The Virtuous Wife

Chapter 42: Promoted to Equal Wife

It was originally Gu's birthday party, but it ended in a bad mood. Jingyi accompanied Gu to see off the last group of guests, and she was so tired that she could hardly stand. In fact, she was more angry with Liu.

Jingyi looked at Gu's slightly pale face and felt a little reluctant, but she didn't tell Gu the truth after all. It's good that at least through this incident, Gu will only take better care of her yard. If the old lady wants to find someone to do it again, it will be more difficult. But after all, it was my mother's birthday party, which disturbed my mother's good mood.

Jingyi and Jingwei helped Gu to sit down in the flower hall, and Liu Ma also came to reply.

"Madam, Third Master's concubine Lan has been diagnosed with miscarriage due to external force. Now, concubine Lan is still unconscious and doesn't know that her child is gone. Miss Jingrou also has a lot of scars on her body. It seems that she is not only beaten today, but also has a lot of old scars. You didn't see that Liu hugged Miss Jingrou and cried like a tearful person." Jingwei, who was standing aside, was somewhat touched when she heard this. Although Gu was not very close to her, she had never abused her. Although her food and clothing expenses were not as good as Jingyi's, compared with Jingrou, there was a world of difference! Thinking of how she used to secretly bully the young Jingyi, and that time on the rockery, Jingwei felt a kind of fear inexplicably! She couldn't say what she was afraid of? But that feeling made her panic! Her face turned pale for a while. Gu didn't notice Jingwei's inappropriateness, she just sighed and said, "Alas, after all, she is not her own child. Although there is no blood relationship, you can't a***e the child like this! What does the third master say?"

"When the palace doctor took the pulse, the third master was watching. The third master was so angry that he kept scolding Liu and said he would go back to his room to write a divorce letter, but he was stopped by the old lady, who asked the third master to figure out the matter first."

"Humph! What do you want to figure out? Isn't it obvious? Who else would do such a thing except Liu? Aren't there enough unborn children who were harmed by her? I think it's just that the old lady wants to keep Liu. After all, the third master has been dismissed from office now, and Liu's brother from her mother's family is at least a sixth-rank official, and maybe there will be a future for him in the future!"

"What the lady said is right. The old lady will consider her own son first. Besides, isn't it just beating a concubine? The old lady doesn't think much of it."

Gu looked around and said softly, "A good birthday banquet turned out like this. This Liu has lost all the face of our mansion! Besides, she can enter my yard today, maybe someone else will enter tomorrow."

Madam Liu has been with Gu for many years, so how could she not understand what she meant? She hurriedly replied, "Don't worry, Madam, when this matter is settled, I will discipline the servants in the yard. Send away those greedy, talkative, and lazy ones, and replace them with honest and hardworking ones."

Gu nodded, picked up the teacup, drank a few sips of tea, and closed her eyes to rest for a while, and her face looked better.

Jingyi saw that Jingwei's face turned pale, thinking that she was frightened by Jingrou's matter. Jingyi gently pushed Jingwei, "Sister, what's wrong? Are you feeling unwell? Do you want to ask the court doctor to come and see you?"

Jingwei came back to her senses and said in a panic, "It's okay. Maybe I was scared by my uncle just now."

Jingyi nodded, "Yes! I have never seen a man hit someone! It's so scary!"

Gu said worriedly, "Look, you are only concerned about the guests and forgot about you two children. Come here quickly, are you scared?"

Jingyi and Jingwei came to Gu, and Gu pulled one of their hands on the left and right, and overlapped them, "You have seen it all. People should be open-minded, but be wary of others' hearts, and don't have the intention of harming others! Your third aunt is an example! You must remember! Don't seek temporary pleasure and cause trouble that will make you regret for the rest of your life!"

Liu Ma smiled and said, "Madam is too strict with the two young ladies. They are still young, how can they understand these things?"

Gu shook her head, "Don't do good deeds because they are small, and don't do bad deeds because they are small. Liu's behavior today was not achieved in one day! It must be the result of the accumulation of evil thoughts in her heart over the years! Although you two are young now, you must remember these principles!"

"My daughter-in-law said it well!" Jingyi turned around and saw that it was the old man and Su Wei who led Su Qing and others to the flower hall.

Gu hurriedly stood up and bowed, and after the old man and Su Wei sat down, she sat down beside them.

The old man said with a little shame: "I have heard about what happened today and asked Cheng'er. He insisted on divorcing Liu. Your mother advised him to think twice for the sake of the children. Daughter-in-law, what do you think about this matter?" Gu lowered her head and said: "Father, this matter is originally the matter of my third brother's own room. I dare not say anything. But today in front of all the ladies and daughters, it is a loss of face for our mansion. I just think that if I don't punish my third brother's wife, I am afraid it will be detrimental to the reputation of my Pingnan Marquis Mansion. I hope father will think twice." The old man nodded solemnly. Fortunately, this happened in Su Cheng's room. If it happened in Su Wei's room, his reputation as Pingnan Marquis would be greatly damaged. "Someone, go and call the third son and his wife, and tell them I have something to ask them! The old lady is also with him, let her come as well."

