<h4>Chapter 198: Dine Out, Family Affairs, National Affairs, Hun, Hacking... (121.5)</h4>


    Trantor: Iris


    A little girl rushed into the room hurriedly. Minn held that girl in her arms right away and gave the kid a big kiss on the forehead, saying, “My good girl. Let me see your hands.”


    Zhuang reached out her hands shyly, with a fearful look which could only be seen on an adult’s face. There were a few dark rose red spots on her white and tender finger pulps. The little girl took back her hands bashfully and said in an innocent voice, “Aunt, I don’t feel hurt anymore. My brother was wounded more seriously than me.”


    Minn then checked the boy in Cuichan’s arms right away. He was sleeping soundly right now. On that fair and delicate face, there were arge area of red swelling, which should be caused by the fall. From the right of his eyebrow to his cheek, there was a row of dotted dark red scars. What scared Minn the most was that one of the scars were on his right eyelid, which meant this boy almost lost one of his eyes!


    Shi seemed to be rmed and wept slightly. Zhuang stepped forward instantly and patted on her brother while coaxing him in a soft voice, “Good boy, good boy...” The little boy seemed to recognize his sister’s voice and then fell into asleep again.


    Minn, being heartbroken, couldn’t help but hold Zhuang in her arms tightly with tears running down on her face. Hun looked at her two kids and was also ovee by the feeling of sorrow. She lied on the bed and started to weep. Cuichan put the boy in the wet nurse’s arm immediately and held Hun up to wipe her tears, saying, “Second Madam, you can’t cry right now. That will give you a chronic disease!”


    Minn, having wiped her tears right away, held Zhuang up and said proudly, “Good girl, you have shared your mother’s burdens and saved your brother. You are the best daughter and the best sister. Sixth Aunt is so happy for you! Don’t be afraid that you will be humiliated or wronged. You are the eldest legal daughter of Yuan family and the granddaughter of Sheng family! No one will dare to bully you!”


    Zhuang put on a smile on her little face while nodding heavily.


    After that, Cuichan sent the two kids out. Minn watched them leave and then turned around while saying with tears in her eyes, “Sister, you have taught your children well. You will definitely enjoy a wonderful life in the future!... Eh, what happened next?”


    Hun also felt proud of her children while smiling in relief. After she had calmed down, she said slowly, “I thought that old bitch would feel guilty. But never have I realized that she would shift the me to Zhuang! She imed that Zhuang was the one who knocked the censer over and hurt Shi! She even wanted to punish Zhuang!”


    “Bullshit!” Minn couldn’t help but abuse, “All in all, the ident only happened because there was no adult in the room. If someone guarded the kids at that time, even if Zhuang has knocked the censor over, Shi wouldn’t be injured!”


    “Exactly!” Hun gave out a wry smile and said, “Then my family was in chaos. After your brother-inw came back, he flew into a rage right away. He even wanted to whip the servants who had been absent at that time to death! However, his mother stopped him and scolded him for being unfilial. She even ordered him to kneel before the memorial tablets of their ancestors in the ancestral temple! After my father-inw had known about that, he punished those servants right away and said he would send my mother-inw to our manor to ‘have a good rest’;Then my mother inw tried to hang herself with a rope, don’t know where she learned that idea. She kept saying ‘no man in this world would mistreat his wife for his daughter-inw’. My father-inw who was so angry almost fainted! And that matter just left unsettled. Luckily I got my son back.”


    Hearing that, Minn waspletely speechless. With a smile showing on Hun’s face, she said, “After your brother-inw saw Shi’s wounds, he was so scared that his whole body came out in a cold sweat. Since he couldn’t vent his anger on his mother, then... ha ha” Hun let out a weirdughter, “That old bitch has sent seven or eight Tong Fang to my room. Your brother-inw beat two outstanding girls of them fiercely. After the two girls were half dead, they were straightly thrown out of our mansion! After that, he ordered someone to undress other two girls’ clothes and let them kneeling in the yard nakedly for a whole night. The second day, the two girls both got sick and were kicked out too. The rest of the Tong Fang behave themselves well. They are so scared that your brother-inw would vent his anger on them that they don’t even dare to show themselves.”


    MInn couldn’t helpughing, “I never expected that.”


    “After that old bitch knew about that, she came here to make a scene again. At that time, I held a hairpin against my neck and told her, ‘If you dare to say a word about taking away my children, I’ll die here.’ Then she could only hit and abuse her son. You brother-inw’s face was covered with scratches during those days and couldn’t even go out.”


    After Hun had told that soul-stirring story, the two sisters both remained silent and rested with their heads next to each other, feeling sorrowful together. After a long while, Hun said, “When will this stop? I am worried all day that she would have some evil ideas again.”


    “Well... there is a way to solve your problem once and for all.” Minn said slowly.


    Hun straightened up right away with light shing in her eyes. Then she grabbed Minn’s hand and asked closely in a low voice, “What is it? Tell me! Tell me!”


