Chapter 1141: Blind Date (Part 1) [Requesting Monthly Tickets]
Looking at her ex-husband's almost broken state, Cui Hui felt a mixture of pity and a secret pleasure. To be honest, this man, even in his later years, still possessed a captivating charm. The head of the Cui family didn't miss the fleeting look of amazement in her eyes.
He grabbed Cui Hui's wrist.
The force wouldn't be so great as to injure someone, but it wouldn't be easy to break free either.
Most of his face was not in the darkness; the candlelight cast a hazy glow on his outline, making his eyes appear even more deep and affectionate.
"Five grams..."
The slightly tilted head reminded Cui Hui of the wolfhound he had raised in his youth—loyal yet wild, highly intelligent, it always used this submissive posture to curry favor and appease him whenever it made a mistake. Cui Hui always preferred to scold it first before forgiving it.
"You were the one who agreed to the divorce, you were the one who said Qi Yuanliang was a better option, you were the one who cared about Qi Yuanliang and me, and now you're the one showing weakness to me like this... Cui Zhishan, what exactly do you want?" Cui Hui stared intently into the eyes of the Cui family head. Unlike the latter's affectionate gentleness, her eyes were only desolate and cold. "Do you think that because we were husband and wife and had three children together, even after the divorce, you can still use your status as husband to control everything about me?"
"Is Sheng your Choi Ji-sun's person?"
"Is death the soul of your Cui family?"
"Let alone Qi Yuanliang, who is no better than you, even if I go out and find three or five men, you have no right to interfere."
They are already ex-husband and ex-wife.
Whether she's having affairs or bringing men back for her philanderings is none of Cui Zhishan's business. After saying this, Cui Hui chuckled self-deprecatingly, "Look at my memory! I forgot that once I leave your Cui family and shed my status as the matriarch, I'm just an old, faded woman from the common folk. I don't have the means to seek pleasure... However, our two children have always been very filial, so they should..."
The head of the Cui family was so angry that his eyes turned red.
"Cui Kewu, do you have to be so cruel to me?"
"You make me unhappy, and I have to fawn over you?" Cui Hui sneered at the pleading question. "I'm just a weak old woman from the common folk. Facing the dignified head of the Cui family, I have no power to fight back. All I can do is use my words. At most, my so-called attack on your heart will make you uncomfortable. If you are unhappy, you can easily kill me with a flick of your finger."
The head of the Cui family had absolutely no way to deal with this.
Well, it's not like there's none at all.
The next day, Cui Hui's eldest son led a boy of similar height to him to pay his respects. Another boy, looking even more youthful and immature, ran towards Cui Hui from afar, almost throwing himself into her arms: "Mother—"
At the same time, Cui Hui let out a cry of "Ouch!"
The noise startled the young boy: "Mother?"
Cui Hui blushed slightly: "It's nothing, just a back strain."
"Did you strain your back? Let me rub it for you!"
Cui Hui gently stroked his youngest son's slightly frizzy, soft hair. Looking into his son's clear, innocent, and shy eyes, he felt a surge of dissatisfaction: "It's one thing for your father to bring your elder brother out, but why did he drag you here too? This is utterly ridiculous."
The eldest son is exceptionally talented, while the second son is somewhat mediocre.
Whether it was rolling over, crawling, walking, or talking, he was much slower than ordinary people, which once made people worry that the child was born mentally challenged, let alone learning or practicing spiritual cultivation. Cui Hui was worried that such a child would have a difficult life in the Cui family, but his father was quite relieved.
He doesn't need to inherit the family lineage.
The pressure of inheriting the main branch falls entirely on the eldest son. The second son, as a member of the collateral branch, only needs to eat well, drink well, sleep well, and maintain a good relationship with his brother; his later years will be worry-free. It's okay if the child is a little simple-minded; the whole family is cunning enough. A simpler approach would be a good balance. Such irresponsible remarks infuriated Cui Hui so much he wanted to beat the man to death. Is this how a father should act?
The youngest son's eyes gleamed: "Let's go on a blind date."
Cui Hui: "..."
She looked at her eldest son in fright: "Bear, tell me!"
There is an order of seniority, so shouldn't marriage arrangements begin with the eldest son?
The eldest son muttered softly, "Mother, I have a courtesy name now, can you please stop calling me Xiong? My brother and I are only a little over a year apart, and Grandpa and Grandma wanted us to be chosen together. My brother is a bit less talented, and it would be easy for him to be chosen separately later."
In layman's terms, it means bundled together.
The candidates were all chosen because of Cui's eldest son; their family background, social standing, and appearance were all quite similar, so they simply arranged a blind date and engagement for them together.
Cui Hui's face darkened upon hearing this.
If it weren't for her two sons, she would have loved to give her former in-laws a good dressing down: "What do you mean you're disliked? Is your father dead?"
Why is Mr. Cui pretending to be dead when his son is being disliked?
