When Cheng Lu was expelled from the family, Min Jia hadn’t yet married in. By the time she married into the family, Jiuru Alley had already divided the clan. The servants in the capital were either hereditary servants of several generations or newly purchased. The hereditary servants understood the rules and wouldn’t speak carelessly, and moreover felt that someone like Cheng Lu who had been driven out by the Cheng family wasn’t worth discussing. The newly purchased servants didn’t know about it, so naturally Min Jia knew nothing about Cheng Lu’s affairs. However, since the signature bore the surname “Cheng,” perhaps he was a clan member of the Cheng family. Having a courtesy name meant this person had achieved scholarly honors.
Min Jia was somewhat uncertain about what this person called Cheng Xiangqing wanted with her—matters of the inner courtyard were decided by Madam Yuan, matters of the outer courtyard were decided by Cheng Xu. No matter what Cheng Xiangqing wanted from her, she seemingly couldn’t help, not to mention she had never met Cheng Xiangqing. To her he was an outside man, making the question of meeting even more inappropriate.
She handed the letter to a young maid, saying: “Give it to the Master to handle.”
The young maid acknowledged and left, returning shortly after, saying timidly: “The Master isn’t in his room. They say the Old Master punished him to kneel in the ancestral hall.”
For Cheng Xu to say such things, anyone would have to go kneel in the ancestral hall.
When Old Madam Guo left, her mother-in-law was already too angry to speak. Who knew if she had calmed down by now? As a daughter-in-law, should she go comfort her mother-in-law? Given her mother-in-law’s temperament, she probably would rather swallow her broken teeth with blood than let her see such a wretched state, right?
Min Jia hesitated, but ultimately went to Yuan Shi’s quarters.
Yuan Shi was so angry she had taken to her bed, with Cheng Jing sitting there comforting her. Hearing that her daughter-in-law had come, Yuan Shi quickly shook her head at Cheng Jing.
Cheng Jing couldn’t help but sigh, saying: “If you had married a daughter-in-law from a lower family status back then, at least now you’d have a daughter-in-law by your side to talk to!”
With such matters happening in the family, Yuan Shi cared about face. How could she lose face before a daughter-in-law who was the eldest daughter of the Min family? She could only hide it, and even if she couldn’t hide it completely, she had to deceive herself.
Yuan Shi said displeased: “Such daughters-in-law are a dime a dozen—what good are they? Does our family have such incidents every day?”
“When a family lives together, even upper and lower teeth clash sometimes, don’t they?” Cheng Jing said. “I think there are some things you should make clear to Min Shi.”
Yuan Shi made no sound.
Her mind was entirely elsewhere now. She kept thinking about Cheng Xu’s words.
“I’ve given him my whole heart, how can he accuse me like this?” As Yuan Shi spoke, her heart felt like it had been carved out with a knife, and tears couldn’t help falling again.
Cheng Jing frowned and said: “From now on, don’t interfere with Jiashan’s affairs anymore. Previously entrusting the child to you was because I had many matters in the capital and no time to attend to him. Without someone managing him in the capital, I feared he would learn bad habits from those wastrel sons. Now that the family has reunited and moved to the capital, you just need to manage the inner household properly…”
Yuan Shi’s mouth fell open. After a long while she said: “Are you also blaming me?”
Sons indeed shouldn’t be raised solely by women’s hands.
Cheng Jing had previously thought that since his wife was the daughter of a Grand Secretary, and all his brothers had been raised by their mother, even if his wife couldn’t compare to his mother, she would be better than ordinary women. In the early years, seeing how she taught and raised Cheng Xu with such dedication and effort, he had entrusted the child to Yuan Shi. But he never expected that in the end, she would raise their son askew.
No woman in this world could compare to his mother.
This was what Cheng Jing thought, and his expression inevitably revealed some of it.
