“He was raised in a large family and has several brothers. He’s from Yangcheng and used to gruelling labor. He would occasionally be hired by your great-grandfather to push carts. Once, they met a wolf pack, and he pushed through the wolf pack twice to bring your great-grandfather and grandfather away, taking no heed of the wolves’ snapping teeth.

“Since he and your grandfather were close, your grandfather gave him shares in De Sheng Chang.”

“He said he would take it, but requested that these shares be his alone. After a hundred years, it would not pass to his children but return to the De Sheng Chang.”

At this, Old Lady Fang looked at Miss Jun and sighed.

“He didn’t just say it either. He did so for decades. It’s possible to do it for some time, but to remain unchanged for tens of years, it really is…”

It really would be hard to suspect him.

Miss Jun smiled.

“This is not proof of anything. A person so severe on himself could be said to be genuine, but it could also be that his plans are big,” she reminded.

For example, Prince Qi.

When Father said that his body was unwell and wanted to give the emperor’s position to Prince Qi, Prince Qi sobbed and begged the emperor to send him away. He even left the capital that night and did not step a foot back for five years.

It was Royal Grandmother who missed him, so Father wrote letter after letter inviting him back. He returned to the capital once, but after staying for a couple days, he hurried away.

Everyone praised his adherence to duty, and even Father said that he was too harsh on himself.

But what happened in the end?

The strict Prince Qi became the lord of the capital when he returned for the second time after ten years. He became the lord of everything under heaven, and perfectly legitimately.

He was forced, helpless. His bad name was born from Royal Grandfather.

It was quite similar to the Fang Family’s situation.

In the future, when all of the Fang Family’s heirs died, all of the holdings would fall into Song Yunping’s hands. Everyone could only sigh and say that the Fang Family deserved Heaven’s curse because of the old master’s sins.

Old lady Fang was silent for a moment.

“I think that over these decades, if he truly coveted the De Sheng Chang, he had countless opportunities,” she added.

Miss Jun looked at her.

“Yes, there may have been opportunities, but what of the outcome? If he had shown his lust in these decades, would he have succeeded?” she asked.

Old Lady Fang’s eyes sparkled.

“Who could know? If you didn’t try, how would you know? Right now, he’s finally trying,” she said, eyeing Miss Jun, “but it seems he definitely won’t be successful.”

That is, if Song Yunping really had exposed his greed earlier, he definitely could not have succeeded.

So Song Yunping set up his slow-moving plans.

Miss Jun smiled but did not push Old Lady Fang about why she was so certain that if he had exposed it earlier, he could not have succeeded.

“Actually, I don’t believe that it’s him now,” Old Lady Fang said, wrapping her arms around the handle of the cup. “Unless I personally hear him say it.”

“En,” said Miss Jun. “You will hear it. Grandmother, first make good on the preparations. There’s no guarantee we will be able to win this battle. After all, there are many things and many people we have not seen.”

Yes, that’s right. They didn’t know if Head Shopkeeper Song was acting alone, or if there were some other conspiracies. It was not clear how many people were hidden in the dark, digging the pitfall.

They were a group of women and children, the elderly and the young, facing decades worth of enemies mired in blood.

Old Lady Fang gripped the handle tighter, a mournful expression on her face.

Miss Jun paused in consideration.

“Whether I can live a good life, it all depends on this,” she added.

When Old Lady Fang heard her say “live good life”, she could not help but smile.

She recalled when Miss Jun had just returned from the Ning Family after backing out of the marriage, she had something like this as well. When she heard that the first time, she smiled because of the child’s absurdity, but now, it had all come true.

Chengyu’s sickness had gotten better, and the enemy was starting to poke out to the surface.

Every day, things were getting clearer.

The stifling grief had been dispelled with one line.

“Yes, you don’t need to worry. In order for you to have a big tree to rely on in the future, I will definitely prepare to win this battle,” she said with a smile.

When Miss Jun came out of Old Lady Fang’s rooms, Liu’er came to greet her anxiously.

Miss Jun told her that she was going to be amenable to Lady Fang, so she had Liu’er wait outside, lest Old Lady Fang think that the master and servant were here to cause trouble.

Although Liu’er felt that Young Miss was taking the shaft, but Han Xin had to endure crawling through someone else’s legs [1].

“What did she say?” Liu’er asked in concern. “Young Miss, are you all right? She didn’t hit you? Insult you?”

Miss Jun reached out and rubbed her head.

“How could she, how could I be not okay?” she said. “Only Liu’er is suffering.”