    Minn still kept silent. Hun who got impatient kept asking while shaking Minn’s body. Thetter got too dizzy and said reluctantly, “This is not a good solution. More like a lousy idea.”


    “Lousy idea is the best for that lousy old bitch!” Hun said that with passion in her eyes.


    Minn then gritted her teeth. All right, this was the first time she had plotted something big; She said, “Recently, I heard something happened in our family. Madam... she wanted eldest brother to take a concubine. Our eldest sister-inw got sick the moment she knew of that.”


    With a scornful look on Hun’s face, she said, “Our sister-inw is much more lucky than me. It wouldn’t kill her if our brother has a new concubine.”


    Minn sighed secretly. She understood why Hun would feel like that. Then she continued, “Not only was eldest brother unwilling to do so, even our dad also felt madam was only trying to make troubles. Then... ah-hem, ah-hem, dad has taken in a few Tong Fang girls in his room.”


    Hun seemed to get Minn’s point. She asked gently, “So...?”


    Minn threw up her hands and spoke out the final result reluctantly, “Now madam don’t have the time to deal with eldest sister-inw.”


    With Hun’s eyes wildly open, she finally understood what that idea was.


    “Is that, going to work?” Hun said that in hesitation.


    Minn replied her in a t tone, “Will your mother-inw be divorced by her husband?”


    Hun sat down on the bed dejectedly while shaking her head, saying, “No. She has sons and daughters. Divorcing her would be a humiliation for Marquis Zhongqin’s mansion. That divorce letter is merely for threatening her.”


    “Then, will your father-inw leave your mother-inw ‘having a good rest’ in the manor forever?”


    With desperation in Hun’s eyes, she responded, “No. Even your brother-inw can’t bear to see my mother-inw having a rough time in the manor.”


    “Then what other solutions do you have?” –Actually, on the other hand, Hun would never be divorced by her husband either.


    “That’s right! That’s right!” Hun thumped on the bed while saying in a low voice, “I won’t let her live at ease! It’s time to send a few beautiful girls to my father-inw!... But my mother-inw has always kept a close eye on the concubines of my father-inw!”


    Minn shook her left hand and approached to Hun, trying her best to keep her voice down, “First, how can a daughter-inw find girls for her father-inw? That’s just too ridiculous to hear. Second, the candidate of your father-inw’s future concubine couldn’t be any girl. She must be a person whom your mother-inw would never bully or punish.”


    As a clever girl, Hun understood Minn’s words after she had pondered for only a short while, “You want me to ask favor from my father-inw’s sister?”


    “Yes.” Minn said, “Go to Countess Shoushan.”


    “Will she help me?” Hun was suspicious of how feasible that would be. Although Countess Showshan liked her, still,...


    Minn dispelled Hun’s suspicion directly, “She will do that not to help you but to help her own family! When shees back from her hometown, she will definitelye to visit you. By then, you can dismiss everyone else and tell her everything frankly. Tell her about your difficulties, your grievances. Show her your wounded child. Don’t forget to exaggerate Shi’s injury! Then tell her the story about Duke Zhuang of Zheng and Gong Shuduan...”


    “I know that story!” Hun’s eyes finally sparkled, the she continued, “In Chunqiu period, Duke Zhuang and Gong Shuduan were two blood brothers! But their mother, Empress Dowager Wu Jiang showed great partiality to Gong Shuduan. And what was the cause of such a perversion? The two brothers finally turned against each other...”


    “Atst, Duke Zhuang killed Gong Shuduan, his blood brother, by himself! But that is all Empress Dowager’s fault!” Minn added, “This is not just the fight between you and your mother-inw. If Old Madam Yuan continues to act like this, her two sons will eventually be enemies even if they don’t want to. By then, Yuan family will definitely fall apart.”


    After Minn’s had said that, the whole thing was raised to another level. And Hun would restore the unity of the Yuan family.


    Hun thought about Minn’s idea over and over again and found that really was a great solution. She could let Countess Shoushan found a girl from a poor family with a clean background. That girl had to be pretty, gentle and clearheaded. After she became the concubine of Old Master Yuan, she would be Countess Shoushan’s helper. And no one would judge anything as long as Old Master Yuan agreed to that, since Countess Shoushan didn’t do anything wrong to send a girl to serve her brother. If Old Madam Yuan created disturbances, she would be used of viting the ‘Seven Reasons’– When Old Madam Yuan sent girls to her own son, she always loved to use that excuse to gag Hun.


    Old Master Yuan who had endure Old Madam Yuan for almost his whole life was very likely to like that girl. Also, it didn’t matter if that girl would give birth to a boy or not. Because, she wouldn’t get too much of the family property as a concubine no matter what. After all, a mother-inw could be hard on her daughter-inw every day, but the daughter-inw couldn’t tell her mother-inw off to her father-inw all the time. So the best solution was to ce a trusted woman who could do pillow talk to Old Master Yuan in his room. Hun would like to see if Old Madam Yuan would have the strength to pick a quarrel with her every day by then!


    The more Hun thought of that, the more she felt joyful. Now, she was in high spirit and could even walk around in the room.