Saying he broke his leg and so they didn’t dare delay Miss Qing—this was fooling ghosts! Back when Miss Tong broke her leg, they had hastily fixed Miss Tong’s marriage to Duke Yingguo’s eldest grandson, not even caring about face, terrified that the other party wouldn’t agree. Now that it was their son, they suddenly started being considerate of others, afraid others would fall into a pit of fire?!
Third Madam Chen turned to look at Old Madam Chen, her gaze completely blank, unable to react or figure out how to respond—although the Tong family’s reputation had already been completely ruined by Tong Shao and didn’t sound good at all, the Tong family was nevertheless a Minister’s household, and moreover, Tong Second Young Master was legitimate-born. This marriage match was the best possible for Chen Mingqing.
Old Madam Chen was unwilling to manage this matter—she had never paid attention to the Third Branch. Third Master Chen was concubine-born. Although she had also taught and raised him when he was young, someone who didn’t come from her belly simply didn’t come from her belly, and that could never be changed. When Third Master Chen’s birth mother died and he cried with snot and tears everywhere, it had truly disgusted Old Madam Chen. Her own eldest son had also died, and she really had no mind to spare for this concubine-born son.
Over these years, Third Master Chen had barely managed to struggle through and pass the metropolitan examination, then was sent out to serve as a county magistrate. Not having him hovering before her, she had become even more cold and distant toward him. Just in recent days, she had rejected Third Madam Chen’s face countless times. Truly, there was nothing about the Third Branch that she found worthy of regard. Just the scene of going with Old Madam Xiang to make trouble at the Song household had made her feel she had completely lost face.
The Third Branch not being to her liking, whether this marriage succeeded or not made absolutely no difference to her. When it was arranged before, she hadn’t cared, and now that it was breaking off, her heart actually had no ripples either. However, she still had to ask about it—not for the Third Branch’s sake, but for Elder Chen’s sake. All of them were the Crown Prince’s people, and Minister Tong was also tied to the Crown Prince’s ship. Now, Minister Tong, having just declined the chief examiner position, sent someone to the household to break off the engagement—what did this mean? Did it mean drawing a clear line with the Chen family? This was the most critical matter. She coughed a few times and cleared her throat, looking at the composed round-faced woman. “This truly is an unexpected disaster. I don’t know when he fell. Is it serious or not? Our household also knows several retainers skilled in treating falls and injuries…”
At this time, she still wasn’t panicking or losing composure. Old Madam Chen was indeed someone who could stand firm. The round-faced woman, thinking of her master’s instructions before coming, didn’t dare show any other expression and hurriedly answered, “No, no, no, there’s no need to trouble the Old Madam. We engaged familiar retainers. They said this injury would either require three to five years to heal, or it would leave lingering effects—perhaps for his whole life he would have some minor ailments. Our master and mistress are old family friends with your household, and they thought it wouldn’t be right to delay your young lady…”
Old family friends. Old Madam Chen thoughtfully closed her eyes. After a moment she opened them and sighed with apparent worry. “If that’s the case, then it shows our Miss Qing lacks this fortune.” As she spoke, she turned to look at Third Madam Chen and instructed her to have someone fetch Second Young Master Tong’s birth date document. “Your mistress is kindhearted. Our Miss Qing’s age truly cannot be delayed any longer.”
Third Madam Chen’s tears were already welling in her eyes, and she could barely control herself. Old Madam Chen didn’t ask even one more question—not even one additional inquiry—and so easily agreed to this matter of breaking off the engagement.
Breaking off, breaking off the engagement—although they said it nicely, that it was because of the injury and they didn’t want to delay Chen Mingqing, how would outsiders think of it?
Third Madam Chen felt extremely wronged at this moment. The bit of guilt she had felt toward the Chen household and the guilty conscience about Third Master Chen accepting silver were all forgotten. Even more, she forgot that the reason Minister Tong wanted to break off the engagement this time was precisely because Elder Chen had been caught up in the Spring Examination paper leak. Her heart was full of Old Madam Chen’s almost casual attitude, and a deep sense of humiliation welled up inside her.
But even feeling humiliated, there was no solution. When living under someone else’s roof, one had to bow one’s head. They were people of the Chen household and bore the Chen surname. Now the Tong family had come to break off the engagement. Although they spoke nicely on the surface, this was still willing to leave the Chen family some face. If she didn’t know what was good for her and refused to break it off, things wouldn’t be so easy to talk about later. She blankly uttered “Oh,” then turned to instruct the old servant, “Go, go to the room and fetch Second Young Master Tong’s birth date document.” By the end, even her shoulders couldn’t help trembling.
The round-faced woman lowered her eyes and pretended not to see, drank a sip of tea, and chatted with Old Madam Chen for a while longer. When the birth date document arrived, she took it and rose to bid farewell to Old Madam Chen and Third Madam Chen. Her polite words were still quite pretty. “Your household’s young ladies are all wonderful. It’s only a pity that our Second Young Master lacks this fortune. Before I came, our mistress even cried for a while.”
Old Madam Chen smiled knowingly and ordered Nanny Li to see the visitor out, then had Huazhi instruct someone to brew fresh tea. She turned to look at Third Madam Chen and frowned. “When the tree falls, the monkeys scatter; when the wall collapses, everyone pushes. That they’re still willing to leave us face is already rare.”
If this matter had involved Chen Mingyu instead, Third Madam Chen absolutely didn’t believe Old Madam Chen would remain so composed. When all was said and done, it was still because Chen Mingqing was the daughter of a concubine-born son, and Old Madam Chen hadn’t looked at her seriously at all. She was confused and muddled, not knowing what to say, and hung her head as tears immediately fell.
Old Madam Chen found it distasteful to watch. Now the household was already in this situation, yet Third Madam Chen was crying like this over such a small matter. Previously when Elder Chen had his incident, even the usually heartless eldest daughter-in-law knew to come to the main quarters to inquire and put on a show, yet only Third Madam Chen pretended to be ill and shrank in the Third Branch’s courtyard, as if afraid of bringing trouble on herself. Now her daughter hadn’t even been hurt to the bone—it was just a marriage that didn’t belong to her anyway—and she was crying like this.
Indeed, she could never be won over. Old Madam Chen felt quite disheartened and also somewhat annoyed. She waved her hand to dismiss her. “Don’t cry in front of me either. I’m just an old woman—I can’t make decisions about this matter. If you don’t want to break it off, go back to their household now and plead. See if they’re willing not to break it off.”
Third Madam Chen’s face flushed red with shame from the rebuke. The disgust and disdain in Old Madam Chen’s words weren’t concealed in the slightest. She didn’t dare cry anymore. She stood up and stood helplessly for a while, then took her leave. After being blown by the draft in the corridor, she slowly and with difficulty moved step by step back to her own courtyard. Chen Mingqing was already waiting for her in the room and quietly came forward to take her hand.