Chapter 324 Rotten Core

Chapter 324: Rotten on the Inside

After the meal, everyone headed to the courtyard to watch the opera. Meng Wan also noticed Kou Wen's wife there; since they didn't know each other well, they just exchanged nods.

The performers on stage started their tunes and began singing in a drawn-out, melodic style. On the long table beside Meng Wan and Luo Jining sat an array of snacks and tea.

Since Luo Jining had come to this era, he'd been living in fine silks and eating delicacies. Though his own sister had schemed against him and his brother-in-law was a beast, the prince's mansion's cuisine was a whole different level compared to the Earl's residence.

He'd eaten all sorts of delicacies from land and sea. During the banquet just now, he'd been so preoccupied watching Meng Wan's odd behavior that he hadn't eaten much. Now that he was hungry, he started shelling peanuts.

"My lady, something has happened at home..." A maidservant's voice sounded from behind Meng Wan. He turned his head slightly and noticed that seated right behind him was Qi Shunying, Madam Qi's niece.

Qi Shunying's brows furrowed slightly the moment he turned around. She stood up and walked off with her maidservant, probably to talk somewhere more private.

"Master Meng, Master Luo, allow this servant to refill your tea." A maid from the Qi household came over and dutifully poured tea for both of them.

Luo Jining's mouth was dry from all the peanuts. He raised the cup to take a sip, but as it touched his lips, he remembered some bad experiences and, despite being thirsty, put the cup down.

When he first arrived in this era, he still thought of himself as the main character, using his modern knowledge to bluff his way through—even managing to fool the people around Prince Lian.

But later, the overwhelming weight of all those rules and formalities crushed him. When his "sister" tried to send him to Prince Lian's bed to secure her position, he wished he could blow this whole world up with dynamite.

He realized he wasn't some invincible hero, just a poor bastard who couldn't control his own fate.

Eventually, he got smarter. He deliberately made himself visible around Prince Lian, threatening his sister's already shaky position as consort.

His sister did stop scheming against him, and even married him off before Prince Lian could take him as a concubine.

The Luo family of Xiange was tightly tied to Prince Lian, and since he knew some of the prince's secrets, he could only marry into the Nie family.

All the useless guys in the Nie family were already married, leaving only Nie Chuan's adopted son without a proper wife. So Luo Jining married him.

Luo Jining stared blankly at his teacup, the liquid sloshing around, rippling in endless circles.

Meng Wan calmly glanced at him twice, not a trace of emotion showing in his eyes. He made no move to touch his own cup, nor did he use the beads Chu Ci had laced with something to test for poison.

Not far away, Madam Sun, who had been secretly watching, hadn't expected him to be this cautious. Her expression twisted again, red veins showing in her eyes. She composed herself and quietly gave instructions to her maidservant, her gaze never leaving Meng Wan the whole time.

Like a hyena that had spotted fresh meat, she wouldn't rest until she got a bite.

Luo Jining hadn't noticed any of this. He came back to reality with a cold snort and said to Meng Wan, "You're certainly cautious—testing your food, refusing the tea."

Meng Wan was thirsty too, but he wouldn't drink anything from Count Chengen's household.

They sat in the courtyard watching the opera, with servants lined up along the walls nearby. Meng Wan beckoned to Zhifan, and when the boy came over, he instructed, "Take our tea leaves with Zhimao, go to the kitchen, and brew us a pot of tea."

After Zhifan and Zhimao left, Chi Yu and Huang Ye stood guard by the wall, watching over Meng Wan without blinking.

Luo Jining had also brought two attendants with him. He wanted to do what Meng Wan did, but unfortunately hadn't prepared as well—he hadn't brought any tea leaves, so he just put up with his thirst.

Zhifan and Zhimao arrived at the kitchen carrying a small tea pouch and a delicate little silver pot. After the banquet, the kitchen was a complete mess—leftover scraps everywhere and servants running around.

Zhifan called out to an old woman tending the fire, "Auntie, could you fill our pot with hot water?"

The old woman's impatient expression was stopped when Zhimao pressed some coins into her hand. Her fingers, blackened by soot and charcoal, took the seven or eight copper coins. Her expression stayed flat. "Leave the pot here. I'll fill it for you in a bit."

Zhifan and Zhimao exchanged a look. "Is she saying it's not enough?"

Zhimao pressed another handful of copper coins—about twenty or thirty—into her hand, but she still had the same look on her face, repeating her instruction to leave the pot.

"How greedy can you get!" Zhimao stomped his foot in frustration.

The old woman's face soured at his words. "Look at you, so cheap! This little bit wouldn't even buy me tea. You think you can order me around? Pah!"

