” I believe that it’s going to be just as troublesome too mother,” said Shen Zizhen with a frown on his face. ” The Emperor might be respectful towards our family but that’s only because we are one of the pillars of his money-making system but the fact stays that we are still not an official or a family of officials, he will not go against a concubine just for our sake.”
Each concubine in the Imperial Harem came from a well-settled family with a good background, even the bed warmers of the Emperor were acquainted with the families of officials.
” Our family might be important but it’s not that important that he will have to go against an official and concubine together,” said Shen Tian looking at his mother with worry. ” I am afraid if those concubines are after Wan Wan then they will not stop until they get what they want, mother.”
Su Wan heard her uncles’ worries and her heart squeezed, was she really being attacked by the concubines of the palace because she was adopted by Lord Fei? But that kinda seemed fishy to her, after all, it has been ages since Lord Fei took her in as his adopted daughter, so the concubine coming to attack her now was simply unreasonable unless there was another reason but what other reason can they have? She has never offended an official, has she? Though she was a shrew and liked to shoot back one insult with two, she was also smart enough to know where to speak and where she should keep silent. So, how come she was being targeted by the concubines now?
Grandam Shen saw Su Wan’s pallid expression and caught hold of her hand as she patted the back of it, with a smile she looked at Su Wan and said, ” Don’t worry as long as grandma is here, no one can do anything to you.” Then she turned to her sons and scolded them severely, ” What are you doing scaring my granddaughter like that? Isn’t the answer simple? The one who caused the trouble will be the one who will solve it! That Lord Fei is the crux of the matter, so we will have to send word to the capital, since he adopted Wan Wan as his god granddaughter, he should be the one protecting her as well especially when the Imperial family is involved.”
Then she paused and added slyly. ” But first we need to take care of that Feng brat, my guards found the imperial guards around his house and I think they are paying that guy quite nicely for him to do such a risky thing, so first let’s loop him in and take care of these rumours.”
” That’s right,” said Madam Zhu with a flap of her half-moon fan. ” Even if we are going to leave this village, we should leave the villagers with tons of regret in their hearts instead of running away like a coward. If we leave without solving the matter, then the villagers will simply think that they were able to get good riddance of us and that Feng guy will be able to escape scout free as well, we can’t let that happen, can we? So why not show his real face to the villagers before leaving?”
” Leaving?” Lin Jing’s eyes widened as he looked at Madam Zhu with surprise. ” You were able to convince them?”
” There is nothing a bit of tears and little sniffles can’t do,” said Madam Zhu with a smug look on her face. ” I told the old couple about what was happening in the village with a little spice mixed in and they immediately started to feel sorry for Wan Wan that was how I was able to get them to agree to sell that house at once. And I made arrangements for them to leave for the capital in an exclusive carriage that will move without a hitch and even gave them enough accommodations for travelling so they left the deed in my hand.”
She flicked out the deed of the house and handed it to Lin Jing. ” I know you made the full payment even without asking them anything else and the couple were really happy with your sincere attitude, they already had the deed prepared, they were only waiting for their son to send a carriage that was good enough and comfortable for them since I arranged it, they handed me the deed.”
Lin Jing stared at the deed and softly caressed his family name on the paper. A house under their name, one where they wouldn’t be kicked out from and immediately felt his eyes sting as he suppressed a cry, ” See, this..this is the deed of ..our h..house, we are going to live here,” to the Shen family this house wasn’t a big deal for them but for Lin Jing it was like catching hold of a star in the sky. From a small pigpen next to the pigsty, he was finally going to move with his family to a house that was twice as big as the one they were living in, it was like all his dreams came true.
” Wan Wan, look at this,” said Lin Jing as he showed the deed to Su Wan with a silly smile on his face and a bandage on his head. ” Our house, we are going to live here now. A big house, my brothers, our kids they don’t have to live in a cramped up space.”
Su Wan took hold of his hand and wiped the tears that were coming down his big bear-like eyes and said with a smile, ” En, we are going to live in a big house.”
