Chapter 948 Shed All Pretense of Cordiality...
A servant girl of Duke Yong’s Mansion reacted fast and hurried forward to stop Qin Yuru.
Countess Yong suddenly burst into tears. “You’ve made Sister-in-law suffer and kill herself, and now you even want to do the same to Yuru. How cruel you are! Oh, my poor sister-in-law! You married into a wolf’s den... No wonder you died at such a young age!”
“We caused Madam Di’s death?” Qin Huaiyong sneered and pointed the sword at Countess Yong. The cold light shocked Countess Yong so much that her face turned pale.
She knew Qin Huaiyong wouldn’t stab her, but it was another thing when she faced the fierce sword.
Countess Yong went weak at the knees and almost fell down.
“It was Qin Yuru who killed Madam Di. Ask her for the explanation you want!” Qin Huaiyong shouted in a sharp tone.
Everyone present was shocked when they heard that.
Shao Wanru calmly glanced at Qin Huaiyong, who was about to lose his mind, and thought, “Countess Yong’s words made him burst into anger.
“I was thinking about how to make Qin Huaiyong say it out, but now I don’t have to!
“Countess Yong’s aggressive att.i.tude is really a good helper!”
“What are you talking about, Father?” Qin Yuru was the one who came to her senses first. She couldn’t believe that Qin Huaiyong would say that. But she had to pretend to be hurt at the moment.
According to her previous experiences, Qin Yuru had thought that Qin Huaiyong would finally stand on her side even if he found she did it. “Just think about what I did to Shao Wanru in the past! He always turned a blind eye to them!
“He knew what I did, but he pretended not to and stood on my side. He will be the same as he was!
“His daughter will lose her life if other people know she killed her own mother! So, how can Qin Huaiyong want his daughter to die?
“There must be something wrong!”
After those words came out of his mouth, Qin Huaiyong regretted it. But he couldn’t take them back because so many people had heard it, so he could only sneer, “You burned Madam Di, didn’t you?”
Shui Ruolan swayed and almost fainted. She was so kind-hearted that she never thought of such a thing. Though there was no evidence to prove what Qin Huaiyong said, she believed it.
“Don’t be afraid, Aunt Shui! Qin Yuru won’t harm you and Xuange’er. You will be fine!” Shao Wanru supported her and said in a low voice.
Her voice was not loud, but Qin Huaiyong standing beside her heard it clearly in the eerie silence, and his heart immediately beat faster. An idea came to his mind.
“Since Qin Yuru is not my daughter, Xuange’er will be my only child. I can’t let Qin Yuru hurt Shui Ruolan or Xuange’er!
“Qin Yuru is a vicious woman, so she must use her ident.i.ty as my daughter to plot against Shui Ruolan and Xuange’er when I am out!
“I am about to go to Xu State soon, so I have to deal with Qin Yuru before leaving the capital. Though that might disgrace me, at least I can protect Shui Ruolan and Xuange’er from Qin Yuru.”
Qin Huaiyong considered it carefully and became less guilty than before. “I must make it public that Qin Yuru is not my daughter, though it disgraces me by telling people that I was cheated on. Otherwise, there will be endless trouble in the future, let alone the fact that Grand Prince is involved.”
Qin Huaiyong sensitively felt there were more secrets!
“Anything relevant to the royal family is important!”
“Father, are you really going to abandon me because you have a son?” Qin Yuru looked extremely sad and angry. She covered her chest with her hand and looked at Qin Huaiyong as if she couldn’t believe that he was such a heartless father.
“Brother-in-law, how can you be so cruel? No matter how bad they are, Sister-in-law is your legal wife, and Yuru is your daughter! How can you put all the blame on Yuru? How partial you are to your concubine! You spoil your concubine but ignore your wife!” Countess Yong immediately helped Qin Yuru argue with Qin Huaiyong as she had a bad feeling in her heart.
She couldn’t help thinking, “Qin Huaiyong never showed such an att.i.tude before. What’s wrong with him today? Was it really Qin Yuru who did it?”
Countess Yong had never considered Qin Yuru a good person. She started to suspect Qin Yuru and couldn’t help feeling a sense of fear when thinking of the fact that Qin Yuru had been her daughter-in-law for three years! The more she thought about it, the more she didn’t want to take Qin Yuru back to Duke Yong’s Mansion.
“If I quarrel with her again one day, she might kill me and burn my body!”
“Brother-in-law? Do not call me Brother-in-law! Duke Yong, do you really think I don’t know anything about it? You have hidden it from me for so long because you want me to take the blame, right? Well, well, well! Let’s stop arguing and go to report it to the court! The lord mayor will investigate it!” said Qin Huaiyong in a harsh voice with a livid and pale face. He didn’t care about his reputation anymore.
Duke Yong got flurried after noticing something from Qin Huaiyong’s words. He took a few steps forward and grabbed Qin Huaiyong’s hand holding the sword. “Brother-in-law, it will be a complete disgrace for us both if it is exposed to the public. We’d better discuss it slowly!”