Yuan Shi’s heart turned completely cold as she cried: “How can you think this way? All these years in our hometown, I’ve helped you manage household affairs, served my mother-in-law, raised our children—conscientiously, not daring the slightest carelessness. Now that the child has turned out this way, I’m sadder than anyone, yet instead of comforting me, you blame me…”
Cheng Jing truly didn’t want to say anything more.
All these years, precisely because he remembered his wife’s hardships, he had respected her this way, had served as an official in the capital for so many years without even taking a concubine…
He stood up irritably and said: “Rest well! I’m going to see Mother and also discuss Jiashan’s matter with Second Uncle.” Having said this, without waiting for Yuan Shi to respond, he directly left the inner chamber.
Yuan Shi was both anxious and angry. Her chest cramped with pain, cold sweat broke out on her forehead, and she collapsed on the bed.
The room immediately fell into chaos.
By the time Yuan Shi’s wet nurse chased after him, Cheng Jing had long since disappeared.
※※※
In the study of the outer courtyard at Chen Li’s residence outside Fucheng Gate, Cheng Lu was listening with an uncertain expression as a servant reported: “…She said that as an inner household woman, it’s inappropriate to meet outside men. She told you to find their Master if you have any matters.”
As the servant carefully spoke, he observed Cheng Lu’s expression.
Cheng Lu’s expression only grew worse.
He hadn’t expected that Cheng Xu would smoothly achieve the jinshi degree. Next, would he take the Hanlin Academy examination and stay to observe governance at the Hanlin Academy?
He looked down at the scholar’s robe that only educated men could wear, his expression growing even uglier.
Chen Li had gone through great effort to help him restore his xiucai degree so he wouldn’t have to change his name and take the examination again. Even so, the years he had lost couldn’t be recovered—previously the gap between him and Cheng Xu had been minimal, but now it was like one in heaven and one on earth.
He had come to this because of the Cheng family’s harm!
Cheng Lu’s hands clenched tightly into fists.
The servant’s legs went weak with fear.
Fortunately, the voice of the servant on duty came from outside: “Son-in-law, a steward from the Fourth Prince’s household has arrived, saying that the Buddha Bathing Festival is approaching. Someone below presented the Fourth Prince with some incense and candles. The Fourth Prince thought their quality was good and specially ordered the household steward to send some over. But the Master isn’t home—what do you think about this gift list?”
The Fourth Prince’s household?
The Crown Prince was dead. The Second Prince, Fifth Prince, and Seventh Prince were either dead or demoted. The most capable person at court now was the Fourth Prince.
The Emperor had also established the Imperial Grandson. When the Emperor passed away, the Fourth Prince becoming a Prince of First Rank was inevitable.
“Just handle it the way the First Young Madam usually does.” Cheng Lu took a deep breath before he could speak these words in a calm tone.
As an adopted son-in-law, he had no right to handle such matters.
Who knew that the servant would quickly return and say respectfully: “The First Young Madam says that for outside matters, the son-in-law should make the decisions.”
Cheng Lu’s breathing calmed slightly as he said: “Then bring the person in!”
The servant went to invite the person inside.
The steward from the Fourth Prince’s household respectfully performed the courtesies, said a lengthy string of polite words, and presented the gift list to Cheng Lu.
Cheng Lu didn’t look closely. He then handed the gift list to the household steward, stating clearly that he would personally deliver it to Chen Li when he returned.
The steward left with profuse thanks.
Only then did Cheng Lu open the gift list and glance at it.
Just that one glance left him somewhat dumbstruck.
The gift list actually included half a catty of ambergris.
That was something only the imperial family could use, more precious than gold.
He thought for a moment, then took the gift list to Chen Shi’s quarters: “Should we send a return gift or something?”
“Yes!” Chen Shi wanted to conceive a child but there had been no movement. She had invited an imperial physician to adjust her constitution and spent all day focused on those few prescriptions. Hearing this, she said coolly: “Father’s rule is that no matter what anyone sends to our household, either decline it or return half the value as a gift.”
