PROOFREAD BY AFREANA

Chapter 28.2

An Zhifu added: ”But I’m afraid you won’t be able to see her if you simply go like this. In a few days, I will invite General Zong over and ask him to help mediate and arrange for you to meet her.”

Mrs. Tan pursed her lips and felt deeply unhappy in her heart. He even thought of asking someone to arrange the meeting, so she had no choice.

“Master.” Mrs. Tan said, “I am happy to help you with your worries. But it’s not appropriate for me to do this. When the eldest girl was still here, she disliked me in every possible way. Her mother died early, and I was in charge of the family, so I had too much control over her. I’m afraid I’m the one she hates the most in this residence. It’s useless for me to go.”

An Zhifu glared: ”Do I have to go!” He was angry when he remembered the mockery he received from his eldest daughter at the county government office.

Mrs. Tan’s eyes dropped. She knew Mrs. Duan could not go, and it would only provoke a fight with An Ruochen if she went. She wanted to say she could let the third or fifth concubine go, but she thought it would cause them to laugh at her. Being ridiculed by these bitches was as disgusting as going to the Purple Cloud House by herself and being ridiculed by An Ruochen.

Mrs. Tan clenched her teeth and did not speak.

An Zhifu waved his hand and said: ”It’s settled then. You let your mother’s side contact the Qian House to find out what he said about the complaint. An Ping, you keep an eye on the movements in the county government office. We need to know in advance should any trouble arise.”

Everyone answered. An Zhifu let them all go out, leaving An Ronggui alone to talk further.

Mrs. Tan returned to her courtyard and felt furious as she thought about it. Suddenly, she thought of her son being interrupted halfway through his speech and felt there must be something else going on there. When An Ruoxi heard her mother return, she hurriedly came to greet her and asked about what her father had talked about at Qian Pei’s house.

Mrs. Tan was irritated and very impatient: “Master Qian did not let your father push another one of his daughters to be married over. How many times do you want to ask? Will I not tell you if there is something going on? I’m your mother. I can’t harm you.”

An Ruoxi didn’t dare to answer. She heard Mrs. Tan cursing, “To let me be the one to bear that bitch’s anger, yuck!”

An Ruoxi served tea to Mrs. Tan and rubbed her shoulders. “Mother, don’t be angry. It’s all my fault. Is Mother upset? By whom?”

Mrs. Tan took a few sips of tea, her thoughts smoothed out, and suddenly she had an idea.

At this time, An Ronggui came in. Mrs. Tan pulled him over and asked, “What did you want to say in the study? ‘Master Qian didn’t mean that.’ What did he mean?”

An Ronggui sat down, drank the tea poured by An Ruoxi, dismissed the maids who followed him, and then said, “I just got lectured by Father again. But, this is an important matter. I still have to discuss it with Mother.” After the words, he looked at An Ruoxi and implied the question to Mrs. Tan whether he should let his sister retreat as well.

An Ruoxi naturally understood what he meant, but it sounded like this was related to their visit to the Qian House, which was about Qian Pei. She was not willing to go. An Ruoxi hugged Mrs. Tan’s arm and sat down next to her: “Mother, let me hear it. I might be able to help.”

Mrs. Tan also wanted her to help, so she said to An Ronggui, “Go ahead and say it.”

An Ronggui looked at An Ruoxi and told them about the days they went to the Qian House. Including the days when Qian Pei hung them out to dry, and when he took them to the Beast Garden, to have their meal by the tiger’s side, when he said those meaningful words, and so on.

Mrs. Tan listened with astonishment: ”So, Master Qian is not afraid of General Long and the Lord Governor?”

An Ronggui said: ”I’m not sure if he’s afraid or not, and I don’t know if he was just pretending for us to see. But he could not stomach this anger and still wants to get the fourth and eldest sister. He said he wanted to monitor the eldest sister searching for the fourth sister. What would happen to them, it would be the work of spies, and neither he nor we would have anything to do with it.”

Mrs. Tan frowned: “Then we should contact that bitch An Ruochen to please her? Did Master Qian want us to spy on her to find the fourth girl so he could get them later on?”

“Although it was not said directly, I think it is so.” An Ronggui said: ”Father is worried about the future disaster and was thinking all the way home. He told me no one is allowed to say anything about this. I tried to persuade him. We can’t offend Master Qian. The withdrawal of the marriage is already a heavy humiliation for Master Qian. According to his temper, he did not retaliate against us but welcomed us with a smile, so we must still be of some use to him now. We have to go along with his wishes first. Anyway, it is reasonable to contact your daughter and express concern. It does not violate the law. If Master Qian asks us to do something out of the ordinary in the future, we will discuss it again. Moreover, our original business, the restaurant and the merchandise store, is only like that. To think of the worst, if there is a war and Zhonglan City becomes unstable, how can the restaurant and merchandise store attract good business? We would need to move to other places to avoid the war, and we can’t take these things away. Only the jade business is stable enough, can be moved around, and is a sought-after commodity in any county. Master Qian wants to keep us stable, and we naturally want to keep him stable as well. He will do what he wants to do, but we take our benefits from it too. The eldest sister has blackened her heart and disregarded the safety of her own family. Why should we care about her? She was supposed to marry Master Qian, and we don’t have to care what Master Qian wants to do to her.”

“That’s right.” Mrs. Tan nodded.

An Ronggui said: ”Father is worried about this and that. He even thinks about how to get rid of the relationship completely. Not to get involved in this matter anymore. But he did not think it through enough, the eldest sister ran away from home, and he withdrew from the marriage. If Master Qian’s heart holds a grudge, how could our family just stay out of it? Father does not want to see the eldest sister. He’s afraid of attracting trouble, and about what the General and the Governor would think of him in the future. Father said to let Mother meet the eldest sister. The eldest sister would certainly upset Mother, and Mother will suffer, then there would be no need to meet her for the second time. He would tell Master Qian that the bitch was ungrateful and had broken up with our family thoroughly. He would say he thought of various ways to get close to her again, but that this matter was helpless.”

Mrs. Tan frowned and felt angry again. The master himself did not want to look at that bitch’s face but pushed her out to be humiliated.

An Ronggui continued: “I thought Mother must not be happy to see that bitch. Even if you did, you would probably argue with her. And that is what Father wants. However, this can harm our family, so I came over to explain to Mother. Father thought about how to refuse Master Qian’s request, but think about it, if we can’t even do this, why would Master Qian need us? With the complaint letter in his hand, our family is no longer useful to him. Would he still take care of our family?”