Zheng Boyuan was standing by the lake at the time, and in the lake was a girl struggling and calling for help. First, several old women who had been lying in ambush near the lake quickly went into the water to save her. Then, the second wife of the Marquis of Pingxi, Madam Chen, used the excuse of feeling unwell after dinner to bring several ladies from families with good relations with the Marquis of Pingxi to stroll in the garden, and then go to the old lady's courtyard to talk.

The various groups met by the lake. When the stepmother's sister-in-law saw her daughter being rescued from the water, she rushed over crying. Little Chen looked at Zheng Boyuan with surprise, composed herself, and asked, "Yuan-ge'er, what's going on?"

Zheng Boyuan bowed to Madam Chen and said, “Mother, I’m so sorry. Just now, this cousin saw me and insisted on bumping into me. Although we are cousins, we are still teenagers. If she had bumped into me, it would have been hard to explain. I had no choice but to dodge her. Who knew that she would fall into the lake? I know the lake is not deep, and there are several old women guarding the area, so I didn’t go in to save her. Mother, it was all for my cousin’s reputation. I couldn’t let her lose her chastity just because I wanted to save her.”

Zheng Boyuan spoke with great righteousness, and the ladies around Xiao Chenshi were all the matriarchs of their respective families, all cunning and shrewd. Who could not understand the meaning behind Zheng Boyuan's tales from Strange Tales from a Chinese Studio?

Some people suppressed their laughter and kept comforting Xiao Chenshi. Xiao Chenshi did not expect that the plan would go so unexpectedly. She wanted to tear Zheng Boyuan to pieces, but she could only swallow her anger.

Lady Chen and Marquis Pingxi had long been secretly in love. Lady Chen was the bride arranged by Marquis Pingxi's grandparents, but Marquis Pingxi fell in love with Lady Chen at first sight.

The so-called love at first sight was actually premeditated. Although the Chen family was a family of scholars, they clearly distinguished between legitimate and illegitimate children. Chen Shi was raised to be a wife of the head of the family, while Xiao Chen Shi was raised to be an ordinary housewife. However, Xiao Chen Shi's aunt and Xiao Chen Shi were all proud and ambitious. After Chen Shi's marriage, on the third day after her wedding, Xiao Chen Shi saw the Marquis of Pingxi and saw amazement in his eyes. After all, Xiao Chen Shi's aunt was able to be brought into the mansion as a concubine from a poor girl because of her good looks, and Xiao Chen Shi was even more beautiful than her aunt.

Xiao Chen's brother was always traveling. The Chen family prepared shops and estates for their illegitimate sons, which would be handed over to them to manage after they came of age. Xiao Chen took advantage of this and asked her brother to find out the preferences of the Marquis of Pingxi. She gradually dressed herself up to suit the Marquis of Pingxi's tastes and inquired about his whereabouts. She arranged to bump into him on the street, and after a few times, the two began to have an affair.

Many men are like this; what they can't have is always the best. A teenage girl, in the prime of her life, and with ulterior motives, managed to bewitch a marquis. Just then, Madam Chen became pregnant with her second child. When she was about to give birth, the young Madam Chen used the excuse of visiting Madam Chen at the mansion to deliberately expose her relationship with the marquis. Madam Chen was shocked, which led to her difficult childbirth.

Knowing she was doomed, Madam Chen recounted the whole story to the old lady of the Marquis's mansion, repeatedly begging her to take good care of her two children, especially her younger daughter. She also forced the Marquis to swear that he and his future wives would not interfere with the children's marriages. Furthermore, she made arrangements for her dowry, ensuring that the Marquis of Xiping and Madam Chen would not have the opportunity to covet it.

Madam Chen devoted herself to the future of her two children, risking her life to give birth before passing away. The old lady of the Xiping Marquis's mansion was not a very strong-willed person. She had always obeyed her father at home, her husband after marriage, and her son after her husband's death. If the Marquis wanted to remarry, he could marry whomever he wanted. However, since her former daughter-in-law had asked her to take care of the two children, she took good care of them. Zheng Boyuan was still a bit lacking, and she would stay in the outer courtyard. The little girl who had just been born was raised by the old lady herself. She rarely went out, all to raise this poor child.

As for the affair between the Marquis of Pingxi and Lady Chen, Lady Chen naturally told her family. However, the Chen family could no longer control the relationship between the Marquis of Pingxi and Lady Chen. As for Lady Chen's father, both of them were his daughters. It didn't matter who married the Marquis of Pingxi. What mattered was the relationship between the Chen family and the Marquis of Pingxi. However, Lady Chen's brother and mother did not think so. They did not want Lady Chen to marry into the Marquis of Pingxi's family. Unfortunately, they could not fight against the powerful, and Lady Chen eventually married into the Marquis of Pingxi's family.

Chen's brother was also a man of principle. His sister had been murdered, and their father had married the culprit into his sister's family, allowing her to continue being the mother of the two children. Chen's brother was unwilling to see his sister's children recognize a thief as their mother, so he secretly kept an eye on Zheng Boyuan. However, he was afraid that Zheng Boyuan was too young and might do something irreversible after learning the truth, so he could only endure it.

It wasn't until this incident occurred that Chen's brother, who was also Zheng Boyuan's uncle, felt the time was ripe and wanted to reveal the truth. After Zheng Boyuan found out, he went to see the Marquis of Pingxi. The Marquis of Pingxi was naturally furious that someone had reopened a wound from more than ten years ago, and he had Zheng Boyuan beaten up.

Madam Chen's goal had always been the old lady of the mansion. She wanted her child to become the heir. As for the obstacle that her elder sister had given birth to, she originally planned to use her brother's daughter's scandalous affair with him to arrange the marriage. However, this failed, which made Madam Chen angry for several days. Who knew that a beating from the Marquis of Pingxi would make Madam Chen suddenly realize that if the Marquis's first wife and legitimate son were gone, wouldn't it be much easier?

This chapter is not finished, please click the next page to continue reading!