"Mother, please save me, mother, I... I am your darling child!" Madam Liu Qi Xiejiao cried in front of Madam Dowager Qi and put her hands on her knees. "I... How could I do such a thing? Yu was vicious herself. I don't know who instructed her to do this before she died. She still came to harm me. Mother, save me!"
Madam Qi's hands were shaking, and she stared at Qi Xiejiao with tears in her eyes: "You...you said this matter really has nothing to do with you?"
"It really doesn't matter, mother. I was attracted to Liu Lang at the time, and I heard that someone else wanted to discuss marriage with him, so I asked father for help. But at that time I really didn't know it was Xiao Yue. How could I harm her? I... I have no grudge against her, why would I harm her!"
Qi Xiejiao cried and protested her injustice.
“You… you really have no grudge against her. Do you think she is an eyesore to you… you…” Every word Mrs. Qi said seemed to be worth a thousand gold. She could no longer hold back her tears, which fell one by one, and she sobbed uncontrollably.
"Mother, if I have such thoughts, I will be struck by lightning and die a miserable death! After death, I will go to the Avici Hell and never be reborn!" Qi Xiejiao raised her hand and swore.
Seeing her daughter swear such a vicious oath, the lady was heartbroken. She quickly reached out to cover her mouth and scolded: "How can you say such a thing, you...how can you say..."
"Mother, I do dislike Madam Qu Er a little, and I am a little concerned about what she almost agreed to with Liu Lang, but that's all. Mother asked me to take care of her at the time, and I did. It's just that I couldn't be intimate with her behind people, so I deliberately avoided her, but that's all!"
Qi Xiejiao cried, "I don't know who wants to harm me, the Duke of Qi's Mansion, and Jingyu. They are forcing me to death! If I could really understand this injustice, I would rather die to atone for my crime and pay for Yue's death."
Having said this, Qi Xiejiao burst into tears.
Suddenly, a servant's voice came from outside the door: "This servant greets the old Duke!"
"Meet the old Duke!"
Those were the maids and old women guarding outside the door. The mother and daughter in the room looked up together and saw that the door was kicked open heavily, and the old Duke walked in angrily.
"Father!" Qi Xiejiao's eyes lit up and she rushed over. Compared to the powerful old Duke, the Madam was much weaker.
Before she could get over, the old Duke came over angrily and kicked Qi Xiejiao right on the body. Qi Xiejiao was kicked and fell, hitting the corner of the table next to the lady. She covered her chest with her hand and spat out a mouthful of blood.
"Duke, what are you doing? Are you going to kick Jiao'er to death?" The lady stood up with a scream, reaching out to support Xie Jiao, crying loudly.
"Why let this ungrateful and ungrateful woman live? It would be best to kick her to death!" The old Duke glared at Qi Xiejiao with anger in his eyes.
"Father... Father, I'm Jiao'er, you... what are you saying, why don't I understand?" Qi Xiejiao raised her tearful eyes, not bothering to wipe the blood that was flowing out from the corners of her lips, and looked at the old Duke, "Father, I really didn't do anything... If father is so arbitrary, I am willing to give you an explanation right now, and die here, and repay father's life!"
She said it very firmly, but tears fell one after another. She looked at Duke Qi with despair and expectation in her eyes, as if she really had nowhere else to go. Only the old Duke in front of her was her hope.
It seemed like her only hope and also her only beg.
She has been favored by the old Duke since she was a child. She is more sensible than other young ladies. She has been good at playing the piano, chess, calligraphy and painting since she was a child. She has always been the old Duke's pride. Compared with his two sons, the old Duke has poured more love on her.
The originally spoiled daughter is more attentive than the son.
Sons will inherit the family business in the future, while daughters can be loved and pampered. What's more, if a person is loved by two people, he or she will naturally be better than others.
Not seeing her was one thing, seeing her was another. Seeing her in such a miserable state, yet still full of expectations for him, the old Duke was filled with rage, but for a moment he didn't know how to vent it. His hands were shaking and he could hardly clench his fists.
"Father, do you also think that I harmed Xiao Yue?" Seeing that the old Duke did not speak, the expectation in Qi Xiejiao's eyes faded. She wiped the corners of her lips again. The smile on the corners of her lips was stained with blood. She staggered and stood up with the help of the table. "In this case, father, just pretend that I have never given birth to a daughter. If there is an afterlife, I will repay you for your kindness in raising me. I only hope that you will understand in the future that I was framed by others. There is someone behind the Yu family. Otherwise, how could... I was involved again after such a long time."
She smiled miserably, closed her eyes, and was about to crash into a pillar.
The lady was standing beside her. When she saw that something was wrong, she hurriedly hugged her tightly, fearing that she would really be depressed. In all these years, her daughter had never been so disheartened.
“What on earth are you doing here? Do you really want to force her to death? Even if she dies, Yue won’t be able to survive. Two... Both are daughters. What... What are you going to do? Are you trying to force me to death?” The old lady pushed the old Duke with her hands while crying. She was sobbing and she was at a loss.
