The carriage of the marquis's mansion bypassed the crowded main street, and passed through the peddlers hawking their wares along the street. It took quite some time before it arrived at the farm in the suburbs of Beijing.
The old servant who was guarding the manor was surprised to see his master coming without saying a word, and hurried over to greet him.
But the marquis' wife didn't even turn her head and walked straight into the manor.
At this moment, her steps were very fast, almost like she was jogging, completely lacking the elegant and leisurely demeanor of a Kyoto noblewoman.
"Madam? What happened?" The old servant stared at her back in confusion and asked.
Manager Du didn't bother to explain and hurriedly trotted after him.
The old servant let out an "eh" and had no choice but to follow quickly behind.
Manager Du was plump and round, and she was already out of breath after running only a few steps.
Fortunately, the Marquis stopped at this moment and asked in a cold voice: "Where are the two families?"
Manager Du panted and looked back at the old servant: "Where did you place the people I brought with me?"
The old servant was at a loss: "You said before that you wanted to make their lives harder, so I sent them to the back hill to chop firewood."
Manager Du was stunned when he heard this. Just chopping wood
The marquis's wife was even more glad that she came today. Those people were just ordinary farmers and should have been accustomed to doing these rough and dirty jobs. How could chopping wood be such torture
Madam Hou pursed her lips and said, "Go and bring them here. I want to interrogate them."
The old servant responded quickly and called a few strong men from the farm to go to the back mountain together.
Those guys are not obedient and you can't order them around without a few strong men.
Especially the ugly scholar, who was bold and presumptuous in his words, as if he was some extraordinary figure. However, when the old servant heard those people calling him Chen Xiucai, he realized that he was just a scholar.
He is an old servant who guards the farm for the marquis's wife. He is more feared by people outside than a poor scholar. I wonder where this scholar Chen gets the confidence to be so arrogant
By the way, there is also a man named Zhou Chengwen, who really annoys me. That man never tells the truth, and always says that he is the husband of the niece of the Marquis's wife. But as an old man from the Shangshu Mansion, I know that the Marquis's wife has no niece at all, and the eldest son clearly only gave birth to three sons.
After the old servant thought for a while, he arrived at the back mountain.
At this time, the people from the Zhou family and the Chen family were not chopping wood, but were sitting leisurely in the pavilion at the foot of the mountain chatting.
The servant only told them to chop wood, but did not specify how much they should chop. So they just picked up some dry wood and went back. Anyway, the servant would not be too harsh on them.
At this moment, the Zhou family has figured it out. No matter how angry Chen Mingyue's aunt is, it is an indisputable fact that Chen Mingyue is the daughter-in-law of their Zhou family. So if you think about it carefully, they and the wife of Marquis Dingyuan are still relatives.
Since they are relatives, there is nothing to be afraid of. The worst that can happen is that after finding Chen Mingyue, the Zhou family will not divorce her.
Chen Xiucai was even more fearless. He was the biological father of the prince of Dingyuan Marquis. With the prince around, who would dare to touch him? Moreover, his eldest uncle was the confidant of Dingyuan Marquis. Even for his wife, his eldest uncle would keep them safe.
Liu Wan'er didn't know anything, but seeing her husband so calm, she was not afraid of anything.
Seeing the contemptuous looks on the faces of these people, the old servant couldn't help scratching his head, feeling that he no longer understood the world.
But the old servant did not hesitate, and just said to them: "Come down the mountain with me, my wife is here and wants to see you."
The people from Zhou and Chen families could not help but swallow their saliva when they heard this, and then they felt nervous. They thought that this servant was here to cause trouble again, but it turned out to be the Marquis's wife.
The Marquis’ wife is an official higher than the county magistrate. She is a very noble person, and now they have actually seen her.
The group of people did not ask the old servant to use any strong men, but followed the old servant spontaneously and consciously.
It's just that they were adjusting their clothes and fiddling with their hair, acting so serious and earnest that the old servant couldn't help but smack his lips and once again thought that this group of people was really strange.
After a while, a group of people came to the Marquis's wife.
When they saw the marquis' wife wearing a light purple brocade dress embroidered with plum blossoms, with her hair tied up in a unique fairy bun and a flying kite jade hairpin pinned in her bun, and her appearance showing a pure and elegant temperament, a group of people subconsciously held their breath, thinking that she was a person from heaven.
But Manager Du shouted angrily, "How dare you! Who allowed you to look directly at the Madam? Come, slap her face."
Several strong servants stepped forward and grabbed Zhou Dalang, Zhou Erlang and Chen Xiucai who had been staring at the Marquis's wife, and slapped them hard with two symmetrical slaps.
This scared the other people from the Zhou and Chen families.
Zhou Dalang's wife even screamed and wanted to tear Jianpu's face off, yelling, "I'm going to kill you. Why did you hit my man?"
Liu Wan'er was so frightened that she burst into tears. She quickly grabbed Chen Xiucai's arm and called out weakly, "Husband..."
The Marquis's wife didn't even blink, she just said softly, "It's so noisy."
Manager Du knew what was going on when he heard the music, and immediately ordered people to cover the mouths of Zhou Dalang's wife and Liu Wan'er, and said sinisterly: "If anyone disturbs the lady's ears again, you will lose your tongue."
This time everyone else was so scared that they covered their mouths and no one dared to make a sound.
The Marquis's wife was satisfied, and she smiled softly, saying, "In fact, I came here today because I heard that you all bullied my poor niece, so I came here to seek justice for her. How about this, as long as you tell me who bullied her and explain everything clearly, I will reward you handsomely."
At this point, the Marquis's wife clapped her hands, and Steward Du immediately opened the large box on the stone platform next to her.
People from the Zhou and Chen families looked over, and their eyes were dazzled for a moment. They saw that the box was filled with piles of gold ingots. The color was golden and very pleasing to the eye.
The Zhou family was not united to begin with, and with the added bonus of money, Zhou Silang's wife immediately raised her head and said loudly, "I know, Madam, I know, my eldest sister-in-law despises Chen Mingyue the most, oh no, Mingyue. Before Mingyue was about to give birth, I saw my eldest sister-in-law secretly pouring oil on the place where Mingyue was going, which caused Mingyue to give birth prematurely, and also caused Pan Di to give birth prematurely and become sickly."
Dalang's wife could never have imagined that the fourth son's wife would actually say such words in front of the marquis's wife. She was trying to kill herself.
Dalang's wife looked at Lao Si's wife angrily and said, "Wang Xiuhua, stop talking nonsense here. It's obviously you who are jealous of Chen Mingyue's beauty. You always whisper in my mother's ear and tell her not to let them eat enough. It's all your fault that they are so miserable."
When Mrs. Zhou Huang heard that the anger was directed at her, she immediately shouted, "What does this have to do with me? You guys have been saying that Chen Mingyue can't give birth to a son, and it's a waste to eat so much. It's better to let her do more work. Anyway, no one in the Chen family will make decisions for her."
Mr. and Mrs. Chen never expected that the old witch Zhou Huang would actually bring trouble upon them.
But one of them had a swollen face from being slapped and couldn't speak, while the other had his mouth blocked and couldn't speak either, so he could only stammer.
However, other members of the Zhou family also became interested in the gold, and they revealed all the past events in which Chen Mingyue was bullied to the Marquis' wife.
(End of this chapter)