44 Sisterly Affection, Part Twenty

Madam He had known about this matter for a long time, and she had cried, made scenes, and quarreled at home. Yet, her husband refused to send those people away, making her more annoyed with each passing day.

Her visit today was not done in a fit of sudden anger or a muddled state of mind; rather, it was the result of careful calculation. In fact, she had long been aware that her husband was keeping a woman outside. Back then, she had wanted to storm the Zhang family household, but after making some inquiries, she learned that Master Zhang granted his sister whatever she desired, and treasured Zhang Qingyao, that stepdaughter of his, like a precious jewel.

Sure, venting her grievances by going to the Zhang residence might make her feel better for a moment, but what would happen afterward?

What if Zhang Qingyao insisted on entering their household, and her husband was more than eager to oblige? If Master Zhang could not refuse his daughter... not only would he say yes, but he might even actively push for the match. In that case, she would truly be lifting a rock only to drop it on her own feet.

As for confronting Madam Zhang, Madam He had indeed considered it. However, upon further investigation, she discovered that Madam Zhang had been quarreling with her husband for a long time, and the root of their arguments was precisely Zhang Qingyao. There was no way Madam Zhang would offer unconditional help; that path was a dead end.

Therefore, after much deliberation, Madam He intentionally chose the day Zhang Qingdong returned home to make her visit. He had been away for a long time, so the entire Zhang family was bound to be gathered together. It was the perfect moment to air the matter.

"With a sister like that, you bring shame not only upon yourself, but also upon your own children. How are they going to manage their future marriages?" Whenever Madam He thought of how her husband had kept Zhang Qingyao in his heart for all these years, stubbornly registering her under his name despite the trouble she was in, dedicating such deep affection not to her, his lawful wife, but to another woman—how could she not be heartbroken?

Master Zhang wore an awkward expression. "Don't they live in the outer city?"

In truth, over the years he had grown accustomed to taking care of his sister, and he had always regarded Zhang Qingyao as his own biological daughter. He had always known their whereabouts, including the fact that they had moved into the courtyard prepared by Master He.

When he first received the news, Master Zhang had been so angry his head hurt, and he had gone personally to try and persuade them. In the end, the mother and daughter were furious with him, not only refusing to see him, but also cutting off all communication entirely.

Recently, Master Zhang had been running everywhere trying to plead for his son-in-law, secretly investigating Liu Linfeng, and scrambling to salvage his former business. He went to sleep late every night and woke up before dawn, running about so frantically that his feet barely touched the ground, leaving him with little spare time to play the peacemaker.

And so, things had deteriorated to this point.

Before Madam He, he felt too ashamed to admit that his sister and daughter lacked common sense, and could only pretend ignorance.

Madam He ignored him completely, fixing her gaze solely on Zhang Qingdong. "I hear that in other places, you are the head of a household who can stand firmly on your own two feet. Now that members of your family have done such a shameless thing, shouldn't you step in and manage them?"

Indeed, it did need to be managed.

Zhang Qingdong had children of his own, and he would never allow anyone to ruin his family's reputation like this. If things went wrong, it would affect his daughters' future marriages. That was a matter of utmost importance concerning a child's entire life.

He glanced at his father, didn't even step through the front door, and climbed straight back into the carriage. "I'll go take a look."

Worried, Master Zhang hastily called for another carriage to follow.

Madam Zhang hadn't seen her son in half a year, and her heart was brimming with longing. Now that she had finally laid eyes on him, how could she bear to let him leave just like that? Besides, now that her son was back, she still needed to discuss the matter of ending her marriage with him.

Without a second thought, she pulled Chu Yunli along. "We'll go take a look too."

The courtyard prepared by Master He was quite secluded, except that... if she remembered correctly, the surrounding streets were all residential properties owned by various wealthy merchants, and five percent of those estates housed the kept mistresses of those gentlemen.

The fact that Zhang Qingyao was willing to move in here clearly showed she was agreeable to following Master He.

As the group neared that street, Chu Yunli noticed that Yu Shanmeng had also followed them over.

