SFS Chapter 177: The Cannon Fodder Sister Who Was Married Instead in Ancient Chinese Literature 57
Chapter 177: The Cannon Fodder Sister Who Was Married Instead in Ancient Chinese Literature 57
Yunxi only felt a sharp pain and screamed "Ah" uncontrollably. His whole body seemed to have been hit hard and he couldn't even move for a while.
Her face was distorted and she looked up blankly at Jiang Yueshu, who had a cold expression.
"Aunt, you had an affair with a man outside your family, harmed my mother, and abused the servants. Now that the evidence is irrefutable, you still want me to plead for you?"
Jiang Yueshu's ears moved slightly, listening to the footsteps getting closer and closer outside the door, and she raised her voice, "Although I am a woman, I know right from wrong and am reasonable."
Seeing Jiang Yueshu's tough attitude, Jiang's father and Jiang Yixiu both breathed a sigh of relief.
After all, this matter broke out suddenly, and Yunxi has always refused to admit it. She has had a very good relationship with Jiang Yueshu since childhood. Both of them are afraid that Jiang Yueshu will not be able to bear it, so this is a bit embarrassing.
Yun Xi looked at Jiang Yueshu with resentment and could only pray in his heart for Jiang Xinghui's arrival.
The next second, Jiang Xinghui rushed in with an anxious look on his face.
She first looked at Jiang Yueshu with a complicated expression. She had spoken very loudly just now, so of course she had heard it.
Then she saw her mother collapsed on the ground with a pale face, and she hurried over to help her mother up.
Meeting Yunxi's earnest gaze, Jiang Xinghui quickly spoke to Jiang's father.
"Father, mother was wrongly accused. She loved my sister more than me since she was a child. If she really harmed my aunt, how could she do this?"
As soon as she finished speaking, she saw the complicated expressions from everyone.
Jiang Xinghui didn't understand, but continued to speak.
"It's my sister. Obviously, mother loves her so much, but today she can erase the love that mother has shown her for so many years with just one sentence of right and wrong and being reasonable. My sister is really cold-hearted!"
Now everyone looked at him with even more strange eyes, and Jiang Xinghui was completely puzzled.
"What a sharp tongue you have! You said your sister is cold-hearted, but at least she knows right from wrong and is reasonable. But you, who know nothing at all, jump out to accuse your sister. Not only do you not know right from wrong, you are also disrespectful to your sister. Aren't you even more cold-hearted?"
When Old Lady Yun heard the girl say that she kissed her granddaughter, she couldn't bear it anymore and retorted on the spot.
Jiang Xinghui was speechless after being accused, and all he felt was grievance and resentment.
She was obviously better than Jiang Yueshu, but her father, brother, and grandmother all favored her.
Seeing the dissatisfaction in Jiang Xinghui's eyes, Old Lady Yun asked the guard to tell her the whole story.
Jiang Xinghui finally understood the whole story. She looked at her mother in disbelief. She didn't know these things either, but when she thought about it carefully, they were indeed things her mother could do.
But she knew in her heart that she would never agree to this. She was already engaged to the prince, and if something went wrong at this moment, there was no guarantee that the marriage would not change.
Although it seems that the prince has deep feelings for her, these are not glorious things after all, and she is not sure whether the prince will be unhappy.
Jiang Xinghui was in a dilemma for a moment. Even if his mother refused to admit it, his father still insisted on punishing her.
Jiang Xinghui: "Father, mother has been with us for such a long time. If she didn't see it with her own eyes, how can you let your daughter believe it? If someone deliberately made trouble to alienate our family, father should find out the truth. How could mother do such a thing?"
"Enough, Zi Ling has explained it clearly. She saw your mother administer the drug with her own eyes. Otherwise, how could she have been retaliated against, had her tongue cut off, her face disfigured, and even been sold?" Jiang's father said coldly.
Jiang Xinghui was in a difficult situation. She knew that today's incident was a foregone conclusion, but she was still unwilling to give in and wanted to plead for her mother, but it was useless.
She is her mother's biological daughter. Whether she is abandoned or helped today, her reputation will be ruined.
If she favors her mother, people will accuse her of partiality and partiality; if she abandons her mother, people will accuse her of disregarding family affection and being unfilial and unjust.
Yunxi saw the confusion in Jiang Xinghui's eyes and quickly pulled her back.
"Hui'er, mother..." Yunxi burst into tears before she could even finish her words.
Jiang Xinghui looked at his mother's miserable appearance, couldn't bear it and closed his eyes.
After a while, she opened her eyes.
"Father, my daughter is now engaged to the prince, and I cannot bear this crime."
"Are you threatening me?" Father Jiang looked at her coldly.
Although he did not have much affection for his daughter, at least she was provided with food and clothing, and all expenses in the mansion were normal.
But now her words tore apart the last bit of warmth between the two.
