Born to Be Either Rich or Noble - Chapter 63

Once the identities of Young Lord Song and Young Master Shen were restored, every well-positioned merchant in Yangzhou sent in their visiting cards even before the prefect’s official invitations were issued. They all wished to call on Young Lord Song, hoping to urge the court to investigate thoroughly—and perhaps to show their loyalty in the process.

The Park family could no longer pretend to be deaf to the matter.

On the second day after the Third Madam was captured, the Park family’s Second Master, who oversaw their salt fields, arrived in person. He brought a formal card requesting an audience with the young lord, hoping to apologize face-to-face for the Third Madam’s actions.

Song Yunzhi refused every single request.

Today marked the Third Master Park’s third attempt to call on him, and at last there was movement. Wang Zhao handed him an invitation and asked, “Tonight the young lord will gather the merchants of Yangzhou to discuss matters. We ask that your family send someone whose voice truly carries weight.”

Second Master Park immediately perceived the reminder hidden in those words.

The meaning was clear: Exactly which member of the Park family is qualified enough for the heir of the Marquis of Yong’an to meet?

In other words, the Second Master’s own status might not be sufficient.

Second Master Park dropped to his knees right at the prefect’s doors, making the Park family’s stance unmistakable. “Upon learning of the young lord’s visit to Yangzhou, our master sent word at once. He is stationed at the strait and cannot return in time, but he commanded that none within our household show the slightest disrespect to the young lord. As for what the Third Madam has done, the master asks only that the young lord judge fairly. The Park family holds unwavering loyalty to the court. If the Third Madam truly defied her betters and offended the young lord, we will not shield her. She may be punished as the young lord sees fit.”

His speech was flawless, impeccably crafted—it was a public act of cutting ties. The Third Madam was being abandoned.

Wang Zhao heard every layer clearly: the Park family’s master would not be coming to Yangzhou.

And if the master did not come, then just the Second Master? The Park family’s power lay entirely with the main branch. Only the master’s word carried weight. Sending the Second Master alone was… dismissive.

The Second Master caught the doubt in Wang Zhao’s expression and quickly added, “The master’s wife has already departed from Haizhou and is on her way. She will surely attend the young lord’s gathering tonight and apologize to him in person.”

The First Madam arrived at Yangzhou’s harbor by dusk that very day. She could not bear long rides without vomiting and fainting, so she had taken the water route—slower, winding, and taking more than three days.

With her came the Third Young Master, Park Chengzhi.

Once the ship docked, the young master helped the First Madam out of the cabin.

Seeing the familiar harbor again stirred a complicated wave of emotion in the First Madam. Two years had passed since she last set foot on Yangzhou soil.

Two years ago, she had moved to Haizhou with the eldest young master, severing his youthful infatuation on purpose. She avoided Seventh Miss Qian completely and forbade the Park family from revealing the eldest young master’s whereabouts to her.

In two years, Yangzhou had changed beyond recognition.

Of the four great families, only two remained. The Qian family was now the sole survivor among what used to be the “Big Three.”

During the Third Madam’s recent trip to Haizhou, she told the First Madam that Seventh Miss Qian was no longer the naïve girl who used to beg to see the eldest young master and tried to elope with him. The girl had become astonishingly capable—toppling two great families in succession. If recruited by the court, she might become the Park family’s greatest rival—or even replace them.

Thus the Third Madam proposed using the eldest young master’s marriage as bait, luring Seventh Miss Qian into assassinating Young Lord Song.

Whether successful or not, the Park family would benefit.

The First Madam agreed—just as she had once forced the pair apart, she now forced them back together.

But things did not go as planned. Seventh Miss Qian didn’t die. Young Lord Song was alive and thriving. And the Third Madam had fallen into the court’s hands.

A few days earlier, the court’s wanted notice for the Second Young Master returned to Haizhou. The First Madam had demanded an explanation from the Third Madam, who before leaving had promised she would bring the Second Young Master back unharmed.

But she had not brought him back. And then came even worse news.

The master had placed the Third Madam in Yangzhou because of her decisiveness and bold temper—she could keep the Second Young Master in check. Yet one after another, both fell into the court’s hands.

The First Madam still did not understand what had happened.

Only the Third Madam’s trusted aides had known about the assassination at the Mingzhu Harbor. Now those aides were dead or captured in the prefecture.

The messenger who slipped word back could not explain anything clearly. All he knew was that Young Lord Song had uncovered the truth behind the Lu family massacre, arrested the thugs who had beaten Second Master Qian at the Second Young Master’s orders, and under interrogation they confessed to the Second Young Master’s involvement.

Such evidence alone was insufficient to close the case.

But Young Lord Song publicly issued a wanted notice, openly hunting the Second Young Master. Meanwhile, the Third Madam had been unable to locate him and suspected he was being held by the prefect. In her panic, she led a rescue attempt, only to be caught by Young Master Shen. She escaped him once, but was captured by Song Yunzhi himself.

A total collapse.

Losing both men and reputation.

The First Madam had slept poorly the entire journey, and when she stepped off the ship, her complexion was haggard and her mood foul. When she saw the servants sent to receive her, her first words were a scolding: “Both of our young masters have landed in prison, and yet you all stand here so comfortably.”

The servants lowered their heads in silence.

The First Madam had no time to discipline them. With the Third Young Master beside her, she strode toward her carriage—only to notice a young woman standing beside it.

She wore a pale-moon narrow-sleeved robe with a simple sash. Under the last glow of sunset, the thin silk around her shimmered like molten gold, as though she stood at the foot of a golden mountain. She smiled and bowed. “I once said that when you returned to Yangzhou, I would come greet you myself.”