Zhifan and Zhimao were furious, but Meng Wan expected results from his subordinates. If they couldn't even get a pot of water, what use were they to their master?

Zhifan had a slightly stronger temperament than his companion. Suppressing his anger, he added a small piece of silver and begged the old woman a few more times before finally getting a pot of hot water. But just as they stepped out of the kitchen, a careless page boy crashed into them, sending the pot flying. The silver pot, being soft metal, was dented beyond recognition from the impact.

Zhimao couldn't hold it in anymore. Hands on his hips, he shouted, "Are you blind?!"

They were surrounded by servants of Count Chengen's household. His outburst immediately caused trouble—a group of them closed in with hostile looks.

In a quiet corner, Qi Shunying was listening to her maidservant speak.

"My lady, Attendant Yun and Concubine Wang are fighting. Attendant Yun is bleeding, and Concubine Wang has people blocking his courtyard gate, refusing to let the doctor in."

Qi Shunying's head was pounding. "I need to talk to my aunt before I can go back. Go back first and see what's happening. If anyone blocks the gate, beat them!"

She came from a military family, doted on by her father and brother, trained in martial arts since childhood. Even her maidservants knew how to fight.

Between her husband's male attendant and his concubine, neither one was any help. The attendant was her husband's darling—no background to speak of, frail, good at crying, and good at filing complaints. The concubine had been brought in by her husband to win someone's favor, and she was arrogant and domineering. She only behaved when Qi Shunying had beaten her into submission a couple of times, but whenever Qi Shunying left the house, she was sure to cause trouble.

Normally, Qi Shunying couldn't be bothered to deal with them, but Attendant Yun was pregnant. He had already miscarried twice in the past. If something happened again this time, he would surely lose his mind.

The household was a tangled mess, enough to drive anyone mad.

Qi Shunying had just finished instructing her personal maidservant when she spotted the scene unfolding with Zhifan and Zhimao in the kitchen.

Seeing that it was her aunt's servants deliberately causing trouble, she hesitated for a moment. By nature, she couldn't stand such injustice, but the ones being bullied were servants of the Song family—the family her husband had a grudge against. She found herself reluctant to intervene.

Qi Shunying turned away.

"What do you think you're doing?"

"We're servants of the Shuntian Prefect's household! If you dare touch us, our master won't let you get away with it!"

"Let go... mmph... mmph mmph!"

Qi Shunying's conscience got the better of her. She stepped forward and called out to the pages who were tying the boys up. "What are you doing? Why are you binding another household's servants?"

Zhifan and Zhimao were still young, and by now they were scared out of their wits—faces pale, tears streaming down their cheeks. It was a pitiful sight.

One of the pages actually recognized Qi Shunying. "Cousin, this is business of our household. Best not to interfere, or we'll have trouble explaining ourselves to our mistress."

"What do you mean, business of your household? Are you saying my aunt ordered you to harass the servants of guests?" Qi Shunying thought the Rong family's servants were trying to deceive her.

Seeing that the young miss wasn't catching on, the pages exchanged uneasy glances. One of them produced a crumpled scroll. "Cousin, it's not that we're deliberately making trouble, but these two servants scalded a priceless painting of the household with hot water. We need to bring them before the master to answer for it."

Zhifan and Zhimao looked at each other in despair. They had been knocked over just now—where had a painting suddenly come from? It was clear these people were framing them!

Qi Shunying hesitated. "Even if they damaged the painting, you should fetch Master Meng to discuss it. Tying them up would damage the goodwill between our two families, wouldn't it?"

The page spoke glibly, "You see, cousin, these two servants have sharp tongues and are slippery as eels. That's why we had to bind them. The painting is truly priceless—if they ran off, we'd all face severe punishment. A beating would be the least of it. That's why we had to be careful."

Qi Shunying was taken in. She paused in her steps. "Then go on. I imagine Master Meng isn't short on money. Have my aunt discuss it with him properly—don't harm the harmony between the two families."

Song Tingzhou's position was unique; even the powerful in the capital wouldn't dare offend him lightly. That was what Qi Shunying's husband had told her. He rarely spoke to her about court matters, but he had mentioned this Lord Song several times.

Sometimes he said Song Tingzhou had helped him and that he considered him a close friend. Other times, he claimed Song Tingzhou only befriended people he could use, had betrayed their friendship, and had even ruined his wedding.

Her husband was fair-skinned and refined, and when he told the story with a mournful look, it was especially convincing. So Qi Shunying never had a good impression of the Song family.

Still, calling it a grudge seemed like a stretch.

When Qi Shunying got back to her seat, she looked around on purpose but didn't see any servants from the Rong family coming over.

