Jiang Hongfu asked many questions while on the road, but the grey-clad man would either remain silent or answer with 'did not know'.
The coachman suddenly said from outside, "Mister, Jiang's residence is up
ahead."
The grey-clad man immediately carried Jiang Hongfu out of the carriage like a mere chicken, then threw a piece of silver to the driver and said, "Go!" The carriage was obviously rented by him.
Once they got off the carriage, they could see the Jiang Residence gate. At this moment, Jiang Residence people were busy coming in and out. By the look of it, something had happened to the family. The grey-clad man
asked, "Is this your home?"
Jiang Hongfu nodded. "It is." Since both of them had
arrived near the gate of his house, he finally believed the man's words.
The grey-clad man stated, "I've finished my job, so take care of yourself!"
This five hundred tael[1] of silver gave him a really good earning. There was no risk at all. It was just like he was playing house. It would be nice if the escort agency could often
receive such business.
There was something else that Jiang Hongfu wanted to say, but when he looked up, the man in grey had gone. At this time, Jiang Hongfu was also discovered by some people of the Jiang Residence. "Eldest Young Master..." After that,
the man who called him came rushing towards him like an arrow.
A dozen people from the Jiang Residence ran over and saw Jiang Hongfu in good condition. They were all pleasantly surprised when they heard their colleague
call out, "Eldest Young Master…." Just now, they received the news that Eldest
Young Master had gone missing, and his personal attendant had been run down by a
carriage. The mansion was currently in a condition where both men and horses were thrown off their feet[2]. They didn't expect that Eldest Young Master would suddenly appear out of
thin air.
Jiang Hongfu asked coldly, "Has Dad returned home yet?"
The gatekeeper shook his head. "Master has not returned yet, but when
Madam got the news saying that something happened to Young Master, she
immediately sent someone to invite Master back home."
Jiang Hongfu slightly said, "I see." After that, he returned to his yard and
did not go to the backyard to inform Yu Shi of his safe return.
When Yu Shi heard Jiang Hongfu's return, her face changed. However, her heart was adept at adapting, so she quickly contained her panic. She asked
while looking anxious, "How is Eldest Young Master?"
The gatekeeper who came to tell the news shook his head and reported, "Except for some
messy hair and clothes, Eldest Young Master looked fine."
When Jiang Hongfu finally entered his yard, Yu Shi took a maid and an old woman servant to Jiang Hongfu's yard. Looking at Jiang Hongfu still in one piece,
Yu Shi's eyes turned red as she said, "You scared me to death just now, son."
Since Jiang Hongfu's waizufu[3] and biaoge[4] had warned him about his stepmother before, even when Yu Shi treated him well, he would always regard her with indifference. Now, he was very suspicious of Yu Shi, making him not quickly taken by her good facade. However, since he had no evidence, he would not question anything for now. He only said, "I'm fine. It's just that Ah San has gone." Ah
San was Jiang Hongfu's dead personal attendant.
Yu Shi saw the coldness in Jiang Hongfu's eyes, and her pupils recoiled, but her face still looked anxious. She stated, "I've called a physician. Let him
take a good look at you."
Jiang Hongfu replied, "No need. I only dirtied my clothes, and everything else is
fine." After a pause, he said, "Mother, I need to have a bath and change my
clothes first."
Yu Shi did not know whether she was being too sensitive, but she could feel
Jiang Hongfu spoke coldly to her. "Go ahead. I'll wait for you here."
Jiang Hongfu shook his head. "I'm all right. Mother should go back
first." He still had something to do. How could he let Yu Shi stay here and stand in the way?
Jiang Hongfu started to drive people out, and it wasn't appropriate for Yu Shi
to stay there any longer.
Just as Yu Shi left, one of Jiang Hongfu's followers, Jiang Xiaofang, returned to the residence. Jiang Wenrui attached great importance to Jiang Hongfu as he was his eldest son. Therefore, the people who served beside Jiang Hongfu were all carefully picked by him. Jiang Xiaofang, one of the few selected,
had become Jiang Hongfu's right-hand man.
