Third Madam Chen didn’t dare look at her daughter’s eyes. She turned away and curled up on the daybed, clenching her teeth so hard that after grinding them for a while, she accidentally bit her tongue. She cried out in surprise again and covered her mouth, sobbing.

Chen Mingqing hadn’t expected her mother to cry so intensely. She reached out to take a handkerchief from the old servant and patiently wiped away all her mother’s tears before sighing and looking at her mother with patient consolation. “Never mind, Mother. Given our family’s current predicament, it’s common for others to look down on us and want to draw a clear line with us.”

Hearing her daughter speak this way, Third Madam Chen felt her heart pierced even more painfully. Gripping her daughter’s hand, tears and snot covered her face. “I’m just, just so indignant. If this matter had involved that girl Chen Mingyu instead, you just watch and see if the Old Madam would let it go so easily. When all is said and done, isn’t it all because your father wasn’t born from the Old Madam’s belly? Otherwise, we wouldn’t be…”

Chen Mingqing shook her head at her mother and slowly sat beside Third Madam Chen, her gaze calm as she looked at the floor. “Mother, there’s no logic in what you’re saying. It’s not the Old Madam who said to break off the engagement—it’s the Tong family who’s afraid of being too close to our household. The warmth and coldness of human relations are exactly like this. Mother needn’t be so unable to accept it.”

Chen Mingqing was indeed someone who could think things through. She didn’t think the Tong family marriage had anything good about it, but since it had been arranged back then, she had thought about how to live after marrying over. Now that the engagement was broken, she thought about how to continue living after the break. When all was said and done, one had to live no matter what. To her, whether the engagement broke or not, which marriage she entered made no difference.

Third Madam Chen naturally couldn’t accept it. Seeing her daughter’s composed appearance only made her heart ache more. She sent her daughter back to rest and sat in the room waiting for Third Master Chen to return.

Third Master Chen had heard about this matter early on. He was different from Third Madam Chen—when she did something that troubled her conscience, she had to hide and didn’t dare show her face, but he increasingly wanted to desperately try to compensate, to make amends—after all, this was his birth father. Moreover, when the nest is overturned, how can any eggs remain intact? He couldn’t watch his birth father truly sink into this affair. But his capabilities were truly limited. He had no schemes or connections. These past few days following his second brother running around everywhere, he hadn’t achieved any effect at all, and his heart grew even more uneasy.

After all, he had accepted silver. Third Master Chen’s face wasn’t very thick. Back then, because his wife had cried so miserably and spoken so reasonably, he had some improper thoughts and accepted the silver. Now that his father had fallen into misfortune, if his acceptance of silver was discovered, then setting aside how it would harm his father, he himself would be finished, and moreover, he would become the Chen family’s eternal sinner. Now he spent every day harboring a chest full of worries, nearly suffocating himself to death.

Now that Third Madam Chen was crying before him about Old Madam Chen’s favoritism, out of guilt he couldn’t listen anymore. Instead, impatient and exhausted, he pushed away his wife’s hand. “You’ve lived this long and still aren’t as sensible as Qing’er. What she said is right—it’s not the Old Madam who wants to break off the engagement. Besides, whether to break the engagement or not isn’t for the Old Madam to decide. How can you blame it on her?”

Third Madam Chen looked at her husband in disbelief, but knew she couldn’t complain further—after all, Elder Chen was Third Master Chen’s birth father. Now that Elder Chen had fallen into misfortune and Third Master Chen had benefited, feeling guilty was natural.

She held back a chest full of resentment and grievance with nowhere to vent it. Thinking left and right, only Madam Fang could listen to her talk. She gathered her things and went to find Madam Fang.

Madam Fang was also at home anxiously pacing like ants on a hot pot. Seeing Third Madam Chen, she couldn’t help but sigh. “I’m afraid we can’t hold on any longer? Our master hasn’t closed his eyes for three or four days now.”

Fang Xiaoru was Elder Chen’s prized student and also one of Elder Chen’s strategists. With such a great incident occurring, naturally the Fang family was also having a hard time. Third Madam Chen felt somewhat better and told Madam Fang about the Tong family breaking off the engagement. Speaking of it, she felt wronged again and couldn’t help crying. “Of course I know the marriage isn’t for the Old Madam to decide, but if it were another granddaughter of hers, how could her attitude be so light and casual?”

Madam Fang instructed someone to pour her a cup of tea and looked at Third Madam Chen while shaking her head heavily. “At a time like this, you still have the mind to feel wronged about this? Whether the engagement breaks or not is still a small matter—what comes next is the big matter.”

Third Madam Chen’s heart skipped a beat. She widened her eyes and looked at Madam Fang. “What big matter?”

How could even breaking off an engagement only be a small matter? Then what could be called a big matter? Third Madam Chen had a guilty conscience and thought more. She immediately grasped Madam Fang’s hand tightly. “It can’t be about us accepting silver…”

Madam Fang quickly raised a finger to her lips in a silencing gesture and looked at Third Madam Chen with some irritation. “At a time like this, you still dare to hang this matter on your lips? Are you afraid no one knows about it?”

Third Madam Chen realized it herself and couldn’t help feeling somewhat embarrassed. She took a handkerchief to wipe her eyes. “I, I was just anxious for a moment. You know I’m someone who can’t handle things…”

Madam Fang sighed with deep worry, as if she also had no mind to argue with her. “What does this bit of silver we accepted amount to? Who would care about it? It’s just that you’re timid and can’t handle things, actually becoming this frightened.”

Third Madam Chen felt even more embarrassed. She hung her head and sighed for a while, then remembering the earlier unfinished topic, she asked Madam Fang again, “Then what were you saying earlier about what big matter comes next…”

Madam Fang’s expression was very poor, and the dark circles under her eyes had grown even heavier. She looked at Third Madam Chen for quite a while before speaking. “Isn’t it a big matter? I heard that Elder Chen truly did accept silver from others, and accepted quite a lot…”

Third Madam Chen believed it—although Third Master Chen had accepted silver, where would he have the capability to obtain any examination papers? Yet Lu Bingyu and Zhou Chengfang had truly gotten hold of the exam papers, and during that period, Lu Bingyu and Zhou Chengfang had come to the house quite frequently.

She asked somewhat urgently, “He really accepted it? How much did he accept?”

Madam Fang coughed twice. “I also heard this through hearsay, but I heard it was uncovered by Censor Tao. It seems he accepted two hundred thousand taels from others… And this is just the Zhou family’s amount.”

Two hundred thousand taels?! Third Madam Chen nearly jumped up. Covering her mouth, she barely suppressed the cry of shock that had reached her lips.

Such a large sum, and this was just from the Zhou family. Third Madam Chen hung her head in a daze. No wonder Lu Bingyu and Zhou Chengfang could all obtain the examination papers—with such a huge sum of money…