Family Law

The main hall of the Dou family mansion is furnished simply and rusticly. The first thing you see is a set of exquisitely crafted nanmu high-legged tables and several round armchairs. The colors are simple but quite elegant.

The Bai family disliked strong incense scents. In contrast to the common people of Dayu who burned incense constantly in their homes, they ordered people to prepare fresh seasonal flowers in the hall. They were even extremely picky about the flowers, rejecting strongly fragrant gardenias and tuberoses, and instead choosing only orchids and honeysuckle with their very refreshing scents.

Pale yellow petals quietly bloomed on various tables and in corners, filling the hall with a delicate fragrance. In contrast to the withered yellow sky outside the window, the fragrance completely masked the desolation and chill of autumn, leaving only the freshness of spring.

Bai tightened her collar; the thick mink fur was warm, but also a bit itchy. She lowered her eyes impatiently, and when she raised them again, her eyes were filled with a stern and indifferent air.

"Yi Huai, your stepmother is asking you a question."

She slowly turned the white jade bracelet on her wrist. It was just a simple question, but it made all the maids standing below shiver.

"—Why have you remained silent for so long?"

Dou Yanxun managed to prop himself up with his hands, but as soon as he opened his mouth, a strong smell of alcohol swept over him.

Bai made no attempt to hide her furrowed brows.

"Father and Mother, Yan Xun had a great time chatting with friends last night and returned home late with a hangover... He has no idea what happened at the manor."

Dou Yanxun's voice was extremely low, and he was still under the influence of alcohol, so he could hardly finish a long sentence, and the last syllable gradually faded away.

It sounded just like muttering to oneself.

Madam Bai looked at her illegitimate son. Even now, as he was being punished to kneel on the gray stone bricks of the main hall, he showed no sign of seriousness whatsoever, a behavior he had never displayed in any normal state. Such a spendthrift son had utterly disgraced the Dou family!

The disgust in her eyes grew even stronger.

“Our family motto has always been ‘to cultivate diligence and hard work, to value prudent character, and to prioritize filial piety.’ Now, let me ask you, if you do not show respect to your parents in front of them, and indulge in pleasure day and night without any ambition, do you not violate the Dou family motto?”

Seeing Dou Yanxun lower his head and remain silent, Fu Lian, the head maid beside Madam Bai, replied gently, "Madam, the Second Master violated the family precepts today and should be punished."

Bai lowered her head, smoothing the floral pattern on her cuff, and chuckled softly.

"Leaving aside any punishment, although Yi Huai seems gentle on the surface, he is actually always strong-willed and never yields. As his legal mother, I have tried to beat and punish him, but to no avail. I really don't know if it is because I, Bai Shi, am incompetent and have failed to raise my son properly, or if these punishments have not been able to make Yi Huai feel any remorse at all?"

Fu Lian couldn't help but speak up and offer advice:

"Madam, why should you be so sorrowful? I believe that Master is diligent and hardworking every day, and personally involved in political affairs. He is undoubtedly the most outstanding among the scions of the Mu family. Moreover, Miss Zhen is exceptionally talented and intelligent, and is renowned as a talented woman in Mu City. This is enough to show that your teachings are flawless."

Fu Lian's gaze slowly shifted to Dou Yanxun, his tone calm yet icy:

"Although I am not learned, I have often heard people say that 'jade must be carved to become a useful object,' so I think that perhaps Second Master is not an unteachable piece of rotten wood, but just needs a little more careful polishing. Although you have suffered, Madam, you are doing this for Second Master's own good. Even if you are punished with family discipline, I believe Second Master will understand your good intentions."

.

The young maid Nongyu from the other courtyard had just returned in a hurry after hearing Zhao Mama's instructions. She walked quickly without daring to catch her breath, and finally returned to the corridor outside the main hall. She saw that several older-looking maids had already shrank their necks and retreated from the doorway.

It looked like a storm was brewing.

Although Nongyu was timid, this was a matter of life and death, and after much deliberation, she couldn't help but muster the courage to go forward and inquire.

The head maid, seeing her dressed in the servants' uniform of the other courtyard, felt increasingly unlucky, her face full of impatience. However, annoyed by Nongyu's questions, she only kindly reminded her casually:

"Given the current unrest, your second master is bound to suffer a beating today. Who would dare to go in and get implicated?"

Nongyu knew something was wrong, but she didn't dare leave. She could only retreat to a corner and pray quietly that Granny Zhao would come soon.

She strained her ears to listen carefully to the sounds coming from inside the main hall, but couldn't hear any loud noises for a long time. Only the occasional soft sobs of a woman could be heard through the cracks in the wall.

That must be Sister Jiaohan, who always has a smile on her face, crying.

Nongyu couldn't help but gasp.

.

Inside the main hall, the undercurrents of unrest remained turbulent.

Bai Shi leisurely fiddled with the pearl bracelet in his hand, while Dou Huaisheng beside him calmly savored the newly arrived tea.

The girls with good judgment retreated one by one, while the rest, who couldn't leave, could only lower their heads and quietly observe the situation.

However, everyone knows that the old lady was truly furious about what happened today.

Fu Lian is now considered the most favored maid in the Dou family. On ordinary days, she is treated as if she were half a master. After speaking in such a deep and quiet voice, a clever little maid quietly brought up the Dou family's rules.

It was a black leather whip as thick as a wrist, woven from several strands of soft leather. The joints were very tight, clearly indicating its immense power, and there were still specks of dried, scarlet blood on it.

Such a heavy whip, if swung even slightly, would be too much for even the strongest person to withstand more than a few lashes, let alone someone with a weak constitution; it would be impossible to avoid drawing blood.

