Four Harmonies and Good Fortune

Chapter 132 Substitution
If Yang Mingjing had the choice, he would keep this matter a secret no matter the cost.

In fact, no matter what he did, he couldn't get past Xie Yuyan.

When his fourth brother and sister-in-law were imprisoned, he didn't care. He was just thinking of teaching his fourth brother a lesson. Little did he know that this was just the beginning.

Yang Mingjing took a deep breath.

It's ridiculous that a woman sent to be married to Liu Lang in a ghost marriage managed to take control of the Yang family in just one month.

Whether they openly confronted her, temporarily avoided her, or joined forces with others to deal with her, they all suffered utter defeat. Yet their understanding of her remained only at the beginning.

I wonder where she came from and who she is.

"As the patriarch of the Yang clan..."

A faint voice came, so far yet so near, right above his head, making him unable to lift his head.

"Should be able to uphold fairness."

If he can't, then we'll have to ask Housei to come next, right?

Yang Mingjing took a deep breath and then looked at Madam He. His momentary hesitation made Madam He even more panicked.

“Master,” Madam He cried out, disregarding everything, “I risked my life to give birth to two sons and a daughter for you.”

"What was your home like when you married into the second branch of the Yang family? And now that you've become the clan leader, every step of the way was carefully planned by me?"

Suddenly, Madam He lowered her voice, as if whispering to Yang Mingjing: "Actually, Father and Mother prefer Fourth Brother. They want him to inherit the Yang family business. Only I am devoted to you."

"But now you want to abandon me for them."

“If you make this choice… you will definitely regret it. After your parents and fourth brother come out, you… the second branch of the family will not have a place for you. Instead, they will pull you down from the position of clan leader.”

“If you don’t believe me, ask them,” Mrs. He gestured around, “would your parents do such a thing?”

"Enough." Yang Mingjing interrupted He Shi. He bent down to help her up, at least to calm her down and stop her from talking nonsense. But He Shi seemed to have seen a ghost, screaming and shrinking back in fear.

Yang Mingjing stood there, his bent back stiff. The second branch of the family was destined to fall. When the officials found the doctor, under severe torture, wouldn't he confess the truth?

Yang Mingjing took a deep breath and finally made his choice: "It is true that I... received a prescription from Madam He, but I... do not know whether it was a prescription for the Third Master and the Third Madam, nor do I know whether anyone tampered with it."

He didn't burn the prescription; he just kept it in his study.

When He Shi tried to use the prescription to blackmail his parents, he was startled and quickly snatched it away, managing to appease her. He thought that things wouldn't get any worse than that.

Unexpectedly, the prescription was brought up again at this time.

Now everyone knows.

"Go and fetch the prescription," Xie Yuyan instructed her mother.

Mother Yu responded and quickly left with her entourage.

Yang Mingjing lowered his head. Now that things had come to this, he couldn't even question Xie Yuyan, so why did he have to keep pressing him?

The deceased were two elders from the third branch of the family. Who wouldn't want to find out the truth?
No matter who it is... the revenge for one's parents is something one would never dare not shirk.

Xie Yuyan looked at Zhang Shi: "We should invite my eldest uncle and aunt, as well as other elders in the clan, and then report to the government office."

Zhang nodded.

Yang Qin stared fiercely at Yang Mingjing, his shoulders heaving with rapid breathing. Finally, he couldn't help but rush forward.

Zhang tried to step forward but was stopped by Xie Yuyan.

Everyone watched as Yang Qin punched Yang Mingjing. The child didn't know any martial arts, so he could only release his strength haphazardly: "Why?" "You've given me everything you wanted from the third branch of the family."

"The courtyard, the money, whatever we have, we've given them all."

"My father is dead, and my grandparents are old. What can I use to fight you?"

"They're all relatives, why kill them?"

"I hate you all, I want you to pay with your lives."

Yang Mingjing dared not fight back and was forced to retreat repeatedly by Yang Qin's blows.

Yang Qin finally got tired of fighting and stopped, panting heavily. He was pulled aside by the clansmen next to him.

"Pah!" Yang Qin spat. "What kind of clan leader are you? Knowing the inside story and still hiding it, was that your idea back then?"

This was the scene that Yang Mingde saw when he entered.

The eldest son's family was solely focused on porcelain making and never concerned themselves with clan affairs; they were completely unaware of what was happening to the third son's family. Later, when the second son's family robbed the third son's family of their property, they spoke out, but to no avail. The second son's family even held a grudge against them, shutting down their porcelain kiln, and from then on, they rarely interacted with the clan.

Knowing about the prescription, Yang Mingde was also furious. He grabbed Yang Mingjing by the collar and said, "How have your third uncle and aunt treated you? How dare you treat them like this?"

"The Yang family has a corrupt family tradition, and they have allowed such a person to manage the clan affairs for many years."

Yang Mingde had barely finished speaking.

Xie Yuyan said, "Since we've come this far, we should check all the accounts from these years, especially the clan affairs handled by the Second Master."

"There are also old accounts from the porcelain kiln back then; let's settle them together."

Upon hearing this, Yang Mingjing, whose face was ashen, trembled again.

"You mean," Yang Mingde said, "that the porcelain kiln was sealed off, and the second branch of the family also tampered with it?"

Xie Yuyan said, "If you want to control the Yang family, you must take control of the important businesses. The second branch of the family cannot learn how to make porcelain kilns. If the family continues to rely on the income from porcelain kilns, it will inevitably be controlled by the eldest branch in the future. How can the second branch work for others?"

“Abandoning the porcelain kilns is inevitable, and then we will focus our efforts on trade routes and general stores.”

"It just so happened that the Xie family was expanding their porcelain kiln and closing the Yang family's porcelain kiln to make way for the Xie family. This was also a way of showing goodwill to the Xie family. In this way, the porcelain kiln was exchanged for friendship with the Xie family."

"Only the second branch of the Yang family received favors from the Xie family."

This is a complete exchange, using what belongs to others to gain benefits for oneself.

Yang Mingjing looked at Xie Yuyan in astonishment. How did she know these things? This was the result of her father's careful planning, yet she had easily exposed it.

Now she has pointed out a path, and the rest of the tribe can find evidence from it to confirm everything.

From now on, the Yang family has no place for their second branch of the family.

"Madam," the steward stepped forward to report, "people from the yamen have arrived."

Before New Year's Day, the county government had to sort out the important cases of the year, so you can imagine how busy the government was. But when it came to cases involving murder, they had no choice but to come.

At the very least, the criminals and related individuals should be brought to the yamen for questioning.

Old Mrs. Yang is bound to be imprisoned.

Before the trial, it was unknown whether the two old ladies could withstand the pressure. But the rest of the Yang family who knew the news would definitely pin the blame on the two old ladies.

Xie Yuyan looked at Yang Mingjing: "This year, the Yang clan should have a different person in charge of the ancestral worship ceremony."

(End of this chapter)