Chapter 042
Chapter 42: Estrangement
Muttering curses, Lin Hong went back to the other residence and, when he met a servant, he turned his face away in a panic and snapped: “Dog, who do you think you are looking down on? I’ll win it all back one day.”
After Xia Meng Yan left in a divorce, the standing of the Ping An Marquis Manor fell hard.
Not only was money tight at home, even getting goods on credit outside became difficult.
Lin Hong had always spent freely and had never suffered such humiliation, so he got into a fight.
He was a coward at heart, and the result was easy to guess.
The steward hurried up and said with relief: “Eldest Master, you are finally back. The Old Madam sent people to look for you.” Seeing the bruises on Lin Hong’s face, he asked, “Eldest Master, did you get into a fight?”
Lin Hong flung his sleeve in anger and said: “Is that any of your business? Why is Mother looking for me?”
The steward did not dare to say more, so he pretended not to notice and said: “You will know when you go over.”
Lin Hong’s eyes turned as he thought. He had not made trouble these few days, so he stopped hiding his injured face. He figured that if the Old Madam saw it, he might squeeze a few hundred taels of silver out of her. [This might work.]
The more he thought about it, the more confident he felt, and his face did not seem to hurt anymore.
He stepped into the courtyard and put on a wronged look as he called out: “Mother,” then said in a choked voice, “you must stand up for your son.”
He threw himself against the Old Madam’s knees and began to complain about how the people outside were snobbish and how they bullied him.
But after a long while, he did not hear the Old Madam speak.
Lin Hong looked up and met the Old Madam’s cool gaze, and his heart gave a heavy thump as he asked: “Mother, why are you looking at your son like that?”
From the moment Lin Hong came in, Madam Jiang had been winking at him, but Lin Hong was acting so hard that he never caught it.
Grand Madam Lin stared at him with a dark, steady look and asked: “On the day of the fire, the servant led me out. What happened after that?”
Lin Hong pulled his hands back, guilty, and did not dare to look at the Old Madam as he said: “Mother already knows. After I got out, I ran to the back courtyard to save people. When I came back, I found you fainted under a tree.”
“Really?”
“As true as silver.”
Smack.
Grand Madam Lin slapped him with all her strength, so hard that her own body tilted with the blow, and she said: “Beast, you still want to fool me now.”
Caught off guard, Lin Hong took the slap head-on. His face burned with pain as he barked: “What are you doing? Who is the cheap thing stirring trouble between us this time?”
He swept his eyes over the room.
After the fire at the Ping An Marquis Manor, they had sold off another batch of servants. Now only one nanny and one maid served Grand Madam Lin.
The maid had not been present the day of the fire.
Lin Hong’s gaze finally landed on the nanny.
Grand Madam Lin cut him off and said: “Why are you looking at her? Speak the truth.”
While waiting for Lin Hong, Grand Madam Lin had already asked around about that day. When the nanny told her that Lin Hong had left her under the tree and run off, she felt both hurt and wronged.
Because Lin Ye Lan spent years in the army, the only people by Grand Madam Lin’s side at home were those of the first branch. She believed she had always favored the first branch. In the manor and outside, she had never let anyone wrong them.
Yet on the day of the fire, when he clearly could have saved her first, he dragged her to a tree and then ran to save his own children.
She could understand it, but she could not keep from feeling pain.
Madam Jiang knew they had to show an attitude on this matter, or they would get no benefits in the future.
She walked to Lin Hong, raised her hand, and struck his back as she scolded: “I know you worry about the children, but you cannot leave Mother under a tree. If saving us meant sacrificing Mother, I would rather you had not saved us. How are the children supposed to face Mother now? Mother has been so good to us. How could you do something not even as good as a pig or a dog?”
While she hit him, Madam Jiang kept signaling Lin Hong with her eyes.
Lin Hong was not stupid. He soon understood what Madam Jiang wanted. He grabbed her wrist and pulled her hand to slap his own face as he said: “You are right to curse me. I am a beast. But I had no choice. In the old days, the Ping An Marquis Manor had many servants and maids, and they never dared to slack off. Now everyone is lazy and just going through the motions. Nian’er is still so small. How could those servants carry him out first in a fire? That is why I did such a muddle-headed thing.”
He dropped to his knees and slapped himself as he said: “Mother, your son is unfilial. You can hit me. I will not complain.”
Lin Nian was the youngest son of the first branch and Grand Madam Lin’s treasure.
Lin Hong was sure that once Mother heard about Nian’er, her anger would fade.
