Chapter 162 Partiality

Seeing the mocking smile on Chen Wan's face, Xie Jingyu felt quite uncomfortable.

He thought that the Jingbei Palace was harmonious, and Shen Wan would not be schemed against like she was in the Dingguo Palace if she married him. However, she suffered so much grievance after only three days of marriage.

Xie Jingyu said, "Don't do things like drugging people in the future. Just tell me what you want to do."

Shen Wan raised his eyebrows, "You're not angry?"

Xie Jingyu asked, "Why should I be angry?"

"The old lady really loves you."

Although the old lady set rules for her, she also saw it clearly. When she saw Xie Jingyu coming, the happiness on the old lady's face did not seem to be fake.

The old lady drugged her to prevent her from having children, but she, the prince's consort, was not the only one who could give birth to children for Xie Jingyu. Xie Jingyu could also take concubines. If anything happened to her, Xie Jingyu could still marry another wife.

If the old lady was only targeting her, Xie Jingyu might not be on her side, so Shen Wan was surprised.

Xie Jingyu also had a mocking smile on his face, "The love you see is fake. If you encounter such a thing again in the future, just push it to me."

Shen Wan's heart was moved, and she felt a little regretful. If she knew that Xie Jingyu didn't mind, she would not have given the old lady a laxative, but other poison.

Shanhu felt that the Crown Princess was taking too much of a risk. Although the Old Madam and the others had gone too far, if they knew that the Crown Princess had given the Old Madam a laxative, they would definitely not let her off easily.

Shen Wan also knew that if she did this, the consequences would be disastrous if she was exposed, but who would expose her?

When she returned home, she encountered an incident at the Duke Dingguo's Mansion. During lunch, she was called by the old lady for questioning. She was forced to serve the old lady on an empty stomach as the Crown Prince's Consort who was unable to have the return meal. The old lady was unwell and suspected that she, the Crown Prince's Consort, had given her a laxative. This was too much of an insult.

The meal was not prepared by her. She served the food right under their noses. How could they guess that she had taken precautions before coming and hid laxatives under her nails?

If you know that, why do you need her to serve you at meals?

Even if those people had suspicions, they wouldn't dare say it out loud, not to mention they might not necessarily guess it was her.

If it wasn't a sure thing, Shen Wan wouldn't do such a thing.

However, to Chen Wan's surprise, Xie Jingyu and she were of the same mind.

Chen Wan was in a good mood for no reason and let Xie Jingyu take her back to Zhaolanxuan.

The food that had been placed on the table had been taken away, and after they returned, they reheated it and served it again.

After the meal, news came that Wing Chun Temple was investigating who had given the old lady a laxative.

The old lady suddenly had diarrhea, so she asked a doctor to come into the house. After taking her pulse, the doctor found out that she had been given a laxative, but the food, tea, and cakes were all fine. Perhaps something fishy had entered the old lady's stomach, but no one suspected Shen Wan. After all, Shen Wan was pushed forward step by step by them.

After dinner, Xie Jingyu went to the study and lay on the small couch, bored, waiting for Yinchuan to come back from Duke Dingguo's mansion.

Well, when Shen Wan returned home, Shanhu and Yinchuan followed him back, but something like this happened in the Duke Dingguo's Mansion, and Shen Wan couldn't stay to watch the fun, so he left Yinchuan behind.

However, when Yinchuan returned home, it was already evening. After returning, she poured herself some tea and drank two cups in one breath.

Shanhu asked, "How did the Duke's Mansion handle this matter?"

Yin Chuan looked at Chen Wan and said, "The fourth young lady was divorced and returned to Minister Qu's residence."

It was expected that Qu Yan would be divorced.

In her previous life, the two branches of the family saved her face, and since her father and elder brother were both gone, no one did anything to her, Qu Yan. But in this life, the fourth branch is still around, and Qu Yan had an affair with Shen Xun, and even caused Shen Xun to be injured. It would be strange if the fourth branch could swallow this.

Such a shameless person, no one would feel sorry for being divorced. Shanhu asked, "Where is the fourth young master?"

