The matter that Wei Zhengya and the little Mrs. Liu personally came to visit and sent a piece of clay to the Wei Family was true, because, in the afternoon of the same day, Old Madam Song also received the letter sent by Wei Zhengyin that very night. The letter described in an urgent and exasperated tone of the story that a commoner stopped the carriage and complained about the grievances in the capital—
The so-called commoner from Fengzhou cried and shouted to stop the ceremonial match of Wei Qi on the bustling street of Vermilion Bird, which was the busiest street in the capital. This attracted countless idle people to stop and see.
The point is, when the commoner cried to ask Wei Qi to get out of the carriage, the manservant next to Wei Qi spoke out the identity of Wei Qi which intended to let the commoner know how to salute. However, unexpectedly, he mentioned only a “Wei” word, the commoner from Fengzhou, who had tried desperately to rush past the guards to hand in the written complaint, immediately changed his facial expression. He stumbled a few words, immediately took the paper back and tried to slip away.
Who wouldn’t become suspicious with such an anomaly? Besides, Wei Qi rarely showed up on the street, and there was absolutely no reason to let that person stop and walk away as his will. Thus, on the long street, everyone enjoyed a play in which the commoner came all the way to the capital to sue the Wei Family in Fengzhou but bumped into Wei Qi, who was also a member of the Wei Family.
…Of course, Wei Qi, who always “respected” Wei Huan, would not believe the words of a commoner. Without finishing listening to the words of the commoner, he angrily denounced him for talking nonsense that he dared to slander the important official’s lineal granddaughter. He even wanted to beat the man to death in the street! That commoner was trembling at first. Yet, after this, he risked everything. When Wei Qi ordered the guards to press him down the staff, he unexpectedly spoke out loud the details that he had witnessed the defamation of Wei Changying in the forest and thus became the target of the hurting target of Ruiyu Hall. He even described the characteristics of several trees and grass quilts on the spot!
There was only one thing that was different from what the little Mrs. Liu said, that was, the commoner did not draw the appearance of Wei Changying. But he shouted and roughly described the appearance of Wei Changying. There “happened” to be a person who was good at painting around and “casually” drew a picture according to his description. And this saying just spread in this way.
Yet, not long after the painting was finished, the commoner shouted the cause and effect of the incident so that everyone nearby knew. Therefore, he was beaten to death by Wei Qi guards on the street.
Wei Qi also said angrily that if he heard such slanderous remarks about the high ranked official’s female family members again, that person would have the same result as this commoner!
As people could imagine, outsiders had always believed that when Wei Huan resigned, he recommended Wei Qi as the vice-premier. Therefore, Wei Qi had the gratitude for having found a patron or superior appreciative of his ability to Wei Huan. And Wei Qi’s gifts to Wei Huan were also never stopped over the years.
Since Wei Qi was so partial to Wei Huan, it was only natural for him to kill a commoner who sued Wei Huan and slandered Wei Huan’s granddaughter’s reputation. No matter whether the slander was true or false, the fact that Wei Qi wanted to repay Wei Huan was true!
But if it was fake, how could Wei Qi beat someone to death without checking it out? It was clear that he was protecting Wei Huan. After all, it was just as the commoner had previously regretted and worried about before, Wei Qi was not only very grateful to Wei Huan, he was also the descendent of the Wei Family in Fengzhou! From the perspective of family relationships and reasonable thinking, Wei Qi would not admit that the reputation of the daughter of the Wei Family was tarnished.
Therefore, this matter was probably true.
Under such speculation, although the situation was controlled by Wei Qi at that time, the discussion among people afterward spread quickly! The rumor was so fierce that it almost spread to every corner of the capital before evening. And the more it spread, the more outrageous the rumor became. Therefore, before that evening, several of Wei Zhengyin’s sisters-in-law went to her room to look around. Although they didn’t say it clearly, they were asking about this rumor.
Wei Changying still had the Shou Gong Mark on her arm. Even if it was gone, the Wei Family would only cancel the engagement with the excuse that the Wei Family’s Miss had a serious illness. It was impossible for the Wei Family to say explicitly things like Wei Changying had lost her virginity. This was not just the Wei Family’s decency. Because Wei Changying and Shen Cangfeng were not only engaged since childhood but also had been through all the procedures that getting married would be the only way for them to go. In fact, Wei Changying had long been considered as a member of the Shen Family!
In other words, if the Wei Changying was harmed by the bandits, it would be the Wei Family and the Shen Family who would lose face. Ruiyu Hall was in decline in the past two years, but the Shen Family was not. In addition, no matter how Ruiyu Hall declined, it was still the lineal branch of the Wei Family. If the female member of the big family was insulted, they would only revenge secretly, and it was a taboo to revenge openly.
