activa-t Chapter 495 Grandmother's Explanation
Chapter 495 Grandmother's Explanation
What exactly is Murong Zhen's motive?
Over the years, Yu Wanyu has been asking this question repeatedly—to Murong Zhen, to herself, and to others. She has asked it countless times, but has never received an answer.
People only know that Murong was born into a wealthy merchant family and was blessed by heaven. In just a few decades, he has achieved his current success and status, but almost no one knows that Murong originally made his fortune by tomb raiding.
Putting aside other matters, things from the ground are never truly clean. That's why Murong Zhen has been keen on befriending sorcerers in recent years, holding rituals in his mansion every month. She dislikes the noise and commotion and always makes excuses to avoid them. Murong Zhen is already distant from her, and he won't come to her courtyard for ten days or half a month, so naturally he doesn't care whether she participates or not.
But rumors about a young sorcerer still reached her ears.
At that time, he was just a young Taoist priest in his early twenties named Jingzhi. He had a handsome, delicate appearance, making it hard to believe that such a young man was a Taoist priest. However, Murong Zhen trusted and relied on Jingzhi more and more, not only entrusting all the rituals in the mansion to Jingzhi, but also inviting him to live in the Murong mansion and treating him as an honored guest.
The young sorcerer was once the most popular figure.
Since then, Murong Zhen has become increasingly eccentric and obsessive. He insisted on arranging a marriage with the Yuan family, and for some unknown reason, he flew into a rage before the wedding, refusing to attend Shao Ai's wedding and even forbidding anyone from visiting him at Zhixuan Mountain. Until that year... Later, he fell ill. At first, he refused to see a doctor, spending all his time with Jingzhi, reportedly hiding behind closed doors and plotting something.
At that time, she was immersed in the grief of losing her daughter and had no energy left to care about others. Later, his illness worsened, and he remained indoors for days on end, seen by no one except Murong Chuan and Jingzhi. Rumors spread like wildfire that Murong Zhen was terminally ill and would soon pass away, bringing the undercurrents within the Murong household to the surface. Yet, he ignored them all, his gaze fixed intently on Zhixuan Mountain…
“I really don’t know what he’s trying to do…” Yu Wanyu lowered her head, folding and unfolding the handkerchief repeatedly. After a long while, she suddenly looked up, her expression changing. “That’s right! Only back then… only that one time, I passed by Murong Zhen’s courtyard. The ritual inside had just ended, and I heard the sorcerer say that Murong Zhen was destined for a great calamity. At the time, I thought it was just the sorcerer’s deception and didn’t pay attention. I only heard that he mentioned marriage. About half a year later, Murong Zhen was engaged to the Yuan family. Could it be—”
She was still startled, and then shook her head in denial, "No, no... He went to the Yuan family himself back then, and when he came back, he was very angry and complained about how the Yuan family had neglected and looked down on him. His goal back then was to become the heir of the Yuan family. According to seniority, you should call him your uncle... But twenty years ago, although Murong was already a wealthy and influential man, his foundation was not strong enough, so it was still a bit difficult for him to climb up to the Yuan family."
"On the surface, the Yuan family did not refuse, but they passed the matter on to Zhixuan Mountain. Yuan Junfeng has a bad temper, and given his personality, he would never agree to a marriage that others rejected but which ended up at his doorstep. Thus, this difficult task fell on Yuan Junfeng's shoulders. Who knew that the other party's calculations were wrong? Yuan's eldest son persuaded Yuan Junfeng, which led to this marriage that seemed to be viewed unfavorably by everyone... To say that Murong Zhen was originally after Zhixuan Mountain is a bit of a stretch."
"So what kind of person is he?" Yuan Ge thought for a moment, then chuckled to herself, "Although I have never met him, I can roughly piece together a few things... Obsessive, selfish, valuing status and face above all else... That should be the kind of person he is, right?" After saying that, she lifted her eyelids to look over, her smiling eyes revealing a mischievousness that seemed somewhat irritating to the other person.
“Xiaoqian… he is your maternal grandfather.” Yu Wanyu said earnestly as always, “Even if he has a thousand faults, you cannot speak of him like that… it is extremely disrespectful and will also harm you.”
Although she said this, she did not refute Yuan Ge's description. Given her personality, she must have racked her brains but could not find any words of defense.
She seemed to have a habit of maintaining a furrowed brow for a long time, so much so that the only prominent feature on her well-maintained face was the deep, noticeable lines between her brows. Yuan Ge didn't refute her, but only looked at the fine lines between her brows and gently reminded her, "A person like this, who still insists on marrying into the Yuan family despite their neglect, if you really have no ulterior motives... do you believe that yourself?"
Naturally, I don't believe it.
Yu Wanyu clenched the handkerchief in her hand even tighter, her neatly trimmed nails appearing bloodless and pale. She clenched her teeth, her voice becoming much hoarse, "I...I don't know much."
As she spoke, she seemed to realize it lacked credibility, so she added, "For a long time after Shao Rou and Shao Ai left, I was very ill, and I lost all my energy and spirit. I was constantly taking medicine and couldn't even get out of bed. At first, he would come to see me occasionally, but I was so ill that I was neglected and couldn't be taken care of properly, so he stopped coming after a while. Even before that, he never told me about his plans and schemes... Perhaps, we had already drifted apart."
“He is estranged from me and I am estranged from him… I can’t leave him, I can’t break free. In the end, he dislikes me and I resent him, it’s like we’re entangled and neither of us is willing to let go of the other…” The corners of her mouth trembled up and down from time to time. Yuan Ge had never seen such an expression before, a smile that was not a smile, a cry that was not a cry, and the flesh and skin on her face seemed to be out of control.
She probably wanted to smile; it was her last vestige of dignity. But years of pent-up emotions had taken their toll, rendering her unable to even manage a proper expression. She lowered her eyes. "If I hadn't hoped to see Shao'ai this time, I wouldn't have come all this way… Xiaoqian, I know you have some reservations about me because of Doctor Feng, but I truly believe Anshi is more suitable for him. He's getting old, and his eyesight isn't good anymore; living on the mountain would be very inconvenient. That's truly what I think…"
Upon hearing this, Yuan Ge remained silent, only smiling with his eyes lowered, his expression indifferent, making it impossible to tell whether he believed it or not.
Just as Yu Wanyu was about to speak, a guard hurried over, bowed, and whispered, "Young Madam, something unexpected has happened at the herb garden. The master thinks it would be best if you went over there to hear about the confrontation between the two young masters."