Chapter 37 Zhong Fang's End

Wang Xifeng has already informed the old lady and Madam Wang, and someone has also been sent to tell Li Wan.

Before anyone arrived, Wang Xifeng walked over to Yuan Hongqu, who had been watching the scene unfold, gave a half-bow, and began to speak.

"Sister Yuan, your family is so ignorant; they made you look like a laughingstock."

"Second Grandmother, every family has a few bad apples, but these are from outside, they don't belong to your family," Yuan Hongqu said calmly.

"I'm so grateful that you understand me, sister." Wang Xifeng beamed, completely losing the decisive and ruthless demeanor she had just displayed!

"Sister Yuan, why don't you teach them? It would be a blessing for them if you could teach them!"

"Second Madam, you're joking. We're here as guests, not to teach your children. What kind of talk is that?" Yuan Hongqu had no desire to accept this task.

Wang Xifeng felt helpless, but this was a task arranged by the old lady. Even if it was just for show, she had to find an opportunity to mention it to others, otherwise she wouldn't be able to explain it to others.

However, I didn't tell Yuan-jie beforehand, and I hope Yuan-jie won't blame me for acting on my own.

"Second Grandmother, the person who went to Teacher Zhong's house has returned. They said they didn't find Second Miss's golden phoenix hairpin, but they did find a pawn ticket at the Zhong family's house. She sold our Second Miss's hairpin to the pawn shop," Wang's daughter-in-law reported.

Wang Xifeng glanced at Zhong Fang sideways, thinking, "She's really asking for trouble."

With things having reached this point, Zhong Fang's fate was sealed, and there was no point in Yuan Hongqu continuing to watch, so she left with Daiyu.

Seeing this, Tan Chun and Xi Chun also left with Yuan Hongqu.

The group left the school and went to visit Yingchun.

The old lady always took a long nap, so Madam Wang waited in the outer room, listening to the servants tell her about what was happening at the school. She felt no ripples in her heart, but rather a little schadenfreude.

How could she be content with her own daughter serving others in the palace while these girls in her household, who had nothing to do with her, lived the lives of pampered young ladies?

Even if that second girl suffered some hardship, what does it matter? Can it compare to the suffering her daughter endured in the palace, living in constant fear and anxiety?

However, Madam Wang still sent a message to Wang Xifeng, telling her to handle it herself and not to bother the old lady with such trivial matters.

When Li Wan received the letter, she wanted to go there, but her head maid, Su Yun, stopped her.

“Grandma, Second Grandma has already gone there. It must be something that happened to Teacher Zhong at the school. Teacher Zhong was recommended by Grandma. If it involves you, wouldn’t that be bad? Let’s go and find out first before making any plans.”

Li Wan felt that this was the right thing to do. Tan Chun had made a scene twice before, but she had managed to suppress it with her mother-in-law without disturbing Feng Yatou. Now that they had brought up Wang Xifeng, she knew that Wang Xifeng was not someone to be trifled with, so it was best for her not to get involved in this mess.

"Go and see, just say I'm copying a scripture and it's not good to interrupt. Go over after you finish copying this volume."

Su Yun arrived first and was shocked by the scene. Fortunately, the eldest madam did not come, otherwise she would have been ridiculed by the second madam.

She didn't need to investigate at all. As soon as she arrived, Ping'er immediately told her everything that had happened. Su Yun then hurriedly went back to invite Li Wan over.

"Grandma, Teacher Zhong has really messed up!"

Few things could cause Su Yun such a great shock, and Li Wan's heart couldn't help but jump.

Su Yun told Li Wan everything that had happened at the school.

"Zhong Fang can't be kept here! What kind of person did my sister-in-law find for me! She's just causing trouble!" Li Wan was furious. She usually only cared about teaching Jia Lan and didn't care about others. She found someone to help educate her sisters-in-law, but it turned out to be such a dishonest person. She's completely disgraced her!

At this point, she couldn't very well step in to protect Zhong Fang anymore. Let Wang Xifeng do whatever she wanted with her. She would inevitably have to go to her mother-in-law and cry, telling her how she had misjudged people and let such a person into the mansion.

