Chapter 325 Compensation

Chapter 325: Compensation

After the time it takes to drink a cup of tea, Madam Sun, accompanied by her trusted elderly maid, hurried into the secluded courtyard.

The maid followed closely behind Madam Sun with quick, mincing steps. "Madam, please slow down. There's no need to rush. When catching someone in the act, timing is everything. Arriving too early is just as bad as arriving too late."

Madam Sun was frantic, her tone urgent. "She hasn't taken her medicine, and she's with that burly young man. How can I rest easy? I told you to send people to block the exits—have all the doors been secured?"

The maid patted her chest in assurance. "This old servant's work can be trusted, Madam. Not just the doors—even the dog holes in the courtyard walls are guarded. That husband of Lord Song's won't be able to fly out even if he grows wings."

Madam Sun looked at the small courtyard, which could be seen at a glance from end to end, and her hunched shoulders relaxed. "Good. But our people alone won't be enough—we need an outsider as a witness." Preferably someone with a marriage tie to the Rong family, whose loyalties leaned toward their side.

A flash of inspiration struck Madam Sun. "In a moment, the second daughter-in-law will be bringing people over. Go fetch her niece Shun Ying as well. Her husband has a grudge against Song Tingzhou, and she counts as one of our own—a perfect choice."

She worried Shun Ying might blab, but once it was done, Meng Wan wouldn't dare kick up a fuss—otherwise, he wouldn't even get a clean death.

Song Tingzhou held a high position—if he wanted anyone, he could have them. Would he offend the Count's mansion over an unfaithful husband?

And her nephew was skilled at sweet-talking young women and lads. Capturing a husband with a scandal hanging over his head would be child's play for him.

The elderly maid hesitated. "If this old servant leaves, won't you be left alone to deal with Lord Song's husband, Madam?"

This was Madam Sun's first time engaging in such a risky scheme. Thinking of how, once she had leverage over Meng Wan, she could not only threaten him into whispering in Song Tingzhou's ear to go easy on her family's affairs, but might even get her nephew to swindle some family assets out of him, her tone turned breezy. "You fool, have you forgotten the guards we arranged beforehand? All those strong men—aren't they more useful than an old thing like you?"

The maid's face lit up as if a light bulb went off. She slapped her forehead. "Oh, look at my old brain. You've thought of everything, Madam. This old servant will be off then."

"Go."

—

Madam Qi walked at a leisurely but steady pace. By this point, she was beginning to feel uneasy, her mind kept going back and forth.

She didn't regret letting her sister-in-law go after Meng Wan, but she feared that if Meng Wan turned out too virtuous and headstrong, things might go wrong and end in a death.

"Aunt, what's happened?" Qi Shun Ying called out from behind her.

The furrow between Madam Qi's brows deepened. "Shun Ying? Why are you here?"

Qi Shun Ying was caught off guard by the question. "Didn't you send Mother Hao to fetch me?"

"Mother Hao?" Madam Qi scanned the loyal servants behind her, and sure enough, she spotted the old maid hiding and skulking at the very back.

Madam Qi let out a laugh of pure exasperation. "My dear sister-in-law sure knows how to scheme, doesn't she? With all those relatives from the main branch at the banquet, she had to drag her niece in."

"Shun Ying, you—"

"Second Madam, there's no time to fetch another lady from another family now." The good maid quickly stopped her.

Such a rare chance—how could they just walk away?

And this was the main branch's idea anyway. She was just kindly bringing her niece along to find someone! At that thought, Madam Qi sneered inwardly. "Then go ahead and lead the way."

This courtyard was so small you could tell at a glance whether anyone was in it.

Mother Hao figured those guards had done their job well enough. By now, not a soul was in sight—neither Meng Wan's people nor the Rong family's guards. They must have cleared out all the extra people.

But where had the eldest madam gone? Maybe she was in the next room, listening in?

The group walked to the door of the corner room. Madam Qi took a deep breath and ordered the young servant beside her in a low voice, "Kick the door open."

The servant was big and burly. He cracked his knuckles, ready to put his full weight into the kick. But his foot met almost no resistance—the door swung open at the lightest touch. He couldn't check his momentum, pitched forward, and slammed onto the floor.

"Who's there? What's going on?" The commotion roused whoever was inside, and a man's voice, all nasally, answered—like he'd just woken up or been interrupted mid-deed.

Madam Qi felt her heart settle. Grabbing her clueless niece, she barged into the room.

"Meng Fulang, you're out of your mind! Lord Song has been so devoted to you—how could you... Wait—you?!"

