Chapter 377: Rules and Boundaries
On the day Zhang Fu returned, the Yangwu Bo’s residence was shrouded in gloom. Perhaps it was Zhu Ning’s stern rebuke that woke him up, perhaps it was the unbearable shame of being labeled as someone who started things but abandoned them, or perhaps it was a final determination made after gritting his teeth. In any case, after returning home in a daze the previous day and spending the night there, early the next morning, Zhang Chao went to the main house in the northern courtyard to pay his respects to his grandmother, then knelt down and confessed everything. At that time, everyone in the family was in the main house. Hearing this, Lady Dongfang nearly fainted, while Zhang You’s face turned ashen.
“Second son, you still have duties to perform. Go to the Left Army Commander’s office and don’t forget to ask for leave for Brother Chao as well,” Lady Gu ordered in an unyielding tone, silencing the words that had been on Zhang You’s lips. Glancing at the various expressions among the younger members of the family, she added indifferently, “Brother Chao’s wife may stay, Brother Yue may stay too, but everyone else should leave. Those who need to go to the government office go there, those who need to go to school go to school, and those who need to take care of household affairs do so. One thing—know what you can say and what you cannot say!”
Zhang Qi opened his mouth to plead, but before he could say anything, Zhang You pulled him forward to bow and leave. He had no choice but to leave reluctantly. Soon after, he saw the others leaving one after another. His mother, Lady Dongfang, looked frustrated, his aunt Feng frowned, and his wife wore a triumphant expression… When everyone else had left, he couldn’t help but look at his father, Zhang You, with a pleading gaze.
Recalling Lady Gu’s words, Zhang You’s anger subsided significantly. Who could he blame? Himself for not disciplining his son? His wife for spoiling him? His daughter-in-law for being useless? He himself had been reckless in his older years, so his authority to teach his son was questionable. It wasn’t surprising that Lady Gu sent him away.
Glancing at Zhang Qi, he said in a stern voice, “You must take responsibility for your own actions. Since your elder brother is willing to confess, it’s better than continuing to act recklessly. Stop worrying about him and focus on your own duties.”
After her anger subsided, Lady Dongfang found her mother-in-law’s cold expression truly terrifying. In her view, it was just her son being foolish enough to hide a woman. Though it was annoying, it wasn’t a big deal. Seeing Zhang You about to leave, she quickly called out, “Sir, Chao is still young. It’s just a woman after all. If he likes her, he can take her as a concubine. Maybe we should ask the old lady again…”
“Don’t get involved in this!” Zhang You turned to glare at his wife, then immediately felt he had gone too far and softened his tone, saying, “A real man who lacks responsibility deserves to be taught a lesson! Besides, Mother has already given her orders—what’s there left to ask for? Don’t forget, you are now the wife of the Marquis of Yangwu, and Chaoer is my eldest son as the Marquis of Yangwu!”
At that moment, silence reigned in the main room, with voices from outside clearly audible through the gaps in the door curtains, further unsettling those who were standing and those who were kneeling. It wasn’t until the voices faded away that Lady Gu coldly looked at Zhang Chao and said word by word, “Did you hear what your father said? I don’t want to say more. I already said everything I needed to say when your wife first came to our house. I thought, though you may be careless, you still understood what was right and wrong. Who would have thought you’d be so ignorant! Go kneel in the ancestral hall and think carefully about what you’ve done over the years, and think about where all your current wealth and honor come from! Bai Fang!”
Bai Fang, who was standing nearby, was startled and quickly stepped forward to whisper a few words to Zhang Chao. Only then did Zhang Chao manage to stand up with difficulty, his legs numb, and walk out like a puppet on strings. When he reached the door, he suddenly stopped and turned around, kneeling down again with a thud.
“Grandmother, it’s all my fault—every mistake. It has nothing to do with her. I was foolish enough to focus all my thoughts on her and forget everything else. Grandmother, I only beg you to spare her. I…”
“Shut up!” Lady Gu was now truly angry. She stood up immediately and scolded, “Do you think the Zhang family is the kind that bullies others and shifts blame onto others? You’re my grandson, so of course I’m responsible for you. What does she have to do with it? Do I have to send thirty or fifty people to drive her out of Beijing or even kill her to bring shame to the Zhang family? Do you think I’m some selfish wretch who only thinks of herself? You’ve forgotten all sense of propriety. This is…”
Lady Gu had never been so angry before. After shouting all that, she was out of breath. Seeing this, Zhang Yue was shocked and quickly stepped forward to help her sit down, pouring a cup of hot water from a silver bottle. Once she seemed a bit recovered, he signaled Zhang Chao. Bai Fang, quick-witted, quickly pulled him away. After finishing all this, he finally saw his sister-in-law, Li Yun, standing there in a daze, her face pale, her handkerchief torn to pieces.
“Lily, come here!”
