Chapter 560 Liao's Assassination Attempt
Liao pursed her lips and muttered under her breath, "Of course."
Seeing that Granny Fang was glaring at her fiercely, Madam Liao quickly reassured her, "Mother, don't worry. Look at Weijia's belly, she looks like she's about to give birth. A few days earlier or later won't make a difference."
"Besides, even if something really happens, would the old lady really make you pay for Wei Jia's life because of your unintentional mistake?"
"You were the old lady's dowry maid, you've been by her side since you were a few years old. Could it be that the bond between you two, master and servant, that has lasted for forty or fifty years is not as strong as that of Wei Jia, a little girl who has been with the old lady for only a few years?"
"Don't worry. The old lady won't blame you."
Granny Fang sighed and said stiffly, "I hope so."
Seeing that there was no movement inside, Qiao Qinghe gestured, and then Madam He stepped forward to open the door. She turned around and, together with Ashuang, helped Qiao Qinghe into the room.
Upon seeing Qiao Qinghe arrive, both Granny Fang and her daughter-in-law were startled, and immediately bowed to Qiao Qinghe in unison.
He looked around and saw that there were only a few low stools that were barely taller than calves in the room. The only things that would make Qiao Qinghe comfortable to sit on were a few three-foot-tall wooden boxes placed against the wall.
After hesitating for a moment, he took out a handkerchief and spread it on the ground, then helped Qiao Qinghe to sit down.
Qiao Qinghe didn't take it to heart and immediately sat down, giving Fang Mama and her daughter-in-law a cold look.
"Who sent you? What is your purpose in trying to harm Weijia and her unborn child?"
Granny Fang was startled and quickly explained, "Grandma, you've misunderstood. It was all a coincidence! We didn't mean to harm Weijia or the baby in her womb. It really was just an accident."
Madam Liao quickly chimed in, "Yes, yes, it was all an accident. Mother didn't mean to bump into Weijia's belly. She just lost her balance and accidentally bumped into it."
As if afraid Qiao Qinghe wouldn't believe her, Granny Fang quickly explained, "Grandma, we came today to apologize to you, and then, and then..."
Granny Fang looked embarrassed and hesitated to speak.
Upon seeing this, Madam Liao quickly spoke up for Granny Fang, saying, "Mother, what's so hard about saying this? If you're embarrassed to say it, I will."
She smiled obsequiously at Qiao Qinghe, "Grandma, this is what happened. I was ignorant before, and it caused my family to lose their jobs."
"Later, to compensate you for your losses, the family sold the farmland in the suburbs."
“Now our whole family has no decent means of making a living, and we’re barely able to survive.”
"My mother-in-law and I came here today to apologize to you and beg you to let us come back and continue working for you."
Seeing that Madam Liao had made herself clear, Granny Fang quickly nodded in agreement: "Madam, we are here today to apologize and ask for a job. How could we possibly have intentionally harmed Weijia and the child in her womb? Please see the truth."
After a while, seeing that Qiao Qinghe did not react, Granny Fang hurriedly said with a smile, "Old Madam, Liao Shi knows she was wrong, I know I was wrong, our whole family knows we were wrong."
"We were the ones who were wrong before. Please, for the sake of the decades we've spent together, accept our family back!"
"Don't worry, what happened before will never happen again. I will keep a close eye on the Liao family from now on, and I will also keep an eye on other people for you."
Madam Liao nodded hurriedly, solemnly promising, "Madam, please let our family return to work. I assure you, if I ever touch any money in the shop again, you can have my hand chopped off! I will not hesitate!"
"Have you finished speaking?" Qiao Qinghe asked in a calm tone.
The mother-in-law and daughter-in-law nodded, both looking at her expectantly.
Qiao Qinghe looked coldly at Granny Fang, her tone still indifferent: "Ah Xing, haven't I treated you well enough?"
Granny Fang was taken aback, somewhat puzzled.
"Is it because I've been too good to you that you dare to come here so brazenly to cause trouble! You don't even respect my daughter-in-law!"
Qiao Qinghe's sudden change in attitude startled Granny Fang.
She quickly shook her head and said, "Grandma, I didn't cause any trouble. I didn't disrespect Madam either! Besides, isn't Madam in Huizhou? I even saw her, how could I..."
He stopped abruptly halfway through his sentence.
She understood who Qiao Qinghe was referring to as her daughter-in-law.
Not good!
How could she forget that Wei Jia was no longer the old lady's maid, but the daughter-in-law personally recognized and recorded in the Qiao family genealogy?
"Remember now?" Qiao Qinghe scoffed. "From the moment I entered this door, you mother-in-law and daughter-in-law have been calling her 'not good' all the time. Have you ever shown her even the slightest respect?"
"The reason you dare to treat her so disrespectfully is ultimately because you have lost all respect for me!"
"I didn't! Old lady, you've misunderstood! We wouldn't dare to disrespect you!" Granny Fang began to deny it anxiously.
Qiao Qinghe smiled and shook her head. "Whether you have it or not, don't you really know?"
"Since I stopped employing your family to work for me, haven't you harbored any resentment?"
"When the Liao family was slandering me and defaming my reputation in your neighborhood, do you dare say that the rest of you didn't know?"
"I..." Granny Fang stammered, unable to speak, feeling her old face burning with shame.
Qiao Qinghe glanced at Granny Fang before turning her gaze to Madam Liao.
Liao's expression shifted between light and dark. When she saw Qiao Qinghe looking at her, she stubbornly argued, "I admit that I did speak ill of you because I was angry."
"But aren't you right?"
“I only used a thousand taels of silver from the shop, and we sold our land to pay you back afterwards. But you are still making a fuss and won’t let it go.”
"I did something wrong and lost my job. I accept the punishment."
"But why did my husband and father-in-law also lose their jobs?"
Don't you think what you're doing is very inhumane?
Liao became increasingly angry as she spoke, and in the end, she angrily pointed at Qiao Qinghe and said, "It's all because you're too petty!"
"You possess immense wealth; let alone a thousand taels, even ten thousand or a hundred thousand taels would be nothing to you."
“Our whole family has served you faithfully our entire lives, aren’t we worth more than a thousand taels of silver?”
"You actually chased us away for a thousand taels of silver! In the end, it's still because you're stingy and miserly! Heartless and ungrateful!"
"You wronged us first! You can't blame us for resenting and hating you..."
Taking advantage of her anger, Liao pointed at Qiao Qinghe and approached her step by step.
In the blink of an eye, just as Liao finished speaking, she pulled a silver hairpin from her hair and stabbed it fiercely into Qiao Qinghe's neck.
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