Chapter Twelve: The Mind's Insight Surpasses the Lotus Root
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“All right, enough! Hurry up, get dressed, and come out! What on earth do you think you’re doing?” Lin Yuanzhi could not bear to look any longer.
Before he had even finished speaking, he led everyone out into the courtyard.
The study had become far too disgraceful. He could not remain there for another moment!
Inside, however, Zhao Shuangshuang looked as though she had been struck by lightning.
“How could this happen?”
She had clearly seen the marquis drink the wine she had tampered with. Why had events taken such an unexpectedly thrilling turn?
Yet with all eyes upon her, she had no way out.
Well, if it had to be the old marquis, then so be it. He might be old, but he was still handsome! Besides, as the Little Marquis’s father, he naturally possessed far more authority.
Since she had decided to pursue excitement, she might as well see it through to the end!
Zhao Shuangshuang’s eyes suddenly filled with tears. She bit down hard, then looked at the old marquis, who was trembling as he pulled on his clothes, and put on a pitiful expression.
“Brother Feili~!”
[What a brilliant transformation—from uncle-in-law to big brother!]
[Wait a minute! What did Zhao Shuangshuang just call my grandfather? Brother Indecent?!]
[Hahahaha! That name is killing me!]
[I can’t even imagine what will happen when Zhao Shuangshuang walks down the street with my grandfather one day and calls out in a tender voice, “Indecency~!” How many righteous heroes will chase him down and beat him up? Hahahaha!]
Lin Feili: “?”
Who was that?
What kind of lunatic was laughing like that? Which immortal was speaking?
Lin Feili looked around, but apart from himself, Lady Han, and Zhao Shuangshuang, there was no fourth person in the room.
Could he have imagined it?
Before he could figure it out, Lady Han—who had heard those four words—sprang forward like a cat whose life had been threatened and slapped Zhao Shuangshuang across the face.
“Brother Feili? I think you’re truly starved for attention! You’d even snatch your own aunt’s food! A person needs shame, just as a tree needs bark. You’re a young woman—do you have no shame at all?”
“What do you mean, your own aunt? She’s only my aunt by marriage!”
That slap ignited Zhao Shuangshuang’s temper as well. She shouted, “Now you’re lecturing me about dignity? I may not understand that people need shame and trees need bark, but I do know that a shameless person is invincible!”
“You—you—you—! You little wretch! After all I’ve done for you! Have you forgotten who kindly took you in when your family was ruined and everyone in it was dead? Are you trying to anger me to death today?”
Clutching her chest, Lady Han nearly fainted.
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“Took me in? What a pretty way of putting it! You merely kept me like a dog! When I was useful, you kept me in the manor to seduce your son and pass information to you. When I was no longer useful, you left me to fend for myself,” Zhao Shuangshuang snapped. “If you truly cared about me, why wouldn’t you let me marry the Little Marquis?”
“Stop spouting nonsense! You have the nerve to ask me that? If you had any ability at all, would I have stopped you from marrying my son?”
“Fine, then! Now that I have the ability, I’m going to marry Brother Feili!”
“You shameless wretch! He’s your uncle-in-law!”
“...”
[Oh my goodness! What an exhilarating battle of hair-pulling and insults!]
[One is the reigning champion of household intrigue, while the other is the next generation’s budding white lotus. Who will emerge victorious? Who will successfully capture the heart—and the pension—of this handsome man nearing sixty? Let us wait and see!]
Lin Feili: “?”
There it was again!
Who exactly was speaking?
Inside the room, chaos reigned. Outside, the onlookers who were reluctant to leave were thoroughly entertained and began to whisper among themselves.
“Who would have thought that Old Madam Han was supposedly a respectable lady from a great family? The way she curses people, she’s no different from some village shrew!”
“Exactly! How dare she criticize Miss Zhao? If I remember correctly, the original wife of the Marquis of Qingyuan wasn’t her!”
