The Battle of the Noble Ladies

Chapter 115 - Hidden Dangers

Old Lady Song had recently been troubled by the issues concerning Li Shi, feeling increasingly unsettled. At this moment, facing Lady Su's unreasonable antics, her patience finally reached its limit. She glanced at the First Lady beside her and, without looking at Lady Su, instructed, "Eldest daughter-in-law, go call over Third Lady, who is Chen girl's mother."

Her intention was to summon Chen Jinxin personally to confront this treacherous aunt. However, thinking of Chen Jinxin's pitiable situation and her promise to Old Lady Su, she ultimately suppressed the rising anger in her heart.

Lady Su merely stood to the side, sneering coldly.

At this point, the Su family had fallen to rock bottom. She no longer cared about reputation or dignity; obtaining money was all that mattered. Previously, she had looked down upon Chen Jinxin, who was orphaned and living off others, but now the substantial dowry beside Chen Jinxin had become their Su family's lifeline...

Regardless, she had to achieve her objective this time. While wiping her tears, she stealthily glanced at Old Lady Song, noticing that there was not much fear in her eyes—she had already received the news before coming that the Song family was also facing turmoil and was likely too busy to bother with their family's affairs.

Third Lady walked in with a calm expression, ignoring Lady Su beside her, and respectfully bowed to Old Lady Song and the First Lady.

"Your lady says that Chen girl has an engagement with her family's eldest son and plans to take your daughter back," Old Lady Song said as she adjusted the lid of her cup. Noticing Third Lady's sudden change in expression, she asked, "What do you have to say about that?"

Third Lady bit her lip, glancing resentfully at Lady Su, smiling mockingly and sharply: "There was indeed an engagement, but Lady Su said it was a mismatch, and marrying within the family would be detrimental, so the engagement has been canceled... Our old lady specifically instructed that in the future, when our girl marries, it will be handled by her relatives from the Chen family, with no further ties to the Su family."

"You speak nonsense!" Lady Su's face twisted with rage as she stepped forward, nearly wanting to claw at her: "The rice has already been cooked; how could the old lady allow someone from my Su family to marry someone else?!"

Indeed, she was willing to throw away all pretense for a bit of money and blurted out such words.

Old Lady Song sneered: "If Lady Su says so, then do you have any marriage documents or tokens?"

Lady Su was taken aback, her expression somewhat awkward.

At first, both the marriage contract and the jade pendants exchanged by both parties were in place. However, later on, she was determined to rid of this marriage, so she tore up the marriage contract and returned the jade pendants...

The third Lady interrupted the conversation and said: "I still have the old lady's handwritten letter here... The letter clearly states that my family's daughter's marriage will be decided by the Chen family in the future, and has nothing to do with the Su family."

Old Lady Song was no longer patient to entangle with Lady Su, so she waved her sleeves and asked someone to see them out.

After she left, she looked at the First Lady and, after a sigh, instructed her, "Send someone to follow her and see where she goes."

The First Lady was a bit puzzled.

Old Lady Song felt that something was not quite right. This Lady Su was usually very perceptive and good at reading the room, a person who knew how to ingratiate herself. Such a person always knew the right time to act, so how could she suddenly come over to demand a bride dowry that she could never obtain? Unless... someone was instigating her from behind.

The Li residence was filled with a sense of gloom. Eldest Master Li rushed into the study, not even taking the time to clearly see his father's face, and hurriedly said, "Father! Are you really planning to send Mother to Cuiyun Monastery? That place is extremely impoverished, and given Mother's current condition, how can we..."

Old Master Li stared at the desk for a long time, not responding to his son. After a while, he raised his head and coldly asked, "Then what do you want to do?"

A matter that was settled in front of the Cui family and the Song family cannot be changed just like that. Not to mention whether the Song family would let it go, the Cui family might really come knocking.

Eldest Master Li grew anxious, "But that place is truly not suitable for people... Moreover, my sister has passed away, and Mother's condition looks very bad..."

"So what?!" Old Master Li slammed a book down on the table: "Since she dared to do it back then, she must dare to face the consequences now! Or do you not want your future? Do you not want your children's future?!"

Eldest Master Li's eldest daughter was already twelve years old and was getting ready to look for a match as the new year began.

Eldest Master Li felt tongue-tied and let out a heavy sigh.

"Not as good as a child!" Old Master Li glared at him and said impatiently, "Write a note to the post station and have them send a letter to Changsha. It needs to be urgent!"

Changsha? Are we really going to send a letter to Song Yi? Eldest Master Li felt a bit flustered: "How can we write to my sister's husband now? If he finds out, he might end up hating us..."

"Exactly! That's why it has to be fast!" Old Master Li interrupted his son impatiently: "That incident back then wasn't solely the doing of your sister; he must take some responsibility too. If he has any conscience, he should know that the Song family and the Cui family have no reason to hate us. The letter is with Li Er; you hurry and go!"

Eldest Master Li was still somewhat confused but didn't dare to say more. He nodded meekly and left.

Old Master Li stroked his beard and paced around the room for a while, then suddenly his somber expression lightened as he nodded and smiled with satisfaction.

He hadn't expected that his granddaughter would be this clever. Despite her mother's sudden death and the unforeseen changes, she could maintain such composure. That was truly rare.

However, thinking about the message the servants brought earlier, he hesitated again.

In the current situation, was it too risky to take action against Song Yan?

But it seemed that his granddaughter's plan was quite thorough; she had considered everything... Nanny Yu and the others were his daughter's trusted aides, and they had helped with quite a few wrongful deeds over the years. The Song family would definitely not tolerate them. According to Song Chuning, this was the perfect moment to fight back and seize the opportunity to deal with Song Yan...

For the first time, he found it difficult to make a decision, walking back and forth for a long time without reaching a conclusion.

After thinking for a long time, he finally decided to leave it be—if Song Chuning was truly fortunate enough to handle Song Yan and retreat unscathed, that would be the best outcome.

But if she failed... He closed his eyes; after all, the connection between the Li family and the current in-laws was in names only. At worst, they would just have to sever ties.

Moreover, Song Chuning was still a Song; if she did something wrong, could it be blamed on the Li family?

With that in mind, he reached out and pulled the brass bell to summon the steward: "See to it that the old woman is sent back properly. Tell her to advise her young lady to remain calm and think twice before acting. Also, remember to give her a few coins to buy wine and food, so she can be cautious with her words after returning."