Chapter 15: Courting Death (1) If Jingweisi fails in his mission, he will suffer...
After Chai Heng left, the Marquis's Mansion, which had never been bustling to begin with, suddenly became even more deserted. Although Xiang Qiao had received her indenture and silver, she felt that her freedom had come too suddenly, and she hadn't yet recovered from the joy of no longer being a servant. So, after taking the pile of things Chai Heng had given her, she found a place to stay not far from the Marquis' Mansion, waiting for the day her daughter would return.
It was also on this day that an uninvited guest came to the Marquis' Mansion.
"Sir, the old marquis is back."
In the evening, the order to promote Yang Yan from the position of Vice Minister to the position of Minister had just come down. As soon as Yang Yan came back from the Ministry of War after taking over the position, he saw his gambling addict father who had left home and set up his own family two or three years ago. In his father's arms was his sister Yang Qingping, who was born to his deceased stepmother a few years ago.
The little girl was still young, only four or five years old, with two buns and a red hairband. She was chubby because of her gluttony. When she saw her brother, she reached out to hug him, but Yang Shiduo slapped her chubby little hand away.
"Hehe, your brother is very fierce. We don't want him to hold us. If we are held by him, we will be caught by Huazi!" Yang Shiduo scared Yang Qingping for no reason. After understanding these words, the very young Yang Qingping burst into tears.
As the ancestral master of this mansion, Yang Shiduo possessed few other hobbies except two: gambling and lust. These two traits nearly cost him the century-old family fortune he inherited from Yang Yan's grandfather. Yang Yan lost his mother in his youth, and his relationship with his father was not a good one. He sincerely despised his father, and thus, in his early years, he frequently disobeyed him, becoming a rebellious son. But being a rebellious son was no exception. Early on, he was the one who brought Yang Shiduo back from the gambling den several times.
Yang Shiduo is fifty-two years old this year, but he is tall and straight, with an elegant demeanor. Although he is old now, he still has the handsome features of his youth.
In Chai Heng's eyes, her father-in-law was not reliable at all, the only good thing about him was that he was good-looking, so he passed on to Yang Yan a noble and elegant appearance.
At this moment, he came to the door with his little daughter in his arms, smiling. He didn't say anything that Yang Yan would find pleasant. The first thing he said was: "Xingzhi, I heard that the fourth daughter of the Chai family, my tough daughter-in-law, finally couldn't stand you anymore."
"Mrs. Chai received the news this morning and came to me. She said she didn't know where her daughter was now and asked me to ask you what was going on first."
Yang Yan walked inside without looking back. Yang Shiduo, accustomed to his son's indifference, followed eagerly behind him, saying as he followed, "Actually, as a father, I really don't need to ask what's going on. After all, I know your character best. I just came here to remind you not to make any mistakes. If you do, I'm afraid you'll cry."
Yang Yan: "When has a father ever seen his son cry?"
"Of course I didn't. When I beat you in the past, I broke several of the family sticks. You always ran away, and every time you were picked up by Chai Si by coincidence. At that time, you were not married yet. She often carried you back with a high fever, and then glared at me, the old elder. Do you dare to say that you didn't cry and pretend to be weak in front of the girl?" Yang Shiduo looked as if "These methods of yours are not up to standard."
Yang Yan's already limited patience was now even less: "Did father come here today just to speculate about this?"
"Of course not."
"Didn't I tell you? I came back this time because I was afraid you would cry." Yang Shiduo hugged Yang Qingping tighter in his arms. The palms and backs of his hands were full of flesh. Yang Qingping was his most beloved child from his second wife, but Yang Yan was also his most beloved child from his first wife. Although this son had become rebellious when he grew up, he was still a decent person when he was young. So Yang Shiduo felt that as a father, he had to remind him of what he should do.
Yang Yan glanced at him coldly, showing no intention of accepting his kindness.
"Then father can go back."
"Of course not. I've come quite a long way, so I have to have at least one meal at your place." Yang Shiduo ignored his son's order to leave and continued, "You may not believe some of these things, so I won't tell you anything. But as your father, I have become quite good at fortune-telling lately, even able to predict the future..."
Yang Yan suddenly stopped in his tracks, his eyes sharp as a sword as he spoke word by word, "What can you predict about the future?"
Yang Shiduo was so shocked by the cold look from his son, who looked ten years younger than him, that he broke into a cold sweat. However, he still tried his best to appear less timid: "I can predict that in a few years, when my health deteriorates, I will force Qingping to be raised by you."
"What else?"
"Also, although my health declined later, I'm still very capable and can live another 20 or 30 years without any problem..."
Yang Yan stared at him suspiciously and slowly uttered two words: "Continue."
"Finally, I calculated that Chai Si's child would die. After she dies, you will cry bitterly."
"Heh." Yang Yan smiled as if he had heard something extremely shameful, then sneered, "You can even take the dream scene seriously. Father, you really are getting old and your brain is not working anymore."
