Chapter 154: Recognizing Mothers Everywhere
That night. Old Madam Jiang’s heart pain flared up. It was especially painful.
She grabbed Jiang Wan and asked, “Where did Heir Han go?”
Jiang Wan was bewildered. Although her grandmother was on good terms with Grand Princess Huiyun, it was strange to ask about Heir Han so late at night. “He should be visiting Commander Jiang.”
Although there weren’t many people in the mansion, Jiang Wan’s sources of information were quite reliable.
She paid close attention to gathering information, especially concerning Jiang Changtian. She seemed to have a premonition of danger.
Actually, the best thing to do right now was to leave Ming County. But her grandmother was injured, and her parents had moved out; it was a total mess.
Heir Han had been disrespectful to her Mother, which made her feel disgusted. She hadn’t known before, but after making inquiries, she learned that Heir Han liked married women. Old Madam Jiang must have known, but she hadn’t said a word.
She also felt some self-reproach. In her dreams, she only remembered Heir Han treating her well, forgetting his improprieties. Because he was good to her, she had subconsciously ignored his issues. Instead, she had let her Mother dress up to welcome Heir Han. Jiang Wan felt nauseated thinking about it.
Naturally, she wanted her parents to be well; if they weren’t, it would hinder her own marriage prospects.
Old Madam Jiang heard ‘Commander Jiang’ and took a moment to react before realizing who it was.
Then she slapped the edge of the bed hard. “That beast, now that he’s fully fledged, he’ll do anything when he goes mad. He shouldn’t have gone. Wan’er, go and call Heir Han back.”
Jiang Wan:… Grandmother must be muddled from her injury; how could she possibly control Heir Han?
Heir Han was slapped by Commander Jiang and actually wept with joy. Mother hit him; Mother was willing to look at him; Mother was willing to hit him! Mother wasn’t ignoring him. He hugged Commander Jiang and wailed. He was pulled away by the guards.
He went to harass Madam Jiang again. Before he could get close, Madam Jiang performed a feat: crushing a rolling pin with her hand. “How preposterous! To dare to molest my husband! Don’t stop me, I’m going to beat him to death today!” Madam Jiang held the rolling pin. Everyone saw the rolling pin in her hand crumble into dust and drift away in the wind.
Meng Shaoxia looked at that rolling pin and felt that he, too, could die at any moment. The guards hurriedly dragged Heir Han away.
In the afternoon, they thought Madam Jiang’s strikes were ruthless. Now, seeing her effortlessly crush the rolling pin, they felt Madam Jiang had held back. Otherwise, with that palm strike, the Heir’s head wouldn’t still be sitting straight on his neck.
The guards dragged Heir Han and fled back to Ming County overnight. Saving their lives was paramount.
Eunuch Duan obediently stayed behind to help clean up. Meng Shaoxia also learned to do housework. Qin Luoxia said in surprise, “No, no, guests are guests. You drink tea, I’ll clean up.”
Seeing the two still wanted to work, Qin Luoxia said, “Go drink tea with my husband.” She raised her voice a little. Eunuch Duan and Meng Shaoxia immediately stopped. They looked at Commander Jiang.
Jiang Changtian flexed his wrist and said to Lady Qin, “Sister Xia, my hand hurts a little.” Lady Qin immediately put down what she was holding and took his hand to check. “It’s just a little red, it’s fine, it’s fine.” She blew on it earnestly. “Don’t use this hand to exert force, don’t hold anything, it will be better tomorrow.”
Jiang Changtian nodded obediently, then took Eunuch Duan and Meng Shaoxia to drink tea.
Back when Heir Han had his episode, Jiang Mianmian had been carried away by her elder sister. Jiang Mianmian only heard some content, not seeing the scene.
What a pity.
However, she became more cautious; in the future, she shouldn’t drink the mushroom soup made by her elder sister casually. Aunt Yin was the same, reminding herself that she must never drink the mushroom soup made by The Eldest Miss.
Otherwise, if she blurted out something, she wouldn’t even know how she died.
Evening breeze. Clear tea. Eunuch Duan said he learned a new way to brew tea and asked for a chance to demonstrate.
He put the tea leaves into the pot carefully, poured water along the edge of the pot, watched the tea leaves float up, and then carefully poured the tea into a large cup. Two tea leaves accidentally fell in.
He thought he would need a strainer later. The large cup was full of blue-green tea. The color was beautiful. He then divided the tea from the large cup into small cups.
One cup for each person. This way, the tea leaves weren’t steeping in the tea, so it wouldn’t get bitter the more one drank.
The only drawback was gone, leaving only the fragrance and the sweet aftertaste. Tea that gets less with every brew—Eunuch Duan brewed it very earnestly.
