After the banquet in the palace ended, the second master of the Duke's Mansion went home first, followed by the third and fourth masters. The three brothers gathered in the old lady's room and told their families in detail what had happened in the palace.
Sheng Qingyun comforted Xie Nanjia in Tianxiang Courtyard. When she heard that the three masters had returned home, she
Everyone was worried, fearing that the young duke would say something treacherous to protect his daughter. They were relieved when the three masters said that the young duke had restrained himself from saying a word from beginning to end.
"Amitabha." Sheng Qingyun was terrified and patted his chest, "Thanks to my brother-in-law and Minister An who stepped forward, we were able to temporarily stabilize the situation. I don't know what the emperor meant. Can he come up with a different result if he reads the horoscope again?"
"It's already this critical moment, and you're still hoping for the best. What can I say to you?" The old lady said unhappily, "I've told you that you can't beat a powerful person, but you just wouldn't listen. If you had listened to me earlier and not gone against the Empress, would we have come to this?"
"Yes, in my opinion, since we have found Jinping, we should not adopt another daughter. The eldest sister-in-law also asked her to come to keep Jinping company, but Jinping has never had a good life since she came. I don't know if it's because she has a tough life and whoever she is close to will be unlucky." The third lady echoed the old lady's words.
"I think so too. Our family was peaceful before she came, but everything became chaotic after she came. It's not just Jinping who is in trouble, it's the whole family that's in trouble." said the Fourth Lady.
Sheng Qingyun was annoyed when he heard this. He slammed the table and said angrily, "If you don't understand the situation, don't talk nonsense. If anyone is worried that our Xiu'er will implicate you, then just live separately!"
"What you said, sister-in-law, if we move into a separate mansion, we will no longer be members of the Su family? Will the imperial court select us when it executes the entire family?" The fourth lady was the youngest and the most straightforward, and she spoke without thinking.
Older people hate to hear such unlucky words. The old lady's face turned black on the spot and she slammed the teacup on the table: "If you can't talk, just shut up. I'm not dead yet, and you're already quarreling among yourselves, right? All four of my sons are my biological children, none of them are born out of wedlock. Isn't it good for the family to live together in harmony? Why do we have to separate the family?"
"Harmony and happiness?" Sheng Qingyun sneered, "I used to think that our family was a model of a harmonious family, with loving mothers and filial children, harmonious relationships between sisters-in-law, and all the children being obedient, sensible and promising. It turns out that all this is an illusion. The premise of harmony is that there are no hardships and no one's interests are affected."
"..." The room fell into a brief silence, and everyone's face looked unhappy.
Second Madam Zheng hurriedly smiled and tried to smooth things over: "Alright, alright, everyone, keep quiet. Something happened at home and everyone is anxious. It's inevitable that they won't speak in a thoughtful way. Don't take it personally, sister-in-law. We actually like Xiu'er very much. If there is any way, we will never let her suffer any injustice."
"Humph!" Sheng Qingyun snorted coldly, "Some people are just good at talking and pretending to be good people. Don't think I don't know what they are like behind the scenes!"
Zheng's heart skipped a beat. She didn't dare to confront her head-on, so she sat back awkwardly: "Sister-in-law is angry and wants to say that I can do anything. I don't care."
The fourth lady felt sorry for her: "Second sister-in-law is too kind-hearted. The eldest sister-in-law didn't think about who was with you day and night when Jinping was lost."
When Sheng Qingyun heard this, he was filled with rage and couldn't help but expose Zheng's crimes on the spot.
Zheng was so frightened that her face turned pale. She hurriedly said, "Fourth brother's wife, let's not talk about the past. The most important thing now is Xiu'er's entry into the palace. Let's say less and don't make things difficult for our father and mother."
"Yes, yes, everyone, stop arguing." The second master saw the women quarreling and stood up to control the situation. "Since Xiu'er has come to our house, she is one of ours. We will not ignore her. However, the situation is unclear at the moment, and we dare not speculate on the emperor's intentions. If there is anything, let's wait for eldest brother to come back!"
The women all shut up with pouty eyes and sat there sulking.
The old lady was so angry that her heart ached. She looked at the old Duke who remained silent. She wanted him to say something, but she was afraid that if she didn't say anything, it would cause a dispute. So she could only continue her second son's words indifferently, "Why hasn't your eldest brother come back yet?"
"When the banquet was over, I saw a young eunuch call him away. I guess the emperor wanted to talk to him in private." said the second master.
The old lady's heart was in suspense again: "Could it be that the emperor wants to question him about his crime?"
"Ask him what crime he committed. He didn't steal or rob, and he didn't cause the incident. What crime has he committed?" The old Duke finally spoke up. "You women are just ignorant and panic at the slightest sign of trouble. You are just scaring yourself."
