Chapter 32 Chapter 32 He likes this ruthlessness...
Chu Yuanhe didn't give her any chance to refuse. Although the horse he was riding was not a divine horse like Taxue, it was also a rare Ferghana horse. It galloped all the way and soon arrived at the Zhao family.
Chu Yuanhe dismounted first, then turned around and grabbed her waist, and carried her down neatly. His movements were done in one go, as if they had done this thousands of times before.
However, Zhao Qingyi was worried about Li Jiao's situation and didn't care about being embarrassed. She just said "thank you" politely, then lifted her skirt and quickly entered the house, lifted her veil, and while walking, she instructed Qiaoyue to send people to surround all the exits of the Zhao family's house.
Liao Yuanpan from the Imperial Hospital was hurrying after him, fearing that he would be late. Chu Yuanhe was holding his arm, as if he was holding a chicken.
Judge Liao had a hard time speaking out his grievances, but he didn't dare to resist Chu Yuanhe. He could only endure the strange looks from the servants in the mansion, and was carried into Li Jiao's room with his feet hanging in the air.
The room was packed with people, including those from the first and second wives, all with uneasy looks on their faces. The doctors who came to treat the patients shook their heads and left one by one.
Meng's face turned pale, and her eyes couldn't help but turn red.
When the judge arrived, she was startled and hurriedly made room, "Judge Liao, you must save my grandson."
Judge Liao wiped the sweat from his forehead, sat down beside the couch to feel Li Jiao's pulse, then lifted up Li Jiao's eyelids and took out a silver needle.
A quarter of an hour later, Li Jiao, who was originally unconscious, coughed twice violently and vomited a lot of water from his mouth. He finally woke up slowly.
Meng clasped his hands together and thanked God.
Zhao Qingyi's face was very ugly, "Jiao'er, how do you feel?"
Li Jiao opened his eyes in a daze, and only saw familiar faces in the hazy space. These people were clearly not related to him by blood, but all of them had expressions of concern. He had only seen such anxious concern on his own mother's face.
Li Jiao's chest was filled with a myriad of emotions, which finally turned into a low murmur, "Mother... Jiao'er made you... made you worry..."
The last thing he wanted was trouble.
Zhao Manyi saw through the cautiousness hidden behind his well-behaved and sensible appearance. She gently held his hand and said, "It's okay. You are my adopted son. If you have any grievances, tell your mother."
Li Jiao still shook his head, his pale lips pursed into a smile, "I'm not wronged, Jiao'er is doing well, grandpa, grandma, and uncle all care about Jiao'er very much."
Seeing this, Zhao Lanyan hesitated to speak.
Zhao Qingyi raised her eyes and scanned the faces of everyone in the room. "You all go out first. I want to talk to Jiao'er."
The others couldn't stay any longer and had to leave first, but Aunt Fang felt a little guilty.
But within a few minutes, Zhao Qingyi came out and the door was closed by the servants.
She walked into the courtyard, her face as gloomy as water, "Zhao Lanyan, I saw you had something to say earlier, why didn't you tell the truth?"
When Zhao Lanyan heard her calling him by his full name, he knew that his sister was really angry this time. He did not dare to hide it and told her everything about how Li Jiao was bullied in the clan school.
However, he was not at the scene when Li Jiao fell into the water. "...I only heard from the servants that my nephew was reading alone in the waterside pavilion at that time."
Zhao Qingyi's almond-shaped eyes gradually became solemn, and her sharp gaze pierced through Aunt Fang and Zhao Jiangyan behind her.
Zhao Jiangyan was also raised in a spoiled manner. Although he was born out of wedlock, he was the only male in the second wife's family. He was usually arrogant and domineering and no one cared about him. He only felt afraid when he met his brothers and sisters from the first wife's family, like a mouse seeing a cat.
Especially when Zhao Qingyi looked at him, he shrank back with guilt, not even daring to stick his head out.
Aunt Fang was displeased. "Miss, what do you mean? Could it be that you suspect Jiang Yan harmed Li Jiao?"