This tea was light-years ahead of that boiled tea with all sorts of condiments. Eunuch Duan loved good food and good taste; he might not be able to cook, but he was self-taught in brewing tea and serving people. He was very good at it.
Noticing Commander Jiang tapping two fingers for himself, Eunuch Duan didn’t feel Commander Jiang was disrespectful at all; on the contrary, he felt he was particularly polite, very courteous and proper.
Jiang Changtian drank his tea and asked casually, “Is the Heir usually this uninhibited, recognizing Mothers at will?” Eunuch Duan hurriedly explained, “The Heir is usually quite lively and often mistakes ladies for others, but this is the first time he has mistaken someone for his Mother.”
Meng Shaoxia looked at his future father-in-law, who had a stunningly beautiful appearance. He thought of when he extended his slender palm and slapped Heir Han’s face, causing Heir Han’s face to swell up symmetrically.
He had always thought Aunt Qin was strong and fierce, and because his own Mother was also quite fierce, he didn’t find it strange. But now he realized that Mr. Jiang was also quite strong. He hadn’t been able to tell at all before.
As a martial artist, he had always thought Mr. Jiang was weak and slender, looking somewhat sickly, and in poor health. He hadn’t expected that when he hit Heir Han, that casual slap was actually immensely powerful.
Meng Shaoxia made a comparison; if he struck, he would at least need to gather strength, and it certainly wouldn’t be easy, but he probably wouldn’t achieve that level of swelling. He had originally thought Mr. Jiang was the weakest in the whole family—a scholar with no strength to truss a chicken.
Now he was a bit trembling; could it be that he and the youngest cub, Mianmian, were the weakest in the family? He suddenly had a realization: no wonder Little Yu’er took care of him like her little sister.
Could it be that in her eyes, he was as weak as her sister? However, having just seen the way Mr. Jiang and Aunt Qin interacted, he had inexplicably learned a little bit.
Hearing his future father-in-law’s question, Meng Shaoxia hurriedly replied. “Grand Princess Huiyun rarely appears in public.
She used to be a prominent figure in the capital, with a city-toppling beauty. Now it is said she is devoted to Buddhism and sees no one.
The Emperor specially built a royal Buddhist temple for Princess Huiyun. Heir Han and the Princess Consort’s husband should also rarely see Grand Princess Huiyun. It is rumored that because of a fire, Princess Huiyun was disfigured.”
Meng Shaoxia was saying things that people in the capital knew. While speaking, he suddenly looked at his future father-in-law.
Although he hadn’t seen Grand Princess Huiyun, he had heard that Grand Princess Huiyun was stunningly beautiful. It wouldn’t be an exaggeration to call his future father-in-law’s face stunning.
On the way back with Young Master He Chen, He Chen kept muttering: having seen Mr. Jiang, no other beauty could catch his eye.
Eunuch Duan obviously also thought of something; he kept his eyes on his nose and his heart on his heart, starting to brew tea obediently and earnestly, without saying a word, his attitude even more respectful.
Meng Shaoxia’s maternal grandfather’s family was entirely in the Ministry of Justice. Although he hadn’t served in the Ministry of Justice, he had been influenced by it since childhood.
Playing house at his grandfather’s home meant playing at solving real cases. Thinking through everything, although Meng Shaoxia felt it was impossible, absurd, and confusing, once he had that thought, it wouldn’t go away.
Looking at Mr. Jiang again, his face and eyes were actually somewhat similar to the current Emperor. Meng Shaoxia hadn’t seen Princess Huiyun, but he had seen the Emperor many times.
Eunuch Duan lowered his head even further. Meng Shaoxia thought about Heir Han again; he used to think Heir Han, with his wide brows and large eyes, looked very much like the Princess Consort’s husband, but now thinking about it, Heir Han looked more like Lord Jiang. Last time he and Young Master He Chen came here, they first went to the Jiang Mansion to pay a visit, and he had a deep impression of Lord Jiang.
He was an elder with wide brows and large eyes, and his temperament seemed very good. It was just that this time, before they could pay a visit, the incident where Lord Jiang was kicked out for matricide occurred, which was a bit awkward.
Meng Shaoxia said bluntly, “We have never seen Princess Huiyun, but Old Madam Jiang and Princess Huiyun were once close friends in their boudoir days, and the older generation in the capital should have seen her. Mr. Jiang might look somewhat like Princess Huiyun, which is why Heir Han mistook him.”
Jiang Changtian silently drank the tea in his hand. It was very sweet and fragrant, with only a trace of faint bitterness, which was covered by the fragrance and sweetness.
