After waiting for about the time it takes to drink a cup of tea, Uncle Six finally came over from the guest courtyard.
Fu Qilang dismissed all the servants around him.
Seeing this, Uncle Six frowned slightly. "Qilang, what do you want to say?"
This unfilial son had been away for so long. He only came back after his father's death.
Uncle Six looked down on Fu Qilang in his heart.
Fu Qilang glanced at him and sneered. This old bastard would get what was coming to him later.
He asked Uncle Six to be patient. "Uncle Six, I didn't mean to disturb you so late at night. It's just that I have an important matter to discuss with you."
Uncle Six sat in the armchair, looking calm. "Go ahead. I'm listening."
Fu Qilang got straight to the point without any euphemism. "This matter concerns my father's bloodline and the reputation of the Fu family. I have to handle it properly. Please, Uncle Six, make the decision and ask Concubine Zhao to leave the mansion voluntarily and become a nun."
Uncle Six's face changed greatly. "What do you mean by this?"
Fu Qilang said, "Concubine Four had an affair with an outsider and gave birth to a son. He's about the same age as me. Uncle Six, think about it. If you help Concubine Four gain power, won't all the Fu family's property fall into the hands of outsiders?"
He continued, "You know that my half - sister is already married. What's the point of Concubine Four seizing the family property? Isn't it all for that adulterer and his son?"
Seeing that Fu Chengyi was so blunt, Uncle Six interrupted him. "You sound so certain. Do you have any evidence?"
Fu Chengyi smiled faintly. "If I wasn't sure, how could I come to you?"
Uncle Six pondered for a while and then said, "In that case, do you know who the adulterer is?"
Fu Chengyi smiled. "Doesn't Uncle Six know?"
Uncle Six squinted his eyes. "This concerns the inner courtyard. How would I, an outsider in the family, know?"
Then he changed the subject. "But, Qilang, how did you get this information?"
Fu Chengyi twirled the incense stick in his hand. "I have my own ways. Uncle Six doesn't need to dig too deep. When the person comes, everything will be clear."
Uncle Six looked out of the door a few times.
Suddenly, there was a commotion. Concubine Four was wailing in front of Lord Fu's spiritual tablet. Overwhelmed with grief, she fainted. A group of maids and servants quickly helped her up. Some patted her back, some fed her sugar water, and others went to call the doctor.
Fu Qilang and Uncle Six glanced at each other and then got up and walked out.
People are afraid of being gossiped about.
Just as Uncle Six stepped over the threshold, the steward of the Fu family came to report, "The eldest miss and her husband have returned for the funeral."
Lord Shu and his wife, Miss Fu, entered the main gate.
Concubine Four had felt as if she had swallowed a fly when she saw Fu Qilang today, but she had to put on a smiling face.
Now, hearing that the eldest miss, who used to oppose her everywhere, had returned.
Concubine Four pretended to faint.
Miss Fu, dressed in all white, stepped forward with tears in her eyes. She and Lord Shu each held three incense sticks and bowed repeatedly in front of Lord Fu's spiritual tablet.
After crying for a while, Miss Fu scanned the surroundings. Seeing only the steward and others but no female family members in charge, she couldn't help asking, "Where is Concubine Four?"
Fu Erlang, who was kneeling beside the coffin, replied in a low voice, "Concubine Four fainted just now due to excessive grief. The family members have carried her to the rear veranda to rest."
Miss Fu nodded. Fu Qilang quickly came up and pulled her aside. "Sister and brother - in - law, you must be tired from your journey. Go and rest first and then we can talk."
Miss Fu saw Uncle Six beside him and nodded to him.
Then she turned to scold Fu Qilang. "You naughty boy. I heard that you've been away for months. Did you encounter some troubles outside? Were you too ashamed to come back? God have mercy. Before father passed away, neither of us siblings was by his side. If any one of us had been there, father wouldn't have..."
As Miss Fu spoke, tears rolled down her face.
All the Fu family members present felt a bit embarrassed, and their faces flushed uncontrollably.
When Lord Fu passed away, there wasn't a single child by his side. He was even poisoned to death by a concubine.
It was really a disgrace to the Fu family.
Miss Fu ignored them and went into the side room to talk with Fu Qilang and Uncle Six.
Uncle Six seemed to have a cat scratching at his heart. As soon as he sat down, he couldn't help asking Fu Qilang, "Where is the person you mentioned?"
Fu Qilang clapped his hands. "Look, isn't he right there!"
Uncle Six looked in the direction.
A thin young man was following Lord Shu, looking rather timid.
When Uncle Six saw this person, he was greatly shocked. "This, this..."
Fu Qilang smiled. "What? Uncle Six has seen him before?"
Uncle Six quickly waved his hand. "How could it be? I'm just a bit surprised."
Fu Qilang's face turned cold. "Now that the person is here, please invite Concubine Four over for a face - to - face confrontation."
Fu Qilang still sent that little maid. "The concubine has been fainting for a while. It's time for her to wake up."
Hearing from the little maid that Fu Qilang and the eldest miss were looking for her, Concubine Four didn't think much. She groaned a couple of times and reluctantly shuffled over.
As soon as she entered the room, she suddenly saw the person standing beside Miss Fu.
Her pupils shrank slightly, but she quickly put on a big smile. "Eldest sister and brother - in - law are back."
Miss Fu didn't give her a good look.
Concubine Four held her handkerchief. "I'm useless. The master passed away suddenly. That poisonous woman, Concubine Eleven, even poisoned him right under my nose. I'm so heart - broken. Every time I see the master lying silently in the coffin, I wish I could die in his place..."
In short, Concubine Four rambled on for a while.
Fu Qilang didn't listen to her nonsense. He pointed at the young man and shouted, "Concubine Four, is he your son?"
His voice was neither too loud nor too soft, but it was loud enough for everyone inside and outside the room to hear.
Soon, all the Fu family members in the mourning hall were in an uproar.
The wailing concubines and wives also stopped crying.
How could Concubine Four admit it? How dared she admit it?
She kept crying. "Qilang, when you were a child, I disciplined you more according to the master's wishes. I know you resent me. You can scold me or beat me, but why do you slander me out of nowhere?"
People around pricked up their ears.
Some people thought Concubine Four made sense.
The seventh young master had been away for more than a month and only came back after his father's death.
Maybe he was just taking revenge on Concubine Four, who was in charge of the inner courtyard.
Fu Qilang didn't say a word. He just glanced at the young man.
Zhao Ning called out to Concubine Four, "Mother."
Suddenly, it was completely silent.
Concubine Four seemed to have her throat choked. She looked at Zhao Ning with a complicated look in her eyes, tears glistening. "Young man, I have no grudges against you. Why do you team up with Qilang to harm me?"
Zhao Ning lowered his head.
Uncle Six was sweating profusely but didn't say a word, like a mute gourd.
Miss Fu sneered. "Let me tell you. His name is Zhao Ning. He's the son you had with an outsider. Seventeen years ago, you were brought into the mansion by my father just two years and were highly favored. But that spring, you suddenly got smallpox and had to go to the countryside villa to recuperate. My father was busy with business and only sent someone to check on you twice. You stayed in the villa for a year. Your smallpox was long gone, but you pretended that you had scars on your face and needed more time to recover. You stayed for another half - year before returning to the Fu mansion."
"Zhao Ning was born at that time."
Miss Fu's words were like a thunderbolt, shocking everyone in the Fu family.