Chapter 88: Chapter 82: Zheng Er’s Tragic Background and the Zheng Clan’s Ten Great Skillful Hands

Zheng Xiu had Zizi take Feng Bei to set up the guest room. That night, he used a secret signal to call for Qing Shisan.

A series of whistles carried the message out.

The Brotherhood had its own private communication network; only its members could understand their coded whistles.

It seemed Qing Shisan wasn’t at the Zheng Residence.

Zheng Xiu paused, a little annoyed. ’Weren’t you the one looking for me?’

He blew a few more short whistles, and another Brotherhood member’s whistle replied.

The message was that all three leaders were busy with important matters.

Ji Hong’ou had gone home to care for her seriously ill husband.

Pei Gaoya had gone home to plow his long-parched wife.

So that was it.

Zheng Xiu wasn’t in a rush. He sent out another whistle with orders to find Qing Shisan, then walked alone down the corridor, finding himself before the East Wing before he knew it.

The two valuable sandalwood doors that Feng Bei had smashed to smithereens with a single slap had been replaced within a day. Even the carved patterns were identical; it was as if they had never been shattered.

A faint candlelight glowed from within the main room of the East Wing, casting two shapely silhouettes onto the paper window.

Pingping pushed the door open and walked out, holding a Ji Zither that was pressed so tightly against her it looked like it was suffocating. Seeing Zheng Xiu, she smiled. "Young Master, you’re back! Second Lady has been waiting for ages! She’s been nagging all day, wondering how the Master could have secretly had a son without her ever knowing. Young Master, even though she sounds like she’s complaining, since you’re the Master’s son, Second Lady will surely spoil you rotten!"

"So... should I go in?"

’Well, every son has to meet his parents eventually,’ he thought. Now that he’d told this colossal lie, Zheng Xiu had to find a way to smooth out the edges.

"Of course! I’ll take my leave now."

Pingping curtsied, her chest swaying as she giggled and walked past the Young Master.

After taking a few steps, she couldn’t resist turning back to carefully study Zheng Xiu’s face.

Zheng Xiu kept a straight face and said nothing.

After a moment’s inspection, Pingping sighed. "The resemblance is uncanny!"

Blushing, Pingping patted the Young Master’s head.

"It’s a shame I wasn’t around when you were born, Young Master. Otherwise, I’m confident I would’ve made sure you never went hungry!"

With that, she scurried off.

She left Zheng Xiu standing there, completely dumbfounded.

’I don’t even know if I went hungry as a baby, so how could you possibly tell?’

Then he recalled Pingping’s "perfect wife" figure, which was every bit as impressive as Bobo’s, and it hit him. A wave of comical regret washed over him. ’Oh, Pingping, Pingping... you’re far too clever!’

’She’s been corrupted!’

With a wry expression, Zheng Xiu pushed open the half-closed door. Zheng Erniang was sitting on the edge of the bed, her head bowed over her embroidery.

"You’re here."

The moment Zheng Erniang saw Zheng Xiu enter, she hurriedly stood up. A doting expression graced her features as she set down her needlework, walked over to him, and leaned down to carefully study the young man’s face.

"The resemblance... It’s just uncanny. You look almost identical to how the Master looked as a boy! Here, come sit."

Zheng Erniang smiled, taking Zheng Xiu’s hand and leading him to sit on the edge of the bed. "Who is your mother?" she asked, still smiling.

’That’s a question I’d like to know the answer to myself,’ Zheng Xiu thought.

But he had already prepared a story on his way over.

He was using one of Teacher Qiong’s templates—a classic, practical plot he could pull right off the shelf.

"My mother is dead."

With his very first sentence, Zheng Xiu played his trump card.

Zheng Erniang was taken aback. "Dead?" She subconsciously tightened her grip on his hand, feeling how cold his palm was. Second Lady was silent for a long moment before speaking again. "You poor child. Your mother... was she from the city?"

Zheng Xiu shook his head. "She wasn’t."