Liu’er didn’t really understand.

“I haven’t suffered,” she said.

You were the one who was incited and encouraged to say and do hateful things so that people will think you evil.

“You have suffered since you were hated by so many people with me,” she explained, looking all around.

When they saw her looking, all of the servant girls and maid servants hurriedly lowered their heads in dissatisfaction.

Liu’er swept her eyes over the people around her and understood what she ment. She smiled in contempt.

“There’s no hardship in them hating me. I don’t like them either,” she declared. “I don’t care about any of that. I just need Young Miss not to hate me.”

Miss Jun smiled.

“Then we must stand together–together being hated, together being liked.”

The maids who received Old Lady Fang’s instructions walked out wordlessly, their faces blank.

When all is said and done, the palm and the back of the hand are both made of flesh. Old Lady still pardoned her granddaughter.

As Miss Jun and her servant were led to Lady Fang’s courtyard, the servants, upon seeing Miss Jun, became wary.

“It’s Old Lady making Young Lady admit her mistake to Lady,” the servant said.

Upon hearing this, the servant girls couldn’t stop her; they could only go in and report her arrival.

Lady Fang made a helpless expression before letting Miss Jun in.

In order to make it less embarrassing for Miss Jun who was to plead leniency, naturally the servants withdrew.

Fang Chengyu fuzzily felt that someone was stroking his forehead.

This was not his mother’s hand.

His eyes snapped open.

That girl was leaning over him and seriously scrutinizing him.

“Last night, he didn’t sleep very peacefully; he seemed to be in pain. Zhenzhen, is Chengyu really…” Lady Fang was in the middle of her question when she caught sight of Fang Chengyu opening his eyes. Suddenly she was pleased. “Chengyu, you’re awake.”

Fang Chengyu let his eyes droop and grunted.

“How are you feeling? Better?” She placed a hand on his shoulder.

“Much better,” he said quietly.

The hand on his forehead moved away.

“We still need two more days,” Miss Jun said. “I wrote down the medicine for that time.”

Lady Fang took it. “I will make it myself and feed him myself,” she vowed.

Miss Jun did not say anything and walked outside. Lady Fang, suddenly thinking of something, followed.

Fang Chengyu turned to see Lady Fang grabbing Miss Jun.

“Zhenzhen, about Lingzhi, don’t be mad,” she said apologetically. “I know he did it on purpose so that would happen. But you relax, he doesn’t really like Lingzhi…”

Miss Jun smiled.

“Aunt, although it almost went wrong, the end result is quite good,” she said. “It’s him who has to bear the sin.”

She looked over at Fang Chengyu.

He turned his head and shut his eyes.

“…But for us, it’s a good thing,” Miss Jun continued.

Lady Fang sighed.

“Then are you going to forcefully move in?” she asked.

According to the normal Miss Jun, that would be standard.

Fang Chengyu opened his eyes again.

“Lingzhi is still here. If I were to move in, it would not be suitable,” she replied. “I can just come everyday to wait on Lady and Young Master.”

Lady Fang smiled and nodded.

“That’s even better,” she said.

At the same time, Fang Yunxiu and her sisters were paused outside of Lady Fang’s courtyard entrance. They were looking at Liu’er who was acting very well-behaved.

If the servant was out here acting well-behaved, was the master inside acting well-behaved too?

“Why is she here? Wasn’t she under house arrest?” Fang Jinxiu asked unpleasantly.

Fang Yuxiu gave her a look.

“This is not the same as with you,” she said. “No, hers is less than yours. When you were under house arrest, you left the residence; she just left her courtyard.”

Fang Yunxiu couldn’t help but laugh; Fang Jinxiu glared at her.

“You’re still making jokes, huh,” she said. “What time is this?”

Fang Yuxiu pulled a face.

“Yes,” she said, looking at the courtyard entrance. “She hurt Chengyu so. Mother cannot deal with her because of her status as senior. I am of the same age as her, so if I go a round with her, it will be passed off as a children’s quarrel. I will definitely vent my anger for Chengyu and Mother.”

She lifted a foot as if to go in.

Fang Yunxiu jumped in fright and reached out to stop her, but Fang Jinxiu had already grabbed her.

Fang Yuxiu slowly put down her foot, turning to look at Fang Jinxiu.

“What are you doing?” She didn’t understand. “You don’t want this?”

[1] Han Xin had to endure crawling through someone else’s legs: It was a great humiliation for Han Xin, who is a historical figure, famous general of the first Han emperor Liu Bang