The wife of Marquis Pingjin changed the subject and said, "We outsiders shouldn't interfere in family affairs, but since my son is involved, I can't just ignore it. We can also see what kind of evil things the Li family, which has always passed down its family traditions with Confucian ethics, has produced." As she spoke, she glanced at the three sisters of the Li family with a meaningful look.
To be honest, after Mrs. Li arrived, she first started quarreling with the wife of Marquis Pingjin, and then all the attention was on Li Ruoshui. The fourth or fifth girl in the Li family was a concubine's daughter, so it was okay that she was not noticed. However, the sixth girl Li was her biological daughter, but she had never been noticed either. She looked like a concubine's daughter, and she was obviously closer to her two concubine sisters.
To put it bluntly, Madam Li treated Li Ruoshui as her own daughter, and the rest, no matter the eldest or the youngest, were treated as if they were not born at all. Of course, this was the case in the past three years. In the past, Madam Li treated her three daughters almost equally. Although she did not treat Li Ruoshui as preciously as she did now - after all, she also wanted a son - she was almost like a normal mother. Since Li Ruoshui became a talented woman, her fame grew, and she was praised more and more, which made Madam Li more proud. At this age, she gave up the idea of having a son and placed her hopes on Li Ruoshui.
With such a change, one can imagine how the eldest and sixth daughters of the Li family would react. It is not an exaggeration for these two to hate Li Ruoshui to the core, especially since the eldest daughter of the Li family is on the eve of her marriage, and Mrs. Li doesn't even care about this. Besides, the sixth daughter has fallen into the same state as a concubine's daughter. This man treats people differently, so she, the legitimate daughter, has been bullied from both inside and outside for a period of time. Li Ruoshui, the culprit, is hated by her.
But what could she do about hatred? Whenever she did something, she was always the one who was scolded and punished, even though she was younger than Li Ruoshui, even though she had done nothing. Time and time again, she became timid and dared not do anything anymore.
This time...
However, perhaps because the hint from the wife of Marquis Pingjin was too obvious, Madam Li seemed to have finally noticed their existence. What outsiders could think of, Madam Li could naturally think of as well. Or, in other words, because of Li Ruoshui's intentional or unintentional guidance, in Madam Li's eyes, the other sisters of the Li family all disliked Li Ruoshui out of jealousy.
Madam Li originally had the Xiangguo Mansion to rely on, but now the Xiangguo Mansion is gone. Although this person is still there, there is no hope for her to be revived at least in her lifetime. The only person she can count on is her daughter Li Ruoshui, but now, that person is ruined. To be honest, if Hua Bochen was the prince of Pingjin Marquis Mansion, she might be quite happy, but unfortunately he is not. No matter how glorious the Pingjin Marquis Mansion is, he is just an ordinary young master. Now he depends on his parents and in the future he will depend on his brother. He is a useless waste.
So when she realized that Li Ruoshui might have been ruined by her own family, Madam Li could no longer suppress the hatred in her heart. She stepped forward and slapped several people, including her own youngest daughter, one by one, "Did you harm my Ruoshui? Tell me, is it true?"
Others looked at her as if she had lost her mind, not caring about the occasion. As the saying goes, family disgrace should not be made public, no matter what it is, one must try to cover it up first, appease the irrelevant people first, and then make a fuss. However, she started the fight first, as if she was afraid that the fuss was not big enough. The wife of Pingjin Marquis and others were all mocking.
The fourth and fifth daughters of the Li family hurriedly denied it and swore to heaven that this matter had nothing to do with them.
Miss Li Liu, on the other hand, was only a little girl of twelve or thirteen years old. She had lost all her favor because of Li Ruoshui. However, in the past, no matter how she was punished, her mother had never taken action herself. This slap was not a simple slap. She covered her face and was stunned for a long time, just looking at her mother. She had a little bit of hope in the past, but now it might be completely gone. She showed a sneer that was completely inconsistent with her age, and the fear on her body also faded away. "You are right, it was not us who did it. Let alone destroying her, I have long wanted to kill her!"