“Discuss? About what? That you hid it from me to make me take the blame?” Qin Huaiyong sneered. On thinking that he had treated Qin Yuru as his own daughter and doted on her in everything for so many years, he got so angry that his eyes turned red.
He hated Qin Yuru now as much as he tolerated Qin Yuru before!
However, at the moment, he hated Duke Yong’s Mansion the most! If it weren’t for them, he wouldn’t have been cuckolded for so many years!
He looked at Duke Yong with flaming eyes as if he were about to burn Duke Yong the next minute.
“General...” Shui Ruolan reached out and wanted to catch Qin Huaiyong’s sleeve.
But Shao Wanru tugged at her clothes, dropping a hint to her that she should not move.
Shui Ruolan hesitated for a moment and took her hand back. She realized they were talking about something secret, and it was almost uncovered, though she did not know what it exactly was.
“Duke Yong’s Mansion... Madam Di and Qin Yuru... You’re quite something! I am willing to put my dignity into my pocket to deal with these. So we don’t need any more discussion!” Qin Huaiyong shouted angrily.
“Brother-in-law, let’s talk about it!” Duke Yong softened his position.
“We are a family, Brother-in-law! Besides, nothing will be settled when you are in a rage. No matter what Yuru has done, she is your biological daughter. You don’t want to see your biological daughter die, do you?” Countess Yong also softened and persuaded.
Her words indicated she agreed with the statement that Qin Yuru killed Madam Di.
“I didn’t... Mother!” Qin Yuru was furious with a flush of hatred for Countess Yong growing in her heart. “Though I am now one of the royal family members, I can’t bear such a crime!”
“Come and see them off!” Qin Huaiyong ignored them and said harshly.
A few strong servants came forward and intended to drive out all the people of Duke Yong’s Mansion.
“What do you mean, Qin Huaiyong?” Duke Yong flew into a rage after being pushed by an old maid. He pushed the old maid away and angrily rushed over to Qin Huaiyong.
“We’ll see each other in court!” said Qin Huaiyong scornfully. As a military general, he attached great importance to reputation, but he did so less than a civil official.
“What on earth do you want, Brother-in-law? How can we make a big deal out of this?” Duke Yong became flurried and couldn’t help softening his voice when realizing that Qin Huaiyong was seriously about to throw caution to the wind. “Our two families have been in-laws for years. How can we make such a big deal out of this matter and become gossip for others!”
“He’s right, Brother-in-law! I apologize for my impoliteness just now because the bad news about my sister really shocked me! Please forgive us!” Countess Yong’s att.i.tude softened, and there was even a smile on her face. “But you shouldn’t let Yuru take all the blame for her mother’s death. She is just a woman, who will be forced into death if she bears the crime!” said Countess Yong with a worried face.
It sounded like Qin Huaiyong’s accusation would definitely make Qin Yuru die.
“And that’s what I want! I want her to die!” Qin Huaiyong said scornfully and turned his back on them in case he would be p.i.s.sed off by the couple’s evil faces and go forward to teach them a lesson. “Send them out!”
Hearing the same order from their master the second time, the servants of Qin’s Mansion no longer hesitated and began to expel Duke Yong and Countess Yong, forcing them towards the gate.
Although Duke Yong’s Mansion bought lots of people, there were more from Qin’s Mansion. Everyone from Duke Yong’s Mansion suffered and was driven out of Ningyuan Army General’s Mansion.
Many busybodies were waiting at the gate for a scene of bustle. Duke Yong’s Mansion didn’t hide their track here from these on-lookers.
They burst into laughter when seeing Duke Yong’s Mansion’s people were driven out in such a wretched way.
“Duke Yong’s Mansion has been keeping a bad reputation in the past few days!”
“Let’s go!” said Duke Yong at the gate of Ningyuan Army General’s Mansion, wiping away the tears from pain at the corners of his eyes. Then he angrily left for his mansion with everyone else from Duke Yong’s Mansion.
“I will submit a memorial to the emperor to accuse Qin Huaiyong of not giving equal treatment to his concubine and his wife so that Qin Huaiyong will understand that I am not a pushover!”
After people from Duke Yong’s Mansion left, Qin Huaiyong asked a servant to report the event to the yamen and then helped Old Madam Qin go back to her courtyard.
Everyone remained silent on their way back. They only made the sound of their feet stepping on the ground!
They felt so heavy in their hearts that they could hardly breathe.
With Qin Huaiyong walking on one side of Old Madam Qin, Shao Wanru lowered her eyes and went on the other side, helping Old Madam Qin walk. After they all got seated in the main room of Old Madam Qin’s courtyard, Shao Wanru said, “Grandma, General Qin and Aunt Shui, now that there is nothing else for me to do, I am leaving!”
Now it was time for the people of Qin’s Mansion to have a discussion. As an outsider, she should not stay!
Of course, Shao Wanru just stood on ceremony. She believed that Qin Huaiyong would ask her to stay!