Chapter 128 Injustice
"Good...what a Liu Yueli!" Qin Wan squeezed out these words from between her teeth. Her well-maintained hands tightly grasped the handkerchief, and her knuckles turned white.
She stood up suddenly and shouted at her trusted confidant, Madam Zhao, "Go! Call Liu Yueli to the Buddhist temple and make her kneel down! Tell her to reflect on her actions! No one is allowed to visit her without my order! Also, none of her servants are allowed to approach the temple! Make them kneel down outside in the corridor! I want to see who gave her the courage to be so presumptuous today!"
Nanny Zhao was an elderly woman Qin Wan had brought with her from her parents' home. She was the most loyal and understood Qin Wan's thoughts best. Upon hearing this, she immediately responded, "I understand! I'll do it right away! I'll teach that unruly fellow a lesson!"
Her eyes were sharp, and she turned around and walked out aggressively with two burly old women.
Qin Wan took a few deep breaths, trying to calm her surging anger.
She sat back down on the couch, gently stroking Luo Zhaohan's forehead, her voice softening: "Zhaohan, my son, you've been wronged. It's my fault. I couldn't protect you. Don't worry, I'll definitely give you an explanation for what happened today!"
At this moment, Luo Zhaohan's eyelashes trembled violently on the couch.
"Hmm..." She slowly opened her eyes, her eyes a little confused at first, and then focused on her mother's anxious face.
"Zhao Han! My son! You're awake!" Qin Wan was surprised and delighted, and hurriedly moved closer. "How do you feel? Does your hand still hurt? Are you still dizzy?"
She asked a series of questions, fearing that her daughter might feel unwell.
Luo Zhaohan glanced at his carefully bandaged wrist, then looked at his mother's red eyes and suppressed anger, and he understood.
The play should be performed enough.
She did not answer her mother immediately, but looked at Qin Wan with great grievance, and her clear big eyes were instantly filled with tears.
Like broken glass, so fragile that it breaks one's heart.
His lips trembled, his voice was thin and weak, filled with the fear of surviving a disaster:
"Mother..." Tears finally burst out and rolled down her pale cheeks, "I was so scared... The tea was so hot... Like a burn... I... I thought my hand was going to be broken..." She sobbed, and her body trembled slightly, as if she had returned to the fear of the moment when she was scalded.
Qin Wan's heart felt like it was being gripped by a huge hand, causing her unbearable pain. The last bit of hesitation she had left vanished into thin air.
"Don't be afraid, don't be afraid! Mother is here! Mother is here!" Qin Wan hugged her daughter into her arms, like a mother animal protecting her cub. "It's okay! Your hand won't be damaged! Doctor Zhang said that if you take good care of it, there won't be any scars! I've already sent someone to teach that troublemaker a lesson! If she dares to hurt you, I won't let her off easily!"
Luo Zhaohan snuggled in his mother's arms, his crying gradually turned into suppressed sobs, and his shoulders shrugged, which was heartbreaking to hear.
She spoke intermittently, her voice tearing up, "But mother... I don't understand... Why did Sister Yueli do that? Wasn't I treating her well enough? Whatever she wanted, I gave her everything I had. Today is my coming-of-age ceremony, how could she be so 'careless'..."
She emphasized the word "accidentally" with extra emphasis, full of confusion.
This is just adding fuel to the fire!
Qin Wan thought of Liu Yueli's seemingly unintentional little actions in her daily life, and how she always tried to gain sympathy in just the right way. A chill mixed with anger swept over her again.
Yes! Why today? Why scalding hot tea?
Why was everyone forcing Zhao Han to forgive her? This wasn't an accident! This was a premeditated plan!
It was Liu Yueli who couldn't bear to see Zhao Han doing well! She wanted to ruin Zhao Han on one of the most important days of her life!
Make her look bad! Make her get hurt! Make her leave a bad impression in front of her future in-laws!
"Good girl, don't think about it! Don't worry about those evil-hearted people!" Qin Wan patted her daughter's back and said firmly, "Mother knows what's going on! From now on, mother will never let them have the chance to hurt you again! Just take good care of your injuries, mother will take care of the things outside!"
Qin Wan comforted her daughter and watched her fall into a deep sleep after drinking the tranquilizer before she walked out of the warm room with a gloomy face.
Although the guests were still in the main hall, the atmosphere was awkward and there was constant whispering.
When everyone saw Qin Wan come out, they were silent for a moment and looked at her with complicated eyes.
Qin Wan took a deep breath and her face regained the dignity that a mistress should have, but underneath that dignity, there was majesty.
She walked to the main seat and slowly scanned the entire audience, pausing especially at the faces of the ladies who had been trying their best to persuade her.
