi stumbled, and with great difficulty steadied himself, his face suddenly breaking into a smile instead of anger: "The coffin hasn't even been opened yet, but you've already given yourself away. If this really is just a fake coffin with clothes inside, what's the big deal if it's opened? You're so tense, it's as if I'd uncovered your own mother's coffin!"

  It's not necessary for him to say it out loud, the onlookers can already tell that there's something fishy about this coffin. Perhaps, just as Zhang Shi's siblings said, Zhao Jiong had put his birth mother, who was a concubine, into the coffin of his stepmother and buried her with the status of a legitimate wife. Although this shows his filial piety as a son, it disrupts the proper order between wives and violates moral teachings, which is a great taboo. Moreover, according to ritual law, Qin Shi is his mother, while Zhang Shi is his stepmother. There's no place for Qian Shi here. In trying to show respect to Qian Shi, he has committed the grave sin of being unfilial to his own mother.

  Zhao Kuang pounced on his birth mother's coffin, almost going mad with rage. At this point, he no longer cared about reputation or notoriety, and directly shouted at Zhang Shi: "You get out of here right now! My father's stepmother has long been dead, dying on the way back to our hometown. You just happen to look a bit like her, but you're taking advantage of that to swindle me, ruining the reputation of the Zhao family. Do you think the Duke of Jian Nan is easy to bully?" After scolding her, he ordered his men: "Get rid of these impostors at once!"

  The onlookers' murmurs grew louder, "This is a story that even an idiot wouldn't believe, who are they trying to deceive?" It was now even more certain that Zhao Jiong had indeed done those heinous deeds. The servants of the Zhao household didn't know whether they should obey orders and come forward, they also recognized Zhang Shi, she was their mistress after all, even if not the birth mother of the Marquis, but still the wife of the Duke...

  A group of people walked out of the crowd, dressed more luxuriously than others. The leader, who was only in his thirties, had an air of arrogance on his face. He stepped forward and bowed to Zhang Shi with a slight nod, without even glancing at anyone else. Then he turned to Zhao Kuang and snorted coldly: "The Marquis of Jian Nan is really putting on airs! Unfortunately, people are not fools. I don't care if you intentionally harmed your stepmother's younger brother or not; such things will be handled by the Emperor and the officials. But if you really pass off a concubine as the wife of the imperial edict and make people kneel down to her... then don't blame us, the Fu Yang Wang family, for being impolite!"

  It turned out that this person was not someone else, but a member of the imperial family of the current dynasty. His grandfather was enfeoffed as the King of Fengyang, and in fact, he was the distant uncle of the founding emperor. Although he had the title of a prince, it was only an empty honor. For generations, they lived in their hometown of Jiading and did not move to the capital, nor did they have any real power. By this generation, all that remained was the title of Auxiliary General, but officials and merchants in Shanghai still gave his family face, and he took great pride in his imperial identity, making him even more arrogant. When speaking outside, he always referred to "our Fengyang Palace". Originally, the funeral rites for a duke would not have moved this noble person, but the current emperor held Zhao, the old Duke of Guangping, in high esteem, and there were rumors that if it weren't for the old duke's words to the founding emperor, the current emperor's position as crown prince would not have been secure. Therefore, the nobleman also came with great courtesy.

  He went through the motions of mourning, offering a large sum of money and setting up a funeral pavilion, which was considered respectful. However, someone later told him that while the county magistrate he had mourned was real, his wife was actually an imposter - just a lowly concubine. How could he not be angry? He was a member of the imperial clan, the nephew of the founding emperor and brother of the current ruler. A mere concubine had received his respects - did she deserve it?!

  With the noble person present, no matter how shocked and obstructed Zhao Jiong was, the coffin was still opened in public. A foul smell flowed out of the coffin, and even a fool among the onlookers knew that Zhao Jiong's claim that there were only clothes inside was just a lie, and that there really was a corpse inside. If it wasn't Old Lady Zhang, then who else could it be? It must have been Zhao Jiong's birth mother, Granny Qian.

  The assistant general ordered someone to open the coffin with Qian Lao's name on it, and what was inside was actually clothes.

  The truth is revealed, Zhao Jiong knelt down in front of his biological mother's coffin, losing his soul and collapsing. The auxiliary general turned up his sleeve to cover his nose in disgust and coldly snorted: "It's really absurd! It's simply a farce!" He then turned around and left with his entourage.

  He left, and the other officials who came to worship also dispersed. They were also deceived, equally angry in their hearts, but temporarily holding a wait-and-see attitude, not wanting to take the lead.

