Chapter 199
During a cold winter day, the floor heating in Mrs. Cheng Si's house burned out.
Little Cheng Lang was led by a maid to the Fourth Madam's room. Before he even got close, he saw his frail mother kneeling before the Fourth Madam's door. His mother was very beautiful, with a gentle gaze and lips as thin and soft as flower petals. Her beauty was, as they say, full of spirit. But she lowered her head and said nothing.
Cheng Lang tightened his grip on the old woman's hand and asked her to pat the back of her hand gently: "Lang'er, go hug your wife and cry. Your father is in there and will hear it soon."
Cheng Lang blinked. His delicate face was as pretty as his mother's. He asked softly, "Mammy, why was Auntie punished to kneel?"
"My wife is, after all, a concubine's daughter from the Ningyuan Marquis's mansion," the old woman sighed. Being a concubine's daughter from the Ningyuan Marquis's mansion was a bit too much, and who could possibly care about her coming here? Although she had a brother in the mansion to support her, that brother was useless. The Cheng family didn't even take him seriously. She felt guilty even as she said this.
"Your aunt was hired from a good family. She is still a noble concubine after all. She is not like those lowly concubines who can be beaten, scolded and sold at will. If she had not committed the seven offenses for divorce, why would she be punished to kneel?" The old woman whispered, "Just go forward and cry. If you can soften your father's heart, your wife will be forgiven..." After that, the old woman muttered again.
It's basically: Who doesn't like beautiful women?
Six-year-old Cheng Lang slowly stepped forward, timid. He didn't know how to make his father cry so softly. He stood there for a moment, unable to cry, staring blankly ahead. The old woman came forward, sighing in vain, and reached out to twist his little arm.
In the harsh winter, the cotton-padded jacket wrapped around the child's delicate skin was painful when twisted. Little Cheng Lang finally burst into tears.
The mother-in-law finally breathed a sigh of relief. It wasn't that she was cruel. If the child really had no mother, he would have been eaten alive in the Cheng family.
Although this mother...ignored him, there was still something good about her.
The child's crying finally attracted the attention of the people in the room, but Aunt Lu didn't even raise her eyes and stared at the door intently.
The old woman looked at the lonely and stubborn figure, feeling mixed emotions in her heart.
Stupid, stupid!
She was a concubine from a marquisate, and though she wasn't favored, it was always good for her to marry into a wealthy family as a concubine. She just liked married women, and she was lonely and stubborn. In her early years, Master Cheng San loved her, but in the past two years, he'd grown tired of beauties and that was it. If she had been born like this, her life would have been much better than hers. She was either stupid or something!
Unexpectedly, after a few cries, the first person to emerge wasn't Master Cheng San, but a chubby little boy, a year older than little Cheng Lang, but a head taller. He wore a thick, fur-trimmed silk jacket, black silk trousers, and a tiger-skin Lu'an hat. Compared to Cheng Lang's frailty, he looked as thin as a ball.
The fat boy had a fierce look on his face, and in the icy snow, his breath was filled with white air. He stepped forward and kicked little Cheng Lang, shouting, "I'll make you cry! I'll make you cry! You're making so much noise!"
There was snow on the soles of his boots, and little Cheng Lang was kicked down in two kicks. The cold soles of his boots, covered with snow, pressed against his face.
He cried even louder. The snow was cold and he kept struggling.
The old woman ignored them at first, but when she saw another group of figures coming out of the house, she hurried forward to pull them back: "My Second Young Master! The Fourth Young Master is in good health, so don't hit him!"
The man walking briskly in front saw this scene and his face turned dark: "Cheng Shen, stop it right there! Who taught you the rules? How dare you hit your brother!"
Another beautiful woman followed behind him. Seeing the man about to hit her son, she cried out in distress, "Master, Shen'er is just a child who doesn't know any better. He was playing with his brother. Shen'er, quickly help your brother up and apologize to your father!"
To little Cheng Lang, everything was chaotic, with so many people talking. His father, enraged, tried to pull his fat second brother over, but Third Madam Cheng stopped him, and Old Madam Cheng, who had rushed over to protect her grandson, clenched his fists for a long time but couldn't bring himself to strike. His aunt naturally didn't need to kneel anymore, but what about him?
He only remembered the cold, snowy boots stepping on his face.
When they returned to their own small courtyard, Aunt Lu was sitting at the table drinking tea. She was scolding the maid: "Who told you to bring him there? It's embarrassing."
The old woman said, "Auntie, if it weren't for this, you would have been crippled by kneeling..."
"Even if I kneel until I'm worn out, I won't bow to that bitch." Aunt Lu said coldly, "That bitch slandered me in front of Song Lang, thinking that I'm just a concubine and not as good as her..."
The old woman thought to herself, you are a concubine inferior to her.
But she wouldn't dare say this even if she had a hundred guts. She depended on Concubine Lu for food. After all, this Concubine was a concubine of the Marquis's family and had given birth to a boy. As long as she didn't get angry, who would bother her? It was much better than those concubines who were always submissive and afraid of disaster.
She patiently tried to persuade Aunt Lu in a roundabout way, and the two of them started talking in private. Meanwhile, no one cared about the child who had just recovered from a serious illness, had been beaten, and was starving and had not eaten yet.
Cheng Lang felt that the sounds he heard gradually became blurred, and the mother-in-law and concubine turned into shadows.
Later, he was tired and hungry, so he curled up on the overheated kang and fell asleep.
He heard those people talking in confusion: "Songlang, if it weren't for the beating from the Second Young Master, how could my brother Lang have such a high fever... The Second Young Master is fine, but my brother Lang has become stupid due to the fever. What should I do? I only have this one child..."
The crying voice turned out to be his aunt's.
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