Chapter 405: You Stir Up Trouble, I Beat the Gongs

Chapter 405: You Stir Up Trouble, I Beat the Gongs

The county princess always hesitated to speak and when pressed for answers, she would only say what sounded good. Ning'er couldn't get any useful information from her.

Thinking that it had been a long time since she last visited the Zheng family, she took advantage of the Flower Festival to return and privately asked Zheng Ji about it.

"I heard from the county princess about this matter. It seems that after the water conservancy disaster, a large number of refugees gathered and started a riot, attacking the local government office."

Zheng Ji nodded with a frown, "Yes, yesterday we received an urgent report from the north saying that the riots had indeed begun."

"Yesterday?" Zheng Jinyu was surprised.

Zheng Ji said, "Yes, just yesterday. Didn't you hear about it yesterday?"

How could she have heard about it yesterday? She had heard about it from the county princess a week ago.

Why did the county princess receive the news a week ago, but the court only announced it yesterday?

"Are you worried about Prince Chen?" Zheng Ji asked.

Zheng Jinyu nodded slightly.

Zheng Ji said, "Yesterday, when the urgent report came in, the Emperor was quite anxious and has already arranged for people to go rescue him."

The Emperor would be glad if he died; how reliable could the people the Emperor sent be?

Seeing Zheng Ji's clear eyes, it was evident that he was unaware of the undercurrents. Telling him wouldn't help, and he might even ask more questions.

Forget it.

"Today is the Flower Festival. Is Father spending it alone?"

Zheng Ji gave a bitter smile, "What else can I do?"

Zheng Jinyu: "..."

"At least you're here, so I'm not completely alone."

"Second Brother and Third Brother didn't come to see you either."

"Hmph, those two wimps are completely controlled by your mother. They want to come, but they don't dare."

Zheng Jinyu said, "Then why did you send them to live on the other side?"

Zheng Ji said in a huff, "I didn't take advantage of her. We split the children and concubines equally."

This...

Splitting the children was one thing, but she had never heard of a couple dividing their household and even their concubines.

Indeed, concubines were also considered property.

Compared to the coldness at Zheng Ji's place, the neighboring house was lively.

Through the wall, Zheng Jinyu could hear the laughter and joy from next door.

She suspected they deliberately set up their celebration near the wall; otherwise, the noise wouldn't be so loud.

Zheng Ji obviously heard it too, and his face turned grim.

To their disgust, they heard Fang Jinxiu's voice and the sound of a baby crying.

Great, Fang Jinxiu brought her son along.

This seemed like a grand "return to her natal home," with all the noise intentionally meant to anger Zheng Ji.

Zheng Ji got angry and had a maid bring out a copper gong, which he beat loudly.

The adults next door quieted down, but Fang Jinxiu's son started crying uncontrollably.

A moment later, they heard Lady Zheng's furious voice.

"Zheng Ji, are you putting on a show? Why are you beating the gong so loudly?"

Zheng Ji ignored her and beat the gong even louder.

Not content with doing it himself, he had the servants and maids bring out more gongs and drums to join in.

When there weren't enough gongs, they used copper basins and pots.

The child's cries from next door were deafening, and no amount of soothing helped.

Lady Zheng's face turned as black as the bottom of a pot, and she said to Fang Jinxiu, "Jinxiu, take Ning'er back first. I'll go settle accounts with Zheng Ji."

Fang Jinxiu knew that Lady Zheng actually hoped for family harmony and reconciliation with Zheng Ji.

So she gently said, "Mother, Father must have heard the festivities next door and got upset. With Elder Brother and Sister-in-law away, and Jinyu married off, he must feel lonely."

"He deserves to be lonely. If he had just said a few soft words to me, I would have let him in, but he didn't."

Zheng Hongqi frowned, "Mother, you know Father's temper. How could he possibly come and apologize? You should be the one to soften towards him and invite him over."

Hearing her son suggest she should be the one to apologize, Lady Zheng's anger flared.

"You ungrateful child, who gave birth to you and raised you? Why are you siding with him instead of me? Do you know why you're sitting here today? Your father disowned you and assigned you to me. Hmph, you're still siding with him."

Lady Zheng rolled up her sleeves angrily, "He's gotten too big for his britches. I've given him too much face."

With that, she stormed off to Zheng Ji's side.

Zheng Hongqi opened his mouth but couldn’t find the words to speak.

Why did they have to argue when everything was going well?

It made him and his third brother the laughingstock at school. People asked them if they would change their surnames after their parents separated.

Would they bear the surname Zheng or Cui in the future?

Only heaven knew how difficult their lives were.

He even harbored resentment towards Fang Jinxiu because of this.

It was all because of her parents that things had turned out this way.

They could have lived peacefully without causing trouble.

Now she was having a hard time at the Lu family, and yes, she was pitiful, but who could she blame?

If she hadn't tried to use Lu Shen to ruin Jinyu’s reputation, would things have escalated to this point?

It was all her fault for harboring malicious intentions first, only to end up worse off herself.

"Jinxiu, go back. Your presence here will only make Father angrier," Zheng Hongqi turned to Fang Jinxiu and said.

Fang Jinxiu looked stunned, then her face filled with hurt.

"Second Brother, today is the Flower Festival, the daughters' day. I just want to be a daughter by Father and Mother's side. I won’t stay long; I’ll leave soon."

Zheng Hongqi frowned. "Father and Mother are already arguing. Can’t you leave now?"

He had been kind to her for so many years, not expecting anything in return, but he couldn’t let her destroy their entire family, could he?

However, Fang Jinxiu looked as though he had wronged her, her eyes brimming with tears, as if she had suffered a great injustice.

She refused to leave, instead holding the child and soothing it softly, looking pitiful.

Zheng Hongqi felt a surge of frustration building inside him, unable to vent it.

Zheng Hongxu pulled him aside and said, "Let’s go next door and check. We don’t want Father and Mother to start fighting."

"Alright." He didn’t want to stay here another moment.

After the two left, Fang Jinxiu turned to Cui Yongnian and said, "Cousin..."

Before she could finish, Cui Yongnian interrupted, "I’ll go check too; maybe I can help."

Cui Huai cheerfully let him go, then clinked glasses with Cui Tai, chatting and drinking as if Fang Jinxiu wasn’t there.

Fang Jinxiu felt extremely awkward staying there. She wasn’t close to them and didn’t know what to say.

But despite the awkwardness, she didn’t leave.

After a while, Cui Huai finished a cup of wine and started talking to Cui Tai.

"I told you before that the child they brought back didn’t look like either of them, but you didn’t believe me. You insisted that children change as they grow. Do you believe me now?"

Cui Tai nodded. "Fifth Brother is indeed perceptive, noticing it right away."

Fang Jinxiu realized they were talking about her, making her feel uneasy.

"Fifth Uncle, I was young then; I didn’t know I had been switched."

The two ignored her and continued their conversation on another topic.

Fang Jinxiu felt incredibly awkward.

Next door, Mrs. Zheng and Zheng Ji were arguing. Mrs. Zheng felt she had already been humble enough, but Zheng Ji remained unyielding. Now, she wouldn’t bow down anymore, so her words were harsh.