Jiaohan, who had been kneeling in the hall, trembled violently at the sight of the family law being presented. Her already frail body shook even more, and she quickly raised her tear-streaked face, kowtowing repeatedly while wailing and lamenting:

"Master and Madam, I truly have no idea what happened last night. I was just so worried when I suddenly couldn't find Jiaorui. She and I entered the manor together back then, so naturally we're closer than others. That's why I panicked and went to report to the Second Master. But the Second Master was indeed completely drunk last night and is already fast asleep in the inner chamber of the Huiya Residence. I didn't dare to disturb him any further, so I went to rest as well. I really don't know anything else!"

Dou Yanxun opened his half-closed eyes, the incessant crying and wailing around him seemed to finally sober him up a bit and bring him back to his senses.

He glanced at the little maidservant respectfully holding the family law beside him, then looked at Jiao Han, who was crying with tears streaming down her face, and slowly curled the corners of his lips into a smile.

The empty main hall, which had been filled with Jiao Han's wailing, suddenly rang out with a soft laugh, which seemed particularly abrupt.

Bai had fine wrinkles at the corners of his eyes, and although his expression seemed ordinary, a coldness was subtly spreading from the depths of his eyes.

"That's enough—"

But a single whisper was enough to startle Jiao Han's crying, silencing her completely. Bai Shi fiddled with the pattern on her cuffs, not even glancing at Dou Yanxun, but instead turning to instruct Fu Lian:

"Since Yi Huai is still drunk and confused, let's help him sober up."

Upon receiving the order, Fu Lian simply clapped his hands, and two maids lowered their heads and carried in an extremely deep nanmu barrel.

The young maid glanced at the kneeling Second Master on the ground and hesitated. However, seeing the determination in Fu Lian's eyes, she hardened her heart. The two looked at each other and then worked together to lift the wooden bucket.

"Splash—"

The entire bucket of ice water was poured over Dou Yanxun, and a significant amount also splashed onto Jiao Han, who was standing beside him.

The rest fell to the ground, splashing up several water droplets of varying sizes.

Dou Yanxun used the water to wipe his face. His light green robe was completely soaked, and the jade hairpin in his hair was also splashed and fell to the ground by the surging water. He looked extremely disheveled.

He casually gathered the hair that had fallen around his ears and face and tucked it all behind his ears.

A few glistening water droplets clung to her long, dark eyelashes, making her already ethereal face appear even more pale and her lips and teeth bright and clear.

Those lips had an unusual, sickly crimson color, and the corners of her lips slowly curved upwards, followed by a soft laugh.

"Father, Mother, your son has sobered up."

His eyes were deep and dark, as if they concealed turbulent waves, but they returned to calm in an instant.

That gaze merely swept across Bai's face briefly, without lingering for a moment, instead drifting far away until it landed on the long black whip.

Scattered black and red patches dotted the entire whip, making it look terrifying. Whenever the family rules were mentioned, everyone in the Dou family would shudder.

To him, however, it was just a familiar old friend.

After all, the whip was stained with his blood from childhood to adolescence.

When he looked up again, his eyes had returned to their usual nonchalant expression. Cold water droplets slowly dripped from his forehead, wetting his thick eyebrows, but when he spoke, his words were still very casual.

“My son really didn’t know what happened at the residence last night; he was indeed drunk at the time.”

The two "indeed"s suggest that all patience and forbearance have been exhausted.

Jiao Han knelt on the gray stone bricks, shivering. The cold water gradually spread along the ground, and half of her body was also splashed with water. She couldn't help but shiver, and her body trembled slightly with fear.

Dou Yanxun was the person closest to her in the main hall. For some reason, she could feel out of the corner of her eye that the Second Master had glanced at her briefly when he answered her question. She couldn't help but shrink back a little more.

"Jiaorui was your head maid, how could she have drowned in the well? The servants who cleaned it said that the well was on the only way to your bedchamber. How do you explain that?"

Bai's stern questioning suddenly rang out, filling every corner of the hall. His usual authoritative words, after a while, sounded as ridiculous as a cliché.

She had always detested Dou Yanxun's careless and negligent attitude. Seeing that her questioning had yielded no results after a long time, she couldn't help but get angry and slammed her well-maintained hand heavily on the black nanmu wooden table.

The delicate jade bracelet, shimmering with a faint light, was also thrown into the air by gravity.

"Is Mother implying that I killed Jiaorui?"

Dou Yanxun slowly raised his head. Not only did the nonchalant look in his eyes not disappear, but an endless smile began to spread across his lips.

"Jiaorui is tactful and considerate, extremely gentle, and so beautiful. We'd be too busy keeping her by our side to enjoy her every day. Why would our son kill her?"

But to Bai, that smile looked exactly like a mockery.

Bai tightened her throat before speaking sternly:

“Although she was a servant, she was still a human being. She was perfectly fine during the day, but then she drowned in the water at night when she was drunk and unconscious. Our Dou family has always upheld strict family rules, and the life of a servant is also a life! We must investigate this matter thoroughly to give justice to her deceased family members, and let all the servants in this mansion see that I, Bai, am not someone who condones evil or tolerates wrongdoing!”

Dou Yanxun, unusually, stopped smiling.

In the silence and amidst the pervasive anger of the Bai family, he slowly spoke.

"Since Mother likes this girl so much, why did she give her to me in the first place? If I had known she was such a lovely girl and so good at winning Mother's favor, I would have kept her by my side and never neglected her."

"You! Are you defying me?"

Bai spoke angrily, but after a moment, she forced herself to close her eyes. When she opened them again, she managed to regain the dignified demeanor of the matriarch.