TSNCWEM Chapter 39.1

Dou Momo suddenly heard the Master’s words and was so frightened that her legs went soft. She hurriedly knelt down and kowtowed, “Master, spare my life. It was all because this old servant doesn’t know how to speak. Master, spare my life. This old servant will never dare again…”

Third Master looked at Dou Momo’s limp figure on the ground with even more disgust.

Every time he remembered her words “The Master can protect Third Miss, but can he protect a servant like you?” he got so angry that his heart pounded.

Qian Cao was Yunzhao’s person. If a person like Dou Momo managed to hurt her servants, what kind of days would Yunzhao have in the back courtyard in the future?

Without a trusted servant around her, someone could hurt her, and he couldn’t even bear to think about it.

Those wicked servants!

“Beat them hard!” Third Master got even angrier at the thought of this. A treacherous servant harming their master was unforgivable.

After speaking, the Third Master looked at the people around him and ordered, “Immediately pass on my words. Sell Dou Momo’s entire family!” 

Dou Momo’s vision went black, and she immediately fainted.

If it were just a beating, it would have been fine, but being sold with her whole family meant no good days ahead.

If she had known that this would happen, she wouldn’t have begged for mercy earlier and would have taken the beating obediently.

The Third Master stepped onto the platform and walked under the eaves, looking at his daughter who was gazing at him. His dark eyes, aside from the anger, were filled with guilt. “Zhao Zhao…”

“Father, you’re here.” Song Yunzhao’s eyes were a little red. She hadn’t expected her father to deal with Cai Shi’s trusted aides for her this time.

The Third Master reached out and patted his daughter’s shoulder, “Father… came late, and let you suffer grievances.”

He always thought he was doing the right thing, balancing between his wife and daughter. Sometimes, even knowing that his wife was being excessive, he would let his daughter suffer grievances to maintain harmony and peace at home.

In his view, those grievances were not significant.

But now he realized he was wrong. Those grievances, which he thought were insignificant, had accumulated over time, leading to a situation where even the servants dared to bully his daughter.

If not for his partiality towards his wife, how would her steward dare to act this way?

Song Yunzhao didn’t have a telepathic connection with her father, and couldn’t understand the depth of his regret and guilt. She smiled and said, “Father, you are not late, you arrived just in time, like a hero descending from the heavens in the storybooks to uphold justice for his daughter.”

Hero?

The Third Master felt he didn’t deserve the title!

But looking at his daughter’s happy smile, he took a deep breath. His daughter was right, it was not too late, there was still time.

Cai Shi got the news quickly, and her face became dark and grim. As she entered Yunzhao’s courtyard and saw the father and daughter pair laughing together, she felt that they were an eyesore. Anger rising, she directly said, “Master, what are you doing? Dou Momo has served me for so many years, even if she hasn’t achieved great merits, she has worked hard…”

After hearing that his wife had come, and noticing that she didn’t show any concern for their daughter and instead pleaded for Dou Momo, the Third Master’s smile turned into anger.

“I didn’t know that in Madam’s heart, a servant is more important than Yunzhao!”

When the Third Master said this, Cai Shi’s face turned as red as a chicken’s comb. “Master, how can you say that? Isn’t Yunzhao fine?” 

“And Dou Momo is only being sold, isn’t she also fine?”

She was not losing her life!

Cai Shi had never been questioned so mercilessly by her husband in front of so many servants. Previously, even if he got angry over Yunzhao’s matters, he would only discuss it with her behind closed doors.

Cai Shi had a bad premonition, her face turning pale, and her chest heaved. For a moment, she didn’t know what to say.

Yunzhao could only feel relieved.

Life was all about balance; whichever side you add weight to will gradually tilt in that direction.

Back then, Cai Shi hated Yunzhao and took her anger out on her because she wasn’t a son. Was her kindness to Song Qinghan really maternal love?

From Yunzhao’s perspective, not necessarily.

Cai Shi was just showing kindness to Song Qinghan to make Yunzhao feel bad. It was a form of vengeful retaliation.

Displacing anger onto others is called displacement in psychology. It is a negative, aggressive psychological defense mechanism, where the strong emotions and impulses caused by something cannot be directly vented on the target object and are instead transferred to another object. 

Back then, Concubine Che was deeply loved by Third Master, and Cai Shi couldn’t openly deal with the her or punish her. Additionally, there was a competitive mentality between them about who would give birth to a son first, so Cai Shi had high hopes for her second pregnancy.

Therefore, when she gave birth to a daughter- Song Yunzhao, the great disappointment Cai Shi felt resulted in displaced anger and aversion, both physiologically and psychologically, which transferred to her.

The aversion and retaliation against Concubine Che were extended to Song Yunzhao, as a subtle form of self-venting behavior.

Once such behavior becomes addictive, it’s hard to change.