Now a farce of stopping the carriage to complain the grievances had not only made Wei Changying have a bad reputation in the capital, but also made Shen Cangfeng, who had been very popular in the capital in the past few years, become a joke!
Of course, the Shen Family would send people to Fengzhou to question about this!
Madam Song was so angry that her body trembled, “This is too much! This is too much! Wei Qi, this bastard! Wei Zhengya, this vicious thing! They can’t even let alone a girl from the younger generation and even brazenly spread rumors. Aren’t they afraid that if they create so much iniquity that their whole family will not end well?”
“What are you afraid of?” Old Madam Song’s face was serious like irony dark, but she was still calm and faintly said, “These two sides have created such a big rumor that their words have chiseled Changying’s reputation of losing her chastity. But Changying’s chastity is still there. This fact is true, and it can’t become false only by people talking!”
Madam Song began to cry, took a veil to cover her face, and said sadly, “How could I not know about this? It’s just that after such a scene, the reputation of Wei Changying is damaged. She has not married but already embarrassed her husband. How would her husband’s family think of her? That is to say, when she arrives in the capital, what will those womenfolk of the family say when they chat? Wouldn’t those vicious people say that the normal daughter of an eminent family would not be known by others before getting married, yet there are many rumors around Changying? What a pity! My daughter is so innocent yet she had to be subjected to such ridicule and discussion!”
“There is nothing we can do about it.” The capital was so far away that regardless of the means of the Old Madam Song, she could not continue to shelter her granddaughter. In desperation, she could only think of the best, “Fortunately, this child has a tough temper. Let’s arrange some capable people along with the dowry so that they can more or less help her. And Changying’s physical condition has always been good. And Shen Cangfeng…Since he also practiced martial arts, he should also be strong. After Changying gets married and endures for a while, Su Xiuman will also start to protect her when she has heirs. Su Xiuman is also not a pushover!”
“Changying has come back safely, but she has to bear such a reputation!” How could Madam Song not feel wronged for her daughter? “And she came back a few days late for the sake of Changfeng! The child is so caring for her brother that she doesn’t hesitate to sacrifice herself. Now her reputation has been tarnished like this by those vicious things!”
She especially hated Wei Zhengya, “Changying has always been respectful to him and his wife! Yet they were so unexpectedly ruthless. People say that one should not persecute his family, but he couldn’t let alone his niece! He dug up the clay in the forest in the name of taking notes for loyal servants right before the event of the commoner stopping the carriage to complain about the grievances in the capital. With the identity of Changying’s uncle, who wouldn’t think that right now it is our family that is feeling guilty because of doing bad things so that we hunt that man and destroy the traces at the same time? They may also say that the reason why our branch wasn’t the ones who took action was that we asked him to do it for us in order to cover the truth. How can the eldest uncle, who is so elegant, have such a vicious child?”
Old Madam Song said faintly, “I already have an idea about how to deal with Wei Zhengya. You don’t have to worry about him. Now the most important thing is to deal with the people of the Shen Family. Do you think Wei Qi has fallen out with us openly this time just to make us unhappy with the matter of Changying? After all, Changying is a girl!”
Madam Song was stunned, and said, “Mother?”
“Mrs. Huang’s letter only arrived more than half an hour later than Zhengyin’s.” Old Madam Song rubbed her forehead. With a serious look in her eyes, she said, “It is said that Changwan learned the news by accident and told Wei Shengyi. This time, Wei Shengyi was very deliberate that she let Mrs. Huang bring the news back.” She looked at Madam Song and said in a cold tone, “Liu Ruoye, the lineal daughter of the Liu Family, pays great attention to Shen Cangfeng!”
Seeing that Madam Song suddenly changed her facial expressions, Old Madam Song raised her hand to tell her not to be impatient and continued saying, “It is impossible for the Liu Family to collude with Wei Qi to scheme Changying just because of the thinking of a lineal daughter. Wei Shengyi, after listening to what Changwan said, thought of the saying that came out of the palace a few days ago. It is said that because Song Duan, who performed meritorious service in the victory of north part of the Fengzhou province, was young. And a few days ago, the Emperor saw that the imperial guards were all handsome, upright and full of vigor, so he discussed with his trusted people and wanted to make an exception to promote a group of Private Guards to serve in the army. He wanted to see if they could have a few more ‘young heroes’ like Song Duan!”
The old madam squinted, “It is said that every year, Shen Cangfeng won every time when people rehearsed the military strategy in front of the Emperor. So his Majesty has great expectations of him!”
Madam Song’s eyes were stained with bloody color. She clenched her fist and sneered, “Good! Fine! They slandered my daughter and still tried to rob my son-in-law? That’s really….”
“Calm down first!” Old Madam Song became serious and berated her. She then continued, “Do you think that it is the Liu Family who took a fancy to Shen Cangfeng and wanted to ruin this marriage so that Liu Ruoye could marry him?”
