Old Master Chen’s gaze bore into her, his eyes flashing with sharp light. After a long while, he finally turned his head away: “Wanning, it’s not that I want to blame you, but you truly have not fulfilled the responsibilities of a head matriarch properly.”
Otherwise, Third Master Chen and Third Madam Chen need not have walked down this dead-end path, and in the end dragged him into the ditch with them. Thinking of this point, Old Master Chen couldn’t help but applaud the entry point Fang Xiaorou chose for his scheme. He truly had identified the Chen family’s weakness, knew where the Chen family’s flaws lay, and therefore struck with one blow that nearly made it impossible for him to recover.
He still had ambitions, still had a raging fire in his heart pursuing power and wealth, and therefore could not permit such a thing to happen again. Looking at Old Madam Chen for a long while, he paused and said: “Previously I always felt you could handle household matters well. It seems I was too blind. The old saying goes, if you cannot even sweep a single room, how can you sweep the world? I couldn’t even handle household affairs properly. This disaster was just a lesson for me. Once we reach Jinling—” He looked at Old Madam Chen’s ashen face, but the words from his mouth were resolute: “Once we reach Jinling, let us invite Great-aunt to preside over the rear courtyard.”
This great-aunt of the Chen family was actually younger than Old Master Chen in age, but her seniority was extremely high, and her prestige in the clan was also extremely great. Old Madam Chen had always been quite intimidated by her. Now hearing Old Master Chen say this, she instinctively felt it was bad—she, the legitimate head wife, was still alive, yet they were inviting an elder from the clan to preside over rear courtyard affairs and educate the children. This was harshly slapping her face. But when she looked toward Elder Chen, all the complaints about to exit her mouth instinctively swallowed back down. Elder Chen’s gaze was firm, clearly he had already made up his mind, and when he made up his mind to do something, he never easily changed it.
This time she had indeed made a grave error. She could only lower her head. After a long while, she asked again: “Then, Mingqing and the others, how shall they be dealt with?”
Old Master Chen looked at Old Madam Chen for a long while. He asked himself if he had treated Old Madam Chen not poorly, giving her all the dignity a legitimate wife should have. In his life, he had only one concubine, only Third Master Chen as a concubine-born son. Yet Old Madam Chen had never treated his concubine-born son kindly, and caused his concubine-born son to harbor resentment and do such things…
He glanced at Old Madam Chen: “They are my grandchildren. Naturally, however Mingyu and them are treated, so shall they be treated. When the time comes, Great-aunt will naturally settle them. You need not worry about it.”
Old Madam Chen wanted to worry but could no longer manage it. She leaned against the bed gasping for a while to steady her breathing, then asked him again: “What about Mingyu? This child has always had aspirations higher than heaven. We also previously had such plans. Now having fallen from power in one morning…”
Old Master Chen, having finished handling matters at hand, personally went to Chen Mingyu’s cabin that evening. Chen Mingyu was copying Buddhist scriptures. Elder Chen poked his head in for a look and called out to her: “Your heart isn’t in it. Better to rest.”
Chen Mingyu put down her brush and sat respectfully across from Elder Chen. Raised in pampered luxury from childhood, this was the first time she had entered prison. This month of prison life had already worn her down, no longer resembling the former granddaughter of the Elder’s household who looked down on everyone.
Elder Chen saw her with lowered brows and eyes looking completely dejected, and couldn’t help but smile: “Feeling wronged?”
Chen Mingyu indeed felt somewhat wronged. This grievance came not only from the prison disaster, but also from the shattering of dreams. Back then, regardless of whether Zhou Weizhao liked her or not, at least her status could make Empress and Crown Princess treat her differently. But with Grandfather’s incident, she had lost even her only source of pride, this advantage of competing with Song Chuyi on equal footing. She couldn’t describe the feeling in her heart.
On one hand, to luckily escape death, with Grandfather still able to be transferred to the Nanjing Ministry of Revenue, she felt it was great fortune within misfortune. But on the other hand, she felt extremely self-pitying about her circumstances.
After thinking, she gently shook her head before her grandfather: “I dare not feel wronged. That our whole family could keep our lives is already heaven’s vast grace.”
The smile on Elder Chen’s face became more genuine. He nodded at her: “That’s right. Such great charges, involving so many people, yet in the end we could escape unscathed—we should be grateful for heaven’s vast grace.”
Chen Mingyu nodded without continuing to respond. She was glad she was alive, yet hated that she was still alive. Back when in prison, she had thought as long as she could preserve her life and not die, that would be good. But once her life was preserved, she began to want more, thinking how nice it would be if she were still the Elder’s legitimate granddaughter. In that case… in that case, even if she couldn’t match Zhou Weizhao, the Prince of Dongping would also be quite good. Speaking of it was laughable—only at this point did she discover that in her bones she was someone who coveted wealth and status and couldn’t let go of it. What she wanted was nothing more than what ordinary women all sought: to marry a respectable and prestigious husband, to maintain such glorious days as before. As for who the person giving her that glory was, previously she naturally thought only the future heir apparent was incomparable, but now she felt princes and nobles would all do.
“No need to be sad.” Seeing her silent, Old Master Chen said: “Thirty years east of the river, thirty years west of the river. In this world, there are many things where feng shui turns. Frustrated and unlucky today, who knows if tomorrow might bring great prospects again. Do you think Grandfather isn’t sad or heartbroken? I am sad too, but being sad and heartbroken serves no great purpose. Now we can only learn from our mistakes, think about exactly where we were defeated, and not make the same mistakes again. When the day comes that we rise again from the east, then we’ll discuss other matters.”
Chen Mingyu had always known her grandfather was formidable. Just like this time—clearly it was almost a deadly trap, yet Grandfather could actually escape unscathed. Such ability was truly astonishing. She heard the deeper meaning in Grandfather’s words and suddenly raised her head to look at Elder Chen: “Grandfather means that in the future we still have a day when glory returns?”
Elder Chen laughed heartily: “Why not? As long as one is alive, what is impossible? Since Grandfather doesn’t die today, in the future I will certainly make those who framed me fill it with their entire households’ coffins!”
He would still work for the Crown Prince, and the Crown Prince also needed him to work. Relying on the Crown Prince, sooner or later he would have a day to rise. However, the person he planned to support would no longer be the Imperial Grandson Zhou Weizhao who was close to the Cui family and Song family—this Imperial Grandson was truly too difficult to control. What he needed was also not an external family that would support him all the way and then constrain him afterward. The path the Chen family planned to take wouldn’t work with him. Since their goals were inconsistent, how could they cooperate in the future? The things the Chen family wanted to obtain from the Imperial Grandson simply couldn’t be obtained.
Author’s Note: Only two chapters were written last night. Went to the hospital this morning and was delayed the entire morning. Tomorrow I still need to go get the liver function test report, and this afternoon I still need to accompany someone at the hospital. Taking my laptop to write, will try my best to see if I can update before midnight today. Asking everyone for leave in advance.