How does it feel to be betrayed? Not bad, right? From now on, I will let you and your wife taste it over and over again.
Zi You sneered in her heart, but she went to kneel down with a sad face in front of Mu YingRui. âFather, youâve been deceived by Liu Yanhong. Letâs not talk about how she caused mother to lose face when she was bitten by a poisonous snake. Such a greedy slave who dares to even betray her master, how can daughter trust her or ask her to do anything secretive?
âIf the person today was one of the four âYunâ maidservants, then you can blame daughter. Daughter will not feel wronged. But do you think itâs possible with Liu Yanhong? You believed in whatever she said, but you wonât listen to daughterâs explanation?â
Mu YingRui was startled. What did she say? When they were rolling around in bed, Liu Yanhong didnât say anything. Afterwards, Wang Yiping came to complain to him. That was why he believed that Liu Yanhong was ordered by his daughter to seduce him. Then, he did these things according to Wang Yipingâs arrangements.
Mu YingRui thought of this and asked without confidence, âSince you didnât order her, then where did the jewelry and expensive clothing on her body come from?â
Zi You faintly sighed. âThe clothing that mother made for daughter had bright colors and older styles. Daughter didnât like them, so I gave them all to Shiyun to take care of. All the jewelry is kept by her too. Daughter rarely look at them.
âYou just need to ask Shiyun where Liu Yanhong got all the clothing and jewelry from. Father, daughter is only twelve years old. Please donât think of daughter as so dirty and shameless, okay?â
Zi You was black belly inside. To shameless people like you and Wang Yiping, it should be having a taste of your own medicine. Are you worthy of me using noble means against you?
Old General Mu didnât wait for Mu YingRuiâs reaction and summoned Shiyun over. Even Nanny Lou followed with a parcel in her hands.
Old General Mu looked at Shiyun and asked austerely, âXiaojieâs clothing and jewelry are managed by you. Tell me how Liu Yanhong got Xiaojieâs clothing and accessories?â
Shiyun curtsied slowly and calmly. She replied, âLao TaiYe, Xiaojie likes elegant clothing and the style of accessories that the previous furen left behind. So, Xiaojieâs clothing and accessories are designed by Xiaojie herself. They are made personally by Nubi and Xiucui in the clothing department. Accessories are made by Zhenbaozhai.
âThe clothing that Furen ordered for Xiaojie is too colorful and the styles are too complicated. Xiaojie didnât like them and told Furen before. But Furen said that girls should dress up in bright colors.
âXiaojie couldnât say any more or refuse her elderâs kindness, so she could only accept them. It was a waste to throw the clothing and accessories away, but it was a pity to leave them around. To be cost-effective, Nubi could only save the money designated for making the maidservantsâ clothing and bestowed all the clothing that Xiaojie does not like to the maidservants.
âSome of the accessories were converted to money and rewarded to the maidservants too. Liu Yanhong likes those bright clothing and accessories, so Nubi gave her some according to her taste. She is clever and knows how to dress up and likes dressing up. This is something that all the maidservants in Youran Ju knows. As for whether she has any other thoughts, how can Xiaojie and Nubi know?â
Nanny Lou opened her parcel and knelt down. She said to Old General Mu, âLao TaiYe, if you donât believe it, you can look at these clothing and accessories. Second Furen gave the money to the first household according to Furenâs wishes. Lao TaiYe, please take a look at the clothing and accessories that First Furen made for Xiaojie. Then look at Xiaojieâs custom- designed clothing and accessories.â
Although Old General Mu did not know about fashion or the current fashion trends, he could see that there was a huge difference in beauty and taste between Wang Yipingâs ordered clothing and accessories and Zi Youâs.
It couldnât be said that the clothing and accessories Wang Yiping ordered were of bad quality. In fact, the workmanship on the clothing and accessories were even exquisite. But even Old General Mu felt that the colors and styles were vulgar.
Old General Mu picked up the parcel and threw it at Mu YingRuiâs face. He angrily scolded, âShe really tries hard. She wonât even let go of this opportunity. She wants to make Youâer ugly and vulgar and be ridiculed. Tell me the truth. Did she instigate you to do this matter too?â
âNo. no.â Mu YingRuiâs reply sounded very guilty. Old General Mu was not a fool. What did he not understand?