"I haven't said anything yet, why is Aunt Fang so nervous?"
Zhao Qingyi's tone was calm, and no emotion could be heard. "Jiao'er has been studying in the clan for a while now, and he never argues with anyone. I just want to ask my cousin, why is he targeting Jiao'er?"
Aunt Fang had already thought of the words, "They are all a bunch of children. When they get angry, it is common for them to clash. When they were young, didn't the eldest son often fight with Jiang Yan? I never took it to heart."
"Don't tell me anything else!" Zhao Qingyi suddenly got angry and flicked his sleeves and scolded coldly.
Aunt Fang and Zhao Jiangyan shuddered at the same time.
"I just want to ask Zhao Jiangyan one question: why are you targeting Jiao'er?"
Zhao Jiangyan's body began to tremble uncontrollably. Seeing her approaching step by step, his legs were shaking. For some reason, he felt that the big sister in front of him was even more terrifying than Zhao Lanyan who swung her fist at him last time.
After living under the same roof for more than ten years, this was the first time Aunt Fang had seen Zhao Qingyi get angry. Although she was frightened, she remained calm. She protected her son behind her and said, "Miss, what you said..."
Aunt Fang was still trying to argue, but Zhao Qingyi slapped her in the face with the back of his hand without saying a word.
Aunt Fang tilted her head and it took her a while to realize that she had been beaten by Zhao Qingyi?
"Miss?" She covered her face, in disbelief. "I am your second uncle's aunt after all. In terms of status, I am your elder!"
Zhao Qingyi's slap shocked even Zhao Huaiyi and Meng.
"A concubine still wants to discuss status with me?"
It is not clear whether this remark was directed at Aunt Fang or her daughter Zhao Manyi.
Zhao Qingyi's red lips curled up, her eyes gleaming with contempt. "It was because of Second Uncle that I gave you, my concubine, some face, but I didn't let you get ahead of me! For daring to instigate your son to bully Jiao'er, a slap in the face was already the least I could give you!"
How could she not know what Aunt Fang was thinking?
You want to kill Jiao'er to help Jun'er? You're dreaming!
She leaned close to Aunt Fang's ear and said, "If anything happens to Jiao'er, just wait and see, what good life will Jun'er have under my control?"
Aunt Fang was horrified and looked at her in horror.
Zhao Qingyi suddenly used Jun Ge'er to threaten herself. Could it be that she already knew Jun Ge'er's life experience?
No, no, no, how is this possible.
"The eldest lady is so angry that she is confused. I don't know who Jun Ge'er is." Aunt Fang avoided her gaze.
"Oh, you don't know, and your daughter doesn't know either?"
Zhao Qingyi glanced at her and sneered, "Don't think that just because she raised a son of unknown origin in the Li family, she can compete with me."
As soon as these words were spoken, Aunt Fang, who was originally uneasy, immediately breathed a sigh of relief.
That’s right, how could such a fool like Zhao Qingyi know Jun Ge’er’s true identity? She can’t scare herself, lest she reveal her true identity.
Zhao Qingyi noticed her reaction and turned around. "Come here, call all the servants in the mansion to me. I want to interrogate them one by one."
Earlier in the house, Li Jiao told her the truth. There was indeed a pair of dark hands pushing him from behind, and this was the fundamental reason why Zhao Qingyi was angry today.
If it was just a minor fight between children, she could forgive it, but it was obvious that someone wanted to kill Li Jiao!
There is no need to think about the mastermind behind this, it must be Aunt Fang.
The reason why Aunt Fang dared to act so blatantly was simply because she thought she didn't know that Jun'er was the illegitimate son of Zhao Manyi and Li Che, and she thought that if she got rid of Li Jiao, she would adopt Jun'er.
But Aunt Fang and Zhao Manyi were wrong. Zhao Qingyi, who had lived her life again, knew all the dirty things they had hidden.
The person who pushed Li Jiao into the water must be Aunt Fang's people.
