The Battle of the Noble Ladies (Book 2)

Chapter 46 - Revelations

Song Chuning, who longed to be cherished by him, found herself thinking about her childhood friend. Since she was young, her favorite person had never been her parents, nor her close friends, or the maids by her side. The only person she truly liked and felt she could rely on was Shen Qingrang.

No matter how much time passed, she couldn't forget that when everyone else was focused on Song Chuyi, Shen Qingrang was the only one who always put her first, unconditionally.

In fact, just recently, her maternal grandmother, Old Lady Li, had mentioned this in a letter, saying that Shen Qingrang had even schemed against Song Chuyi for her sake and was nearly beaten to death by the King of Zhennan's heir, Ye Jingchuan.

With the upheavals in the capital lately, she couldn't help but wonder how Duke Ying's household was faring.

When Lady Fang entered, she found Song Chuning absent-mindedly sitting with her feet on a fire brazier, a thick plush blanket covering her knees. She couldn't help but comment, "Why are you so quiet today?"

Song Chuning didn't even bother to raise her eyelids to look at her. She had been stewing over the failed attempt with Song Jue's affair, and several times nearly penned a letter to the Li family, instructing them to stir up some trouble involving Wei Yanzhao.

Lady Fang seemed to understand that Song Chuning had no desire to speak with her. After waiting a moment without receiving a response, she continued without feeling awkward, "I know you're upset with us over your elder brother's situation, feeling it was due to our lack of effort. But, honestly, you can't entirely blame us. Who could've predicted that he'd keep switching between land and water routes and even reverse his schedule to travel by night and sleep during the day?"

There was no use discussing this any further—Song Jue would likely arrive in the capital in a few days anyway! Had she known, she wouldn't have meddled with him but would have targeted Song Yan or Li Qingzi, who was at the Song residence. Perhaps the results would have been better. After all, if trouble arose, she wouldn't be the only one taking the blame; at least she'd have Prince Duan's backing.

When Lady Fang still didn't get a response, she raised her voice slightly, "I didn't come here just to talk about useless things. If you're really so intent on causing trouble for the Song family, there's still an opportunity. Do you want to hear it?"

Finally piqued, Song Chuning rested her chin on one hand and gestured for Lady Fang to continue, "Go on, I'm listening."

Lady Fang felt a surge of relief. Nanny Qin still had some favors to ask of this young lady; otherwise, she wouldn't be catering to her whims like this.

"I heard your grandfather is heading to Jiangnan to gather the wealthy salt merchants for disaster relief." Seeing the spark in Song Chuning's eyes, Lady Fang added, "He won't even be spending the New Year in the capital and will be setting off in the next few days."

Song Chuning scoffed, looking at Lady Fang as if she were a fool. "So you're thinking of targeting him? He's a senior minister in the Cabinet, and going to Jiangnan is an official assignment—he'll be a government envoy with countless guards around him."

Only a fool would think of directly targeting someone like Song Chengru, unless they had a death wish.

Lady Fang sighed, signaling she hadn't finished. "At least let me explain! Your grandfather would indeed be difficult to touch, but you know how troublesome those salt merchants in Jiangnan can be. He'll certainly be too occupied to look after the Marquis Residence in the capital. And besides, even your grandmother and elder sister will be going."

Old Lady Song? She's already so old—what pressing reason could require her to personally travel such a long distance? Could it be something on the Cui family's side? But that didn't make sense; Old Lady Cui's seventieth birthday was still far off...

Song Chuning grew impatient. "If you have something to say, say it clearly. Don't make me guess."

"I heard she's going to Qingzhou to check on your aunt's health," Lady Fang stopped stalling and disclosed the full story. "Your aunt has always been plagued with constant illness, and it seems she's nearing the end. Since she's your grandmother's only daughter, she can't bear to leave her."

In her dreams, Song Linlang had long passed away, so Song Chuning hadn't paid much attention to this. Only now did she realize she hadn't received any news of her passing from Qingzhou.

But delaying the inevitable wouldn't change the outcome, would it?

She pondered this for a moment, her smile turning sly, like a fox that had just caught a chicken. "Doesn't the prince always worry about anyone else potentially obtaining good fortune? Since we're sure they can't be useful to us, why not destroy them? Isn't that what you mean?"

Though she'd seen a rough outline of future events in her dreams, some details differed, as Song Chuyi also knew the same. So not everything could be predicted perfectly, like with Song Yan's matter or Song Jue's current situation. If Prince Duan hadn't provided this information, she wouldn't have known that the two elders of the Song family were about to leave the city. Currently, Song Yi's relationship with the Song family was tense, and the family wouldn't go out of their way to inform him about many things.

Since Prince Duan was willing to share this information, it showed he supported her in taking action.

Her resentment toward Old Lady Song had festered for a long time, on par with her hatred for Song Chuyi. If she could rid herself of both at once, it would truly be a delightful surprise.

Lady Fang nodded with a meaningful expression. "If that's what you think, then let it be so. After this incident, you should be able to let go of some of your resentment and think about how to truly support His Highness..."

After a pause, and seeing that Song Chuning wasn't reacting, Lady Fang asked, "In your opinion, should we act on their way there or on their return?"

Song Chuning's expression turned fierce as she recalled the dispute between the Song family and Xiang Yunzhang after Song Linlang's death in her dream. A cold smile spread across her face.

"No, we don't need to do anything ourselves this time. We just need to pass along a message to the Qingzhou Prefect, Xiang Yunzhang."

In her dream, Xiang Yunzhang had shown a stance of unwavering defiance, and with a bit of outside provocation and the Song family's arrogance, trouble was inevitable. When the time came, she'd just sit back and watch how Old Lady Song and Song Chuyi would be torn apart by Xiang Yunzhang in unfamiliar territory.

Lady Fang shuddered, sensing that Song Chuning had concocted yet another devious scheme.