When the atmosphere in Zhu Ying Xiaozhu's backyard was solemn, it was not relaxed either in Forbidden Snow Hall or in front of Old Master Sheng's bed!
"Although we still can't fully understand the ins and outs of the second brother's death, it is certain that the second brother was wronged." After a long stalemate, Sheng Lanci, who was favored by Mrs. Sheng the most, finally broke the There was silence, "Originally, we should have taken the second brother back immediately, but now the matter has become a big deal, and everyone in the county is watching. If the Yamen lets the second brother go at this juncture, I'm afraid it will be misunderstood and accept us. The benefits. From a child’s point of view, it is better to let the second brother suffer for a while. After the matter is completely revealed, his innocence is proved, and he can feel confident when he returns home... I wonder what dad thinks? "
—Originally everyone in the Sheng family believed that Sheng Lansi was too fond of the new and disliked the old, and had murdered the Bai family. Sheng Weirao and Mrs. Ming, the direct relatives and grandsons, were completely at odds with each other. Finally, Mrs. Sheng made the final decision and filed for office.
When things got here, even if Mrs. Ming still wanted to do something small, she could only do her best and obey fate with the pressure of the always strong Mrs. Sheng.
Who would have known that in a twist of events, Lance Sheng would not be the murderer!
Now let’s not mention how Mrs. Ming will feel sorry for her son and complain about Mrs. Sheng and others. Just talk about how Sheng Weirao, who originally made a justified and sympathetic argument, will end up. I am afraid that Mrs. Sheng will not be able to speak for this granddaughter!
The above are just internal troubles within the Sheng family, and can be dealt with slowly.
The most terrible thing is the outside world: after Bai was found drowned in a small pond yesterday, Sheng Weide, who was the first to receive the report, panicked and ran to Forbidden Snow Hall for help without even thinking of keeping his mouth shut.
After that, Sheng Weirao and Mrs. Ming had such a quarrel that Mrs. Sheng not only decided to report to the government, but also took the initiative to tie Sheng Lansi to the Yamen. Now, everyone inside and outside Nanfeng City knows that Mrs. Sheng is upright and upright. Righteousness destroys marriage!
At this time, news suddenly came out that it turned out that Sheng Lansi was wronged and the real culprit was someone else. What would everyone think
Nine and a half out of ten people will think that this is a show by the Sheng family who wants to protect their son and gain good reputation, and is acting in conjunction with the Yamen!
However, the Bai family is famous for recognizing money but not people. Even if the Sheng family asks the Bai family to help prove Sheng Lansi's innocence, outsiders will think that the Bai family has received hush money from the Sheng family and is ignoring the Bai family. life!
Although the head of the Sheng family is not the kind of person who regards face as life, what happened this time is completely different from the turmoil at Old Mrs. Sheng's birthday party - the culprit of that turmoil was just two grandchildren who were not yet adults. It’s only your own family that’s being tricked. This kind of household chores, with servants taking care of the vat, and outsiders laughing and joking for a while will be over.
But Bai's death was a homicide, and human life is of paramount importance. Once the Sheng family loses its reputation for disregarding human life, it's easy to imagine how bad the reputation will be in the county!
Of course, it was not that there were no powerful families in Yurou Township at this time. They were so tyrannical that beating and killing innocent people in the street was commonplace. The problem was that the Sheng family was not this kind of family at all. The character of Old Mrs. Sheng, especially, could not accept being classified as being rich and unkind - Sheng Lan Ci's morals are more flexible than his father's, but he also has a headache, which is Sheng Sleeping Crane.
Before Sheng Suihe came back, Sheng Lanci had already become an official and could not leave Nanfeng County. The Sheng family had a bit of a bad reputation in the county. Emperor Gao was far away today, and generally speaking, no one was chasing after him. Reluctant to give up.
But now that Sheng Suihe is back, as Xuan Yu and Feng Shi expected, Sheng Lanci hopes that his son will take the imperial examination and be named on the gold medal list just like he did back then.
Then the reputation of the Sheng family must be paid attention to!
Even if you don't become a well-known philanthropic family, you won't be able to gain any notoriety or reason.
Otherwise, sooner or later, it will become a handle for Sheng Suihe's future political opponents.
Therefore, although Sheng Lanci was usually nice to his younger brother Sheng Lansi, she did not agree with taking him back to the house immediately. After all, how could it be important for a younger brother to have children
"It's better to let that scoundrel stay in jail for a while, lest he spend all his time flirting with women and ruining the family tradition." Old Mrs. Sheng was really angered by his second son and his old wife this time. Naturally, he would not object to the eldest son's proposal, and said, " Tell the people in the yamen that there is no need to give any preferential treatment to that evildoer! After all, even though Bai was not killed by him, she is inseparable from him!"
Sheng Lanci responded, but it was hard to say whether he would do so: he knew that his stepmother, Mrs. Ming, doted on Sheng Lansi, and after knowing that Sheng Lansi was unjustly accused, he would not immediately pick him up. Coming back to take care of and comfort her would already make Mrs. Ming unhappy.
If according to the wishes of Mrs. Sheng, Sheng Lansi is given a hard training in prison, how can Mrs. Ming not feel resentful towards the big house
Although Sheng Lanci is not afraid of her stepmother, she doesn't want to have any grudge against her over such a trivial matter - anyway, Sheng Lanci is just his half-brother, not his son, and it is Mrs. Ming's blood who has been tricked despite repeated admonitions - ever since Sheng Lianlian came in That day, from the moment Mrs. Ming said in public, "Anyway, if the second and third bedrooms are beaten to death, you still have the big bedroom," Sheng Lanci felt that she was being treated like a donkey for not being so kind.
