Volume One, Chapter 10: The Mantis Seizes the Cicada, While the Song Porcelain Watches from Behind – Part 2

Wanxia could no longer force a smile; she cursed Song Ci a thousand times in her heart. With a cold expression, she carried the items toward the main house.

It had only been three years since the Song family left their rustic life to settle in the capital. Back then, short on funds, they had sold their ancestral home and the family’s fertile fields. It was only after her father encountered a wealthy patron while trading that they earned enough silver to buy this remote, dilapidated house in the city. Rumor had it that the place was haunted, which was why it was sold so cheaply. The Song family, desperate and strapped for cash, had no choice but to settle for it. They bought a few servants—hardly enough for a family with proper airs.

Inside the main hall, both the eldest and second branches of the family were gathered. After finishing their evening meal, they were chatting and laughing while nibbling on pastries. Song Rouxi and Song Ying were huddled by Grandmother Song’s knees, the scene one of familial harmony. A maid stood nearby, kneading the old woman’s shoulders, and she looked thoroughly content.

Before they could even turn around, a loud "Mother!" nearly scared the soul out of Grandmother Song. Why were the people from the third branch here? She was just about to erupt in anger when she spotted the food in the hands of Wanxia and Wanxiang. Her face shifted from rage to a smile. "Third son, why have you come over so late at night?"

Song the Third scratched his head. "It’s all because of this girl, Song Ci. She said that since your health hasn't been good, you should use the savings you've tucked away to buy some good food. She wanted to show you some filial piety."

Grandmother Song gave a cold snort. "What kind of good food could it be, to warrant such a delivery?"

"Grandmother, it’s dishes from the Zui-Xiang Restaurant."

"Put them down," Grandmother Song said, finally offering a favorable look as she gestured for them to set the items aside.

Song Ci sniffed the air. "It smells so good. What is that scent?"

Grandmother Song’s expression soured instantly. She gripped her hand so tightly that Song Ying gasped in pain. "You greedy little glutton, what nonsense are you spouting?" She glared viciously at Song Ci, who recoiled as if terrified, hiding behind her father.

"I am not spouting nonsense, Grandmother. Your room smells so fragrant... It smells like... roasted mutton."

At Song Ci’s words, the father also caught a faint, rich scent of mutton, which made him swallow hard. In this day and age, mutton was incredibly expensive. How could there be the scent of mutton here?

"Song Ci, you must have smelled wrong. All the family's money has been spent on your medicine and treatment; how could we possibly afford something as precious as mutton?" The eldest daughter-in-law, Li Yao, smiled, her eyes filled with contempt as she looked at the third branch. She lightly covered her nose with a handkerchief. The third branch really had no sense of decorum.

"Is that so? Eldest Aunt, there is still a scrap of mutton in the corner of your mouth..."

Li Yao’s heart skipped a beat. She hurriedly reached up to wipe her mouth, only to find nothing there, realizing she had been tricked by Song Ci.

"You!"

Song Ci looked innocent. "I must have seen wrong. But if you haven't been eating mutton, why is Eldest Aunt so anxious?"

Li Yao was choked by the retort and glared coldly at Song Ci. In the past, this girl from the third branch had always been silent, like a wooden block. Today, she was sharp-tongued, even silencing her.

Seeing the standoff, the eldest uncle coughed. "We did have mutton this evening, but it was only because your grandmother’s health is poor. We bought it to nourish her." The eldest uncle felt that eating it in private was no matter; as long as he brought up their mother, the third branch would obediently shut their mouths.

Grandmother Song also spoke with righteous indignation. "You people in the third branch don't even think about how hard the eldest and second branches study. Naturally, they need to eat well to keep up their strength. They do it for the sake of the Song family. Are you really going to begrudge them a little mutton?"

Looking at her sense of entitlement, Song Ci felt only disgust. She hated herself for not seeing through their tricks sooner. Studying was hard? Her father worked tirelessly, traveling for trade, exposed to the elements, eating and sleeping poorly, and constantly worrying about his safety. The eldest and second uncles were served hand and foot at home; in just three years, they had become fair-skinned and ruddy-faced—where could one even see the traces of their rural past? Yet, they twisted the truth and lied through their teeth.

Song the Third, not being a man of many words, was left speechless by their rhetoric. Although he felt aggrieved, he felt that his mother’s words had merit—the eldest and second brothers were working for the family’s future, and they should all pull in the same direction.

"Grandmother, are you saying that because the eldest and second uncles work hard, my father’s work as a merchant isn't hard?"

Grandmother Song instinctively blurted out, "Is doing business as hard as studying? Studying requires the brain; your father only has brute strength." Realizing her mistake, she quickly changed her tune. "I didn't mean your father doesn't work hard, but things must be prioritized. Your eldest and second uncles will be the ones to raise the family’s status in the future... Once the family prospers, you will have more support when you marry."

"If Grandmother says the eldest and second uncles work hard, then why are they plump and fair, while my father is dark-skinned and gaunt?"

Song Ci continued, and Grandmother Song became displeased. Seeing her mother’s dark expression, the father reached out and tugged at his daughter’s clothes. "Stop talking."

"Father, the eldest and second uncles don't have official positions yet, so the Song family relies on you to earn money. If you fall ill and collapse... how will the whole family survive?" She said, her eyes welling with tears.

The father thought about it: if he collapsed, his daughter would have no support, and his wife was of a soft temperament... He could not afford to fall.

"Mother, what Xiao Ci says makes some sense..."

Grandmother Song’s teeth clicked together. She looked at Song Ci, wishing she could lunge forward and claw that face to shreds. This little harlot, she looked just like her mother—a fox-faced temptress. She never should have agreed to let her third son marry that woman, giving birth to a disobedient, home-wrecking brat like Song Ci!

"What is it you want, then!"

"My father works hard. As his granddaughter, I only hope to let him have some mutton to nourish his body as well."

Grandmother Song wanted to curse: *Dream on! You don't deserve to eat it! Go eat dirt! A bunch of useless cowards, you only deserve thin porridge and greens! Don't waste the mutton.*

The eldest uncle stopped her and smiled. "The child is showing filial piety. The third brother does indeed work hard. Isn't there a piece left in the kitchen? Let them take it back." He still needed the third brother’s ability to earn money. Once he rose to power, the good days for the third branch would be over.

Grandmother Song was unhappy; she was accustomed to being frugal from her village days. She liked to save the good things to eat slowly. The piece they had just eaten was the smallest; the largest pieces were still being saved! Giving it away would just benefit that bunch of cowards in the third branch.

"Mother," the eldest uncle said in a low voice.

Grandmother Song was stubborn, but her eldest son was a man of status, so she had to give him some face.

"Fine, fine, fine! Take it, take it! You bunch of gluttons!" *Choke on it!*

Her eyes darted around. Later, she would find an opportunity to get back at that harlot Qiao Xianglan; this mutton wouldn't be eaten for free. The woman came from a merchant family, and her parents had doted on her; her dowry was substantial. Over the years, she had found excuses to take much of it, but more than half still remained in Qiao's hands. Since she had married into the Song family, that wealth naturally belonged to the Song family! She would take it all later; it would be good for Rouxi.

Thinking of this, a bit of mutton was nothing. She was no longer angry.

"Grandmother..." Song Rouxi tugged at Grandmother Song’s clothes, showing her fair arm with an aggrieved expression. Grandmother Song understood instantly.

She shouted, "Wait!"