Time Travel: The Noble Family-Chapter 1400 - 574: Struggle (2)

Yueyao truly doesn’t want to get involved anymore: "Let him figure it out himself!" If it were before, she would definitely have suggested Tingzheng divorce Madam Lin, but now she doesn’t have the energy for that. Tingzheng himself doesn’t think of it, and if she says it, she’d only be seen as the villain.

Zhuang Ruolan sighed, every family has its hardships. For their family, Brother Peipei’s marriage has become a major issue. Not long ago, Ma Peng had his eye on a colleague’s daughter. The girl is nice in many ways; the only flaw is she is the daughter born of a concubine.

Ma Chengteng was alright with it, thinking her conditions were not bad, but Brother Peipei was very unhappy as soon as he saw she was born of a concubine. Not only did he refuse, he secretly felt Ma Peng wasn’t putting enough effort into his matters and complained privately.

Ma Peng is not someone easy to speak to; seeing Ma Chengteng and Brother Peipei both dissatisfied with the candidate chosen by them as a couple, he immediately threw his hands up and told Ma Chengteng and Brother Peipei to find someone themselves.

Ma Chengteng’s health wasn’t great, having retired at home a long time ago, and he had passed all his connections to Ma Peng. Those he still kept in touch with were around his age, and he really didn’t know which family had marriageable daughters. But he couldn’t do anything against Ma Peng; Ma Peng wasn’t some filial son who listened to him in everything. Unable to do anything, Ma Chengteng could only pressure Zhuang Ruolan.

Yueyao couldn’t understand Brother Peipei’s thought process either—if he had remarkable talent and wanted to look for a family with a good background, one could understand. The problem is he isn’t outstanding in anything; his talents and skills are all mediocre. With people like him, which official family would marry their legitimate daughter to him? Getting the daughter born of the concubine was already out of respect for Ma Peng: "What exactly does Brother Peipei want?"

Zhuang Ruolan chuckled lightly: "He wants a legitimate daughter from a prestigious family." The reason why Brother Peipei fancied Kexin back then was simply because she was the legitimate eldest daughter of the Earl’s Mansion, which was beneficial to his future.

Yueyao shook her head: "Truly, every family has its troubles." Ma Peng and Zhuang Ruolan, as the Eldest Uncle and Eldest Aunt, would face gossip if they let go and don’t care. But if they let Brother Peipei choose, who knows how long it will take him to pick.

Zhuang Ruolan feels Brother Peipei’s current temper is spoiled by Ma Chengteng. When Madam Tang was around, Brother Peipei was quite good; he wasn’t like now, where he assumes everything. Zhuang Ruolan is thus quite relieved, glad that her husband never lets his father raise their three sons; who knows what kind of upbringing they’d have gotten?

After dealing with Brother Xin’s aftermath, Tingzheng’s mood hit rock bottom. He didn’t want to stay at home; not only did he not want to see Madam Lin, he also didn’t want to see Lady Yue anymore.

After reading those confessions, Brother Xin understood that Lady Yue wasn’t as pure-hearted as he thought. For instance, the last time Lady Yue was poisoned, it was her using the bitter meat stratagem. Simply because it was her first time doing something like this, the poison dosage wasn’t controlled well, which hurt her vitality. Tingzheng most wanted to go to the Earl’s Mansion, but unfortunately, An Zhichen and Yueyao ignored him. With the loss of a son, even his sister didn’t want to see him because of this matter,

Tingzheng arrived at the large gate of the Earl of Pingyang’s Mansion, thinking about how Yueyao hadn’t seen him for this duration. Tingzheng knew Yueyao was venting her anger towards him because of Brother Xin’s matter. His son was gone, and even his typically close sister was growing cold and distant towards him, making Tingzheng feel very sad.

Tingzheng didn’t go into the Earl of Pingyang’s Mansion, because even if he did, he wouldn’t see Yueyao. Not wanting to go home, Tingzheng didn’t know where he should go, aimlessly wandering on the street.

Li Guoxing was returning home from official duties when he saw Tingzheng drifting along the road like a wandering soul. Li Guoxing knew Tingzheng had lost a son, but seeing him like this still made him somewhat resentful towards Tingzheng’s helplessness. Losing a son is certainly sad, but it shouldn’t result in such behavior. Nonetheless, having watched the child grow up, Li Guoxing couldn’t bring himself to leave him alone, thus he took Tingzheng home.

Back at the Li family home, Li Guoxing took Tingzheng to the study before speaking: "What do you plan to do next?" Surely, with a child lost, the adults can’t fall apart. 𝗳𝚛𝚎𝚎𝘄𝕖𝕓𝕟𝕠𝚟𝚎𝕝.𝗰𝕠𝐦

Tingzheng said nothing.

Li Guoxing asked helplessly: "What did Yueyao say?"

Tingzheng thought about how Yueyao hadn’t appeared from start to finish and felt very pained: "Sister, she doesn’t want to see me because of Brother Xin’s matter." Tingzheng didn’t know why he ended up in this situation.

Seeing Tingzheng like this, Li Guoxing couldn’t help but introspect whether he had failed in guiding him. However, thinking about his own three sons doing well and none being like Tingzheng, Li Guoxing felt reassured: "The second branch only has you as a son; you can’t let it end without descendants."

Tingzheng didn’t want to take another concubine though; the house was already turned upside down with an extra Maternal Auntie, who knows what it would become with another concubine. But if he doesn’t take another, after Brother Xin’s loss, they’d really end without descendants. Tingzheng was unsure what to do.

Li Guoxing suddenly realized why Yueyao didn’t want to see Tingzheng. Just looking at him would make one angry. However, Li Guoxing was evidently far more disciplined than Yueyao, not as easily provoked: "Family unrest causes harm to offspring." The words of Li Guoxing were implicit, but the meaning was the same as Yueyao’s. If Tingzheng doesn’t resolve the matter of Madam Lin, there will be chaos in the home; as for Lady Yue, no one takes a concubine seriously.

Tingzheng understood the meaning behind Li Guoxing’s words. If it were before, Tingzheng certainly wouldn’t think along these lines, but having gone through so many things, he was exhausted.

Li Guoxing said: "If you don’t solve this thoroughly this time, you will certainly regret it later." After what happened last time, Li Guoxing was quite disgusted with Madam Lin; no one likes those who stir trouble.

Tingzheng was struggling internally.

Li Guoxing didn’t have the patience to keep persuading Tingzheng, and said: "Hesitation leads to more trouble." From Li Guoxing’s perspective, after the incident with the red coral tree, Madam Lin should have been divorced. If she had been divorced back then, this current situation wouldn’t exist; all of this was caused by Tingzheng himself.