Tong Aning gave her third brother a look. Tong Fengye darted forward, grabbed the servant by the collar, and demanded fiercely, "Whose household do you belong to? How dare you try to attack me in broad daylight?"
The servant was drenched in sweat. He bit the bullet and said, "Young master, you've misunderstood. Why would I attack you? I was only going to catch crickets."
Feng Chu said, "What decent person catches crickets with a wooden club?"
Tong Aning chimed in, "Exactly! If you're going to lie, could you at least throw away the club before opening your mouth?"
The servant: ...
The problem was, he hadn't had time to throw it away.
Hadn't his young master said that Tong Fengye was a useless fool, Tong Aning was an idiot, and Feng Chu was a reckless scoundrel, so their plan was absolutely foolproof?
The servant wanted to look at his young master, but Fang Ji turned away. For all his calculations, he had never expected the servant to be this useless!
And he still wanted him to save him? In his dreams!
"Fine. If you won't talk, we'll go to Jingzhao Prefecture."
Hearing that Tong Fengye intended to hand him over to the authorities, the servant immediately began struggling violently. Unfortunately, Tong Fengye was astonishingly strong.
"Don't hand me over to the authorities, Young Master Tong! I'll tell you everything, everything!"
Tong Fengye released him. "Talk."
"Actually, actually..."
Fang Ji shot the servant a threatening look. The servant's legs shook, and he couldn't give a coherent account.
Tong Fengye immediately flared up. "You dare lie to me?"
No matter what, he was taking this man to Jingzhao Prefecture.
Cen Yu, the prefect of Jingzhao, had been about to head home, but could only convene court again.
Seated in his chair, Cen Yu looked down at those below.
Well, well. This affair actually involved two marquis households, as well as a son of the minister of war. If he had any choice, he truly didn't want to take this hot potato.
But now that he had taken it, there was no room to back out.
After hearing the whole story, Cen Yu thundered, "Under the very eyes of the Son of Heaven, how dare a villain like you commit violence? If you still refuse to tell the truth, I shall resort to torture!"
Cen Yu didn't believe in extracting confessions through torture. He had threatened it right away only because this servant was as timid as a mouse, and he wanted to frighten him.
Sure enough, at the sight of the instruments of torture, the servant's vision went black. Weeping bitterly, he cried, "I'll confess! I'll confess to everything! Your Honor, please spare me!"
"Then tell the whole truth!"
The servant extended a finger toward Fang Ji, who stood in the crowd as though none of this concerned him. His voice trembled. "My young master told me to do all of it."
Fang Ji's eyes widened. "Don't spout nonsense!"
Fang Ji cupped his hands toward Cen Yu. "Your Honor, please discern the truth. I don't know this man at all!"
Cen Yu couldn't tell whether the servant was dragging him into this or whether it was the truth. He said, "Rest assured, Young Master Fang. I shall exercise my own judgment."
He asked the servant, "Do you have any proof?"
The servant nodded repeatedly. "Yes, yes! My indenture is in the young master's hands."
This was getting even harder to handle.
Cen Yu steeled himself and had Fang Ji step forward to confront the servant.
Fang Ji said, "Fengye and I are the closest of friends. Why would I tell you to hurt him?"
The servant shrank back. "Stop pretending, young master. You said you hated Tong Fengye, that you were jealous of him, and that you wanted him crippled."
The onlookers sucked in a cold breath. This young master's heart was far too black.
Tong Aning gave an "Oh." "Third Brother, you really were careless in choosing your friends."
Tong Fengye rubbed his nose awkwardly. "It won't happen again."
Su Zhouyue and Tong Aobai arrived as well. Su Zhouyue looked her son over and breathed a sigh of relief when she saw that Tong Fengye was unharmed.
Tong Aobai stepped forward. "Lord Cen, please handle this impartially."
Cen Yu raised a hand to wipe the sweat from his face. "Of course, of course. Rest assured, Marquis."
The sight of the Tong family together in such harmony dealt Fang Ji a heavy blow. His eyes reddened as he said, "That's right, it was me! I wanted Tong Fengye crippled! Tong Fengye, you useless fool, why should so many people like you?!!!"
"Because my third brother is handsome, good-natured, and responsible, of course."
"Tong Aning, what are you so pleased about, you good-for-nothing idiot!"
Tong Aning said, "...Huh?"
"What did you just call me?"
"You good-for-nothing idiot!"
Furious, Tong Aning moved to charge forward and kick him.
Three people held her back at once. Tong Fengye said repeatedly, "Let it go, let it go, Fourth Sister. We won't stoop to his level. He's a lunatic."
She had actually been called an idiot by a lunatic?
Even after returning to the marquis's residence, Tong Aning was still fuming.
When Tong Siyan returned home and saw the sulking Tong Aning, she asked with a smile, "What's wrong, Fourth Sister?"
