Chapter 6 – Past Events

None of the people present had ever thought that things would go so smoothly. Although Marquis WenYuan was the one who sent someone to pick Zhuang Zhong up after receiving the news that he was still alive, he had not expressed much excitement and joy. It then led many to assume that he did not attach much importance to his son, who was wandering outside. Who knew that he would recognize Zhuang Zhong as his son after just asking a few questions.

After some thought, those who were more astute would also realize that he had not ascertained that Zhuang Zhong was his own biological son who has been wandering outside, giving others much food for thought.

Cao-shi did not think much about it and only heard the marquis recognizing Zhuang Zhong as family. She then said happily, “Why are you still standing there dumbly? Quickly kneel down and greet your father.”

With Zhuang Zhong not moving, Cao-shi was immediately anxious and wanted to say something, but she was held back by Zhuang Ping, who was sporting a bad expression. As such an appearance was seldom seen on her husband, she took it seriously and did not dare to speak anymore.

Although Marquis WenYuan did not mention what happened in the past and let the couple live a life of luxury, Zhuang Ping and Cao-shi clearly knew that he had a thorn in his heart. This was also the reason why Marquis WenYuan made Zhuang Ping a rich noble, but would not use his influence to let him and his sons enter the court and become officials. For both of them, they had not dared to make any trouble due to their less than upright manner in the past. Offending the marquis made them fear that everything would have been in vain.

Marquis WenYuan and his eldest brother Zhuang Ping are half brothers and their age differs by 12 years. Zhuang Ping’s mother was the legitimate wife, but died of a serious illness when he was at the age of eight. A year later, his father married again and got another son, the marquis. As their father was a squire, their family was quite rich. Marquis WenYuan’s mother was also a Gongsheng’s daughter. Besides being well-read and reasonable, she was very beautiful too – Marquis WenYuan’s appearance was taken after his mother. Unfortunately, his mother led a short life and died less than two years after giving birth to him. When he was seven years old, his father also passed away.

At that time, Zhuang Ping was already married. Naturally smart and saddled with his own family, he could not help but feel that the young Marquis WenYuan was a burden. However, in order for them to live apart, the property and assets had to be divided into half. With the elders and Marquis WenYuan’s grandfather keeping an eye on it, he was unable to tamper with anything. Therefore, he could only raise him up before attempting to tamper with it behind the scenes. Everything was done in order to snatch more benefits for his small family before the split.

As a child, how much could the marquis have spent? However, their father had perceived him to be pretty intelligent and in his last words, told him to embark on the road of imperial examinations and bring glory. This path had required quite a sum of money, as they had to spend on brushes, ink, paper, and inkstone, making Zhuang Ping’s wife’s heart ache.

Before he was 15 years old, Marquis WenYuan took and passed the exam. However, he had felt that his knowledge was insufficient so he decided to wait two years before traveling to the capital for the next exam. Such a choice was also not a small expense and was painful for Zhuang Ping and his wife. It was then that Cao-shi raised the idea of letting him marry the pig killer’s daughter. Despite such a terrible title, the family was quite well off and placed great importance on their daughter. Even with her ugly appearance, the pig killer had no intention of being vague, as with such an abundant dowry, they had no fear that she would not get married despite almost being twenty.

In order to let him marry and settle down, Cao-shi arranged for such a marriage on the grounds that it was the order of his parents¹Here the author also used the legend of “长嫂如母” from《三侠五义》to illustrate the idea of his sister-in-law taking up the role of his deceased mother. It is hard to include while making the sentence coherent so it was exempted.. At that time, the innocent Marquis WenYuan was studying very hard and he did not pay much attention to hearsays. Although Zhuang Ping and his wife were harsh, they had still brought him up and took care of all the family affairs, so that he could have a quiet environment to study. Thus, even with thoughts that it was still too early to get married, he did not voice any objection or further questions. How could he have known that his elder brother and sister-in-law would cheat him like this. The moment he lifted the veil and found out the truth, there was already no turning back.

Even though he was not satisfied with the marriage, he ended up making do with it, as she was not that unbearable – Lu LiuZhi, who was quite a few years older than him, was kind-hearted, diligent, and capable despite her ugly and coarse appearance. He had also believed Cao-shi’s excuse that his wife should be able and he should not judge by her appearance. Marquis WenYuan, who was troubled by his outstanding appearance since he was a child, had found such words very reasonable then.