Yin Chuan shook her head. "The situation is not good. We've even called in the imperial physician. The Fourth Young Master has suffered a severe head injury and has lost a lot of blood. The imperial physician said he won't wake up within three days, so we've asked the Duke Dingguo Mansion to prepare for the Fourth Young Master's funeral. If he does wake up, he'll only be barely alive..."

In short, it won't get better.

We will have to wait three days to find out the details.

"Where is the second young master?" Shen Wan asked again.

Yin Chuan said, "The Second Young Master insisted that it was the Fourth Young Mistress who seduced him. The Duke punished the Second Young Master with forty strokes of the cane and threw him into the ancestral hall. The Duke wanted to separate the Second Branch from the mansion, but the Old Madam disagreed..."

Shen Wan knew that the old lady would not agree, but she didn't believe that her father would let it go if the old lady objected this time.

The matter here is a bit complicated and cannot be explained in a few words. Yinchuan will only talk about the important ones.

"The Duke is determined to separate the Second House this time. No one can persuade him. The old lady has been begging for mercy. The Fourth Lady is getting married soon. Her status is already criticized. If the Second House is separated at this critical juncture, the Fourth Lady will be looked down upon even more..."

"The old lady knew that something like this had happened. If the second and fourth wives continued to live under the same roof, the family would be in turmoil. She asked the Duke to separate the fourth wife from the mansion."

Shen Wan, “…”

The second wife is harming the fourth wife, but the old lady is not partial to the fourth wife. Instead, she divides the fourth wife away. Is this justice?

It is precisely because of this old lady who cannot distinguish right from wrong and does things according to her own preferences that she raised such a disaster as the second master and his son.

"Did father agree?"

Yin Chuan shook her head. "Of course the Duke wouldn't agree to the Old Madam's partiality. If the Old Madam insists on keeping the Second Branch together and separating the Fourth Branch, he can only expel the Second Young Master from the family and forbid him from ever setting foot in the Duke Ding's Mansion again. The Old Madam agreed."

Shen Wan, “…”

The old lady only has two legitimate grandsons, one of whom is in a coma and his life is uncertain. Yet, the old lady actually agreed to let her father expel Chen Xun from the family.

Did the old lady know that the second and fourth houses had no hope, so she saved Shen Ti at all costs?

But considering the reputation of the second branch, whether the second branch splits up or not does not have such a big impact on Shen Ti. Could it be that Queen Song would expect an illegitimate daughter to help Prince Cheng win the throne?

Perhaps in the eyes of the old lady, Chen Ti, who was invaluable as the Taoist said and who could maintain the prosperity of the Duke's Mansion for a hundred years, could not only help Prince Cheng win the throne, but even Prince Cheng's success depended on Chen Ti's blessing.

Coral asked, "And then?"

Yin Chuan said, "The Duke and his wife didn't expect the old lady to agree to kick the second young master out of the house, so they wanted to use half of the property that belonged to the second wife to compensate the fourth wife. The old lady agreed, and that's it for now."

Even if Chen Xun was kicked out of the house and never set foot in the Duke Dingguo's Mansion again, or half of the second house's property was given to the fourth house, it would not make the old lady change her mind. It was really difficult to divide the family.

Yin Chuan said, "When this servant returned, the Second Madam's family, the Cen family, sent someone to take the Second Young Master away..."

A sneer appeared in Shen Wan’s eyes.

No wonder the old lady agreed to kick Chen Xun out of the house. After all, if he was kicked out, Chen Xun would not end up on the streets. With his uncle taking care of him, he would still have a luxurious life. The fourth branch was not as strategic as the second branch. If the second branch stayed in the Duke's Mansion and succeeded, the entire Duke Ding's Mansion would belong to them in the future. Why would they care about the little property that was given to the Duke?

Besides, the second master and the fourth master are all her flesh and blood, and the old lady will not feel bad about giving the second house's property to the fourth master.

But Chen Xun has become so shameless, and the Cen family dares to take him into their house. The Cen family has several unmarried girls, so they are not afraid of ruining their reputation.

But at least the fourth room was separated. The fourth room had such a big feud with the second room, and the old lady was so partial to her. The fourth room must be heartbroken.