Proofread by Peter Gong
Ma Tian’en took charge of Aunt Zhao’s small courtyard. Although she did not explicitly forbid her to go out, she replaced her original slave girls by two girls of martial arts to monitor her. Ma Tian’en was worried that it was not only the pot of flowers that was poisonous, so she changed a room for Mrs. Ma, and the supplies in it were newly purchased and all inspected. On the other hand, she also sent someone to look for the person who delivered the child of Aunt Zhao at that time, but unexpectedly he found that of the two women, one died due to illness, and the other moved to some place, with no news being available about her at all. So she had to start with the old people in the house at that time. However, after asking a few people, everyone insisted that Aunt Zhao gave stillbirth at that time, so things came to an impasse. But business still needed to be done normally, and the first ships were coming back from Jiangnan.
After a new batch of battalion commanders took office, they began to have some conflicts with the old ones, but it was soon calmed down by Ma Tian’en. And she clearly told everyone that, regardless of seniority, she only focused on who could make more money for the Ma Family. Some old battalion commanders who took advantage of their seniority naturally refused to accept them. They had turned to Ma Chaosheng in private but Ma Chaosheng made an excuse for his bad health and then asked them to look for Ma Tian’en after a few words. Other people would do though they didn’t want to do, so they had been more and more surefooted, as a result, the business of the Ma Family had not been affected much.
In the Tian Family’s study, a young servant was reporting the news to Guo Qi who looked dignified. He did not expect that Ma Tian’en was so excellent that not only she caught Mr. Jia, but also found Aunt Zhao. But it didn’t matter, she couldn’t do anything to him without evidence. However, the Guo Family was pressing him to be faster. Group of idiots! If the Ma Family could be cleared so easily, could they run for so long in Tonghui River?
“I got it. You go back and tell the master, I will wipe out the Ma Family as soon as
possible.” Guo Qi commanded.
“Master said, if you are not sure to defeat the Ma family, we can also join the Ma family
as long as the Ma family is obedient, it’s the same …”
“No way!” Guo Qi blurted out and then explained after finding the servant looking at him with a surprised look: “That Ma Tian’en is too stubborn to cooperate with. Please wait for a while, I promise Master that I will make it this time. ”
The servant just came to deliver the message, so he didn’t talk too much with Guo Qi. He
just retreated and went back to the Guo Family.
“I wanted to play with you for a while. But it seems that the heaven leaves no room for
you, Ma Tian’en. ” Guo Qi showed his intention to kill on his face.
In these days, Mrs. Ma’s mood had improved a lot. Master Ma was also recovering. He also knew what Aunt Zhao did. After all, he built and ran the Ma Family on his own, and Ma Tian’en took it over not long ago, so it was not possible to hide that from him.
“Tian’en, don’t let your mother know about this now. Aunt Zhao is also poor, and dad is sorry for her. In fact, dad was also responsible for the thing that happened in that year. The child born by Aunt Zhao was already dead when I returned. I was not at home for something urgent so I let your mother take care of it. Unfortunately, the child was dead when it was born. He was a very little boy like a kitten. At that time, I thought, maybe I would never have a son in my life so I did not want to get obsessed with it any more. Later, since dad’s desires faded, and faced with your mother’s strong temperament, I didn’t want to make her angry, so I rarely went to see Aunt Zhao. I thought it would be good not to treat her badly in life, but I didn’t expect that the knot in her heart had never been unlocked. To kill the mistress of a family should be sentenced to death, but I suspect that there is still someone behind her or she could not do such a big thing by herself. So we can save her life first and deal with it finally.” Since Mr. Ma said so much in one breath, and he was a little emotional, therefore, he coughed again.
Ma Tian’en hurried forward to take care of his father, but saw that his father’s hair was already half-white. She couldn’t help feeling sad. “My father, who is so strong in my heart and has been sheltering me from the wind and rain for a long time, has already got old.”
“It was my uselessness that let dad worry about me. Don’t worry, dad, I will catch the people behind the scenes. By the way, dad, I want to ask you something, but you can’t get angry … ” Speaking of this, Ma Tian’en looked at his father carefully.