When she heard her calling all the servants, Aunt Fang did not look flustered.
It would be too late to summon the servants now. She had already arranged for people to go out through the corner gate. Even if they asked about it later, she would say that she had sent the old woman back to her hometown to visit her relatives. Even if she sent people to chase her, all they would get back would be a corpse.
There is no evidence to prove the crime, so who can blame her?
Aunt Fang slowly calmed down, and when she looked up again, she suddenly caught a glimpse of Qiao Yue escorting a dusty woman.
"Grandma, this old woman was sneaking out of the house and was caught by the prince's men."
The old woman was frightened and met Zhao Qingyi's cold gaze. She knelt down and begged for mercy.
Aunt Fang staggered, and her bright face lost all color.
The old woman didn't even dare to look at her, and she kept saying, "My lady, I'm old, and my aunt is letting me go home. I don't know why you want to take me back."
Zhao Qingyi ignored her. Tan Yue brought a chair over and sat down. The old woman knelt at her feet like a dog.
The prince Chu Yuanhe was still alive, and his father and mother were also alive. In fact, Zhao Qingyi's behavior was overstepping the bounds. However, Chu Yuanhe was an outsider, and Zhao Huaiyi and Meng rarely managed the household. Before she got married, Zhao Qingyi had been in charge of the main house.
Now, no one will embarrass her.
Zhao Qingyi ignored the old woman's words and just waited quietly for all the servants in the mansion to come. Most of them were frightened or at a loss. Only one servant looked at her quietly, and the moment their eyes met, she quickly lowered her head.
"You, come here." Zhao Qingyi pointed at her.
The maid knew she couldn't hide it anymore, so she decided to give her a good turn. She took two steps forward and knelt down. "Miss, I have something to say." She pointed at the maid and said, "I passed by the waterside pavilion today and saw with my own eyes that Aunt Wang pushed Young Master Li."
She was just a maid who swept the area near the clan school. She accidentally discovered this incident and was terrified. She was also worried that Concubine Fang would kill her if she was exposed, so she didn't dare to speak out.
But the situation is very different now. Zhao Qingyi cares a lot about her adopted son Li Jiao. Now the eldest wife is allowing Zhao Qingyi to investigate the matter. If she can testify, she might be brought to the eldest wife's master to serve.
This is a great opportunity to get married. Even if Aunt Fang comes back to settle the score with her, she has to consider the first wife.
Zhao Qingyi carefully examined her expression and saw that she did not seem to be lying, so he looked at Wang Po steadily.
Before she could speak, Second Madam Feng spoke first, "Oh, isn't this Wang Po a servant in Fangfei Courtyard? If she really pushed Li Jiao, doesn't that mean that it was Concubine Fang who was at fault..."
As if she thought of something terrifying, Feng pretended to be scared and covered her lips with her hands while screaming.
Feng and Concubine Fang had been at odds for a long time, and she was eager to take this opportunity to crush Concubine Fang to death.
Mrs. Wang hurriedly shook her head, "No, no, no, I dare not do anything to harm my master! It was Chunying who slandered me!"
The maidservant's name was Chunying, and she was just a neglected sweeper. Old Lady Wang hurriedly threw dirty water on her and said, "It rained the day before yesterday. It must have been Chunying who was lazy and not careful enough while sweeping. Water accumulated on the pavilion, and that's why Young Master Li Jiao slipped and fell into the water!"
Chunying knew that life and death, wealth and honor depended on this moment, so she argued fiercely with Wang Po. She had seen it with her own eyes, so she didn't need to think too much and recounted the situation.
Mrs. Wang was speechless. If she wanted to blame it on Chunying, she would have to spend a lot of time and effort to plan it, and this way, the flaws would be easily exposed.
Aunt Fang was afraid of being implicated, "Mrs. Wang, if you don't want to implicate the whole family, you must answer properly. What exactly is going on?"
Mrs. Wang’s face turned pale.
Zhao Qingyi knew very well what was meant by Aunt Fang's words, so there was no need to ask any further.