"Then..." Zheng Erniang looked into the young man’s eyes. "Can you tell me? How did the Master and your mother meet?"

Zheng Xiu felt that her expressive eyes were asking an unspoken question.

"Ahem," the young man cleared his throat twice and began to recite the story, following the plot of a romance drama he recalled.

"My mother told me that Father was traveling south on business that year when he met her by a lakeshore."

He didn’t specify the year, leaving it to Zheng Erniang to fill in the blanks.

"My mother said she would never forget that day. A light rain was falling, and a mist hung over the lake, making it look like a wonderland."

"My mother was sixteen that year, holding a simple but elegant paper umbrella adorned with green lotuses."

"A gust of wind snatched the umbrella from her hands, but just then, Father appeared. He caught it and held it over her, shielding her from the wind and rain."

"My mother said that from that moment on, she couldn’t take her eyes off him."

[Many details omitted here.]

’Maybe I’m laying it on a bit thick,’ Zheng Xiu thought, subconsciously swallowing. GULP. It was quite loud.

Zheng Erniang froze.

"Later, Father had urgent business and had to return to the Imperial City. My mother said she had matters at home and couldn’t go with him. So they made a promise: the following summer, when the lotuses were in full bloom, she would travel north to be with him. But what Father didn’t know was that my mother had been betrothed to another since before she was born. It was a secret she couldn’t bring herself to tell him. She said she had deceived him."

"Then, she gave birth to me. But because she’d had a child out of wedlock, she was shunned by her family. She had to change her name and leave her home."

Tragic stories always have a way of moving a woman’s heart. As she listened, Second Lady seemed to understand the misery of a woman raising a child all alone, and she began to sob.

Zheng Xiu was on a roll now, reciting the rest of the story in one breath as if from a script.

"My mother also said that her status was too low. She said Father was a wealthy and powerful merchant from the city, and that his future wife would have to be his social equal. That’s why she never went looking for him."

"Before she passed, my mother often said she hated the unfairness of the heavens. She hated that Father had appeared on that day. She spent a lifetime hating him, resenting him, and longing for him. But in the end, she was still grateful to the heavens for giving her someone to hate, to resent, and to long for. Otherwise, she said, the rest of her life would have been like a dry well, completely devoid of meaning."

From outside the room came the sound of sniffling. At first, it was stifled, but it soon grew into loud sobbing.

Judging by the sounds, it was Zizi, Bobo, Pingping, and Lily. They all seemed to be eavesdropping.

A cold snort came from the roof, followed by an invisible wave of killing intent.

It was Feng Bei.

’She was eavesdropping, too.’

’I’m screwed!’

’Feng Bei, oh, Feng Bei. I never took you for such a gossip!’

Zheng Xiu had been so engrossed in his performance that he hadn’t noticed anyone else hiding outside.

Zheng Xiu’s skin crawled. ’Why is Feng Bei here too?’

The area outside the East Wing was crowded with people.

In the shadows, members of the Brotherhood were listening in as well.

Zizi shot them a glare, and the Brotherhood members immediately got the message: this was the Master’s private business, and they shouldn’t be listening. They quietly slipped away.

Inside, Second Lady was wiping her tears. "SOB... And then what happened?" she asked.

The words were already out. Zheng Xiu could only bite the bullet and continue. "After my mother passed away from her illness, I had to travel north alone, begging and doing odd jobs along the way."

"Finally, after enduring countless hardships, I made it here. As it happened, Father was at the Fragrant Pavilion. I saw him and asked..."

"’Master, do you still remember the Xia Yuhe from the shores of Daming Lake?’"

"And that’s how Father and I were reunited."

"My father hugged me and wept, saying, ’Oh, Yuhe, Yuhe! Why did you have to suffer so much!’"

"Uh... that’s the whole story."

