Chapter 36
"Shut up! Who's your sister?!" The shrill scream made everyone frown.
Wei Cai'e was the only one who straightened up as if nothing had happened. She smoothed her disheveled bun with both hands and put on the dignified air of the First Madam. "Father, I know you suspect that Mother's death has something to do with me, but my conscience is clear, and since I didn't do it, I'm not afraid of an investigation. If you don't believe me, I can have a physician and a coroner examine the body to find out what really happened."
That one sentence changed the expressions of everyone in the room. Song Yao finally understood what was going on. Xu Gandang's face was black as ink. Xu Kaixuan's hands were clenched into fists, and he didn't dare turn around to look at his grandfather's expression.
Xu Kaicheng quickly glanced up at everyone's faces, then lowered his head again to look for ants in the corner.
Wei Cai'e was this confident because she had something to fall back on. There was definitely poison in Wei Daya's body. She was betting that the Marquis of Jing'an wouldn't dare bring in an outside physician and coroner. Besides, she had the poison—but so did the Marquis. She had increased the dosage later on, but the one who started it was the Marquis of Jing'an.
Wei Cai'e was staking the reputation of the Marquis of Jing'an household to guarantee herself. She was betting that the Marquis wouldn't dare expose everything.
"Kaixuan, tell me—if your mother, out of deep affection for your grandmother, couldn't bear her passing and hanged herself before the memorial tablet, would you be too heartbroken?"
"Grandfather!" Xu Kaixuan dropped to his knees, both hands braced on the ground, his forehead slamming against the floor tiles. "I beg you."
Wei Cai'e, so defiant just moments ago, had not flinched under Xu Gandang's calm gaze—but the instant Xu Kaixuan knelt, panic seized her. Clutching at her collar in disbelief, she backed away again and again. "No—you wouldn't dare. For the sake of the Marquis of Jing'an household's reputation, you wouldn't dare."
For the first time, Xu Gandang ignored Xu Kaixuan and simply looked quietly at Wei Cai'e. "She's just a woman. What wouldn't I dare?"
That's right—just a woman. What wouldn't the Marquis of Jing'an, who had chopped off hundreds upon thousands of heads, dare to do?
"Grandfather, I beg you!" Xu Kaixuan crawled like a dog, shifting from the side to the front. He pressed his forehead to the ground and kowtowed three more times.
Xu Gandang's face showed no extra expression — only the bulging veins on the backs of his hands betrayed his fury.
Yang Wanhe gave Song Yao a gentle push from behind. Song Yao lowered his head to hide the reluctance in his eyes and walked over to kneel beside Xu Kaixuan. As for any extra pleading, he truly couldn't bring himself to say it.
Xu Kaicheng was still scurrying around the corner like a monkey—looking at Xu Kaixuan, then at Song Yao. Looking at Xu Gandang, then turning back to look at the terrified Wei Cai'e.
He trotted over and dropped to his knees on Song Yao's other side. "Grandfather, please calm your anger."
Yang Wanhe walked over as well, though as an elder she didn't need to kneel and plead. "Father, perhaps... she's just been suffering from hysteria lately because of all the household affairs. After all, she is the Eldest Young Master's birth mother, and he's just returned victorious from battle and married such a lovely wife—this should be a time of harmony for the whole family. Why not have her spend a few days in quiet retreat at the family shrine to restore her spirits? Perhaps she'll recover."
Anyone could see that as long as Xu Kaixuan stood in the middle, Xu Gandang would ultimately give way. Wei Cai'e was afraid only because she was gambling with her life—and she couldn't afford to lose.
"Grandfather, Mother was truly just confused. She didn't mean to say such things. I'll have a physician treat her afterward, and she'll never do this again. Grandfather, I beg you, Grandfather!" Xu Kaixuan gave Yang Wanhe a grateful look, straightened up, and hurriedly shuffled forward on his knees to Xu Gandang's side.
