Female Lead Quits Chapter 7
Over here with Duke of Qi, Concubine Wu could also be considered a person of great capabilities; not for fooling the Duke of Qi, but for making him feel pity.
There were clearly no tears shed, but just looking at Concubine Wu’s red eyes and slightly swollen eyelids made Duke of Qi’s old heart throb in pain.
He didn’t even have to investigate to know that this idea must’ve come from Wife Sun; her reasoning was completely groundless. The Second Young Lady was only ten years old, so it wasn’t time to feel anxious about her marriage yet; even if she did feel impatient, the end decision would all come down to how the adults felt. How would strengthening the relationship between the Eldest Young Lady and Second Young Lady help with this matter?
Wife Sun’s excuse could only fool Concubine Wu.
She truly was from a poor, humble family – short-sighted and distasteful – and it was only because of Concubine Wu did he marry his third son to the lowly Sun.
Let’s not mention how Wife Sun’s background couldn’t be compared to his eldest son’s wife; she couldn’t even compare to his second son’s wife.
Her father was just a seven-grade country Magistrate; her brother was considerably more promising, yet he was still just the Vice Director of the Bureau of Military Personnel, a fifth-grade official position.
In other areas, fifth-grade officials could possibly bluff people, but in the Capital, they could only hold their tail between their legs.
Towards his daughter-in-law, Wife Sun, Duke of Qi wasn’t very satisfied; although she could bear children, her temperament was very different from what he investigated back then. He initially thought she was a gentle and filial lady, but in truth, she was a treacherous person who even dared to fool her mother-in-law. This completely went against his intentions of marrying a humble lady to his third son back then.
Wife Sun’s petty calculations were truly embarrassing, but this person was also quite clever in trivial matters, knowing she had to persuade Concubine Wu to try and persuade him.
Since the olden days, even heroes had a weakness for the charms of beautiful women; what’s more, Concubine Wu had been in love with him for decades. Concubine Wu was simple-minded and never begged him for selfish reasons; even now her request was for the young juniors.
Duke of Qi had no choice but to agree, but he couldn’t directly talk to his daughter-in-law about this matter, nor was he so thick-skinned to find his wife, so he could only go to his son.
“Didn’t you invite several good gentlemen for the Eldest Young Lady? Then let the Second Young Lady study with your Eldest Young Lady. Your wife is also good at managing the household, so when she’s teaching the Eldest Young Lady, get her to also teach the Second Young Lady. It’s just a matter of convenience anyway; although our Su Family is divided, we’re still a family and we also live together. We should be closer with one another rather than alienated.”
Duke of Qi just simply didn’t take this seriously. Since the female gentlemen had already been invited to the residence, it didn’t matter if they taught one or two students. Same with his eldest daughter-in-law; he wasn’t asking her to teach one-on-one with the Second Young Lady. He was just asking her to do it in passing. They could just consider this as the Second Young Lady receiving some benefits from the Eldest Young Lady.
Su Changping wasn’t one to indulge his father. If he did everything listening to his father and adopted a son from his third younger-brother many years ago and allowed that boy to occupy the position of his eldest son before taking his title, would the old man be happy?
“A-yuan has already begun schooling for so many years and didn’t find a reading-partner before. Besides, we’re only a part of the small Duke of Qi residence, not the imperial family, so there’s no need for us to find a reading-partner for A-yuan. If third younger-brother can’t invite any female gentlemen for Second Young Lady, then I’ll get someone to invite one for him. I promise it won’t delay the Second Young Lady’s studies.”
How could he not understand his own daughter? If he got Su Rong to study with her, she’d definitely feel unhappy.
Besides, even though they were brothers, he and his third younger-brother had no brotherly love between them, they couldn’t commit to things together.
“She’s not a reading-partner. The Second Young Lady is also your brother’s daughter, how could you consider her a reading-partner?”
If study-companions weren’t servants, then they’re at least half a servant.
Su Changping was someone who liked to negotiate with rules and reasoning; he was no different towards his father.
“Father shouldn’t believe in your own lies. Wasn’t Concubine Wu also half a servant to mother? Father promoted her, yet still couldn’t change her background. Third younger-brother would always be just a servant next to me. Someone born from a concubine would always be concubine-born, so he should just behave himself. I will not grab anything that belongs to him, but if he insists on seeking something that doesn’t belong to him, even if Father agrees, I won’t.”
Concubine Wu was half a servant to his mother, so how could Concubine Wu’s granddaughter be on equal footing with his daughter? Even if one was to say they wanted to break the heavens, this wouldn’t make sense.
Duke of Qi threw away the teacup in his hands, both angry and frustrated. “Leave. Hurry up and leave.”
Su Changping stood up, tidied his clothing, and slowly walked out. His father’s temper hadn’t changed even after so many years; this matter was clearly unreasonable, yet he could still say it with such confidence.
Unfortunately, he was no longer a child; Father didn’t have anything to hold against him.
The Duke of Qi who couldn’t hold anything against him was almost angered to death, but the Duke of Qi residence had been separated for several years already; both property and finance were divided. Although he was the Duke, the title of legitimate heir wasn’t up to him to decide; instead, it was the court’s law that had the final say. Unless his eldest son and Dong-lang were gone, his concubine-born sons would have nothing to do with it.
The only things Duke of Qi could call the shots on were his private properties, but after all these years, many of them had been given away to Concubine Wu whilst the remaining were for supporting her after he leaves; they had nothing to do with Su Changping’s family.