So after saying this, he then said: "The Bai family came here just now. As soon as they met, they said that the second brother must have been wronged. I heard that you were sick, and I wanted to come to pay you respects, but I was afraid of disturbing you. So I politely declined.”
"I don't want to see people from that family now, and I don't want to see them in the future either!" Old Mrs. Sheng said happily, "Although I have never liked the Bai family very much, I have to say this now: This child has also been misunderstood by the family. !”
The Bai family is so eager to excuse Sheng Lansi, not because they trust this brother-in-law, but because regardless of whether Sheng Lansi is Bai's murderer or not, his being sentenced will not be of any benefit to the Bai family - Bai's two biological children They are all still young, and among the children of the second wife, Sheng Weide, who is the most valued now, is from the Ao family.
It is conceivable that if Sheng Lansi is disposed of now, the pair of siblings born to the Bai family will not benefit at all.
Then the Bai family will get even less glory.
And they swore to "believe" that Sheng Lansi was unjustly accused. If Sheng Lansi was really unjustly accused, they could at least gain a good impression; if not, that would be even better. Are they still afraid that the Sheng family would not pay hush money
Mr. Sheng's personality is such that he hates this kind of natal family.
Sheng Lanci looked at her father's angry face, worried about his health, and secretly winked at Feng.
Feng understood and stepped forward and said, "Dad, just now my wife personally cooked your favorite soup. Do you have an appetite now?"
The old man always showed respect to his eldest daughter-in-law. Hearing this, his expression softened and he said with concern: "You are already tired enough to preside over the mansion. During this time, frequent incidents in the mansion have caused more trouble for you. You also have to find time to cook. Your body can bear it." Huh? Next time I’d better let my servants make some. When I was in Northern Xinjiang, eating and sleeping in the open was just a no-brainer. How can I be so delicate?"
"With what Dad said, my wife doesn't feel tired at all!" Mrs. Feng said with a smile, "Well, my wife will serve it to you!"
"Tell Lan to resign!" Old Mrs. Sheng waved his hand and scolded his eldest son, "Your wife is busy at home and outside. Why don't you just sit there and not move? Are you acting like an uncle? Why don't you go get some soup for me!"
Sheng Lanzi, who had not interrupted the conversation until now, finally came to his senses and hurriedly stood up and said: "Dad, the eldest brother is too busy and worried, so let's go with the kids!"
After that, the old lady Sheng finished the soup, and the three of them persuaded him to settle down. After the old lady finished serving here, the three of them went out, but it was time to report the news to Mrs. Ming!
As Sheng Lanci expected, Mrs. Ming almost jumped off the couch when she heard that her son had been wronged: "Then what are you waiting for? Bring Lance back quickly!"
Then he turned to Mrs. Xiao, "Quickly ask someone to clean up the second room, buy some wine and food, hold two family banquets, and give the child a good chance to get rid of his bad luck!"
She was excited, but the sons and daughters-in-law in front of the bed, even her biological parents, Sheng Lanzi and his wife, all had expressions of embarrassment: "Mom, although the second brother is not the real murderer, he is closely related to the case, and his father himself He was tied in. The real culprit who murdered the second brother and sister has not yet been identified. We will bring him back now, and it will be difficult for the Yamen to communicate with others. "
"Furthermore, although the body of the second sibling was sent to the government office after reporting to the official, she was the mistress of the second room after all, and the funeral hall for the second room still had to be built. Otherwise, how could people not say that after the second sibling went, the children in her name were actually You don’t even watch the spirit, and you don’t cry in mourning. How can you ask your nephews and nieces to go out like this?”
"So it wouldn't be appropriate to have a family dinner here, right?"
When Madam Ming heard this, she immediately frowned and said, "It's right to set up a mourning hall for the Bai family. It's my fault that I forgot about it. As for the family banquet, it's not convenient to hold it now, so let's not hold it for now! However, Lan Why can't Si come back? Even if it was his wife who died, he was not the one who killed her! After all, he is still a family member of the person who was killed, so he should be comforted!"
She raised her head and said, "Go and talk to the Yamen, how can anyone do this?"
Sheng Lanci was concerned about Sheng Suihe's future and felt very impatient with her stepmother's noisy behavior. She glanced at her lightly, then her face turned down and she said lukewarmly: "This is what dad wants, and I don't dare to disobey. If mom wants to bring her second brother back now... why don't you and dad go and discuss it?"
"Lan Ci, that's your biological brother!" Mrs. Ming was startled when she noticed her stepson's mood. Feeling aggrieved and unwilling, she slowed down her tone and choked slightly, "Even if he doesn't live up to expectations, he is your bloodline after all. They are tied to each other, aren’t they?!”
Sheng Lanci raised her eyebrows and said, "Mother, what you said makes it seem as if the child is a person who doesn't care about his brothers and sisters, and is unfilial and disloyal."
Madam Ming said hurriedly: "No, no! I just..."
"It's fine if you don't!" Sheng Lanci interrupted her unceremoniously, "Although the Yamen has found out that the second brother did not murder the second brother and sister, how to make the whole county believe this still requires a lot of planning! Baby, wait. I will go to the Yamen in person and pay a visit to the county magistrate and other officials - if my mother has no other instructions, the kid will leave first!"
After saying that, he stood up and motioned for Feng to leave with him.
But Mrs. Feng shook her head at him and turned to Mrs. Ming who was embarrassed and annoyed: "If mother has nothing else to tell us, I have something that I want to report to mother alone!"
Seeing that the old lady was still a little unable to recover, she had no choice but to quietly step forward and lean into the mother-in-law's ear, "It's about... Rao'er!"