"I'm sorry to have such an accident happen at my daughter's coming-of-age ceremony today, everyone."
"My daughter, Zhaohan, was severely scalded by hot tea. She fainted from shock and frustration. She's been treated by the court physician and needs several days of rest. This lady is deeply concerned."
She paused deliberately and pronounced the word "wronged" meaningfully.
Sure enough, many of the ladies below looked a little unnatural.
"As for our adopted daughter Yueli," Qin Wan's tone suddenly turned cold. "She acted rashly and caused such a disaster. Although she didn't mean to do so, the consequences were serious. She frightened my eldest sister and disturbed the pleasure of all our distinguished guests. I have ordered her to the Buddhist temple to reflect on her mistakes. Without my permission, she is not allowed to take a single step out! The servants around her will also be punished for their poor discipline!"
This punishment is indeed severe.
It was announced publicly that Liu Yueli was confined to the Buddhist temple, which was tantamount to house arrest.
This is equivalent to telling everyone directly that the general's wife believes that Liu Yueli is wrong, and a big mistake!
The second aunt and cousin who had just helped Liu Yueli speak turned pale and blue at this moment. They opened their mouths but could not utter a word.
Qin Wan's attitude clearly shows that she is determined to support her own daughter to the end. Who would dare to offend her?
Qin Wan's gaze finally fell on Madam Pei, the future in-law from the Changqing Earl's Mansion. Madam Pei had a calm face and deep eyes, revealing no emotion.
Qin Wan nodded slightly at Madam Pei, her tone filled with apology and subtle probing. "Madam Pei, I'm truly sorry for what happened today. I've made a fool of myself. Zhaohan has suffered a great injustice, and it's my fault for not managing the household properly. When Zhaohan is better, I'll bring her to your house to apologize in person."
Mrs. Pei then slowly stood up, a polite smile on her face. "General's wife, you are too kind. No one can predict the unexpected. Miss Zhaohan is injured, and we, as elders, can only feel heartache. Apologies are absolutely unnecessary. I will come to visit again when Miss Zhaohan is well again. Madam, please be at ease and take care of yourself."
Her words were flawless. She expressed her concern without making any comments on Liu Yueli's behavior, nor did she reveal any dissatisfaction with Luo Zhaohan.
But this ambiguous attitude made Qin Wan feel even more depressed.
The more polite Mrs. Pei was, the more it showed that she had something on her mind.
I'm afraid that the impression Zhao Han would leave on his future in-laws has been more or less not very good because of Liu Yueli's collision!
What should have been a joyous and grand coming-of-age ceremony ended in a hasty manner.
The guests left with mixed feelings and plenty of things to talk about.
The news spread out of General Fuyuan's Mansion like wings.
"Have you heard? Miss Liu, the adopted daughter of General Fuyuan, spilled scalding hot tea on my eldest sister's hand during her coming-of-age ceremony! It burned a huge area and even caused blisters!"
"More than that! I heard Miss Luo fainted on the spot! She was so angry!"
"Tsk tsk, Miss Liu usually looks so delicate and weak, how could she be so ruthless?"
"Who knows? But Madam Luo was furious. She locked Miss Liu up in the Buddhist temple and made all the servants around her kneel down as punishment!"
"Serves her right! If you ask me, she did it on purpose! Look at how she cried when she apologized, as if she was bullied. And what happened? She made the person she was supposed to be dealing with faint from rage! This method..."
"That's right! I heard that Madam Pei from the Changqing Marquis's Mansion didn't look too happy at the time. Miss Luo hadn't even married yet, and she had already caused such a thing, and even left a scar... Sigh..."
The direction of the rumor finally began to blow violently in a direction that was unfavorable to Liu Yueli.
And at this moment, in the dark and cold Buddhist temple.
Liu Yueli knelt upright on the cold mat, facing the solemn yet indifferent Buddha statue. Her knees had long since gone numb, and the cold air seeped through the ground into the cracks between her bones.
The faint sound of the maids and servants sobbing as they were punished to kneel outside made her even more upset.
The heavy door of the Buddhist hall was tightly closed, isolating her from everything outside and trapping her like a cage.
The pitiful tears on her face were long gone, leaving only twisted resentment and hatred.
Luo Zhaohan, ah Luo Zhaohan!
She actually dared to pretend to be unconscious! She actually used such a despicable method to turn the tables!
As a result, she was publicly reprimanded, grounded, and her reputation was ruined!
And that old hag Qin Wan! How could she be so cruel! She had no regard for my father's feelings at all!
Liu Yueli bit her lower lip hard until she tasted a hint of blood.
