I've Got This Cannon Fodder Trope Covered!

Chapter 24

She didn't speak directly, as she had been sternly scolded in the main hall not long ago, and it wouldn't be wise to slap her own face now. As a granddaughter, she certainly couldn't criticize her grandfather. Wei Hanshuang knew when to stop, and Wei Hanzhang wasn't foolish—she understood the unspoken implications.

She thought to herself that even Mother hadn't told her anything but had kept her locked up at home for so long.

After chatting for quite a while with the soon-to-be-married Wei Hanshuang, Wei Hanzhang returned to Jingya Hall, only to see Madam Jiang's most trusted maid, Nanny Zhou, standing outside with red-rimmed eyes, which made her heart skip a beat.

What had happened now?

Seeing Wei Hanzhang return, Nanny Zhou slightly bowed and lifted the curtain for her. Inside the room, Madam Jiang sat alone, with remnants of tears on her face, clearly having been crying.

Wei Hanzhang approached and took her hand. "Mother, why are you crying again?"

Madam Jiang looked at her in a daze and murmured, "I just received a letter from Xuzhou. Your uncle has been implicated in the corruption case in Jiangnan, and now your maternal family has been taken to the capital for trial."

As if she had just regained her senses, she suddenly cried out in pain, "Ranran, the Jiang family is going to be destroyed!"

Wei Hanzhang felt as if she had been struck by a heavy blow.

The Jiang family was going to be destroyed?

Even though she had been raised in seclusion in Xuzhou, she had heard of the dangers surrounding the corruption case in Jiangnan. Without going too far back, the Cao family had been completely wiped out because of this case, and none of the officials involved had escaped unscathed.

She stood there motionless for a moment, her first reaction was disbelief: "Uncle is just a fifth-rank official with no real power. How could he possibly be involved in such a major case?"

Even if he had the audacity to entertain thoughts of corruption, he would need the capability to pull it off, wouldn't he?

It's not that Wei Hanzhang looked down on her uncle; the problem was that the eldest son of the Jiang family was ambitious but incompetent, cowardly, and afraid of trouble. Whether he was greedy for wealth or not, Wei Hanzhang didn't know, but he was indeed lecherous.

Among her three uncles, only the eldest had the most concubines in his backyard. Fortunately, he married a capable wife, who was strict enough to keep those concubines in line; otherwise, the backyard would have erupted in chaos long ago.

With such an uncle, to say that he could be implicated in the corruption case in Jiangnan—by ability or courage, he didn't have the qualifications.

"Your uncle may not have the capability due to his position, but with your grandfather's reputation, it's hard to say."

Mentioning her brother, Madam Jiang's face showed disdain. "A man with such little ambition, yet he has to be promoted just because he's the eldest son of the family. Now he has brought disaster upon the entire family. What should we do?"

"Mother, don't worry too much," Wei Hanzhang suppressed her own anxiety and comforted her. "Gu Yunran will arrive in the capital in a few days. His father is the governor of Xuzhou; he should know the ins and outs of the situation. We can ask him then."

Madam Jiang's expression did not relax. "Your grandparents are both nearing seventy. The journey is already bumpy, and I don't know if they've been shackled on the way to the capital. If that's the case..."