"My daughter doesn't dare, but I can't just sit back and watch my mother suffer for no reason." Jiang Xinghui spoke calmly, as if he didn't care about other people's opinions at all.
Everyone on the scene was speechless and had a very bad impression of Miss Jiang San who suddenly appeared. She was obviously pretending to be deaf.
Just as Father Jiang was about to speak, a report from a servant came from outside the door.
"Sir, the prince of the Loyalty Marquis Mansion, Lu Zhao, requests to see you."
Father Jiang glanced at Jiang Xinghui coldly, then fiercely swung his sleeves and said, "Let him in."
He wanted to see what Master Lu meant.
After hearing the servant's report, Jiang Xinghui breathed a sigh of relief, but also felt a little nervous and uncertain.
After a while, Lu Zhao came in alone.
He bowed to Jiang's father without looking away, and then looked at Jiang Xinghui.
"What's the matter with Master Lu's visit today?" Father Jiang spoke bluntly without beating around the bush.
Lu Zhao immediately saw the nervousness and pleading in Jiang Xinghui's eyes, and replied with a slight smile.
"Today I wanted to invite the third young lady of the mansion to go out together, but unexpectedly something seemed to have happened in the mansion."
"If the prince is looking for someone, just take him away. We do have some family matters at home today, so it is not convenient to entertain you." Father Jiang coldly ordered him to leave.
Seeing this, Jiang Xinghui had no choice but to run quickly to Lu Zhao.
"Prince, my mother has something to do..."
"Jiang Xinghui, you are an unmarried girl, how dare you let the prince interfere in the family affairs of my Jiang family?" Jiang's father interrupted Jiang Xinghui.
"Father, we all have our own opinions and no one is willing to give in. The prince is here, so let him be the referee for us." Jiang Xinghui looked at his father without dodging.
When these words came out, everyone except Lu Zhao and Yun Xi dropped their jaws in shock and looked at her with wide eyes.
Is this woman in front of him really the most beautiful and talented woman in the imperial city? She is so famous that even men like them have heard of her.
"What? Do you think you're strong enough now that you're engaged to the prince? I'm still the head of this house!" Father Jiang snorted coldly.
Jiang Xinghui's face turned pale instantly, and she seemed to be about to fall. Lu Zhao quickly supported her.
Jiang Xinghui directly cast a pleading look towards Lu Zhao and looked at him pitifully.
Upon seeing this, Lu Zhao immediately spoke up, "Prime Minister, I..."
"What? The prince of my prime minister's mansion wants to get involved in the family affairs?" Father Jiang looked at Lu Zhao meaningfully.
Lu Zhao hesitated for a moment and continued speaking.
"You are joking, Prime Minister. Since the Prime Minister's Mansion and the Marquis' Mansion have already made an engagement, the marriage should be held according to the agreement. If there is anything that affects the engagement, then I can only intervene. After all, the Prime Minister's Mansion is not going to break the engagement first, right?"
As soon as these words came out, Jiang's father's eyes turned colder when he looked at Lu Zhao.
"Of course not. Is there anything else, my lord?"
Lu Zhao could only look at Jiang Xinghui comfortingly and left first.
After Lu Zhao left, Jiang Xinghui felt a little scared when he saw the cold eyes of his father and brother.
"Take Yun away and deal with her after the Third Miss's wedding!"
Without waiting for Yunxi and her daughter to speak, Father Jiang quickly gave the order.
The two looked at each other and saw uneasiness in each other's eyes.
Father Jiang clearly wanted to wait until Master Lu's marriage was over before punishing her. By that time, the marriage contract would no longer be a bargaining chip.
Yun Xi only had time to take a deep look at Jiang Xinghui before he was ruthlessly dragged away by the guards.
Jiang Xinghui wanted to follow, but the guard stepped forward and stopped her.
"Jiang Xinghui, since your wedding is approaching, you should stay in your boudoir and prepare for your wedding!"
Father Jiang left after saying this.
Everyone at the scene looked at each other, not knowing what to do. Jiang Yixiu immediately came out to take control of the situation. He sorted out all the physical evidence and testimony records, and then sent everyone out of the house one by one.
Jiang Xinghui looked at Jiang Yueshu resentfully and prepared to leave.
The guards next to him followed closely.
"What do you mean?" she snorted.
The guard bowed expressionlessly, "I am following your orders, my Lord. Miss Third needs to stay in the courtyard and wait for her marriage."
"You..." Jiang Xinghui said angrily, "Just wait, I'll go find my father now."
"My Lord has ordered not to see the Third Miss." The guard lowered his head and replied.
Jiang Xinghui simply ignored the guards and went out the door to find his father.
Seeing this, the guards followed calmly and would step forward to block Jiang Xinghui as soon as he strayed from the way back to the yard.