He mustn’t feel angry against this unfilial son. Duke of Qi repeatedly used his hands to free himself from worry. His most promising pair of son and daughter were born from his first wife; everything was fine whilst he’s still alive, but who’d know how that family would compare themselves against Concubine Wu after his death?
So he couldn’t die. He needed to live a long life. As long as he lived, he could protect Concubine Wu from being bullied and restrain his eldest son and daughter so they wouldn’t dare brazenly act.
∘₊✧──────✧₊∘
Su Changping had always been a master of seeking revenge for the smallest grievances, so he didn’t tell his mother or wife about this matter but went directly to Su Changqing.
He couldn’t do anything against his father – only reason with him – but towards his third brother there weren’t any scruples; when it’s time to act, just act.
A scholar fighting against a martialist almost appeared one-sided. Su Changping decided to not hit the other’s face, only the fleshier parts of his body; this way, not only would the other not break, but he’d also be in pain.
The training ground in the Duke of Qi residence was for public use; Su Changping’s family could use it, Su Changfeng’s family could use it, and Su Changqing’s family could also use it.
This wasn’t the first time the Eldest Master fought against the Third Master, but those matches were from many years ago; they actually hadn’t made any moves against each other during these recent years. Hence, Su Yuan, who’d never seen such a scene before, deliberately took A-niang and Dong-lang over to watch.
Everyone else in the residence also came over, one after the other, to watch the excitement, including Su Changqing’s entire family, Su Changfeng and his wife, and even Duke of Qi’s wife.
The scene was truly a bit… Tragic. Even Su Yuan, who was watching from the sidelines, felt embarrassed for her Third Uncle. It didn’t matter whether it hurt to get hit – after all, he was the military’s commander-in-chief, so he should be able to bear this little bit of pain – the crucial point was he made an absolute disgrace of himself.
A commander-in-chief getting beaten by a scholarly official to the point he couldn’t fight back, only single-mindedly trying to dodge but still failing to do so and getting chased to the point he was rolling around the entire training ground… His body hit countlessly by a fist…
And with so many onlookers… Although the servants didn’t dare come over to watch the Third Master get beaten, the nobles didn’t find it taboo to do so at all; especially Su Changqing’s family, everyone came over to watch.
To have his wife and children watch such an embarrassing performance must’ve been a really hard blow to his dignity.
Su Changping wasn’t thinking about beating his third brother into a pulp either; they’ve both become fathers and were no longer the same people from their younger years. He still needed to leave some dignity for his third brother, hence this time he didn’t have much fun. When his third brother asked for mercy, Su Changping took the advantage to withdraw his fists.
“Same words – I won’t touch your woman. If she makes any trouble, I, as your eldest brother, will directly come over to find you. You better manage your people well.”
As the saying goes, the eldest brother was like a father. He didn’t want to be his third brother’s father, but acting out to teach his younger brother a lesson was a justifiable matter; outsiders shouldn’t be able to pick out any bones from this.
Su Changqing wasn’t capable of beating his eldest brother in a fight; otherwise, he would’ve thrown away his reputation and returned all the beating he suffered all these years.
He felt annoyed and aggrieved, yet he couldn’t complain about this to outsiders. Never mind looking like a disgrace in the residence, if this matter was to circulate to the outside world, how was he supposed to lead his soldiers? How would his colleagues see him?
Outsiders only knew that his eldest brother was the Minister of Works, a Minister who obtained his rank through the Imperial Examinations, so few knew that his eldest brother had such a steel fist. Not to mention his naturally-gifted supernatural abilities, even after so many years as a minister his martial arts never deteriorated – he was more diligent than anyone else on the training ground.
Su Changping had released his anger, and Su Changqing walked away red-faced. He didn’t need anyone’s support as all he had were surface wounds; without any of his bones hurt, his mobility was unaffected.
Wife Sun didn’t dare move forward at all. She was the one who caused this, and since her husband couldn’t release his anger against the Eldest Master, he’d definitely release it against her. She decided to admit her mistake after he calms down a little.
Seeing how there wasn’t any more excitement, Su Changfeng and his wife went straight back home; their relationship had always been bad, so when seeing each other they always appeared to have a cold expression, but this time they went back with a smile on their faces.
Duke of Qi’s wife needed to be sent back with someone assisting her by the arm, probably because she was trying so hard to stifle her laughter.
It was okay for the adults because this wasn’t the first time they’ve seen this occur, but for the children, this was the first time even for the eldest Su Yuan, not to mention the others.
The six youths from Su Changqing’s family, all the children, were here; some were filled with righteous indignation, some felt embarrassed, and some turned around halfway through the match and left.
There were only two children in Su Changping’s family. Dong-lang couldn’t quite understand what was happening – he only knew to clench his fists and watch the excitement – so he probably thought it was two adults playing around. Since the one being beaten wasn’t his own diedie, the little rascal even secretly cheered for his diedie.
As for Su Yuan, she already liked to practice martial arts, so after this, she was more determined to practice and decided to add another hour to her daily training time.
She didn’t know how Third Uncle offended her diedie for him to directly use his fists, but after Su Yuan looked around, she thought maybe it wasn’t necessarily her Third Uncle who offended her diedie. Among the nobles in the residence who came to watch, only her grandfather didn’t come; maybe her grandfather was trying to do something for her Third Uncle’s family and offended her diedie that way.
Grandfather favoured Concubine Wu, hence he also favoured Third Uncle, who was born from Concubine Wu; this was a fact recognised by everyone.
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