Chapter 166
Jiang Zhengxu slowly ate his pumpkin cakes. He had been eating the same six cakes from morning until noon. Fang Zichen peeked out from the kitchen and saw he was still there. Just as he was feeling puzzled, a young soldier ran in from outside, clasped his hands, bowed, and reported: "Your Excellency, someone has been sent from the residence. They said Concubine Zhang has fallen ill and refuses to take her medicine. She asked..." Seeing Jiang Zhengxu's face grow increasingly dark, the young soldier didn't dare continue.
"How much silver did you take from her?" Jiang Zhengxu asked.
The soldier trembled and dropped to his knees. Before he could say anything, Fang Zichen rushed over, holding a spatula.
"I was wondering! Why have you been sitting here so long? So you don't dare go back."
Jiang Zhengxu waved the soldier away and corrected him: "It's not that I don't dare, it's that I don't want to."
Fang Zichen's eyes lit up, brimming with gossip. He leaned in: "Why, why? Is it because you have too many concubines and your strength is lacking? I heard that Zhang Huaini is almost thirty, and you still have two maidservants in their twenties. At their age, their needs are most vigorous. But you... looking at you, I'm afraid you can't satisfy them. You're so scared of being pestered by them that you've had no choice but to hide here!"
Jiang Zhengxu glared at him but said nothing. After a long silence, he said: "I have a friend. In his youth, he loved a girl..."
He rambled on, telling the story of him and Gu Daya. After talking for a long while, he noticed Fang Zichen was silent. He looked up and saw Fang Zichen staring at him as if he were scum.
Jiang Zhengxu coughed: "Why are you looking at me like that? I told you, it's my friend."
Fang Zichen didn't believe him.
A friend that materialized out of thin air.
Pah, this scum.
Jiang Zhengxu asked: "Do you think he was really wrong?"
He had never thought he was wrong before. But after what Old Master Wu said, he felt like he had become a heartless man.
But what had he done wrong?
He had given Gu Daya a life of wealth and honor. Without him, Gu Daya might still be digging for food in the village, worrying about her next meal.
He hadn't treated her badly. Wasn't everything she ate and wore now good?
His status in Fu'an Town was respected, but this matter weighed on his heart, making him feel stifled. He wanted to get it off his chest, but if he spoke to others, even if he were somewhat at fault, people would probably flatter him and not dare speak the truth.
He narrowed his eyes: "Why aren't you saying anything?"
Fang Zichen glanced at him: "I don't dare say."
Jiang Zhengxu waved his hand: "Speak boldly, it's fine. This official will not chop off your head."
Fang Zichen: "..."
Isn't that the Emperor's line?
You're a mere minor seventh-rank official. Do you have the authority to chop off heads whenever you want?
"It's not that I'm afraid you'll chop my head off," Fang Zichen said. "And, actually, if we calculate it, I'm your grandfather. Chopping my head off would be a great act of filial impiety."
Jiang Zhengxu's brow furrowed tightly, unsure if he had misheard: "Who did you say you were to me just now?"
"I'm your grandfather!"
Jiang Zhengxu slammed the table: "Stop talking nonsense."
"Where am I talking nonsense?" Fang Zichen reasoned with him. "Look, Old Master Wu is your teacher, right?"
"So what if he is?"
Fang Zichen: "A teacher for a day is a father for life, right?"
"Right." Magistrate Jiang laughed angrily. He initially thought this kid was trying to take advantage of him, but he didn't expect he even wanted to take advantage of his teacher. He nearly gritted his teeth: "And then?"
"I saved Old Man Wu," Fang Zichen blinked and said. "Without me, he'd probably be buried in the earth by now. So, I gave him the grace of rebirth. I count as half his father, right? He is your father, I am his father, so you are my grandson. You want to chop your grandfather's head off? That's great filial impiety. No flaws in that logic, right?"
Jiang Zhengxu: "..."
It sounded logically coherent. He couldn't refute a single word, but he felt terribly stifled inside.
He gulped down two mouthfuls of water: "Then why did you say just now you didn't dare speak?"
"It's not that I'm afraid you'll chop my head off that I don't dare speak. I'm afraid that if I speak, it will be a blow to you, and you might do something reckless. That's why I don't dare speak." Fang Zichen said.
Jiang Zhengxu looked at him, his gaze resting on his face. He had to admit, this person had a devastatingly beautiful face. Facing such a person, he could not summon any anger. "This official is not as useless as you think. You need not have such misgivings. So, do you think my friend was wrong?"
"I don't know. I'm not him. Everyone's thoughts and ideas are different, so it's hard to say for sure," Fang Zichen quickly glanced at Jiang Zhengxu. "But putting aside whether it's wrong or not, we can definitely confirm that he is scum."
Jiang Zhengxu: "..."
Jiang Zhengxu's voice was very low: "But he let his wife enjoy wealth and honor. Isn't that enough? Yet she is still unhappy, always wearing a dejected face all day long."
"Then you've become an official now. You don't worry about food or clothing. In Fu'an Town, you are one person above ten thousand people," Fang Zichen retorted. "Are you happy?"
Jiang Zhengxu paused, suddenly unable to speak.
"She is a genuine village girl. Most women, what they pursue isn't wealth and honor. They just want a harmonious husband and wife relationship, marital harmony, filial children, and a happy family. She has neither a proper husband nor her own children. Don't talk about enjoying wealth and honor; even if she ate gold with every meal, she probably wouldn't be happy. So, if she doesn't wear a dejected face, what do you expect? For her to be laughing cheerfully?"
Fang Zichen tutted twice and shook his head: "You say you have someone you truly like. Then how come you still have three wives and four concubines?"
Jiang Zhengxu retorted: "Isn't it normal for a man to have three wives and four concubines? Can you not have three wives and four concubines if you like someone?"
"If you truly like someone, how could there be room for anyone else in your eyes? The person you like is like sleepy dust in your eyes—soft and natural. Everyone else is just grit—hard and irritating. Even a second glance feels uncomfortable, let alone trying to make space for them." Fang Zichen looked at Jiang Zhengxu as if he were looking at a disobedient piglet that kept running out of its pen. "Besides, Madam Gu is truly pitiful. She ended up married to a scumbag like you—It's like living as a widow. Did she dig up someone's ancestral grave in her previous life to deserve such rotten luck in this one?"
Jiang Zhengxu: "..."
"I already said, this is my friend."
Fang Zichen ignored the turtle chanting scriptures and continued: "If I were her, I would invite a few young male lovers into the courtyard."
Jiang Zhengxu said coldly: "Then she should leave this family."
"Why?" Fang Zichen's gaze was meaningful. "You can have three wives and four concubines, but she can't?"
"Men and women are different." Jiang Zhengxu said.
"How are they different? You have two eyes, one nose. Does she have three eyes and two noses? In my view, they are the same. And, if we really talk about it, we men are not as good as women and gers!" After saying this, Fang Zichen saw that the other man's eyes were vacant, and he was gripping the bowl tightly without speaking. Fang Zichen sighed. He was a modern person, so why was he saying these things to this old fossil? The man's belief that men were the supreme authority and women must bow their heads was already deeply ingrained. Talking to him was pointless, like a chicken talking to a duck.
"Don't understand? Usually, very reasonable, very philosophical words, normal people often don't understand them very well. I'm busy. You should go back where you came from. Don't stand here anymore."
This person is scum. I shouldn't play with this kind of person.
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