Li Wan stared at the half-copied scripture on the table with a worried expression. Suddenly, she picked up the inkstone next to her, splashed the half-cup of ink onto the scripture, and then picked up the brush and scribbled wildly on the paper in a fit of rage until the paper was a mess and could no longer be recognized. Only then did Li Wan's mood calm down a little.

She went to wash her hands, while Su Yun skillfully crumpled up the piece of paper, took out a tinderbox, lit the paper, and after it burned to ashes, swept it out. She then took some mugwort incense to fumigate the room.

Since becoming a widow, Li Wan has stopped using any flowers or fragrances. However, she still uses mugwort incense to fumigate the area to get rid of musty smells and mosquitoes.

After Suyun finished getting ready, Li Wan changed her clothes and went to Madam Wang's Rongxi Hall with only Suyun and Biyue.

Madam Wang had just returned from the old lady's place and was listening to the servants' report on Wang Xifeng's handling of Zhong Fang.

Upon hearing that Wang Xifeng had not dealt with Zhong Fang privately, but instead sent her to the Jingzhao Prefecture to accuse her of defrauding the Duke's daughter of her jewelry, the pawn ticket was used as evidence.

Madam Wang curled her lips slightly.

"They are still young and inexperienced. It's too kind of them to just let it go like that."

Lady Wang prided herself on being a devout Buddhist with a kind heart, but she also felt that Wang Xifeng hadn't handled the matter efficiently enough. Given the reputation of their Duke's Mansion, they shouldn't have let Zhong Fang off so easily!

Subsequently, the Jingzhao Prefecture found a number of pawn tickets at Na Zhongfang's residence, most of which were obtained by her through private intimidation and fraud against students, and the amount was not small.

However, since no one except the Rongguo Mansion was willing to step forward, the matter eventually came to nothing.

However, Zhong Fang's reputation was completely ruined, and as a result, few students went to study at her family's private school anymore.

Zhong Fang suffered a great loss this time, witnessing firsthand the power of a truly wealthy family, and dared not show her face again.

This time she implicated her family, and in the end, her family still found her a wealthy family in the countryside and married her off far away, making her their second wife.

Another month has passed.

Jia Lian planted a hundred cherry tomato seedlings, and they changed every day; some of the faster-growing ones had already flowered.

However, Teacher Yuan said that we shouldn't be reluctant to remove the extra branches. If we don't remove those extra branches, the tomatoes won't grow well and won't produce many fruits.

Jia Lian ultimately followed the original method taught by Hong Qu, instructing people to prune the tomato plants one by one.

Inside Rongyue Courtyard, there were also several pots of tomatoes. These pots were planted by several girls and Baoyu and the others. They cultivated them step by step, completely following the method taught by Professor Yuan Hongqu.

Now, after school, their favorite thing to do is to check on the growth of these tomato plants.

Even Old Madam Shi sometimes couldn't help but ask Baoyu how his tomatoes were growing.

For a time, those few pots of tomatoes at Rongyue Courtyard caught the attention of several important figures in the Rongguo Mansion.

Even Jia Zheng rarely praised Baoyu.

“Doing these things is better than your delicate mischief.”

Jia Baoyu was secretly delighted and became even more attached to the tomatoes, wishing they would grow fruit immediately so he could personally present them to his grandmother, wife, and father.

Yuan Hongqu was happy to see this happen, hoping that other things would help these people change their ways and commit fewer evil deeds!

She went out about two weeks ago and put the coconuts she had picked last time into the shop.

The shop assistant was named Wu Tian. He was simple-minded and had never seen anything like this before.

"Master, what kind of fruit is this? Its skin is so thick, I'm afraid it will be difficult to open?"

Wu Tian held a coconut and shook it from side to side, feeling as if water was surging inside. He was even more surprised that the fruit had no gaps on the outside, so how did the water get in?

"In ancient times, this was called Xuyu, and now it's called cocoa coconut, or simply coconut." Yuan Hongqu briefly explained the name and origin of the coconut to Wu Tian.

"This thing only grows on one island. It has to travel across the ocean to get here from there, which is very difficult."

"Boss, how much does one cost?"