The Marquise: I Earn My Own Worship

"This is outrageous! Mother, I've given Master Chen so much money over the years, and he's never satisfied. Now he dares to mock Kang Ge'er like this and use Kang Ge'er as a topic of conversation. This Master Chen is really... really..."

Lu's good upbringing prevented her from saying anything more unpleasant, and she was even a little incoherent.

Song Shengfu looked at everyone in the room looking at her, waiting for her to make a decision.

"Fourth, what do you think?"

Song Shengfu looked at Duan Jingan, wanting to see how he would handle this matter.

Duan Jing'an didn't expect his mother to suddenly call his name, and he looked a little confused.

"Mother, I..."

Duan Jing'an looked a little embarrassed, giving people the feeling that he didn't know what to say.

"Just say it. You are already an official now. It is inevitable that you will encounter these things in the future. You have to learn to deal with them."

Duan Jing'an lowered his brows and pondered for a moment before speaking, "My son has done some careful inquiries privately. Master Chen uses Kang Ge'er as a role model to educate the students in his private school. Most of the students in that private school are children from ordinary official families. It's now generally known that our Duan family dotes on our legitimate grandson and disrespects the master."

After a pause, his tone became somewhat serious. "This action has two drawbacks. First, it will damage Kang'er's reputation. He will inevitably be ridiculed by his classmates when he goes to study at the academy. If this rumor spreads, all the good academies will reject our family. Second, it will damage the reputation of the entire Duan Mansion. When people mention our Duan family, the first thing they think of is spoiling their children, which is not good for the future development of the family."

The more Mrs. Lu listened, the more anxious she became, especially when she heard that the family's reputation would be damaged. She was so scared that she quickly knelt down.

"Mother, mother, I was wrong. It's my fault that I didn't teach Kang'er well. He developed that behavior and ruined the Duan family's reputation."

"What are you kneeling for? Hurry up and get up, Madam Peiju, help her up."

Song Shengfu was shocked when she saw Lu kneeling down all of a sudden.

Duan Jing'an was also shocked, wondering if he had said something wrong.

"What you said makes sense, but there's another point. Master Chen knew that our family wouldn't let this go if the news got out, yet he still acted so openly. Although our Duan Bo Mansion has fallen on hard times, we still have some foundation, so it's no problem for us to control a master."

"And this Master Chen has previously coaxed so much money out of your sister-in-law, so he must be no fool."

When Mrs. Lu heard Master Chen's name, she gritted her teeth. "He must be resentful that our family fired him. He's narrow-minded and a mean person."

Song Shengfu shook her head. Duan Jingzong, who had been silent, suddenly spoke up: "Someone must be taking advantage of this. Could it be that Kang Ge'er is on good terms with the Sixth Prince, and someone is dissatisfied with our family..."

As soon as these words were spoken, everyone in the hall realized that their family had not offended anyone, but pink eye disease had always existed, especially when it involved the royal family.

Song Shengfu is no longer keeping the secret

"Although it's highly possible, it's just our subjective conjecture. However, we still need to be vigilant. Since this has happened, we must find a way to resolve it. Fourth Brother, please continue. How do you plan to resolve this matter?"

"My son thought that we could just use the name of Duan Bo's Mansion to warn Master Chen, forbidding him to teach in the private school and expelling him from the capital."

Duan Jing'an comes from a noble family. He always does things according to the family's rules and never takes those petty people and trivial matters to heart.

To a certain extent, none of them took the insignificant figure of Master Chen seriously. This was the case with Lu and Duan Jing'an.

"Have you ever considered how others would view our family after you drove that teacher out of the capital? If our family were incredibly powerful, suppressing others and making them afraid to object, that would be fine. But we are not like that. As long as we live in this world, we will always be burdened by our reputation."

"Master Chen taught me, after all, and we have a master-disciple relationship. If we kick him out, our Duan family will be accused of disrespecting teachers. Which academy teacher will be willing to look after me in the future?"

Lu was a little upset when he heard this.

"But he was the one who did the wrong thing first and delayed my brother."

"Don't just talk about the Master's problems. We were also wrong in this matter. It was our connivance that allowed Master Chen to cater to us and end up like this."

Song Shengfu was unusually serious. She looked at Lu and said seriously, "It takes two to tango. If we had paid more attention to Kang Ge'er's upbringing, this wouldn't have happened. So, Jing Zong."

Duan Jingzong quickly responded

"As the head of the family, you must remember that no matter how rich or poor you are, you must never neglect your children's upbringing. Education isn't about making them high-ranking officials, but about teaching them etiquette and cultivating moral integrity. They should gain greater insights from books, rather than living a muddled life like fools."

Isn’t this the original fate of Duan Chengkang? He lived his life in a daze and did nothing.

"Jing'an, you too, are the pillars of the next generation. You and your eldest brother will be the ones who support the Duan family. You must take the education of the Duan family's children and grandchildren seriously. Both men and women must study and be sensible."

The two stood up and responded. Song Shengfu nodded before continuing.

"This is easy to handle. The next time there's a banquet, you should accept it. When you chat, the topic of children and grandchildren will inevitably come up. Just take the opportunity to speak freely. There's no need to deny the fact that you doted on your brother before. Tell us everything about how Master Chen left our family."

"Everyone loves reputation, but isn't he afraid of damaging his own reputation? Then find someone to spread the news in the capital, so that Master Chen can no longer stay here and get out of the capital."

……

A few days later, Lu attended the coming-of-age banquet of the eldest daughter of Lord Shao, the Minister of the Imperial Household. As the Duan family was expecting a happy occasion, naturally many people were paying attention to it.

"Oh, Madam Duan, has your brother's marriage been decided? I heard it's the eldest daughter of Lord Ding, the Left Vice Minister of the Ministry of Justice. Duan Silang is truly blessed. With so many noble ladies in the capital, he finally got the chance to marry the beautiful lady from the Ding family."

The person who spoke was the wife of a doctor in the Ministry of Works.

Lu smiled and replied, "Yes, Silang is indeed very lucky. He worked hard and got a good score in the imperial examination."

At this time, a lady responded, "I heard that the fourth son of the Duan family is very smart and clever. I believe the Duan family must have a good family tradition, otherwise how could they have raised such a great messenger?"

Lu was a little uneasy. This person was obviously looking for trouble. If she didn't know that Master Chen was slandering the Duan family and Kang Ge'er outside, she would be embarrassed if she accepted the call today.

But it just happened to give her an opportunity, so she pretended to sigh and said, "Alas, what's the family tradition? To be honest, Jing'an relied on his own hard work to become a successful person, and his family didn't help him much. But fortunately he is diligent and studious, otherwise we would have delayed him."

"Oh?" Many ladies became curious after hearing this.

"Why do you say that, Madam Duan?"

Lu sighed deeply and continued, "I'm afraid you'll laugh at me if I tell you."

The curiosity of these ladies was piqued. Seeing that Mrs. Lu was unwilling to speak, they felt like a cat was scratching their hearts and hurriedly urged Mrs. Lu.