Against the Current - Chapter 328

Chapter 328 - Surging Tides (Part 3)

Everyone in the room stood up, and Madam Wang said, "Never mind, please sit down." Being someone of rather dull wits and lacking in social perception, she failed to notice the varying expressions among the people in the room and simply sat down on the edge of the brick bed.

Xianglan thought to herself, Madam Wang is by no means a clever person, nor does she possess an ounce of eloquence. I'm afraid she won't be able to keep these few towering figures in check, and if someone who loves stirring up trouble takes advantage of this pretext to ignite further storms, things will get messy. As the saying goes, "Whoever tied the bell on the tiger must untie it." The best approach is to resolve this matter from the very root. With this in mind, she said to Lin Dongxiu, "The Eldest Young Master will likely be returning shortly. I'll go back and check on things before coming right back." She excused herself from the group and left, running into two or three maids and matrons whom she asked, "Have you seen the Fourth Young Master?"

They all replied that they had not. Xianglan searched all the way until she reached the small garden, where she ran into Ruizhu, a young maid who served Lin Zhaoxiang. Ruizhu told her, "The Fourth Young Master is behind the flower trellis."

When Xianglan rounded the flower trellis and took a look, she indeed saw Lin Jinyuan sitting on the ground with his knees hugged to his chest. Slowing her pace and concealing her figure behind a tree, she peeked over and saw Lin Jinyuan with a furrowed brow, plucking the blooming white magnolias, wild roses, and crabapple blossoms off the trellis one by one. The ground was already littered with a carpet of fallen red petals. Xianglan mused internally, Although Lin Jinyuan can be a bit mischievous, he was raised right under the Old Master's nose and has always been a well-behaved child. Growing up in a wealthy household, he would never ordinarily dare to ruin flowers and plants. Seeing him in this state now, even if he didn't dare voice it aloud, he must be harboring something heavy in his heart and suffering through an inner torment. With a soft sigh, she walked over and gently tapped him on the shoulder.

Startled, Lin Jinyuan whipped his head around and sprang up with a start. Recognizing Xianglan, he let out a sigh of relief, patted his chest, and stammered, "You nearly scared the life out of me." Stealing a glance at Xianglan, he asked evasively, "How are the Old Master and Old Madam doing?"

With a stern expression, Xianglan replied, "Naturally, they are furious."

Lin Jinyuan drooped his head in utter dejection, staring downward as he nervously plucked at another flower bud. Xianglan stepped forward, took his hand, and crouched down to say in a low voice, "Little ancestor, do you have any idea what kind of massive storm your actions have stirred up? First the Old Master was enraged, and the Old Madam nearly fell ill from the shock. If it were just our own family members involved, that might be one thing, but there is an outsider like Jiang Xiyun here as well, making us a laughingstock for her to watch."

Lin Jinyuan jolted upright, lifting his head to ask, "Did you tell the Old Master that I was the one who lost the bracelet?"

Xianglan slowly shook her head. "I gave you my word that I wouldn't tell, so I haven't said a word."

Lin Jinyuan breathed a sigh of relief.

Xianglan spoke in a gentle tone, "Come along, I will accompany you to confess to the Old Master. The Old Master dotes on you like the apple of his eye on ordinary days; even if you've gotten into trouble, he will at most fly into a rage, hand down a punishment, and let it go once his anger subsides. The rest of us will all pitch in to plead for you. With it being the Old Madam's birthday, no matter how vexed the Old Master is, he won't deal out a harsh punishment."

Pouting his lips and tilting his head, Lin Jinyuan wore an expression of intense reluctance across his fair, tender face.

"Right now, because of this bracelet, all your older sisters are growing suspicious of one another. The Eldest Aunt-in-law, Second Aunt-in-law, Second Sister-in-law, and Miss Xi—who all went into the inner room—have been bickering over this very matter. In a household as vast as ours, with elders, juniors, brothers, sisters, sisters-in-law, and in-laws all living together, there are many mouths and differing temperaments. It is inevitable that conflicts will arise over various matters, but what is truly frightening is when trivial issues snowball into major disasters, destroying lifelong bonds over petty garlic and sesame seeds. Once people's hearts scatter, this family will be utterly ruined. Setting all that aside, if you refuse to take responsibility for the mess you've made, leaving your older sisters to take the blame for your misdeeds, how could you possibly live with yourself?"

Lin Jinyuan lowered his head in thought, then suddenly jerked it back up. His eyes darting around, he blurted out, "Well, the sisters certainly won't do... How about we just say Jiang Xiyun took it!"

Xianglan caught her breath in shock and immediately refused, "How could we possibly do that?"

