si-mexico Chapter 14 Dealing with Aunt Jiang
Chapter 14 Dealing with Aunt Jiang
Qiao Gongquan's face stiffened slightly, but he couldn't refute it.
Seeing this, Chu Qingyin said, "Father, Lord Lu is right. If this matter is not handled properly, it may affect the reputation of our Qiao family and also hinder my daughter's selection for the imperial concubine selection. It would be better to let Lord Lu stay so that there can be a fair hearing."
Qiao Gongquan pondered for a moment, then finally nodded in agreement.
Just then, a series of hurried footsteps approached.
Aunt Jiang and Qiao Qingling rushed over, their faces showing some anxiety.
As soon as Aunt Jiang entered the door, she said, "Master, I heard that the people causing trouble outside have been caught?"
Before Qiao Gongquan could answer, Chu Qingyin coldly said, "You've come at the right time, Aunt. I was just about to ask you why you instructed others to cause trouble in our residence?"
Aunt Jiang's expression changed, but she forced herself to remain calm and said, "Young lady, what do you mean by this? How could I do such a thing?"
Chu Qingyin snorted coldly: "Auntie, there's no need to play dumb. Lin Yue has already confessed everything, saying that you ordered him to come and even gave him fifty taels of silver."
Upon hearing this, Aunt Jiang's face turned deathly pale.
She looked at Qiao Gongquan in a panic, stammering, "Master, don't listen to Qingyin's nonsense. I... how could I do such a thing?"
Qiao Gongquan remained silent, his face grim.
Chu Qingyin continued, "Not only that, Lin Shusheng also said that you arranged for him to meet me by chance many times before, and even the idea of eloping was suggested to him by you. Aunt, I lost my mother at a young age, and I thought you were sincere to me. I never expected that you would have an affair with another man and deliberately ruin my reputation?"
At this point, her eyes reddened slightly, and she turned to bow to Qiao Gongquan, "Father, you must do me justice!"
Aunt Jiang's face changed drastically, and Qiao Qingling, who was standing next to her, also lost her color: "Sister, how can you doubt Aunt Jiang based on just one outsider's one-sided words?"
Aunt Jiang nodded repeatedly: "Yes, young lady, please don't wrong me. It was clearly that scholar who deliberately slandered me and tried to sow discord between me and you!"
Seeing that the Jiang mother and daughter were throwing mud at him without hesitation, Lin Yue, who was kneeling on the ground, couldn't help but raise his face, his face red. "You're talking nonsense. It was clearly you who came to me. You said that although your eldest daughter is of noble birth, she is a stupid idiot who can't think straight and is very easy to fool. You told me to get closer to her so that I might be able to become the son-in-law of the Minister's family."
As he recounted how Aunt Jiang had contacted him and how much money she had given him, he finally looked at Qiao Gongquan and pleaded for forgiveness in a hoarse voice: "Please, Your Excellency, be wise and discerning. I was truly blinded by greed and was instigated by this viper to commit all those evil deeds. I truly know I was wrong!"
With the matter now settled and all the witnesses and evidence in hand, the atmosphere in the main hall became incredibly oppressive and heavy.
Chu Qingyin coldly watched as this dog-eat-dog drama nearly came to an end. She raised her sleeve, pretending to wipe away tears, and added the final fuel to the fire with a sob: "Father, so all of this was Aunt's scheme! If Aunt's evil plan had succeeded, how could I have the face to live now?"
"If Father does not stand up for his daughter today, her reputation will be ruined. She might as well kill herself—"
As she spoke, she took a step forward and was about to crash into a pillar on one side.
"Yinyin!"
"Big girl!"
Xianglan quickly stepped forward to stop her, but Chu Qingyin, of course, wouldn't actually bump into her. She pretended to be stopped and kept sobbing.
"enough!"
Qiao Gongquan's face turned ashen as he stared intently at Aunt Jiang: "I never knew that my household had such a heartless and wicked woman like you!"
Seeing that all was lost, Aunt Jiang knelt down with a thud and cried out, "Master, spare me! I... I was just confused for a moment!"