Old General Mu sneered. âShe will not give up until this family is a mess. For your career and the General Manorâs reputation, I have tolerated her again and again. It seems that she took my patience as a sign of weakness. Iâm giving you two choices. First is divorce. Second, you can scram out of Generalâs Manor. You choose.â
Mu YingRui was stunned silly. He had not reacted, but Nee Liu came forwards and knelt in front of Old General Mu. She had clearly cried. Her eyes were red and swollen. âFather, hand the management of the household over to sister-in-law. Daughter-in-law doesnât want to manage anymore and canât manage anymore.â
Old General Mu was originally very angry. Now that he saw Nee Liu like this, he couldnât help but angrily scold, âTomorrow is New Yearâs Eve. What are you all doing? If you donât break up this family, you wonât feel good, right?â
Old General Mu had never raised his voice to Nee Liu before. He had reprimanded her twice today and once was in front of the servants. Nee Liu really felt wronged.
Before she could explain, she heard Mu YingYi snap, âYou donât think the fu is enough of a mess? You donât think that father is sad enough? Youâre making a scene. Why arenât you apologizing to father?â
Nee Liu couldnât hold back anymore. Her tears overflowed. âFather, itâs not that daughter-in-law wants to make a scene. But brother-in-law and sister-in-law are dissatisfied with me managing the household. They want to take the management over.
âThey actually had first householdâs servants persuade the entire houseâs servants not to work, inquire about their masters, and discuss about their masters. Daughter-in-law just called the stewards over and asked them, âWhy arenât you disciplining your subordinates, but actually went with your subordinates to watch the show?â
âAs a result, those stewards told daughter-in-law that brother-in-law and sister-in-lawâs servants told them that brother-in-law wanted them to go to Yiping Ju to see how First Laoye was bullied. At first, the stewards didnât let the servants go, but......
âBut brother-in-lawâs Steward Yang told them that as long as they showed up, they would receive one silver in reward. Please explain, brother-in-law. What does this mean? Who is bullying you? Or is it that you want me to hand the management power over to sister-in-law so you made the servants not respect me first?â
Nee Liu was tearful at the end and finally glared angrily at Mu YingRui. She cursed him many times in her heart. Such a shameless man. He was a grown man and he listened to a womanâs instigation to meddle in the inner courtyard. How embarrassing.
Mu YingRui then understood that he was Wang Yipingâs spear once again. He never had Yang Qingjun call the servants over. After he woke up, Wang Yiping had cried and said, âLaoye, you cannot let this matter go so easily. How can there be ghost possession in broad daylight? Youâre probably being played by your precious daughter again.
âShe knows martial arts now. If she wants to hit you, itâs too easy that she wonât be discovered. Heavens. Sheâs actually so disobedient to the point of being unfilial. The reason that she is so fearless is because she depends on Lao TaiYeâs doting on her.
âWait and see, Laoye. When Lao TaiYe returns, he will punish you rather than scold her. Now, you can only use another plan to make Lao TaiYe let you off.â
He didnât say anything, so he had acquiesced in his silence. But he didnât know that the plan was to call all the servants in the fu over to see this scene. If he knew, he would never agree. Could it be that having all the servants seeing him being beaten and scolded by his father was a glorious thing?
âFather, I didnât know about this. I really didnât know.â Mu YingRui reacted and quickly shirked from responsibility.
Zi You understood now. This was Wang Yipingâs second motive in her plot. She used the disrespectful servants to cause Nee Liu to be censured by grandfather and hand over the management power.
But even if Nee Liu did not hand over the management power, Wang Yiping didnât suffer any losses. After all, the one who was shamed was not her. It was Mu YingRui.
Even Zi You and Old General Mu said that âan evil tiger wouldnât eat its cubs.â If Old General Mu really hit and kicked his son out of the house the day before New Yearâs Eve, then he would be considered vicious and ruthless. Ultimately, the servants would not wonder what Mu YingRui did, especially Wang Yipingâs servants.
Probably as soon as the New Year was here and every fu held banquets, the scandal in the Generalâs Manor today would be spread out. Even if Zi You and Old General Mu were innocent, they would only be called unfilial and merciless.
When there were many people, conversation flowed freely. The Generalâs Manor had more than 200 servants. With the addition of being driven by money, one word from each person was enough to cause a sensation in the capital.
Wang Yiping took advantage of peopleâs love of gossip and money and had Mu YingRui make trouble right before New Yearâs. She really spent a lot of thought on this.
Zi You thought of this and immediately said to Nee Liu, âAunt, quickly call all the servants in the fu and strictly order them not to spread out what had happened today. During the festival, they are not allowed to go outside. If they have to go outside, they must register where they went, what they did, who they saw, and report back to you. Make sure to reward them two silvers to not talk about this matter. We want to reduce the impact to the minimum.â