Chapter 51 – Revealing of Plans
Murong Xue was startled when she heard the question, and saw Mrs. Du march angrily towards her. She had not been feeling well so she wanted to rest briefly in the guest room. However, everyone was rushing to the hall so she followed the crowd, but was rather upset when she saw that Murong Xue was condemning Rou Er.
Murong Xue faced her angry eyes and said mercilessly, “When she emptied out my mother’s dowry, why didn’t she act as our blood-related aunt? When she bribed Song Qinyan into deceiving my brother, why didn’t she act as our blood-related aunt? When she collaborated with Qingyan to cheat my brother out of his silvers, why didn’t she act as our blood related aunt? Now that her evil ways have been all revealed and she’s on her way to prison, you suddenly want us to think of her as our blood related aunt?
“You!” Madam Du was stunned and could not move. Rou Er was truly wrong for what she had done, but she was still the lady of Wu An, her name would be ruined completely if she went into the prison. “I’m your grandmother, I have the right to interfere in your things and make the final decisions, clear off the accusation…”
With one word, Rou Er did not have to go into custody, since Murong Xue would not let go of this matter, she would have to release her herself.
Murong Xue blurted out a laugh, raised an eyebrow and said, “Grandmother, please listen carefully, Murong Rou stole my brother’s silvers, not yours, you don’t have the right to make any final call…”
Madam Du sneered, “I am the lao furen of Zhen Manor, I am the biggest decision maker, your brother lost all his money, he had to return his debts using my money, how can I not interfere?”
“Since when he was young, my brother’s clothes and food and everything were all provided by Uncle Hui, when has he ever asked for money grandmother’s house?”Murong Xue fainted smiled at her, her eyes were filled with contempt and mocking. In front of everyone, Madam Du still had the confidence to lie about this matter.
Madam Du’s face turned red; she stared at Murong Xue and cursed her in her heart as she gritted her teeth: evil! Evil!
The crowd watched both of them as they debated, Madam Du had her own blood-related daughter, how would she treat Murong Ye and Murong Xue sincerely, who had no blood relations at all. The crowd understood the whirlwind storm inside of the household.
“She harmed my brother, this fact is certainly true; she deserves to be in the jail for scamming my brother!” Murong Xue went on and looked at the guards, “These two guards, stop staring blankly into space, arrest them now!”
The two soldiers, who had regained themselves, walked towards Murong Rou and Son Qing Yan and cuffed them.
Song Qin Yan calmly moved forward with his head high up, as if he was a guest going for a visit.
Murong Rou, however, was filled with wrath, but she could do nothing.
A voice appeared suddenly as both of them were halfway to the main door, “wait a minute!”
Everyone looked up and saw Old Madam Song walking over to the crowd with her maid helping her out, her face was gloomy, “Tian Wen, please write a xiushu (divorce letter) and divorce Murong Rou, we do not want such sinister and cunning daughter-in law in our Song household.”
Murong Rou’s head went blank, Madam Song was asking her husband to divorce her, how could she do that?
Mrs. Du realized where this was going, looked up to stare at Old Madam Song and said coldly, “Rou Er has been married to the Song family for more than ten years, she worked hard day and night and has not received any credit for her hard work, how could ask Tian Wen for a divorce?”
“She is evil and black-hearted!” Old Madam Song’s tone was harsh, her voice was filled with coldness. “As the Song’s daughter in law, she was supposed to be gentle and virtuous, live in harmony with her sister-in laws, and know right when she sees it, but what has she done so far? She stole her sister-in law’s dowry shops, this matter of deceiving Murong Ye was all her doing, yet she pushed the entire blame onto Qing Yan, such a black-hearted and despicable woman, we certainly cannot afford to keep her in the Song family nor do we dare to in order to keep the family peaceful.”
In front of everybody, she had just clarified that the people of Wu An’s house were all intelligent and faithful, and that nobody conspired with Murong Rou in her evil plan. Murong Rou has trapped herself in her own set up by trying to decieve Murong Ye, she could not tolerate this selfishness any longer.
Mrs. Du choked, and her chest heaved in anger, she wanted to refute the words, but she could not think of anything to say.
Murong Rou came back to her consciousness, looked at Old Madam Song with full determination, “Mother, according to the Song’s family rule, one can only divorce the wife if she breaks the seven major rules, since married until now, have I broke those seven major rules? Have I done anything to this family?”
Madam Song Lao blinked her eyes in discomfort, since Murong Ye married to Tian Wen, she had been a hardworking and responsible good wife, thus Madam Song Lao trusted her enough to let her handle all issues in the house.
But who asked her to be greedy? She was caught doing wrong things and she ruined the reputation of the family. The house of Song needs a submissive Wu An lady, not someone like her who spread their bad reputation all over the town!
Old Madam Song bowed her head slightly to look at her and was surprised when she found Murong Rou staring back in return, her pupils flashed darkly and her eyes narrowed. What did Murong Rou want?
In the middle of her confusion, Song Tian Wen came into the scene and exclaimed, “Mother, this matter is serious, let Master Lin bring Rou Er and Qing Yan back to Tianfu first…”
When no one was looking, he dropped his voice to a whisper, “Mother, Rou Er has been captured for her crime, if we settled off her right here right now, would it not add insult to injury? How will the government officials view the Wu An House then?”
Madam Song Lao’s narrowed her eyes a little, the House of Wu An’s reputation could not ride on the back of his wife, they could not bear this humiliation.
Indeed, the people in Wu An received many gifts from Murong Rong’s stealing, if Tian Wen divorced her now, she would tell the truth to everyone around them so that the entire Wu An House would be shamed. “If that’s the case, we’ll postpone this issue, wait till she’s back to Wu An, we will definitely further discuss about this.”
“Thank you so much, mother!” Murong Rou let out a breath of relief, she marched slowly out of the door with the guards holding her arms.
Murong Xue looked at her as she drifted further into the skyline, she thought to herself, even if Murong Rou was not settled off, her reputation was completely ruined already, once she came back from the Lianfu, Madam Song Lao would not even let her handle anything at all, the stewards and maids in the house would not fear her too, they would all make fun of her from now on, in short, even if she continued on as first lady in Wu An, her life would be worse.
Murong Xue broke out of her thought as a shadow appeared above her head, Song Tian Wen stood in front of her and apologized, “Ye Er, Xue Er, my deepest apologies, your aunty… she… Find me if you face any troubles in the future, I will absolutely support you if I can!”
Murong Xue smiled, Song Tian Wen was the husband of Murong Rou, and he acted as if he did not know what she was doing all this while? She did not believe that.
“We do not really need help and support, as long as you people of Wu An stop planning to take away our inheritance and create chaos for us siblings, we are grateful enough.”
Song Tian Wen faked a laugh, “there are a lot of guests in here today, I have to go now, please make yourselves at home!”
The two culprits had been taken away to the station, everything was over, the crowd gradually walked away from the scene, and there was only Murong Xue and Murong Ye left in the hall.
“All those busybodies are gone, brother, let’s go home too.” Murong Xue stated, she turned around when she did not get any response from her brother, and saw him squatting down aside unbendingly, he was looking down at the floor, as if he was thinking about something…