Mrs. Li probably didn't expect that her little daughter would say such vicious words. She pointed at her tremblingly, "You, you..."
"What? This is all thanks to you. She is your daughter as well. Just because she can write a few crappy poems and give you face, she is your apple of the eye and your heart. My elder sister and I can't give you these. She is just a weed on the side of the road, trampled and bullied by others. Not only do you pretend not to see it, but you also step on it. Grandfather is a minister, father is a deputy imperial envoy, but my elder sister is like a slave in front of her mother-in-law and sister-in-law in her husband's house. That's not all. The concubine dares to step on her. Why is it like this? It's because you don't care, so that family dares to act so recklessly.
Even if we can't give you face, we are still your flesh and blood. How could you be so cruel and heartless? You are my mother, I can't do anything to you, so I can only target Li Ruoshui. I pray to God every day to take her life. Without her, you probably won't be so vain, right?"
Perhaps it was because no one expected the little girl to explode, which really made people look at her with extra caution.
Mrs. Li was so angry that she was shaking all over. Perhaps she was even more angry because she had directly exposed some of her true colors. She slapped him in anger and said, "You are so vicious and you have no moral integrity. You even dare to slander your mother..."
The little girl staggered after being hit, stiffening her neck, "Did I say anything wrong? You're always showing off to Li Ruoshui, saying that your daughter is good here and there, and everyone else's is inferior to you, they're all idiots. Go and ask around, how many ladies have the patience for you now? And look at Li Ruoshui, with her pure and noble attitude, acting like she's a fairy from the ninth heaven, how many girls would want to pay attention to her? But she probably doesn't care, after all, it's just a comparison, she always likes to hang out with men, what's the point of being praised by other women, being praised by men can prove that her charm is not..."
"Shut up, shut up—" Mrs. Li's eyes turned red.
Miss Li Liu insisted, "Let me shut up, keep beating me, keep beating me, beat me to death, it will be clean and all will be over. Anyway, from the day Li Ruoshui became a talented woman, you are no longer my mother, my mother is long gone.
And there is Li Ruoshui. For more than ten years, my third sister has been very close to us. I don’t see that she has much talent in poetry. When she was learning poetry, she could only imitate others and could barely complete a poem. But she is quite talented in playing the piano.
One day, it was as if he suddenly got the idea. The poems he wrote could become famous and have the potential to be passed down through the ages. Then, he seemed like a different person. His attitude towards us changed. He stopped playing the piano. His handwriting became as if it had been scratched by chicken claws. Even though he was in good health, he pretended to be weak and frail.
Is this my third sister? Who knows where a ghost came from and took over her body. I think she should have been sent out of the temple and asked the monks to save her soul.
"Shut up! If you dare to say something nonsense again, do you really think I won't beat you to death?" Mrs. Li's face was as dark as ink. How could she not know her daughter's abnormality? In fact, she had secretly consulted a master, but she didn't see anything. So she firmly believed that her daughter was really enlightened. Even if she was enlightened, it was not perfect. It was natural that her talent in this aspect suppressed her talents in other aspects. What's wrong with such a talented person being aloof? !
Mrs. Li has always been so convinced, however, Li Ruoshui was frightened by these words and broke out in cold sweat on her back, her face became even paler. Compared to the pretense just now, this time it was real. She always thought that she had done a good job, and some things were done step by step, but she didn't expect that a ten-year-old girl would notice the abnormality, but everything had been fine so far. Suddenly she thought, what would happen if she didn't remember so many ancient poems, if she was just an ordinary person
Li Ruoshui was trembling all over, and didn't dare to think further. She didn't dare to think that she was treated like that because she was valuable to her mother!
The eyes of the people around unconsciously fell on Li Ruoshui, with curiosity and scrutiny.
