Chapter 026 When it rains, it pours

Huang Cui'e was only whipped for the first time, and then she cleverly hid on the side of the Fang family. Now she finally understood that the escort had a grudge against the second brother!

After Huang Cui'e made this discovery, she wanted to announce it to the entire Xu family, but she made faces for a long time and no one in the Xu family paid any attention to her.

Soon, all that could be heard was the sound of whips flying in the air and my second uncle's screams.

The Xu family watched in fear, but no one dared to lend a helping hand.

Finally, another escort, Huang Yazi, couldn't stand it anymore and symbolically stopped them, whispering, "Hey, that's enough. If someone gets killed, we won't be able to explain to the squad leader."

Liu Jieshi was sweating all over. He only let go when he was tired of swinging his arms. He then lashed out at Xu Deyuan, who was curled up on the ground, and said viciously, "You old bastard, it's your bad luck to fall into my hands. Just wait and see how I deal with you later."

After the escort left, all the people from the second house rushed over, calling out "Master" on the left and "Daddy" on the right.

Grandmother also hugged the dying Xu Deyuan, who was covered in wounds, and cried bitterly, but she did not dare to curse those black-hearted escorts. She could only curse the evil heaven, "Oh my God, what sin have I committed... Second son's wife, go get some medicine..."

"Mom, that bastard official took away everything we had! Now we have nothing!"

"Grandma, I saw him stuff all our belongings into their carriage! This is clearly robbery!"

Huang was at a loss, "Then...what should we do?"

The eldest daughter-in-law of the Fang family had already walked over and found Xu Zhenying in the crowd. She placed a jar of ointment in her hand and said, "Xu Liu, this is a little gift from my mother-in-law. You can apply this ointment to the wound to prevent itching and redness."

Xu Zhenying quickly took it and did not refuse. He just said thank you sincerely.

Grandmother Huang also choked with tears and said, "Thank you so much, Old Madam Fang. I will go and thank you in person later."

Mrs. Fang held back Huang's movements as she was about to stand up to express her gratitude, and said softly, "Mrs. Xu, you're too polite. Please treat Mr. Xu's wound first. We have a long journey ahead of us, so you should take care of your household chores first."

After the eldest daughter-in-law of the Xu family left, Xu Zhenying handed the plaster to Huang. Xu Deyuan lay weakly in Huang's arms. Seeing Xu Zhenying, he immediately glared at her, "You bastard! It's because you accepted the Zheng family's things...that the escort coveted them...that you deserved this beating...If you had behaved properly...how could you have gotten into this trouble?"

Miao immediately protected Xu Zhenying and said tremblingly, "Second brother, you are being unreasonable... How can it be my daughter Ying'er's fault... You... You can't say that..."

Xu Zhenying felt a surge of anger.

Thinking about her past life, she had lived for decades, worked as the first secretary in the countryside, worked as a street vendor and avoided the urban management, and encountered many extreme people. She believed that her temper had been cultivated to be almost as good as that of a Bodhisattva, and ordinary idiots could not move her.

But perhaps it was because she had walked too long today, and was already physically tired, and her mood became even more irritable. Her face immediately darkened, and the faint and distant smile disappeared, which inexplicably gave people a feeling of oppression.

"Second uncle is right." Xu Zhenying gently pushed Miao away, holding the jar of ointment in his hand, and said expressionlessly, "My things are a bit unlucky. Then I will return this ointment to Old Madam Fang now."

After saying this, Xu Zhenying stood up and was about to leave.

Everyone in the Xu family was stunned. What was going on?

Even Miao was shocked.

Xu Degui immediately disagreed, saying, "Ying'er, how can you get angry with your elders? Things have their priorities. Don't just keep throwing tantrums."

Xu Minglu, the concubine of the second house, immediately pointed at Xu Zhenying's nose and said arrogantly, "Sixth sister, do you still respect the elders? Why do you always have to talk back to them? We, the younger generation, just accept what the elders say. Do you think that just because you have the supplies, you are superior and can tell our second house what to do?"

Xu Lezhi had long been fed up with Xu Zhenying's recent spotlight, and upon hearing this, he immediately agreed, "Exactly. Besides, this ointment was given to you by Old Madam Fang for Daddy's sake, and she didn't specifically mention it to you. Why are you giving it back?"

Even the grandmother scolded her, "Sixth girl, what are you doing?! This is your elder after all. What? Are you so arrogant now that you're going to turn the tables just because I say a few words to you?"

Xu Zhenying glanced at Xu Degui with a hint of sarcasm in his eyes.

Xu Degui looked at the pair of similar yet different eyes. For some reason, he felt like an eggplant that suddenly wilted, and he had a strange feeling that he couldn't bear to look directly at them.

Xu Degui ignored the strange feeling in his heart and said in a somewhat firm tone: "Qingying, bring the medicine over quickly!"

Xu Zhenying was somewhat disappointed with Xu Degui.

She had thought in vain that she could meet a father like Old Man Xu in ancient times.

It turns out that there is only one Old Man Xu in this world.

Xu Zhenying sneered and looked around, his bright eyes gleaming, "Didn't you see? That escort has a grudge against our Xu family."

"Have a grudge? Sixth girl, what do you mean?" Grandmother asked anxiously, "How can there be a grudge? We don't even know him!"

Everyone looked at her.

Huang Cui'e slapped her head and jumped up and said, "Sixth girl, I wanted to say this just now. When I saw that escort surnamed Liu beating Second Uncle, he was like a mad bull in the village. We have no grudges against him, so why did he only target our family? Why didn't he take things from other families? And it was clearly another escort who escorted us out of the city gate before, so why did he change to him? I think Second Uncle must have offended someone when he was an official, and they are specifically targeting us--"

Grandmother immediately became anxious and pressed Xu Degui: "Second brother, think about it quickly, have you ever seen this person?"

Xu Degui blushed and said, "I don't even know him! How could I have a grudge against him? I'm a fifth-rank official, how could I have a grudge against such a lowly person?"

Xu Zhenying reminded him quietly, "The untouchables you're referring to now hold the power of life and death over us. So I'm giving you a friendly reminder, Second Uncle, you'd better change that term."

"Could it be that it's Second Uncle's rivals in the court who are taking advantage of our Xu family's downfall?" Fourth Aunt said, and Second Uncle immediately nodded repeatedly, "Yes, yes, yes, someone must be secretly trying to harm me!"

Xu Zhenying really wanted to say that it was just a waste of time.

What value would a down-and-out exiled fifth-rank official have in being framed?

"Anyway, it's an indisputable fact that this person is targeting our Xu family. Either he has a grudge against the Xu family, or someone is instigating this. Otherwise, he wouldn't have confiscated only our belongings, wouldn't have waited until we were out of the city to exchange escorts, and wouldn't have paid out of his own pocket to deliberately embarrass us."

Huang Cui'e just nodded, "Yes, yes, I saw it clearly just now. He gave Zhao Bantou a huge ingot of silver."