Mrs. Yang was speechless. No matter how arrogant Mrs. Pei was, she didn't dare to contradict Old Man Pei without Pei You's support. In addition, when Old Man Pei mentioned her two sons and asked if they wanted to take them away, she dared not say a word.

The dispute disappeared with little rain but much thunder.

But Mrs. Pei cried for a long time after she returned home, and Mrs. Yang could only sigh and didn't know how to comfort her. Pei Tong, on the other hand, came back from Gu's house and heard that her mother and grandmother had a quarrel. Her face darkened, and she stayed alone for a while before she pulled herself together and went to Mrs. Pei's place.

Gu Xi's maid He Xiang couldn't help but feel a little worried when she saw this, and asked Gu Xi: "Do you want to give the aunt a few words of advice?"

Gu Xi took off her makeup in front of the mirror, thinking about her brother's admonition to her: "Don't get yourself involved when you are not able to clean up the mess." She said lightly, "No need," and asked He Xiang to help her count the dowry. She said, "My brother and sister-in-law will leave for the capital in two days, so send some gifts over."

But it wouldn't be necessary to use up the dowry, right?

He Xiang said, "The eldest master has always been fond of you. If you send him something, he will definitely not accept it."

Gu Xi said nothing and glanced at He Xiang.

This means that He Xiang should stop talking and just do as she tells her.

He Xiang had no choice but to count Gu Xi's dowry.

Gu Xi sat in front of the dressing table for a long time without moving.

During the formal wedding ceremony, there were two more pieces of paper on her dowry list. The things on these two pieces of paper were all given to her by her younger sister-in-law Yin from her dowry.

She knew that her sister-in-law was giving her face.

But she still felt very uncomfortable.

When did she, Gu Xi, fall to this point?

She decided to fold the things her sister-in-law gave her into silver and return them to her little by little.

Otherwise, how could she, as the younger sister-in-law, hold her head up high and have a say in front of her sister-in-law?

But in this case, she would have to calculate carefully how much money to keep in hand so as not to be short of money.

Gu Xi packed up all his things and wanted to wait for Pei Tong to come back and say hello to him, but it was already three o'clock in the morning and Pei Tong still hadn't come back.

She was a little worried, but didn't want to get involved in the affairs between Pei Tong and her son, so she sent her wet nurse to secretly inquire.

When the nurse came back, her face was not very good. She whispered in her ear: "Mother and son had a quarrel, and the aunt was fanning the flames. The eldest wife wanted to hang herself!"

After hearing this, Gu Xi's heart suddenly burned with anger.

This first wife has no sense at all. What time is it now? The whole family depends on Pei Yanshang for food, but she is still taking advantage of him. As the saying goes, it is never too late for a gentleman to take revenge. Can't she be patient? Wait until Pei Tong can study and become an official, and get promoted?

Gu Xi was a little annoyed with his wife and wanted to go to bed first, but he also felt that she was being too cold to him as they were newlyweds.

The nurse reminded her: "You must seize this opportunity to win over your aunt's heart. Otherwise, if the first wife makes a fuss about other things in the future, you will definitely suffer."

This other thing refers to what would happen if she offended the first wife.

"I don't need to do that." Gu Xi said, and instructed the nurse, "You should also change the way you address me, so that others won't hear it and feel bad."

The Pei family, like the Gu family, is a large family living together, and with so many people, it is easy for people to gossip about them.

Gu Xi couldn't help but ask, "Do you know what Yu did today?"

The nurse knew what was bothering her, and reminded her, "Don't call her Yushi Yushi anymore. You're used to it, and it's easy to let things slip." Then she said, "Mr. An was in a bad mood today, and the second wife seemed to be packing up, so the third wife invited that woman Shi to come in and give moxibustion to Mr. An. I heard that the effect was good, and Mr. An felt much better at dinner, so the third wife asked that woman Shi to stay at home for a few more days, saying that she could also give massages to the other old ladies and do moxibustion or something."

Gu Xi curled his lips and sneered, "People from small families don't know the rules. If these gossipy women are brought in, who knows when they will become trouble!"

The nurse said, "That's her business, we shouldn't interfere."

Gu Xi nodded.

She waited for nearly half an hour before Pei Tong returned to the room.

Gu Xi hurried forward to help him change his clothes: "Why did you come back so late? Is there something urgent?"

After all, they were newly married, and Pei Tong wanted to save face. When she heard her ask this, she didn't know what to say for a moment. She responded vaguely, saying, "It's getting late. Let's go to bed early! We can talk about it tomorrow if there's anything else."

Gu Xiba had to ask.

The next morning, she got up, had breakfast and prepared to pay her respects to her mother-in-law first, and then go to see Old Mrs. Pei. However, before she could go to see Mrs. Pei, Mrs. Pei sent her a message saying that Mrs. Yang was going back to the capital and asked them to go there quickly.

Gu Xi asked curiously, "Didn't you say you would leave in two days?"

Pei Tong knew that Mrs. Yang felt that it was meaningless to stay here and wanted to go back to the Yang family as soon as possible to celebrate the New Year. She responded vaguely and went to Mrs. Yang's place with Gu Xi.

Mrs. Yang packed up her things, met them, and went to see Old Man Pei.

Mr. Pei did not give Madam Yang any face at all. He simply said that it was too early and she had not gotten up yet, so he would not see Madam Yang off personally.

