Chapter 369: Leading astray
The second master was threatening to divorce his wife, and the second wife attempted suicide by hanging herself, but was rescued by a maid. When the prince and princess found out, no one said anything, as if nothing had happened at all.
However, the old lady fainted from anger in the South Courtyard and never fell ill again.
If Xie Jingyu hadn't told her that the prince was already planning to split the family, Shen Wan would definitely have suspected that the old lady was feigning illness, but now she was a little unsure.
After all, the prince even used the softening powder on the princess, so he could easily let the old lady pretend to be sick or actually be sick.
Xie Jingyu asked her to wait for the prince's surprise, so Shen Wan waited patiently. With a son as efficient as Xie Jingyu, it seemed likely that the prince would not drag his feet.
The old lady fell ill, so Shen Wan and Xie Jingyu went to visit her as a formality. The old lady didn't see them, so they strolled back.
After Xie Jingxi was detoxified, he recovered quickly. Du Xiner had just married in, and her dowry had not yet been packed and stored. Now there was no need to pack it up. She could just carry it to Prince Qing's Mansion the same way she carried it into Prince Jingbei's Mansion.
Two days later, the steward of Prince Qing's Mansion came to pick up Xie Jingxi and Du Xiner, and took away all the dowry.
The fourth lady mentioned to the princess that the second and third young masters were not young masters of the palace, and the betrothal gifts paid by the public were all wasted. The princess said, "It is indeed wrong for the public to pay their betrothal gifts. When the family is divided, the second and third young masters' share will be deducted from the first and second houses."
The Wen family has done the old man a favor, and the princess can barely turn a blind eye to Xie Jingze's share, but she will not tolerate the second house.
From Concubine Wen and the Second Madam, she saw how cruelly they treated her son. If it weren't for the prince's protection, Xie Jingyu would have had a hard time surviving no matter which of them fell into his hands.
If Prince Qing is not aware of the situation and returns the betrothal gift that the palace gave to Xie Jingxi, the loss incurred by the public treasury will naturally be borne by the second house.
The princess's words were passed on to the old lady and the second wife word for word, and no one dared to say a word. It was good enough that the prince and princess did not force the second master to divorce his wife. They were in the wrong, so how could they dare to complain?
The second master didn't dare to divorce his wife. After all, these things were not done by the second lady alone. If he let the second lady take all the blame and then divorced her, what if she pushed him to the edge and ended up in a fight? The second master and the old lady didn't dare to take that risk.
However, the old lady did not do nothing. She picked two maids from the yard and sent them to the second master.
In the past, everyone thought that Xie Jingyu was the son of the second master and the second mistress. Xie Jingyu was a man of letters who could pacify the world with his pen and decide the fate of the world with his martial arts. Having a son like him was enough.
After the Second Lady gave birth to Xie Zhirou, she never became pregnant again. Although the Old Lady felt that having only one son was not enough, the Second Lady was jealous by nature and could not tolerate the Second Master having any other beautiful women around him.
The old lady also didn't want to put anyone next to the second master and cause trouble for the second lady. After all, she had given her such an intelligent grandson.
Who would have thought that Xie Jingyu was not her grandson? At least the second master still had Xie Jingxi to support him. Now Xie Jingxi has been sent away by Xie Jingyu, and the second master only has Xie Zhirou as his daughter. How can the old lady not be anxious?
Without a son, even if the second master gets what he wants and inherits the title and military power, without anyone to inherit it, it will eventually be passed on to others.
However, the truth of the substitution had been exposed long ago, and there was no news of the second master taking a concubine. He would not be anxious about having children today. If he did not take a concubine openly, he could only keep a mistress secretly.
Just knowing that the prince wanted to separate the second and third wives, Shen Wan's mood of catching the second master having a concubine faded a lot. However, since he had nothing to do, he just thought of it as finding something to eat and sent a servant to keep an eye on it to see if his guess was right.
The servant watched for three days and got the result.
As Chen Wan guessed, the second master had a concubine, and the concubine was more than two months pregnant.
Well, Shen Wan felt that she was led astray by Xie Jingyu.
She let the maid tell the Second Madam that the Second Master had a mistress, and also told the Second Madam how she angrily went to arrest the mistress.
In the end, the second wife and the second master started fighting in front of the concubine.
The second wife was slapped and the second master had several scratches on his face.
While they were playing around, for some reason, the courtyard caught fire, alarming the nearby city patrol, and the incident eventually became known to everyone.
The censor impeached the second master for keeping a mistress. After being demoted two levels, the second master was demoted again one level.
Keeping a concubine is strictly prohibited by the Jingbei Prince's Mansion rules, but the Second Wife cheated on the Second Master, so that the Second Master didn't even have a son. The situation was special, and the Old Lady wanted to bring the concubine into the mansion to help with the pregnancy. The Prince couldn't stop her, but the Second Master had violated the family rules, and if he wasn't severely punished, there was no guarantee that the younger generation in the mansion wouldn't follow suit.
The prince beat the second master with thirty sticks and locked him up in the ancestral hall for three days.
No food, water or medicine is allowed to be delivered.
The second master almost died in the ancestral hall.
There was so much melon to eat that Shen Wan was in a very good mood, but when he thought about Mrs. Lin being poisoned, he felt heavy again.
Old Madam Lin didn't let Shen Wan go to the Lin Mansion, but Shen Wan was worried, so she asked Shanhu to visit Old Madam Lin on her behalf every few days.
The weather was nice that day, and Xie Jingyu had nothing to do, so he accompanied Chen Wan to appreciate the flowers in the garden, and then went up to the observation tower.
Standing on the observation tower, gazing into the distance and feeling the breeze, I feel an extremely good mood.
But this good mood did not last long. With a series of thumps, Coral came up.
Shen Wan asked, "Has Madam Lin's condition improved?"
"Okay, I feel better..."
Coral replied.
But Coral's eyes were a little evasive, and it was obvious that she was not telling the truth. Shen Wan said, "I want to hear the truth!"
Shanhu didn't want to hide it from Chen Wan, "Old Madam Lin didn't allow me to tell the Crown Prince's Consort..."
Shen Wan asked, "If you don't tell me, will I stop worrying?"
"Hurry up and tell me!"
Coral hesitated to speak.
Xie Jingyu said, "Go ahead."
Shanhu said, "Mrs. Lin's condition is more serious than before, and, and——"
"And what?" Shen Wan asked anxiously.
Shanhu said, "Since the day before yesterday, Old Master Lin and Mother Chen have also lost their appetite..."
Not only did they fail to find out how Madam Lin was poisoned, but now even Grand Tutor Lin and Mother Chen have been infected as well.
How did the poison come from? I took such careful precautions, but still couldn't prevent it.
Shanhu said, "We still haven't figured out what the poison was. Old Master Lin replaced everything in Madam Lin's room, including the bed she'd slept on for decades, but it still didn't work..."
Seeing that Shen Wan was worried, Xie Jingyu comforted her, "Don't worry, I'll go and take a look."
Shen Wan said, “I’ll go with you!”
Xie Jingyu disagreed, "Be good, wait for me in the mansion."
Shen Wan looked into Xie Jingyu's eyes and said, "I want to go!"
Shen Wan insisted, so Xie Jingyu agreed to her.
The cause of the poisoning could not be found for a long time, and even Old Master Lin was affected. Xie Jingyu was worried that Old Master Lin and Old Madam Lin would not be able to hold on for much longer.
They are Shen Wan's grandparents. Although they are hiding it from Shen Wan now, they will eventually know.
Maybe they would see each other less often, and Xie Jingyu couldn't bear to let Chen Wan have any regrets.
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