Chapter 144
Fang Zichen choked up: "I feel... that part of me still hasn't recovered!"
"What part? I checked yesterday. Apart from some minor cold and the effects of the drug, there's nothing seriously wrong with you," Physician Xu said.
Fang Zichen frowned: "Impossible! If there's nothing wrong, why is there no reaction!"
"What part has no reaction?" Physician Xu asked in return.
Fang Zichen said anxiously: "My big brother!"
Physician Xu: "..."
Physician Xu took a deep, slow breath and said irritably: "What reaction could it possibly have! Did you expect it to have a reaction in front of me? Wait until you go home. If you see your fulang stripped naked and there's still no reaction, then come back to see me."
Fang Zichen: "..."
Thinking about it that way seemed right.
There's a saying: form is emptiness, emptiness is form (the core paradox from the Heart Sutra in Mahayana Buddhism).
Naturally he couldn't just be thinking about sex every single spare moment. It was normal not to have a reaction right now.
He had simply been worried for nothing.
On the way back, Fang Zichen held Guaizai and kissed him repeatedly: "Oh, my little sweetheart, two days without seeing you, your father missed you to death."
"Guaizai miss you too," Guaizai held his head, rubbing cheeks with him, and tattled: "Before, Daddy said that Father didn't want Guaizai and Daddy anymore. Daddy was talking nonsense. When Father goes back, he spanks Daddy's bottom."
"Okay."
"But Father has to be very gentle oh! Otherwise Daddy will hurt, if it hurts Guaizai will have to kiss him, and Guaizai is thirsty, no more saliva left." Guaizai said like a little adult: "Daddy is silly, only Guaizai knows, Father was lost, not that he didn't want Guaizai and Daddy."
"Right," Fang Zichen held him tighter: "My son is the smartest."
Guaizai chuckled like a mother hen: "Yes, Guaizai thinks so too, Guaizai is the number one, most invincibly smart under heaven."
"No, no, you can only be considered second," Fang Zichen said.
Guaizai wrinkled his brow: "Then who is number one?"
Fang Zichen, utterly shameless: "Number one is, of course, your handsome, dashing, elegant, witty, and resourceful father."
"Right," Guaizai said: "Father is first, Guaizai is second."
Zhao Ger followed behind the father and son pair, holding the medicine, listening to them being all clingy and chattering non-stop along the way, and his heart felt full again.
Aunt Liu and Zhou Ger hadn't slept well all night. They got up early in the morning and came straight to Zhao Ger's house. Seeing the main courtyard gate wide open, they were both stunned. Rushing into the house, they were shocked to find the room full of firewood. But after searching for a long time, there was no trace of Zhao Ger or Guaizai. Just as they were panicking, the village chief arrived and told them about Fang Zichen.
Aunt Liu breathed a long sigh of relief.
She and Zhou Ger moved the firewood to the backyard before returning home.
Fang Zichen needed to recuperate, so he asked He Xi to help send a message to Zuixiao Restaurant.
After work in the evening, Shopkeeper Yang came personally to check on him, bringing some tonics and pastries, telling him to rest well and that matters at the restaurant weren't urgent, as Yang Mingyi could help cover for him.
Fang Zichen thought for a moment, went back to his room, wrote a letter, and asked Shopkeeper Yang to deliver it to Yang Mingyi.
After chatting for a bit, Shopkeeper Yang hugged Guaizai again, played with him for a while, and then left.
____
During the two days Fang Zichen was missing, Yang Mutao was so busy his head was spinning. Fang Zichen had disappeared from his residence, so he naturally bore inescapable responsibility. He sent some men to search in the town while also dealing with the matter of Madam Yang, busy juggling both ends.
But before he could even decide how to deal with Madam Yang, government soldiers from Yuanzhou arrived with an official token.
Crossing county lines for an arrest usually required a warrant. Without the Prefect's token, it would be considered a provocation, they wouldn't even be able to enter the town gate.
After Old Master Wu returned to Yuanzhou, he ordered a full investigation into the matter. The Prefect brought those mountain bandits back to the prefectural office. Before they were even seriously tortured, just seeing the full wall of instruments made them piss themselves, and they confessed everything truthfully.
Based on the bandits' descriptions, the constables captured the middleman. Unable to endure the interrogation, the middleman confessed, implicating Steward Yang.
It was the Yang residence's steward who had sought him out, providing a substantial sum of silver to hire men for the purpose of killing the Yang family's only ger.
____
On the day the government soldiers arrived, Madam Yang was kneeling in the main hall, pleading: "Mother! Please, you must help me! Please persuade my husband. I know I was wrong—tell him not to cast me out. I know I was wrong, I truly know I was wrong!"
She kowtowed, hitting her head on the floor with a dong dong sound.
Old Lady Zheng remained unmoved.
That day, with the house full of guests, Zheng Xiaoling actually didn't know to restrain herself, daring to do such filthy deeds with the steward in the inner courtyard. If it hadn't gotten out, it would be one thing, but if it had spread, the Yang family would likely become a laughingstock.
Zheng Xiaoling was first and foremost her daughter-in-law, and only secondly her niece. Daring to openly cuckold her son, yet still having the nerve to beg her for mercy? Truly preposterous.
"Sister-in-law, you are so shameless, yet you still have the face to beg for mercy?" Second Uncle Yang glared at her, then turned his head: "Mother, Elder Brother, I think we we should drown her and the steward in a pig cage!"
"No," Third Uncle Yang said: "It's better to deal with this discreetly. Otherwise, this matter will definitely get out."
"Regardless, we should first get her to sign the letter of divorce."
"No," Madam Yang looked disheveled, crawling desperately towards Old Lady Zheng before prostrating herself at her feet: "Mother, Aunt, I beg you, I beg you to help me. I know I was wrong, I truly know I was wrong. Don't let him divorce me. Persuade him for me! He always listens to you the most. Help me persuade him. I don't want a mutual separation, I don't want a mutual separation."
[In ancient China, there were two primary forms of divorce. The first was 和离 (Hé Lí), or "mutual separation," which was a mutually agreed-upon divorce where the couple parted ways peacefully, allowing the woman to avoid significant social shame. The second was 休妻 (Xiū Qī), or "sending away one's wife," where the husband could unilaterally divorce his wife for specific reasons listed in the 七出 (Qī Chū), or "Seven Outs," which included offenses like disobedience, failure to bear a son, adultery, and theft.]
She had been locked up by Yang Mutao for two days. During these two days, she had thought of various possibilities. The matter was exposed and, to make it worse, Yang Mutao had caught her in the act. She knew that given Yang Mutao's temperament, he would probably never forgive her.
But Yang Mutao never had any feelings for her in the first place, so forgiveness or not was irrelevant.
She just needed to preserve her status as the matriarch of the Yang family.
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