Seeing that Madam Song was stunned, the old madam sneered, “Liu Xixun of the Liu Family also ranked the second when Shen Cangfeng ranked first. And now is a good timing that the Emperor is selecting Private Guards to go to the frontier to establish meritorious accomplishment! If they are from other families, things would not be like this. However, both of them have some real talent, and their families are both hereditarily famous for martial arts. Thus, it would be hard for them not to come back with meritorious service! However, at this important moment, Shen Cangfeng’s unmarried wife has been accused of losing her virginity and making a fuss all over the city! Which young man cannot get distracted under such circumstances?”
“No matter how good Shen Cangfeng is, his last name is not Liu! The Liu Family is not without excellent children, so why should they use their daughters to win over other people’s children? Besides, can the really outstanding people be affected by women? The Liu family did this because they wanted to take this opportunity to suppress Shen Cangfeng.” Old Madam Song said coldly, “Among the six gentlefolk in the country, Shen, Liu, and Su are all hereditarily famous for martial art. It’s just that the Su Family is different from Shen and Liu. Qingzhou is far away at the south of the Great Vi, facing the barbarians in the dense forest of the south. Long time ago, they acted tough so that the barbarians were all afraid of them and dare not offend them. What’s more, with the dense jungle of the southern wilderness and the productive land, the barbarians gathered medicine, hunted and exchanged things with Vi citizens so that they could live their life. Therefore, if they are beaten by the military force once, people of Vi can relax for a while!”
“But the Shen Family and the Liu Family are different! The Shen Family directly faces the western tribes’ threat, and the Liu Family has the important task of fighting against the northern tribes! Neither the western tribes nor the northern tribes, their territory is unfavorable to farming so that they can only make a living by grazing. They are affected by whether the water plants are luxuriant or not in normal situations. And once they encounter a snowstorm or plague. Apart from going south to invade the Great Vi, they have no other ways to stay alive!”
Old Madam Song sighed deeply, “When the Su Family puts down a riot, and if their action is tough enough, they can keep the peace for decades! Even if they don’t take such tough actions, they can still keep the peace for more than ten years. But the Shen Family and the Liu Family do not have such good luck! Even if the western and the northern tribes are killed as bloody as a river this year, they will have no choice but die if they do not invade the south next year! So how can they rest assured? Wars cost money. Although the Shen Family and the Liu Family are as rich as us, they are not fools. How is it possible for them to simply train troops with their own family wealth when they don’t have to do so? However, the share that the Royal Court can distribute to the army is limited every year, so the two families have always fought fiercely for baggage. The Shen Family has internally designated Shen Cangfeng as the next Family Head, and the Liu Family probably has chosen Liu Xixun. Do you understand?”
Madam Song’s facial expressions changed several times and said, “It turned out to be the struggle between the Shen and Liu Family! But it encumbered Changying!” But she still could not rest assured, “Even so, now this matter is so serious that the Shen Family knows that they have been defrauded yet cannot afford to lose face.” She gave a low hiss and suddenly remembered, “Mother, you said. Will the Shen Family renounce the marriage to the sake of Shen Cangfeng?”
For the Shen Family, when the chastity of the daughter-in-law was questioned to such an extent, whether it was true or not, it was always the fault of the Wei Family for they failed to protect their own girl. Because Wei Changying did spend some time in the mountains after being assassinated, and in the end, an old guard escorted her home alone.
Ruiyu Hall was now in decline, yet Shen Cangfeng had a bright future. Therefore, in order not to be disturbed by his fiancée or to waste the good time of establishing the meritorious deeds to rising to the top of the official ranks, the Shen Family could simply break off his engagement with the Wei Family and marry another dignified girl who was innocent and flawless for Shen Cangfeng. Although this would lead to a feud with Ruiyu Hall, for the Shen family, it was more important to think for Shen Cangfeng, who had been designated as the next Family Head.
How could the future Family Mother of the Shen Family in Western Liang, one of the six gentlefolk in the country, be a woman whose reputation was unclear?
If it had been Wei Changfeng, the Wei Family would have done the same thing. In the end, their own descendent was the most important.
Old Madam Song’s eyes were deep and bottomless, and for a long time, she looked at the lines on the woolen carpet not far away. She then said, “When the people of the Shen Family arrive, let’s see their attitude first before we talk about this matter. If they have a bad attitude, then let’s propose to break off the engagement first! In any case, I am determined not to send Changying to places like family temples so that you can rest assured about this!”
Madam Song listened in a daze. Her eyes stagnated, and her tears could not stop dripping her cheeks: Her only daughter, who was extremely cherished by her and was trained to become the future Family Mother, had come to the point that her best ending would be not to enter the family temple?
But given the tone of Old Madam Song, this result was even what the old madam would have to try her best to fight for…