Unparalleled Double Harmony

Chapter 601 Feuds Among Wealthy Families (Part 1)
In the Ming Dynasty, wealthy families usually had two places to hold a family meeting in their residence.

Firstly, one should go to the "main hall," which is the main hall of the residence.

If the meeting is more formal and there are many attendees, such as elders and relatives from the clan, or even distinguished guests from outside the clan, then it will definitely have to be held in the main hall.

Secondly, one should go to the "flower hall".

In terms of architectural layout, the flower hall is usually located to the side and rear of the main hall, often connected to the garden of the mansion. Compared with the main hall, the flower hall has a more elegant and private environment, so it is more suitable for holding semi-formal or informal meetings attended only by core members of the family.

The conversation that Murong Xiao was summoned to participate in was taking place in the flower hall.

After walking through the courtyard for a short while, he arrived at a place called "Xiemingxuan".

Yes, the Murong family, who have always liked to pride themselves on their refined tastes, also wanted to give their flower hall in their mansion an elegant name...

Upon arriving at the Xieming Pavilion, Ah Xiao did not hesitate at all. He simply adjusted his expression slightly and stepped inside with his head held high.

Inside, bright lamps hang high overhead, and polished blue bricks lie underfoot. An antique bronze incense burner sits on the east wall, while calligraphy and paintings by famous artists adorn the west wall. As for the tables, chairs, cups, and plates arranged in a sparse yet elegant manner, they are all, without exception, expensive and high-quality items.

"Hmph... Second brother, you really have quite the airs." At this moment, Murong Ji, the eldest son, was sitting in a chair made of golden nanmu wood, sipping tea, and greeted Ah Xiao in a sarcastic tone, "Leaving the whole family here just to wait for you."

These words were used by Murong Ji to intimidate people, so he exaggerated them.

Actually, there are only five people waiting for Ah Xiao in this flower hall right now. They are...

Murong Shu's principal wife, Yan Haitang, was the mother of Murong Ji and Murong Dian.

Si Lingyu was Murong Shu's third wife, and the mother of Murong Yue.

Murong Ji was the eldest son of Murong Shu, and the eldest among all his children.

Murong Dian was the second son of Murong Shu, and the fourth among all his children.

Then there's "San Yatou," Murong Yue, Murong Shu's only daughter and the third child in her family.

By now, some of you may have noticed that even if we only count Murong Shu's immediate family, Ah Xiao's mother, who is Murong Shu's second wife, and Murong Shu's younger brother Murong Tao and his family are not all present.

Therefore, the attendees of this "family meeting" could not be considered "the whole family".

Ah Xiao also noticed this, so after scanning everyone around, he casually replied to Murong Ji, "Didn't Second Uncle and the others come?"

"Hmph..." Upon hearing this, Murong Ji snorted coldly and replied with only four words, "You know perfectly well what I'm asking."

However, Yan Haitang immediately chimed in, saying to A Xiao, "Xiao'er, you should know your second uncle's temperament... Since he only wants to eat a simple meal at an ordinary family and doesn't want to have too much to do with our family anymore, let's not keep bothering him or forcing him to do things against his will."

Her words were clearly more diplomatic than Murong Ji's, although the meaning was the same...

“Yes, Auntie, you’re right.” As soon as he finished speaking, Ah Xiao nodded. “Then I suppose… since my mother isn’t here right now, it’s because none of you want to ‘force me to do something I don’t want to do,’ right?”

His previous statement was deliberately made to only ask about his second uncle and not his own mother, so he could naturally follow up with this statement here and turn the tables on the other side.

"Second brother, don't argue with us." At this moment, the youngest brother, Murong Dian, spoke up. "We did invite Second Mother, but she said she was unwell and unable to come. You can't blame us for that."

That was the truth; they had originally invited both Murong Xiao and his mother to this "Hongmen Banquet."

However, Ah-Xiao's mother resolutely refused to come.

Here, we need to digress a bit and talk about Ah Xiao's mother and some of the past of the Murong family.

Now, let's talk about this "second wife" of Murong Shu, named Xie Lingsheng. She came from a scholarly family and was the descendant of an official.

At the age of twenty-two, Xie Lingsheng ran away from home to escape an arranged marriage. However, she had only gone a few miles when she encountered villains. Fortunately, she was rescued by Murong Shu, who happened to be passing by. This is how two people who should never have crossed paths met.

Everyone knows Murong Shu; in his youth, he was dashing, talented in both literature and martial arts—quite "passionate."

Over the years of wandering the martial arts world, he had met many beautiful female warriors and courtesans, but Xie Lingsheng, a daughter of a scholarly family, was a first for him.

Therefore, even though Murong Shu already had Yan Haitang, his confidante with whom he was about to get married, when he met Xie Lingsheng, it didn't stop him from... no... it didn't stop him from developing feelings for Xie Lingsheng.

The two chatted for a while, and Xie Lingsheng said frankly that all the men who had proposed to her over the years were after "climbing the social ladder" or "political marriage," so she had refused them repeatedly. But this time, her family felt that she was getting too old and would no longer let her have her way, so they forced her to get married, and she ran away.

During this conversation, Murong Shu unexpectedly discovered that Xie Lingsheng was a "talented woman," whose cultural attainments were no less than his own, which made him like her even more.

But... as much as he liked him, he still had to take him home.

