Mo Xiaomei kowtowed deeply: "Thank you, Auntie! Thank you, Auntie!"

After Mo Xiaomei left, Chen Yu returned to the room where pickled vegetables were made and asked Jin Lan, "What did she want to see you about?"

"She was just begging for a drink of water! Now that she has that disease, she's neither human nor ghost. In a way, she's a pitiful person!" Chen Yu said.

“You’re just too soft-hearted. If it were me, I’d beat her out with a big stick!” Xiang Jinlan said. “In my opinion, those kinds of scoundrels and sluts should all die to be considered their just deserts!”

But the work in his hands never stopped for a moment.

“Since she’s at her wit’s end, I suppose she won’t have the chance to cause me any more trouble, so there’s no need to keep dwelling on it!” Chen Yu said.

When Chunniang received the embroidered sachet, she was startled. The sachet was embroidered with the clothes of a woman and a man, both naked, with the man embracing the woman.

The man and woman in the bag were none other than her and her "cousin" Liu Quan.

"Who handed this in? Call Zhang Ma from the side gate!" Chunniang's hands trembled with fear. She thought she had kept her affair with Liu Quan a secret.

The maid beside her quickly agreed, but then turned and went to Aunt Xiang's courtyard. Aunt Xiang was originally the maid of the concubine that Magistrate Wang had kept. After giving birth to a daughter, she was promoted to concubine.

Her daughter is the third young lady of Magistrate Wang's household, a year younger than Xiao Fubao, and only a little over two years old this year.

Although she was not favored by Magistrate Wang after giving birth to a daughter, she was quite resourceful and acted with a certain method. Magistrate Wang treated her well, and she was the concubine in the mansion who had the best life.

After adopting Chunniang's son, she took even better care of him than Chunniang herself did.

Magistrate Wang then began to feel that this Aunt Xiang was even more beautiful and charming than before, and he even felt more affectionate towards his own third daughter, so he increased Aunt Xiang's salary considerably.

Now, all the servants in this mansion are Xiang Yiniang's people, so Chunniang can hardly move an inch in the mansion.

When Aunt Xiang learned of this, she had someone bring Mo Xiaomei in and asked with a smile, "What exactly do you know?"

"That vile woman Chunniang is ruthless. If you use this to blackmail her, she might not only refuse to give you money for treatment, but she might also kill you to silence you!"

Mo Xiaomei pursed her lips, somewhat at a loss. She had been away from the county magistrate's mansion for ten days. When she left, Chunniang was still in charge of the mansion. She had intended to use this opportunity to ask Chunniang for some money.

"If you tell me that all this money is yours, and that we have no grudge against each other, and that this is not a false accusation and there is no evidence against you, then I will cherish you from now on."

Aunt Xiang said.

She certainly wouldn't kill Mo Xiaomei, nor did she have any reason to do so.

Mo Xiaomei seemed to see a glimmer of hope and quickly said, "Young Master is not Master's biological son! He is Madam and Liu Quan's biological son!"

Aunt Xiang suddenly remembered the whispers her mistress had made before her death. Her mistress, who had been a concubine, had died tragically two years earlier, and before she died, she had told her many secrets:

"He murdered his first wife, and now he's trying to kill me, Xiang'er. I'm not reconciled... I love him so much."

"He can never have children again, Xiang'er. This child of yours is his last biological child! It would be best if it were a girl. Didn't he want a son? Maybe in the next life! Haha!"

Aunt Xiang did not marry Magistrate Wang willingly; she was forced into it…

Could it be that this child is not his biological child?

"Now that he's dead, there's no way to prove anything. Do you have any evidence?" Aunt Xiang asked. Liu Quan had already died a day ago.

“Yes!” Mo Xiaomei said, “Besides that embroidered sachet, I have other evidence.” As she spoke, she took out the incense that Chunniang often used. “I don’t know anything about incense, but I’ve heard them say in private that wearing this kind of incense for a long time, mixed with another kind of incense, can make a person faint.”

"I specifically asked the doctor, and some birthmarks are hereditary. Auntie, could you take a look and see if the young master has any birthmarks on the back of his legs?" Mo Xiaomei said.

Aunt Xiang hurriedly opened the child's swaddling clothes.

When her child was born, there were some marks on the back of his buttocks, but they gradually disappeared in less than two months. Now the child is almost a year old, and the marks on the back of his buttocks are still there.

Aunt Xiang gave Mo Xiaomei sixty taels of silver and said, "You know what to say when you see the master!"

Mo Xiaomei nodded and said, "I know, I know!"

Magistrate Wang used to be a pig butcher. He bought his way into the official position, but he didn't know how to do it. All he knew was how to seize land and amass wealth. Even when there were murder cases, he would take the money and close the cases hastily, regardless of whether the people were innocent or not.

They are cunning and treacherous, and they disregard human life.

In just two years, he turned Niushan County into a mess, while he himself grew fat and strong.

When he returned home with his protruding belly, he learned the general outline of the matter and immediately turned green with anger. "Are you telling the truth? What proof do you have?"

"My lord, I would never dare to lie to you. I lived in the west courtyard of your mansion for a period of time and saw it with my own eyes! Moreover, I had intimate relations with Liu Quan, and he has a birthmark on his buttocks. He once told me that it was inherited from his ancestors."

Mo Xiaomei said.

Magistrate Wang hurriedly picked up his son, whom he usually doted on, to check on. The child thought Magistrate Wang wanted to play with him and giggled.

Then he walked to the west courtyard.

A funeral is being held in the west wing.

"Carry him out, turn him over, I want to see his back!" Magistrate Wang ordered his servant to turn Liu Quan over, untie him to check, and then suddenly kicked Liu Quan, who had been dead for a day, hard:

"Woman-husband-sexing!"

"Go and fetch the lady!" said Magistrate Wang.

Chunniang entered the room somewhat nervously. When the servant led her to Liuquan, she understood what was happening and immediately said, tears streaming down her face:

"master!"

County Magistrate Wang found her weeping and wailing disgusting and terrifying, especially with the hard knots all over her face.

It hit me with a "smack".

Chunniang was stunned by the beating.

"Take your bastard child and your lesbian husband and get out! Otherwise I'll kill you!" Magistrate Wang didn't kill her and the child not because he had feelings for Chunniang, but because he couldn't "get his hands dirty," otherwise the official position he had bought with his savings over the years would be ruined.

"Master, Zhi'er is your child! He's not a bastard! He's really not a bastard! It must be Concubine Xiang, that vile woman, she wants to be made the official wife! She framed Chunniang!" Chunniang cried and crawled, clinging to Magistrate Wang's leg.

"I shouldn't have believed a whore like you and let you in!" Magistrate Wang kicked Chunniang out and said.

Although Chunniang's behavior was improper, she still loved her child. Knowing she was at her wit's end and could not possibly support the child, she knelt and pleaded:

"Master, Chunniang knows she was wrong! Please don't abandon Zhi'er. You've raised him for almost a year, and look how adorable he is! Master, I know that your second wife drugged you, and you can no longer have children. Aunt Xiang knows this too; I overheard them talking about it in private!"

"Master, don't you want a son? If you raise Zhi'er, he will be your son too!"