Qiao Gongquan was furious and shouted, "Guards! Lock Jiang in the woodshed. She is not to be released without my order!"
"My lord, I beg you, I beg you, please spare me for the sake of the many years I have served you—"
The guards immediately stepped forward and dragged away Aunt Jiang, who was crying and screaming incessantly.
Upon seeing this, Qiao Qingling cried out "Mother" in grief, then her waist went limp and she fainted to the ground, as if she were a willow in the wind.
Qiao Qingling's maid immediately stepped forward: "Second Miss!"
In an instant, the main hall was in complete chaos.
Chu Qingyin watched all of this with a cold eye, but felt no pleasure whatsoever.
She knew this was a predetermined ending, and besides...
The real Miss Qiao paid the ultimate price for this; she could never come back.
Not far away, Lu Zhiheng remained seated in his rosewood armchair, quietly watching this scene.
When he saw that Miss Qiao had lowered her eyelashes and looked calm, his eyes flickered slightly.
Having avenged her great grudge, how could she remain so calm?
That's strange, really strange.
Perhaps the man's scrutinizing gaze lingered for too long, for Chu Qingyin turned her face and met his gaze.
She frowned. "You scoundrel, what are you looking at?"
With the matter concluded, Qiao Gongquan would handle Lin Yue's affairs from now on, and she prepared to leave.
Just before she and Qiao Gongquan took their leave, Lu Zhiheng suddenly spoke up: "Miss Qiao, may we speak in private for a moment?"
Chu Qingyin frowned, but at Qiao Gongquan's prompting, she followed Lu Zhiheng out of the main hall.
As soon as she stepped outside, she asked without any politeness, "Does Lord Lu have any further instructions?"
Lu Zhiheng smiled slightly: "Miss Qiao's move kills two birds with one stone, eliminating two thorns in her side at the same time. It's truly brilliant."
Chu Qingyin's expression hardened slightly. She raised her eyes again, her dark eyes calm: "Lord Lu, I don't understand what you're saying."
Lu Zhiheng: "Do you really understand, or are you pretending not to understand?"
Chu Qingyin felt a chill run down her spine when she saw that he was trying to trick her into revealing information again. She lowered her eyes and said, "Lord Lu, you think too highly of me. I am just a woman from the inner quarters."
With that, she gave a slight bow, then turned and left without lingering.
Lu Zhiheng watched her retreating figure and suddenly said, "Miss Qiao, if you walk by the river often, you'll get your shoes wet sooner or later."
Chu Qingyin stopped and glanced back at Lu Zhiheng, her voice laced with sarcasm: "You should say this to yourself, after all, the imperial court is far more unpredictable than the inner quarters."
She left without looking back. Lu Zhiheng pondered her last words again, his thick black eyelashes drooping slightly.
After a long while, a very faint smile appeared on the corner of his mouth, but it quickly disappeared, as if it were just a fleeting illusion.
--
That night, the moon was bright and the stars were few.
After taking a bath, Chu Qingyin lay in bed, but she felt no sleepiness whatsoever.
The scenes from the daytime kept replaying in her mind, along with the words Lu Zhiheng had spoken to her.
I didn't think much of it at first, but now that I've calmed down and thought about it, Lu Zhiheng's arrival seems far too coincidental.
First, he "coincidentally" came to the mansion and saw her playing the zither, and then he "coincidentally" stumbled upon this farce...
Are these successive coincidences genuine, or is Lu Zhiheng pulling the strings behind the scenes?
However, this was only her suspicion; she had no concrete evidence. But if Lu Zhiheng was indeed manipulating things, then this man... was truly too difficult to deal with.
Thinking that she would have to enter the palace in a few days to face Pei Yuanling and many more enemies, Chu Qingyin couldn't help but let out a long sigh.
If it weren't for her brother and the reputation of the Duke of Chu's mansion, she would have only wanted to live a peaceful life and never wade into that whirlpool of intrigue again.
As for now—
We can only brace ourselves, grit our teeth, and fight them to the bitter end once again!
Before we knew it, it was February 8th, the day of the talent show.