After all, she's a young woman who ran away from an arranged marriage. It's fine for Murong Shu to chat with her after rescuing her, but it's unacceptable for you to abduct her afterwards. Even if you only "temporarily take her in" for a day or two, it could still damage her reputation, which is definitely not the behavior of a gentleman.

In this respect, although Murong Shu was "passionate," he still adhered to principles.

Therefore, he didn't care whether Xie Lingsheng was alive or dead, he knocked him unconscious and sent him to his home.

The Xie family was in complete chaos just moments before because "the young lady went missing the day before her wedding," but unexpectedly, in less than half a day, a handsome young man carried her back.

After a brief exchange of information, the Xie family expressed their deepest gratitude to Young Master Murong, insisting that he stay and that they could share a cup of wedding wine together the next day.

Just as Murong Shu was making excuses, Xie Lingsheng, who had been sent back to her boudoir and locked up, also woke up.

Then, seeing the situation, she had a sudden inspiration and decided to tell Murong Shu everything—she simply said that she was already Murong Shu's woman.

Of course, even her family knew immediately that she was talking nonsense... If someone really did that to you, would they send you back?

But then the Xie family had a sudden inspiration and thought: We just want to find a decent husband for our young lady so she can get married as soon as possible, right? Well, this Young Master Murong isn't a bad option.

Then, after a few back and forth, a love story between a talented scholar and a beautiful woman, which is quite common in Yuan zaju (a type of Chinese opera), unfolded, and it would take about two or three thousand words to tell the whole tale... We won't go into details here.

In the end, Murong Shu went from being "kept staying to drink the wedding wine" to being "kept staying to drink the wedding wine".

Therefore, strictly speaking, Murong Shu and Xie Lingsheng's "wedding ceremony" was held before Murong Shu and his wife Yan Haitang.

However, when Murong Shu brought Xie Lingsheng home, Yan Haitang told him the whole story and immediately translated her "surprise" that she was two months pregnant.

Upon hearing this, Murong Shu was overjoyed and stopped there.

Fortunately, Xie Lingsheng also felt guilty and took the initiative to back down, willingly becoming a concubine, which is how she became the "Second Madam".

But Xie Lingsheng's family was unhappy about her "retreat". Although the Xie family has many children, they didn't care about or expect this marriage to bring any benefits. But after she had already "married down" to a martial arts family, her status was inexplicably lowered. How could this be allowed?
After the two sides argued for a while, Xie Lingsheng's family simply cut off all ties with her.

Years later, when Murong Xiaogang was born, the Xie family seemed to have made some attempts to repair the relationship, but these efforts eventually vanished with the news that "Xiaogang is a cripple," and the two sides became like strangers afterward.

Therefore, Xie Lingsheng was mostly isolated and helpless during the decades she was married into the Murong family.

She, a young lady from a wealthy family who loved music, chess, calligraphy, painting, poetry and songs since childhood, would find it difficult to have a conversation with chivalrous women like Yan Haitang and Si Lingyu, even if there were no grudges between them.

Ah-Hsiao's physical condition further exhausted Xie Ling-Sheng.

Before Ah Xiao turned seven, Xie Lingsheng almost never left her son's side. Most of the time, she took care of Ah Xiao herself. Even if she let the maid help, she would stay with him all day long because she was afraid that the young child would be neglected or hurt without knowing or being able to express himself.

Fortunately, Ah Xiao was only physically "disabled," but his intelligence far surpassed that of his peers. So Xie Lingsheng let go of him after he turned eight. After that, she continued her studies of music, chess, calligraphy, and painting, occasionally spending time with her "always busy" son, and never competing with Yan Haitang for anything.

Xie Lingsheng also understood that Murong Xiao's situation made it impossible for him to compete for the position of family head. Moreover, the child was old enough to have his own ideas, and it was up to him to decide how he would get along with his father and what he would do in the future.

However, this changed again as Ah-Xiao recovered.

At first, Xie Lingsheng was overjoyed that his son could live a normal life, and he was even looking forward to the day when he could hold his grandson and enjoy the joys of family life.

But not long after, she noticed something was amiss.

For Ah Xiao, his father Murong Shu was undoubtedly the person in the world who trusted and appreciated his talent the most, but the one who understood his son's inner sensitivity and obsession the most was his mother Xie Lingsheng.

Therefore, after Murong Shu's death, no matter what the story of Ah Xiao and Murong Yue was told, Xie Lingsheng ultimately saw something from his son.

From then on, she basically lived a secluded life, and especially disliked seeing Ah-Xiao.

Murong Xiao also dared not see his mother, and often he could only ask about her well-being through his maid.

Ah-hsiao was also afraid. He was afraid that at some point, he would meet his mother's gaze and see something in it... He asked himself, whether he saw blame, sadness, or forgiveness... he didn't think he could bear it.

Of course, he's not so fussy with the rest of his family...

"Alright, what's so strange about it?" Murong Xiao replied casually after hearing Murong Dian's words. "We're all family, and my mother really doesn't like to get involved in things like this..." He then looked at Yan Haitang and said, "I think... if you have anything to say, Auntie, you might as well just say it."

With that glance and those words, the meaning was clear—I know that the one in charge of this matter today is not the eldest brother or the fourth brother, but you, the "official wife," so let's not let them argue anymore, you take charge directly.

Yan Haitang was no pushover either. Seeing that Ah Xiao's words were practically blatant, she finally couldn't help but let out a cold laugh: "Heh... Fine, then let me ask you..."