It was Seventh Miss Qian.

At that moment, she was the person the First Madam least wanted to see—and the one she most needed to see. Their farewell in Haizhou had been an elaborate show of sincerity, the display of a mother-in-law and daughter-in-law who had resolved all grudges.

The First Madam never thought they would meet again.

Since the girl was alive, the promises exchanged in Haizhou could not be erased.

It was insulting—so insulting that the First Madam suddenly felt that all her efforts relocating to Haizhou had been meaningless.

She wished the girl had died.

The Third Madam’s plan had been flawless. Why had the Third Madam fallen while Seventh Miss Qian walked away unscathed? Only Seventh Miss Qian knew the full truth. Suppressing her disgust, the First Madam forced a smile. “You’re very thoughtful.”

“There’s no need to be formal, Aunt,” Qian Tong replied warmly. She glanced at the Third Young Master, sounding sincerely like part of the Park family. “Zhibai, you made it back as well?”

The young master had already been smiling since he first saw her. Hearing her address him so openly, he returned a bow. “Good evening, Miss Qian.”

“It has been years since I last saw you. You’ve grown taller.” Qian Tong looked him over. “More handsome too—quite like your older brother in his youth.”

The First Madam’s face tightened at the mention of the eldest young master. This girl really knew no restraint.

The Third Young Master, now sixteen, had been managing relations with the court and the prince’s household with the First Madam. He had grown calm and courteous, though lacking the eldest young master’s steadiness—he was more rigid in manner. “It truly has been years, Miss Tong. You have grown even more radiant.”

“Enough,” the First Madam cut in. “Get in the carriage.”

Qian Tong stepped aside to reveal the carriage she had brought. “Tonight Young Lord Song has issued invitations to ten or so merchants in Yangzhou, including both the Park and Qian families. On the road, I ran into Second Master Park. Learning that you would arrive today, he asked me to bring his message: you should head to the prefecture at once. Please take my carriage.”

The First Madam paused slightly.

She had returned to meet Young Lord Song.

If he was summoning the major merchants tonight, it surely related to the Park family. She could not miss it—and she had questions for Qian Tong. She turned to the Third Young Master. “Take the carriage behind us. I will ride with Miss Qian.”

Once they were inside, the First Madam asked outright, “What happened with the Third Madam?”

Qian Tong did not answer immediately. She offered a cup of tea. “I remember you get carriage-sick, Aunt. I prepared a tea to ease the symptoms.”

Back in Haizhou, the First Madam had refused her tea. She refused again. “I’m fine now.”

“Good.” Qian Tong ignored her discomfort and pressed closer, “It puts my mind at ease to know your health is sound.”

The First Madam could hardly endure the girl’s intimacy. She wanted to declare the marriage arrangement void—after all, Qian Tong had not completed the task the Park family set for her.

But now that Young Lord Song’s identity was public, questioning her would mean admitting that the Park family had intended to use her to kill him.

It was too late. She had no choice but to swallow her frustration.

She cut her short. “Why did the Third Madam end up in his hands? She would never do something as foolish as breaking into a prison.”

Qian Tong’s lips pressed tight, her expression full of resentment. “I want to ask her the same.”

“She rushed me to deal with the young lord quickly so the engagement with the eldest young master could proceed. I agreed and planned to lure him out to sea. Everything would be done quietly. But instead of luring him out, I stirred the court’s attention. Guess what happened? The man we were supposed to kill turned out to be Young Lord Song.”

Qian Tong’s voice softened with grievance. “I had no idea beforehand. I was suddenly surrounded by the court’s men, with no escape at all. I couldn’t kill anyone—Young Lord Song stabbed me instead. If not for the medicine the eldest young master once gave me, you might never have seen me again. Wouldn’t that have broken your heart?”

The First Madam felt suffocated listening to her dramatics.

Did she really expect anyone to believe she hadn’t known Song Yunzhi’s identity?

Qian Tong continued, “I hadn’t even recovered from that when assassins hiding in the shadows launched another attack. Barely alive, I dragged myself onto a ship and watched from afar as they used crossbows and gunpowder. They wanted no survivors. Aunt, in Yangzhou, who else has the means for such an operation?”
Her eyes pooled with tears, her lip trembling. “Other than the Third Madam, I can think of no one.”

The First Madam said nothing.

But her mind finally pieced things together.

The Third Madam had wanted to kill two birds with one stone—Young Lord Song and Seventh Miss Qian.

But why had she failed?

Qian Tong continued, “Later I understood. The Third Madam must have wanted revenge for the Second Young Master and planned to kill Young Lord Song herself. If that was her goal, she should have told me. Instead we were caught between the bandits and the court, leaving her no chance to deny the evidence.”

The First Madam’s eyelid twitched. “What bandits?”

“You’ve been in Haizhou these two years, Aunt, so you don’t know how arrogant the Duan clan has become.” Qian Tong sighed. “Because I stole their ledger, they’ve been retaliating ever since. Whenever my family’s convoys appear, they raid them. In two short months, I’ve lost a dozen carts of salt. The blades and weapons I brought back to build a guard unit were all stolen. They struck back at us with everything that night—their crossbows, their powder. I was surrounded at sea. We lost the warship. I lost a shipload of grain I had prepared for the eldest young master.”

The First Madam held her breath.

“The Third Madam suffered even worse. Young Lord Song found several survivors and took them to the prefecture. Knowing her impulsive temper, I advised her not to act rashly. But she wouldn’t listen. She said she had already lost the Second Young Master and left the prefect with an incriminating trail. She had no way to face the master and mistress. Even if it cost her life, she would charge into the prefecture.”