Old Madam Song had recently been so disturbed by Li Shi’s affairs that her mind was in turmoil, and she was truly vexed beyond measure. At this moment, facing Madam Su’s unreasonable behavior, her patience finally reached its limit. She glanced at the First Madam beside her, and without even looking at Madam Su, instructed, “Eldest daughter-in-law, go and summon Sanniang from Miss Chen’s side.”
Her original intention had been to call Chen Jinxin herself to properly refute this wolf-in-sheep’s-clothing aunt. However, thinking of Chen Jinxin’s pitiful circumstances and ordeal, and recalling her promise to Old Madam Su, she ultimately suppressed the wicked fire in her heart.
Madam Su merely stood to the side with a cold laugh.
Now that the Su family had already fallen to rock bottom, she no longer cared about reputation or dignity—obtaining money was what mattered. Previously, she had disdained Chen Jinxin for being orphaned and dependent on others, but now the substantial dowry at Chen Jinxin’s side had become the Su family’s life-saving funds. No matter what, she had to achieve her goal on this trip. Taking advantage of wiping her tears, she stole a glance at Old Madam Song seated above, her gaze containing little fear—before coming, she had already received information that the Song family was also in turbulent times, probably too busy cleaning up their own mess to have time to pursue matters concerning her family.
Sanniang entered with a calm expression, completely ignoring Madam Su beside her, and respectfully kowtowed to Old Madam Song and the First Madam.
“Your wife says that Miss Chen has a marriage agreement with their eldest young master, and intends to take your mistress back,” Old Madam Song said, tapping the teacup lid while watching Sanniang’s expression change dramatically below. “What do you say?”
Sanniang bit her lower lip and glared hatefully at Madam Su, her laugh mocking and sharp: “In response to Your Ladyship, there was indeed a marriage agreement initially, but the Madam said the match was unsuitable in status, that relatives marrying relatives would be improper, and therefore already canceled the betrothal. Our Old Madam specifically gave instructions because of this, saying that in the future when our mistress marries, everything will be handled by the Chen family’s clan uncles, and will have nothing further to do with the Su family.”
“You’re lying!” Madam Su’s face twisted with hatred, stepping forward several paces as if she wanted to devour Sanniang’s flesh: “The rice is already cooked—how could the Old Madam possibly allow someone from my Su family to marry someone else?!”
So for a bit of money, she truly didn’t want any face at all, speaking such words so brazenly.
Old Madam Song sneered continuously: “Since the Madam says this, do you have the marriage contract or betrothal tokens?”
Madam Su froze, her expression somewhat embarrassed.
Originally there had been both the marriage contract and jade pendants exchanged by both parties, but later, when she was determined to break off this engagement, she had already torn up the marriage contract and exchanged back the jade pendants.
Sanniang seized the opportunity: “I still have our Old Madam’s letter written in her own hand. The letter clearly states that our mistress’s marriage will henceforth be decided by the Chen family and has nothing to do with the Su family.”
Old Madam Song was too impatient to continue entangling with Madam Su and waved her sleeve to have someone escort the guest out.
After the woman left, she looked at the First Madam and, after sighing, instructed her: “Send someone to follow and see where she goes.”
The First Madam was somewhat puzzled.
Old Madam Song, however, felt something was rather amiss. This Madam Su had always been the type to read expressions and curry favor—such people were always pragmatic, so how could she barge in without reason demanding a dowry she absolutely couldn’t obtain? Unless… someone was instigating from the middle.
The Li residence was filled with deathly silence. First Master Li rushed into the study, not even having time to see his father’s face clearly before urgently saying: “Father! Are you really planning to send Mother to Cuiyun Nunnery? But that place is extremely austere, and with Mother in her current condition, how can she…”
Old Master Li stared at the desk with gloomy eyes for a long while, leaving his son hanging for quite some time before finally raising his head and asking in a cold voice: “Then what do you want?”
Something decided in front of both the Cui family and Song family representatives—could it just be changed at will? Never mind whether the Song family would let it go, the Cui family might truly come knocking.
First Master Li was somewhat anxious: “But that place is truly not fit for human habitation. Moreover, with my sister now dead, Mother’s condition looks very poor…”
“So what?!” Old Master Li slammed the account book in his hand heavily on the desk: “Since she dared to do it then, now she must dare to face the consequences! Or do you not want a future anymore, and your children don’t want futures either?!”
First Master Li’s eldest daughter was also twelve years old and would be meeting potential marriage prospects after the New Year.
First Master Li mumbled incoherently and heavily sighed.
“Not as good as a child!” Old Master Li glared at him and said irritably: “Write a note to the courier station and have them send an urgent letter to Changsha!”
Changsha? Could it be sending a letter to Song Yi? First Master Li panicked somewhat: “How can we write to brother-in-law now? If he finds out, he’ll probably hate us…”
“That’s why it must be fast!” Old Master Li impatiently interrupted his son: “The affair back then couldn’t have been accomplished by your sister alone—he must bear some responsibility too. If he has any conscience, he’ll naturally know that having only the Cui and Song families hate our family alone makes no sense. The letter is with Li Er—go quickly!”
First Master Li still didn’t quite understand but didn’t dare say more, nodding obsequiously before leaving.
Old Master Li stroked his beard while pacing around the room, then suddenly cast off his gloomy expression and nodded with satisfaction, smiling.
He hadn’t anticipated at the time that this granddaughter of his would turn out to be so clever. With her mother’s sudden death and this sudden crisis, she could still maintain such composure—truly remarkable.
However, thinking of the verbal message the servants had just brought, he felt somewhat hesitant again.
Under the current circumstances, was making a move against Song Yan taking too great a risk? But his granddaughter’s plan seemed very thorough—everything that should be considered had been considered. Nanny Yu and the others were his daughter’s trusted confidants who had helped commit quite a few wrongdoings inside and out over the years—the Song family absolutely could not tolerate them. According to Song Chuning’s plan, taking advantage of this moment to fight with their backs to the wall and deal with Song Yan while they were at it…
For the first time, he actually found making a decision so difficult, pacing back and forth for half the day unable to decide.
After thinking for a long while, he finally decided to let it be—if Song Chuning’s luck was truly good enough to deal with Song Yan and still escape unscathed, that would naturally be best.
But if she failed… he closed his eyes. In any case, the Li residence’s relationship with the Earl residence was already in name only—at worst, they would just tear off all pretenses.
Moreover, Song Chuning bore the Song surname after all. If she did something wrong, how could it be blamed on the Li family?
Thinking this, he reached out and rang the copper bell, summoning the steward: “Send that woman off properly and tell her to go back and counsel her young mistress to keep her peace of mind, that all matters require thinking thrice before acting. Also, remember to give her a string of cash to buy wine, and tell her to be careful with her words when she returns.”
Ah, I forgot to set the timer and set it wrong, had to run up and change the time… Go ahead and shoot me~~~