Seeing the Act Through
Zhao Yuanliang's discomfort subsided somewhat, and he nodded, saying, "The Fifth Miss hasn't returned so late. As the head of the household, wouldn't it be dereliction of duty for the First Madam to ignore it?"
However, after asking once, nothing more was said, which shows that he still didn't care about the daughter of their second wife, and Zhao Yuanliang still had a lot of resentment towards the first wife.
Before the carriage even started moving, the driver called out from the front, "Master, the carriage that went to fetch the Fifth Miss has returned."
The servant was taken aback and quickly got off the carriage to find out what was going on. Zhao Yuanliang, upon hearing the news, remained seated in the carriage, leisurely picking up his chopsticks and taking a bite of braised pork.
A moment later, the servant returned and reported, "Master, Qingfeng is back. She said that Fifth Miss has been kept by Madam Xiao at the academy. She heard that you were going to look for Fifth Miss, so she came to report to you."
Zhao Yuanliang was taken aback. He put down his chopsticks, wiped his mouth, got up and got off the carriage, where he saw Qingfeng standing in front of his carriage.
"Where is Fifth Sister?" he asked.
"Reporting to Second Master, the County Princess of Qingyang from the Prince of Zhennan's Residence has opened a new jewelry shop in Beining, which will open in five days. Because the jewelry designs prepared are not attractive enough, Madam Xiao asked the young lady to draw more jewelry designs. Due to the tight schedule, the young lady has decided to stay at the academy for the next few days and will not be returning."
As Qingfeng spoke, she explained, "Beining Women's Academy has rooms for students to stay in. Initially, the Old Madam and the First Madam did not agree to the young lady living at the academy, which is why she kept coming back and forth. However, worried about occasional emergencies or rainy or snowy weather, she asked for a bed there to rest. She plans to stay there for the next few days."
"The young lady asked me to inform the Old Madam, Master, and Madam that she is safe at the academy. She was escorted from the silver shop to the academy by guards and maids from the Prince of Zhennan's Residence, so nothing will happen to her. Please rest assured, Old Madam, Master, and Madam."
"Nonsense. What kind of jewelry designs can she draw? She's only seen a few pieces of jewelry, yet she dares to draw jewelry designs for the County Princess of Qingyang? If she draws badly and delays other people's business, can she bear the consequences?" Zhao Yuanliang scolded.
His words stemmed from a different motive than others who looked down on Xu Xi; he was genuinely worried about Xu Xi.
After some mental contemplation, he suddenly realized how pitiful his daughter was. His sense of responsibility as a father surged, and he feared that Xu Xi might not know the gravity of the situation and take on such a task. If she didn't do it well, she might offend the County Princess of Qingyang, which would not only offend the Prince of Zhennan's Residence and the Duke of Ying's Residence, but also, given Madam Xiao's position as a teacher at the academy, her life there would probably be difficult.
This daughter was neglected by her own mother after being brought back, and ignored by the old lady and the first lady as well. Her only hope was her status as a student at the Beining Women's Academy. If she couldn't stay at the academy, what else could she offer? When it came time to arrange a marriage, she probably wouldn't find a good family. As her father's official position rose higher and higher, the young master of the Wei Family also became more and more ambitious, and he might not even be interested in Xu Xi.
Although Zhao Yuanliang was incompetent, lacking ambition and a sense of responsibility, he showed Xu Xi the heart of a loving father at this time.
Qingfeng lowered his head and didn't dare to speak.
"Go again tomorrow and tell Fifth Miss what I just said. Tell her to apologize properly to the County Princess of Qingyang. The County Princess of Qingyang will definitely not blame her. Don't be stubborn. If the County Princess of Qingyang Gao Xing, I will ask the Old Madam and the First Madam to plead with the Princess of Zhennan. She's just a child; the Prince of Zhennan's Residence will definitely not make things difficult for her."
If Lady Wei were here, he would surely despise Zhao Yuanliang.
A grown man, when something goes wrong, pushes the woman to the front to take the blame, while he hides in the back doing nothing, only talking and pointing fingers.
"Yes, this servant will definitely convey these words to Fifth Miss tomorrow," Qingfeng replied.
Zhao Yuanliang was finally satisfied and waved his hand. "Go in."
After Qingfeng went inside, Zhao Yuanliang said to the servants, "Take those dishes to the kitchen and heat them up, and you can have them. Tell the kitchen to make me some fresh food as well, and take it to the outer study. I'll be staying there tonight." This way, he could avoid going back to see that woman Lady Wei's sour face.
With that, he turned and went through the gate.
When Qingfeng returned, he first went to report to the old lady.
"You mean, the Second Master is sitting in the pavilion waiting for the Fifth Miss, and he's even planning to go to the academy to find her?" The old lady was quite surprised to hear this.
Zhao Yuanliang was not a responsible father. He rarely cared about his own son and spent his days either hanging out with his aunt or going out to drink and chat with friends. He didn't care about anything at home.
"Yes."
"What did Fifth Miss say? Is there anything else she needs you to bring tomorrow?" the First Madam asked.
"The things that Fifth Miss asked me to take were packed last night. Fifth Miss asked me to tell the Old Madam and the First Madam that she is doing well at the academy," Qingfeng said.
To avoid arousing Lady Wei's suspicion, Xu Xi sent everyone else away last night, only asking Qingfeng to pack some essential daily necessities and two sets of clothes. This morning, when she took her there, she packed the things in a zither case and brought them to the academy.
Tonight, Qingfeng was sent to pick her up again, and she was deliberately kept so late. The old lady and the first lady were also instructed to send people to the gate to inquire about her whereabouts. All of this was to create the illusion that Madam Xiao had decided to keep her at the academy on a whim.
They had to go all out with their act, leaving no detail overlooked, otherwise they wouldn't be able to fool the extremely cunning Lady Wei.
"Did your young lady tell you why she did this?" the First Madam asked again, her gaze fixed on Qingfeng, not missing a single expression on her face.
Qingfeng kept his eyelids down, his face calm.
She shook her head. "The young lady didn't tell me. I'll do whatever the young lady instructs me to do."
The First Madam was satisfied and said to Qingfeng, "Alright, you can go back now." Turning to Caidie, she said, "You go with Qingfeng to the Tea Tasting Residence and tell Matron Yuan to keep a close eye on the servants in the courtyard and prevent them from gossiping outside. If anything goes wrong with the servants while the young lady is away, I will hold her responsible."
The Caidie responded and went with the Qingfeng.
Only Matron Jin remained in the room.
The old lady then said to the first wife, "Luckily you chose these servants, otherwise, we wouldn't be having such a troublesome time today."
At the time, the old lady was unaware of Lady Wei's treacherous intentions. She had no idea who should serve Xu Xi; she simply thought that since Xu Xi was a girl from a concubine's family, it would be fine to just assign a few people to serve her.
Looking back now, that approach was truly terrifying.
Lady Wei harbored the intention of marrying Xu Xi into the Wei Family. All she had to do was have her maids whisper in Xu Xi's ear, arrange for her to meet the young master of the Wei Family, and even have her engage in illicit relations with the Wei Family. Wouldn't that solve everything?