Chapter 376: Seeking a Backer, Being Moved
Nanny Feng came in and announced, "Fifth Missy is here."
Ji Bo Lian picked up a handkerchief to wipe his mouth and asked, "Why is she here?" His tone was still stern, as if he were somewhat displeased by Ji Qingwu’s arrival.
Nanny Feng glanced at the Old Madam and said, "First Master, I don’t know what wind blew Fifth Missy over. We hardly ever see her come to visit our Old Madam. She doesn’t even come to pay her morning and evening respects."
Ji Bo Lian’s expression soured. "If you don’t know, just say you don’t know. Cut the nonsense."
Recalling what he needed to discuss with the Old Madam, he added, "Tell her to go back for now."
Old Madam Ji put down her bowl and said to Mr. Ji, "Qingwu has never been willing to visit me. That she’s come here at all must be thanks to you."
How could Ji Bo Lian not know they were indirectly complaining to him?
Seeing that the Old Madam was nearly finished eating, he waved for the servants to clear the table.
Ji Bo Lian said slowly, "Mother, it’s not that Qingwu is unwilling to come. She’s avoiding trouble."
Old Madam Ji, holding a rinsing bowl, turned to look at him in surprise.
"Bo Lian, what do you mean by that? What trouble is there to be found here?"
Why didn’t Ji Qingwu visit Shou’an Hall?
When he had first returned home, Ji Bo Lian only had a vague idea of what had happened. But after some careful investigation, he was now crystal clear on all the "good deeds" the members of the Ji Family had been up to.
Ji Bo Lian said, "Mother, I’ve heard that you arranged a match for Qingwu with Mr. Li’s third son. As for what kind of character their son has, are you truly unaware, or are you just playing dumb?"
Setting Xiao Wu up with a degenerate who preferred men had left Ji Bo Lian fuming throughout the meal. He had forced himself to wait until the Old Madam was finished eating before bringing it up.
Old Madam Ji slammed her bowl down on the table with a CLANG, sloshing a good amount of water out.
"First Son, it’s true. I did it, and I admit it."
Old Madam Ji said calmly, "Are you sticking up for Qingwu? You’ve been an official away from home for so many years; you don’t understand the family’s hardships. How can the Ji Family survive in the Imperial City without a powerful backer?"
She sighed several times.
"If there were a better choice, I wouldn’t be willing either. That third son of the Li family is handsome and has a good disposition. It’s just that his... preferences... are different from those of a normal man."
The Old Madam watched her eldest son’s expression and said, "I heard the Li family’s old madam is already having him treated with herbal medicine. Who knows, he might be cured."
Ji Bo Lian said, "Herbal medicine? Mother, you actually believe that?"
"Does the Ji Family need a backer, or does Mother want to find a backer for herself?"
After his many years as an official, his words were sharp and to the point.
"Because of Chang Yan’s imprisonment, you and the Empress Dowager have grown distant, your relationship no longer as close as before. So you set your sights on Xiao Wu, hoping to form a marriage alliance with the Li family to secure your own standing and not be outshone by the Wei Family’s old matriarch."
Hearing Ji Bo Lian mention that old woman from the Wei Family, Old Madam Ji pounded her chest a few times.
Her composure gone, she cried out, heartbroken and incensed, "What do you mean, *my* standing? I have one foot in the grave! For you to say such a thing is like stabbing your own mother in the heart."
The Old Madam wiped her tears. "What am I doing for myself? Isn’t it all for the young and old of the Ji Family..."
Ji Bo Lian remained unmoved. He knew his mother all too well. She had excessively indulged and doted on the second branch of the family. It was hard to say the Old Madam wasn’t responsible for Chang Yan going astray and ultimately losing his life.
Besides, he despised it when people made a scene. Whether they were men or women, young or old, they had to resort to weeping and wailing instead of just talking things out properly.
Ji Bo Lian unconsciously slipped into his authoritative, official tone.