Jiang Xinghui tried several times but to no avail, so he had to stop and take a deep breath, feeling physically and mentally exhausted.
She had no choice but to follow the road to her own yard.
When she arrived at the yard, the housekeeper and three or four maids and servants were already waiting there.
Seeing that he didn't recognize any of these servants, Jiang Xinghui knew something was wrong and quickly asked the housekeeper.
"What does this mean, housekeeper?"
The middle-aged man in front of him smiled slightly, bowed, and then spoke.
"Miss Third, these servants are all the master's idea. The master said that Miss Third's wedding is coming soon, so she should just wait and get married. As for other things, Miss Third doesn't need to worry about them."
Jiang Xinghui was furious. What did her father mean by this? Was he going to put her under house arrest?
"Where's Prince Lu? I want to see him!"
The housekeeper smiled and replied calmly, "The master said that if Master Lu comes to visit, he will let Miss San and Master Lu meet."
Jiang Xinghui said quickly: "Then take me there quickly, I want to see the prince now."
The housekeeper listened but did not move, "Miss San, the prince has not come to visit, Miss San, please come in."
He turned and gestured with his right hand towards the yard.
Seeing that the housekeeper didn't take her to see the prince, Jiang Xinghui just stood there motionless.
The two of them were in a stalemate for a while. The housekeeper still maintained his previous action, but turned his head to look at the nanny.
The maids understood, and immediately stepped forward, one on the left and one on the right, grabbed Jiang Xinghui's arms, and pulled her into the yard.
The two maids seemed to be specially hired, and each of their movements was extremely powerful. Jiang Xinghui, who wanted to resist, was taken to the yard in less than three seconds.
After the two maids brought Jiang Xinghui into the yard, the gate of the yard was closed from the outside.
On the other side, Jiang Yueshu looked at her brother's appearance and was also puzzled by Jiang's father's decision. She decided to test Jiang's father's thoughts.
......
As soon as the morning court session ended the next day, Jiang's father went straight to the Marquis of Loyalty. Yun Qingping saw him from behind and immediately followed him.
Marquis Zhongyi looked at his relative-in-law with a smile, "Brother Jiang..." Okay.
Before he could finish his sentence "Okay", Father Jiang snorted coldly and spoke with a cold expression.
"The Marquis of Loyalty has produced a good prince. He wants to take care of the affairs of my Prime Minister's Mansion before they even get married! I'm going to make this clear today. I won't stop the marriage between the two families, but if the Marquis' Mansion insists on interfering, I won't tolerate it!"
After Father Jiang finished speaking, he glanced towards the hall he had just walked through, then snorted coldly, waved his robe and left.
Marquis Zhongyi: "......"
He was a little dumbfounded. Although he wanted the two families to become relatives and rely on the power of the Prime Minister's Mansion, he didn't want to be turned down for no reason.
Marquis Zhongyi was holding his breath, but he also saw Yun Qingping heaving a sigh of relief.
Thinking of the relationship between the two families, he wanted to test them, "Brother Yun, what's going on with Brother Jiang?"
Yun Qingping was afraid that Jiang's father would get into a fight on impulse, so he had been keeping an eye on the two of them, and naturally saw through Marquis Zhongyi's probing.
He regained his usual composure and calmly recounted yesterday's events, secretly despising the Marquis' Mansion in his heart.
He had a grudge against Yunxi because of what happened at his mother's birthday party. If there was evidence and Yunxi was the prime minister's wife after all, he would have punished her long ago.
As a result, Prince Lu Zhao actually intervened. Although he did not say it explicitly, his implication was that he wanted to protect Yunxi, which was really annoying.
The more the Marquis of Loyalty listened, the more frightened he became. After Yun Qingping finished speaking, he hurriedly bowed and said goodbye and returned to the Marquis's mansion.
......
The study in the Marquis's mansion.
With a "bang" sound, a black object was thrown towards Lu Zhao who had just entered the study. He subconsciously wanted to dodge, but when he thought of something, he stopped the dodging action and took the blow.
The teacup was broken into pieces, and the corner of his forehead was pierced by the fragments, with blood slowly flowing out.
As soon as he came in, he saw Marquis Zhongyi sitting on the high platform, exuding a low-pressure aura.
Without waiting for him to say anything, Lu Zhao knelt down consciously.
"What mistake did you make?" asked Marquis Zhongyi expressionlessly.
"I..." Lu Zhao hesitated and didn't speak.
He had guessed this would happen when he left the Prime Minister's Residence yesterday, but he didn't expect his father to know about it so soon.
Seeing that Lu Zhao didn't say anything, Marquis Zhongyi became even more angry. He grabbed the teacup on the table and threw it out, but this time he avoided Lu Zhao.
"Okay, I just want to know why? Why are you doing this!" Marquis Zhongyi stood up suddenly and roared at Lu Zhao.