The Queen Mother hurried into the inner room with her ladies-in-waiting and palace maids, her eyes glancing straight at the bed.
Seeing the pale woman lying on the bed, she turned to look at Jiang Xiancao with a serious expression, "Xiao Jiu'er, was Second Miss Jiang like this when she came, or did you do something to her? How can I explain this to the people in the Wen Ning Marquis' Mansion?"
Jiang Xiancao smiled and didn't rush to explain anything. He just instructed Chaoyue who was serving by the bed:
"Untie the medicine bag from Miss Jiang Er's hand."
Chaoyue did as she said and carefully untied the cloth strips soaked in medicine that were wrapped around Shen Tingsi's hands, revealing his fingers that were swollen, purple and covered with hideous red marks.
The Queen Mother's expression changed drastically, and she said in disbelief:
"Did someone use a clamp to torture her?"
Jiang Xiancao nodded, his tone heavy:
"Grandmother, my grandson caused a scene at the Marquis Wenning's residence and took Miss Jiang away without caring about the consequences. This was because her five brothers were torturing her at home."
"What?!"
This was the first time the Queen Mother heard of such a dear brother being so cruel to his own sister. She was shocked and angry.
"I've been hearing rumors lately that the Jiang family treats Xiancao badly. I originally thought that the so-called badness meant favoring one over the other in terms of food, clothing, and daily necessities, and that the servants also followed suit in mistreating and despising the Second Young Miss.
Even so, the Jiang family has gone too far. I never expected that those five seemingly well-dressed young men would use such cruel punishments to torture their own sister. They are beasts in human form!
Aunt Yan, the female official beside her, couldn't help but say:
"This is truly horrifying. Ninth Prince, when you went to the Marquis of Wenning's mansion, you must have inquired clearly about their reason for doing this. They can't just be torturing their own sister for fun, right?"
This is exactly what Jiang Xiancao was waiting for.
She immediately said that Jiang Jinyan and others suspected that "Jiang Xiancao" had colluded with the Ninth Prince to frame Jiang Huaizhu and implicate the entire Jiang family in the Tianming Pavilion case, so they used lynching on "Jiang Xiancao" to force her to change her confession.
Upon hearing this, the Queen Mother's face turned pale.
After a long silence, she sneered and said:
"So these five bastards, in order to overturn the verdict on that vixen's adopted daughter, actually dared to suspect my grandson of deliberately framing the Wen Ning Marquisate. They didn't listen to a single word I said to them before. They are simply courting their own destruction!"
Aunt Yan saw that she was very angry and tried to persuade her:
"Your Majesty, calm down. I've received news that Marquis Wenning and the old lady will be returning to the capital soon. When they return, these five fools will no longer be in charge of the Jiang family. Prince Zhan will also be investigating the case of the remnants of the Tianming Pavilion. I'm sure we'll get to the bottom of what's going on in Marquis Wenning's mansion."
The Queen Mother's expression brightened slightly after hearing this. She said coldly:
"These five young masters of the Jiang family are so ignorant and vicious that they must be taught a lesson first."
She really despised their behavior of torturing her own sister, but what made her even more angry was that she had clearly reminded them to distinguish between the important and the unimportant, but these five people, as children of aristocratic families, still had no sense of the overall situation. They were obsessed with an adopted daughter and even dared to mess around in a case involving treason.
As the queen mother of a country, she must not tolerate their disloyalty and injustice!
Aunt Yan smiled and said, "How does your Majesty intend to punish them? In my opinion, it would be better to place them under house arrest in the Wenning Marquis's mansion on the charge of lynching their own sister. Wait until the Marquis and the old lady return, and then make a decision."
The Queen Mother glanced at Jiang Xiancao's injured hand again, her expression stern:
"Just punishing them to stay indoors is too easy for these five beasts.
Go and convey my imperial decree, and have their crimes of torturing my sister posted outside and inside the city gates for public disclosure. Then have the Ministry of Justice go to the Marquis of Wenning's mansion, bring these five people to the gate, and give them each thirty lashes!"
If it was just a closed-door beating of thirty sticks in the marquis's mansion, the punishment would not be too severe.
After all, although thirty strokes of the cane can break the skin and flesh, it is not enough to injure bones for a young and strong man. The Marquis' Mansion has plenty of good medicine for wounds. Afterwards, they can stay in comfort for a while and the injuries will be healed.
The punishment given by the Queen Mother was so cruel that she had to make their crimes public and punish them outside the Marquis's mansion.
You have to know that pulling down their pants in front of outsiders and making them stick out their buttocks to be punished is a great humiliation for people like Jiang Jinyan who care most about their reputation.
Jiang Xiancao curled the corners of her lips. She was very satisfied with the Queen Mother's punishment.
When the Queen Mother left the palace, she took Jiang Xiancao to the side room alone, holding her hand and saying earnestly:
"I know you still have feelings for Miss Jiang Er, but her background means she can't be a good match for you. Do you understand?"
Jiang Xiancao nodded slightly, feeling indescribable in his heart.
She listened quietly to the Queen Mother's final verdict on her true self, and heard the Queen Mother say that in fact everything about her was good, that she liked her very much when she first saw her, and that it was her relatives who dragged her down.
The Queen Mother also sighed:
"Miss Jiang Er is truly pitiful. She's done nothing wrong, yet she's repeatedly bullied by her family. And yet, she's the daughter of the Jiang family. The royal family's first consideration when choosing a wife is family background. If you want to blame someone, blame the Jiang family's corrupt family traditions. The Wen Ning Marquisate is also entangled with the Tianming Pavilion, causing her to lose your destiny in vain."
After saying this, the Queen Mother observed Jiang Xiancao's expression, trying to figure out in her heart whether her good grandson was still determined to marry Jiang Xiancao.
Jiang Xiancao raised his head and said to the Queen Mother with a resolute smile:
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