Chapter 136 Severing Ties and Changing Surname
The four older brothers, who had just gotten themselves into big trouble, were sure to suffer the consequences after learning that Song Yiqiu had inherited the title. Sang Yu, on the other hand, was much easier to talk to.
Their minds raced, as if they had found an opportunity to redeem themselves, and they all began to speak in a conciliatory manner:
"That's right! My dear sister, Sangyu is so wonderful! While you're fighting on the front lines, she takes such good care of us and our parents at home. She deserves all the credit for her hard work!"
"Indeed. If it weren't for Sister Sangyu's efforts in speaking up for us with Mother, our lives would have been ten times more difficult. She truly deserves a share of this military merit."
"We're all family, so what difference does it make who gets the title? It's best to share the burden together. Why make a scene before the Emperor and become a laughingstock!"
After a barrage of moral blackmail, everyone's attention was once again focused on Song Yiqiu.
However, this was the moment Song Yiqiu had been waiting for.
She suddenly turned her head to look at Song Sangyu behind her:
"Gentle and virtuous? Of the Song family bloodline? Your Majesty, gentlemen! She is indeed of the rightful Song family bloodline, but she is not a member of the Shen family!"
"Song Sangyu is not my mother's child at all. She is the daughter of my father, Song Qingming, and his former neighbor and cousin, Zhao Xuan, from his estranged wife!"
"You're talking nonsense!!"
Song Qingming and Song Sangye screamed at the same time.
Song Qingming trembled with anger, pointing at Song Yiqiu:
"You rebellious daughter! How dare you speak such nonsense before the Emperor, slandering your father's reputation and destroying family harmony! Your Majesty, this woman has gone mad; you must not believe her one-sided story!"
Madam Song was struck dumb, staring at Song Qingming in disbelief:
"Master...is what she said...true? The cousin Zhao Xuan you mentioned before...the Zhao Xuan who disappeared after the Mid-Autumn Festival?"
Watching this farce unfold, Song Yiqiu clapped her hands with a cold laugh:
"I knew you'd deny it. Bring your witnesses!"
As soon as he finished speaking, Xiao Yongjing nodded slightly, and two palace guards led in a trembling old woman.
“Your Majesty, this is Granny Liu, the midwife who delivered Zhao Xuan’s baby. She can testify that sixteen years ago, Father bought a house in Pear Blossom Lane in the south of the city. Zhao Xuan gave birth to a daughter in the twelfth month of that year, and Father personally named her… Sangyu.”
Granny Liu knelt on the ground, not daring to raise her head, and said in a trembling voice:
"Your Majesty... I... I did deliver the baby. Lady Zhao had a difficult delivery, and Lord Song was waiting outside the door. When he learned it was a girl, he was very happy and said... he had already thought of the name 'Sangyu'..."
The truth has come out.
Song Qingming's face turned ashen, and he staggered backward.
Song Sangyu almost collapsed to the ground.
Taking advantage of the situation, Song Yiqiu turned around, faced the emperor, and kowtowed deeply.
“Your Majesty! The Song family is already corrupt and rotten. My father deceived his wife, allowed his mistress to usurp his position, and even tried to confuse the bloodline of the Marquis’s family and steal military merits and titles.”
“I am deeply ashamed of such family conduct! The blood of the Shen family flows in my veins, the blood of the loyal and virtuous descendants of the Marquis of Yongjia.”
"I humbly beg Your Majesty's permission to sever all ties with my family, change my surname, and return to the Shen family! From this day forward, I will only be for Shen Yiqiu, and I will sever all ties with this corrupt Song family!"
Upon hearing this, the entire hall fell into a deathly silence.
Song Shenshi's reaction was far more intense than Song Yiqiu had anticipated.
Faced with irrefutable evidence, her eyes were bloodshot, her finger trembling as she pointed at Song Qingming, and she spoke in disbelief:
"Song Qingming! Song Qingming!! Back then... I didn't hesitate to sever ties with my mother and break my engagement with the Fu family. I was determined to marry you, a poor scholar, because you, like my father, were an honest and reliable man I could entrust my life to!"
