Dong Hui was shocked and sprang from her seat instantly. She goggled at Mammy Zheng in astonishment. “For what? What did I do to them?”
Anxiety could hardly be concealed in her angry tone.
After all, Dong Hui feared Mo Shujun. Hearing that Princess Royal was coming to denounce her, she was frightened.
Shi Qingxue hurriedly stepped forward and helped her mother return to her seat, comforting her softly, “Mother, don’t worry. We still don’t know what happened. If we are anxious, others would think that we are guilty.”
“Right. I can’t be anxious.” Dong Hui came to her senses and nodded repeatedly.
But she was still worried, so she told Mammy Zheng next to her, “Don’t stand here. Hurry up and go to find my husband. Bring him back.”
Mammy Zheng came back to earth soon after Dong Hui roared and didn’t dare to delay. Then she went out in a hurry.
“Where are you going?”
Mo Shujun’s cold voice came from the gate of the East House.
Mo Shujun led a group of people to block the gate of the East House. Mammy Zheng wanted to fight her way out to send a message, but before she approached the gate, she was stopped.
Mo Shujun didn’t even plan to ask Dong Hui but told somebody to capture Mammy Zheng.
Even though she was arbitrary as always, she was too rude and forceful this time.
Was she determined to fall out with Dong Hui, or did she have something secure to rely on so she feared nothing…
Shi Qingxue pondered for a while in secret and stopped Dong Hui from getting angry. Then she saluted the people who came to cause trouble and smiled. “Grandma, good day.”
Mo Shujun was furious and unwilling to make any perfunctory remarks. She snorted coldly and ignored Qingxue.
Shi Qingxue wasn’t angry. When they were at daggers drawn, if she was uncalm, she would easily give others a chance to find fault with her.
She wouldn’t be so stupid as to give them a chance to comment on her.
“Grandma, why did you bring my aunts to visit the East House all of a sudden?”
She didn’t ask Mo Shujun why she detained Mammy Zheng forcefully, so she didn’t give Mo Shujun a chance to rebuke her.
Mo Shujun couldn’t find an excuse to explode, and some of her fury disappeared.
She just looked at Dong Hui coldly and reproached, “See what you have done. You just humiliate our family! Why did I choose such a wife for Junhe? You are immoral and ruin the family’s fame!”
Each of her words was hurtful and depreciated Dong Hui. And she even added insult to injury.
Dong Hui was provoked by this denouncement and trembled, unable to stand steadily. She almost went faint.
Shi Qingxue quickly supported Dong Hui and shouted in anxiety, “Mother, are you okay?”
Dong Hui turned pale and shook her head.
“No. We should call for a doctor and let him check on you.” Shi Qingxue was worried and turned her head, telling Xia Mang to ask Doctor Qin to come.
Before Xia Mang walked out of the East House, she was stopped by the servants and forbidden to go out.
Shi Qingxue finally frowned but restrained her anger. She asked Mo Shujun distantly, “Grandma, what do you mean? Mother is pregnant, and I want to ask a doctor to come to examine her. Isn’t it okay?”
Zhou Ruyu pretended to be casual and said coldly, “Who knows if the baby in her womb is a descendent of our family? If not, Brother was cheated and needs to raise her son!”
“What nonsense are you talking about?” Shi Qingxue rebuked without mercy.
Facing Zhou Ruyu, Shi Qingxue was not afraid that others would say that she had no respect for the elders.
She stared at Zhou Ruyu coldly and warned her, “If you dare to say something improper, I will show no mercy. Don’t blame me.”
As Zhou Ruyu was stared at by Shi Qingxue’s cold eyes, she was frustrated like a deflated balloon.
But she was reluctant and turned to Mo Shujun, saying with a grievance, “Mother, look. I know that I am her aunt, but I am in a low position in this family. I don’t even have prestige in front of the younger generation. I have to bear it after she yelled at me…”
Mo Shujun was old and experienced and knew what Zhou Ruyu wanted to do as soon as the latter started speaking, but she wasn’t in the mood to talk with Zhou Ruyu, and she stated coldly, “Since you bear it, stop talking.”
Zhou Ruyu was speechless.
Mo Shujun didn’t care how depressed Zhou Ruyu was and then turned to Dong Hui again.
She stared at Dong Hui for quite a while and then affirmed, “You know what you have done. I am not in the mood to talk with you. Today you just go back to the Dong family, and I will tell somebody to send the divorce paper in two days. From now on, you have nothing to do with Duke Shi’s mansion. I don’t want to ask if the bastard in your womb is Junhe’s baby, and the Shi family won’t have this member.”
At this moment, even Dong Hui was terrified, let alone Shi Qingxue who was in shock and couldn’t speak a word.
Dong Hui always thought that Mo Shujun hated her so much because she couldn’t give birth to a son for Shi Junhe.
Every doctor who had examined her and even Shen Luo had said that the baby in her womb might be a son. She almost thought that she would see daylight, but unexpectedly, Mo Shujun didn’t even care about her grandson.
Dong Hui felt dizzy and almost went into a coma.
“Mother!” Shi Qingxue screamed and hurriedly supported Dong Hui. Then she told a maid to pat Dong Hui’s chest to comfort her.
After a long time, Dong Hui finally managed to recover.
Mo Shujun watched her all the time. After they were busy with saving Dong Hui for a while, she expressed indifferently, “Stop pretending! Dong, haven’t you played enough tricks? Now Junhe is not here. Who do you want to show to?”
“Grandma, what do you mean?” Shi Qingxue couldn’t stand it and questioned.
