When she was still young, what she feared most was Nanny Zhang who served at Little Fan Shi’s side—back then she treated Little Fan Shi as her own younger sister, and her mother doted on Little Fan Shi. Little Fan Shi’s wet nurse was extremely protective of her charge. Whenever she accidentally damaged something belonging to her sister, or brought her sister along and got her skirt dirty, Nanny Zhang would always scold her first. The lectures were nothing more than things like “The eldest miss is the older sister; just as Kong Rong yielded the pear in ancient times, naturally she should give way to her younger sister,” “The eldest miss is older and knows more, how can she instigate her younger sister into mischief?” “The second miss is innocent and pure, the eldest miss should be more understanding”—words like these. She could no longer remember when this Nanny Zhang stopped saying such things. It seemed… to be from the time she learned that this pampered and protected parasitic vine was not born of her mother?
A mocking smile piled up at the corners of First Madam Fan’s mouth. Her long, upturned phoenix eyes glanced at the frowning Prince Dongping, then she turned her head to instruct Nanny Fang: “Write a letter and send it to the courier station. I’ll ask Mother exactly which divine being has arrived.” Sure enough, when you chase a dog into a dead-end alley, the dog should rise up and lunge to bite. Unfortunately, she just loved watching the dog cower in the alley—when it finally showed a fierce glint in its eyes and remembered to resist, only to have its teeth knocked out heavily again.
After giving her instructions and seeing Nanny Fang leave, she looked at Zhou Weiqi again: “I heard you wanted to go to the Marquis Jinxiang’s residence?”
The information here seemed to reach Mother no matter when, and she had to inquire about everything in exhaustive detail. He hadn’t noticed before, but now Zhou Weiqi truly felt somewhat suffocated by being managed—Mother’s desire to control people was really too strong. He lowered his head and gave an affirmative sound.
“Don’t go.” First Madam Fan said lightly: “If you have that time, you’d be better off managing your relationships with the Imperial Guard. Now that both Xu Liang and Jia Yingxin are dead, you cannot make an enemy of Lai Chenglong. This isn’t any major matter, not worth your personal attention.” Once this matter was handled poorly, it could very likely provoke Han Zhengqing’s dissatisfaction with him, yet Mother still said airily that it wasn’t any major matter. Zhou Weiqi felt like giving a mocking laugh—he didn’t know what could be considered a major matter in First Madam Fan’s eyes.
The irritation in his heart surged up wave after wave. He had come to ask about the identity of that old woman whom Little Fan Shi couldn’t spare time to grieve for Han Zhi in order to protect, but First Madam Fan clearly knew that old woman’s identity yet still concealed it evasively. He grew somewhat impatient. But he ultimately had excellent self-control. Even though he was extremely impatient, he still forcibly restrained himself, nodded, stood up and prepared to take his leave.
However, First Madam Fan suddenly called out to him again: “Have you heard about Third Madam Chen going to the Earl Changning’s residence and getting rebuffed?” Zhou Weiqi hesitantly stopped in his tracks and asked back: “Is this matter related to Mother?” He had thought that First Madam Fan, aside from thinking about how to make the Marquis Jinxiang’s household destroyed, no longer had the energy to care about other matters.
“The Earl Changning’s residence keeps their young ladies watched too closely and strictly.” First Madam Fan’s slender hand, painted with nail polish and showing almost no knuckles, picked up a piece of red bean cake. The coldness and harshness she had just shown when mentioning the Marquis Jinxiang’s residence vanished without a trace: “This is not good news. I see their household is very close and intimate with the Ye family and that side.”
This was also what troubled Zhou Weiqi. Since the Yangzhou corruption case, the Earl Changning’s residence had been lukewarm toward them, remaining unmoved no matter how they tried to curry favor. After the incident with Han Zhi’s scheme, they probably harbored even more resentment in their hearts—although the plot against Song Yan really was only Han Zhi’s idea alone, and he had also made timely remedies afterward, the Song family members had so many reservations. Song Chengru himself was already a slippery old fox, and with this development, he would be even less willing to make decisions easily.
He thought for a while, and his tightly furrowed brows suddenly relaxed: “Is Mother afraid that their family will use this adopted young lady to form a marriage alliance with the Ye family, making their relationship with that side even closer?”
“I’m afraid that side will have this thought first.” First Madam Fan watched Lianqiao bring a handkerchief to wipe her hands: “The Song family doesn’t have many young ladies left. Song Chuyi, this precious treasure, is watched so strictly by the Song family. To target her is obviously not so simple in the short term, so they can only start from other places first. Now that Third Madam Chen has made such a fuss, naturally the Song family will worry about the marriage prospects of this adopted pearl in their palm. This Miss Xiang’s status is awkward—if you speak of her marrying into someone’s family to become a principal wife, those families look down on her, but if she were to marry some worthless wastrel, the Song family would be reluctant. This way, doesn’t the opportunity come?”
The twists and turns of the inner chambers were things even Zhou Weiqi didn’t quite understand. He sat back down to listen to First Madam Fan speak.
“The Earl Changning’s residence must now be starting to worry about her lifelong affairs. In a few days it will be the great festival day when the Bodhisattva manifests divinity. If I haven’t guessed wrong, the Song family will definitely take the opportunity to bring this Miss Xiang out to introduce her to those madams in the capital.” First Madam Fan paused before continuing her previous words: “I’ve already agreed with Madam Wei to have her pay special attention. You should also tell Wei Yansheng not to just act like a blockhead that day.”
Wei Yansheng was the legitimate son of Third Rank Mighty General Old Master Wei, and also his study companion. Zhou Weiqi thought carefully and understood the benefits here—if the Wei family could truly form this marriage connection with the Song family, then the Song family couldn’t help but care about Xiang Mingzi’s welfare. Moreover, this Miss Xiang seemed to have always had a very good relationship with Song Liu. After the commotion caused by Old Madam Xiang, even if the somewhat discerning and reputable families in the capital wanted to curry favor with the Earl Changning’s residence, they might not dare to take this orphan girl whose parents had both died. The Wei family’s status was not low, their reputation was good too—if they really put effort into handling this matter, there actually was some chance of success.
What’s more, if this Miss Xiang took a fancy to Wei Yansheng, then the matter would be even simpler and easier to handle.
It seemed Mother wasn’t entirely focused only on internal strife. Zhou Weiqi’s dissatisfaction with First Madam Fan, which had been brimming over earlier, unknowingly lightened considerably. He looked at First Madam Fan and discussed with her in a calm and reasonable manner: “Tomorrow your son will still make the trip, also to probe Aunt’s thoughts. Otherwise when Uncle returns and hears what we say differs from what Aunt says…”
First Madam Fan’s expression suddenly turned from clear to overcast. After a long while, she restrained the impulse to roar, furrowed her brows tightly and impatiently waved her hand: “You should inquire more about this Imperial Guard Commander’s preferences and interact more with Vice Minister Li. Their two families are about to form a marriage alliance. If you win over the Li family, you win over this Commander. As for your aunt’s place, I’ll go there myself.”