"He who plotted to murder his master is a traitor. Drag him away, chop off his hands, and beat him to death with clubs!"
She had no expression on her face. It was just a matter of one word to decide life and death, and then Wang Po was gagged and dragged away by Qiao Yue.
The people around them gasped, but Feng from the second house was very happy. There was a hint of pride in her eyes, and she glanced provocatively at Concubine Fang.
Zhao Huaiyi and Meng had been away from home for many years, and his memory of Zhao Qingyi still remained at the year she got married. At that time, she was just a young girl. In the blink of an eye, she grew into a strong and calm mistress of the house, with quick and decisive means.
Meng didn't know whether she was more afraid or more heartbroken.
How come her docile, polite, gentle and delicate daughter is now acting more cruelly than a forty-year-old woman like her?
The servants remained silent until Zhao Qingyi spoke again, "I don't want the same thing to happen again. Regardless of your intentions, if anything happens to the master, this will be your fate."
They responded in unison and carefully dispersed.
Aunt Fang was still frightened. She thought that Zhao Qingyi would force Wang Po to give her up, but she didn't expect that she would beat someone to death.
This made Aunt Fang unable to figure out her thoughts for a while.
But Zhao Qingyi knew clearly that even if Wang Po gave away Aunt Fang, her second uncle would protect her. At most, he would put her under house arrest and fine her salary, which would not achieve her goal.
Rather than going through so much trouble and ending up with nothing, it would be better to just call it a day. At least I can give Aunt Fang a lesson and let my second uncle remember that he owes me a favor.
This favor must be repaid in the future.
How to repay is up to her, Zhao Qingyi.
In the end, Aunt Fang walked away under Zhao Qingyi's cold gaze and returned to the second room, where she was indeed scolded by her second uncle Zhao Huailiang.
Aunt Fang was frustrated, and Feng was in a good mood. After exchanging a few polite words with Zhao Qingyi, she asked someone to send some supplements before leaving.
Only Zhao Huaiyi and a few others were left in the courtyard. They were Zhao Qingyi's closest relatives and were all shocked by her methods. They looked at each other, but because of the presence of an outsider, Chu Yuanhe, they had to suppress their emotions.
"Thank you, Prince, for your help today." Zhao Huaiyi was sincerely grateful and bowed deeply.
"It's just a small matter. We are neighbors and it's only natural for us to help each other." Chu Yuanhe was not as roundabout as they were. Instead, he admired Zhao Qingyi more and more.
As the saying goes, if a person is not ruthless enough, his position will be unstable. He likes this kind of ruthlessness that is determined by what he says.
What followed was their family's business. Chu Yuanhe didn't get involved much. Before leaving, he raised his eyebrows at Zhao Qingyi, deliberately asking her to accept his favor.
Zhao Qingyi knew what was going on, so she stood up and returned the greeting. Then she arranged for Chunying to serve Li Jiao.
Meng finally spoke, "Panpan..."
Zhao Huaiyi nudged her with his elbow, and Meng changed the subject, "Jiao'er's situation is also due to mother's lack of caution. I should have arranged for him to have a few personal maids to serve him earlier, so that he wouldn't be left alone and given the opportunity to be harmed."
"Mother has been very concerned." Facing her parents and family, the chill that enveloped Zhao Qingyi faded away. She smiled gently and took Meng's slightly cold hand. "You are not in good health. You should rest more and don't worry about other things."
Meng suddenly felt a sore nose.
Yes, she was in poor health and not suitable for hard work, and her husband was away from home all year round. Later, the family moved to Xi'an, leaving only the eldest daughter in Beijing.
All the trivial matters in this family fell on the daughter's shoulders early on. If she didn't have any means, how could she control the huge Zhao family, and how could she stir up trouble in her husband's family after getting married?
It is difficult for a woman from a wealthy family to have everything go her way unless her hands are stained with blood and her heart is cruel. I actually thought my daughter was too cruel before, which was really wrong.
Zhao Huaiyi and Meng felt deeply indebted, and no one mentioned her treatment of Wang Po again. After comforting Zhao Qingyi with a few words, they left.
That night, Zhao Qingyi stayed at her parents' home for dinner. After dinner, Li Heng arrived late.
Since he came to the Zhao family school to teach, the second branch has arranged many social events for him. He only found out what had happened in the evening and rushed to apologize to Zhao Qingyi.
Zhao Qingyi did not vent his anger on him, but subconsciously glanced at Fang Ru, who was following behind him and was slightly out of breath.
It was obvious that Li Heng didn't like her, so he left in a hurry. Fang Ru was a woman, and it was not easy for her to follow him all the way.
Fang Ru had heard about the conflict between Aunt Fang and Zhao Qingyi. Seeing her, she lowered her head guiltily and bowed to her, "Miss..."
She could still call Zhao Manyi "cousin", but she didn't have the courage to approach Zhao Qingyi.
Because Aunt Fang was the one who harmed Li Jiao, it was difficult for Zhao Qingyi to have a good face towards Fang Ru, and she just nodded indifferently.
Seeing that Li Heng showed no sign of vigilance towards Fang Ru, she reminded him, "The imperial examination is more important. It would be better for my uncle to leave the Zhao family as soon as possible."
Aunt Fang wanted to use Fang Ru to win over Li Heng, but she just wanted to ruin this good plan.
Li Heng blushed when she said that.
These past few days, I was either teaching at the clan school or being dragged around by the second branch for social events, and I had neglected my studies.
In fact, he also felt that the second branch was trying to win him over.
He bowed and said, "Thank you for your concern, sister-in-law."
Zhao Qingyi stopped talking and got up to go back to the house.
Li Heng secretly breathed a sigh of relief, turned around and saw Fang Ru beside him, and suddenly a strange idea arose in his mind.
Just now, sister-in-law saw Fang Ru and said those words to him. Could it be that sister-in-law doesn't like Fang Ru?
Why did he dislike Fang Ru? Was it because Fang Ru was pestering him?
Thinking of this, Li Heng's heartbeat suddenly accelerated.
The next day, Li Heng resigned from the second house.
Zhao Huailiang thought he was not thoughtful enough and tried to keep her. Aunt Fang tried to persuade him but it was of no avail. Fang Ru's eyes were red and she looked at him reluctantly.
She really likes Li Heng.
But Li Heng was determined to leave, so Zhao Huailiang had to agree. However, after he left, he would have to hire another teacher. As a result, before a new teacher was hired, Mr. Kong also came to resign.
Mr. Kong is over seventy years old and is quite famous in Daliang. The fact that he was invited to teach at the Zhao Family School this time was entirely thanks to Li Jiao.
Mr. Kong thinks highly of him.
Mr. Kong explained the reason for leaving this time, which was because Li Jiao wanted to drop out of the clan school.
He was willing to stay in the first place just to make it easier to educate Li Jiao. He thought that Li Jiao was young and it wouldn't be too late to let him stay at home for two more years before leaving with him. He never expected that something like that would happen yesterday.
Although Zhao Qingyi had punished the servant and punished Concubine Fang, no one would dare to attack Li Jiao again in the short term. However, if a thief only steals for a thousand days, how can you be on guard against thieves for a thousand days? If Concubine Fang was determined to harm him, he would be far away from the Li family and could not protect Li Jiao all the time. Sooner or later, he would be in trouble.
So she thought about it carefully and asked Li Jiao's wishes. The child was a hard-working person and expressed his willingness to study with Mr. Kong and learn from him.
In this way, Zhao Qingyi decided to let Li Jiao withdraw from the clan school, and Mr. Kong naturally had no reason to continue staying in the Zhao family.
Zhao Huailiang was deeply saddened when he learned the whole story.
You must know that just the name of Mr. Kong in the Zhao family will make the scholars all over the world respect them, and it will be of great benefit to the children studying in the family.
However, due to Aunt Fang's stupidity, she forced Li Jiao to leave, pushed Mr. Kong away from the Zhao family, and offended the eldest wife.
In this round, they lost both the wife and the army.
Zhao Qingyi took Li Jiao's hand, said goodbye to his father and mother, and took a carriage back to the Li family.
Li Jiao has already agreed with Mr. Kong that he will stay at home for a while longer, until after his biological mother's birthday banquet, and then leave with Mr. Kong. During this period, he can also take good care of his body and spend more time with his biological mother Yuxiu.
After returning to Lanyue Pavilion, the housekeeper held the booklet and asked Zhao Qingyi for instructions. October 18th was her birthday, and how to arrange it depended on the mistress's own wishes.
Zhao Qingyi listened to the procedures listed by the housekeeper, and recalled everything in her past life, and was about to refuse.
Li Che suddenly walked in and said, "We've been married for three years, and this is the first birthday party I'm attending with you. It must be a grand celebration." Li Che sat next to Zhao Qingyi and wanted to hold her hand.
It was that artificial attitude again, which made Zhao Qingyi feel sick.
She made the excuse that she was not feeling well and wanted to rest early.
Li Che's eyes darkened, and he didn't force them to stay. Instead, he went to Liulizhai to visit Yuxiu and her son, but was stopped by the crying Jun Ge'er on the way.
Jun Ge'er threw himself into Li Che's arms and cried non-stop, calling for his mother. Mother Luo followed behind him, looking nervous and complicated.
Fortunately, the child was nominally adopted by Zhao Manyi, so calling her "mother" was not so abrupt.
However, ever since Zhao Manyi was sent to the old house, Jun Ge'er has been crying almost every day, so Mother Luo had no choice but to take him home to relax, which now offended Li Che.
After all, he was his own son. Although he could not recognize him openly, Li Che still hugged him and comforted him in private. Looking at Jun Ge'er whose eyes were as red as walnut kernels due to tears, he thought of Zhao Qingyi's cold heart.
He has been abstaining from sex for some time.
I still need a woman like Zhao Manyi to accompany me.
So, taking this opportunity, she sent someone to the old house to bring Zhao Manyi back. She had already thought of an excuse, saying that Jun Ge'er missed her as his "adoptive mother". In addition, Zhao Manyi was the mistress's sister, and the mistress's birthday party was approaching, so it was reasonable for her to come back.
The person was taken back that night.
Zhao Manyi was deeply moved. She knew that Aunt Fang had failed, but at least she had successfully escaped from the old house, and that was enough.
Before she could get intimate with Li Che, she was called by Luo to go to Qionghua Hall to pay her respects. She had been traumatized by Luo's torment and didn't want to go, so she looked at Li Che for help.
Li Che had no choice but to take Zhao Manyi and her son to see Luo.
But at this moment, Mrs. Luo remembered the important matter of the birthday party, and since Li Che had spoken, Mrs. Luo did not continue to set rules for her and sent her away immediately.
Zhao Manyi felt relieved, but if she wanted to gain a foothold in the Li family in the future, she would have to please the Luo family, and pleasing Li Susu was almost the same as pleasing the Luo family.
She had to get her sister-in-law Li Susu to stand on her side so that they could work together in the future to deal with Zhao Qingyi and that bitch Yuxiu. So she made some snacks and went to Li Susu's room to get close to her.
After Zhao Manyi left, Luo and Li Che were able to talk more easily. She urged him in a low voice, "Zhao's birthday is coming soon. This is a good opportunity. You must seize the opportunity to consummate your marriage with her."
"You've seen her attitude since you returned home. If she continues to be so cold, it would be like marrying the daughter of the Zhao family for nothing."
"Women, you still need to have children." Luo said meaningfully, glancing in the direction where Zhao Manyi left. "Isn't this a living example? Take her body first, and once you have a child, she'll be willing to do anything you ask her to do in the future."
Li Che had the same idea without Luo's reminder. Thinking of Zhao Qingyi's appearance and figure, he felt hot in his stomach.
However, how to get her, I still have to think of a way...
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