So, for so many years, she had felt aversion whenever she saw Song Yunzhao, not wanting her to live well. There was even a subtle hope that her daughter would live worse and worse, all because of this.

Song Yunzhao, having come from the future, could somewhat understand this mentality, but understanding didn’t mean she could forgive. Why should she?

Is she supposed to forgive Cai Shi because of her perversion?

She’s not running a Saint Mary’s Academy.

Even if she could understand, Third Master couldn’t. He didn’t understand psychology; he only felt that Cai Shi was becoming more and more obsessive and increasingly disgusted with their youngest daughter. Recalling the incident where she attacked Yunzhao with a teacup, almost disfiguring her, countless small incidents have accumulated to reach this peak moment. 

After realizing that reasoning with his wife was pointless, the Third Master couldn’t be bothered to argue with her and directly said, “I’ve told you before not to worry about Yunzhao’s matters. Clearly, you didn’t take it to heart. Since you dislike her so much, from now on, as her Father, I will handle her matters.”

Cai Shi was shocked, “Master, what do you mean by this? She is my daughter, whom I carried for ten months. Naturally, she should be under my care.”

Her voice was sharp and distorted due to the shock, and there was a harsh expression on her face.

Third Master’s face turned red with anger.

Song Yunzhao found it troublesome. In ancient times, it was like this. She had heard of people losing their official positions because their unfilial behavior was reported by their parents. This single word ‘filial’ could be used in many ways.

So, Song Yunzhao had to endure life in the Song family, relying on Third Master’s protection to navigate around Cai Shi without truly falling out with her. With insufficient power to oppose her, she could only balance her.

However, with the upcoming selection and the resulting competition for benefits, it was clear that Cai Shi no longer wanted to maintain this balance with her.

Ah, so troublesome.

As the younger generation, Song Yunzhao didn’t say anything at this moment. She stood by Third Master’s side, only needing to make a helpless, sad, and heartbroken expression. 

Sure enough, the Third Master’s previously silent face grew angry again after seeing his daughter’s expression.

The child had been wronged for so many years. Why couldn’t he, as a father, fight for her?

In this world, only he could fight for her.

If his parents were still alive, Third Master Song could have asked his elders to suppress his wife. Unfortunately, his parents had long passed away.

There were still his elder brother and sister-in-law, but they had already divided the family, so even his sister-in-law couldn’t intervene too deeply.

The more Third Master Song thought about it, the more he felt that his daughter had lived a life of grievance for so many years. He increasingly believed that he had failed as a father. Knowing she was wronged, he had still made her endure it for the sake of family harmony.

Seeing his daughter’s accustomed demeanor only made his fatherly heart feel like it was being roasted and tormented by fire.

“Zhao Zhao may be born of you, but she is a daughter of the Song family!” Third Master Song took a deep breath and looked at his wife, “If you continue in your obstinacy and insist on tormenting my daughter, I will have no choice but to personally visit your parents, kneel, and ask for their forgiveness, and have them take you back.”

Song Yunzhao was so shocked that she couldn’t close her mouth! 

Saying it nicely was ‘taking you back,’ but bluntly, it meant ‘if you don’t listen, you’ll be dismissed!’

At this moment, she felt her Father’s figure suddenly grow tall.

Any little complaints she had before flew away on little wings.

“You…what did you say?” For so many years, Cai Shi had always relied on her maternal family. With her decent background and the declining Song family, she always considered herself to have married beneath and never worried about her husband doing anything to her.

“Father, how can you say such a thing!” Song Qinghan rushed in, followed by Song Boyue, and behind Song Boyue was Song Boming, who was trying hard to reduce his presence.

Behind Song Boyue, Song Jinxuan peeked her head around the door, and Song Yunzhao also vaguely saw Concubine Che’s floral dress.

It was…

Clearly a tragedy, almost turned into a comedy by Concubine Che and the others.

“Father, , Mother hasn’t done anything terribly wrong, you can’t do this.” Song Boyue stood in front of his mother, staring at his father, trying to straighten his back.

Song Yunzhao saw the mother-child display of affection over there, and couldn’t help but show some sarcasm on her face. 

Song Qinghan’s eyes were fixed on Song Yunzhao. Seeing Song Yunzhao’s fair cheeks, she knew that her previous scheme had failed, and was feeling resentful. She happened to catch Song Yunzhao’s mocking expression and immediately said, “Third Sister, are you pleased now? How could you be so vicious, making Father divorce mother because of you?”

Song Boyue listened to his sister’s words and looked at Song Yunzhao with a hostile expression, “Third Sister, quickly apologize to mother, and this matter will be over.”

Song Yunzhao, bound by the tight constraints of filial piety, couldn’t do much about Cai Shi, but she could handle Song Qinghan and her brother.

“Alright.” Song Yunzhao nodded earnestly.