Chapter 406 — A Glaring Look
Purple Streets of Chang'an · Page 1 of 4
"But I'm away from home most of the year. When I suddenly came back a few times, I never found a single trace of anything suspicious, so I thought..."
"Song Cen had wrecked her like that, and giving her some silver as compensation — her refusing to hand it over was only natural. I didn't press the matter. But my wife was not pleased, and she was forever making pointed remarks at others' expense. Once she made my sister angry enough, and my sister shouted at her, saying we should not look down on people like dogs, and she would regret it later, and so on. But when my wife put on a stern face and traded insults with her, my sister only gave a cold laugh."
"When it came time for Yigui to marry out, she did not provide the child with a single item of dowry. When I spoke to her about it, she just shouted at me."
"My wife, furious, took her maids and searched her room."
"The two of them even came to blows over it."
"But apart from the clothes and ornaments she normally wore, all that was found was a dozen or so taels of broken silver and a banknote for three hundred taels."
"In the end she took a few gilt pieces and gave them to Yigui as dowry."
"everything else I provided myself. It cost me a whole year's wages."
"Because of this, to this very day my wife still complains that I always take her side."
"She is my own sister. I know her."
"She must have had something to rely on. That is the only way she would act like that."
As Li Liang spoke, he cast a dark, unreadable glance at Song Yan. Then, lowering his eyes, he said, "I heard that the second master of the Ying family's Zhenguo estate was born the same year as Yigui. At the time my sister's belly was frighteningly large, so I thought to myself — could my sister have borne twins, a boy and a girl? Could the Ying family's Zhenguo estate have kept the son and given away the daughter? But the second master of the Ying household is a legitimate son. When the Duchess of Ying gave birth, the attendants around her were layered three deep. There is no way... unless perhaps the child the Duchess bore died young. And the matriarch of the Ying family's Zhenguo estate decided to raise a child under the Duchess's name..."
"But these thoughts only flickered through my mind now and then, when I could make no sense of things. I never dared dwell on them... That is why, when I saw the heir, I blurted out and asked whether it was the second master or the heir..."
He looked thoroughly vexed.
Song Sui drew several deep breaths before he could force down the fury in his heart. He did not kick this beast to death.
After all that talk, the man was still secretly calculating that his sister's child had gained a foothold in the Song family, and he still claimed to be good to Yigui! If Yigui were not a child of the Song family, would he have been so good to her?
Thinking of what had befallen Yigui, he felt a piercing pain in his heart, and his gaze sank of its own accord.
Chen Jia's heart tightened at the sight.
He hurriedly helped Li Liang to his feet and said, "Heir, would you like a cup of hot tea and a moment to catch your breath? Miss Yigui still knows nothing of all this. When that woman Li Yaoniang arrives, shall we let Miss Yigui listen too? That way she will not mistake an enemy for kin and let Li Yaoniang slip through the cracks."
Song Yan was feeling chest tightness and shortness of breath. Hearing this, he nodded and called out loudly for "Duan Bing." Then he said, ".Let's see who delivered Li Yaoniang's child back then."
He had a faint feeling. Most of the people who had been present at his mother's delivery back then were likely gone. It would be more reliable to find out who had delivered Li Yaoniang's child.
Duan Bing answered and left.
Chen Jia accompanied Song Yan out of the tea room.
But looking up, he saw Xia Lian hurrying into the courtyard.
"Where is Li Yaoniang?" Song Yan's expression suddenly turned icy, making Chen Jia's heart lurch.