"Yes, the coal mine case. Father and father-in-law were nearly victims. Their family deserves some compensation."
Wen Wan suddenly understood, "So, in that case, it seems reasonable for their family to send someone."
Su Dai sat inside the carriage, waiting until nightfall without seeing the Song family’s carriage. Her already unsettled heart grew uneasy, and she asked the driver, "Could they have really left?"
The driver replied, "I guess they took a detour, Sixth Miss. We shouldn’t wait any longer. Let’s return to the manor and let Auntie make a decision."
Su Dai thought of the warning her mother had given her during the day. Fear gripped her heart, but since they had already missed the Song family’s carriage, waiting any longer would be pointless. She had no choice but to head back and devise a new plan.
Just two words, but Su Dai spoke them with a lack of energy, making it easy to imagine how fearful she was inside.
Su Dai returned home. She had just changed her clothes and hadn’t even had a chance to sit down and catch her breath when Third Aunt came to find her right away, asking how things had gone.
Su Dai poured a cup of tea for Third Aunt and explained, "It’s not that I didn’t want to, but my plan fell through. I didn’t manage to wait for Wen Wan to appear. I later found out she had already taken a detour. That’s why things went wrong."
Third Aunt looked at her with reproach, "Why do I feel like you deliberately let her go?"
"Auntie, you’re wronging me." Su Dai looked aggrieved, "I’ve been waiting on the necessary path for Wen Wan ever since school let out, and until now I haven’t even had a bite to eat or drink. Not being able to wait for her was my miscalculation, but how could I have deliberately let her go? If Auntie thinks I’m unreliable, you might as well find someone else next time. I’m not good at scheming anyway."
Third Aunt, hearing her words, felt both annoyed and sympathetic towards her daughter, sighed, "If it didn’t work out this time, let’s just leave it. I’ll think of another way someday."
Su Dai said, "I don’t understand. Why must Auntie insist on abducting her? Since Mrs. Wen is a woman, and she’s already gone undercover to study at the Hongwen Academy, you could use that as leverage to threaten her and make her work for you. Why go through such trouble and take risks? Even if Mr. Song holds a low official position, he’s still a court official, and Mrs. Wen is an official’s wife. Even without a formal decree, she’s not someone to be easily messed with. Aren’t you afraid of the day everything comes to light?"
Third Aunt, upon hearing this, thought her daughter was naive, "Do you really think all those who study at the Hongwen Academy are just like you, unmarried maidens?"
Su Dai was a bit stunned, "Aren’t they?"
"Mrs. Wen is certainly not the first." Third Aunt said, "Besides Mrs. Wen, there are even more female students at the Hongwen Academy who have been married, and they go in undercover as maidens because they cannot attend as married women. The Hongwen Academy also doesn’t have a rule that only unmarried maidens can enroll. This isn’t a secret; the scholar at the academy turns a blind eye to it. What can we say about it? Speaking up might only offend more people.
As for Mrs. Wen, my intention to abduct her is purely for your father’s sake." Newest update provıded by 𝙣𝙤𝙫𝙚𝙡•𝙛𝙞𝙧𝙚•𝙣𝙚𝙩
Su Dai muttered softly, "It was obviously Uncle Wu’s doing. Why do you insist on blaming others? That Mr. Song, he’s just serving the court. The subsequent trials and sentencing were personally handled by the Three Judicial Departments. What does it have to do with him? I heard Mr. Song now only holds the rank of Sixth. Even if you abducted Mrs. Wen, what power does he have to overturn such a major case?"
These words left Third Aunt feeling stifled, "You ungrateful girl, always siding with outsiders. You go to Hongwen Academy to study and have turned into a blockhead, right?"
Su Dai disagreed with her biological mother’s words, "The teachers at Hongwen Academy teach us to discern right from wrong. What I just said is about discerning right from wrong, isn’t it? Am I supposed to go to Hongwen Academy to learn how to harm people? Then are you sending me to Hongwen Academy to teach me to be good or to be bad?"
Third Aunt was so choked by her daughter’s words that her face turned dark.