"What do I want from you? Do I want your Song family to be penniless, that I have to pawn my jewelry to make money for your trip to the capital for the imperial examination?!"
Tears streamed down her face, and years of pent-up grievances finally erupted:
"But what about you? You actually dared to keep a mistress outside! Not only did you keep her, but you also brazenly brought this bastard into the mansion, lying to me that she was a poor orphan girl you bought from the roadside!"
"You made me raise her as my own daughter, you made me give her the love that should have been mine, Qiu'er's, to you! Song Qingming, look at me, like a fool, raising your illegitimate daughter for over ten years, you've deceived me so cruelly!!!"
Song Qingming's face turned pale as he tried to explain:
"Madam, please let me explain, back then it was..."
Madam Song wouldn't let him speak at all, pressing him relentlessly, each word dripping with anguish:
"Explanation? What do you have to explain! Put your hand on your heart and ask yourself, the mansion you live in now, the official robe you wear, the connections and prestige you have in the court, isn't all of that something you got after marrying me, thanks to the legacy of our Shen family?"
"I've taken care of the household chores for you, given birth to four sons and one daughter! What have I done to wrong you that you would treat me like this, deceive me like this? How can you do this to me?"
When it comes to having children, all the clues in her mind come together.
She stared at Song Qingming in disbelief, then at Song Sangyu, whose face was equally pale, her lips trembling with anger:
"I understand... I finally understand! You and your good daughter have been scheming and plotting to take away Qiu'er's title, not because Qiu'er is bad, but because... because she is your own flesh and blood! You two have been plotting against me, plotting against the Shen family's title and property from the very beginning!!"
At this moment, Song Sangyu timidly stepped forward, wanting to help her up:
"Mother, please don't do this, Father..."
"Get away! Don't touch me!"
Song Shenshi suddenly pushed her away, and Song Sangyu staggered a few steps and almost fell.
Song Shen's eyes were filled with disgust at being fooled.
"You little bitch! You and your shameless mother are the same! You've been conspiring to deceive me for over a decade!!"
Overwhelmed by anger and the immense shock, before Song Shenshi could finish speaking, her vision went black, her body went limp, and she collapsed backward, fainting on the spot.
The scene immediately descended into chaos.
Just as the palace servants rushed forward to treat the emperor, the old minister who had previously opposed the treatment stepped forward again, bowing solemnly to the emperor:
"Your Majesty! The Song family's affairs are indeed unbearable, but our bodies and hair are given to us by our parents, and we dare not damage them; this is the beginning of filial piety! This is the teaching of the sages and the eternal moral order!"
"Severing ties with relatives and changing one's surname is unheard of. It is a violation of human ethics and ancestral rules. If this precedent is set, everyone will follow suit, and the nation will fall into chaos and the country will cease to exist. Your Majesty, please think carefully and do not grant this absurd request!"
Song Yiqiu stood ramrod straight, showing no fear whatsoever.
She glanced at the old minister:
"What you said, 'Our bodies and hair are given to us by our parents, and we dare not forget that! But we also remember that loyalty to the country and filial piety are difficult to reconcile!"
“My Shen family has been loyal and righteous for generations, protecting the land of the Great Zhou and guarding the lights of every household. Now, my father, Song Qingming, is morally corrupt, deceiving the emperor, neglecting his duties, and even trying to confuse the bloodline of the Marquis’s family. This is disloyal and unjust.”
"To blindly follow filial piety towards such a disloyal and unjust person would be the greatest act of filial impiety towards the court, His Majesty, and the loyal souls of the Yongjia Marquis's family throughout the ages!"
She glanced around at everyone, her gaze finally settling on the emperor, and bowed deeply.
"Your Majesty, I do not wish to violate human ethics, but rather I do not wish to allow the name of loyalty and valor of the Marquis of Yongjia to be tainted by hypocritical and filthy bloodlines."
"Your subject humbly requests to return to her maternal clan and inherit the title, so as to fulfill her loyalty and filial piety, bring glory to her family, and comfort the spirits of her maternal grandmother and the soldiers on the frontier!"
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