search?
Then all the things they hid before will be impossible to hide, right?
Zhao Juan looked slightly flustered and nervously glanced at Chen Danian beside her.
Chen Danian also panicked, but he forced himself to remain calm, puffing out his chest in a show of bravado:
"How dare you! Although I am merely a scholar, I still hold official rank. How dare you uncouth brutes search me at will?!"
Upon hearing this, the officials did not back down; instead, they burst into laughter.
One of the leading officers laughed so hard he almost fell over, pointing at Chen Danian and saying:
"Oh dear, sir, you're so out of touch! Master Zhao has been arrested, and you're his son-in-law. Whether you can keep your scholar's status is another matter entirely, yet you still dare to stand up for him?"
As he finished speaking, his face turned cold, and he said sternly, "Search!"
The officials swarmed forward. They knew how much Magistrate Lu valued this case and were afraid of messing things up, so they didn't care whether Chen Danian was a scholar or not and started searching him directly.
Zhao Juan's savings and jewelry, along with the valuables Chen Danian tried to steal, were all found during the search.
Zhao Juan watched helplessly as the money was taken away. Her heart ached, and she cried and wailed, trying to protect her money, but the officials pushed her to the ground without any mercy.
"Let me go! I am Miss Zhao! How dare you poor bastards treat me like this!" Zhao Juan screamed, trying to struggle, but was held down firmly by the officers.
"The Zhao family? The Zhao family is barely able to protect itself now, and you still want to act like a young lady? Don't you even know who you are!" The official spat and confiscated all of Zhao Juan's belongings.
Chen Danian watched helplessly as the silver he had just received slipped away, his heart aching as if it were bleeding. But facing the fierce-looking officials, he dared not utter a word. He could only slink away from the Zhao residence with Zhao Juan, not daring to look back.
"Danian, where are we going now?" Zhao Juan asked helplessly, her eyes brimming with tears.
Without the Zhao family as her backing, she seemed to have lost her backbone in an instant.
Chen Danian disgustedly shook off Zhao Juan's hand and said impatiently:
"Where else can we go? Home, of course!"
Zhao Juan's face stiffened upon hearing this, and she thought of the old hag in the Chen family, feeling utterly miserable.
Back when she was still in the Chen family, she was tormented by that old hag for over ten years. She hated Granny Lü so much that her teeth itched!
Once she turned her life around, she could forgive Chen Danian, but she could not forgive Granny Lü.
So even though the old woman tried every means to please her after she became Zhao Juan, she didn't let her into the Zhao family mansion, and she forbade Chen Danian to secretly give her money.
Granny Lü hated her deeply. If she went back to the Chen family at this time, would she get away with it?
Zhao Juan was unwilling, but she was penniless and had nowhere to go. If she didn't go to the Chen family, where else could she go?
She glanced at Chen Danian's receding figure, gritted her teeth, and followed.
The two returned to the Chen family home in silence. Along the way, people looked at them with gloating eyes, especially when they entered the street where the Chen family lived. Many neighbors pointed at them and whispered among themselves.
"Look, isn't that Chen Danian? Why is he back looking so disheveled?"
"The Zhao family's property was raided, so he must have been kicked out. Haha, it's a good thing he didn't change his surname to Zhao back then, or he would have been arrested along with them now!"
"Serves him right! Who told him to abandon his wife and daughter to climb the social ladder? Now look what's happened, that Ganli is now the owner of a restaurant with a plaque bestowed by the Emperor himself, and him...? Haha!"
Listening to the villagers' discussions, Chen Danian felt his face burning with embarrassment, wishing he could disappear into the ground.
Zhao Juan was filled with jealousy and envy, and in her heart she cursed the sweet pear fiercely!
The two finally made it to the Chen family's door, then quickly slipped inside like mice and hurriedly closed the door behind them.
Just as Zhao Juan was about to breathe a sigh of relief after the mocking gazes were shut out, she heard a sharp and sarcastic curse coming from behind her.
"Oh, who do we have here? It's Miss Zhao! Wait, I almost forgot, your house was just raided, you're no longer a young lady."
"Pah! Serves you right! You were so heartless, refusing to even let me, your mother-in-law, into the Zhao family's door. Now that the Zhao family is down and out, this is real karma!"
Having worked as a prostitute for a while, Zhao Juan's personality and temper had become much more developed than before. Hearing the curses, she immediately flew into a rage:
"You old geezer, what nonsense are you spouting? How dare you insult me? Even if I'm down on my luck, I'm still a phoenix, much better than a chicken like you!"
Granny Lü was startled by Zhao Juan's imposing manner. Her eyes darted around, and she sat down on the ground, slapping the floor repeatedly, and began to wail and scream.
"This is outrageous! My daughter-in-law is insulting her mother-in-law! She dares to insult me now, what will she do to me later?"
She then called out to Chen Danian, "Danian, this little brat is calling your mother a chicken! If you don't beat her, you'll become a chick in the future!"
Zhao Juan was furious. She put her hands on her hips and yelled back, "You old hag, you've always loved to sow discord, and you're still using the same trick now..."
"Alright, shut up!" Chen Danian grabbed her.
This rude action startled Zhao Juan, who stared at him in disbelief.
Since she became Zhao Juan, Chen Danian had always pampered and flattered her; he had never called her that loudly before.
Her eyes welled up with tears of grievance, and she felt a lump in her throat. Instead of keeping her voice down, she shouted even louder.
"You're telling me to shut up? Why should I shut up? Didn't you hear she insulted me first? You won't help me, fine, but you even insulted me. What right do you have—"
"Smack!"
A loud slap rang out, and Zhao Juan's scream came to an abrupt halt.
She covered her rapidly swelling cheek, momentarily stunned. When she came to her senses, she screamed and lunged at Chen Danian, scratching and hitting him.
"How dare you hit me! How could you hit me!"
The sharp fingernails scratched across Chen Danian's face and neck, and the intense pain made the already irritable Chen Danian even more agitated.
He grabbed Zhao Juan's hand, turned around, quickly opened the door, and then shoved her out!
By the time Zhao Juan realized what was happening, the Chen family's door was already tightly shut!
Without the cover of the Chen family's courtyard gate, she was instantly exposed to everyone's view. Seeing the mocking looks from all around her, feelings of shame and anger welled up in her heart!
"Chen Danian! You heartless beast!"
Zhao Juan screamed, her shrill voice almost piercing everyone's eardrums!
Like an enraged mother beast, she lunged recklessly at the tightly closed gates of the Chen family home:
"Chen Danian, open the door! Get out here! You ungrateful bastard! You ate my food and drank my water, and now that my father has fallen from power, you turn your back on me?!"
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