Thinking of this, my anger flared even more.
I wish I could turn back time.
Going back to last night, kicking her ex-husband three times and then slapping herself—her old problem of being blinded by lust and infatuated with men is truly incurable; using her beauty to seduce him is always a sure thing! But then she thought it wouldn't be right; if she went too far, she might end up making that bastard feel good!
The eldest son said, "I don't want Father to work too hard."
"What can he possibly worry about?"
The eldest son said, "The marriages of all the brothers in my uncle's family have fallen through."
Cui Hui: "..."
Back when she was still a member of the Cui family, her mother-in-law disliked her and consequently disliked her children. At first, the mother-in-law used her position to suppress her and force her to follow the rules, but this was stopped by the Cui family after only a few times. Since she couldn't get anything out of Cui Hui, she deliberately neglected Cui Hui and her children, and often brought the children of Cui Zhishan and his brothers into the courtyard to be pampered by them.
The distinction between close and distant relationships is clear.
Years later, the mother-in-law made things difficult for her son, and the man surnamed Cui turned around and started to meddle in the marriages of his second son's children.
"How many times did it turn yellow?"
The eldest son said, "We haven't even managed to say it once yet."
The old lady placed great importance on lineage and bloodline, and naturally wanted to arrange a marriage between her beloved grandson and a woman of equal social standing. If the wife's family was powerful enough, it wouldn't be impossible for the younger branch to rise above the older branch after it matured. Unfortunately, every time she took a liking to someone, the woman politely declined.
Cui Hui asked incredulously, "Not even once?"
She entered the family late, and her first child was a daughter, so the eldest grandson of the main branch was several years younger than his mother and grandson. How come she never managed to say it even once?
The eldest son said, "It's probably because Father has a wide network of connections."
Cui Hui agreed with this explanation.
If the two families are discussing marriage, they will privately mobilize their networks to inquire about the younger generation, their character, and so on. The Cui family has a huge circle of friends; there are at least fifty people with the surname Zhao alone, and many more others. No matter how they inquire, they can't avoid mentioning him.
If you give a couple of subtle hints, how can it not turn into something scandalous?
The poor and humble wouldn't mind, but the old lady wouldn't approve.
Hearing that her ex-husband still stood up for their son, Cui Hui's anger subsided considerably. The three of them, mother and sons, rarely gathered together, and shared breakfast. Cui Hui subtly inquired about her sons' preferred types—she couldn't control their marriages, but as a mother, she hoped they would find satisfactory partners.
The younger son only half understood, while the eldest son blushed slightly.
"You can't eat what you like?"
Cui Hui said, "How can it not be eaten? If your father had a bald head, deep-set eyes, a blue face, and fangs, I wouldn't be able to eat a single bite!"
Not only could I not eat, I also had to vomit.
After failing to communicate with her eldest son, she went to coax her younger son.
The youngest son is indeed easy to get information out of, but his thought process is a bit peculiar. He hopes that his future wife will descend from the sky, riding on auspicious clouds, defeating all the obstacles from his father, brothers, and grandparents, and taking him away in the most domineering and forceful manner.
To put it nicely, it's taking them away; to put it bluntly, it's eloping.
Cui Hui was stunned.
"No, no, why would I like this?"
The eldest son's face turned sour.
Gritting her teeth: "I told you to stop reading those poems of lamentation from women in their boudoirs!"
Cui Hui: "..."
She felt it necessary to talk to her ex-husband about their son's education. No matter how much she let her youngest son grow up freely, he shouldn't have been led astray by poems of lamentation. When she asked where her ex-husband was, her eldest son replied, "The imperial palace sent someone to invite Father early this morning."
Cui Hui could only suppress his displeasure.
"Your father doesn't just hold a nominal title, so why would he need to do any work?"
The eldest son laughed and said, "It is said that someone died at the imperial palace."
"Someone attempted to assassinate the king?"
The first image that popped into Cui Hui's mind was Shen Tang's face.
To shoot a man, shoot his horse first; to capture a thief, capture his king first. If she could seize the opportunity to kill the ruler of a country, the Qi Kingdom would surely be thrown into chaos, and the effect would be much better than her initial plan. Unfortunately, her eldest son's answer dispelled her idea: "I heard that a eunuch died."
"Eunuch?"
Having served the Cui family for so many years and attended numerous palace banquets, Cui Hui knew all too well that palace maids and eunuchs were cheap expendables, not considered human in the eyes of the royal family. Cui Hui wondered if her ex-husband's fortunes had declined; why would the death of a eunuch warrant such a stir from Cui Zhishan?
"Your father can investigate cases?"
The eldest son smiled and said, "Perhaps."
Cui Hui didn't ask who the dead eunuch was; she didn't know the names of the eunuchs serving the royal family, so asking would be pointless. Naturally, she also didn't notice her youngest son secretly glancing at his brother.
