The actions of the Zhou sisters and old lady Guan completely offended Mrs. Dong.
She locked herself in her inner room and cried for two days until she heard that Cheng Lu had returned. Then she ran straight to the hall as if she had grabbed a life-saving straw.
"Da Lang, Da Lang, it's bad, it's bad!" Her eyes were swollen like walnuts, and she couldn't see clearly at all. She threw away the maid who was supporting her and rushed towards the figure in dark blue clothes standing in the middle of the hall. "Your father, he, your father, he's in trouble!"
According to the rules of Yuelu Academy, students studying outside the province can arrange their return home at any time according to their actual situation. However, when the Chinese New Year was approaching, he was called by the professor of Yuelu Academy to help compile a collection of contemporary essays from three years ago. He was not allowed to return until he had finished drinking Laba porridge. He was afraid of missing the ancestral worship on New Year's Eve, so he rushed back day and night. Who knew that before he could stand still, his mother rushed out in a panic, shouting something like "Dad is in trouble".
His father had been dead for ten years, what could possibly happen
Cheng Lu was tired, hungry and cold, so how could he have a good attitude towards Dong
"Mom, can you be more steady?" He said impatiently, "Can you wait until I change my clothes and drink some hot tea before you say anything?"
"You, you haven't changed your clothes yet!" Dong stood up hesitantly. Thinking of those bad things, she wanted to cry again, but her tears were like a dry well, and she couldn't flow out. Her eyes were sore and painful, but she still wiped her eyes with a handkerchief and said, "Da Lang, you don't know what your father did behind our backs? Now look, he never cared about us when he was alive, and he wants to harm you after his death..."
"Mother!" Cheng Lu's face turned pale and he shouted, "Do you know what you are saying? In front of all the maids and servants, do you want to be a human being in the future?"
Dong looked timid.
Cheng Lu ordered her personal maid with a sullen face: "Lianxiang, help the lady to her room."
Lianxiang was so frightened that she trembled and hurried to help Dong.
Dong did not follow the maid back to the room obediently as she did in the past. Instead, she pulled Cheng Lu's sleeve and said in a half-pleading and half-fearful tone, "Da Lang, change your clothes and come over. I have something important to tell you." Then, thinking that her son might not have even eaten, she added, "If you haven't eaten yet, ask the maid to bring it to my room. I'll talk while you eat. This matter is very important."
The son has always liked his father. If he heard bad things about his father from the servants, she was afraid that her son would be left without anyone to comfort him when he was sad.
Cheng Lu frowned and said "hmm". After Dong left the hall, he told Zhao Dahai, "Hurry up and deliver the earthenware we bought from Changsha Prefecture to the houses in Jiuru Lane. Tomorrow is the Little New Year. It would be inappropriate to do it later."
Zhao Dahai nodded repeatedly.
Cheng Lu took the servant Song Qing back to the inner room.
Mo Xiang didn't know when Cheng Lu would come back, so as soon as the twelfth lunar month came, she cleaned the side room where Cheng Lu lived every day, just like when Cheng Lu was at home. When she got the news that Cheng Lu was back, she hurried out to greet him.
Seeing that he had not told Mo Xiang in advance when he would be back, but the house was clean and tidy, with even the painting in the middle hall decorated with the appropriate theme of "auspicious snow heralds a good harvest", Cheng Lu was very satisfied. He nodded slightly and rewarded Mo Xiang with five taels of silver.
Mo Xiang was overjoyed and quickly ordered the maid to fetch water and help Cheng Lu wash up. She also asked the little maid to tell the kitchen that Cheng Lu was back and to prepare some of his favorite wine and food.
Cheng Lu remembered his mother's words.
Although his mother was sometimes irrational, she loved her child very much. She knew that he had just returned, and unless something big had happened to make her panic, she would not have asked him to go to her room to talk even though she knew he had not eaten yet.
Could it be that something really happened to my father
The thought flashed through his mind and he said "Pooh".
My mother was confused, and I was confused too. I actually said the same things as my mother!
He thought for a moment and said to Mo Xiang, "Put the meal in Madam's room. I want to talk to Madam."
Mo Xiang agreed respectfully, and waited until Cheng Lu finished washing and changed into a green lotus-colored Huhang brocade robe before she served Cheng Lu to Dong's room.
Dong immediately drove out the maids and old women around the two of them, and holding her son's hand, she couldn't help but cover her eyes and howl: "Your father didn't do any good deeds even after his death..." She told Cheng Lu how the Zhou family found out that Lan Ting had falsely passed on Zhuang's will, and how the Zhou sisters found out that Cheng Bo and Xin Lan had conspired to kill Zhuang.
But Cheng Lu was furious before Dong finished her words, and roared at her: "Who told you this nonsense? How could my father, such a good man, collude with a lowly maid, who was married to a merchant! Others are stupid, so you are stupid too! What do you do at home all day? I work hard to support this family, not for you to say bad things about my father!"
Dong was so frightened by her son's ferocious face that she collapsed on the chair. If it weren't for the backrest behind her, she would have fallen down.