Essentially, despite not being deeply in love, the couple did manage to get along decently.

With his focus on studies, Marquis WenYuan who recently turned 15 years old, was tender and ignorant. He did not know that his elder brother had fully grasped all the assets of the family and did not provide them with the living expenses that he should receive before dividing up the family property. Normally, Lu LiuZhi would have to use her dowry to pay for their daily expenses. As she had great respect towards her exceptional husband and was aware that she was coarse, she was even more unwilling to disturb him with such matters. As a new wife, she also had not dared to make trouble in fear that Marquis WenYuan, who did not like her at first, would get sick of her. This had resulted in Zhuang Ping and his wife taking advantage of her all the time.

If it was not for her large dowry, Lu LiuZhi would have had difficulty sustaining themselves. With thoughts that they would have a good life as long as her husband reached GaoZhong, Lu LiuZhi has been biting her teeth and holding back. Who would have known that before such a day had arrived, a heavy rain would wash away all hopes. Initially, a well-off family, they had instantly lost everything and their property. Even Zhuang Ping, who had saved a lot of money over the years, had lost everything.

When the two families were about to lose all hope, the imperial court started recruiting soldiers. Zhuang Ping, who was timid and lazy, had not been willing to go, so he cited his poor health as a reason and pushed Marquis WenYuan into this. Forced by such a situation, Marquis WenYuan had no choice but to abandon his literary pursuits and enter the military. All of the salaries that he received were sent back, but it all fell into Zhuang Ping’s pocket. Lu LiuZhi, who could only rely on Zhuang Ping and his wife, had then suffered a difficult life. However, she never told Marquis WenYuan about these and endured silently, as she did not want to trouble her husband. Thus, Marquis WenYuan was left unaware of such matters.

After following the army to the south to suppress King Nan, they encountered a huge battle and Marquis WenYuan had never been heard of since. Everyone said that he had died and the court had also issued a pension. After receiving this money, Cao-shi and Zhuang Ping proceeded to kick Lu LiuZhi out of their home, and at that time, she was seven months pregnant.

Unexpectedly, Marquis WenYuan did not die and even gained some recognition. With his repeated contributions, he became a general and was conferred nobility. It was when he returned home with glory that he found out that his wife had already disappeared with no news about his unborn child’s whereabouts and gender.

At that time, ShuZhou was repeatedly plagued with disasters and there were many who died or disappeared. Despite the doubts that Marquis WenYuan had towards Zhuang Ping’s statements, he was unable to prove it and eventually married Wei YuHua, the daughter of the commander-in-chief. It was not until Lu LiuZhi’s brother, Lu Feng who came with the intention to fight, that the marquis was made known of such a thing.

Considering their brotherhood, the marquis did not do anything. However, he no longer respected his brother and sister-in-law as before, treating them indifferently. If it was not for Zhuang Ping and his wife sticking to him themselves, Marquis WenYuan would have ignored them. Although Zhuang Ping’s family had lived a prosperous life relying on Marquis WenYuan, they have no chance of attaining officialdom and were doomed to rely on him for all their life. It was also probably Marquis WenYuan’s doing that Zhuang Ping’s son was not even qualified to enter the official school.

Now that the child was found, Cao-shi thought that they could ease the relationship between the two families, so she had been pretty proactive. She had thought that since Marquis WenYuan had not liked Lu LiuZhi from the start, his hatred towards them was most likely due to his love for the unborn child. Besides, with such a beautiful wife and concubines, he would have nothing else to be concerned about. However, with such a glare from Zhuang Ping, her heart could not help but beat faster. After entering the army, the marquis had changed completely. When he gave them a glance, they could feel coldness spreading all over their body. After all, they were now relying on him, so how could Cao-shi be as arrogant before. These past few years of living in poverty had scared her and she did not want to go back to those days.

“You do not want to be my son?”

Zhuang Zhong knitted his eyebrows. “I think you are too rash.”

Marquis WenYuan laughed. “I need a son and you need a father. That is a sufficient reason so grow your hair out.”

After saying that, Marquis WenYuan swung his sleeves and left, totally ignoring the group of people that had been staring open-mouthed.

Cao-shi tugged at Zhuang Ping and said uneasily, “What does he mean by this? Is Zhuang Zhong his own son or is he not sure?”

