tallest building

Chapter 56 Finding a New Path

"That's good. If you need anything or anything, just tell me, and I'll do my best to help," said Mrs. Wei.

"Thank you, sister-in-law. I won't stand on ceremony with you," Wen Mingqian said.

"Seven years have passed in the blink of an eye, and you are no longer the Wen Mingqian you once were." Since returning, Madam Wei has observed that Wen Mingqian's words and actions are completely different from before.

“Yes! The Wen Mingqian of back then would have died long ago.” Wen Mingqian smiled bitterly. “Seven years is enough time for a person to be reborn.”

"It's because these seven years have been too difficult. Otherwise, let alone seven years, even seventeen or twenty-seven years might not be enough to drastically change a person's character," Madam Wei sighed. "The past cannot be changed, but the future can still be shaped. From now on, you must take good care of yourself."

After seeing off Madam Wei, Wen Mingqian began selecting spices, grinding them finely, and then sifting them into the finest powder through gauze.

The ingredients have been prepared in the correct proportions; store them away for now.

Then, several more flower seeds were taken out and ground into powder in turn.

She was completely absorbed, as if the matter at hand was the most important thing, and as for tomorrow's matters, she would deal with them tomorrow.

After being humiliated, Song was naturally unhappy when she returned home.

Granny Yang and the others comforted her, saying, "Young mistress, don't take this to heart. Let's see what she can do tomorrow. In the end, she'll still have to follow the path we've laid out for her."

“What happened today is alright, but I just feel like something’s off with Wen Mingqian,” said Madam Song. “Could she really have some way to persuade Zhu Hui? If she actually succeeds, it will be terrible.”

"No, young mistress, she's just playing the empty city stratagem!" said Granny Yang. "If she really had a way, why didn't she say so sooner?"

Song was in a state of great anxiety, with no peace of mind.

"Young Madam, please take care of yourself. Don't worry about this matter; it's not worth it," said Granny Yang.

Suddenly, Madam Song frowned, her hand unconsciously covering her lower abdomen, and said, "Why do I feel a dragging sensation in my lower abdomen?"

Granny Yang and the others were startled and hurriedly said, "Young Madam, please lie down on the bed. We'll go and fetch a doctor right away."

Song said, "I need to relieve myself."

But when he took off his clothes, he found several dark brown bloodstains on his undergarments.

"Oh dear!" Madam Song's expression changed. "What should we do?"

"It seems you've had a miscarriage scare. Madam, please go back to bed." Granny Yang and the others helped her back to bed.

Song felt increasingly sore in her lower back and heavy in her abdomen.

Then the doctor arrived, took her pulse, and said, "This pregnancy is not very stable, so you have to be careful. I'll prescribe some medicine to help with the pregnancy, so take it carefully and rest more. Try not to get up these days."

Only then did Mrs. Song truly regret her actions; she shouldn't have made such a fuss.

After having lunch, Wen Mingqian rested for a while. When he woke up, he heard that Song had gone through a miscarriage.

“She deserved it all!” Zhang Ma said without any sympathy. “Even God couldn’t stand it anymore.”

"Does the old lady know about this?" Wen Mingqian asked.

"They probably don't know, but the First Madam does. I heard she went there to check on things herself," said Zhang Ma.

“We don’t need to go over there, lest we cause them trouble,” Wen Mingqian smiled. “Besides, the master isn’t home either, so we don’t need to put on an act for anyone.”

The next morning, Wen Mingqian took his son and Zhang Ma out the door.

Although Song was pregnant, she was still concerned about this matter and had already instructed Granny Yang: "Tomorrow, send two reliable people to secretly follow them and see where they went. Make sure they don't take this opportunity to escape." More than an hour later, Granny Yang came in and said to Song: "They have returned. The people who went with them said that they did go to the Zhu family and came out after more than half an hour."

"Did it work out or not?" Mrs. Song asked.

Granny Yang shook her head: "Then we have no idea."

“They should have gone to the old lady’s place. Go and inquire there,” Madam Song said anxiously. “If it doesn’t work, we’ll have to urge her.”

"Yes, yes, I'll go right away," said Granny Yang as she hurried off.

At this time, Gong Rang and his wife were also in Madam Gong's room.

As soon as Wen Mingqian entered, Old Madam Gong hurriedly asked, "How did things go today?"

"Grandma, send away all the irrelevant people first," Wen Mingqian said, "to avoid gossip."

Upon hearing this, Madam Gong felt a glimmer of hope, for if things didn't work out, there was probably nothing more to say.

"Lord Zhu has already agreed to interrogate the master one more time before letting him return." Wen Mingqian's words were like a stone thrown into water, stirring up a thousand waves in everyone's hearts.

"Really?!" Even Gong Rang found it hard to believe. "Sister-in-law, how did you persuade him?"

"It's like this," Wen Mingqian said calmly. "Ever since I heard that the master had gotten into trouble, I've been thinking day and night about how to get him out of trouble. Later, I found out that the root of the problem lay with Lord Zhu Hui, so I thought about how to persuade him to show leniency."

At first, I had no clue either, until I found out about Lord Zhu's early life. He lost his father at a young age, and his widowed mother raised him with great difficulty.

Lord Zhu was extremely filial to his mother; he would never disobey a single word from the old lady of the Zhu family.

Several years ago, Lord Zhu's mother passed away. Before her death, she asked Lord Zhu to enshrine her ashes at the Dizang Temple in the suburbs.

Three years ago, a sudden flood in the suburbs of Beijing destroyed the Dizang Temple, and the ashes of Lord Zhu's mother also went missing.

Lord Zhu searched for it countless times afterward, but to no avail.

These days I have hired some people to search around the original site of Dizang Temple, but I didn’t dare to have any hope.

Unexpectedly, by the grace of Heaven and the blessings of my ancestors, I actually found it.

Because those urns are specially made, and they bear the name of the deceased and the names of their children. Moreover, the inscription on Madam Zhu's urn is written in Master Zhu's own handwriting; there's absolutely no way it could be wrong.”

"Oh, I see!" Old Madam Gong suddenly realized. "Even if you offered mountains of gold and silver, you might not be able to sway Zhu Hui. But he can't just ignore his mother's ashes."

"Yes! The reason why my daughter-in-law didn't ask the master to do this is because the master is an honest gentleman and a colleague of Lord Zhu, so it's not appropriate to use this to coerce him."

I'm different. As a woman, it's okay for me to use some tricks to save my husband.

I threatened Lord Zhu with the ashes of Old Madam Zhu to force him to release my husband.

If he doesn't agree, I will throw Madam Zhu's ashes into the ravine.

He pondered for a long time before gritting his teeth and agreeing. But he also insisted that we keep it a secret and not let it get out, otherwise his official career would be over.

“Of course, of course. As long as we release the second son, why would we ruin his reputation?” said Madam Gong.

“Yes, I also spoke with Lord Zhu. My master didn’t participate in the embezzlement, so even if he was slightly negligent, it wouldn’t be a big deal. What he did can’t be considered favoritism or bending the law.” Wen Mingqian said, “Madam, if Aunt Song still insists on having Chang’an act as a substitute, you must not agree.”

(End of this chapter)