Cheng Lu felt both pity and disgust when he looked at his mother.
He rubbed his temple and said tiredly, "Okay, mother, I shouldn't yell at you. But what you said was too outrageous. Don't do this again. I think you are too idle. If you are really bored, go to the temple and walk around more, like Madam Guo, chant some scriptures, copy some scriptures, etc. Don't always believe everything you hear!"
How could Dong, who was illiterate, copy scriptures
But at this moment Cheng Lu had forgotten about this matter, and Dong had also forgotten about it.
Seeing her son's face soften, she regained some strength and started crying to Cheng Lu, "Da Lang, I'm not talking nonsense. I really am not talking nonsense... Those two maids have been imprisoned."
Cheng Lu was stunned.
Dong told Cheng Lu how she had begged for his future. Finally, she grabbed her son's hand and said, "If you don't come back, I don't know what to do. If others knew about your father's affairs, think about it, can you still be an official? What will happen to our family? Your ten years of hard study were in vain? You haven't even got married yet?"
Cheng Lu's face turned pale, and he said, "Mom, are you saying that when you went to beg Zhou Shaojin, not only did she not agree to let us go, but she also scolded you?"
"Yes!" Mrs. Dong was so disgusted with Zhou Shaojin now. She was afraid that her son would not be able to take back his heart for Zhou Shaojin, so she exaggerated, "What she said was really nasty! If I hadn't seen it with my own eyes, I wouldn't have believed that it was Zhou Shaojin who said it. Even that street shrew is much more educated than her..."
Cheng Lu didn't listen seriously to what Dong was saying, and he looked a little dazed.
That's right! How could the Cheng and Zhou families let him go so easily
It turns out he had a backup plan!
Maybe they don't know who he is yet
It's probably not that easy to put the blame on him.
If the Zhou family really sent the two maids to the government office in this name, he had to hurry up and get the confessions of the two maids to see if he could find any flaws between the lines.
Cheng Lu was a man of action. He called out Mo Song loudly, only to then realize that his mother was still holding his hand and chattering about Zhou Shaojin's faults.
He hurriedly said to his mother, "Don't worry about this matter. I have my own ideas. Just remember that father is a good man, and those words are slandered by people with ulterior motives."
Mrs. Dong, who always obeyed her son's words, was very suspicious. She stammered, "I'm afraid this is not just a rumor. I heard that Xinlan admitted that your father gave her a set of red gold headwear. Xinlan's husband also confirmed that the slave really had such a set of red gold headwear. She said at the time that it was given by Mrs. Zhuang, so her husband didn't suspect it..." At this point, she gritted her teeth, "If your father hadn't died early, he would have taken that rag-to-riches woman as his wife..."
Cheng Lu didn't like hearing his mother talk about his father like that. He interrupted Dong unhappily and said, "Didn't I tell you? Those are all lies! The Zhou family is talking nonsense!"
Perhaps it was the red gold headdress that irritated Mrs. Dong. She asked inquiringly, "What benefit does the Zhou family get from doing this? I don't think it's the Zhou family who is spreading rumors!"
Cheng Lu was very annoyed at his mother's stubbornness. He could not help but said coldly: "Don't you see by now that the Zhou family is trying to retaliate against your son?"
"Why would they retaliate against you?" Mrs. Dong was stunned and said, "You haven't done anything to offend the Zhou family." Before she finished speaking, she cried out "Ouch!" and hurriedly said, "Could it be that the Zhou family blames you for falling in love with Zhou Shaojin? But that's not right. If that's the case, the Zhou family could just marry Zhou Shaojin off to someone else, why would they offend you? Are the Zhou family afraid that you'll come back to settle accounts with them when you become successful in the future?"
Cheng Lu was very disdainful of such a mother.
He told his mother the feud between the Cheng and Zhuang families with malicious intent.
Mrs. Dong looked at her son in shock, and didn't come back to her senses for a long time. When she came back to her senses, she could no longer hold back her anger, and pointed at her son's nose and shouted: "When did you know? Why didn't you tell me? You clearly knew that Zhou Shaojin was Zhuang Liangyu's daughter, but you still wanted to marry her? How dare you ask me to go to the Cheng family to propose marriage? If you marry her, what will happen to us? Aren't you afraid that people will point fingers at you and say that you and your son are shameless, that the father likes the mother and the son likes the daughter, and that you are letting others step on the face of the whole family..."
Cheng Lu just felt deeply powerless.
"Mom, can you please keep your voice down? Aren't you afraid that someone might hear you?" He compromised, "I just found out about it too. Otherwise, why would I want to marry Zhou Shaojin? Now that you know the reason, don't believe those hearsays anymore. I have already achieved fame and I don't have to ask the Cheng family for everything. You should just stay at home and be your wife!"
Dong was skeptical.
Cheng Lu no longer cared about her.
He had to find someone to get Xinlan and Lanting's confessions.
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Sisters, there are only two updates today, this is today's update.
O(∩_∩)O~
※(To be continued)