"Why ever not?" Lin Jinyuan tugged frantically at Xianglan's sleeve. "I'll just say I saw her take it with my own eyes, and Sister can simply play deaf and dumb!" He shook her arm pleadingly. "She isn't even part of our family, and besides... besides, I heard some maids and matrons gossiping that she once tried to poison you! If we pin this crime squarely on her head, it accomplishes two things: first, it clears the guilt of the missing bracelet; second, it avenges you at the same time. Wouldn't that be satisfying?"

Looking into Lin Jinyuan's marble-like eyes, Xianglan felt a sudden, fleeting impulse stir within her heart, tempting her to agree. Indeed, why shouldn't she accept? Jiang Xiyun had harmed her so deeply, yet because she was a young lady from a prestigious family, she had managed to walk away completely unscathed. Now, she had returned to the Lin household as if nothing had happened, showering them with obsequious attention without offering even a shred of remorse, acting as though her previous malicious actions were entirely justified. Why should she harbor any remaining goodwill toward such a selfish and self-serving person? Wouldn't it be far more gratifying to exact revenge in this manner and let Jiang Xiyun finally taste the bitter flavor of retribution? Doing so would not only make Lin Jinyuan deeply grateful to her, but also soothe the hatred gnawing at her own heart—what was there not to love?

Seeing Xianglan with her eyes half-closed in deep, furrowed contemplation, Lin Jinyuan sensed a glimmer of hope. He shook her arm like a sticky candy, pressing relentlessly, "Will it work? Will it work? Let's just do it this way! Good sister, I'm begging you!"

Xianglan opened her eyes, stared at Lin Jinyuan for a long moment, and then forced out two extremely difficult words: "No." Once she spoke them, she let out a long, deep breath, as though a thousand-pound weight had been lifted from her shoulders. Repeating herself with unshakeable resolve, she declared, "No!"

In utter astonishment, Lin Jinyuan asked, "Why?"

"Because if I were to do that, I would despise myself for the rest of my life." With a calm expression, Xianglan took his hand. "To live in this world with an upright and unblemished conscience—is that really such an easy thing to achieve? At the very least, one must bear the consequences of the mistakes one makes oneself, no matter what punishment follows, so that the heart remains clean. That way, one avoids having to later concoct excuses and deceive oneself into believing that what was done was 'unavoidable due to circumstances,' 'beyond one's control,' or that the other person 'brought it upon themselves' while one merely 'went along with the flow.' Deep down inside, a person knows the truth better than anyone else."

Petulantly flinging her hand away, Lin Jinyuan grumbled, "You make it sound so simple! You didn't see how terrifying Grandfather was when he got angry. My Eldest Brother has the exact same temper as Grandfather—the last time a walking cane came down on me, I was bedridden for half a month! If you want to go, go yourself, I certainly won't!" Giving a vicious kick to a petal on the ground, he stamped his foot in annoyance and snapped, "No wonder Eldest Brother always says you're as stubbornly pedantic as an old Confucian scholar! Are you truly a fool? Here is a golden opportunity to kill two birds with one stone, yet you deliberately sharpen your own head just to court misery!"

Xianglan looked at Lin Jinyuan in silence, thinking to herself, Even at such a tender age, Yuan'er is already harboring such calculated schemes. He shares the exact same temperament as Lin Jinquan—both of them are fiercely proud and obsessed with saving face. I'm afraid that if I call him out too bluntly, he might panic and throw an even bigger tantrum, making things awkward. Besides, I'm not in the mood for games either. The priority now is how to resolve this mess. I might as well burn the bridges behind me and use this to spur him into action; there's an eight-tenths chance he'll agree. Slowly, she said, "Very well then. Framing someone else for the missing bracelet is completely out of the question; but since I promised you that I wouldn't mention your involvement to anyone else, yet leaving the matter unclear means an innocent person will be wrongfully accused... in that case, I will take the blame upon myself."

Startled, Lin Jinyuan blurted out, "What did you say?"

Xianglan replied, "I said, I will shoulder this mistake for you and go straight to the Old Master right now to accept the punishment." With that, she turned and began to walk away.

Panicked, Lin Jinyuan cried out, "You've gone mad! Mad! Have you completely lost your mind?" Scrambling after her, he asked, "You're just tricking me, aren't you? Tell me you are!"

Stopping in her tracks, Xianglan turned back. "I am confessing in the Fourth Young Master's stead not so that the Fourth Young Master will feel indebted to me, but simply hoping that you will walk uprightly and conduct yourself with integrity in the future. A true man must have the courage to bear his own faults."