The eldest son smiled without saying a word, signaling with his eyes to keep quiet.
Isn't it a father's duty to clean up his son's mess? Not only did he send someone to kill that eunuch, but he also had the body hung on a sundial, deliberately leaving traces as if in a provocation.
The death of a eunuch is not a big deal, but this eunuch was a servant of the king, and he was murdered on his way off duty, which makes it unusual. When the guards found the body, they found several pebbles in the mouth, and the tongue was missing.
Mei Jinghe was the first to obtain the clues found by the coroner.
"...It was the Cui family who killed him."
The king's face darkened: "Is Choi Ji-seon warning me?"
No, this man isn't that stupid.
Mei Jinghe: "He is Cui Zhishan's son. It must have been when they asked Cui Zhishan to leave yesterday that they offended this little guy."
Upon hearing this, the king felt relieved.
"Didn't they say that the father and son didn't get along?"
Mei Jinghe said, "It's to stand up for his mother."
The king still has use for Cui Hui, and cooperation with the Cui family needs to continue, so he naturally can't use the death of the eunuch as an excuse to cause trouble. Cui Zhishan is not the old patriarch of the Cui family; when it comes to fighting, he can even disregard his own flesh and blood: "Jinghe, keep all this evidence."
This is like handing them a handle.
Assassinating a palace attendant close to the king, no matter the reason, would mean certain death for the Cui family brat once it's exposed: "It's not necessary now, but it might not be in the future. I just hope that day never comes."
If you want to use it, you have to find a suitable alternative yourself.
Wait until Jinghe replaces him as the head of the Southwest Branch.
We must obtain the list of branch offices.
Mei Jinghe nodded in agreement: "Yes."
"Hoo—" The Queen closed her eyes and exhaled a breath of stale air. She had been running around for the past few days and had to deal with the mess caused by the counterattack of the noble families. She was exhausted. She was about to take out her pipe and light a couple of puffs when Mei Jinghe stopped her. The Queen had no choice but to give up. Suddenly remembering something, she smiled and asked, "Jinghe, have you seen Cui Zhishan's two sons? What do they look like? What are their temperaments like?"
"I've never seen it before, but it should be good."
There was a pair of parents whose child was not much different from them.
The king's eyes flickered with complex emotions: "I have higher hopes for his youngest son. It's just a pity that the child isn't very talented and is a bit dull. But being a little dull is fine. A handsome appearance is enough. Anything else is a waste... If he were as cunning as his father, I'm afraid I wouldn't be able to control him."
Mei Jinghe understood the meaning behind the king's words.
"Does Your Majesty intend to form a marriage alliance with the Cui family?"
"Give someone a stick, but also a treat. If the two families can reunite through marriage, all past grievances can be wiped away, and the Cui family can lower their guard and stop causing us trouble." The king also has two daughters, the youngest only three years old and the oldest no more than eight, both born from his favored male concubines. They only know their mothers, not their fathers. What troubles her is that both daughters are ordinary people without cultivation aptitude, and their pregnancies are still quite early, but the medical examiner said their aptitude is good, which relieved her.
Having another man and then giving birth was definitely the right decision.
Since the sperm provided by the fathers of her eldest and second daughters was unsuitable, she never favored either of them again, considering it a waste of her energy and emotions. She secretly found a younger, more talented man, and this time she saw hope. However, considering the difficulty of raising a young child, she couldn't place all her hopes on the child in her womb. She continued to raise her eldest daughter as her heir, having multiple options to prepare for future problems.
Mei Jinghe, however, sensed something amiss. If the king's child was born successfully and possessed talent, and grew up smoothly, and the queen's eldest daughter took another child from the Cui family, she would likely be sacrificed and lose her chance at the throne.
The king looked down at his still-flat stomach.
A mischievous smile suddenly appeared on his face.
"Jinghe, tell me—if rumors were to spread now that the child in my womb might be from the Cui family, how do you think the Cui family and the common people would view it? And what would Cui Zhishan's beloved, who has driven him to such madness and passion, think?"
She admitted that she couldn't stand seeing her ex-husband doing well.
Cooperation is one thing, creating obstacles is another.
Mei Jinghe said helplessly, "Then you're in danger."
You can't just go looking for death like this.
If such rumors were to spread, given the nature of powerful families, they would definitely try to cause an accident during her childbirth, then use their status as the child's father to elevate her to the position of new ruler, ruling from behind the curtain, and finally taking over when the time is right.
Choi Ji-sun wouldn't be that shameless, but others would.
The king laughed and said, "Oh, I was just joking."
Mei Jinghe sighed helplessly.
The king grasped her cold hand.
"My dear, why are your hands so cold? Ever since your attempt to perfect the Path of the Scholar failed, you haven't looked well."
|ω`)
In manifesting virtue, in loving the people, in abiding in perfect goodness—Cui Zhi, courtesy name Zhishan
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