Having just lost her temper, Lady Gu was naturally exhausted, yet she still gathered her strength to wave for Li Yun to come over. Pulling her aside and making her sit down, she let out a deep sigh: “Although Chao Ge is carefree and indifferent to everything, his nature is stubborn beyond even nine oxen could change. Of course, he is entirely at fault for today’s incident, but you must understand that you’ve been too accommodating to him. It’s good for a woman to be virtuous, but if she’s utterly devoid of any backbone, he will surely seek novelty elsewhere and leave her. Go back and think carefully. If you’ve come to your senses and are willing, then go see him. If you’re still angry with him, then just let him go hungry for a day to sober up!”
Even with a difficult mother-in-law like Lady Dongfang who often caused trouble, Li Yun simply couldn’t emulate Zhao Fen. So when faced with such a situation, she didn’t even know how she stayed standing there. Hearing Lady Gu’s words, she felt even more confused. Her own brother was someone who craved novelty, so her sister-in-law had tried every means to find maids for their home just so her brother wouldn’t wander around outside. She had also acted virtuously and generously as her sister-in-law instructed—so why had she gone wrong?
Watching Li Yun struggle to stand up, nod in greeting, and step out of the room, Zhang Yue also felt uneasy. With no one else in the room, Lady Gu sat there in thought for a while before sighing to Zhang Yue, “It’s fortunate you came to tell me last night. It’s also thanks to Princess Chenliu for scolding your brother harshly. Otherwise, if this issue hadn’t been resolved soon, it would have caused great chaos! If I had known earlier, perhaps I should have taught him a lesson before Chao Ge’s wife married in…”
When Zhang Yue had accompanied Zhang Chao to Si Shui Street earlier, the place was already deserted. Although he suspected there was more to it, hearing his grandmother mention it now, he instinctively asked, “Grandmother, was it really you who sent that girl away?”
“I’m not that domineering!” Gu Shi glared fiercely at Zhang Yue before saying coldly, “I know you tried to persuade him, but if you had accompanied him to meet that person back then and he still refused to give up, what would you have done? You could scold Brother Jiu, but after all, you couldn’t scold your own elder brother. That time, it was his servant who feared something might go wrong and reported to me, so I sent Mother Gan to meet that girl. Mother Gan simply explained the family situation, saying that Brother Chao was actually engaged early on, and asked if she would be willing to be the second wife. But that girl had great backbone and refused outright, saying she would never have anything to do with him again. But look at him now—he dares to have an affair but isn’t willing to reveal his family’s situation or that he’s already engaged. He doesn’t show the slightest sense of being from a noble family!”
“I knew at that time that it was better to turn things around than to go wrong completely. Who would have thought he still wouldn’t change even now! If it were really that backbone-filled girl, no matter what her reasons were for following Brother Chao again, I might still allow her to enter the family. But this one… not to mention her unclear background, it’s hard to tell what her intentions are! Since you’ve met her, Brother Yue, what do you think of her?”
When Zhang Yue accompanied Zhang Chao to meet that person that day, he already found Qin Feng to be extremely beautiful, but perhaps due to preconceived notions, he couldn’t help but want to keep his distance. Hearing Gu Shi’s question now, he thought for a moment before straightforwardly expressing his thoughts.
“Although marriage isn’t completely prohibited in the city these days, sensible people won’t wear red. Moreover, yesterday she was very insistent in offering drinks, clearly not fully focused on my elder brother, often stealing glances at me. So even if I hadn’t met the princess yesterday, I still planned to investigate first. After all, judging by the timing, this woman was probably brought back by my elder brother during his mission to the south to suppress the pirates. With strict military discipline, how could he have any contact with women? So yesterday afternoon, I sent someone to keep an eye on that courtyard.”
“You’ve already sent someone to watch over it?” Gu Shi raised an eyebrow in surprise, then nodded. “Anyway, we’re not going to start a fight. It’s only right to send a few people to keep an eye on things. I’ll send two aunts over later to secretly take her to a safe place. The princess scolded him thoroughly yesterday; it’s a pity I couldn’t be there to see it. Enough about that. I kept you here because I have another matter to discuss with you. Borrow Lingxi back for a couple of days; I have important tasks for her.”
“Lingxi?” Zhang Yue wasn’t expecting Lady Gu to suddenly make such a request and was momentarily stunned. Then he smiled and said, “Since Grandma wants to use her, I’ll just talk to Wanmei and let her know later.”
Lady Gu nodded with a smile and quickly sent Zhang Yue away with a few words before sighing softly. She had given Lingxi to Zhang Yue for that very reason—after all, her daughter-in-law Du Wan was meticulous and cautious, with knowledge and insight far surpassing Lingxi’s, while Qiuhen Hupo had the advantage of having been with Zhang Yue for a longer time. Judging from Zhang Yue’s character, it was unlikely he would keep her just for companionship. For now, the only option was to wait until Lingxi completed that task for her before making further plans.