These words stung Lin Jinyuan so deeply that his face turned beet red. He froze in place, tears swirling in his eyes. Seeing that Xianglan had already walked some distance away, he stamped his foot and shouted resentfully, "If you're so capable, go on then! Go be your paragon of virtue!" After throwing a brief temper tantrum, he realized that standing there felt wrong and walking away felt wrong; still consumed by anxiety, he stamped his foot once more and chased after her.

Xianglan walked at an extremely slow pace, casting a glance out of the corner of her eye to see Lin Jinyuan trailing far behind her, which prompted her to nod inwardly with approval. She reflected that although De'er and Lin Jinyuan were only two or three years apart in age, their dispositions were vastly different. De'er was honest, modest, and amiable, possessing a strong sense of courtesy and the poised demeanor of a refined young gentleman even at a tender age. Yuan'er, on the other hand, was full of sly and eccentric tricks—he had an abundance of cleverness but lacked steadfast kindness. Still, having been raised under a traditional scholarly upbringing, he understood principles of propriety and had not fallen into the ranks of the truly treacherous.

She came to a halt and turned around. Lin Jinyuan also stopped, hanging his head in silence. Xianglan walked over, took his hand, and crouched down to say, "When we go back today, I will tell your Eldest Brother that the Lin family's Fourth Young Master is a true man who takes responsibility for his actions." Seeing that Lin Jinyuan was still wiping away his tears, her heart softened. Since she had always been exceptionally close to him on ordinary days, she couldn't help reaching out to stroke his head as she added, "I will accompany you to face the Old Master's punishment. If you are afraid, I'll simply tell him that the two of us lost the bracelet together. How about I stay by your side through it all?"

Lin Jinyuan wiped his eyes with his sleeve, stole a peek at Xianglan, and hearing that she would accompany him to share the punishment, his courage rallied quite a bit. He gave a hesitant nod.

Breathing a sigh of relief, Xianglan led Lin Jinyuan all the way back to the reception hall. Upon stepping inside, they found the hall completely empty; the fruit, pastries, and wine on the tables were still arranged with pristine neatness, and the mystical beasts of the bronze censers were still puffing out wisps of blue smoke. Only Liubei remained on duty. Seeing the two of them arrive, she stepped forward and said, "The Old Madam said she was feeling unwell and went to rest in the inner room."

Xianglan said, "Please trouble Sister to announce us. The two of us have come regarding the matter of the bracelet to confess our wrongdoing before the Old Master and Old Madam."

Liubei was taken aback, looking from one to the other in bewilderment. Not daring to say too much, she hurried inside to report. After waiting for a short while, they heard a cough echo from within, followed by Lin Zhaoxiang's cold, flat voice calling out, "Come in."

As they stepped inside, they saw Lin Zhaoxiang seated beside the brick kang table, holding a water pipe, while Old Madam Lin sat on the opposite side, slowly turning a string of prayer beads. Xuezhan and Ruizhu stood to the side waiting upon them, alongside Geng Tonggui, Lin Zhaoxiang's veteran personal manservant.

Xianglan and Lin Jinyuan dropped to their knees side by side. Lin Jinyuan did not dare to utter a sound, and seeing his bloodless face, Xianglan took the initiative to speak: "We have come to confess our fault to the Old Master and Old Madam. The item bestowed by the Eastern Palace was lost through our joint negligence. This morning, the Fourth Young Master mentioned to me how precious the Crown Prince's gift was. Seized by a moment of curiosity, I begged the Fourth Young Master to take it out so I could have a look. Unable to resist my pleading, he took the bracelet out, and the two of us were examining it by the edge of the pond in the small garden when—through a clumsy slip of the hand—the bracelet accidentally fell into the lake..."

Before she could finish, Lin Zhaoxiang's hand abruptly stopped moving. His eyes swept toward the two of them like flashes of lightning, sharp and freezing with frost. Fixing his glare upon Lin Jinyuan, he said in a deep, menacing voice, "Jinyuan, is that what happened?"

Lin Jinyuan stammered incoherently, not daring to lift his head.

With a sudden, violent slap against the gold-inlaid brick table, Lin Zhaoxiang thundered, "I asked you a question! Is it true or not?"

Frightened into a violent tremor, Lin Jinyuan burst into tears.

Old Madam Lin hastily intervened, "Why are you shouting so loudly? You'll frighten the child..."

Enraged, Lin Zhaoxiang barked, "Stay out of this! You've all spoiled him rotten on ordinary days! Let me see who dares to intercede for him today!" Turning his fierce gaze back to Lin Jinyuan, he bellowed, "I'll ask you one last time: how on earth was that bracelet lost?"