When Song Xia returned to the mansion, the sun was already setting. She knew without a doubt that Zhou Ying would come back to complain. Sure enough, as soon as she entered the mansion, the old lady told her to go to Fushou Hall.

At this moment, Zhou Ying had changed into a beautiful dress and was proudly holding the hand of Old Madam Liu, while Zhou Yongli and Liu Fangniang were sitting on the side.

As soon as Song Xia entered, she saw that they all looked like they were there to interrogate her, but their expressions remained unchanged.

"Greetings, Mother. May I ask what brings you here, Mother?"

"Are you still pretending to be confused?" Old Madam Liu glared at her and reprimanded sharply, "I told you to take Ying'er to distribute porridge, and look how much suffering Ying'er has endured!"

Song Xia asked blankly, "What happened to Ying-jie? I was just about to ask you. She ran away before the porridge even boiled. All the noble families nearby were watching."

Zhou Yongli's expression changed slightly, but Old Madam Liu still held Zhou Ying's hand and said, "Look at Ying'er's hands. How can you let a young lady like her do such rough work as adding firewood? I heard that you even allowed those lowly people to dirty Ying'er's dress. I think you are deliberately ruining Ying'er's reputation!"

Song Xia did not directly defend herself, but instead questioned Zhou Ying: "You ran back to the manor without permission, and this is what you told your grandmother?"

"I..." Zhou Ying's eyes flickered for a moment, then she realized that she hadn't lied, so why was she feeling guilty?

"Kneel down!" Song Xia shouted at her, startling everyone in Fushou Hall.

Madam Liu was even more relentless: "You did something wrong, yet you dare to scare Ying'er. Just because you're a young lady from the Prince's Mansion, do you think you can act so lawlessly?"

"Mother, please calm down. It was clearly Ying'er who was wrong in this matter."

Liu Fangniang said sarcastically, "It's true that Ying'er has been wronged, but Madam, there's no need to deliberately smear Ying'er, is there?"

Song Xia snorted coldly: "So it seems that I, the dignified mistress of the Zhou family, am not qualified to discipline a selfish and willful concubine's daughter? My lord, do you also think that I made a mistake by taking Ying'er out to distribute porridge?"

Zhou Yongli said in a deep voice, "It's a good thing that you took Ying'er out to distribute porridge, but it's also a fact that Ying'er suffered injustice."

Upon hearing this, Liu Fangniang glanced at them with schadenfreude, while Zhou Ying raised her eyebrows provocatively. Song Xia saw all of this and realized that she had focused all her attention on her son in the past, which had caused them to lose the humility that a concubine or a daughter of a concubine should have.

"May I ask, Mother and Husband, did you ask the imperial physician to come and see Ying-jie, who said she was injured?"

"Are you trying to cause unrest in your household by summoning the imperial physician for such a trivial matter?"

"In other words, Ying'er's injury is not serious. If what my daughter-in-law said is correct, Ying'er at most only scratched her palm."

"Ying'er is a young lady of the Zhou family, her skin is so delicate, how can you say this is a small matter?"

"And what about the daughter-in-law?" Song Xia stretched out her palm. Her hands had been washed clean when she returned, but many small scars were still visible. "Mother and husband blame me for mistreating Ying'er. Has the daughter-in-law done any less than Ying'er?"

Liu Fangniang's expression changed; she hadn't even noticed Song Xia's change!

Song Xia continued, "For such a minor injury, she disregarded the Zhou family's reputation and ran back crying, even complaining to you with such conviction. Was it wrong for your daughter-in-law to make Ying'er kneel down?"

"this……"

“It’s not that she has to do the porridge distribution alone. It’s my daughter-in-law who set an example first. If I, as the main wife, can do it, how can she, a concubine’s daughter, not do it?”

"I……"

“Ying’er, if you didn’t want to pray for your two brothers, you should have told me yesterday. I certainly wouldn’t have forced you today. Why did you go and not do it properly, instead of bringing shame to the Zhou family and coming back to complain to your father and grandmother?”

"lady……"

"My lord!" Song Xia scrutinized each of them, then rebuked them sternly, "Ying'er disregards etiquette and looks down on me, the mistress of the house. It's one thing that she's young, but how can you not distinguish right from wrong and believe her nonsense? If I don't speak up today, will you punish me, the mistress of the house, for the sake of a illegitimate daughter who is full of lies?"

"It's not as serious as you make it out to be."

"It's not that serious. Why did you summon me to Mother's Fushou Hall for interrogation before I even entered the manor and was allowed to change my clothes? When I spoke up to punish Ying'er, you scolded me for being lawless? She's just a concubine's daughter. Even if I really mistreated her, would you punish me? I am the mistress of the house. Do you just let a concubine's daughter trample on my dignity? My lord, you are the Vice Minister of Rites. You should know more about etiquette than I do!"

"Kneel down now!" Zhou Yongli said to Ying'er, "Do you know you were wrong?"

Yingjie'er, with tears streaming down her face, looked at Old Madam Liu, then at Liu Fangniang, and reluctantly knelt down.

Song Xia continued, "I, as the matriarch, personally do the work of distributing porridge, while she, a concubine's daughter, ran home without a word and complained to you. Anyone who didn't know better would think that our Zhou family has no manners!"

Zhou Yongli took a deep breath: "Ying'er, from today onwards you will stay at home and reflect on your mistakes. You may come out again when you have calmed down your mother."

“I don’t care about her affairs anymore. She resents me, her mistress, so much that you all come to question me for taking her out to distribute porridge. If she suffers any more grievances in the future, won’t I be unable to clear my name no matter what I do? My lord, I dare not interfere with Ying’er’s temperament anymore. From now on, I will trouble you and Mother to teach Ying’er together.”

Zhou Yongli softened his tone: "Ying'er is still just a child..."

“My lord, please don’t blame me for being stingy. I’ve been distributing porridge all day and I’m exhausted. I didn’t expect to suffer such injustice on my way back. There’s no need for you to persuade me anymore. Besides, you’ve always praised Aunt Liu for being virtuous and kind. And since she’s my birth mother, she’s probably better at disciplining me than I am as the mistress.”

After finishing her sentence, Song Xia bowed to Madam Liu and said, "Mother, I must take my leave now. I will be going to distribute porridge early tomorrow morning, and I will come to pay my respects to you another day."

She finished speaking and left, leaving behind a group of angry people staring at each other.

Liu Fangniang and her daughter quickly knelt down together: "Yonglang, if you want to blame someone, blame me. It's my fault for not educating Yingjie well."

Zhou Yongli said in a deep voice, "She was indeed reckless today, Ying-jie, do you know your mistake?"

Yingjie cried even louder, and Old Madam Liu quickly came to her defense: "I think Song Xia is exaggerating. What's wrong with a girl being a little delicate?"

“Even if she is spoiled, she shouldn’t disregard etiquette, criticize the mistress, and distort the truth like she does, causing you and me to be labeled as unable to distinguish right from wrong.”

Liu Fangniang said sadly, "Yonglang, Ying'er is still young. Don't frighten her. Even you say such things to her. What future does she have?"

Zhou Yongli sighed: "Now that she has offended Song Xia, does that mean she has a future? Is it you, or Mother, who can take her to banquets in various mansions?"