"Everything you’ve done—it’s all to make His Majesty even more wary of our Ji Family, isn’t it?!"
This sharp question instantly deflated Old Madam Ji’s momentum, and she choked back her tears.
It was no secret that Emperor Wu Su was wary of the Ji Family; every great family in Lin’an knew it.
Ji Bo Lian continued, "For so many years, the Empress Dowager of Cining Palace has been constantly stirring up trouble. To put it nicely, she claims it’s to solidify the Ji Family’s favor. Because she is not His Majesty’s birth mother, there has always been a barrier between them, a lack of true closeness."
"The Empress Dowager and I were born of the same mother. Do you think I don’t know what she’s plotting? She does it to seize power in the rear palace and to win over officials in the imperial court. It’s bad enough that you follow along with her nonsense, Mother, but now you want to drag Xiao Wu into it as well."
In the past, Old Madam Ji and the Empress Dowager had often engaged in their little schemes, and Fourth Miss Ji Qingyuan had been willing to cooperate with them. Ji Bo Lian couldn’t be bothered to interfere.
But now, they were extending their reach to Xiao Wu.
Ji Bo Lian’s voice was stern, his expression severe. "From now on, none of you are to get any ideas about Xiao Wu!"
"I will also have a word with the Empress Dowager in the palace."
Ji Bo Lian had received news in the south about the foolish things the Empress Dowager had done after the assassination attempt on Emperor Wu Su. The only reason nothing had been done about Cining Palace yet was because His Majesty hadn’t had the time.
The tears on Old Madam Ji’s face had long since dried. She asked anxiously, "First Son, have you been able to get any hint of His Majesty’s intentions these past two days at court?"
"Did he say how he plans to deal with the Empress Dowager? Will it affect the Ji Family? And what about you?"
Ji Bo Lian deliberately furrowed his brow and said with a grave and troubled expression, "Few can guess His Majesty’s thoughts. No one can predict what will happen in the future."
In reality, not only had there been no negative impact on him, but His Majesty had even praised him for his hard work during morning court, rewarding him with half a year’s salary and seafood tributed from Yang City.
The salary had all been spent on buying beautiful clothes and jewelry for Xiao Wu.
Most of the seafood had ended up on Xiao Wu’s dinner table, with only a few small yellow croakers being sent over to the Old Madam.
Ji Qingwu was stopped outside by Nanny Feng.
She heard the voices inside growing louder and managed to vaguely make out a few sentences, interspersed with her grandmother’s sobs.
She changed course and went to Anju Garden instead.
She told Mrs. Qiao about all the valuable things she had received.
Mrs. Qiao had known that morning what Ji Bo Lian was busy with, but she turned a blind eye to his actions. After all, he wasn’t using the estate’s silver.
But she was still shocked. Mr. Ji, who was a notorious penny-pincher—so frugal he seemed to wish he could donate his entire family fortune to the state treasury—was actually being so generous.
A man’s heart is wherever he spends his money.
Mrs. Qiao felt this saying fit Ji Bo Lian perfectly. His love for his daughter surpassed all else.
She picked up some spices, selected a few different kinds to put into a sachet, and said with a smile, "If your father gave them to you, then you should accept them."
Ji Qingwu still felt uneasy. "But I heard Grandmother crying. It sounded like she was being scolded."
Mrs. Qiao’s hands, which were tying the sachet, paused. "Are you sure you heard correctly?"
As the eldest son of the family, Ji Bo Lian revered the principle that filial piety is the greatest of all virtues. Considering that the Old Master had died young and Old Madam Ji had gone through great hardship to raise her children, he had always endured and deferred to her, never lashing out at his old mother.
Even when the Old Madam showed favoritism toward the second branch, Mr. Ji had always played deaf and dumb. Mrs. Qiao had thought he would continue to tolerate the Old Madam’s behavior forever.
Ji Qingwu pressed her lips together. "I think I also heard my name..."
And they had affectionately called her Xiao Wu.