“If I knew it I would have kicked her ass wouldn’t I?” Grandma Shen was furious as well, no she was enraged. She found her granddaughter after so long and yet she was being bullied like this, was there any justice in this world? She raised her fist and with a loud bang brought it down on the armrest of her chair. ” This is why I never liked sucking up to those vixens, they are one thing on the outside and a completely different thing on the inside, look at how they are bullying my granddaughter it has been a month since the last incident that happened in the village but they are yet to give up, you tell me Lord Fei just because we are commoners can the royal family play with the lives of us, commoners without any fear? If so then what is the difference between the prodigal late Emperor and the current one?”
“Grandma,” this time even Su Wan was startled by Old madam Shen, though she was happy upon seeing that her grandmother was willing to fight with Lord Fei for her sake but she didn’t want Old madam Shen to offend Lord Fei and get in trouble. Comparing the current Emperor with the one whose throne was usurped could be considered a crime, one that could send all of them to the guillotine.
“Don’t stop me, Wan Wan, I know what I am doing,” Old madam Shen might be angry but she didn’t lose all her reasons, she knew her limits and understood well enough when to stop. She turned to look at Lord Fei and with an angry smile, she rubbed the beads of the rosary on her wrist as she asked in a solemn voice, ” The Emperor is for the public, our safety is his top priority. When your nephew ascended to the throne, he took an oath that he would never walk on the same path as his father but what will happen to that oath if he can’t even control the women in his harem? This is my first time hearing that a mere concubine tried to reach her hands out of the imperial palace and tried to overstep her boundaries!”
The more she thought the angrier she got as she looked at Lord Fei.” My granddaughter might not have many achievements by her side but that can’t be said for my family, the Shen family might be a family of merchants but we have always been very loyal to the royal family, when there was war my family didn’t even dare to hide a single tael to treat ourselves better we gave it all to the Imperial family hoping to give the soldiers warm food and jackets in the winter.”
“My eldest son is a butcher by profession but for the sake of his country he once fought as a soldier and almost lost his life, the scars on his hands and body are evidence of his loyalty. His wife was pregnant with their second child but he still went to the battlefield because he believed that the current Emperor was wiser than the late Emperor. Do you think that my eldest son put his life on the line only for our family’s granddaughter to be treated like that?”
“My second son used all his savings and supplied the private army of the Emperor with weapons and extra money, he was even arrested by the people of the previous reign because of that and the torture he went through in that cold and hard dungeon is something that I don’t need to tell you, do I?”
“As for my third son, he spent months …no years away from his wife treating the wounded on the battlefield, he was so devoted to his country that he didn’t even care about his family, why do you think that my son only has one son and that too after such a long time? He is not young anymore so why?” Old Madam Shen glared at Lord Fei and heaved a heavy breath. “It’s because he was busy protecting the country and the soldiers, you believe that with our achievements, we need to stay silent like this?”
“If I want, I can march right into the royal palace and demand an investigation regarding the danger that is hovering over the head of my granddaughter…but before marching to the imperial palace I want to ask is this how the Imperial family treats us commoners who once stood by the Emperor?” With Lin brothers and Su Wan’s achievements, they certainly cannot fight against the imperial family but the same couldn’t be said for Old madam Shen and her family, she has once helped the current Emperor and was granted amnesty, and the current Emperor promised her that as long as he was on the throne he will listen to her problems along with that he even granted her an Imperial relic— with the promise that no matter what trouble Old madam Shen and her family gets entangled with even if it was to collude with the army of their enemy nations, they will be granted life grace if caught without receiving any punishment.
She wasn’t lying when she said she could go against the Emperor if she wanted but she just didn’t want to break the cordial relationship between the Shen family and the Imperial family because of a vixen!
Lord Fei’s expression turned sullen but he had to admit that what Old madam Shen said was correct, he pursed his lips as he carefully mulled over what Old madam Shen had told him and said, “I get it, I will investigate the situation carefully, an imperial concubine troubling a commoner is something that can never be neglected, don’t worry, I will give you a proper answer regarding this.”
“You better,” scoffed Old madam Shen as she turned her head away and looked at Old Madam Fei before shooting her a smile. “Aiyo, sister in law, it’s been a long time. I am sorry for showing such an ugly side of mine in front of you.”
“No, it’s okay little sister,” Old madam Fei with a lighthearted smile glanced at her husband.” This is something that should have been taken care of already, shouldn’t it have been honey?”