  The burial ceremony of the county master had apparently come to a standstill, and it was only then that Rong Da Lao Ye from the ancestral hall hurried over from behind. Seeing Zhao Jiong's dispirited appearance, he stomped his foot and sighed, looked at Zhang Shi with a guilty conscience, and stepped forward with a forced smile to persuade her: "Auntie, what's the point of this? Even if you have a huge grievance in your heart, shouldn't you let the county master rest in peace before saying anything else? Did Jiong offend someone, would our clan spare him? Why make such a big fuss and make our whole clan lose face?"

  "Zhang coldly smiled at him: 'Zhao Ye, how dare you come see me? In the past when Zhao Jiong wanted to send back the coffin of the Duke of Jun to his hometown, I didn't agree. The Emperor had already given an edict, ordering the Duke of Jun to be buried in the imperial mausoleum. Zhao Jiong refused this kindness for personal reasons, that's fine. But what about you? Why did you come to persuade me to agree? If it weren't for your eloquent words, I wouldn't have brought my son, daughter-in-law, grandson and granddaughter back to our hometown together, which led to today's disaster. On that day, you were on Zhao Jiong's boat, he saw us dying but didn't save us, why didn't you speak up? Now you have the face to come here and blame me?!'"

  Zhao Yu's face turned red and white, he wanted to explain that he really didn't know what happened that night, it wasn't until the next morning that he found out. But Zhao Xiang insisted on his own way, Zhao Yu couldn't persuade him otherwise, so he reluctantly agreed to Zhao Xiang's method. He was also afraid of further angering Zhang Shi, and for a moment, didn't know what to say.

  The Zhao family members saw him like this, and they all knew it was not good. The people from the outer nine houses could still pretend to be watching the excitement, but the remaining three houses in the inner three houses couldn't stay any longer. The eldest of the three houses, Old Master Ba, walked over with his son's support, shaking and asking Zhang Shi: "Second aunt, was what you just said true? Did Zhao Yu really do this?"

  Zhang coldly smiled: "Can it be fake?!" After finishing, her eyes reddened again, and she bowed to the Eighth Old Master: "Please, Eighth Uncle, give me a fair judgment..."

  "What else can be said?" The old man picked up his cane and hit Zhao Yu on the head, "Your father didn't learn well, it's a waste of being the head of the clan, you're not a good thing either! If you can't protect your clansmen and uphold justice, then step down as the clan leader early!"

  Zhao Yu hastily retreated, and the people from Zong's house rushed forward to mediate. Some relatives from outside the ninth house also spoke up, either sincerely or insincerely, to calm things down. The scene was in chaos. Zhao Jiong angrily shouted: "Enough!" The crowd was stunned for a moment before quieting down.

  Zhao Kuang stood up and rushed to Zhang's side: "You're so cruel! Whether I offended you in the past or not, today you made a scene in public, my reputation is completely ruined, and poor Father can't even rest in peace. Father was married to you for over twenty years, how did he ever wrong you? Are you going to torment him even after death?! Is this your intention to harm his descendants?!"

  "Are you kidding me?! You're the one who ruined the county lord's chances of having an heir! You're also the one who made it so that the county lord couldn't rest in peace after he died! Do you think the county lord didn't know about all the things you've been doing?! On that stormy night, before the ship sank, we were able to discover the water coming in through the bottom of the boat because the county lord's spirit was warning us! If it wasn't for you ordering everyone to be killed and silenced after they escaped safely, how could so many people have died?! Do you still have the face to mention the county lord?!"

  "Nonsense!" Zhao Jiong was both shocked and frightened, "How could Father have known all this?"

  "How could he not know? He was on the same boat as you at that time! Whatever scheme you had, he knew it all!" Zhang remembered the situation that night and couldn't help but feel sad, "If it wasn't for you knowing our boat was going to sink, not only did you not try to rescue us, but instead ordered people to speed up the boat. If so, the spirit of County Master would not be unable to catch up, and Tie Er's couple would not have died such a miserable death..."

  She had already inferred the whole "truth" from her granddaughter Zhao's words, and her anger grew deeper. She pointed at Zhao Jiong's nose and scolded: "You did such an evil thing, have you ever thought about how disappointed and angry your father would be?!"

  Zhao Jiong couldn't help but shiver, unsure if it was his imagination, but the wind around him seemed to be blowing even colder than before.

  Just then, a white banner beside Zhao's coffin suddenly broke off and fell to the ground with a crisp "crack".