"…" The old lady rolled her eyes at him, not wanting to argue with him, and dismissed everyone, saying, "Why don't you go back and rest first, and we can deal with the rest when the boss comes back."
Everyone was also upset and responded one after another. They stood up and left one after another, waiting for the young Duke to return home before making any plans.
Sheng Qingyun was furious and didn't want to go back to his own yard, so he went to Tianxiangju to find Xie Nanjia again.
At this time, her husband and son were not around, and in the huge mansion, only the mother and daughter were there to comfort each other.
When she arrived at Tianxiangju, she was surprised to find that Xie Nanjia was not there, but Liusu and Biluo were both there.
When asked, Liusu said that just now the young masters in the mansion came together to comfort the second young lady, but the second young lady said that the one who should be comforted the most at this time was the eldest young lady, and she insisted that the young masters accompany her to the Buddhist temple to see the eldest young lady, saying that the young masters were there and asked the two of them not to follow.
Sheng Qingyun was confused. He vaguely felt that this girl was up to something, but he couldn't guess what she would do for the time being. He held his forehead and thought for a while, but he was still worried, so he took people to the Buddhist temple.
On the other side, Second Lady Zheng followed her husband home, but halfway there she said that she had dropped her handkerchief with the old lady, so she asked Second Master to go first while she went back to find the handkerchief.
The second master didn't think that she had lost the handkerchief. He thought she was looking for an excuse to go back and comfort her mother, so he didn't stop her and left first.
Zheng did not go back to the old lady. She waited until her husband left, then went to the Buddhist temple alone and told Princess Jinping what had happened today.
Princess Jinping had been locked up in the Buddhist temple for three days and knew nothing about what was happening outside. Now, when she heard that Xiu'er was the daughter of a phoenix and would soon replace her and rule the Eastern Palace, she became so anxious that she jumped to her feet and broke out in a sweat in the cold weather.
"I said I would kill her a long time ago. As long as she's not dead, we won't be able to live in peace. Have you ever thought that she already knows about our affairs? If she takes over the East Palace and has power, the first people she will deal with will be us." Jinping said angrily.
How could Zheng not know this truth, but the girl was lucky and could not be killed no matter how many times she was tried. On the contrary, their situation became more difficult every time they failed. Now, thanks to Abbot Wuchen, the girl has become the girl of destiny, and it will be even more difficult to kill her in the future.
"Do you think I don't want to kill her?" Zheng said depressedly, "In order to kill her, I hired two groups of assassins at a high price. The first time, Zhao Jingyu ruined the plan outside the South City, and the second time, Zhao Jingyu ruined the plan again on Suzaku Street. What can I do?"
Princess Jinping fell silent and paced back and forth in the room in annoyance.
She thought she was not a stupid person, but for some reason, whenever it came to Xiu'er, she could never get the upper hand.
Every time she racked her brains to come up with a plan, Xiu'er was always able to resolve it easily and make her suffer a setback.
They are all teenage girls, why should she be suppressed everywhere? Is Xiu'er really the girl of destiny, protected by gods
Could it be that Zhao Jingyu, who saved her from danger time and time again, was sent by God to protect her
impossible!
There aren't so many gods and monsters in this world. She just doesn't believe that there are people who can't be killed!
"It will be too late if we don't take action now. While the family is in chaos, go tell grandma that I am sick and ask her to let me out." She paused and said to Zheng.
"What are you doing outside?" Zheng asked.
"What else can I do? Of course I'll find a chance to attack!" A hint of ruthlessness flashed in Jinping County Lady's eyes. "Prepare some arsenic or something for me. I'll go and accompany my second sister after I get out."
“Will this work…” Zheng was a little worried. After all, if she failed, she would be implicated.
"You have to do it even if you can't!" Jinping County Lady interrupted her harshly, with a ferocious expression on her face, "The current situation means either she dies or we die. If you hesitate any longer, you will have no chance at all. Don't forget that you were the one who planned the kidnapping of Xiu'er. I just took your money to help you put on a show. If the truth is revealed, you will be the one who suffers the most!"
"Don't say anything else!" Zheng was frightened by her appearance. She swallowed secretly, gritted her teeth, made up her mind, and strode towards the door.
"Wait here for me..." She said as she opened the door, and suddenly she gasped and froze there.
"What's wrong?" Lady Jinping noticed her abnormality, walked over and looked outside. When she saw the Su brothers standing in a row outside, her head buzzed, the blood color on her face quickly faded, and she stood there stiffly like the Second Madam.
“Second brother!” Xie Nanjia’s eyes were red as she threw herself into the arms of Zheng’s eldest son Su Jinxuan, crying out loud while shaking all over, “Second aunt…she wants to kill me!”
(End of this chapter)