The word is 'attempt'

Where do we go from here? Part 2

A/N: To those of you who read this chapter before, I reuploaded it because the part 1 was missing. If you are confused about what's happening the part 1 should be there now for you to check out! Sorry for the mix up guys.!

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Recap:

"You don't worry about anything, Niang will take care of it. And anyone who doesn't like it can choke on a tanghulu stick."

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Jiang Fengmian made a strangled sound.

Wei Ying burst out laughing.

Jiang Fengmian shot his ward a betrayed look and sheepishly rubbed the back of his head when his wife finally glanced up at him. He hadn't meant that he was opposed to A-Cheng's new training regimen! It was just that the statement had caught him off guard that was all. But the sequence of events ( he sounded like the one choking on a tanghulu stick ಥ ̯ಥ ) had left him looking foolish and A-Ying had laughed at him. He sulked internally.

Wei Wuxian for his part had quieted down and shot Yu Ziyuan a wary look.

Yu Ziyuan, who hadn't missed the hilarity of her husband's situation, simply raised an amused eyebrow at the brat.

His jaw dropped slightly and she tamped down the giggle that threatened to burst out of her at managing to shock the two of them in quick succession. Yu Ziyuan did not giggle! But there was a buoyant feeling that had lodged itself into her chest anyway.

"Come on, help me up," she said to her son, who obliged... the remnants of her amusement still colouring her voice. Her daughter quickly rushed over to support her as well, looking contrite. (Nobody's attention was on Jiang Fengmian, who had a put upon look on his face because his children didn't even give him a chance to offer help... it's not like their relationship would be magically fixed but he'd kind of wanted the opportunity to start showing that he wasn't just all talk.)

Yu Ziyuan's attention was on her daughter, whose bravado seemed to have wilted when her mother near-fainted. (Yu Ziyuan still couldn't quite believe that that happened to her. What was she, some romance novel heroine? Pah! [Also if she was, it was a terrible story, where was her romance?] )

Yanli had been so upset with her parents that she'd stood against them and had also managed to not only attempt, but to achieve something thought impossible; she got them to stop and reconsider their behaviour and to accept their wrongs, at least a little. The reason this worked out as well as it did is because they had never expected it from Yanli. It had shocked them into actually listening to her.

While Yu Ziyuan was initially angry that her daughter dared to speak back to her like that, she now had a feeling of pride that A-Li did know how to stand her ground. Although she noted that in all the scolding she'd done, A-Li had been standing up for the boys, but not herself. Whatever she thought about what A-Li was saying, she couldn't help but notice that A-Li had not rebuked them on her own behalf, even though she would have also been affected by their family troubles. She'd need to talk to her daughter about that.

It was uncharacteristic of Yu Ziyuan, but she couldn't deny to herself that a hint of shame had crept in. Her daughter had been shouldering the burden of playing mother to her younger brother and her shidi. Yu Ziyuan wasn't someone used to admitting her faults. She needed to have an iron spine to deal with all of the demands of society upon her and had no time to devote to sitting down and reflecting. She was a woman better suited to lead...to fight. She wasn't what a woman should be, people whispered. She wasn't soft and demure. She had a knife-sharp mouth and an unwomanly temper. She wasn't one to silently endure her husband's apathy, especially towards her children.