Cheng Lu said hesitantly: “But the Fourth Prince’s household sent gifts worth no less than four thousand taels of silver… isn’t that inappropriate?”
Chen Shi smiled and said: “The Fourth Prince isn’t the only one sending gifts to our household! Except for His Highness the Crown Prince’s, we’ve never returned a full gift!”
The Crown Prince?
For the first time, Cheng Lu felt so closely the formidable power of the great eunuchs!
He was silent for a moment.
Chen Shi thought that contradicting him had hurt his self-esteem, so she quickly smiled and said: “But there’s no rush with the return gift. We can wait until Father decides on it. After all, we don’t understand these outside matters anyway.”
Cheng Lu nodded.
When Chen Li returned, he handed the gift list to Chen Li.
Who knew Chen Li would glance at it indifferently and instruct the steward: “Just return a gift worth two thousand taels of silver.”
Cheng Lu wanted to speak but hesitated.
Chen Li quite liked this son-in-law—after all, he was a descendant of the Cheng family of Jiuru Alley in Jinling.
Seeing this, he smiled and asked: “Does son-in-law think there’s something inappropriate?”
Cheng Lu thought for a moment and said: “To be honest with Father-in-law, I think at this time we should cultivate good relations with the Fourth Prince!”
Truly worthy of being from a prominent family—even having been expelled, he still had such vision and breadth of mind.
Chen Li said amiably: “How so?”
Cheng Lu lowered his voice and said: “Father-in-law has served the Emperor for a lifetime. When the Emperor passes, naturally there will be arrangements for Father-in-law. But looking at the close attendants of all past dynasties, they’re either assigned to guard the imperial mausoleum or arranged to leave the palace for retirement. Who hasn’t offended some petty person while on duty? When these petty people cause trouble, it’s most troublesome for those close attendants who are far from the Forbidden Palace. Now the Imperial Grandson is only ten years old, and several Imperial Uncles are all in their prime. Whether it’s smallpox or measles, any of these are difficult hurdles to pass. I think Father-in-law should leave more paths open. Though it’s not necessary to curry favor with the Fourth Prince, there’s no need to offend him either.”
Chen Li looked at Cheng Lu with deeper meaning in his eyes and smiled: “I didn’t expect you to be so concerned with court affairs!”
“Who can afford not to be concerned with court affairs?” Cheng Lu said seriously. “When the Son of Heaven is enraged, millions of corpses float. We may not seek advancement and wealth, but we can’t bring disaster upon our families either!”
Chen Li laughed and said: “The Emperor has been feeling somewhat unwell these past days. Originally I shouldn’t leave the palace, but I was worried that you young couple wouldn’t know how to manage the household, so I came out to check. Since you’ve said this, I’ll leave this matter to you. If the Fourth Prince’s household asks, just say I haven’t returned home.”
If it succeeded, he would naturally benefit. If it didn’t, he could mediate from within.
Cheng Lu was overjoyed.
In an official career, starting late wasn’t to be feared—what was feared was having no one at court to promote you, sitting on a cold bench for ten or twenty years with no one paying attention.
As long as he could board the Fourth Prince’s ship, whether it was Cheng Xu or Cheng Chi, they could only watch from the sidelines.
Cheng Lu sneered inwardly.
Thinking about the meaning in Chen Li’s earlier words, after seeing Chen Li off, he discussed with Chen Shi and drafted a return gift for the Fourth Prince’s household.
When the Fourth Prince received the return gift, he immediately summoned his trusted advisor: “What do you think Duke Liu’s intention is here?”
The advisor smiled and carefully examined the gift list, saying: “He probably wants to straddle two boats.”
The Fourth Prince smiled slightly, a trace of excitement flashing in his eyes.
If one had nothing to fear, why would one change?
Clearly that old scoundrel Chen Li also believed he would become Emperor!