sbdcsierra Chapter 226 The Righteous Way (15)
Chapter 226 The Righteous Way (15)
"If the imperial examination was the only thing on my mind, you would have been beaten to death long ago!" Du Hezhi cursed angrily.
Just then, a man's angry shout suddenly sounded outside.
"That's enough! Is it fun to quarrel in front of so many people?"
Bai Shiyuan, who was resting at Lin Wenqing's place, came late. Before he entered the house, voices were heard from outside.
Lu Changqing looked at Lin Wenqing who was following behind Bai Shiyuan. The latter winked at her, looking as if he was enjoying a good show.
Du Hezhi was already angry, and when he saw Lin Wenqing following him, he glared at him fiercely.
Bai Shiyuan walked up to Bai Mingzhou and said calmly without getting angry: "Don't think that you are my only son. You also have a younger brother."
When Bai Mingzhou saw Bai Shiyuan coming, he was a little panicked at first, but when he heard him talking about Bai Yuanhan, he couldn't help but sneer, "That useless Bai Yuanhan."
Hearing his son being mocked, Lin Wenqing's face darkened and he instinctively spoke up to defend him, "What does Dalang mean by that? Even if Wulang is not very talented in studying, Dalang shouldn't ridicule his own brother like this."
In the past, Bai Mingzhou would pretend to be a refined and easy-going gentleman, but now Bai Mingzhou has given up and is too lazy to pretend. He simply disdains to talk to Lin Wenqing and doesn't even bother to pay attention to him.
Seeing Bai Mingzhou's nonchalant attitude, Bai Shiyuan cursed, "You evil creature! Yuanhan is your brother! Is this how you look upon your own brother?"
Bai Mingzhou snorted coldly, "Oh? Brother? My mother is the head wife of the mansion. How can the son of a concubine like him be compared with me?"
They've started to talk about legitimate and illegitimate children again. It's really unbearable.
"Brother, you look down on bastards so much. Did you know that Confucius, the great sage you respect the most, was also a bastard? He was also from the imperial family, and his biological mother was not Empress Zhangxian. According to your logic, are Confucius and the imperial family not worthy of being mentioned in front of you?"
Facing Lu Changqing's outrageous words, Bai Shiyuan's reaction was more serious than Bai Mingzhou's, "Be careful with your words!"
"Dad, you should say these two words to my eldest brother. If what my eldest brother said just now gets out, do you think that someone would think that our family is dissatisfied with the official's family background?"
"Stop stirring up trouble here!" Du Hezhi defended her child and scolded Lu Changqing, "You are a concubine's daughter, you have no right to speak here!"
"Shut up!" Bai Shiyuan said impatiently, "You've lived for so many years in vain, but your brain is not as good as a girl of ten years old? You are a concubine's daughter, and you can't understand good or bad words, right? No wonder Mingzhou looks at his brother like this, I think it's you, a woman, who taught him bad things."
Here it comes, the classic saying that if the child is not good, it is the mother’s fault. Father’s brand non-stick pan is said to be useful by men from ancient times to now.
"You're blaming me now, right? Ever since that vixen Lin Wenqing entered the mansion, all your attention has been on her. Now that Mingzhou is like this, you blame it all on me. As his father, don't you have any responsibility at all?" Du Hezhi asked loudly and unconvincedly.
Seeing that the fire was burning on him, Lin Wenqing secretly glanced at Bai Shiyuan's expression. Seeing that his face was red with anger, he thought about it and decided to stir up trouble to make him hate Du Hezhi even more.
Seeing that Lin Wenqing was ready to make a move, Lu Changqing walked behind her and grabbed her hand.
Lin Wenqing was startled unexpectedly and turned around to find Lu Changqing, with a serious face, shaking his head slightly at her.
Lin Wenqing tried to break free from Lu Changqing's hand, but he held it even tighter, as if he would break her wrist if she opened her mouth.
Lu Changqing and Lin Wenqing, who were kicked out, were on their way back to the house.
Lin Wenqing was very unhappy, "Why did you pull me just now?"
"Mom, didn't I tell you not to provoke the mistress? Why don't you listen?"
"When did you say that?"
Lu Changqing did not allow for rejection and said, "I didn't say this before, but I'm saying it now. Remember not to provoke her. It will do you no good."
"You can take the initiative to provoke her, why can't I?"
"When did I take the initiative to provoke her?"
"You just said your eldest brother, wasn't that actively provoking her?"
Lu Changqing said, "Misfortune comes from the mouth. What Big Brother said was too outrageous. If it gets to the court and is used by someone with ulterior motives to impeach Dad, then our whole family will have to suffer with Dad."
Lin Wenqing looked at Lu Changqing and said, "Fuying, why do you seem to have changed a lot recently? In the past, you always liked to talk to me about your little girl's worries, but now you don't like to talk to me about these things anymore."
"Mother, I want to enter the palace as a lady-in-waiting. Marriage is no longer within my consideration."
How can one sentence anger your mother?
"Just give up on this idea! I will never agree to let you enter the palace!"
Lu Changqing said calmly: "Mom, in fact, you have never been able to make the decision about my life, including Yuanhan's life. There has always been only one person who can be the master of this courtyard, and that is Dad."
"So I'm not asking for your opinion, I'm informing you. I must enter the palace!"
"Don't even think about it." Lin Wenqing said confidently: "Your father will never agree as long as I'm here!"
"That was in the past. If my eldest brother couldn't be relied on and my fifth brother wasn't good at studying, do you think Dad would agree to my entering the palace?"
Lin Wenqing was stunned, and his expression changed from confusion at first to doubt, and finally to horror.
Lu Changqing guessed what Lin Wenqing was thinking of, and said with a smile: "Mom, you worry too much. I didn't do what my elder brother did. I don't have such great ability to reach out to Songtao Garden."
Lin Wenqing thought about it and felt that what Lu Changqing said made sense. She didn't have that ability, let alone a thirteen-year-old girl like Lu Changqing.
"Who says your father will definitely agree? If I find a good family for you, won't that be a help from your father?" Lin Wenqing said with a little pride.
"According to what you said, after I get married, I will be a person with a different surname. Between a son-in-law who is not surnamed Bai and a daughter with surnamed Bai, who is more reliable when we are both officials in the same court?"
Lin Wenqing was silent for a while before he said, "Have you thought of everything?"
Lu Changqing nodded, "I don't want to spend my life in mediocrity."
Lin Wenqing couldn't understand why the daughter he had raised for more than ten years suddenly refused to get married?
"What's wrong with getting married? With your father's status, even if she can't marry into a marquis' mansion, she can at least marry into a merchant's family. After all, she will be the wife of the emperor, with clothes to wear and food to eat, and she can be ordered around. What's wrong with that?"
Lu Changqing didn't want to discuss this issue again with Lin Wenqing, "Mom, we have already discussed this issue before. If you have forgotten, I will say it again now.
I don't want to be trapped in the backyard, and I don't want to repeat the life you and the mistress have lived. I don't want to be helpless, and I don't want to be content with my lot. What I want is simple: freedom, the freedom to choose my own life."
Lin Wenqing didn't speak for a long time. She was not shocked by Lu Changqing's words, but she still didn't understand.
How can a person choose his or her own life? Isn't that already arranged by God? Otherwise, how should the saying "God's will is hard to defy" be interpreted? Otherwise, what is the point of her staying in the harem as a concubine for so many years?