Although she also suspected Qi Xiejiao, she did not want Qi Xiejiao to die like this. Her biological daughter was already gone, so was this adopted daughter going to die too
Besides, my daughter is right. If there really was something wrong, she should have said it during the initial trial. Why wait until now
There is indeed someone behind Yu. Who is it that cannot tolerate his own daughter, or someone wants to deal with the Crown Prince of the Eastern Palace.
How dare you act rashly when it comes to something that could affect the entire body
The old lady was only concerned with protecting Madam Liu, but she didn't notice that when Madam Liu heard her words, her eyes were shaken...
The old Duke watched Madam Qi pushing his hand, watched Madam Qi crying, and then looked at his daughter crying in his wife's arms. Was the daughter he had raised for so many years really an ungrateful person? Did she really kill her own daughter
Everything now looks more like a frame-up!
Is he going to deal with me, or the crown prince? Is he going to stir up a bloody storm in the court
No matter which angle you look at it from, there is something fishy about this matter.
The old Duke staggered back two steps, his tiger eyes filled with tears, he glared at Qi Xiejiao fiercely, stretched out his finger and pointed at the Madam, there was a faint smell of blood on his chest, for a moment he didn't know what to say, he just felt unbearable heartache, but he didn't know what to say, his eyes were sore.
As soon as the door opened, he strode away.
Outside the courtyard gate, Liu Jingyu and Qi Xiu'nan walked over together. When they saw the old Duke, they hurriedly stopped to greet him.
The old Duke didn't even look at them and just walked past them.
"What's wrong with grandfather?" Qi Xiu Nan looked up at the old Duke's back in confusion, his handsome brows furrowed.
"It can't be because of my mother, right? Could it be that my grandfather really believes those words?" Liu Jingyu said in surprise. She followed Madam Liu back to the Duke of Qi's Mansion today to discuss this matter.
Before, the Madam Dowager and Madam Liu asked her to go find Qi Xiu Nan who had just returned home, so she went to find him with a worried look on her face.
"No, how could Grandfather believe such nonsense?" Qi Xiunan shook his head and asked Liu Jingyu thoughtfully, "Cousin, what kind of person is the fourth young lady of the Qu family?"
Since he hasn't seen the people yet, but just heard about the mother and daughter, Qi Xiu Nan is already displeased. His own good aunt and cousin are involved with this family, which doesn't seem to be a good thing no matter how he looks at it.
He used to feel a little pity for this Fourth Miss Qu, but now he thought that she was just the kind of woman who pretended to be pretentious, the kind of woman who was so delicate and made herself look extremely pitiful, as if all the faults were caused by others. This was the kind of woman Qi Xiu Nan disliked the most.
Now it has become such a mess. Speaking of which, the friendship between the Yue family and my grandfather is between the older generation. What does it have to do with the current Fourth Miss Qu
It's like they're holding on to my house and won't let go. Although my cousin didn't say anything, the servants in the mansion also disliked the mother and daughter.
"This... I can't explain it clearly. You will understand when you see me later, second cousin." Liu Jingyu smiled reluctantly. She didn't say much about Qu Moying's words. She just pushed the words away. In Qi Xiunan's eyes, she felt that this Fourth Miss Qu was not very good. Her cousin was the kindest person. Although she didn't say it, she understood her meaning.
I'll ask my eldest brother later. It seems that during the period when I was away from the capital, this new Miss Qu Si has been causing a lot of trouble. Even my grandfather, who usually doesn't care about things, was alarmed and even got angry again. She had already made my grandmother unhappy before, and now what's going on again
"Let's go see grandma and aunt!" Qi Xiu Nan said, suppressing his annoyance.
Liu Jingyu lowered his head in silence, his face looking very unhappy. He followed Qi Xiunan and said, "Second cousin, if grandma and mother are sad, you must help me to persuade them. How could this matter... be related to mother? I don't know who in the Qu Mansion deliberately hurt me? To harm His Royal Highness the Crown Prince!"
Liu Jingyu spoke the last few words in a low and bitter voice, which inexplicably made people feel that she was the one who was wronged. No matter how you look at it, Liu Jingyu was really innocent in this matter.
Qi Xiu Nan said nothing and nodded.
The main room was in a mess, with bloodstains on the floor. Madam Liu still had bloodstains at the corners of her lips. Madam Qi was crying sadly while hugging Qi Xiejiao. Qi Xiu'nan felt a surge of anger in his heart again. He practiced martial arts and had a bad temper to begin with. He had to suppress it several times before he could calm down.
Together with Liu Jingyu, they helped Qi Xiejiao and the lady up. When they told them what had just happened, the two of them started crying again, hugging each other and no matter how much they asked, they could not get anything out of them.
Finally, Qi Xiu Nan had no choice but to agree to help explain the matter to his father and let his aunt and cousin go back first. This matter was really big, and he didn't know whether it was aimed at his cousin or the prince.
Ministry of Justice. Qi Xiunan remembered that several of his grandfather’s old subordinates were in the Ministry of Justice. One of them was even the Vice Minister of the Ministry of Justice. He had to ask someone to investigate. This was very strange…