He put both hands on Xu Gandang's knees, his eyes red-rimmed and pitiful.
Yang Wanhe smiled back gently and took the opportunity to step forward and pour tea, handing it to Xu Gandang. She also conveniently blocked what was behind her—Song Yao, who had fallen directly onto Xu Kaicheng after Xu Kaixuan bumped into her.
Xu Gandang took the teacup. Everyone could tell he had taken the way out.
"Let the Wei woman kneel in the ancestral hall to atone before the ancestors. She is not to come out for a month. As for your grandmother's funeral arrangements, leave them to your Second Aunt."
Xu Gandang held the teacup without drinking and let out a long sigh, as if he had aged several years in that moment.
He looked at Yang Wanhe with the satisfied air of a comforted old man — which almost made her throw up.
Yang Wanhe maintained her gentle demeanor and curtsied to Xu Gandang once more. She raised her head and looked at Xu Kaixuan with a smile. "Eldest Young Master..."
Wei Cai'e, still leaning by the door, felt rage surge up at the sight of Yang Wanhe's expression. Then when she saw Yang Wanhe speaking so lovingly to her son—and her son looking back at Yang Wanhe with gratitude—the thread called reason in her mind snapped again. "Who asked you to play the good person! You're just being a hypocrite because you want control of the household. I'm telling you, I'm Kaixuan's birth mother! I'm the future mistress of the Marquis of Jing'an household!"
"Mother!" Xu Kaixuan was devastated, unable to believe it. Yang Wanhe waved a hand toward the door, and Yang Momo came trotting in with Wei Cai'e's two maidservants and her trusted old momo.
By this point, even the people around Wei Cai'e knew they had to stop their mistress quickly.
The two maidservants turned pale and grabbed Wei Cai'e. The old momo who had served her for decades clamped a handkerchief over her mouth. "The Marquis is being merciful — our Madam has just been possessed by a nightmare. She'll be fine after a good sleep. She'll be fine after a good sleep."
Wei Cai'e's screams were muffled as she kept struggling unwillingly, and with her back to everyone, Yang Wanhe let her lips curl into a triumphant smile for just an instant — only when Wei Cai'e was looking.
The next moment, she was back to her usual gentle self. "The First Madam misunderstands me. I only meant to say that the Eldest Young Master is now married, and though the Eldest Young Madam is still young, she is after all the eldest young madam of the household. If she doesn't mind, I can help advise her so she can get the hang of things sooner. After all, we'll be living separately in the future—it really isn't appropriate for me to keep involving myself in the marquis household's affairs."
The room fell silent. Everyone looked at Song Yao, who had been ignored until now. Having been carefully helped upright by Xu Kaicheng, he faced everyone's scrutiny and knelt in a dignified salute. "For my husband's sake, Yaoyao is willing."
Xu Gandang was comforted, and Xu Kaixuan looked grateful.
And so the matter was settled. Song Yao would take the lead in managing the household, with Yang Wanhe assisting. Wei Cai'e was dragged away by the maidservants and old momo with her mouth covered—and the moment she was out the door, Zhao Gongming, who had been waiting outside, had her taken directly to the family shrine and locked up.
Xu Kaicheng was still his useless self. When Xu Gandang looked over wanting to show some closeness, he shrank his neck and pressed himself further into the corner—successfully turning the small amount of grandfatherly affection Yang Wanhe had stirred up into sheer frustration.
Yang Wanhe left first with Song Yao, and Xu Kaicheng found an excuse to slip away too. Only the grandfather and grandson remained in the room. No one knew what they said—only that the lamps burned until dawn.
After leaving the Old Madam's courtyard, Xu Kaicheng waved at Song Yao from a distance. Only after the little God of Wealth was reluctantly pulled away by Yang Wanhe did he turn and head back to his own courtyard.
