novel
| ← Ch.098 | Ch.100 → |
The Ning Family had come up with such a big scandal. To begin with, they should have tried to cover it up and deal with it in private, but Second Master Ning just had to be an ignorant fool! For the sake of fighting over the family's assets, he hatefully decided to spread the news to everyone.
Before dawn had come around, the estate had already been bubbling in chaos. Thankfully, the Old Madam's health was still firmly in strong shape. When she learned about this matter, she immediately sealed the estate to prevent any leakage of information.
Blearily, Fan Yuan was roused by someone. The sheets around him were still warm, yet that person was gone. In his heart, he felt a little disappointed. He thought in his heart that it would be better to settle the matters here as soon as possible, so as not to waste any more time and brains.
Xu-shi saw that his expression was quite unexpected, but she just took it that he had gotten up on the wrong side of the bed. She chased the maids and servants out, personally helping him put on his clothes, "You little lazy bug, such a big matter has occurred in the estate, but you sleep better than anyone else. Don't doze off when you meet the old taitai later."
As he dressed, Fan Yuan asked, "What big matter has occurred in the estate? Disturbing people's sweet dreams so early in the morning."
Xu-shi observed her surroundings left and right, and only after confirming that no one was around, she finally leaned close to his ear and asked, "First tell mother, Ning Zhe asked you to go to the ancestral hall yesterday, did he do anything to you?"
This was the first time Fan Yuan had heard her address Ning Zhe directly by name, and that's when he knew that her heart had utterly died for that man. Feeling satisfied in his heart, he said with a smile, "I did not even meet Father yesterday. What could he have done to me?"
Xu-shi was perplexed, "You didn't go to the ancestral hall yesterday?"
Fan Yuan shook his head and said sincerely, "Father summoned me, how dare not go? It was just that the strong winds blew out my lantern last night, and that small bamboo forest truly is confusing. Even after walking around for a long time, I couldn't find my way. Later, I vaguely heard the voice of a woman crying. Your child got scared so I came back first."
After hearing what he had said, Xu-shi was filled with extreme emotion as she said, "It must be Buddha who has shown his presence. My Qi'er has escaped a disaster yet again. As a mother, I must go to Puji Temple to thank Buddha some other day."
With that, she kowtowed towards the West three times. Fan Yuan waited for her kowtowing before saying with curiosity, "What exactly happened? Could it be that something happened in the ancestral hall last night? Father, he......"
Xu-shi helped him neaten his clothes properly before speaking with vehement rage, "From this day on, you don't have to call him Father any longer. How can such a beast be qualified to do so! In the dead of night, he was fooling about with the family servants in the ancestral hall, even his own biological daughter wasn't spared. Yesterday, he summoned you over, who knows what he had in mind! Absolutely shameless! Fortunately, my son is blessed by Buddha, that's why you did not encounter these dirty matters!"
Pretending to be shocked, Fan Yuan asked with disbelief, "What Mother speaks of...... the fooling about, could it be......"
Xu-shi shook his head, saying as she touched his face, "Mother doesn't wish for these matters to sully your ears either, but it's just that I don't want you to be cheated by that beast in human clothing ever again. In the future, you don't have to spend all your efforts towards pleasing him. Let us two simply live a good life."
Fan Yuan stiffly nodded his head, as if he hadn't recovered to his senses. Xu-shi's heart ached greatly and her eyes reddened, "The old taitai sent someone to invite the family womenfolk in the estate to go over. I surmise that she wants to deal with Ning Zhe openly. Clean up yourself and go over with Mother ba. Our main house has fallen this time. Thankfully, I have always had quite a bit of savings, so it wouldn't be difficult to take you out from the estate and live our days out simply."
Xu-shi was born in the family as a servant, so she had never seen the world. Thus, she naturally didn't know that with her so-called "savings", it was difficult to even buy a decent house with a courtyard outside, not to mention paying off Fan Yuan's exorbitant medical expenses every day. In the estate, every bowl of porridge and rice was a monthly provision. Outside, did anything not require money? With just a few hundred bank notes, she wouldn't be able to raise a weak and sickly child at all.
Although he knew that she was thinking too naively, Fan Yuan still nodded seriously, "With Mother's company, what is it to suffer a little?"
Xu-shi's initially uneasy heart was instantly assuaged. As long as her son was by her side, other matters were nothing to be afraid of.
When the two of them got to the main hall, almost everyone had already arrived. Xu-shi took her son to greet the old taitai. Old Madam Ning simply glanced at them stoically before waving her hand, but she remained wordless. Usually, this old thing loved to put on airs the most, but currently, she didn't have the mind to make things hard for them.
