Chapter 609: Scheme
Editor: Atlas Studios

Mu Yangling returned to the carriage and held her head in her hands as she pondered the matter. In the end, she decided to come clean.

She wrote to Fan Zijin, confessing to him that although she had succeeded in bringing his wife out, she also made his father so angry that he vomited blood.

Then, she wrote to Qi Haoran and clued him in on the fact that she had angered Fan Siwen to the point of vomiting blood. She asked him to put in a good word for her in front of Fan Zijin.

When handing the letters to the guard responsible for delivering them, Mu Yangling specially instructed, “Send the letter to the general first. Only after he opens the letter do you send the Military Advisor’s letter over.”

However, Fan Zijin had actually received a detailed report of the incident while Mu Yangling’s letter was still on the way, including the conversation between Mu Yangling and Madam Xia.

He stared at the stack of papers for a long time with a gloomy expression. In the end, he hid the things in a box and sneered.

Even though he had already guessed his parents’ choice, he was still hurt at this moment. However, this pain was light, so light that he only had to endure it for a while before it passed. After which, he became even more numb.

Fan Zijin had long given up hope on his father. He knew that Fan Siwen didn’t feel sorry for him because he had his own ideas of justice and fairness in his heart.

He felt that the legitimate sons and concubine sons were all his sons, so he had to treat them equally. Because the legitimate son was born with an inherent advantage, and because Madam Xia was the mistress of the household, Fan Siwen subconsciously thought that it was Madam Xia and Fan Zijin who bullied the concubines and the concubine sons.

As Fan Zixiao was the eldest son of a concubine, if he blocked Fan Zijin’s path, Fan Zijin would target him even more. In addition, Fan Zixiao was his first child after all, so Fan Siwen felt that he had to dote on him even more.

When Fan Zijin was eight years old, he had already figured out his father’s way of thinking. Fan Siwen was blinded to the servants’ negligence towards Fan Zijin and his mother, as well as Qi Haoran, because of his attitude. All he cared about was carrying out the so-called fairness that he had conjured up in his mind.

But what could Fan Zixiao do to stop him?

Fan Zixiao was just the eldest son of a concubine and Fan Siwen did not have a noble title. Meanwhile, Fan Zijin was smart and knowledgeable, already becoming a tongsheng at the age of nine and a xiucai before the age of 11. In his eyes, Fan Zixiao was not even worthy of being a stumbling block, let alone an opponent.

Although he hated this father of theirs for being biased, because he was never fond of this father since he was young, he did not have much feelings for him. Therefore, what he thought actually did not hurt Fan Zijin much. What really bothered Fan Zijin was his mother’s attitude.

He did not expect his mother to compromise with his father on such an important matter as children. Or, perhaps he had thought of it but was unwilling to admit it up until then.

He had known all along that his mother loved his father deeply. Back when they were kids, his mother often cried hugging him and Haoran because of his father. Haoran didn’t have memories from that early an age, but Fan Zijin remembered it clearly. Even now, Fan Zijin did not quite understand this thing called love.

To her, love was so important that she gradually distanced herself from her brothers, so important that she eventually abandoned her only son.

Fan Zijin’s face gradually turned ashen. The anger that he had just suppressed surged again. With a bang, he kicked the table in front of him. In the end, the table did not flip over, but his foot was seriously injured. Fan Zijin sat down on a chair at the side with a hiss.

When Qi Haoran came in and saw this, he asked with concern, “Zijin, what’s wrong?”

Fan Zijin frowned and pointed at the table beside him. “Kick it.”

Without thinking, Qi Haoran kicked the table away, causing the table and the teapot on it to hit the wall with a loud bang. He widened his eyes and asked, “What’s wrong? What’s wrong with this table?”

Fan Zijin looked at his feet and then at the shattered wood shavings on the ground. The corners of his lips twitched and he said, “Nothing much. It’s just that it hurt my feet. I’m furious.”

Only then did Qi Haoran see him holding his feet and looking at the table. His heart ached. “If you had said so earlier, I would have kicked the table down gently so that it can be used again. Now that it’s shattered like this, I’d have to spend money to buy another table.”

Fan Zijin was so angry that he picked up the shoes on the ground and threw them at him. “Can’t I afford to pay you for the table? Don’t make it sound like you’re so poor. I’m well aware you spend money like water when you’re outside.”

Qi Haoran rubbed his nose and leaned over to ask fawningly, “What’s wrong with you? If you’re angry, you should find something soft to kick. How can you kick the table? Look, you hurt yourself, right?”

Qi Haoran asked Fei Bai to go back and get the medicinal wine.

Fan Zijin snorted and thought for a moment before saying, “Don’t interfere in my relationship with my mother in the future.”

Qi Haoran was confused. “You quarreled with Aunt? When husband and wife quarrel, they quarrel at the head of the bed and reconcile at the end of the bed. When you and your mother quarrel, you should quarrel opposite each other and immediately reconcile. Considering Aunt is old, just give in to her. I’m sure she won’t do things to harm you.”

Fan Zijin sneered and said, “Maybe not in the past, but I’m not so sure about that now.”

He threw the box to Qi Haoran and said, “I think she’s possessed. It’s been more than 20 years, but she’s still thinking about Fan Siwen.”

Qi Haoran was opening the box when he heard this. He said disapprovingly, “Zijin, Uncle is Aunt’s husband. Who else should she be thinking about?” He didn’t know what he was thinking, but he looked at him in horror and said, “I know you’re unrestrained, but you can’t lure Aunt to do something that doesn’t match her status.”

“Get lost.” Fan Zijin was so angry that he kicked him, disregarding the injury on his foot. “What nonsense are you talking about? Finish reading this first before talking to me.”

Qi Haoran hurriedly took out the things in the box to take a look. After a while, his face turned ashen.

Fan Zijin sneered and said, “He sure has a good plan. Does he think that by raising my legitimate son, he’s going to be in control of the heir of the Duke of Peaceful State in the future? I’m not a three-year-old child. I’m not going to let him deal with me as he pleased, like before.”

Qi Haoran did not speak, but the cold glint in his eyes made his attitude clear. Even though Fan Siwen and Madam Xia had raised him, strictly speaking, Fan Zijin was the one who grew up together with him.

Satisfied with his attitude, Fan Zijin patted his shoulder and said, “To be honest, I have to thank Ah Ling this time.” She had poured out all the grievances he had suffered for so many years.

However, Qi Haoran thought that he was referring to Mu Yangling bringing Little Madam Xia out. He patted his chest and said, “Since you’ve instructed her, of course she’d do her best to bring Cousin-in-law out.”

The corners of Fan Zijin’s mouth twitched, but he did not explain further. If Qi Haoran knew that he had deliberately left a loophole for Fan Siwen to exploit and even set up Mu Yangling, Qi Haoran would probably beat him up.

Fan Zijin was a person who did not have much sense of security. Previously, he had lived in the Fan residence. How could he let the Fan family be controlled by others?

Although he had left, he had left many people behind.

It wasn’t that he couldn’t bring Little Madam Xia out, but he just wasn’t willing to bring her out secretly. With Mu Yangling’s personality, if Fan Siwen detained Little Madam Xia, she would definitely blow up. Not on purpose, but because of her personality.

Therefore, if Little Madam Xia was detained, someone would inform Mu Yangling. If Mu Yangling couldn’t bring her out, someone would bring Little Madam Xia out and hand her over later. Ultimately, the matter would still be blown up…