Proofread by Peter Gong
After confirming that Guo Qi was her elder bother, the son of Concubine Zhao, Ma Tian was worried and nervous. She told no one except Wu Zhong. She didn’t tell her mother because she was afraid that it would make her mother stressful. If her mother was not silly at that moment, the family of Ma would not be attacked by Guo Qi and would not fall into the difficult situation today. The reason why she didn’t tell her father was that she didn’t know whether her father who always wanted to get a son would hate her mother after knowing that his wife stole his son and made his son suffer a lot of hardships and his son hated his own family.
Sometimes Ma Chaosheng was perfectly sane and sometimes he was out of consciousness. When he was clear in the head, Ma Tian’en wanted to tell him that Guo Qi was his son. But it was really hard for her to tell her father the truth. Mrs. Ma concentrated on looking after her husband, so finding the son of Concubine Zhao was not her concern now.
Ma Dacheng and her fifth Uncle were in charge of all the business on the dock. Ma Tian’en didn’t go there anymore. She was not afraid of her uncle just because she wanted to run away from the annoying things. As Ma Chaosheng was gravely ill, the clansmen didn’t make any trouble for them. Now they temporarily lived a smooth and steady life again but her second uncle and third uncle always went to their house to entice her father to adopt their sons. At that time, Ma Chaosheng only listened to them while he closed his eyes and didn’t answer them at all.
As all things were in trouble, Wu Zhong told her some good news that the eunuch Zhang Yong exposed the crimes of Liu Jin and his seventeen crimes, taking advantage of the opportunity to offer prisoners after he ended the war with King An Hua. Now the emperor of the Ming Dynasty gave orders to arrest Liu Jin. The member of the Liu Jin’s party, including Hu family, was afraid of being involved and all felt twitchy. And the Founding Fathers like Wu Dinghou were afraid of being involved so they restrained their sons’ activities and did not allow them to be too unbridled.
No wonder the office stopped dealing with the cases of the illegal salt and gave the boat which was confiscated, which made the business of Ma Family go up a little.
Guo Qi was told that all the things he did had nothing to do with Guo Family by servants of Guo Family. If something terrible happened, he should pass the buck to Tian Family. At the moment, all the thing showed that a disaster was looming at large.
Tian Ronghua sat in his study room and he thought about the old steward in his family unwittingly. There was something that was hidden to all except for the sky, earth and himself. Although there was no one who knew it or disclosed it, it did happen. He was cruel to kill the steward with poison while he killed a helper for him. Ever since Guo Qi entered his family, he plundered a lot of businesses from others and got a lot of money by virtue of the power of Duke Wu, but he felt anxious about that. It seemed that all of that would disappear at a moment. He didn’t understand the affairs in the caption, but he knew that Liu Jin was caught and the water transportation of gain had to do with the profits of too many people. He was just a small tool used by others to take the consequences. He did not care much about himself, but he could not let anything happen to Tian family. While his sons were all too young to be in charge of the whole family, it was time to ask Tian Fugui out to run the family business. When he thought about that, he asked the servants to call Tian Fugui here.
Although Tian Fugui was innocent, he was clever in fact. He saw all the thing happened in recent days but he knew that her brother would not follow his advice, so he just was anxious uselessly.
When Tian Fugui arrived at his study room, Tian Ronghua told him to sit down and poured tea for him. What his brother did made him amazed because his brother was always strict with him just like a severe father.
“Brother, I can do it myself.” Tian Fugui said and wanted to take the teapot. But Tian Ronghua brushed his hands away and continued to pour tea for him.
“How about your study recently?”
Tian Ronghua’s question made him have a familiar feeling that his brother was severe as before. So he said very carefully, “The teacher said that I still have a lot of work to do on my study.” When he finished, he looked at his bother’s expression.
“Just work hard, and don’t push yourself too hard.”
“Ah, brother, you seem to be abnormal today. It seems that something is not right. Shouldn’t you be scolding me? ”
“That I scolded you before was to help you while today I don’t scold you is to help you, too.” Tian Ronghua smiled and said, “Our father died when you were young and I am older than you, so I am strict with you like a father for I hope you can bring honor to the family. Learning is the noblest of human pursuits. I can’t be a scholar in my life but I hope you can. And now when I think of it, I feel sorry to make you do what I like. I think it is good for you, but you may not like it”
“No, no. I like to do it. But I am stupid.” Tian Fugui felt afraid because his brother was too abnormal today. Before, he feared his brother and he would receive some punishment, at worst. However, today he felt unending fear from the bottom of his heart .
