“Do I have a choice?” Sang Wan sighed with a smile, “Money that reaches their hands will never find its way back! Or can I make them return it by force? I… I will try to think of a way!”
Shi Fengju said with a smile, “Your second uncle has an eye for valuable goods. However, we don’t know at what price he resold them. The supervisor had let me look at the account book. They should be worth around 8,000 silvers. You don’t have to worry about this. I’ll take care of this matter and pay for the losses! There’s no need for the two of us to make things difficult!”
Upon hearing that, Sang Wan was shocked, ashamed, and furious. She had originally thought that the amount would not exceed 1,800 silvers. She hadn’t expected it to be nearly 10,000 silvers. Her second uncle really hadn’t been polite. Just where did he get the guts from?
“I really don’t have that much money on hand. I’ll owe you this favor!” Sang Wan smiled helplessly and said with a sigh.
Shi Fengju was fond to see that she was not estranged from him. His wife’s problems were also his, so it was right and proper for him to resolve them for her!
“Sang Wan, you’ll have to repay me the favor that you owe me.” Shi Fengju’s hand on her waist soon moved down.
Sang Wan was not in the mood to fool around with him at the moment. However, she couldn’t help but feel slightly shaken by his teasing. She grabbed the naughty hand and said to him in annoyance, “I’m not in the mood for this now. Stop fooling around.”
“Sang Wan!” Shi Fengju responded with a smile, “Why should you let something irrelevant affect your mood? How I miss your bold behavior before I left home. Why do I not see it today?”
When she heard him mention the other day when she went on top of him, Sang Wan blushed and nibbled her lips as she scoffed. “What are you talking about!”
Shi Fengju let out a burst of laughter. “What am I talking about? I really do miss that! Just thinking about that day brings me much regret!”
Sang Wan could not bear to listen anymore. She leaned on his shoulder and smiled, not willing to lift her head.
While having her in his embrace, Shi Fengju lightly stroked her back and said softly, “Sang Wan, let’s have a child soon, alright?”
Sang Wan’s body turned slightly stiff but she nodded lightly and agreed.
Sang Pingliang and his wife left Qingzhou on the following day with Yan Zhi, and the loss was reimbursed so the matter was quickly forgotten.
As usual, Sang Wan paid respects to Wang Shi everyday and Wang Shi treated her as she normally would. However, Sang Wan could clearly sense that there was some distance between her mother-in-law and her. From time to time, she would encounter Gu Fangzi. She would greet her politely with a slight smile and nod her head before passing her by.
If Sang Wan had used to be confident that she could really be accepted and liked by Wang Shi someday, it was not the case right now. She was a daughter-in-law. No matter how good she was, one slight mistake would make her beyond redemption. She tried to be more open-minded and did not think too much about it. Rather than racking her brains over something useless, it would be more important for her to quickly have a child. As long as she gave birth to a son for the Shi family, together with her second brother’s backing, nobody would dare to look down on her.
Sang Pingliang’s matter seemed to have caused a huge storm, but thanks to Shi Fengju, it was swiftly swept under the rug. At first, Gu Fangzi thought that Shi Fengju would storm into Peony Park2Peony ParkGu Fangzi's place of residence to reprimand her. She had even considered carefully what he might say and how she should answer him.
But despite waiting for a long time, Shi Fengju never went to Peony Park at all. Even when she purposely revealed her face occasionally at where he would pass by or met him by chance in front of Wang Shi, Shi Fengju remained indifferent. It seemed as if the matter with Sang Pingliang either never happened at all or it did not come to him that it would be related to her.
However, Gu Fangzi did not think that way. She believed that her traces were clearly visible and could not have gone unnoticed. Despite that, he wasn’t the least concerned about it. What exactly was he planning?
After being restless for three days, Lan Xiang went to the kitchen for Gu Fangzi’s breakfast one morning. However, a servant from the kitchen ended up being the one to send the breakfast back in the end. She said that Lan Xiang had to leave due to some urgent matter and the kitchen had told her to bring breakfast in her stead.
Gu Fangzi rewarded the servant with a dozen copper coins before dismissing her. Although she was slightly unhappy with Lan Xiang for leaving without telling her, she did not take it to heart.
When Lan Xiang did not come back near noon, Gu Fangzi vaguely felt that something was amiss. Thus, she ordered the servants to inquire about it.
Gu Fangzi had never expected an old servant to bring her news that Lan Xiang had left!
“Servant Li, who is in charge of training and allocation, has dragged away any servant who is 18 years old and does not have any matches. The young head servants of our country houses, who have been recently promoted, have also reached the age for marriage. Hence, everyone has been brought together to match, including Lan Xiang. She said that the vacancy would be filled up appropriately in the next two days…”
‘Peng!’ Gu Fangzi smashed the cup in her hand into pieces and ran towards the main courtyard.
Lan Xiang had been dragged away without a word!
At this moment, Gu Fangzi knew just how important Lan Xiang was to her! Lan Xiang had been serving her for many years, but she suddenly disappeared! Who was the one who did it?