The rest of Madam Qi's words twisted into a different tone when she saw her sister-in-law, disheveled on the bed, and the son of a Rong family concubine daughter who'd married out.

Qi Shun Ying, dragged there for no clear reason, leaned in for a look and her jaw dropped.

Madam Sun's upper body was visible above the blanket, "sleeping" most peacefully. The concubine's son lay beside her, shirt hanging open, face a mask of shock. "Auntie... I... I don't know what happened!"

Madam Qi trembled with rage. "You wretch! Get off that bed right now!" She then snapped at the panicked Mother Hao, "Help the eldest madam up and fix her clothes!"

"Did I just hear someone call my name?"

Meng Wan popped out of nowhere, barging straight in with Chi Yu and Huang Ye. Servants and maids were knocked every which way, no match for the kung fu–skilled Chi Yu.

Meng Wan's eyes widened in shock at the scene inside. "Oh my, Madam Sun, what's this? The eldest master just got himself sued, and you've already lined up a replacement?"

The room went dead silent, everyone frozen—except for the man still on the bed, clutching the lump on the back of his head, furious but afraid to say a word.

Madam Qi had already figured her stupid sister-in-law had been played by Meng Wan, which was why she was out cold on the bed. But at this point, there was no other way—unless she had Meng Wan killed.

One could ruin Meng Wan's reputation. In the capital, a young man or woman who lost their chastity was as good as thrown away—either dead or gone. Everyone remembered that sensational case of the Chief Justice's daughter, defiled by bandits. The girl vanished without a trace—whether she'd strung herself up or been packed off to a nunnery, nobody knew.

But letting Meng Wan die in the Count's mansion was out of the question—that would make an enemy of Song Tingzhou.

The job of Prefect of Shuntian wasn't for just anyone—and not everyone could keep it.

Song Tingzhou had only been back in the capital six months, and his no-nonsense style had already made him famous. If anything happened to Meng Wan in the Count's mansion, Song Tingzhou would tear the place apart.

Madam Qi forced a smile onto her face. "Meng Fulang sure has a sense of humor. My sister-in-law must've been tired and came in here to rest. My nephew came to fetch her for the front hall."

Her eyes sliced like knives at the man on the bed. "Li Dun, aren't you going to help your eldest aunt up?"

Li Dun caught on. He scrambled off the bed, fumbling with his clothes, eyes glued to the floor, not daring to glance at the bed. His voice was barely a whisper as he called to Madam Sun.

As lecherous as he was, he still had some sense of morality and propriety. Lying in the same bed as his own aunt, disheveled—if word got out, both the Count's mansion and his family's reputation would be ruined. His father would break his legs.

Meng Wan had no intention of letting Madam Qi smooth this over so easily. "The Count Chengen mansion certainly has grand rules—the men from the front courtyard actually come to the inner chambers to wake their aunt from bed. I've lived in a small place for so long, this is truly the first I've heard of such a thing. I really should consult with the other ladies and husbands about this—what exactly is the custom of the Count's mansion in such matters?"

Madam Qi's face shifted through several colors, still unable to think of a countermeasure, when her niece Qi Shun Ying stepped forward to defend her aunt. "Meng Fulang, anyone can see today's matter is a misunderstanding. Madam Sun still hasn't woken up—for all we know, she's been framed. Why must you speak so harshly?"

She saw the world in black and white, and between the Song family her husband disliked and her aunt's household, she would naturally choose the latter.

Meng Wan paid no mind to her faint hostility. Instead, he smiled meaningfully. "What you say does make sense. Who could have framed Madam Sun? We inner-court folk have such limited experience—perhaps we should call the authorities to come take a look!"

"Shun Ying!" Madam Qi's face grew even uglier, realizing this couldn't be resolved peacefully. She motioned for her niece to step back and asked Meng Wan humbly, "Meng Fulang, this is a family matter of the Rong household. It wouldn't be proper to trouble the authorities. Please, be merciful."

Meng Wan looked utterly innocent. "Whatever do you mean, Madam Qi? I'm merely a guest here. My page went missing on your estate, and in my panic, I stumbled into this courtyard and witnessed the Count Chengen mansion's aunt~nephew~affection?"

Killing with words—Meng Wan's light remark plunged the scene into dead silence. The servants held their breath, afraid that if they breathed too loudly, they wouldn't live to see tomorrow's sun.

Qi Shun Ying also sensed something was off. The situation didn't seem as simple as she'd thought. But then why had her aunt called her here?

Qi Shun Ying pressed her lips together, watching her aunt bow her head before Meng Wan, and felt a chill creep into her heart.