Jiang Hongfu instructed Jiang Xiaofang, "Find out where the carriage that hit me just now came from. Also, try to check why the residence carriage didn't come to pick me up? "
Not before long, Jiang Wenrui arrived home. Seeing that Jiang Hongfu was fine,
he was completely relieved. "Fu-er, what is going on?"
Jiang Hongfu shook his head. "I don't know either." He couldn't say that he was harmed by his own family without any evidence to back it up. His father was right to value him, but he was also very fond of his other children. Even if Jiang Hongfu told his father about these things, in the end, it would
only turn big problems into small ones[5].
Jiang Wenrui had some doubts, but when he asked Jiang Hongfu, his only answer was he did not know. So, he could not ask his son any more questions.
But it was a bizarre thing. How could there be a carriage in the street that nearly hit his son so coincidentally?
Jiang Wenrui went to change his clothes. After he freshened himself up, he
went to the yamen to ask the Governor to investigate the incident.
Once there, the Governor explained to him, "Jiang Daren[6], this is really an accident. The horse suddenly went crazy and got out of control. The groom was
thrown off the carriage because of it."
Jiang Wenrui asked coldly, "Then, where is the groom?"
The Governor shook his head and said, "The groom's injury was too severe that he had already passed away. Jiang Daren[6], did your son tell you where he went after the accident?"
Jiang Wenrui cracked a joke and said some words to deal with the Governor, but his face was hideous once he was done. His son didn't tell him about it just now. Why did his son hide it from him? There must be something wrong going on.
Jiang Xiaofang soon told Jiang Hongfu what he had heard. Jiang Hongfu's expression turned uglier as he asked, "Did you say it was an accident?"
Jiang Xiaofang repeated what the Governor said. "It was really an accident. The carriage driver was seriously injured and passed away."
Jiang Hongfu questioned with a straight face, "Why didn't the carriage from the mansion come to pick me up then? That couldn't also be an accident?"
Jiang Xiaofang also felt that today's incident was too coincidental. "The carriage did leave the residence, but the driver had a severe stomachache on
the way, so the carriage was delayed."
Jiang Hongfu had taken the grey-clad man's words with a grain of salt at the beginning, but he would have to believe them now. One coincidence made sense,
but two coincidences? How could there be so many coincidences in this world?
It was clear that someone wanted to kill him. Unfortunately, Yu Shi's method was too clever to leave any trace. Thanks to someone's rescue effort, he managed to stay alive.
Otherwise, he wouldn't be here anymore.
Jiang Xiaofang and Jiang Hongfu grew up together. They said they were master and servant, but their relationship was no different from those blood brothers. When he looked at Jiang Hongfu's face, he realised something odd. He
thought for a moment and asked, "Young Master, how did you get back to the
residence?" He heard that Eldest Young Master appeared at the gate out of thin air. No matter how one looked at it, it still felt odd!
Jiang Hongfu didn't hide from Jiang Xiaofang, whom he trusted so much, and told
him what the grey-clad man said.
Jiang Xiaofang's face turned green. "I did feel something was wrong. I didn't expect it was an elaborate plan to kill Eldest Young Master. It is
detestable that we can't find the actual evidence." If it wasn't for Eldest
Young Master's luck of meeting a man with noble character, he would have lost his life just like the poisonous woman wanted.
Jiang Hongfu was surprised. Even he was suspicious of the grey-clad man at first. He didn't expect that Ah Fang would believe it all at once. "You don't
doubt that man had another ulterior motive?"
Jiang Xiaofang replied, "Although I don't know how this person knew about Yu
Shi's poisonous plan, he had saved Young Master. This is a great kindness.
Young Master, you are the eldest son of your family and will inherit the family business in the future. With you still alive, won't Second Young Master have to continue to rely on you in the future?" As long as his Eldest Young Master was alive, his family's wealth, connections, and other resources would always prioritise his Eldest Young Master.