The news of Zhang Qingdong's return today was not exactly a state secret, but ordinary people wouldn't go out of their way to inquire about it. Madam He must have put a great deal of effort behind the scenes to find out.

Master He had no idea what was happening. At that moment, he was having a meal with Zhang Qingyao when he heard that the Zhang family and Madam He had all arrived. His expression instantly darkened.

Zhang Qingyao remained relatively calm and ladled a bowl of soup for him. "Your wife must have misunderstood the relationship between us. Have you explained it to her?"

"I told her, but she doesn't believe me," Master He said with a helpless expression.

"It doesn't matter. Say it a few more times, and she'll believe it." Zhang Qingyao instructed a maidservant to open the doors.

Upon seeing Master Zhang standing behind Madam He, Zhang Qingyao felt a momentary sense of unease. "Father, why did you come here?"

Master Zhang wanted to reprimand her, but remembering the current standoff between them, he knew that speaking too harshly would only push the mother and daughter further away. He sighed. "If you couldn't stay where you were living, you could have come home. Why did you have to come here?"

Zhang Qingyao replied with a self-justifying air, "I didn't want to make things difficult for you, and it just so happened that Master He had an empty courtyard..."

Master Zhang wore a disapproving look.

In contrast, the others felt an intense aversion to Zhang Qingyao's actions, and Zhang Qingdong was among them. He abruptly interrupted, "Places on this street are exclusively for housing mistresses. How could you possibly have the nerve to move in?"

Only then did Zhang Qingyao notice another person standing behind the group, and she froze for a moment. "Third Brother?"

"I don't have a sister like you," Zhang Qingdong said impatiently. "Have you really been driven to such desperate straits that you can only resort to living in a place like this?"

Zhang Qingyao put on an aggrieved look. "Your brother-in-law got into trouble, and Mother wouldn't let me stay at home, so where else could I live? The dilapidated courtyard we were staying in before had so many people coming and going, including plenty of grown men. I was afraid they might harbor evil intentions toward little Mi, which is why I moved into this courtyard... As for the kind of people living in the surrounding houses, this is honestly the first time I've heard of it." She tilted her head to look at Master He. "Did you know about this?"

As the owner of the courtyard who had allowed people to live here in the past, Master He naturally knew about it. However, hearing Zhang Qingyao ask this, he certainly wasn't going to admit it. He shook his head and said, "I've never heard of such a thing."

Madam He sneered. "Miss Zhang, don't think too highly of yourself. Previously, three women were kept in this very courtyard one after another; two of them were sent packing by me, and the third one, who was harder to get rid of, quietly got herself pregnant and is currently recovering from childbirth in my manor. They all came from humble backgrounds with very shallow horizons, following my old man simply to get their hands on silver. The two who left did so willingly in exchange for my silver. Or perhaps... you'd like to take some silver and leave as well?"

Zhang Qingyao's paternity had been shrouded in mystery for years, but she had a wonderful uncle who never let her suffer any grievances. Had it not been for the recent disaster that struck the Gao family, her finances wouldn't have been so tight. To accept silver to send her away... what would that make her?

"The relationship between Master He and me is not what you think," Zhang Qingyao explained. "I don't want his silver. It's just that Mingqiao helped him in the past, and when Master He learned that my mother and I were wandering destitute, he took the initiative to offer us shelter. Actually, I was quite reluctant, but due to his warm and persistent invitation, I finally agreed. If you are unhappy about it, you can just tell me directly, and I will pack up and leave right away."

Master He immediately chimed in, "With nowhere else to go, where were they supposed to move?" He glared at his wife. "They say dirty minds only see dirty things. I merely wanted to take care of the wife and child of a former benefactor, where on earth has your mind wandered?"

"Plenty of filthy people use a fig leaf to cover up their ugly deeds," Madam He retorted without yielding an inch, standing with her hands on her hips as she berated them. "Shameless woman, you are bringing shame upon women everywhere. Damn it, if you were going to seduce my man, I would at least respect you a bit more if you did it openly and honestly. Instead, you insist on spouting nonsense about repaying a kindness—it is utterly shameless."