“What? Just ask, I promise not to be angry.” Ma Chaosheng looked at her a little puzzled,
not knowing what she was going to ask.
“Dad, when you were young, about twenty years ago, did you have any private relationship with other women outside, such as one-night sexual relationship with a woman, and then she gave birth to a son?” Ma Tian’en said while watching his father’s face so that she could run as her father got angry.
“Dash, you think your dad is that kind of person? I think you want to be hit.” Saying this,
Ma Chaosheng wanted to stand up and beat her.
“You said you would not be angry, right? Dad, there’s a reason why I ask this. Please listen
to me first. ”
“OK, explain to me clearly, or you will also be beaten.” Ma Chaosheng also knew that she was no longer purely ridiculous. Since she said so, there should be some doubt.
“Dad, there is a new housekeeper in the Tian Family called Guo Qi, you know?”
“Well, I know, this young man is not simple. Didn’t you suffer losses last time in the bank? And then in the restaurant, and in the pier … ” Ma Chaosheng was interrupted by Ma Tian’en’s words as soon as he enumerated her mistakes.
“Dad, if you continue to say that, I think he is more like your son.”
“Nonsense, uh, what do you mean by saying ‘more’? Make it clear. ” How smart Ma Chaosheng was. As soon as Ma Tian’en spoke, he felt wrong. She thought that Guo Qi was his son? Was she crazy?
“Then I say it directly. My teacher and I both felt that Guo Qi hated our Ma family particularly, not for the Tian Family. Later we found out that he has a relationship with Marquis Wudinghou, but if Wudinghoufu wants to control the transportation, he can also talk to our Ma family. Although we will not do anything bad with him if he discusses with us, and why he even didn’t talk to us. And I suspect that this time Aunt Zhao’s poisoning my mother has something to do with him, because it is a totally personal hatred. Moreover, Guo Qi has a little resemblance to you, of course, less than me, I mean, a little … ”
“So, you suspect that Guo Qi was my illegal son?” Ma Chaosheng looked at his daughter timidly, but he didn’t blame her for thinking that Guo Qi was really strange, and it seemed that he needed to meet him.
“A little bit, dad, please recall that when you were young, was there any confidante?” Ma Tian’en reminded him, although she didn’t want to believe it would be true.
“No. When I was young, my mind was on the business of the Ma Family, and even I married Aunt Zhao to meet your grandma’s requirement when she was alive. I sometimes drank while socializing outside, but I had never done anything related to sex. And if he is really my son, why not come and say it out. Our Ma family is so affluent that he can live a rich life with a small part of our fortune . Why would he help the Tian Family to be against us?” Ma Chaosheng vetoed.
“Or you abandoned someone?”
“You a jerk, don’t say such words. Is your father that kind of person? And Guo Qi is older than you. If he were my son, there would be no need to raise you as a boy! ”
“That’s true, too.” Ma Tian’en was a little tangled. It would be not bad if she really had a brother, then she wouldn’t be so tired. However, if the elder brother were Guo Qi, he would definitely want to kill her.
“Mom, why are you here?” Ma Tian’en suddenly saw her mother come in and she hurried
“Mom, you are not in good health. Just call me to go if you have any problems, and take
more rest.”
Mr. Ma also stood up. After all, they were still discussing whether he had an illegitimate child, so it was awkward to see his wife come in.
“I’m fine. I came to tell you something about Aunt Zhao.” Mrs. Ma said and sat down.
“Ah, Mom, you’ve known it. I would revenge for you but I thought it was not easy, so I left her for a few more days.” Ma Tian’en thought that Mrs. Ma came to ask why she did not kill Aunt Zhao, because, though no evidence was found for Aunt Zhao to buy flowers, there was evidence from Ding Si, and Mrs. Ma did take the flowers that day because of Aunt Zhao, which was enough to confirm her crime. One didn’t need much evidence to deal with an aunt.
“That’s all for now.” Mrs. Ma’s words surprised Ma Chaosheng and Ma Tian’en. Ah, Mrs. Ma always hated Aunt Zhao so much. Now that she said they should stop it. Was it real that she destroyed Aunt Zhao’s child?