One had to admit, Lü Liang was quite the hand at managing the family, but when it came to raising his son, he was sorely lacking.
The father and son kept up their back-and-forth bickering like a rehearsed act, until Qiu Yimeng's delicate brows furrowed slightly and she spoke in a flat tone: "Uncle, if you only wish to discipline your own son, you can do that back at the Lü estate. There's no need to do it here."
Hearing the impatience and coldness in Qiu Yimeng's voice, Lü Liang's heart skipped a beat. He could no longer concern himself with sparing his son's feelings. He strode up to Lü Song, grabbed him by the collar, hauled him up, and then shoved him face-down onto the ground.
With a casual movement, he restrained him.
Lü Song's face flushed scarlet as he knelt on the ground, feeling utterly humiliated. Even the gaze he turned toward Lü Liang had turned to hatred.
"If you dare defy me again, I'll cripple you right here and now," Lü Liang said coldly, his expression eerily calm.
He was not joking.
Seeming to sense this, Lü Song immediately swallowed his words.
"My apologies for the spectacle, Eldest Miss." Lü Liang cupped his fists and bowed slightly.
Qiu Yimeng suddenly felt nothing but weariness. She knew exactly what Lü Liang was trying to do, but being saddled with such an incorrigible son was enough to give anyone a headache.
This Lü Song — in terms of character, he wasn't even fit to hold a candle to playboys like Huo Xingchen. Huo Xingchen might have been a reckless wastrel, arrogant and overbearing, but at least he had the sense to know when to follow Yang Kai.
"Uncle, if you have something to say, why not speak plainly." Qiu Yimeng didn't want to look at Lü Song's face any longer and couldn't be bothered with pleasantries.
Lü Liang sighed. "This old man was originally on his way to Zhongdu to visit your father. I never expected that along the way, I would hear some most... unexpected news."
"When this worthless brat was expelled from Young Master Ninth's estate, he never sent word back to the Lü family to inform me of what truly happened. Instead, he deliberately concealed it from me. I kept believing he was still serving under Young Master Ninth. It was only when I set out this time that I learned he had gone over to Young Master Fifth."
"Uncle..." Qiu Yimeng cut in, signaling that Lü Liang should stop wasting time on irrelevant matters. Whether or not he had known the truth before was beside the point. What mattered now was what Lü Liang intended to do.
Lü Liang looked slightly abashed. He dropped the subject and instead offered a conciliatory smile: "Eldest Miss, I only wish to ask... what is Young Master Ninth's current attitude toward us?"
"His attitude?" Qiu Yimeng pondered for a moment, then said with a bitter smile, "If you ask me, Uncle, you're making a mountain out of a molehill."
"Oh?" Lü Liang looked puzzled.
"Yang Kai never had Lü Song in his sights to begin with. The beating he took was the work of the Dong family. Knowing Yang Kai's temperament, if Lü Song had truly angered him, do you think he would have survived last night?"
"He'd dare kill me?" Lü Song's lip curled as he demanded shrilly.
"You're welcome to try him and see whether he dares!" Qiu Yimeng's beautiful face turned cold in an instant.
A chill ran through Lü Song's heart, and he immediately reined in the arrogance on his face.
"Uncle." Qiu Yimeng turned back to Lü Liang, her tone softening. "When Lü Song came to pledge himself that day and Yang Kai turned him away, I bore some responsibility. I felt he was unsuitable to remain in Yang Kai's estate. You should know what your own son is like. If he stayed at Yang Kai's estate, sooner or later he would meet an untimely end. So I nudged him into doing certain things, giving Yang Kai a pretext to expel him."
Lü Liang smiled wryly and nodded. "Eldest Miss's foresight and good intentions — this old man is deeply grateful."
"The next day, I spoke with him as well and told him to leave War City. He wouldn't listen and stayed behind. Pledging himself to Yang Kang was his own choice. Yang Kai doesn't even know about this, and even if he did, he likely wouldn't care. There's certainly no reason for him to blame your family — he discarded a man. Is that man not allowed to seek service elsewhere?" Qiu Yimeng spoke with complete candor, laying her heart bare.
"Everything that's happened now is of his own doing. No one else is to blame." She fixed Lü Liang with a steady gaze. "If you want to blame anyone, you can only blame yourself for letting him participate in the Battle for Succession."
"I failed as a father!" Lü Liang's face was etched with shame. He knew full well what manner of person his son was. But the Battle for Succession was such a momentous affair — he had wanted Lü Song to experience it, to temper his character, so that one day he could inherit the Lü family's legacy.
Before his departure, he had hammered the instructions home over and over, but Lü Song had let every word pass through one ear and out the other.
"Yang Kai bears no intention of holding this against your family. You can rest assured on that count. Even if Yang Kai truly becomes the head of the Yang family, your Lü house will not suffer any fallout from this matter."
Hearing this, Lü Liang immediately breathed a sigh of relief.
This was what he feared most. From the way things stood, Yang Kai was certain to become the Yang family's next patriarch. If some whim ever struck him to settle old scores from the Battle for Succession, the Lü family could easily find itself caught in the crossfire.
"Thank you for pointing out the way, Eldest Miss!" Lü Liang expressed his gratitude profusely, his expression considerably more relaxed. After a pause, he added with some embarrassment: "Eldest Miss, may I ask one more question — does Young Master Ninth currently need more manpower?"
Qiu Yimeng glanced up at him and smiled lightly: "What did you have in mind, Uncle?"
Lü Liang rubbed his hands together and grinned: "I only want this worthless brat to earn redemption through service! Rest assured, with just one word from Young Master Ninth, the Lü family will provide both men and resources this time — and we'll ask for nothing in return."
"I'm afraid there won't be an opportunity for that," Qiu Yimeng said slowly, shaking her head.
"Eldest Miss, are you not trusting Lü Song? After this lesson, I think he'll have learned his memory. If only—"
"Uncle, when Yang Kai and I were staying at your Lü estate some time ago, I told you this: if I were you, I would choose Yang Kai as an ally without hesitation!"