He said heartlessly, "Since that's the case, as your son, I really don't dare let Zhou Jiu give the monthly allowance to you personally. It would be better to let Madam Ji take care of it for you, so that you don't sell yourself when you are not sober."
"Of course that's not possible."
How could he let someone else look after his monthly salary?
Yang Shiduo immediately refused: "I am your father. Don't I know whether I am smart or not?" He had actually been secretly observing his son and daughter-in-law Yang Yan and Chai Heng for quite some time. He had noticed the unusual behavior of these two people since they returned to Beijing.
At that time, he had a vague guess in his heart.
This conjecture was further confirmed after seeing his son today. After all, his son in his early twenties should still have some youthfulness and innocence on his face and in his eyes. He should not be like he is now, full of conspiracy and ruthlessness.
Since that was the case, he had no choice but to reveal his true colors to him by saying that he was actually a reborn person, and tried to persuade him to change his ways, but it didn't seem to work. So, he could only say:
"The house in Chai Si, outside the capital, is quite close to mine. I've noticed that Lu has been there quite often these past few days. Every time he goes, the two of them sit on the steps outside the courtyard and chat for a long time. I once passed by and thought they were some kind of couple, but then I opened my eyes and saw, wow, isn't this my ex-daughter-in-law?"
When Yang Yan overheard the news about Chai Heng, he felt a strange feeling in his heart, but it soon disappeared.
"What does it have to do with me?"
"She's just an ex-wife. She can do whatever she wants. Do I really have to keep an eye on her every day?"
He spoke calmly, as if he was really talking about something that had nothing to do with him.
After hearing what he said, Yang Shiduo knew that his visit would not be very effective, but he did not give up and still extended an invitation to his son: "Okay, it has nothing to do with you, but I am always related to you. In fact, you can come to see me sometimes." And go to see Chai Si by the way.
He didn't say the second half of the sentence.
In his previous life, after Chai Heng died, although Yang Yan didn't show any sadness at the funeral hall, as a father, he still saw his son's heartbreak outside the hall. But if you really asked him about it now, he would definitely say that after knowing each other for so many years, even if a dog died, he would be sad. It has nothing to do with whether he likes her or not.
So Yang Shiduo didn't mention this, but just hinted at it.
Of course, as he expected, all he got was a faint response of "No."
…
After Yang Shiduo was driven out, the empty Chai Mansion was freed of a chattering figure. Yang Yan had just been promoted to Minister of War, and he had a lot of things to do and documents to sort out. Although the Jingnan Army had won a victory, there was still a lot of work to do after the war. He had to take inventory of the remaining military equipment and military pay, and negotiate with the Ministry of Revenue to allocate funds from the national treasury to purchase another batch of military equipment, so that the Ministry of Revenue would not be stingy and refuse to pay when needed later.
Like countless days and nights before, he worked until very late. Only when it was completely dark did he return to his bedroom to rest. Late at night, he dreamed of Chai Heng.
He often dreams about fragments of the past lately.
He dreamed that before their relationship became so strained, she loved lying in the sun beneath the large osmanthus tree in the yard. She said the winter sun was actually better than the summer sun, especially after a snowfall. She would lie on the huanghuali wood chair, cover her face with a blanket, and sleep in the yard for the entire afternoon. He would return from the Ministry of War in the evening and pick her up and carry her back home.
It seems that there were also some years of complete tenderness between them.
When she had free time, she would cook for him in different ways like any other wife, although every dish she cooked tasted terrible.
Sometimes when he saw his colleagues in the department buying something for their wives, he would follow suit and bring something back, although she never liked it very much.
He woke from his dream and raised his hand to find that there was no one around him. For a moment, he felt dazed and thought he had returned to the cold war in their previous life, when he had locked her up in Fuyuan. But he soon realized that she was now living the life she wanted in her villa outside Beijing.
Zhou Jiu happened to come looking for him: "Prince, you are awake. Miss Xue is here to see you. She wants your help with something."
"Tell her to wait in the main hall. I'll be there soon." Yang Yan frowned and asked again, "Did she say what it was about?"
Zhou Jiuluo looked troubled. "It seems that the eldest son of the Xue family was abducted by the people from the Beijing Guards. It seems that it was Madam who captured him. Didn't she just join the Beijing Guards these days? It seems that this was the first mission given to her by Lord Cui. Madam completed it very enthusiastically."
"Sir, this is the first task assigned to Madam by her superiors after she joined the Beijing Guards. My advice is that you should not interfere."
"The Jingwei Division is different from the six ministries. If a mission fails, there will be punishment."
The author has something to say:
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In these chapters, the hero is going to commit suicide one last time, and when he is done, he will find that he will be completely without a wife. The next few chapters may be a bit melodramatic, and the hero will be even more criticized.
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