Ah Zhu didn't hold back and started cursing: "These bastards! Back when our son-in-law passed the imperial examination and became a third-ranked scholar, the three young ladies over there rose in status, but none of them had a conscience to thank him. Now that our son-in-law has been framed by villains, they have the nerve to blame their own family."

"Besides, in the past few years, the threshold of the Earl's Mansion was almost worn down by matchmakers. Countless fine young men from all over the capital came to visit. The eldest and second young ladies both found good husbands, but this third young lady is too arrogant. Not only did she delay her own future, but she also had the nerve to complain about everything. Bah!"

The original owner didn't dwell on this trivial matter. Anyone with eyes could see the truth; it was just that the servants were bored and liked to gossip.

Moreover, even among the servants, there were those who ridiculed Pei Yun.

The original owner was pondering Amei's last words, which sounded like Liu had given Jia Ren a sum of money—how absurd!

It's unbelievable that there are such short-sighted people in the world.

People like Jia Ren are perverse and wicked, and they will be punished sooner or later. For a noble and meritorious family to have a patriarch go and fawn over a vicious eunuch has completely disgraced the Pei family ancestors.

Even if he doesn't send the money, what can Jia Ren do?

If he were to attack the Earl's Mansion without any reason, Jia Ren would not only be offending one Earl's Mansion, but would be challenging the entire nobility system.

If the lips are gone, the teeth will be cold. Today, Jia Ren dares to attack the Earl's Mansion, but who knows if he won't attack the Marquis's Mansion or the Duke's Mansion tomorrow?

unless......

The original owner suddenly shuddered, unless Liu Shi represented not the entire Earl's Mansion, but herself, or rather, herself and her son.

This makes sense; Liu's purpose in sending money was not to buy the safety of the Earl's mansion, since the mansion had not encountered any danger in the first place.

Liu was trying to surrender to Jia Ren, hoping that he would distance himself from Pei Han.

So, what Liu was after was the title of nobility. She wanted to help her son obtain the title smoothly, and Pei Han was a thorn in her side.

In the past, when Pei Han was at the height of his power, Lady Liu dared not reveal this scheme. Now that Pei Han has offended someone, and someone who can speak for him in the palace, Lady Liu must have already started plotting something.

Besides Jia Ren, did Liu bribe anyone else to cause trouble?

Several months have passed in the blink of an eye. No one knows where Pei Han has gone, whether he has reached Sanping County, or whether he has encountered any danger on the way.

When Pei Han left, considering safety along the way, he specially brought several servants who knew martial arts. Even if Jia Ren wanted to do something bad, he shouldn't be able to succeed too easily.

The original owner was uncontrollably worried and anxious.

Even though she tried to tell herself to trust Pei Han and that he was definitely capable of handling any problems that might arise, she still couldn't help but overthink things from time to time.

While worrying about her husband, the original owner still instructed Azhu to move all of Pei Ji's belongings to her side, thinking that she must keep Pei Ji by her side at all times from now on. Otherwise, if the main wife were to have any improper thoughts about her son, it would be as easy as turning her hand.

Therefore, Pei Ji was the first to notice when the original owner's smiles became fewer and fewer, and the time spent spacing out during the day became longer and longer.

At first, Pei Ji only felt that his mother seemed to be speaking less and less, and even her daily reading activities had stopped.

He actually really enjoyed listening to his mother read aloud because her voice was very gentle.

Gradually, Pei Ji noticed that when he talked to his mother, she often seemed to be lost in thought. Her eyes were clearly looking at him, but it was as if she wasn't really seeing him.

Pei Ji tried hard to come up with solutions, such as taking his mother to the yard to see the flowers, inviting her to play chess with him, and even thinking of asking his mother to teach him to write.

His father and mother would read with him whenever they had free time, so he already knew quite a few characters.

My father used to say that he was too young to learn to write, otherwise it would be bad for his hand bones and his hands would easily grow deformed later.

Pei Ji thought to himself: Now that I'm over five years old, it should be okay, right? If Mother wants to teach me to write, she'll definitely have to tell me how to write, then Mother will be more willing to talk, won't she?

But the original owner did not agree. She still said that Pei Ji was too young and needed to grow another year older.

Ah Mei and Ah Zhu have recently encountered new troubles.

Before they could figure out how to comfort their young lady, they discovered that the meat and vegetables sent from the mansion were becoming less and less, and their quality was getting worse and worse. Other daily necessities were also being sold as inferior products.

They went to the steward of the manor, but the steward thought she was being nosy and said that the manor was having some difficulties recently and that all allowances would be reduced.

Amei and Azhu had never heard such shameless words before. Thinking that their son-in-law was not around, they were afraid that if they got into a conflict with these people, they would suffer the consequences. So they swallowed their anger and returned to the courtyard.

This wasn't a big deal. Anyway, the young lady had money. If the manor embezzled their food, clothing, and other necessities, they could simply go out and buy them themselves.

However, something even stranger happened: the guards at the gate were replaced by several unfamiliar people, who refused to let them leave as soon as they saw them trying to go out.

It is said that things are not peaceful outside. The higher-ups have said that servants are not allowed to go out without permission. If they want to leave the mansion, they need the madam's permission.

After hearing what the servant said, Amei and the other woman's eyes were practically spitting fire.

The two women knew this was clearly targeted at them and the people of Jingyuan. If Madam Liu truly wanted to control them, why would she let them see this? Besides, their young mistress was already in a bad situation; why add to her troubles with these trivial matters?

Ah Mei and her companion had no choice but to turn back.

However, life with Jingyuan began to become very tight. They were short of this today and that tomorrow. Sometimes, what was delivered was just rotten vegetable leaves and some meat that smelled bad.

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