Madam Qi knew that Meng Wan had seen through today's scheme and was forcing her to give an explanation. "After today, I will send Sun Shi to the estate..." She paused, then uttered two words, "to live out her days there."

Meng Wan's expression remained utterly unchanged, his demeanor calm and indifferent. "Since Madam Qi says this is a matter of the Earl's household, then outsiders like us should not interfere. Am I right, Shun Ying?" He didn't know which family Shun Ying was from, so he simply addressed her by name.

Qi Shunying walked over to Meng Wan with a complicated expression, turning her head away from Madam Qi. Even she, dull as she was, knew that Meng Wan was trying to save her from this situation.

Madam Qi's heart churned with shock, anger, and helplessness. Meng Wan's words were watertight—asking for nothing was the biggest ask of all.

After everyone left the small courtyard, Madam Qi had no choice but to go over her mother-in-law's head and take matters into her own hands. She first sent the still-unconscious Sun Shi to a manor on the outskirts, assigning two sturdy matrons to keep a close watch on her.

She also sent the terrified Li Dun back to his hometown, ordering him never to return to the capital.

As for the servants and matrons involved that day, aside from those close to Madam Qi like Mama Hao, along with the dozen or so guards and pages knocked unconscious outside the wall, she silenced those who needed silencing and sold off those who needed selling.

After all this, Madam Qi's heart remained unsettled. Having a handle held over her was not a pleasant feeling. She had failed to coerce Meng Wan and had instead been outmaneuvered, leaving countless loose ends and chilling her own niece's heart—truly a case of losing both the bait and the catch.

Meng Wan went back and sat down, unhurried, to continue watching the opera.

"Why were you out so long? What were you doing?" Luo Jining asked curiously.

Meng Wan kept his eyes fixed on the stage. "One of my pages got into mischief and wandered off. I went out to look for him."

Luo Jining raised a delicate brow. "And the page you lost? Aren't those two who went to make your tea still not back?" Moreover, both of the Rong family's madams had left one after another and hadn't returned yet.

Meng Wan said calmly, "The Rong family will bring them back in a bit."

After a while, Zhifan and Zhimao indeed came running back, eyes all red. The boys, barely teenagers, must have been scared half to death after being tied up. They crouched beside Meng Wan and explained what had happened.

Just then, an opera act ended, and the performers retreated behind the curtain to change and rest. The madams and lords seated nearby shifted their gazes from the stage to Meng Wan—watching the drama offstage was way more entertaining than the show onstage.

Old Madam Rong, two tables away, spoke kindly, "Our household does have a few fine paintings in collection. Perhaps a maid accidentally bumped into your page while airing them out. It's just a few hundred taels of silver—no big deal."

Meng Wan's previously perfunctory expression suddenly turned serious. "Famous paintings worth a thousand in gold, you say? If my page damaged them, it wouldn't be right to just let it slide. Please, Old Madam, bring out the paintings so I can have a look at them myself. If they are truly beyond repair, I won't shy away from paying what's owed."

Madam Kou, listening nearby, felt her heart ache for Meng Wan. Paintings worth hundreds or thousands of taels—going out for a banquet and ending up losing that much silver! The Earl's household was wealthy and could easily let it slide, so why was he foolishly rushing to pay up?

In her own household, her husband would have already handed over the troublemaking page for punishment—no money, but they could take the person.

Seeing that Meng Wan genuinely intended to pay, Old Madam Rong's face brightened with delight. Neither of her daughters-in-law had come back, and she'd been worried that...

"Very well. I've long heard that Meng Fulang paints excellently. If you could restore the painting, that would be a fine outcome. Go fetch those two paintings soiled by the Song family's page." Old Madam Rong said with feigned magnanimity. Just like that, one painting turned into two—she was blatantly shaking Meng Wan down, betting he wouldn't talk back.

Zhifan and Zhimao were dumbfounded. Zhifan's tears began to fall again, his voice choked with grievance. "Fulang, we never..."

Meng Wan patted both their backs. "Alright, I know. Go find Chi Yu over there. Don't worry."

The two shuffled off, glancing back every few steps, until they got to Chi Yu, who was standing in the corner. They got envious looks from the other servants and a few hushed whispers.

"They caused such a big mess, and Meng Fulang didn't even scold them? He's too good-tempered!"

"If it were my mistress, they'd be half dead by now."

"Who can say? Maybe he's just holding back in the Earl's household. Once they're back at the Song residence with the doors shut, who knows if they'll make it out alive."

"True enough. It's their own carelessness. Who knows how much silver Meng Fulang will have to pay out—anger is only natural."

The envy in their eyes gradually turned to pity. People like them, servants, lived and died at the whim of their masters—they had no room for mistakes.