As soon as Madam Wang returned home, she ordered her maidservant, "Go and invite the Maternal Uncle over!"
They couldn’t save the family business, but she still had quite a bit of personal silver that she had given to her younger brother for usury, and she had also secretly purchased some land and shops. The glory and wealth were gone, but her living expenses would not decrease.
She closed the doors to the main courtyard and began packing up valuables with her trusted servant women. They also found all the maids’ indenture contracts and instructed the steward to go to the pawnbroker’s, "The most important thing right now is to rescue the Old Master. Sell anything in the house that can be sold!"
The steward gave a wry smile and agreed, then brought in the pawnbrokers.
Before long, cries of heartbreak echoed chaotically through the Wang Residence.
The servant women helping Madam Wang pack up looked at each other, all feeling a sense of shared sorrow.
The servant girl sent to invite the Maternal Uncle ran in panic-stricken and said, "Madam, Madam, it’s terrible! The Maternal Uncle has run away!"
"What did you say?" Madam Wang’s face turned deathly pale immediately.
She realized then that her brother, ever since the incident with Registrar Wang, had not shown his face at the Wang Family’s home for several days.
Madam Wang’s face became even paler.
She shakily said to the servant girl, "Tell me everything that happened at the Maternal Uncle’s, leave nothing out."
Taking a deep breath, the servant girl with a somber expression said, "Following your order, I went to the Maternal Uncle’s place, only to find the courtyard gate wide open, with clothes and household items scattered all around, and a crowd of people fighting over them. Not to mention the Maternal Uncle, even the myna he usually kept under the roof and the cat he held in his arms were gone.
"The neighbors next door said that the Maternal Uncle had just left Liang County with seven or eight stewards, pulling more than a dozen mule carts, taking the old grandfather and the Old Lady away!"
"Impossible!" Madam Wang’s legs gave way, and she slumped into the Taishi Chair behind her.
She had always been close to her brother since childhood; how could her natal family leave Liang County without even telling her?
Afraid that Madam Wang would not believe her, the servant girl cried, "Madam, I’m not lying. It was the neighbors next door to the Maternal Uncle’s house who saw it. People even saw with their own eyes that the Maternal Uncle took his family aboard the Song Family’s porcelain-carrying boat."
"The Song Family?" Madam Wang was stunned, then asked, "The one where Miss Song is in charge?"
The little maidservant affirmed.
Madam Wang hastily sent someone to inquire at the Song Family about her brother’s whereabouts.
A steward brought in the silver from selling the servants and said, "Madam, please check if the amount is correct."
Madam Wang leaped up at once.
Her silver!
If her brother had left, what about her silver? And what about the shops and land registered in her brother’s name?
Only then did Madam Wang truly start to panic, and she quickly sent for Legal Advisor Wang.
But to her dismay, the messenger did not return even after a long while.
Madam Wang became even more anxious and sent out additional people to search.
Almost half a Shichen passed before a panicked messenger returned with news, "Legal Advisor Wang is nowhere to be found; we’ve searched everywhere. His servant boy also doesn’t know where Legal Advisor Wang might have gone. They say he hasn’t been seen since early this morning."
Madam Wang cried out, "Aiyo," clutching her chest and collapsing onto the Taishi Chair.
Everyone in the room was terrified, some pinching acupuncture points, others pouring tea, and someone fetching Lunar Caustic.
It took a while for Madam Wang to finally sit up.
She trembled as she said, "Send someone to ask the Song Family again, more clearly?"
The steward agreed repeatedly, and turned to leave the hall, but in the blink of an eye, he returned with the servant boy who had brought the message, saying, "Madam, the Song Family says that it was only after they received the name card from the official that they arranged for your Maternal Uncle to board the boat. Their boat will make stops not only at Poyang Lake but also at Jiujiang, Anqing, Chizhou, Wuhu... The Maternal Uncle only mentioned wanting to take a boat, he didn’t specify a destination."
Madam Wang’s mouth quivered, but she couldn’t speak for a long time.
Watching her, the steward’s forehead began to sweat as well.
He spoke softly, "Should we go and ask Old Master Wang?"
That would be better than a lady of the house having absolutely no idea what to do.
After a while, Madam Wang regained her strength. Holding the silver, she was assisted by her trusted Nanny and heavily bribed the jailers before heading to the County Yamen’s prison.
Wang Zhubo was sitting on the moldy straw in his cell lost in thought when he saw Madam Wang return so quickly. His brows furrowed, he suppressed the impatience in his heart and said, "Why have you come again? You should be hurrying to Shangrao!"
Prince Huai’s Mansion was located in Shangrao Prefecture.
Tears brimming in her eyes, Madam Wang threw herself at him and, through the coarse wooden bars, grabbed Wang Zhubo’s hands, "Old Master, it’s terrible! The younger brother, he... he has left Liang County on the Song Family’s boat."
"What did you say?" Wang Zhubo looked as if he had been struck by lightning.
Then his face twisted with fury, he angrily grabbed Madam Wang’s fingertips, his voice filled with venom, "What has that idiot brother of yours done? Did he run off with my money? Does he look down on me that much? Does he think I’ll never make a comeback?"
In the past, his official’s robe would naturally intimidate all sorts of people. He never expected that one day, when he would fall upon hard times, the first to stab him in the back would be his little brother-in-law, who depended on him for a living.
Rage overwhelmed him, causing his vision to blacken intermittently.
"Ow, ow, it hurts!" Madam Wang, held by the hand by Wang Zhubo, pleaded non-stop.
Far from letting go, Wang Zhubo glared murderously and slapped her several times.
Madam Wang’s face immediately swelled like leavened bread dough.
Only then did he let go, shoving Madam Wang hard as he commanded, "Where’s Master Wang? Tell him to send someone to catch that fool and bring him back!" He also cursed, "Does he think just having silver in his hands will allow him to stand on his own two feet out there? Little does he know, the larger the place, the more the idle gangs have powerful backers with means. If he dies outside due to the crime of concealing stolen treasures, so be it, but he better not ruin my important matters."
Madam Wang fell to the ground, her palms and elbows burning with pain, but she dared not make a sound.
What her brother had done was truly despicable.
Even now, thinking about her brother, she felt nothing but resentment.
"Master Wang, Master Wang is also missing!" She stammered, "He left early in the morning and hasn’t come back. I’ve already sent people to look for him."
Wang Zhubo then showed a look of horror: "Master Wang is also missing?"
That was his clan brother!
His face turned ashen.
Tears streaming down her face, Madam Wang asked, "Old Master, what should we do now?"
Now they must first catch her brother and bring him back, or they won’t be able to get their hands on the silver.
Wang Zhubo gnashed his teeth and said, "Go to the Song Family, tell them to figure out a way to intercept and bring the person back."
Madam Wang replied "Oh," and getting up with difficulty, limped towards the exit, only to come face to face with several women dressed like prison matrons escorting a woman in a black cloak into the room.
The cell was already very dark, and the newcomer had her back to the light; Madam Wang couldn’t see clearly who it was, even as she strained her eyes.
Yet the newcomer greeted her with a smile, "Madam Wang, it’s been a while! Are you here to see Old Master Wang?"
Caught off guard, Madam Wang hesitantly asked, "You, you’re Miss Song?"
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