Having been pointedly insulted to her face, Zhang Qingyao, who had never suffered such humiliation before, felt her eyes instantly turn red.

Master Zhang's expression was exceedingly grim, his heart filled with bitter disappointment.

Zhang Qingdong felt the exact same way. Ever since he was born, his family had been quite well-off. The only drawback was perhaps that his father doted far too much on their eldest sister, forcing both him and his other sister to take a backseat. After going to another region to manage his in-laws' business, no matter where he went, people respectfully addressed him as Master Zhang. Never in his life had he suffered such public disgrace.

He shouted sternly, "Zhang Qingyao, come with me!"

Having never seen her younger brother fly into a rage before, Zhang Qingyao was startled at first, and then aggrieved. "Where do you expect me to go? I have nowhere else to go, so apart from staying here, what else can I do?"

"I told you to come with me, and you won't go hungry!" As Zhang Qingdong finished speaking, seeing that she refused to budge, he said irritably, "If you don't leave with me today, I will sever ties with you from this moment on. The Zhang family does not harbor such a shameless woman."

"Who do you think you're talking to?" The one who answered was Zhang Huiniang.

Since Zhang Huiniang was her elder, Zhang Qingdong ignored that remark and simply stated, "I mean what I say. You can choose for yourselves!"

With that, he turned and strode away.

Seeing this turn of events, Madam He felt a surge of secret delight, congratulating herself on her own cleverness. She shouldn't have wasted her breath arguing with her husband earlier; she should have directed her efforts toward Zhang Qingdong instead.

Now that the woman had been forced to leave, it had nothing to do with her, and in the future, her husband wouldn't be able to hold a grudge against her.

Zhang Huiniang and her daughter exchanged glances, and in the end, they had no choice but to follow him.

They simply could not afford the consequences of losing their family backing.

Especially since Zhang Qingdong's attitude made it clear he wasn't joking. If he actually drafted a formal severance agreement, how would the mother and daughter ever establish a foothold in this city?

When the group had moved out of the Zhang residence, they didn't have much luggage, and the things they later acquired in the communal courtyard hadn't been brought over yet. They had originally wanted to bring them along, but Master He had refused. In other words, all their current belongings had been provided by Master He after their arrival here.

Therefore, when the time came to leave, they did so on the spur of the moment, without a shred of lingering attachment.

Zhang Qingdong remained silent all the way back, his face as cold as ice. Upon returning to the Zhang family courtyard, a thought suddenly struck him. He looked at Chu Yunli and asked, "Second Sister, what do you make of all this?"

Chu Yunli replied offhandedly, "This isn't my household anyway, you can handle it however you see fit!"

Zhang Qingdong gave a bitter smile. "Second Sister, I'm not an outsider. For you to say something like that is truly hurtful."

"But Father's attitude is precisely that. He doesn't listen to a single word I say. The reason Auntie moved out in the first place was because Mother forced her hand." Chu Yunli cast a glance at Master Zhang, whose face looked terrible. "He is single-mindedly determined to protect Auntie. There is something I don't know if Mother ever told you: Eldest Sister is not our real eldest sister at all. She was born to Auntie and some wild man outside. Back then, they even planned to raise Eldest Sister and the twin brother we lost before birth together as twins. Unfortunately, Mother suffered a miscarriage, and only then did Eldest Sister become our 'sister'... Father truly dotes on his sister above all else; all of us biological children have to take a back seat."

When Zhang Qingdong heard his mother mention this matter recently—learning of it only just now—he recalled how he used to feel that his father's attitude toward the three of them was somewhat abnormal. It always seemed as though their eldest sister held the absolute primary place in their father's affections, leaving him confused and perpetually feeling that his father was biased.

Of course, now that he knew the truth, he felt his father's favoritism even more acutely.

In any case, he could never be like his father, treating someone else's child with the exact same devotion as one's own flesh and blood. Take the Yu siblings, for instance—he was willing to look after them, but he would never put them before everything else, let alone let his own children suffer grievances for the sake of somebody else's child.