She tried not to argue with Mo Shujun, but Mo Shujun was more and more overbearing depending on her identity and was almost insatiable, so she didn’t consider the elder’s dignity.
“Grandma, I don’t know what Mother has done to offend you, and you even brought people to the East House in person and declared that you would terminate a marriage ‘for’ my father.”
Her word “for” was ingenious.
Although logically, as Shi Junhe’s mother, Mo Shujun had the right to terminate a marriage for her son, women were in high positions in the Mo Country. If a woman didn’t make a big mistake but was divorced without careful consideration, the man’s family would be criticized.
So generally, a mother-in-law wouldn’t act on her own and divorce the wife for her son because she was afraid that she would be denounced.
But Mo Shujun thought that she had the evidence this time, so she wasn’t afraid of Shi Qingxue’s query.
She glanced at the second master Shi Junfeng’s wife Zhang who followed her all the time and called her impassively, “Zhang, tell everybody what you saw downstream of the boundary river last night. Tell us everything frankly.”
At the mention of last night and the river, Dong Hui turned pale and felt scared.
Shi Qingxue noticed that and felt nervous, suddenly realizing that Mo Shujun didn’t fabricate rumors this time.
However, before she figured out a way to cope with it, the second madam Zhang Qiuyan quickly stood out and stated honestly, “Last night, my mother was sick, so I returned home to serve her. When I came back, I passed the river and saw…”
When she mentioned the key part, Zhang Qiuyan stopped and stuttered. She couldn’t speak a word after a long time.
She glanced at Shi Qingxue from time to time, as if she was afraid that Shi Qingxue would get back at her.
Shi Qingxue’s face darkened, and she snorted. “Aunt, just say it if you want to. Why do you look at me?”
“Right, Qiuyan, Mother asked you, so you just say it directly. Even if there is something, Mother would seek justice for you.” Zhou Ruyu stepped forward and grabbed Zhang Qiuyan’s arm to show that they were close.
It appeared that she comforted Zhang Qiuyan, but in fact, she just incited her sister-in-law.
Zhang Qiuyan gritted her teeth and told them everything. “Last night, I saw Hui secretly dating a strange man in the Valentine’s Pavilion by the boundary river. They hugged each other and looked intimate.”
“Nonsense! You are lying. I didn’t do that!” Dong Hui shrieked and instantly stood up from the stone stool. She was about to rush to Zhang Qiuyan. It seemed that she tried to tear off the mouth which talked nonsense.
Shi Qingxue hurriedly stopped Dong Hui from acting rashly.
At the same time, she stared at Zhang Qiuyan and asked calmly, “Aunt, you returned home yesterday to serve your mother who was sick. Why did you come back at night? It seems unconventional.”
Zhang Qiuyan seemed to have expected that Qingxue would ask such a question, and she replied in an instant, “At night, my mother recovered a lot, and it happened that my husband sent a message, saying that he didn’t feel well and he told me to come back earlier if I had nothing to do in my parents’ mansion. I was worried about my husband then, so I rushed back home at night.”
Shi Qingxue’s expression didn’t change. She nodded and seemed to believe Zhang Qiuyan’s explanation.
But before Zhang Qiuyan sighed with relief, Qingxue asked all of a sudden, “If I remember correctly, your parents’ mansion is in the southwest of the capital, while the boundary river flows from west to east, but the Valentine’s Pavilion is in the southeast of the river. Why did you cross the whole south city before you came back to our mansion, Aunt?”
Zhang Qiuyan had a headache. It was said that the sixth lady of the Shi family was clever and difficult to deal with. Today she had seen it.
Shi Qingxue didn’t find fault with Dong Hui dating a man secretly, but she made a fuss about the reason why Zhang Qiuyan showed up in the Valentine’s Pavilion.
It seemed irrelevant, but Zhang Qiuyan couldn’t refuse to answer.
After all, if there was something wrong when she “passed” the Valentine’s Pavilion, what she said as a witness would be unreliable.
But she couldn’t answer it. This issue was just a…
Zhang Qiuyan peeped at Zhou Ruyu subconsciously, and Shi Qingxue who stared at her all the time noticed that.
She would certainly understand who was playing tricks.
Zhou Ruyu cursed “idiot” in secret and didn’t care if Shi Qingxue would suspect her. She stepped forward and explained for Zhang Qiuyan forcefully, “Qiuyan’s aunt lives in the southeast, and it’s not surprising that she wanted to visit her aunt by the way.”
Zhang Qiuyan nodded in haste. “Right, that’s it. I just went to see my aunt.”
Afterward, Zhang Qiuyan swelled out her chest and became more confident, aiming at Shi Qingxue. “Last night, I really passed the Valentine’s Pavilion. If you think I was lying, you can ask the coachman and all the maids and servants in the West House. Anyway, I am not the only one who has seen your mother’s date last night.”
“…”
She was really cruel.
If Shi Qingxue didn’t believe her, Zhang Qiuyan would tell more people to come. Wasn’t she going to let everybody in the city know that Dong Hui secretly dated a man?
Even though Shi Qingxue was bold, before the truth was found, she didn’t dare to get more people involved in it.
She softened and smiled at Zhang Qiuyan gently, saying expressionlessly, “Aunt, you get me wrong. It’s not that I don’t believe your words, but the dew is heavy in autumn, and it was at midnight. You were far away from them, so could you see their faces clearly? Did you make a mistake?”
Anyway, her testimony couldn’t decide the crime.
Zhang Qiuyan shouted immediately, “Who said that I don’t have the evidence?”