When Guan Tang returned to see Jiahui, it was already ten in the morning. She had showered and changed her clothes before she cooked two bowls of noodles and brought them into the secret room. She looked very pleased with herself.
“Are you hungry? Sorry you had to wait. I followed them to look for you. They were so anxious to find you. They saw that I was with them the entire night so they felt sorry for me and told me to return to rest first,” Guan Tang said nonchalantly as she held the bowl of noodles in her hand, waiting for it to cool down. She spoke as though the matter had nothing to do with her at all.
Jiahui waited for the bowl of noodles to cool down as well. She said, “It seems like you’re having fun.”
Guan Tang smiled smugly. “Don’t you think it’s fun?”
Jiahui took a bite from the bowl of noodles as she glared at Guan Tang.
Guan Tang smiled. “They’re very interesting. They’re truly anxious to find you. In the beginning, I thought it was just an act, you know? You know what humans are like. For example, Yin Zheng, my aunt’s biological son and Cheng Che’s half-brother. When he first got into trouble, everyone acted anxious and worried. However, apart from my aunt and uncle, I don’t think anyone was sincerely worried. They were all just acting.”
Guan Tang shook her head before she ate the noodles.
Jiahui asked casually, “What exactly happened to Yin Zheng?”
Guan Tang paused and looked at Jiahui who was eating the noodles. Then, she brought a piece of tissue to wipe her mouth before she asked, “Do you want to hear a story?”
Jiahui stirred the noodles in her bowl as she sighed and said, “It’s not like I have anything better to do. So, if you want an audience…”
Guan Tang seemed pleased by Jiahui’s response. She smiled and leaned back comfortably like Jiahui before she said with a sigh, “It’s so nice to sit like this. All of you really know how to enjoy yourself. I’ve never tried sitting like this before. Otherwise, I’d be scolded to death.”
“How pitiful,” Jiahui said as she shook her head.
“Pitiful? Let me tell you something even more pitiful. The story is a little long so I’ll summarize it to satisfy your curiosity,” Guan Tang said. She leaned against the chair limply, relaxed.
“Old Master Yin lost his mind in his middle age and fell in love with a washed-up female celebrity. He naturally planned to keep her outside of the family, but she wasn’t easy to deal with. After she obtained his heart, she spared no efforts in officially entering the Yin family so she tried to meet Old Madam Yin, the legal Madam of the Yin family back then. She succeeded. Old Madam Yin’s dowry was rather sizable when she married into the Yin family. At least half the wealth of the Yin family belonged to her. It was said that she and Old Master Yin promised to be together for a lifetime. Clearly, she would not tolerate being betrayed,” Guan Tang said. After a brief pause, she said, “Look, that’s another person who believes in love. No matter the era, there’s no shortage of foolish women like you.”
Jiahui did not say anything and waited for Guan Tang to continue.
Guan Tang, who had never had an audience before, was rather excited. She began to talk non-stop.
“Old Madam Yin questioned her husband directly. Alas, her husband no longer loved her as he did back then. He made up all kinds of excuses and said a lot of things. Basically, he wanted to have his cake and eat it too. Unfortunately, his two women were not simple, and they clashed like fire and water. The mistress had many underhanded tricks. How could the Old Madam, who had been raised in the lap of luxury all her life, endure it? In a fit of anger, she ran away from home. This was naturally what the mistress wanted. Not long after, the mistress even brought her son and daughter into the Yin family.”
“Old Madam Yin’s daughter-in-law was an orphan whom she personally raised. She was the child of Old Madam Yin’s friends. Come to think of it, she was a little like me. It’s just that she had no blood relations with Old Madam Yin. Anyway, she left to look for Old Madam Yin when Old Madam Yin left, hoping she’d be able to persuade Old Madam Yin to return. Who knew that after she left, she would never return.”