“That’s right, that’s right! Back then, the Marquis of Qingyuan clearly married a woman from Jiangnan who had lost her memory. But when the woman became pregnant, Lady Han shamelessly ran to the Marquis’s residence, got the old marquis drunk, and forced her way into the marriage by flaunting her own pregnancy. She angered the original wife so badly that the poor woman suffered a difficult labor and died of massive blood loss.”
“Birds of a feather flock together. The aunt has no shame, and her niece inherited it all. Now that the wheel of fortune has turned, everyone must repay what they owe!”
“...”
The surrounding whispers were like sharp blades, and Lady Han—who had just finished tearing into Zhao Shuangshuang and stormed out—turned ashen with rage.
“What nonsense are you people spouting?! The banquet at our marquis’s residence isn’t here for you to watch a spectacle! Bai-shi, why haven’t you shown the guests out? Is this how you manage the household?”
Her vicious glare made Lady Bai’s heart clench.
It was not that she refused to show the guests out. It was simply that her mother-in-law had been cursing so ferociously inside that everyone’s departure had slowed to the pace of snails!
Surely she could not order the servants to drag them all out?
“Oh, Grandmother, anger harms the body. Please don’t be angry! I’ll explain everything for you!” Lin Zhaozhao stepped forward to take control of the situation.
“As for forcing her way in because she was pregnant, and inheriting shamelessness through the family line—that’s all completely untrue. Sister Shuangshuang was raised under Grandfather’s watch. Perhaps these two have secretly loved each other for years, and perhaps they simply drank too much today, which led to…”
“Still, the man is unmarried and the woman is unattached. They make such a perfectly matched couple. Since everyone is here, why don’t we serve as witnesses and choose an auspicious day for their wedding?”
Lin Feili: “...”
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The mystery was solved. The voice in his head belonged to none other than this granddaughter of his—a girl to whom he was not especially close, whom he had seen only a handful of times, and who had only recently been brought back to the household.
Lady Han: “...”
What a viciously familiar line of attack!
“Lin Zhaozhao!” Lady Han ground her teeth. That little bastard!
“Husband, say something!” Lady Han turned to Lin Feili.
Lin Feili had no time to speak. He was busy wondering why he could hear his granddaughter’s thoughts.
Was it because she was his son’s own flesh and blood?
Or was Heaven planning to grant him the ability to hear everyone’s inner thoughts?
And if he truly possessed such a power, did that mean he would thrive in officialdom and rise through the ranks with ease? Would he even earn a place in the imperial ancestral temple after death?
Good heavens!
The ancient strategist Jiang Taigong met King Wen of Zhou at the age of seventy-two. Was Lin Feili destined to bloom late and achieve greatness in his old age as well?!
Seeing that her husband had become mute, Lady Han immediately turned her attack elsewhere.
“What marriage?! Zhao Shuangshuang is shameless by nature. She actually dared to drug the master in his wine! A wretch like her should be dragged out and beaten to death!”
“Aunt by marriage, I know you dislike me, but you can’t slander me!”
“Slander? If you were innocent, why would you have appeared in my son’s study for no reason?”
Zhao Shuangshuang denied it. “Wan Yue brought me here. I only had a sip of wine, and who could have known that something like this would happen? At the end of the day, I’m a victim too!”
Lady Han shot a cutting glance at Lin Wanyue.
Lin Wanyue: “...Yes, I was the one who brought Cousin Shuangshuang here, but…”
But she had never intended to ruin her grandmother’s twilight romance!
Afraid that her grandmother would hold a grudge against her, Lin Wanyue hurriedly added, “Sister Shuangshuang said she wanted to apologize to Father, so I brought her here. I know nothing else!”
[You know nothing, my foot!]
[You’ve got more schemes than a lotus has roots. Who could possibly outplay you?]
“Investigate this! Yuanzhi, see the guests out. Bring the household physician here and find out whether there was anything improper in that wine!” Lin Feili declared, settling the matter with one decisive order.
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