Chapter 54 - 54 54 They've Grown Bolder

Words : 1442 Updated : Sep 12th, 2025

54: Chapter 54: They’ve Grown Bolder 54: Chapter 54: They’ve Grown Bolder Those people were actually saying that he had become betrothed to that old girl from the Wang Family who had a schoolgirl crush on him and always followed him around! How was that possible? He had always avoided her like the plague, hadn’t he? Although Song Chongjin outwardly expressed disbelief, his mind replayed the recent encounters with Wang Yongzhu, who had become increasingly brazen in blocking his path. He had initially thought Wang Yongzhu had simply become more shameless over time, but now, could it be that her boldness was because of a betrothal between their families? But why, if they were betrothed, was he not aware of it? Song Chongjin’s heart sank for reasons he couldn’t quite articulate. With that thought, he lost all inclination to wander the mountains and turned towards home. From outside the courtyard, he could hear people talking inside the house, and they seemed to be mentioning the betrothal. He was thankful he had resisted the impulse to charge in and demand answers. Instead, he agilely scaled the wall and snuck to the window of the wing where his mother lived, intent on discovering the truth. What he overheard then chilled his heart. Song Chongjin had known since he was a child that despite bearing the Song name, he was not truly a member of the Song Family. He was merely the result of his birth mother Song Chunhua serving as a maid and being given to a noble patron to warm his bed. Due to her beauty at a young age, Song Chunhua became a maid in a household of a scholar who had once been an official but then retired back to their home village. One day, a Noble Patron visited the master’s house. This Noble Patron had a jealous high-born wife who guarded the back chambers; despite being barren, she refused to allow others to bear children. The Noble Patron was approaching middle age and had no heir. While on an official trip, he stayed at Song Chunhua’s master’s house. The master, seeking favor from the Noble Patron, presented the young and beautiful Song Chunhua to him. After several intimate encounters, the Noble Patron left, brushing off the affair. Song Chunhua was left behind, and within a couple of months, she discovered she was pregnant. The master’s family coaxed Song Chunhua into having the child, saying that if it was a boy, he would be the Noble Patron’s eldest son, and he would inherit the Noble Patron’s vast estate. Song Chunhua could then rise from a maid to become a concubine, and her entire family would enjoy endless wealth and honor. Song Chunhua, submissive and indecisive by nature, accepted whatever arrangements were made. Seduced by the master’s promises, she dutifully carried her pregnancy. It was later rumored that her masters suddenly rose in status and had to leave to take an official position elsewhere. Considering it inconvenient to take her along, they convinced her to return to her family to wait out her pregnancy. Lacking assertiveness, Song Chunhua returned home, belly full and carrying the travel expenses and promises given by her master’s family. After the birth of Song Chongjin, the master’s family vanished without a trace, and nobody even knew the name or surname of that Noble Patron. At first, the Song Family had hoped to elevate their status through Song Chongjin, but as years passed without a single sign of the Noble Patron, they grew cold-hearted. The people who initially approached Song Chunhua and her son for their perceived advantage began to mock and deride them. Especially Song Chunhua’s own family, who scoured clean the money and promises given to her by her masters for her child’s wellbeing, and when they could extract no more benefits, they ousted the mother and son. Accustomed to submissiveness and adversity, Song Chunhua felt no resentment upon being expelled. Instead, she believed she had shamed her family and thought that their only banishing her and her son was already merciful enough. At least the Song Family Patriarch was not too cruel and arranged a remote homestead for Song Chunhua and her son, even helping to build a thatched-roof cottage for them, providing a place for mother and child to settle. Song Chunhua had been raised from a young age to be a servant, her physique not as strong as the other women in the village, and the difficult birth of Song Chongjin had damaged her health, necessitating regular medication. When she was thrown out of her natal home, aside from a few articles of clothing, she managed to desperately beg and keep some old belongings prepared by her former masters for her child. The Song Family, though covetous, was still very wary; taking Song Chunhua’s things was one thing, but most of Song Chongjin’s items were brought with her under the coercive pressure of the Clan Leader. By pawning Song Chongjin’s belongings, they barely managed not to starve, living a life of extreme hardship. It wasn’t until Song Chongjin grew a bit older that their lives became increasingly difficult to sustain. He risked his life going into the mountains to gather herbs, and later followed others to learn hunting. Only after gaining some harvest did their lives slowly start to improve. Seeing that Song Chongjin and his mother were doing better, the Song Family relatives who had cold-heartedly driven them out and ignored their life and death began circling around again. With only a few insincere tears shed and cries of helplessness, Song Chunhua forgave them. And they resumed their visits. From then on, the Song Family never had a day of peace; Song Chunhua was always frail and needed medicine to preserve her life. Before Song Chongjin was able to support the family, they lived on the items that Song Chunhua had brought from her former owner’s home for Song Chongjin, pawning them off to get by. Even so, much of it was embezzled by her siblings. After Song Chongjin started earning money, the uncles and aunts came knocking on the door one after another, sweet-talking him in hopes of coaxing him into giving them some game to relish. Ever since Song Chongjin could remember, he had experienced being expelled from the Song Family, left with no place to go in the vast world alongside Song Chunhua, with relatives who looked on with indifference, those vulnerable and helpless days he could never forget. He had seen the true faces of his maternal family and uncles and aunts at that time. He was not like his own mother, who was weak and easy to bully, so he took no pains to be polite to those relatives. But he couldn’t help that his mother was soft-hearted and particularly heedful of her natal family’s words. Whenever there was something good to eat at home, it never lasted the night, all taken personally by Song Chunhua to her natal home. Every time Song Chongjin objected, Song Chunhua would cover her chest and cry, saying she had failed him and her parents, that she could do nothing right, and she might as well be dead. Song Chongjin could only keep silent and endure. But this ended up spoiling her maternal family’s appetite and emboldening them further. Song Tiedan from Qilidun didn’t live well; although his family didn’t have many children, they had their share of profligates. The elders didn’t produce anything, and his two sons were the epitome of idleness and gluttony. His eldest daughter, Song Chunye, had a sweet tongue but a bitter heart. Initially sold into her marital home, because of the excessive dowry demanded, for many years the in-laws’ household could not recover financially, leading to a very tight existence. In the past, they could barely scrape by with the stipend from Song Chunhua’s work as a Maid. Later, when Song Chunhua returned to her maternal home pregnant, the entire family lived off her support. Afterward, when the reserves that Song Chunhua brought back were spent, the Song Family’s days plummeted. Although the uncles were idle and gluttonous, they had many children, and it was time for them to marry. The same was true for the aunts’ families with several children of marryable age. But in this countryside, how could they find wives without money or a dowry? The Song Family had three or four young men of the same generation as Song Chongjin, all of age to find a wife. Yet, with no bride price available, how could they bring someone into the household as a bride? The maternal family worried together!

Chapter 54 - 54 54 They've Grown Bolder

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