“Pa!” Another sharp sound rang out. Not to mention those people in the garden, even Yan Shi did not expect Hua Xu to hit Hua Lu Yao.

“Brother! Y-you, how could you hit me?” Hua Lu Yao was in disbelief, but it lacked the heat that was previously directed toward Hua Ling.

“Apologize!” Hua Xu glared at her fiercely.

“Elder brother are you mad! You actually hit me because of an outsider, and now you want me to apologize to a dead person!” Hua Lu Yao answered defiantly, her tone gradually heating up.

“How can you speak so impudently, there are no outsiders here!” Hua Xu’s face turned red, he pointed at Hua Ling, “He is our big brother. Have you all forgotten, he is this family’s eldest son and heir!”

Yan Shi fondled his jaw, the people in this Hua family were each more interesting than the other. He glanced at Yang Shi. Although Yang Shi did not speak, but her hands which were resting on Hua Wei’s shoulders tightened forcefully. Hua Wei was probably in pain, and so shifted his fat little body uncomfortably.

“I’m hitting you so that in the future, you won’t lose our residence’s face when you go out,” Hua Xu pinned a glare at Hua Lu Yao, his chest puffed up in anger, “Big brother’s mother is father’s original wife, even mother dare not disrespect her. And you, who are you? You actually dare to spout this kind of nonsense here! Do you still bother to respect your elders, or have any filial piety left within you? If I don’t hit you today, I’m afraid that in the future when you get married into another household, you’ll be branded an uncultured vixen!”

Hua Xu enunciated each word clearly, and Hua Lu Yao got so scared that she stifled her tears. She knew that no matter how much her mother spoiled her regularly, in front of this elder brother she couldn’t compare to even a single finger on him. Hua Xu was Yang Shi’s eldest son, naturally he is her greatest hope.

This was Hua Lu Yao’s first time witnessing Hua Xu becoming so furious, she was so scared that she couldn’t say anything.

Hua Ling gently tugged Hua Xu’s wide sleeves, “As long as she apologizes, then just let this matter go.”

Hua Xu shot a stare at Hua Lu Yao. No matter how unwilling Hua Lu Yao was, she did not wish to offend her own brother [1] and could only softly mutter an apology.

Hua Xu nodded his head, “Go back to your room and copy《Ladies Virtue》and《Admonitions for Women》[2] a hundred times each. You’re not allowed to leave your room until you finish copying.”

Hua Lu Yao was extremely unwilling. She glanced at Yang Shi, but upon seeing that Yang Shi did not intend to speak up for her, she could only agree and turned around to return to her room.

“Wait!” Hua Lu Yao didn’t expect Hua Ling to speak up for her. She immediately halted her steps and looked back at him expectantly. As long as he pleaded on her behalf, second brother would definitely agree to it.

“Not only do you have to apologize to me, you also have to go to my mother’s tablet and apologize to her.” Hua Ling gazed at Hua Lu Yao seriously.

Yan Shi almost laughed out loud. He had personally witnessed how Hua Lu Yao’s expression changed.

Hua Xu nodded his head and echoed, “Big brother said it right. Just now it was this foolish brother [3] who did not think about it carefully.”

“Alright, it’s already late,” Yang Shi finally cut in, “Hua Ling, go take a look outside, don’t let Wangye wait too long.”

She would definitely not agree to letting her daughter confess her mistakes and apologize to that woman, but the kind of image she had established in front of Hua Ling prevented her from speaking out in a forceful manner, hence she could only adopt this roundabout tactic.

“But it won’t take long to make an apology before my mother’s tablet,” Hua Ling continued in a rare display of persistence, “I’ll wait until little sister finishes making her apology before leaving.”

Yang Shi could no longer repress that ball of anger, “What? Are you afraid that I’ll take the opportunity to pardon Lu Yao and let her avoid apologizing to elder sister’s [4] tablet while you’re away?”

“Your child [5] doesn’t mean that,” Hua Ling explained, “Your child merely wants to see it with his own eyes.”

Yang Shi scoffed, “No matter how you try to explain, it all means the same thing. I have raised you for so many years, but you continue to harbour doubts toward me. It saddens me.”

Yang Shi’s most common method of dealing with Hua Ling was to push the blame on him, making Hua Ling feel like he had really made a mistake and would ask her for forgiveness.