He guessed right. When Grand Madam Lin heard that the servants had not carried out her precious grandson right away, her anger blazed even higher, and she said: “You did nothing wrong. Of course Nian’er is the most important. Sell off all the maids who serve Nian’er. If they dare neglect my grandson, they are asking to die.”
“Mother, do not worry. When your daughter-in-law learned of it, she already sold those two maids to a brothel.”
“You did right.”
Madam Jiang and Lin Hong exchanged a look and knew the matter had passed for now.
Lin Hong’s eyes turned as he remembered the real reason he came, and he said at once: “Mother, Nian’er cannot be without people around him, and Second Brother also needs attendants. Why not buy a few more people into the manor?”
At the words buy people into the manor, Grand Madam Lin thought of her private treasury. It had already been taken by the Ministry of Works, so she said: “We will wait until Ye Lan returns and talk about it. You two go back first.”
Lin Hong had no idea what she meant, but Madam Jiang tugged his sleeve to signal that they should leave and talk later.
Not long after the couple left, Lin Ye Lan came back limping. Grand Madam Lin hurried to ask: “What did His Majesty say? Can we get the silver back?”
Lin Ye Lan’s face looked terrible. He slumped into a seat, his hand falling over the wound on his thigh.
The rubbing on the way had made the injury ooze blood again.
He said: “His Majesty told the Dali Court to investigate.”
He knew very well that once the silver entered the Imperial Palace, not a single coin would come out. But he did not dare say that to his mother, afraid she could not take it.
Grand Madam Lin pointed toward the direction of the Imperial Palace and cursed: “What is there to investigate? That belongs to the Ping An Marquis Manor. What right do they have to investigate?”
“Mother, be careful with your words,” Lin Ye Lan stopped her in a harsh voice. He looked toward the door, and seeing no one there, he lowered his voice and reminded her: “This is the other residence of the Marquis of Xuan Ping. If those words spread, heads will roll.”
The chapter at that point in the original carried a note that the small section was marked to continue on the next page.
Grand Madam Lin said anyway: “We have nothing left. What is there to fear?” Her own dowry had been inside as well. She meant to get it back no matter what.
She suddenly thought of Xia Meng Yan and turned to ask: “What about Xia Ping Yuan? Did His Majesty give the gold bricks back to him?”
At the mention of the gold bricks, Lin Ye Lan’s face grew even darker. His Majesty’s favoritism was too obvious. After hearing Xia Ping Yuan’s explanation, he returned the gold bricks to him on the spot.
No one knows a son better than his mother. Seeing that her son would not speak, Grand Madam Lin understood at once and said: “Go to the Xia Family right now and take the gold bricks back. His Majesty may not know the inside story, but does Xia Meng Yan not know?”
“Mother, everything was Xia Meng Yan’s plan. She wanted to use His Majesty’s hand to cut your son down.” On the way back, Lin Ye Lan had thought it through.
From the fire at the Ping An Marquis Manor, to the exposure of Mother’s private treasury, and then to the gold bricks being revealed, one link after another pointed to Xia Meng Yan pulling strings behind the scenes.
“Again Xia Meng Yan. She wants to wipe us out, then let her blame me for being ruthless.”
“Mother, what are you going to do?”
—
Xia Meng Yan did not know what the mother and son were plotting. Seeing the gold bricks Father brought back, she felt a bit less guilty.
In her past life, her mother had lost her whole dowry for her. Now it had finally returned.
“Do not go out for the time being,” Xia Ping Yuan said after his wife left with a happy face. His own pride faded as he warned, “We have pushed the Ping An Marquis Manor too hard. They will lash out.”
Xia Meng Yan nodded. Under the Huo Family’s protection, Lin Ye Lan had always had the wind at his back. Now that the Huo Family was under His Majesty’s investigation, he had been dragged back to the Capital, and now he had also lost the military pay. He would surely try to get back at her.
She said: “Do not worry, Father. If nothing comes up in the next few days, your daughter will not go out.”
After they talked a bit more, Xia Ping Yuan went to the study. For what came next, he needed to make sure the Xia Family stayed clear.
Xia Meng Yan followed her father’s advice and stayed in the manor.
Even so, news from Court kept flowing to her.
Lin Ye Lan insisted that those items had been given by Xia Meng Yan. Xia Ping Yuan pressed him down with one line: “Where is your proof?”
“Miss, are we still checking the shops today?” Chun Yue came in with a copper basin when she heard movement inside.