“You are not stupid. You are clever indeed. I have told all the managers and the supervisors on the dock that you replace me as the householder in Tian family.” Tian Fugui was shocked when he heard that.
“Brother, why? What are you going to do if I take your place?”
“I? I am sick.” Tian Ronghua said calmly.
Although his brother did not look well recently, but he was stronger than himself obviously. Tian Fugui was speechless, ” Brother, you are healthy obviously.”
“Some internal injuries. So it is settled. There are account books that you should be familiar with. If you have any questions, you can just ask me. Just remember to finish it in three days.” Tian Ronghau pointed at the thick pile of books on the table.
“Bother……”
Tian Fugui was helpless taking all the books out. Tian Ronghua looked at him until he couldn’t see him.
The father of Ma Tian’en was in much better spirits today and drank a small bowl of ginseng soup, which made Madam Ma and Ma Tian’en feel happy. To begin with, Ma Tian’en was going to look at some stores but she was held back by Ma Chaosheng because he wanted to talk with her. Ma Tian’en was happy to stay with her father.
“Dad, you recover in a couple days. I am sure you will be healthy soon. Then we can go to eat the roast duck together.” Ma Tian’en said coquettishly.
“OK. Do as you ask.” Ma Chaosheng doted on his daughter and was willing to follow her. Ma Tian’en still wore men’s clothes, although everyone had known that she was girl.
“Master, how about sitting in the yard?” Finding that Ma Chaosheng seemed to become better, Madam Ma advised to sit outside.
Ma Chaosheng agreed gladly. So Ma Tian’en and Madam Ma supported Ma Chaosheng on either side carefully to the China rose bush in the yard. China rose blooming at the most beautiful moment were no less beautiful than the peony. Ma Chaosheng thought about the scene when he first saw his wife. It was a bright day like today. He saw that two boys were going to molest a girl and he went to fight with them. But he was knocked over instead. When he struggled to stand up, he saw the little girl beat the two boys who shouted their father and mother away. The girl turned back and winked at him with a smile. The smile was so touching as if it was from the heaven, making the whole summer bright.
When Ma Chaosheng thought about that, he wanted to pick up one China rose to decorate Madam Ma’s head. But at the moment when he reached out to get a China rose, he fell down in a faint and felt all the world was dark. All that he could hear was the crying of his wife and his daughter.
When the doctor arrived, Ma Chaosheng was unconscious. The doctor shook his head after examining him and said, “Madam Ma, Master had been on the verge of death. You’d better prepare the funeral as soon as possible.”
“No, you cheat me. Everything’s gonna be okay.” Madam Ma didn’t believe the doctor and she was shouting her husband’s name.
“Ma Chaosheng, wake up. I don’t allow you to die. You can’t die.”
“Ma Chaosheng, believe it or not, if you die, I will catch up with you and hit you until you wake up. You once said that you would care for me forever. It is not the deadline yet. Ma Tian’en has not been married. You can’t be so selfish.” Madam Ma said while crying. Ma Tian’en knelt down in front of the bed and sobbed bitterly. ”
Suddenly, Ma Chaosheng moved his hand. At the sound, Madam Ma and her daughter looked at Master Ma immediately. He opened his eyes hard as if he tried to say something but he could not.
“Master, what do you want? Tell me.” Madam Ma held on his husband’s hand with agitation.
Ma Tian’en seemed to understand the meaning in his eyes and said in a gentle voice, “Father, you have a son.” As she said it, the eyes of Ma Chaosheng lit up and he looked at her daughter in excitement.
“Yes, he is Guo Qi. He is very capable but there was some misunderstandings between Ma Family and him. He is the son of Concubine Zhao. Father, you have a son. You feel no shame to ancestors of Ma family.” Ma Tian’en said word by word but she was painful. Her father, who loved her the most, wanted to get a son in fact.
” What? What are you saying, Ma Tian’en?” Madam Ma knew naturally how Guo Qi attacked Ma Family. But she didn’t think about that Guo Qi was the son of Concubine Zhao. What made her more shocked was that Ma Tian’en had known it for a long time but she didn’t tell her.
“I am sorry……” Ma Chaosheng held his daughter’s hand and said the last three words but he couldn’t say the rest, just staring at his daughter.
“I promise that I will make Guo Qi come back to Ma family, father.” Ma Chaosheng heard her daughter’s words and showed a satisfied expression, closing his eyes with fulfillment.