By the end of this tear-jerking tale, Zheng Erniang was an absolute wreck. Sobbing uncontrollably, she stroked the young man’s head and said that from now on, this was his home. When the Master returned, they would hold a banquet for the entire city and, in a grand ceremony, formally add the name Zheng Er to the Zheng Clan’s genealogy.

Zheng Xiu wanted to timidly suggest that there was no need for all the trouble, but the atmosphere was too charged. Zheng Erniang’s expression seemed to say that if he dared to object, she would tear the entire Zheng Residence down. It was the first time Zheng Xiu had ever seen such a resolute look on her face, and he immediately shut his mouth.

Zheng Erniang was still weak from her recent illness. The emotional rollercoaster left her feeling unwell, and the four maids came in, crying, to fuss over her. Then they each took a turn hugging the Young Master, weeping profusely.

As they hugged the Young Master, they also, in that moment, collectively forgave the Master for his transgressions.

’Women really are empathetic creatures,’ he thought. Even he found the story ridiculous, and he was the one telling it, yet they had bought it completely. After finally struggling free from Pingping’s suffocating embrace, Zheng Xiu heard a whistle from outside. He took the opportunity, while the four maids were comforting Zheng Erniang, to slip out of the East Wing.

Feng Bei dropped down in a flash, her eyes blazing. Having listened to the whole story, she could no longer hold back her question. "Who is your father, really?"

Zheng Xiu gave an ambiguous reply, "Sister Feng Bei, as for who I am... don’t you already have an idea?" 𝙛𝓻𝒆𝒆𝒘𝙚𝓫𝙣𝙤𝒗𝙚𝓵.𝙘𝙤𝙢

Feng Bei pressed her lips together, not answering. Before, she hadn’t been sure. Now, she was even less sure.

"You’ve deceived the Zheng Family?"

Zheng Xiu wiped the cold sweat from his brow and forced a calm smile. "You should trust your own eyes, Sister Feng Bei."

’He’d known for a while that she was suspicious, but as long as he refused to admit anything, what could she do?’

Sensing the tense atmosphere, Qing Shisan quickly stepped in to defuse the situation. "Ahem, Young Master, we have something to discuss."

Feng Bei took a deep breath, quickly regained her composure, and turned to leave.

She was determined to get the truth from him, one way or another.

The family relations that came with this "Zheng Er" identity were already so tangled that Zheng Xiu himself couldn’t keep them straight. He found Qing Shisan in a corner and quickly asked about the progress on that dungeon.

Qing Shisan blinked. ’Young Master,’ he thought, ’you had the Brotherhood relay whistles over miles to call me back in the middle of the night... for this little thing?’

But since he was already here, Qing Shisan had no choice but to lead Zheng Xiu to his own room.

’Whoa—? The dungeon is actually being built in my room?’

Before Zheng Xiu could ask, he saw Qing Shisan secretively twist a vase in the corner. A sound of gears grinding came from behind the wall, and a section of the wall rotated inward, revealing a Passage.

’This fast? It’s only been a few days! I would have been impressed if they’d just broken ground, but they’ve even... finished the opening mechanism?’

Stunned, Zheng Xiu followed Qing Shisan down the secret path.

Qing Shisan took out his flint and steel and lit a torch on the wall.

FWOOSH! The flame flared to life, revealing a spacious underground area before Zheng Xiu’s eyes.

He had asked Qing Shisan to build this dungeon before he left for the Immortal Maiden Temple. Only a few days had passed since then.

The ground beneath the Zheng Residence had been hollowed out. The dungeon’s four walls were clearly reinforced with refined steel, safe from any danger of collapse.

Though the dungeon was still empty, with a few furnishings and a rack of torture implements, it would basically be complete.

Zheng Xiu exclaimed in astonishment, "How did you do it so quickly?"

"Ah, that’s where you’re mistaken, Young Master."

Qing Shisan chuckled, blowing out a few perfectly round smoke rings with a smug, showy expression.

"You should never underestimate the Zheng Family’s world-renowned Ten Great ’Skillful Hands’!"