“Mother, big brother doesn’t mean that.” Hua Xu quickly stepped in and explained.

“I’m speaking to your big brother, how can you interfere!” Yang Shi glared at her son fiercely. How did she even give birth to a son that sided with outsiders against his own kin? Of her three children, only the remaining two resembled her.

“Let’s go.” Having finished speaking, Yang Shi turned to leave the garden.

Hua Ling did not follow, gritting his teeth, “I’m not going. I won’t leave until I personally witness her apologizing to my mother!”

“What did you say?” Yang Shi turned her head swiftly, her face filled with anger as she glared at him, “Now that you’re already married, how can you still behave in such an impetuous manner? If we let Wangye wait for too long, he’ll be offended. If Wangye lays the blame on our entire residence, will you be able to take responsibility for it?”

“Mother-in-law, you mentioned this Prince. [6] Did you need something?” Having had enough of watching, Yan Shi left his hiding place, breezing in through the gates of the courtyard.

Yan Shi was tall and slender, his features delicate. Clad in white robes, he looked even more handsome. As he emerged from within the midst of the blooming flowers, it accentuated his beauty and he became even more mesmerizing.

This was Hua Lu Yao’s first time seeing Yan Shi, and her heart immediately began beating faster. Hua Ling’s brows furrowed slightly, silently shifting so that he stood in front of her, blocking her line of sight.

Yang Shi received a shock, she didn’t think that Yan Shi would appear here at this moment. Her face expressionless, she led her children to pay their greetings.

“What matters were you speaking of just now?” Yan Shi asked deliberately, “This Prince heard something about letting me wait for too long; does the Wangfei have some matters to handle? Go ahead, this Prince is extremely free today.”

It wasn’t that Yan Shi wanted to help Hua Ling, rather he just wanted to stir things up a little more. He had observed for a long time just now, Hua Ling was pure and innocent, simple-minded and easy to bully. Besides Hua Xu, there wasn’t a single person here who treated him like family. As for that Hua Qiancheng, he didn’t believe that he wasn’t aware of Hua Ling’s status within this household.

Since things were like that, rather than being on guard against Hua Ling, he might as well draw him over to his side little by little. After all it was better to have one more friend than to have one more enemy.

Now that he has helped Hua Ling, he would be grateful toward him and it would also result in the people within the Kang Le residence thinking that Hua Ling would no longer listen to their directives. From then on, they would be on guard against Hua Ling, alienating him further. After losing the support of the Kang Le residence, who else could he turn to besides him?

Sure enough, after hearing Yan Shi’s words, Hua Ling’s eyes brightened and he turned to Yang Shi with a brilliant smile, “Mother, Wangye has said that he isn’t busy. Now I can personally watch younger sister apologize to my mother.”

Yan Shi raised his eyebrows and put on an astonished expression, “Oh? What happened?”

Hua Ling then quickly narrated the entire incident. Wearing a cold smile, Yan Shi’s gaze swept back and forth between Yang Shi, Hua Lu Yao and Hua Wei, “I didn’t realize that the upbringing in the Kang Le residence was so deplorable. The young lady is disrespectful toward her legitimate mother [7] while the young master is so discourteous toward his elder brother – this is truly an eyeopener!”

  

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Translator’s Notes:
[1] Here it refers specifically to her own blood-related brother (亲哥哥; Qin Ge Ge)
[2] Admonitions for Women is one of the four classics for women in Ancient China which teaches them how to conduct themselves
[3] Hua Xu is referring to himself in third person
[4] Here, Yang Shi is referring to Hua Ling’s mother as “elder sister”. It is customary for wives/concubines to refer to each other in this manner.
[5] A way of referring to oneself when speaking to one’s parents; (孩儿; Hai Er) = Your child
[6] (本王; Ben Wang) is literally translated to “this Prince”; it is a way of referencing oneself.
[7] (嫡母; Di Mu) or “legitimate mother” is how the children of concubines address their father’s legal wife

  

dreamxx: Oops sorry for the late update this week, I was too caught up with enjoying the Lunar New Year festivities XD ~ On that note, Happy New Year everyone!! Hope this year brings you great blessings °˖✧◝(⁰▿⁰)◜✧˖° Next update is on 3rd February!!

  

Thank you for your support! ( ˘ ³˘)♥

  

Chapter 10Chapter 12