Fan Yuan measured her up quietly and found that her black hair on her temples had already turned white. Overnight, she seemed to be more than ten years older. The son and granddaughter that she was proudest of had committed such a huge mistake in front of her ancestors, this blow nearly caused her to collapsed. If it was not for the fact that she had to be strong for an entire lifetime, she would not be sitting at the top position to show off her strength at this moment.
All her life, no one could pick any fault from her words or deeds, but she was too rigid and much a stickler for the rules, causing her to not have much warmth. In the fragments of memories that came from the original host, the grandmother that he saw was always berating or criticising him.
"A shu son dares to walk in front of the di son. You're still not withdrawing?!"
"You should always remember, you and Siyuan are different. His mother is the daughter of an official, while you are born from a cheap servant. Don't dream of things you shouldn't obtain."
Although her original intention was to avoid a dispute between di and shu and uphold the continuance of the family's lineage, it was really too unfair for Ning Siqi. The child was naturally kind-hearted and never wanted to fight over anything, but he inexplicably received malice from this world. He was truly innocent.
He simply heard her say, "Since everyone is here, bring up those two unfilial descendants."
Ning Zhe and Ning Xirong stepped in neat attire, expressions extremely downcast. They no longer had the same proud appearance of the past.
When Madam Ning saw her daughter, she didn't care about anything. She threw herself over and hugged her, "My child! Exactly who was so cruel to harm you like this?!"
Ning Xirong had lived through one lifetime afterall, so she had slowly figured out what to do at this point. She cried and complained, "Mother, this daughter's life can be considered ruined. Originally, I should have left to preserve the reputation of the Ning Family, but I really am not willing to resign to that! Last night, someone clearly drugged your daughter and then proceeded to lock your daughter in the ancestral hall, that's why......"
As she spoke, she knelt down on the ground in tears. She told Madam Ning, "What is done is done. Xirong does not regret death, but I only plead the old ancestress to help bring me justice, so as to let Xirong die in peace."
Seeing this, Ning Zhe lifted the hem of his robes and knelt down on the ground with his back upright. His voice was loud and forceful, "Your child understands Mother's conduct the best. This time I have been framed by a villain. Your child does not ask Mother to forgive me, your child just hopes that the perpetrator will be arrested to clear your child's name. Going down is also good to straighten matters out with the ancestors."
Fan Yuan stared at them expressionlessly. They clearly knew that they were going to die, so they wanted to pull a few more people down as scapegoats? It just depended on who they wanted to bite on.
The Old Madam's eyes flashed with killing intent, then she closed her eyes and said, "You two tell me, who was it that unleashed such a vicious scheme and harmed you father and daughter."
Ning Xirong glanced sideways at Ning Ximin who was looking extremely gleeful. She said with gritted teeth, "It was Second Uncle and his good daughter, Ning Ximin!"
Fan Yuan chuckled to himself. If Ning Xirong was a little smarter and said that he did it, the old taitai would definitely have thrown him into the pig's cage together with them without a word more.
But it was not so easy to involve the second house. The patriarch and the elders of the clan are all here. Now the Ning family can only rely on ER Fang to support their face. If Er Fang also falls down, the family property will be divided up by the clan. Mrs. Ning will not agree. So no matter whether Er Fang does it or not, she can only protect it to the end.
Sure enough, the Old Madam opened her eyes and her gaze was already devoid of even a shred of emotion. It seemed that she had already made a decision. She asked coldly, "You say it was your second uncle and cousin, do you have any evidence? Food can be eaten carelessly, but words can't be spoken carelessly. Randomly implicating others is a crime of the highest order."
In the end, Ning Zhe had lived a few more years than Ning Xirong. Seeing the old taitai conduct herself in such a manner, he quickly figured out the key insinuation behind her words. He sneered coldly, "It turns out that the many years of love between mother and son cannot compare with the huge family assets. Mother really turns one's heart cold."
The old taitai's heart immediately turned cold, aching unbearably. She gritted her teeth and refused to look at him. However, Second Master Ning said angrily, "Elder Brother, you did something ugly yourself, I'm afraid it's very good to push the blame to your little brother, right? That night, the one who caught the adulterous act was sister-in-law, I merely went over to see what the commotion was about. Seeing a scene like that, I was extremely shocked as well."
Ning Ximin heard that the words her father said didn't have much logic to them. She was worried he would be dragged into it, so she hurriedly stopped him and said, "Father doesn't have to say any more to them. The innocent will always be innocent The ancestral hall's door can only be locked from the inside, there aren't even any locks from the outside. People have also been sent to examine the corpses of those servants, none of them were drugged. They were all Uncle's confidants, how could they have been framed? It is easy to find an excuse to incriminate someone."
