Kyoto, Dingyuan Marquis Mansion.
The Dingyuan Marquis Mansion is particularly lively today, because Steward Du, who has been away for more than half a month, has finally returned.
Everyone knew that Manager Du was the Marquis' wife's confidant, and everyone in the mansion was trying to curry favor with her. As soon as she entered the mansion, many maids and servants came up to her and greeted her.
But Manager Du didn't want to talk to them any more and just walked straight to the lady's yard.
When Manager Du went out, she used the excuse of returning to her hometown to visit her relatives, so few people knew what she was going to do. Now that she looked unhappy, people were a little confused.
Marquis Dingyuan's confidant had already hired someone to keep an eye on him, and when they saw Manager Du coming back, someone immediately went to report to Marquis Dingyuan.
But at this moment, Marquis Dingyuan didn't care about Manager Du. After reading the letter sent from Wangnan City, the anger in his eyes almost burned like substance.
Dingyuan Hou swept everything on the desk in the study to the ground, slapped the desk with his hand, and said with gritted teeth: "You can't even deal with a country woman. You are really a useless person who can't do anything good but only makes trouble. I have already found someone to help me, but I still let him run away. He is really useless."
The staff member coughed twice and said, "My Lord, calm down. This matter is actually not a big deal. She is just a girl who grew up in the countryside. She won't be able to achieve anything. We killed her before to eliminate the worries, so that Madam would not find her and be discovered. Now that she is missing, it's good. Madam will give up if she can't find her. In the future, just treat her as dead."
How could Marquis Dingyuan not know this? What made him angry was actually the second half of the letter.
Dingyuan Hou panted heavily, his teeth almost bitten off: "Let's not talk about the other things. Sir, what good things have this loser done? He actually gambled with others on stones at Ziqidonglai and lost a full 1,000 taels of gold. 1,000 taels of gold, my mansion will be ruined by him sooner or later."
No matter how calm the aides were, they were shocked when they heard this, because Ziqidonglai was Prince Chen's territory. If the prince fell into Prince Chen's hands, it would be too late to deal with him if anything happened.
The staff advised: "My Lord, you must not let the Crown Prince fall into the hands of Prince Chen. The Crown Prince cannot keep secrets. If he reveals the matter of the child swap, it will be a crime of deceiving the emperor!"
Marquis Dingyuan slammed his fist on the table again and said bitterly, "I only regret that I was framed and injured and can no longer conceive. Otherwise, I would have given birth to a son and inherited the title. I wouldn't have to clean up this loser's ass all day long like now."
The staff member's eyes moved, a hint of pride flashed in his eyes, but he said kindly: "Although the prince is a little dull, he is filial and obedient to the Marquis. There is probably no one who is easier to control than him."
Marquis Dingyuan snorted coldly when he heard this, but the anger in his heart gradually dissipated.
Meanwhile, Steward Du had just walked to the Madam's west courtyard when a maid came up to him and said with a smile, "Standard Du, you are finally back. Madam has been thinking about you all day long. When you are not here, Madam can't eat or sleep well."
But Manager Du couldn't laugh, she knew that the Madam wasn't thinking about her at all. The Madam clearly wanted her to bring the eldest lady back, but she had not completed this task.
Moreover, the eldest lady has suffered so much over the years. If the lady knew about this, I wonder how furious she would be.
Besides, in order to avoid too many eyes, Steward Du did not bring both Zhou and Chen's families back to the Marquis' Mansion directly. Instead, he planned to explain the situation to the lady first to see how she was going to act.
Manager Du forced a smile, lifted the door curtain and walked into the house.
As soon as she entered the room, Steward Du knelt down and said in a trembling voice, "Madam, I am back."
The Marquis' wife was originally looking at the jasmine in the teacup in a trance. When she heard the words, she thought it was her hallucination. She looked at the steward Du on the ground and blinked, then she realized that she was really back. The Marquis' wife quickly stood up and looked outside, her tone was anxious and excited: "Ayuan, why are you alone? Where is the eldest lady? Is she okay? Please let her in quickly, I, I can see her too." At this point, her eyes were already wet.
Manager Du's face became even more rigid. He gritted his teeth and whispered the truth: "Madam, the eldest lady is not back. She is missing."
Upon hearing this, the Marquis's wife felt dizzy for a moment. She held her forehead and fell back into the rattan chair.
Seeing this, Steward Du quickly got up from the ground and helped her up, saying anxiously, "Madam, what's wrong with you? I'll go call the doctor right away."
After saying that, she was about to walk out.
However, the Marquis's wife held her arm tightly, her nails digging into her flesh, "Don't leave, tell me clearly, what happened? My daughter...she, why did she disappear?"
Manager Du knelt down again, bit his lip, and finally told everyone what he had heard.
The Marquis's face turned pale and blue, and tears rolled down her face like beads. She almost fainted several times.
Manager Du felt bad seeing her like this, and couldn't help but burst into tears at the end.
But the Marquis’ wife perked up and said in a gloomy tone: “So you brought them all to Beijing, right? Ayuan, well done. They abused my daughter so much, and my daughter is missing. Now I don’t know whether she is dead or alive. How can they live well?”
Manager Du nodded: "Yes, now they are all in our farm outside Beijing. Madam, you can punish them however you want, but don't harm your health."
When the Marquis's wife thought of the injustices her daughter had suffered, she felt indescribable hatred in her heart.
She hated more than just the Zhou and Chen families; what she hated the most was her own husband, Marquis Dingyuan.
If Marquis Dingyuan had not exchanged her child, her daughter would not have suffered so much hardship. Her child should have grown up in luxury and carefree by her side, and she could have personally chosen a husband of her dreams in the future, and they would have lived in harmony.
"Tell the people on the farm to serve them well. I want to make their lives worse than death. Also," the Marquis's wife closed her eyes and finally said the second half of the sentence, "Please ask father and eldest brother to send some more people to look for the eldest lady. If she is alive, we must see her, or her body if she is dead."
Manager Du nodded and said earnestly, "Madam, the young lady will be fine. You must take care of yourself."
The Marquis's wife seemed not to hear this, and only murmured to herself: "Mother will seek justice for you. No one can harm my daughter."
Manager Du looked at his wife with some concern, but finally decided to go downstairs to find a doctor.
(End of this chapter)