Li Ruoshui told herself that she must stay calm, she must stay calm, she must dispel their doubts, her lips trembled, tears kept falling, "Sixth sister, sixth sister, how can you say that? It was obviously at the beginning that I wrote a good poem and got praise from the teacher, but the eldest sister felt that I stole her limelight, and it was she who pulled you aside and didn't allow you to pay attention to me. I don't play the piano anymore, my handwriting is bad, it's because I hurt my hand, how did I hurt it, others don't know, don't you know either? How can you say that, how can you? Feel your conscience, ah, feel if it's still there..." Li Ruoshui became more and more sad as she spoke, unable to control herself.
At this moment, suspicious eyes fell on Miss Li Liu. The girl widened her eyes and was speechless. There was disbelief in her eyes. In an instant, she was furious, "Li Ruoshui, you are talking nonsense and slandering me. You actually, actually..."
There was deep disappointment and pain in Li Ruoshui's eyes, as if he was asking, how could his sister become like this.
Not to mention, for a moment it was hard to tell which of the two sisters was telling the truth and which was lying.
However, neither the wife of Marquis Pingjin nor the wife of the Prince of Xuguo were interested in watching them arguing about these trivial things. As long as they were sure that this matter was indeed a matter of "sisters fighting each other" among the Li family, that was enough.
After all, no one took Miss Li Liu's words seriously. Although people in the world believe in ghosts and gods, few people would take it seriously if it was really a possession by a ghost.
"Your Li family's affairs, you can go back and sort them out slowly. But you Li family members are scheming against yourselves, and you have implicated my son. Tell me, what are you going to do?" After identifying the culprit, Lady Pingjin Hou acted like a "victim".
Madam Li's face was livid. "My daughter's innocent body was ruined by your son, and you dare to ask our Li family what to do? You are so ungrateful and you are the best."
The wife of Pingjin Marquis sneered, "You guys did this all by yourselves. You got an advantage? What advantage? You dragged my son into this without even asking him if he agreed."
Hua Bochen wanted to say something but was suppressed by Prince Hua. To be honest, if it weren't for what happened before, even if the Li family had planned it themselves, the Hua family would probably be in the wrong. However, because Li Ruoshui disliked him and his mother wanted to make things difficult for the Li family, Prince Hua didn't show any gentlemanly manners at this moment.
Logically speaking, the Li family's status is much higher than the Wen family's. Li Ruoshui is not unpopular, nor is she a bastard. She also has a good reputation. No matter how you look at it, she seems to be much better than Wen Renying. However, the Pingjin Marquis's Mansion, including several masters with power in the northern border, want to marry Wen Renying home and treat Li Ruoshui like a piece of trash.
Besides, the Pingjin Marquis Mansion is a military family, while the Li family is a civil official. Both sides have extremely high status. To some extent, the marriage between the two families is actually a taboo. For example, before, Deputy Li Duyushi had always been rude to the Xiangguo Mansion of the Yue family, and was ruthless when he should report it. In addition to his upright character, there may be an element of "avoiding suspicion" in it. You know, when Mrs. Li married into the Li family, the Li family was not so powerful, so naturally there were not so many concerns.
Madam Li was so angry that she almost fell over, but now the wife of Marquis Pingjin insisted on using this as an excuse, and she had no choice. This girl, let alone sleeping with someone, even if she was caught with a man in dishevel, she would have to marry him whether she wanted to or not. And this man had no such concerns. If she said she would not marry now, the people in the Marquis Pingjin Mansion would probably applaud and then leave. Hua Bochen had no engagement and could continue to look for girls. With the power of the Marquis Pingjin Mansion, they would have no problem finding a good girl, and it would not affect them at all.
So at this time, Madam Li could only swallow her anger, grit her teeth, swallow her resentment, and lower her posture, "This matter is our Li family's fault. I was just angry and impulsive. Madam Pingjinhou, please be magnanimous and don't bother with me. Things have come to this, and the two children have not been married yet. Can we..."
Lady Pingjin Marquis knew what the final result would be. After all, it was impossible for her to completely turn against the Li family and stand in opposition. She was also trying to prove herself. Now that she had won, she would not insist on giving in. Of course, if Lady Li wanted to confront her head-on, that would be another matter.
"We can discuss the rest later. This is Duke Xu's residence after all. We have caused trouble for him. Do we have to discuss matters in his residence?"