Chapter 69 Lack of manners
One busybody couldn't help but ask, "Mrs. Du, what happened next?"
Madam Meng looked in the direction of the person who was speaking. That person was so engrossed in gossip that he forgot that the Duke of Yong's mansion was not an entity he could afford to offend. Madam Meng's glare dampened his excitement considerably.
Fortunately, Yu Zhiyi spoke up at that moment.
"After a while, Madam Zhang indeed won the favor of the Duke. The Duke was a man of his own mind, especially when it came to his marriage, he had a lot of say in it. He insisted on marrying Madam Zhang, and even the opposition from the old Duke and Duchess was to no avail."
"Later, Madam Zhang indeed joined the Duke's mansion as she wished, and the Duke's sister was very happy about it."
Duke Yong frowned: "Since she and my sister were close friends, how could my sister's death be related to her?"
Although Yu Zhiyi only talked about the past when Meng Shi and her sister met, anyone who wasn't stupid wouldn't take it as aimless rambling.
Before spouting nonsense, Yu Zhiyi first threw out a very tempting bait—do you want to know how his sister died?
"She's lying! Master, don't believe her!" Madam Meng cried out in panic, "She's just a little maid!"
Yu Jiaojiao frowned.
Although she was happy to see the Meng family step down, she absolutely did not want the Yu family to be the ones to bring them down.
Even Yu Zhiyi, whom she disliked the most, was not an option.
Otherwise, she wouldn't be able to gain a foothold in the Duke of Yong's mansion!
"Sister, there's a limit to nonsense!" she said, feigning anxiety. "Prime Minister Du is all-powerful, but that's not an excuse for you to spout nonsense! Even the Ministry of Justice has closed the case about what happened back then. Don't make things up just to grab attention!"
She brought up Prime Minister Du, and although she didn't say it explicitly, she was guiding everyone to attribute the things Yu Zhiyi had said to Prime Minister Du.
Compared to the claim that Yu Zhiyi had calculated the events, the truth is that Prime Minister Du received the information first and then leaked it to Yu Zhiyi, which is more convincing.
Upon hearing this, Prime Minister Du stood up again and said to the emperor, "Your Majesty, although I am the prime minister, I am not so powerful as to be able to uncover the secrets of the Duke of Yong's family. More than twenty years ago, I was just a poor scholar who could not even enter the Duke's mansion."
Those who had doubted Yu Jiaojiao's words felt as if their brains had been hit hard when they heard this.
They were actually led by the nose by a little girl just now, how embarrassing!
The Duke of Dingguo frowned: "Minister Yu, the Yu family's upbringing is somewhat lacking."
Then he looked at Madam Meng and said, "I've heard that Madam Zhang values etiquette very much. Now it seems that the rumors are indeed not entirely credible."
A blatant irony!
Unfortunately, Minister Yu and Lady Meng were unable to refute it.
After all, Yu Jiaojiao was quite unruly, jumping around without permission at the palace banquet.
Madam Meng glared fiercely at Yu Jiaojiao, and Minister Yu also glared at... Yu Zhiyi.
If it weren't for this rebellious girl's insistence on showing off, Jiao Jiao wouldn't have stood up to stop her out of concern, and wouldn't have seemed so unruly.
The five sons of the Yu family and Madam Yu thought the same thing.
In the short time that was wasted, the people who went to the manor to investigate have already brought back new information.
"explain."
The emperor spoke calmly, and the man in charge of searching the estate pulled out a scroll from behind his back.
Duke Yong's body trembled slightly as he stared intently at the scroll, unable to look away.
The visitor unfurled the scroll, revealing a picture of a young girl smiling and reclining in a peach grove.
The girl in the painting has a fair complexion and peach-like cheeks, bright eyes like water, and a gentle smile on her lips.
Peach blossoms fluttered down from the sky, like a rain of peach blossoms.
The girl was bathed in petals, like a peach blossom fairy descending from the sky.
Especially the pink peach blossom ornament between her eyebrows, which complements the rain of flowers, seems to be some kind of mysterious calling.
"Sister..."
Tears welled up in the bright eyes of the Duke of Yong.
"This was painted by my father when my elder sister was seventeen. It was her last birthday gift before she got married, and it took my father a lot of effort and time."
His eyes were filled with nostalgia.
Yu Zhiyi nodded: "Indeed, the Duke invested too much effort and resources in this painting. Originally, if this painting had been given away, your sister would still have had a chance to survive in her isolated and helpless situation. What a pity..."
"What do you mean?" Duke Yong's eyes narrowed, his gaze on Yu Zhiyi filled with scrutiny.
Yu Zhiyi was not intimidated by the scrutiny and said calmly, "This painting is actually two layers, with a HSBC bank note sewn between the layers. You deposited a million taels of silver for her in the bank, which was your dowry prepared in advance. With this money, even if she does nothing in the future, it will be enough for her to live off for several lifetimes."
"You originally planned to tell your sister the secret in the painting after she got married. Because you knew that if you gave her these things openly beforehand, she definitely wouldn't accept them. Even if you told her after the wedding, there was still a chance that they would be returned, but it was still much less likely than giving them to her on the spot."
"Unfortunately, the painting is lost."
Duke Yong sighed, "Yes, my sister has been pampered since childhood. Although she learned how to manage the household from her mother at a young age, she still retains some of the enthusiasm and naivety of a young person, and she is not good at managing finances. She always felt that after marrying into her husband's family, she would not need any extra money, given the dowry from her family and the wealth of her husband's family."
"But she doesn't understand men, nor does she understand the many intricacies of the inner workings of a large family. I'm afraid she'll suffer!"
"Later... she did indeed suffer a loss."
With that money, even if something he didn't want to see happened, even if his sister was bullied and all her money was swindled away, she could still live well as long as she had the money from the money shop.
He looked at Yu Zhiyi again, his eyes no longer filled with distrust and scrutiny: "Girl, did you calculate all of this?"
Yu Zhiyi nodded: "Yes."
"Okay, you can continue."
The Duke of Yong had no more doubts.
No one except his closest confidants knew about that ticket stub.
Including his parents.
Even Prime Minister Du, who later wielded great power, could not have uncovered these long-standing secrets.
He still has that much confidence.
Although he already knew the cause of his sister's death and had punished the family that deserved to die, since Yu Zhiyi had said so, he intended to listen to see if there were any other hidden stories.
Ever since the ticket stub incident was exposed, Meng has become completely obedient.
However, his face was deathly pale.
After being warned, Yu Jiaojiao dared not speak again.
Yu Zhiyi was finally able to continue smoothly.
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