Zhuang Ping was also worried, his younger brother seemed to be deliberately ambiguous. “Anyway, we have found his son and he had already recognized him. We do not owe him anything anymore.”

Hearing this, Cao-shi gave a sigh of relief, turned her eyes to Wei YuHua and said, “Sister-in-law, it seems like you will be pretty busy today, so we will not bother you by staying. If there’s a chance, we will come and look for you later. This time, with regards to the issue of dalang²Here, she is referring to ZhuangZhong who will soon become the first son., both of us had put in quite a lot of effort so we are dead tired. We should drink some ginseng soup to supplement ourselves. Ah, we are quite tight on money recently. I wonder if you have any, let me borrow some first.”

Wei YuHua was very upset, this fool! Does she not see that Yin YueHan was still here? Despite such thoughts, on the surface, Wei YuHua had a virtuous expression on, “Thanks so much for your trouble these days. HuaMei, go and get the 50 years old ginseng that I just bought last time for sister-in-law.”

As soon as Cao-shi heard this, she beamed with delight. She knew that her brother-in-law was unreliable, but as Cao DaHua, how could she not have found a way to live comfortably.

Initially, a feast was supposed to be held in order to receive Zhuang Zhong, but with Marquis WenYuan disappearing without a trace, they had no choice but to postpone it. Wei YuHua then sent some people to lead Zhuang Zhong to the courtyard that had already been set up. She also ordered people to bring the food together, so that he could eat in his own courtyard after washing up. Today has been really tiring so anything regarding the future could be discussed tomorrow.

At this moment, people could not ascertain whether Zhuang Zhong was favored or not, so the servants dare not neglect him or be too attentive. They just simply fulfilled their own duty.

~QiuRong Courtyard~

As soon as Wei YuHua entered the room, she collapsed limply in a chair. This is when she found out that her whole body, even her outfit, was covered with sweat.

“Wetnurse Fang, do you think the marquis knew something?” Wei YuHua grabbed Wetnurse Fang’s hand nervously while panicking. Childless, she had been unable to get a foothold in the household. If Marquis WenYuan was made known of what the Wei family had done previously, their marital relationship would no doubt grind to nothing.

Wetnurse Fang frowned. For Wei YuHua to be able to marry Marquis WenYuan, the Wei family had done some tampering behind his back. At that time, Lu LiuZhi was neither dead nor missing. When Marquis WenYuan had sent someone to look for her, it was the Wei family, Zhuang Ping and his wife, who deliberately concealed the news. Lu LiuZhi eventually died of illness, and the child was also sent to the temple. It was because they all knew this very well that they could find the person so smoothly.

“Madam, do not make yourself frenetic! It has been so many years that even if there are suspicions, there is no way to find any material evidence or witness. As long as you do not admit it, the marquis will not unjustly wrong you.”

It was only after vigorously pouring a cup of herbal tea that Wei Yuhua’s hands stopped shaking that much. “You are right, I cannot panic. I cannot panic.”

Wetnurse Fang consoled her, “We just have to insist that we did not know of this matter. Besides, those matters were concealed by them and have nothing to do with us.”

The Wei family had not directly participated in this matter, but just hinted that Zhuang Ping and his wife would benefit from the marriage of Wei YuHua and the marquis. As expected, the couple did not disappoint them and deeply concealed the whereabouts of the mother and the son. They had firmly asserted that the mother-son pair were washed away by the flood, so the odds were against them rather than in favor. In addition, they had also employed a method to let Lu LiuZhi leave the original place without anyone knowing where they had gone.

Looking out of the window, Wetnurse Fang lowered her head to Wei YuHua’s ear and said, “With the marquis personality, how could he have handled this matter carelessly either then or now if he really valued his original wife? I am afraid he was just making use of the favorable current situation to push matters through with little effort. The original wife was forced onto him by them and not what he desired.”

With this, Wei YuHua felt more at ease. “But what is the meaning of the marquis’s words today then? Why would he recognize Zhuang Zhong if it seemed like he did not believe that he is the missing child?”

Wetnurse Fang lowered her voice and replied, “General Lu will be returning to the capital from the South soon.”

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  Here the author also used the legend of “长嫂如母” from《三侠五义》to illustrate the idea of his sister-in-law taking up the role of his deceased mother. It is hard to include while making the sentence coherent so it was exempted. ↩︎
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  Here, she is referring to ZhuangZhong who will soon become the first son. ↩︎