She hesitated, then finally couldn't help reminding him, "I just saw your servants getting into a fight in the kitchen."

Meng Wan, who'd been zoning out watching the opera, jumped up at her sudden reminder. He thanked her politely first, then called Huang Ye and Chi Yu over to head to the main table.

"Madam Qi," Meng Wan called out in a slightly raised voice.

Madam Qi rose with a forced smile. "Meng Fulang, what can I do for you?"

Meng Wan returned a smile, his expression relaxed. "Two of my servants went out to get water earlier and haven't come back. Could you send someone to look for them?"

"Meng Fulang, you're too polite. Don't worry, I'll send someone right away." Madam Qi agreed quickly but only sent two people, which felt half-hearted.

Seeing that, the warmth in Meng Wan's eyes faded. He flicked his sleeves and went out himself with Chi Yu and Huang Ye to look.

When she saw him leave, Lady Sun let out a sigh of relief. She also got up and headed off somewhere.

Madam Qi saw it out of the corner of her eye but pretended not to notice, staying put like a rock.

The feast today cost over a dozen taels of silver per table, and with more than fifty tables, that added up to five or six hundred taels.

The opera troupe they hired was already a step down from usual, with only mid-tier performers, but it still cost thirty taels of silver to bring them in.

Add in the mansion decorations and gifts for the younger generation, and all the odds and ends for this event came close to a thousand taels.

For the Count Chengen mansion at its peak, this would've been nothing, but unfortunately, the family had an older brother hooked on gambling. The household finances were already full of holes. They could barely keep up with daily life, but whenever they hosted something, they had to pawn stuff to cover the costs.

Even as Madam Qi accepted congratulations from the guests, she was doing the math on whether the gifts could cover the shortfall.

They were cutting back on daily expenses; the dress she was wearing was from a few years ago. But for a mansion this big, pinching pennies wasn't nearly enough.

Unless a big chunk of money could somehow plug the hole her brother-in-law had dug.

Listening to the performers' shrill or booming opera tunes, Madam Qi thought the top-notch performers she used to hire sang way better.

The earl's mansion was huge; Count Chengen's place was an old noble estate that had probably been expanded over the years. The paths twisted and turned, one gate leading into another courtyard, so it was hard to find anyone.

Chi Yu grabbed a random maid to lead the way. They reached a small courtyard where there were fewer busy servants. This had to be close to Old Madam Rong's place. They hadn't walked far, and they could still hear the opera.

"This isn't the kitchen, is it?" Chi Yu sensed something was off.

The maid leading them didn't say a word, keeping her head down. At the next turn, she suddenly lifted her leg high, ready to bolt and shake them off, but in that instant, Chi Yu grabbed her by the collar.

"Fulang, she's trying to run."

Meng Wan's expression remained calm. "Tie her up first."

As he spoke, a dozen or so burly guards emerged from nowhere and surrounded Meng Wan and his group without a word.

In a side room in the corner of the courtyard, a decent-looking man paced back and forth, his eyes full of anticipation, anxiety, and barely hidden lust.

Wasn't she supposed to be a beautiful widow who couldn't bear her solitude? Why hadn't she arrived yet? Could his aunt have deceived him?

The next moment, a knock came at the door, followed by a clear, pleasant voice from outside: "Open the door."

The man was overjoyed. He hurried to open the door, but before he could even put on a show of gentle, sweet words to coax her, he was sent flying by a powerful kick to the chest.

The room was small, its furniture removed, leaving only a wide bed. The man's back slammed into the bedpost with a dull thud, followed by a scream of pain.

His vision went black, and every organ ached. It took him a moment to see clearly the three young men standing before him, the most striking being the one in the middle. Dressed in fine brocade, with a slender, lithe waist beneath his outer robe, he exuded an air of elegance. His cold, beautiful face, backlit by the sunlight streaming through the door, was so stunning it seemed unreal.

The man was a seasoned connoisseur of beauty, but he had never seen such a breathtaking sight. Instinctively, he tried to strike up a conversation, but when he opened his mouth, all that came out was a mouthful of blood.

"You... why... did you hit me?" He spat blood as he spoke, looking rather pitiful.

Meng Wan narrowed his eyes. "Who hit you? Didn't you run into the bedpost yourself? Wipe the blood from your mouth."

The man, still bleeding, stared at Meng Wan with dazed eyes.

Chi Yu grinned menacingly, cracking his knuckles. "Haven't you seen enough?"

The man's pupils dilated instantly. He swallowed the half-mouthful of blood, wiped his lips with the handkerchief from his pocket, and hastily replied, "I've seen enough, seen enough."