Nanxing and Dongzhu had already prepared his bathwater. He soaked for a full half hour and didn't get out until the water had gone completely cold.
The Marquis of Jing'an hadn't disappointed him. While he was bathing, Zhao Guangming delivered two property deeds. One was for a small ten-mu farmstead outside the western suburbs of the capital. The other was for a small shop just inside the western city gate.
The area written on it was only sixty square meters, and it was single-story.
Looking at what was in his hands, Xu Kaicheng raised an eyebrow and smiled. Something was better than nothing. Everyone in the Rong Dynasty said the Marquis of Jing'an devoted himself entirely to the border and knew nothing about business.
For all these years, the household had relied entirely on the emperor's grants for food, clothing, and expenses—not a single decent business to their name.
But no one knew that the entire Liexi Pass was already the Marquis of Jing'an household's domain. Oh—perhaps the emperor knew.
Others only knew that Liexi Pass spent six months of the year in bitter winter, the piercing wind cold enough to freeze a person to death. The land, perpetually covered in snow, couldn't grow any decent crops—so barren that even exiled criminals didn't want to go there.
But no one knew that Liexi Pass occupied a fifth of the Rong Dynasty's territory. On such a vast expanse of land—was there really not a single way to make money?
The Marquis of Jing'an household's poverty—perhaps it was just poverty that Xu Gandang pretended.
But what did that have to do with him?
Flicking the two deeds in his hand, Xu Kaicheng smiled especially happily.
He slept well that night, dreamless. The next day, the Marquis of Jing'an household began its public mourning. The Old Madam had lived to a ripe old age, so it could indeed be considered a "joyous funeral." Yang Wanhe led Song Yao and handled everything beautifully and with dignity.
Death notices, invitations, etiquette—each item, each detail, neat and orderly. The entire capital was astonished, thinking Wei Cai'e had finally learned something.
When they learned that the funeral was actually organized by the long-secluded Second Branch's Yang Wanhe together with the newly married eldest young madam Song Yao, everyone's expressions turned complicated.
As for the official story that Wei Cai'e had taken to her bed from excessive grief—people neither confirmed nor denied it.
Even an ordinary family would hold a joyous funeral for three days, but Yang Wanhe, wanting to make a name for the Marquis of Jing'an household, went all out for a full ten days. The first three days were spent waiting for relatives from the ancestral hometown to arrive, and the Old Madam's coffin lay in state for a full six days before burial.
The household affairs had little to do with Xu Kaicheng now. Xu Gandang took Xu Kaixuan around to mingle with the various princes, nobles, and officials. Xu Kaicheng joined the bustle for a day, realized he couldn't even get a word in, and decisively chose to run.
Since transmigrating, he had seen the Old Madam's face only a handful of times. Besides, given their relationship, there was no real affection to speak of anyway.
And the more of a good-for-nothing he appeared, the more at ease the other two men in the household would probably feel.
Not staying at the marquis household meant Xu Kaicheng could do much more. The farmstead outside the western suburbs could wait—on the first day he slipped away, he took Xiong Hong to the western suburbs to find that little shop.
"Young Master, what kind of business are you planning?" The shop had always sat empty and had never been rented out. And the western suburbs really weren't a prosperous area.
Xiong Hong took out the key and opened the lock. Xu Kaicheng followed behind, covering his nose and mouth with his sleeve. A thin layer of dust fell from the door frame. Xiong Hong waved it away casually and stepped to the side.
Only after the dust had mostly settled did Xu Kaicheng enter, still covering his nose and mouth. It was just an empty room—though the empty spaces along the four walls made it seem a bit larger than the number on the deed.
"I plan to open a grain shop — it'll be more convenient to buy grain that way."
Leaving through the capital's west gate was the more direct route to Liexi Pass. It was just that no one liked going west. That was why, all these years, whenever the army set out or the Marquis of Jing'an and his men returned in triumph, they would take a detour to enter and leave through the east gate instead.
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