Jiang Xiaofang didn't say anything regarding this matter to his Young
Master. His parents even commented that Yu Shi was too enthusiastic about Eldest Young Master that even her own children had to give way for him. It had never happened where a mother would love other people's children dearly over her own birth children. When something was out of the norm, there was usually a person with evil and fraudulent plans behind the scene. His parents often
whispered this matter to him. They were afraid that he would be deceived by Yu Shi and exploited by her people.
The reason why Jiang Hongfu was not close to Yu Shi was also influenced by Old
General Yun, his waizufu[3]. Old General Yun said that there were few good stepmothers in the world, especially those who already had their own biological children. He was warned to stay away from Yu Shi and not to be coaxed by her.
Even if Yu Shi treated him warmly and expressed great concern for him, he always treated her indifferently. However, she always acted very considerately when she was in the public.
Being hardhearted had always been Jiang Hongfu's forte. Despite Yu Shi treating him kindly over the years, he was still unmoved. However, he never thought what his grandfather said was right. There had never been a good stepmother. All of them had bad intentions.
Jiang Hongfu said with a complicated look, "The man said that only when I go back to my hometown will Yu Shi not be able to harm me. He is right.
Yu family's power nowadays is in full swing. Not to mention that we haven't found any evidence. Even if we do find one, we still won't be able to shake
her position." Yu Shi had no roots in his hometown, so it would be impossible for her to get rid of him without anyone noticing.
Moreover, if she dared to attack him there, once evidence
was found, even if Yu Shi bore children for the family, the Jiang family would still force his father to divorce
her.
Yuxi had once been married to the Jiang family for six years. Even if she was a little transparent, she still knew some things. For example, the Jiangs attached great importance to their children. If anyone dared to murder them,
especially those with satisfactory qualifications and promising prospects, they would
be severely punished as long as they were found out. This is also why Yuxi
could confidently say that Jiang Hongfu could only be safe when he
returned to his hometown.
Jiang Xiaofang felt that returning to one's hometown was not a good idea. His
Young Master's teachers and classmates were all in the capital. If they had to go to Jiangnan, his Young Master had to start everything from scratch. Moreover,
Eldest Young Master's move to Jiangnan would only benefit the poisonous woman,
Yu Shi. "Young Master, this matter still needs to be discussed with the
Master. He has always loved you. He would certainly not spare Yu Shi if he knew she tried to hurt you."
Jiang Hongfu thought for a long time, saying, "Let me think it over again." One only needed one thousand days to be a thief, but where would one have time to
wait a thousand days to prevent the burglary[7]!
After thinking about it all night, Jiang Hongfu went to find Jiang Wenrui early in the morning the next day and told him, "Dad, I dreamed of my mother yesterday. My mother said no one had been pulling the grass out of her grave. Dad, I want to go to our hometown to visit her grave." He didn't tell him that he would not return home for the time being once he was in his hometown. If he told his father that, he would definitely not
let him go.
Jiang Wenrui was waiting for his son to explain what had happened yesterday, but he didn't expect such a conversation to occur. He stared at
Jiang Hongfu and asked, "What are you running away from? What can't you tell
your dad?" Did he take him as a fool? Yesterday his son had an accident, and today, he said he wanted to go to his hometown. There was clearly something that his son had been hiding from him.
Jiang Hongfu bowed his head and said nothing. He didn't know where to start,
and he was afraid that his father would be disappointed with him once he told
him about it.
Footnotes Full List
- unit of weight equal to 50 grams (modern) or 1⁄16 of a catty 斤 (old)
- Chinese idiom: thrown into confusion
- maternal grandfather
- older male cousin via mother's side
- becomes a big scandal and overlook small problems
- title of respect toward superiors
- Chinese saying: It is difficult to achieve long-term prevention, there is always time for negligence... If I was not wrong
Noob Translator's Musing
My home currently has a blackout. I was so bored waiting for the
electricity to return that I started translating this chapter with my
power bank plugged into my phone.
Tags:
The Rebirth of Han Yuxi