Without a second thought, Gu Fangzi put the blame on Sang Wan. She rushed into the courtyard and dropped to her knees beside Wang Shi while crying and saying, “Aunt Wang! You’ve to help me! Please!”
Wang Shi was startled by her actions and hurriedly pulled her arm before saying, “What’s wrong? What happened? Don’t be in a hurry and tell me slowly!” She then ordered Xiu Chun, Xiu Li, and the others to help Gu Fangzi up.
Gu Fangzi refused to move. She raised her delicate face that was full of tears and tightly held onto Wang Shi’s clothes as if she was clutching at her last straw. “Aunt Wang, Aunt Wang! Lan Xiang is missing! She has been taken away! I only have one servant that I like! I can’t bear to part with her after so many years! Aunt Wang, you’ve to save her!”
“Lan Xiang?” Wang Shi was stunned and quickly asked, “Who has the guts to take her away by force?”
Gu Fangzi shook her head and only cried. She incoherently told Wang Shi what had happened in the morning and what an old servant had inquired.
Wang Shi trembled from the anger, “I know that those older servants are taken out to find a match for them, but I never expected Servant Li to be so bold as to take away your servant!”
Wang Shi was furious and wanted to summon Servant Li. However, Gu Fangzi tugged on her clothes and said with tears, “Aunt Wang, I’m afraid it would be useless even if you question Servant Li! She’s just a servant, so how could she be so bold!”
Wang Shi frowned and became even more furious. She slammed the side table a few times before she got up and said angrily, “We’re going to Ning Garden1Ning GardenSang Wan & Shi Fengju's place of residence!”
Servant Li would not dare, so there was naturally someone else! Other than Sang Wan, Wang Shi could not think of anyone bold enough to do such a thing.
They arrived at Ning Garden, steaming with anger. It had not been long since Sang Wan had returned from her duties. Before she could take a sip of her tea, the servants hurriedly reported that her mother-in-law had arrived.
Sang Wan, Nanny Li, Liu Ya, Zhide, and others went out to welcome her.
Wang Shi had never been to Ning Garden, at least not after Sang Wan married into the Shi Family. She would usually send a servant to deliver the message instead. For important matters, she would have Nanny Jiang come over. As such, this was actually Wang Shi’s first time at Ning Garden.
Sang Wan had a bad feeling about it.
After seeing Gu Fangzi, who was beside Wang Shi with her eyes red from crying, Sang Wan’s heart pounded even more.
“Mother! You could have just asked a servant to invite me over to your place. You didn’t need to come over!” Sang Wan quickly smiled as she went forward and wanted to support Wang Shi.
“Hmph!” Wang Shi brushed Sang Wan’s hand away with a cold look without being polite. She kept walking forward and said coldly, “You’re the head of the household. I can’t accept such a gesture from you!”
Everyone was greatly shocked. Nanny Jiang, Xiu Chun, and others who came along looked down and pretended to have seen nothing. The servants in Ning Garden were no exceptions. However, the shock could be seen on Sang Wan’s face. She did not know what had happened that would anger Wang Shi so much.
“Young Mistress, you should go in too! I think there might be some misunderstanding, so you mustn’t feel anxious or get angry. Answer whatever Old Mistress asks you, got it? Otherwise, you’ll be letting a certain someone off easily!” When Nanny Li saw that Sang Wan was standing in a daze, she quickly helped her and said softly.
“Yes. Thank you for reminding me.” Sang Wan felt a slight warmth and hurried in.
Nanny Li waved her hand to call for Liu Ya before instructing her, “Find someone appropriate to call Young Master back quickly!”
“Yes!” Liu Ya quickly nodded her head and left.
When Sang Wan went into the house, Wang Shi had already sat down with Gu Fangzi and Nanny Jiang was standing behind her. Xiu Chun and the others stood at the side, and there was only silence in the hall.
Sang Wan only brought Nanny Li and Zhide into the house while the other servants stayed outside.
“Mother… may I ask why you came today?” Sang Wan went forward and bowed.
“You’re asking me? You should very well know what you have done!” Wang Shi shouted sternly. “Sang Wan, the matter regarding your second uncle has been of the past. We should all take it as if nothing had happened, don’t you think so?”
Sang Wan quickly answered, “Mother, you’re big-hearted for not pursuing it. I can’t be more grateful for that! Of course, I think so too!”
“Is that so?” Wang Shi said with a sneer, “In that case, why did you seize the opportunity to take revenge? Fang’er has told me before. She was worried that you would be unhappy and suspect her. However, I assured her that you have always been virtuous, well-mannered, open-minded, and are not muddled, so I told her not to worry! I didn’t expect you to do such a thing! Since you didn’t say anything in the past few days, I thought you had placed the matter aside. Who knew that you already had a plan! Lan Xiang has served Fang’er ever since she was young. Their relationship is not as simple as just a master-servant one. Now that you’ve taken Lan Xiang away by force, aren’t you cutting her off from her most reliable servant? She only likes her, so why must you separate them?”