Mrs. Yang was so angry that her face turned blue.

When Mrs. Pei found out, she stopped Yu Tang - she had originally planned to let Yu Tang see the guests off on her behalf, but since Madam Yang felt wronged, she was afraid that Yu Tang would hear gossip when she went to see Madam Yang off, so she simply let Madam Chen see the guests off.

Mrs. Yang walked away in anger.

Mrs. Pei wanted to go back to her parents' home even more.

With red eyes, she pulled her son aside to discuss: "Don't persuade me with those nonsense. I don't want to stay here for another day. If you don't want to see your mother die, you should find a way to go to the capital and study with your uncle. One day, take me and your brother to the capital. We have our own house in the capital!"

Pei You bought this himself.

After Pei You's death, the Pei family didn't know whether they were pretending to be deaf and dumb or they had no time to care, but the house has been in their hands ever since.

Pei Tong's eyes reddened as she thought of the warmth of her family when her father was alive. She whispered to her mother, "Please bear with it. We will definitely be reunited in the capital."

Mrs. Pei felt better now.

By mid-January, when shops began to take inventory and close, every household began to pickle fish and meat, fry twisted dough sticks and make rice cakes, the eldest master of the Li family clan suddenly came to visit Pei Yan. With a pale face, he pulled Pei Yan to a secluded place and said, "I'm afraid I'll have to trouble the third master again."

Pei Yan was feeling very impatient.

Because Yu Tang couldn't go home for the Chinese New Year, he wanted to go home during the Little New Year. He planned to send Yu Tang back to her parents' home, and then have a casual meal at Yu's house, visit the shop in the afternoon, pick up Yu Tang, and have dinner at Pei Laoan's house in the evening.

With the Li family leader's behavior, this matter is probably going to fail.

He frowned slightly and asked, "What happened?"

The eldest master of the Li family clan smiled bitterly and said, "Li Duan was stabbed to death!"

Hearing this news, even Pei Yan was shocked and asked in a tense voice: "What's going on?"

The eldest master of the Li family's clan branch smiled even more bitterly, and said, "Didn't they say before that Li Yi took other people's money and took people's lives lightly? That victim is also stubborn. He heard that Li Duan is a seed of learning, and the Li family will be able to make a comeback with Li Duan in the future. That victim was not satisfied, so he came here from afar and killed Li Duan!"

This is really...

Pei Yan didn't say anything for a long time.

The eldest master of the Li family sighed, "Originally, they separated from us when their family was rich, but they couldn't write two Li characters. Li Yi was exiled, and Li Jun followed to take care of his father. Lin was a woman, and she suddenly encountered such a disaster. It is said that she is lying on the bed sobbing and unable to speak. We can't just watch her body rot in the wilderness, can we?"

According to Pei Yan's idea, there is nothing wrong with a wilderness full of corpses.

It was just that he couldn't say that in front of the Li family's clan members. He asked, "Then what can I do?"

The eldest master of the Li family looked at Pei Yan and said, "This happened in Hangzhou, so it's a major case. It's said that Lord Li will personally try the case. The staff around Lord Li told me that Lord Li hates evil and thinks the victim has a justifiable reason, so he probably won't sentence the man to death. I was thinking, Li Duan is from Lin'an, can you please tell Lord Li to transfer the case to Lin'an for trial."

The Li family is one of the most prominent and wealthy families in Lin'an. Pei Yan came forward to intercede for them, and the case was transferred to Lord Wu. The victim would definitely be sentenced to death.

Pei Yan didn't want to help.

He said, "Even if the case is brought to Lin'an for trial, it will eventually have to be submitted to Lord Li for review. Moreover, this matter is so serious that I don't think it is appropriate for me to come forward and plead for him."

The eldest master of the Li family was very surprised. He didn't expect Pei Yan not to help his fellow countrymen. He said hurriedly: "I am also thinking about the reputation of us Lin'an people..."

Pei Yan interrupted him mercilessly and said, "If we care about the reputation of Lin'an people, we should not stop Lord Li from judging the case. Everyone in the world makes mistakes. It is the greatest virtue to know one's mistakes and correct them. In my opinion, we Lin'an people should learn from this. When serving as officials outside, we should not only be honest, but also be kind and benevolent. This is the true way to be an official."

Li's clan leader was no match for Pei Yan and left in disappointment. After returning home, he thought about it over and over again for a long time and had to admit that Pei Yan was right. Later, he often used this incident to educate the descendants of the Li family, making Pei Yan more famous and even writing about him in history books. This is another story for another time.

In Hangzhou, the newly appointed Zhejiang Provincial Governor Li Guang waited for a long time but Pei Yan did not come to plead for mercy. He could not help but ask his staff, "What does he mean? Let me make such a judgment? Li Duan is from Lin'an. And I heard that Mrs. Li has gone crazy, and he was the one who sent her to the nunnery."

But he didn't come out to say hello to Li Duan.

His staff told Li Guang what the eldest master of the Li family had said, and laughed, "Perhaps Pei Xiaguang thinks the same as you do, that the Li family reaps what they sow, and this is the retribution they deserve!"

Li Guang pondered for a long time and nodded slightly. He then had a very good impression of Pei Yan and secretly felt that Pei Yan was his confidant.