A maid responded and retreated, heading straight to the third room.

Jingyi tilted her head slightly, and said childishly: "But didn't the third aunt say she wanted to get a handkerchief for mother? How did it become looking at calligraphy and paintings? If it was for looking at calligraphy and paintings, wouldn't there be more in Dad's study?"

Gu and others were shocked. Jingyi's seemingly unintentional words fell into the ears of several people, and that attracted great attention! How could Liu go to Gu's yard for no reason, and insisted on entering her bedroom when she knew that Gu was not there?

Gu's mind turned quickly, and she hurriedly said to Liu Ma beside her: "Quick, go back and take a good look, check everything carefully, is there anything missing or extra?"

Liu Ma was also startled, and hurriedly got up and went back to the yard.

Gu felt uneasy in her heart, and her face was also anxious.

Su Qing stood beside Gu and comforted her softly, "Please rest assured, mother. Grandfather and father will take care of everything for you." Gu nodded, but she was still a little worried. In just a cup of tea, the old woman brought the old lady, Su Cheng and Liu. As soon as Su Cheng entered the flower hall, he knelt down and said, "Father, this is because I didn't discipline my child strictly and didn't manage the family well, so I got into this kind of trouble. Today, I have decided to divorce Liu, please agree!" The old lady scolded excitedly, "You evil son! You are so partial to the concubine before the matter is clear! Have you ever thought about your wife? She is your first wife after all! She gave birth to your children, why are you so heartless! Don't you think of her previous good deeds at all?" Su Cheng lowered his head, but said nothing. Liu knelt down in front of Gu with a thud, crying bitterly, "Sister-in-law, it's all my fault today. I can't manage the household well, so those concubines joined hands to punish me. I was wholeheartedly doing housework for the master, but I was framed by those bitches! Sister-in-law, I made you lose face! Sister-in-law wants to beat or scold me, I have no complaints! It's just that the master believes that everything is my fault, thinking of my poor children!" As she spoke, she burst into tears and was very excited, looking like she had suffered a great injustice. Liu had been slapped twice by Su Cheng, and now the slap marks were still there, and her whole face was a little red and swollen. Coupled with such crying, it was really unbearable to look at. The old man's eyes were dark and unclear. He knew that the women in the back house would do anything to win favor! Liu was indeed possibly framed by the concubines. He closed his eyes and said softly, "You are their mother. What do you think should be done about this?" The old lady's face tightened, and the hand holding the cane unconsciously increased the strength. Who on earth could have such a good method? Forced them into this situation! The old lady looked at Liu, who was crying so hard, and said sternly: "Stop crying! Today is your eldest sister-in-law's birthday, why are you so angry?"

Liu stopped crying immediately after being scolded by the old lady. She wiped her face with a handkerchief, knelt down and crawled in front of the old lady's legs, sobbing: "Mother, this matter really has nothing to do with my daughter-in-law! It's all those vixens who coveted my position as the wife! Mother, please help your daughter-in-law!"

The old lady asked someone to help Liu up, "Liu, because of your family affairs today, you disturbed the eldest daughter-in-law's birthday, you should apologize to her! As for the concubine who had a miscarriage, Cheng'er, how can you be sure that it was her fault?"

Su Cheng straightened his body and said angrily, "Mother, who else could it be if not her? She was jealous of Lan'er's beauty and her family background. She was afraid that Lan'er would give birth to a son and take away her position as the wife, so she was cruel to Lan'er!"

Liu was about to argue, but the old lady winked at her, "Cheng'er, I know you feel sorry for Lan'er. She was wronged in the end. How about this, I will make the decision to raise her to a concubine and give her a formal status, which can be regarded as some compensation for her. What do you think?"

Su Cheng's face relaxed a little after hearing this.

Gu and Jingyi sneered secretly. The old lady's mind was really deep! It sounded like raising the status of Aunt Lan, but in fact, she was put on the cusp of the storm! Su Cheng had so many concubines, but only she was raised to a concubine. Isn't this making her a rake? If she was really raised to a concubine, I'm afraid she wouldn't be able to wait even half a year and would be killed.

Just as Su Cheng was about to respond, he saw a maid running back in a hurry, her face full of sweat. When she entered the flower hall, he could hear her heavy breathing.

"Third Master, it's bad! Aunt Lan woke up and heard that her child was killed by someone. She was so impulsive that she committed suicide!"

"What?"