Ning Xirong wanted to still explain, but Fan Yuan stood up and looked towards the old taitai, trembling and saying, "Grandchild has something to say, but I am not sure if I should."
The old taitai waved her hand wearily. It was only then that Fan Yuan spoke in a voice that was neither too loud nor too soft, "Actually, yesterday afternoon, Father sent someone to pass orders for grandson to go to the ancestral hall to speak. Because of an accident, I did not manage to make it. I learned about what had happened from my yiniang this morning......"
Before he had even finished speaking, everyone had already understood. Asked his son to go to the ancestral hall to have a talk at night, what kind of proper things could it be? Thinking back to the image they had seen in the ancestral hall yesterday, they sighed dismally that Ning Zhe was not a human being, but clearly a beast! He was not willing to let go just his daughter, but also his young son!
Ning Ximin gently smiled, "Sister Cousin, you keep saying that you were framed. Was someone holding a knife against your neck and forcing you to go to the ancestral hall? If not, you're a frail little lady, what were you doing there in the middle of the night?"
Ning Xirong sputtered out incoherently in panic, "No! Ning Siqi is a cut-sleeve. Ning Zhe wanted to kill Ning Siqi, so he made me go over for the confrontation!"
She couldn't care more about anything else. She would rather bear the charge of murdering her shu younger brother than fooling around with her father in the ancestral hall. However, Ning Zhe turned pale. Originally, this matter had already reached its final conclusion, but now the crime of killing his son was added on. He really wanted to kill Ning Xirong, this one who didn't have a brain.
Xu-shi held Fan Yuan's hand tightly. She was so shocked that she was shaking. If Qi'er hadn't been stuck in the bamboo forest last night, and had been scared back by the sound of crying, he would have been killed by this father and daughter by now!
Fan Yuan patted her hand and said, "Mother, do not be afraid. The ancestress and clan head will certainly get justice for this child. Simply because Father and Sister suspected that this child was a cut-sleeve, they wanted to kill me. I don't know if it was because they were too vicious, that's why they violated the gods. Otherwise, how could such a ridiculous thing happen? After all, the ancestral hall is an important place, isn't it a bit too unusual."
These mere words of his drastically changed many people's expressions.
Old people believed in these supernatural things the most. Ning Xirong, a person who had died before, believed them even more. Ning Zhe thought back to his past murders, as well as the door that refused to open no matter how he tried last night. He broke out in cold sweat. The only person who could be considered calm was Ning Ximin. She directed a glance at Fan Yuan, then kept silent.
Whatever the truth was, the two crimes had already been established.
Old Madam Ning gave the final verdict, "My eldest son, Ning Zhe, and my eldest granddaughter, Ning Xirong, are ruthless and unfilial. They have violated the taboo of our ancestors, it is unforgivable! Taking into account that they have always done their best for the Ning Family in the past, the whole corpse will be left intact. They are never to be buried in the ancestral tomb."
Second Master Ning spoke discontentedly, "Mother, they still need to be removed from the genealogy. He has committed such a scandal, don't tell me that he does not need to be removed?"
Old Madam Ning was so furious that she was feeling light-headed. She slammed the table with clenched teeth and scolded, "To remove someone from the genealogy, it is necessary to have the government issue a certificate. Do you want our Ning Family to become the laughing stock in the entire capital, a laughing stock amongst all the people in the world?! Our Ning Estate has been handed down for hundreds of years, there is no room for any filth. Everyone here, remember, Old Master and Eldest Miss died of acute illness. If even a shred of rumour spreads out, not only your own lives, but also those of your family's young and old will fall at your whim! Those who are usually fond of gossip better be more careful. My body is old and I am ahead in the years, even if I get a little blood on my hands, I am sure that Buddha will not blame me."
She eyed the clan head and the elders, and her voice emanated frost, "The Ning Family is one body to begin with. When there is glory, everyone enjoys that glory. When there is ruin, everyone is ruined. If the Ning Family falls, don't think any of you can live well. This matter ends here. Disperse."
As Fan Yuan helped Xu-shi out of the door, he thought in his heart, although Old Madam Ning was cruel, she still cared about familial ties. She did say that the two would be secretly executed, but who knew who would be the ones dying? Ning Zhe and Ning Xirong's lives were preserved.
However, this was more in line with his intentions. When two people who used to always be high and mighty suddenly fell into the dirt, I'm afraid that that living is worse than death.
This could also be considered comforting Ning Siqi's spirit in the Heavens.
| ← Ch. 098 | Ch. 100 → |