Chapter 202 - The Hong Family (1/2)

Chapter 202: The Hong Family

When Sang Wan returned to Ning Garden1, Shi Fengju had already left for work. She found an excuse to send Nanny Li away after washing up and changing into a new set of clothes before ordering Zhide to watch the door while she sent a servant to call Liu Ya into the side room to talk about the details.

She received a huge shock when Liu Ya spoke about everything she knew.

“That Mister Hong is actually the son of the magistrate?”

“Yes.” Liu Ya said angrily, “Who knew that the magistrate would have such a hedonistic son! How shameless of him!” Liu Ya was disgusted when she recalled the scene of him greasily introducing himself as he dragged Third Missy Shi while saying words like “It’s your blessing to be with me as I can assure you that you can enjoy your life wonderfully here in Qingzhou! No one will challenge your authority in this city!”

“Young Mistress, you don’t have to worry. Young Master promised that he would handle it! Our Shi family is not for others to trifle with and will not sit idle when our missies are taken advantage of!” As she spoke, she sighed as she had yet to get over the fear, “It was fortunate that Young Mistress wasn’t there at that scene, and Young Master was there in time, otherwise, this servant and Cai Yun were really…really…”

Sang Wan’s hands trembled and her face paled slightly. If not for Shi Fengju being there, there was no way such an incident could be easily kept hidden! The temple was very likely to be alerted, and when that happened, how would Wang Shi remain oblivious? The situation would only become messy——

“Since Young Master already has a plan, you and Zhide have to keep this a secret and not mention a single word about it, do you understand? You must not babble about it even in front of Third Missy; behave like how you always do and pretend like it never happened, am I clear?”

“Yes, Young Mistress!”

Sang Wan nodded and let her leave, claiming that she was tired and wanted some rest.

Since this incident had to do with Magistrate Hong, Sang Wan could not help but be worried that Shi Lian’s reputation might get damaged.

Early in the morning, Magistrate Hong received a letter from Third Old Master Shi. Although Third Old Master Shi was on leave, it was a simple task for him to use his personal connections to return to the imperial court with the help of the Shi family’s wealth. Third Old Master Shi’s position in the court was around the same as Magistrate Hong’s and he had visited and greeted Magistrate Hong during the new year. As such, Magistrate Hong did not dare to neglect the letter and hurriedly opened it.

After reading through the letter, his face turned green with anger.

Third Old Master Shi had been obscure with his message. Written in his letter, he mentioned that what has passed is past and nothing about the incident was to be mentioned again. However, in his letter, he also wrote that he hoped for nothing like that to ever happen again. The meaning behind the letter was clear: It was to keep peace and ask him to discipline his own son.

Magistrate Hong had two sons. The eldest son was helping his grandfather with the family business in their hometown, while the second son followed his father and mother. His second son had just reached nineteen this year and had not gotten married yet. However, he had three concubines.

It wasn’t them who were not worried about their son’s marriage, rather he was not in a hurry to get married. Hong Xi, their second son, indulged in his mother’s love, and with his father as a local official, he idled and played everyday, how would he be willing to marry a wife and end up having his activities restricted?

Magistrate Hong was aware of his activities, but he was not so bothered about it as wasn’t it normal for a young master like his son to behave slightly hedonistic? He had never been strict on him as his wife was always protective of him and the fact that he had been sober enough to not make any intractable trouble; at the very least no lives were threatened.

But who knew that he would end up involving the Shi family? How could he attempt to assail a missy from the Shi family?

Magistrate Hong went back to his residence furiously. Unable to find his son anywhere, he said to his wife with a dark expression, “Where is that unfilial son of ours? Where did he go fooling around again?”

“Old Lord, what’s going on with you today? What made you so angry all of a sudden?” Old Mistress Hong was frightened and she hurriedly stood up to help her husband take a seat.

Magistrate Hong shook her hands away and sat down angrily by himself. He said coldly, “Send someone to bring me back our unfilial son! I have something to ask him! Hmph, did you ask him about what happened? You’d better ask your son what fine deed he has done outside!”

Old Mistress Hong was dissatisfied by his reply and pouted, “Xi’er is still young, isn’t it normal for a young man to be playful? Which one of the young masters doesn’t behave this way? Why is it only our son getting criticized? He will naturally change for the better in a few years time when he gets married and build a family!”

Magistrate Hong became even more triggered when marriage was mentioned, and he slammed the tea table while yelling, “Don’t think that I have no idea what that disgraceful son of mine is thinking. He is just afraid of being chained down once he gets married, isn’t he? You should quickly pick a decent family for him, wait no, pick a girl who is astute and firm for him. This unfilial son would really have no self-restraint if there is still no one to get him under control! If you are not going to discipline him, then getting our future daughter-in-law to do so would be the same!”

Did he just disparage her as being inferior to their future daughter-in-law? Old Mistress Hong immediately scolded, “What kind of father are you? How could you bear to see your son married to a shrew! Your son won’t be left with any face if he was to live under the control of a woman! He would never be able to amount to anything in his entire life!”

“Amount to anything?” Magistrate Hong sneered at her dismissively, “It would be a blessing from our Hong family’s ancestors if he doesn’t cause any trouble for me!”