Chapter 8: Bungling Invention

  When Chun Cao rushed out, Zhao was stopped by Xiao Gege and didn't have time to intercept her. She could only watch as she knelt down on the ground and told everything that had happened in the Jiang family courtyard that day, including the suspicious intentions of the Jiang family yesterday, without hiding anything.

  Zhao Jiong and Miss Mi just said they wanted to invite Mr. Jiang as a mediator, but now they are afraid that he might not be willing to help. Now that Chun Cao has spoken out about the matter, what if they use this incident to threaten Mr. Jiang into helping? That woman doesn't seem like someone who is kind and gentle, don't make things worse by pushing him to do something even more irreparable.

  Zhang's face turned iron-green after listening to Chun Cao's words: "On that day, you came back and heard that Hong Ge was gone. You had already suspected something in your heart, why didn't you report it?!"

  The spring grass hesitated for a moment, and could only choke back tears and kowtow: "As a servant of this household, how dare I speak of the master's secrets? Originally, I thought that when the second master moved out after dividing the family property, I would leave with the old madam, and it wouldn't have mattered if I spoke then... who would have thought that the eldest mistress would..."

  She didn't tell her sister-in-law to temporarily conceal the truth from their master. After all, they were family, and if they had to suffer their master's punishment, one of them was enough; there was no need to drag her sister-in-law into it as well.

  Mi heard this and his face turned white: "This...this...this can't be?! Ze Ge is still just a child, only six years old by Chinese age reckoning, how could he do such a thing?!"

  Zhao Jiong couldn't believe it either: "I suppose he went inside and found out what happened to his brother, got scared, and ran out? He's just a kid, and since childhood, his family education has been strict, how could he do something so beastly?"

  "Even if he is really innocent, why is my daughter-in-law so nervous? It's okay to beat the wet nurse to death, she was guilty of not taking good care of him. What does Chun Cao have to do with this matter? If you're afraid of being misunderstood, just explain the truth clearly, or you can talk about it privately if you don't want others to know. Chun Cao is just a young maid, will she still insist on framing Ze Ye? She's good at making people suspect Zhen Zhu sister and letting the maid deceive Chun Cao, what does she want to do? Kill someone to silence them?"

  She immediately called another maid, Akane, into the house and ordered: "Go and invite Obaachan over, I want to ask her something clearly!"

  Qiu Ye was about to turn around and leave, but was stopped by Mi Shi. Mi Shi turned back and walked closer to Zhang Shi, lowering her voice: "Mother, weren't we just thinking of letting our daughter-in-law help with the matchmaker?"

  Zhang's face turned stern as soon as she heard it, and before she could say anything, Zhao Zhuo immediately retorted to his wife: "Don't spout nonsense! Such a big matter, how can you pretend not to know and use it to threaten your daughter-in-law? This is not what a gentleman would do!"

  Miss Mi bit her lip and stopped talking. Mrs. Zhang glanced at her: "I know what you're thinking, I have my own judgment on this matter."

  Qiu Ye invited Jiang Shi over, and when Jiang Shi entered the door, he saw Zhao Jiong and Mi Shi sitting together on one side. He was surprised in his heart, and then looked at Chun Cao kneeling on the ground, and his heart was shocked. However, his face remained calm and expressionless, as if nothing had happened, and he paid respects to Zhang Shi.

  Zhang sat upright, looking at her coldly: "Big Madam has a good city, and it's indeed calm, but yesterday she sent two armies, one to abduct people and the other to kidnap people. It's really skillful, I don't know what you plan to do with the abducted people?!"

  Jiang immediately knew that the matter had been exposed and secretly resented it. If she had known earlier, she would not have startled the snake by hitting the grass. Unexpectedly, Chuncao revealed the truth to Zhangshi, Zhao Zhuo, and Mishishi yesterday after being frightened, and now it's even more difficult for her to cover anything up again.

  Jiang slowly knelt down to the ground, lowering her head, silent and speechless. Her eyes were slightly red, and after a while, tears fell: "Madam, please forgive me, Sun's daughter-in-law was also helpless, really afraid... That is Sun's daughter-in-law's own flesh and blood!"

  Zhang saw her true feelings revealed and couldn't help but soften a bit: "What's going on after all? Did Ze really do it?"

  Jiang said with a sob: "Sun's daughter-in-law really didn't know, at the time there was only Ze in the house, he was scared to death. Sun's daughter-in-law asked him privately, but he couldn't say anything. Later, he had a high fever and talked nonsense... After recovering from his illness, he didn't remember anything."

  "Then why are you staring at Chuncao so tightly?!"

  Jiang looked at her with tears in his eyes, then gazed out at the spring grass: "How could I have wanted to kill them all off? It's just that Xiao Qian saw the chaos and kept saying that I intentionally harmed Hongge, even making Father doubt me. So I moved into that woman's house, not leaving any face for myself! If they really knew that Ze was in the room at the time, I fear the child wouldn't be safe! He's my only son, still so young, what could he understand? Maybe he didn't do anything! Hongge wasn't even a month old and was already ill, Xiao Qian abandoned him to chase after me, how can she say I didn't take care of the children properly? There are other children born out of wedlock too, when have I ever mistreated them?"

  She bowed her head and wiped away tears, then said slowly: "Actually, I didn't intentionally want to harm Chuncao. I just thought of taking her to a secluded place first, talking things over with her clearly, if she agreed not to tell others, I would give her a few taels of silver as hush money; if she refused, I would think of another way... at worst, before the division of property, I would sell her whole family far away..."