Tong Aning threw herself into Tong Siyan's arms and said aggrievedly, "Second Sister, someone called me an idiot."
"Who said that?" Tong Siyan gently rubbed beneath the corners of Tong Aning's eyes. "Our Aning is as clever as ice and snow."
Tong Aning: Sob.
"Second Sister, what did you go out to do today?"
"Since I had nothing to do anyway, Mother put me in charge of the household's shops."
"Are they easy to manage?"
Tong Aning, who had just been feeling wronged because someone had called her an idiot, now gazed at Tong Siyan with shining eyes. Her fourth sister's emotions really did come and go quickly.
Both amused and touched, Tong Siyan stroked Tong Aning's face. "They are. You don't need to worry, Aning."
Tong Aning's eyes curved into crescents. "That's good."
After dinner, Minister of War Fang Wenrui arrived with his wife, Fan Siyun.
Tong Aobai and Su Zhouyue sat in the seats of honor, while Tong Fengye and Tong Aning hid curiously behind a screen.
Fang Wenrui said, "It was only a child's mischief. Why take it all the way to Jingzhao Prefecture?"
Su Zhouyue sneered. "If the minister considers ordering a servant to break my son's legs, then declaring in court that he wanted my son crippled, mere childish mischief, I have nothing to say."
Fang Wenrui's expression shifted. That useless thing actually caused me such enormous trouble!
He looked at Fan Siyun. Dabbing away tears with her handkerchief, Fan Siyun said, "It is indeed our fault for failing to discipline Ji'er, but he didn't succeed, did he? Marquis, Madam, please be magnanimous..."
Tong Aobai interrupted her. "I am not that magnanimous."
If he kept tolerating and indulging such behavior, sooner or later people would ride roughshod over him. Wouldn't his wife and children all become targets in the future?
His wife and children were the line Tong Aobai would never let anyone cross.
Fan Siyun looked at Fang Wenrui. "We should go back."
Fang Wenrui nodded. "All right."
The two rose and took their leave.
Bewildered, Tong Fengye asked quietly, "They're leaving just like that?"
Why did he feel that these two hadn't sincerely come to plead for Fang Ji at all, but were merely going through the motions?
[Sigh, Fang Ji is pitiful too. Fang Wenrui and Fan Siyun only came to put on a show, so people wouldn't think they were cold-blooded parents and point accusing fingers at them behind their backs later.]
Tong Fengye saw the light.
[Host, host, actually, Fang Ji is Fang Wenrui's only biological child.]
[Huh? I remember Fang Wenrui has three children. Neither of the other two is his?]
[Yep. The eldest son was already there when Fan Siyun married into the Fang family. As for the second son, that man kept coming to see Fan Siyun after her marriage, and after all those visits, she became pregnant again.]
[Good heavens, she was carrying on an affair right under Fang Wenrui's nose! Fang Ji isn't invisible-his mother has isolated him!]
"Husband, what's wrong?"
Fan Siyun's startled cry came from outside. Su Zhouyue and Tong Aobai went out one after the other, and Tong Aning and Tong Fengye hurried after them.
The four saw Fang Wenrui topple headfirst into the courtyard.
[What... happened to him?]
[Host, I don't know either. Fang Wenrui has been kept in the dark all along. Even now, Fan Siyun is still secretly in contact with that man. I even have their letters. Host, do you want to see them?]
[Yes, of course I do.]
The letters unfolded before Tong Aning's eyes. Only Tong Aning could see them; everyone else was itching with curiosity.
Tong Aning marveled, [Tsk, tsk, tsk. May I be the stars and you the moon, our flowing light shining together night after night... Wulang, take me away. I'm willing to roam the world with you... Yunniang, you've suffered. I wish I never had to part from you again...]
If she were Fang Wenrui, she would probably have fainted from anger by now.
Fang Wenrui, whom Fan Siyun had just helped up from the ground, suddenly rolled his eyes back and fell rigidly backward.
Tong Aning: !!!
Su Zhouyue said, "What are you standing around for? Hurry and carry the minister into a room, then fetch a doctor to give him a proper examination."
The courtyard immediately bustled with activity. Fan Siyun wailed to heaven and beat at the earth, pleading over and over, "Husband, don't leave me behind!"
Leave you behind so you can fly off and live happily with your Wulang?
Su Zhouyue acted as though she hadn't heard.
The doctor arrived.
The Tong family stepped back to make room for him.
[Host, this is serious.]
[What is it? System, is this man a quack?]
[Worse than a quack. He's the Wulang from the letters.]
[Hiss, surely he won't deliberately treat Lord Fang to death...]
Just as Wulang was about to insert his needles, Fang Wenrui, who had still been unconscious a moment earlier, suddenly sat up.
Fan Siyun said, "A miracle doctor, truly a miracle doctor."
Author's note: