Chapter 23 Fate
At his command, armed guards rushed out and surrounded Qiao Yuantao. Startled, Qiao Yuantao hurriedly cried out to his aunt, "Aunt, save me!"
When Qiao tried to step forward to stop him, Yu Jingsheng ignored him and ordered his men to take him away and give him a beating first. Anyone who dared to implicate his daughter, the Earl of Nanping, would have to bear the consequences.
Soon, the sound of boards cracking came from outside, but Qiao Yuantao's voice could not be heard; he must have been gagged.
Since the man was from her own family, Qiao couldn't just watch her husband beat someone to death on the spot, so she knelt down and begged Zhang for mercy.
Madam Zhang stood up and advised, "Lord, please stop hitting him. This kind of thing must be clarified to silence the gossip. You are just too hasty. If you really beat him to death, it will be even more difficult to explain later. Besides, he is a son of our in-laws, a respectable young man. Just give him a few slaps to teach him a lesson."
Once Yu Jingsheng calmed down, he realized that he couldn't just beat the man to death, so he ordered someone to bring him back. In just a short time, Qiao Yuantao was already bleeding from the beating and lying on the ground, unable to move.
Qiao Shi approached Qiao Yuantao and asked, "You child are so ignorant. Where did you find this thing? Tell me the truth now, or your uncle will beat you to death as a thief before he's satisfied."
The Qiao family dared not utter a single word about Yu Qingci, and could only pass messages to Qiao Yuantao.
Despite the pain, Qiao Yuantao followed Qiao Shi's words and said, "Yes, I was confused for a moment. I found that purse in the garden a couple of days ago. When I saw that the person who dropped it looked like Miss Tong'er, I was confused and had inappropriate thoughts. Yuantao knows he was wrong. He shouldn't have coveted the daughter of the Earl's family. Yuantao deserves to be beaten, and I hope Uncle will forgive him."
At this moment, Yu Qingyan's personal wet nurse came out and knelt down before Yu Jingsheng, saying, "My lord, please spare me! It's all my fault. The purse and handkerchief I made for the Second Miss that day disappeared before she could use them. I suppose I lost them when I went to the garden."
The second young lady was unaware of this. This old servant thought I could just make two more, but unexpectedly, the young master picked up the purse and mistook it for the third young lady's, which led to this trouble.
"My old eyes are failing me, and I didn't understand what happened for a long time. Please forgive me, Your Excellency, and spare my life."
Yu Jingsheng kicked her, and the wet nurse was knocked to the ground and couldn't get up for a long time.
Madam Qiao pointed at Qiao Yuantao and angrily rebuked him: "I treated you as my own nephew, but I never expected you to dare to covet the young lady of the manor. It is truly despicable. It is only right for the Earl to teach you a lesson. I spared your life because you are my maternal nephew, but you are not allowed to set foot in my manor again."
After saying this, she looked earnestly at Yu Jingsheng and murmured, "My lord, it is my fault. I did not manage my family relatives well. Please calm down and do not hurt your health."
Yu Jingsheng said in a deep voice: "Qingci was wronged today, so you should comfort her properly. As for your nephew, you should send him back to his parents' home and explain the situation to them."
And Qingyan's wet nurse can no longer stay in the manor.
This can be considered as saving face for the Qiao family.
Madam Qiao dared not speak further, and could only order someone to take the wet nurse and Qiao Yuantao away, while she herself left with her two daughters.
The main hall quickly quieted down. Yu Jingsheng beckoned Yu Qingci to his side, sighed, and said, "I'm sorry you had to go through this today. It's all my fault as your father for being so foolish and almost trusting the wrong person."
Yu Qingci quickly comforted her father: "It's not your fault, Father. It's all because that Qiao is too wicked. If someone with such character were to pass the imperial examination and become a scholar, that would be truly unjust."
Yu Jingsheng snorted coldly: "Him? Hmph, he can forget about participating in the autumn examination in this lifetime."
How dare they frame his daughter, the Earl of Nanping? How can this be so easily forgotten?
Hearing her father say this, Yu Qingci felt relieved and secretly thought that she must remind her father about the upcoming autumn examination.
Now that things had turned out this way, Madam Zhang felt a little uncomfortable, so she said to the father and daughter, "I'm tired. You two should go back and rest if you have nothing else to do."
Yu Jingsheng personally escorted Yu Qingci back to the Wisteria Courtyard, and said a few words of comfort before leaving.
The Qiao family ordered that Qiao Yuantao be settled in the backyard first, and did not dare to find anyone to treat his injuries. It was too late today, and they could only wait until tomorrow to send him back.
Since the Earl had instructed her to personally deliver it back, she dared not disobey his orders.
After settling in, Madam Qiao apologized to Granny Qin who had come with her, saying, "This is all my nephew's fault for having such inappropriate thoughts and disturbing the old lady. I will go to the old lady tomorrow to apologize. Please say a few words of comfort to the old lady for me, so that she will not be upset or harm her health because of this."
Qin Mama replied tactfully, "Don't worry, Madam. I will explain things to the Old Madam. I will make sure that the reputations of the young ladies in the mansion are not damaged. I will also keep these servants strictly under control tonight."
After Granny Qin left, Madam Qiao gritted her teeth and ordered her maid, Zhishu, "Go and fetch that wretched girl, Siqin."
He had intended to use this incident to ruin that wretched girl's reputation. If a young lady's reputation is ruined, what good family will want her in the future? She'll have no chance of marrying into a high-ranking family through a political alliance.
Once this wretched girl's reputation is ruined, she can then approach the old lady about the substitute marriage. The old lady will surely agree, and then she can persuade the prince to agree as well.
In the end, all her efforts were in vain, and she even ruined her precious daughter's reputation. How could she not hate it?
Siqin quickly came over and knelt tremblingly in front of Qiao Shi to reply: "This servant did see the Third Miss take the purse off her own body. I took it while the Third Miss went in to wash up. There is absolutely no mistake."
Mrs. Qiao: "What about the handkerchief in the purse?"
Siqin shook her head repeatedly: "This servant really didn't know. I was afraid of being discovered, so after I got the purse, I went to the backyard and gave it to Young Master Qiao. I never opened the purse and didn't know that there was anything inside. It was all my fault for not doing things properly. Please forgive me, Madam."
Seeing that she couldn't get anything out of Siqin, Qiao Shi kicked her in anger. Siqin's face turned pale from the kick, but she gritted her teeth, got up, and continued to kowtow and beg for mercy.
Granny Wu advised from the side, "Madam, Siqin is one of our people and shouldn't help the Third Miss lie. But the Third Miss is only fifteen years old after all. How could she be so shrewd? In my opinion, it was probably the idea from that person outside. It's clear that she had already come up with a vicious plan to deal with us."
After much thought, Qiao could only come up with this idea. She didn't believe that Yu Qingci, a mere fifteen-year-old girl, could come up with such a brilliant counterattack. The only person who could help her was Su.
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