Heir Han was dragged and carried by the guards, coaxed back to the county government’s backyard, but it still wasn’t enough. One moment he was shouting for Mother, the next for his wife. He even hugged a guard and kissed him.
If the guards weren’t collecting a salary, they would have wanted to slap Heir Han’s swollen face again. But Heir Han still wouldn’t settle down.
He wanted to go to the Jiang Mansion. The guards thought: last time you went back, it caused Jiang Da to almost commit matricide, and you were already kicked out. Now there’s only Old Madam Jiang and the granddaughter in the mansion; what are you going there for? But the guards couldn’t stop the Heir.
They didn’t know what kind of madness he was having; one moment he was serious, the next he was crazy. Right now, he said he wanted to go to the Jiang Mansion with a serious face, looking very sober.
The guards didn’t dare to stop him. Thus, they followed the Heir, whose face was swollen like a pig’s head, to the Jiang Mansion.
Old Madam Jiang was lying in bed, muttering about Heir Han, when she didn’t expect Heir Han to arrive.
Old Madam Jiang felt a warmth in her chest, and it wasn’t as painful anymore. Jiang Wan was bewildered; what was the Heir doing coming over so late at night?
There was no calling card or anything. In her memory, although Heir Han was somewhat absurd, he wasn’t this absurd. Heir Han really came.
He said he was there to visit Old Madam Jiang. Old Madam Jiang was lying on her sickbed, and hearing that Heir Han had come, her injury was half-healed; she felt it wasn’t as painful.
She didn’t expect that when Heir Han came in, his face was swollen like a pig’s head. Old Madam Jiang was stunned for a moment before recognizing him. “What happened to your face?”
Heir Han couldn’t feel any pain at this moment. He was sometimes sober and sometimes very high. Seeing Old Madam Jiang, he rushed over, grabbed Old Madam Jiang, and wailed: “Mother, Mother, don’t go.
Mother, stay and accompany me. Mother, I’m afraid.” Guards:… Jiang Wan:… Jiang Wan was dumbfounded; what kind of bizarre development was this?
But she saw Old Madam Jiang streaming with tears, hugging the wailing Heir Han and saying, “Mother isn’t leaving, Mother has always been here, Mother will accompany you.”
Heir Han, not knowing if he was sober or muddled, paused for a moment. He looked up at Old Madam Jiang in surprise, suddenly pushed her away, raised his hand, and slapped Old Madam Jiang: “What kind of thing are you? You want to be my Mother?”
Old Madam Jiang was almost knocked unconscious by this slap, and Heir Han was about to leave again. The guards were terrified and numb.
They took the half-mad Heir out of the Jiang Mansion.
They thought to themselves: has the Heir been poisoned? But they didn’t know what kind of poison could be so vicious; they had eaten the same things as the Heir and were fine.
The Heir drank soup, and the Jiang girl also drank it, and she was fine. Could the Heir be pretending to be crazy?
The Heir, having come out of the Jiang Mansion, finally settled down and returned to the county government’s backyard.
The guards were exhausted, worried that the Heir would cause more trouble. It was such a small place in total; if you wanted to court death here, and you actually died, these guards wouldn’t survive either.
But unexpectedly, the Heir stopped acting up and finally settled down. In the middle of the night, a woman holding a baby actually came looking for him.
It was Madam Wu from the Jiang Mansion. Seeing Madam Wu holding the infant, Heir Han, with his pig’s head face, said with a grin: “Sister-in-law, this child is really beautiful, like you.” He grabbed Madam Wu and the child. A good night’s sleep.
Before dawn the next day, Heir Han woke up sober. His face hurt. His head hurt even more. Especially when he saw Madam Wu and the infant on the bed.
Madam Wu was lying there fully clothed, her face still bearing tear stains, looking rather disheveled but also somewhat moving.
She was holding an infant in her arms, the infant staring at him with wide eyes, eyes dark and deep, which gave him a big fright.
He recalled what he had actually done yesterday: how could Madam Wu be lying on his bed, and even have a child?
He remembered himself hugging Jiang the Second and calling him Mother, hugging Old Madam Jiang and calling her Mother, and later hugging Madam Wu and calling her Mother. Heir Han suddenly felt something was wrong.
Early in the morning, he put on his clothes and wanted to take the guards and run away. Seeing Madam Wu still wearing yesterday’s clothes, and the infant in her arms, he gritted his teeth and took them along too.
They set off in a grand procession, fleeing like dogs. When leaving the city, they even encountered a group of strong and well-equipped soldiers bearing the Seventh Prince’s insignia. It was his cousin’s men.
Heir Han didn’t have time to greet them; like someone being chased by a vicious dog, he left Ming County and ran all the way to the capital.
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