  It seems that this way of dealing with it is not too excessive, Zhang's dissatisfaction with her daughter-in-law has already eased a lot. She sternly accused the other party: "This matter was wrong from the start, let Xiao Qian make trouble if she wants to, how can the child be handed over to her for care? The maidservants in the courtyard should not have been called away either. If there were a few people guarding at that time, could Ze Geer enter Hong Geer's room?"

  Jiang nodded repeatedly, pitifully acknowledging her mistake: "It was Sun's wife who was rash. When Old Lady Ji came over, she made a ruckus and told some jokes that made people laugh. Sun's wife didn't dare to rebuke an elder, but if she had yielded and gone along with it, she would have been afraid of being looked down upon by the servants from then on. So she could only drive everyone out of the courtyard and leave two trusted attendants in the house to wait on her. Ze brother should have been practicing his calligraphy in his own room; who could have expected him to run out?"

  "You still don't sincerely admit your mistake!" Zhang coldly snorted, "You still think it's just bad luck on your part, and Ze Geer just happened to run out, that's why this kind of thing happened, right? But have you ever thought, if there were a few more people around the child, would this kind of thing happen?! If you had taught him more about benevolence, righteousness, filial piety, and brotherly love when he was young, and less about fighting and competing, could he still do such a thing?! Do you know that if this gets out, Ze Geer's life will be ruined, no one will care how old he is!"

  The words made Jiang's eyes well up with tears, and she could only nod her head in resignation. She was truly regretful, thinking that even if the hospital didn't keep anyone, she should have kept a few more people by her son's side!

  Perhaps because of Jiang's attitude, which was not too bad, Zhang gradually calmed down and thought back to the whole incident. After Zhao Ze fell ill, he had already forgotten what he had done, and there were no witnesses or evidence. No one could say for sure whether he had really killed his younger brother, and continuing to investigate would be pointless. She then advised Jiang: "Ze's heart is filled with too much hatred, this is not a good omen. Find an excuse to send him to the temple to burn some incense, let him copy Buddhist scriptures every day, and cultivate his mind and nature. Otherwise, when he grows up and causes more trouble, you may not be able to protect him again."

  Jiang's face turned pale, she gritted her teeth and submissively replied "yes", then before leaving, she voluntarily added: "Madam thinks that letting Qian Lao Tai Tai and Jun Gong Ye be buried together is not proper in many ways, Sun Xi Fu heard that the lady of the house also doesn't quite agree with it, perhaps if you speak a few more words to her, the lady might persuade Hou Ye to change his mind, who knows, Old Madam can rest assured and wait for news."

  This sentence is clearly hinting at a deal, she helps the Zhang family speak on her behalf, and in return, the Zhang family keeps her secret, Mrs. Zhang doesn't say anything, but Mrs. Mi seems to have let out a sigh of relief, smiling as she personally sees her out the door, making a deal with her.

  They didn't know that after Jiang's hand left the red scarf, she suddenly softened and almost fell. Hong Yu hastily supported her: "Grandma, are you okay?"

  Jiang puffed out his chest and gritted his teeth, saying: "Let Ze go to the temple? Are you kidding me?! You want my son to become a monk just because he killed some worthless person?! What a joke! The more one copies Buddhist scriptures, the more their nature changes. I only have this one son, how can I let him be ruined?! Since you're all heartless, don't blame me for being ruthless!"

  She returned to the house to see her son, then went back to her room to re-dress and powder her face. After making sure everything was in order, she took hold of the red sash and went to look for Old Lady Niu to discuss the matter of burying Granny Qian with her husband, as well as Zhang's mother and son returning home to observe mourning rituals.

  "Niu's expression changed: 'Initially, it was you who said that using the excuse of sending off the spirit, to send them back to their hometown. Since the heavens are high and the emperor is far away, out of sight, out of mind. Moreover, there is the moral obligation of filial piety pressing down, no one would blame Master Hou for being unkind to his stepmother and younger brother. Why have you changed your mind today?'"

  "Mother, you've misunderstood," Jiang hastily explained with a smile. "The daughter-in-law did indeed say that, but... if Master Hou were to make such a big deal about it and bring up the matter of Old Lady Ji as well, how could they possibly agree? If things were to get out of hand, what good would it do for Master Hou?"

  Niu's expression eased a bit: "How could I not know? But we can't let them continue to stay in the capital, can we? Even if we don't interact with each other, just thinking about it makes me feel suffocated."

  Jiang thought to herself that her mother-in-law's methods were crude, but she smiled and said: "I think we should find a decent reason first, and persuade them to leave willingly. Once they're back in their hometown... as you said, the mountains are high and the emperor is far away, even if things get out of hand, who will stick up for them?"

  Niu listened with a comfortable heart and smiled, saying: "Is it that easy? They're not short of money, and they have several servants at their beck and call. Even if they return to their hometown, won't they come back?"

  Jiang leaned in close to her ear and spoke for half a day, making Niu feel even more at ease: "This is actually a good idea, but you're also a heartless girl who's only polite on the surface. On ordinary days, you're still quite respectful to that side, but when something really happens, you won't show any mercy."

  Jiang lowered her head and pretended to be obedient: "Mother, you're being too serious. Although we respect them in our daily lives, it's just a matter of courtesy. But I'll never forget who my real family is."

  "Good idea." Mr. Niu nodded in satisfaction, "In that case, I'll send someone to invite Master Zongfang to act as a mediator and persuade him to leave the capital first."

  Jiang's head hung down, a gentle and elegant smile on his face, but his eyes revealed a chill.