"Hehe...hehe..." She laughed softly, and the sound echoed in the empty Buddhist hall with a creepy coldness.
"Luo Zhaohan, do you think you've won?" She cursed the Buddha statue, each word coming out like a curse. "This is just the beginning! I, Liu Yueli, will remember the humiliation you inflicted on me today! Tenfold... a hundredfold... I will make you pay double! Everything you desire and cherish, I will destroy it all, one by one!"
The shadow of the Buddhist temple enveloped her, as if something darker was quietly growing in her heart.
at the same time.
"That bracelet...I clearly put it in the brocade box yesterday. I put it there myself..."
Luo Zhaohan's voice had a certain hollowness that he couldn't quite explain, and the tail end of the voice trembled and floated in Madam Pei's spacious and magnificent flower hall.
Before it even finished, it was interrupted by a cold sneer.
"Hmph!" Old Madam Pei sat upright in the rosewood armchair at the head of the table, dressed in a dark purple brocade dress with a gold lotus pattern, which made her well-maintained face look even more serious.
She was twisting a string of dark Buddhist beads in her hand, and the beads collided with each other, making a subtle but heart-wrenching clicking sound.
"Zhao Han, how many times have you said this? You received the brocade box, that's true. But the item disappeared from your courtyard, that's also a fact! That's a white jade bracelet that's been passed down in the Pei family for three generations. It was given to me by my ancestor personally when I got married!"
The old lady's voice was like ice water, chilling even the bones.
Her sharp gaze pierced Luo Zhaohan like a nail, filled with suspicion and anger.
"Yesterday at the flower viewing banquet, how many eyes in the mansion saw it dangling from your wrist? With that lustrous sheen, who wouldn't recognize it as an old piece from our family? And this morning, the brocade box was empty! If not you, who else could have kept it?"
She paused, her eyes sweeping across the maids and old women in the hall who dared not utter a word, and finally fell back on Luo Zhaohan's pale face, "Could it be that the tables, chairs, and benches in this room have grown legs and run away on their own?"
The hall was eerily quiet; even the noisy cicadas outside the window seemed to be silenced by the invisible pressure.
Several housekeepers who were usually quite polite to Luo Zhaohan now lowered their heads, their eyes looking at their noses and their noses looking at their hearts, as if the blue bricks on the ground had suddenly blossomed into peerless flowers.
On the other hand, the eldest aunt Pei Shuqin, who was standing beside Old Madam Pei, was leisurely waving an exquisite round fan in her hand. The corners of her slender eyes were slightly raised as she slowly replied, "Mother, calm down. Sister Zhaohan is young and has just learned to manage the household. It's not uncommon for her to be careless. Perhaps there were too many people around yesterday and it fell into a corner? Or maybe someone was too careless..."
She didn't finish her words and paused meaningfully, covering her lips with her round fan, but her eyes, like little hooks, swept over Luo Zhaohan and Chunxi, the only personal maid who was accompanying her.
Luo Zhaohan only felt a sour and bitter air suddenly rushing up her throat, blocking her chest and causing pain, and her eyes turned red uncontrollably.
She clenched her hands hidden in her wide sleeves, digging her nails deep into her palms. The slight stinging sensation barely suppressed the tears that were welling up in her eyes.
Unjust! Such a huge injustice! She had indeed worn that jade bracelet at the flower viewing banquet yesterday.
But after returning to her room, she remembered clearly that she had taken it off with her own hands and put it back neatly into the rosewood brocade box inlaid with mother-of-pearl. She placed it in the most conspicuous position on the dressing table and even locked it!
The small brass key now rested deep in the pouch around her waist.
The key was still with her, but the bracelet in the box was gone. This was clearly strange!
She suddenly raised her head, her eyes like a drowning person looking for driftwood, and with her last hope, she looked straight at the silent figure on the left side of the hall - her fiancé, Pei Ji.
He was sitting on a rosewood chair not far from the old lady, wearing a dark blue robe with cloud patterns, which made him look as straight and tall as a pine tree.
With his head slightly lowered, the lines of his profile appeared particularly clear and hard in the morning light shining through the carved window lattices, and his jaw was tautly stretched.
He seemed oblivious to the storm in the hall caused by his fiancée, or perhaps he was deliberately staying out of it.
His gaze fell quietly on his fingers resting on his knees. Those fingers were slender and clean, with distinct joints, and at this moment they were tapping his knees unconsciously.
The moment Luo Zhaohan saw him like this, his heart sank.
How could he do this? She thought he would stand up without hesitation and take the blame on himself, just like he did last time when she accidentally broke a brush washer in his study that was said to be very valuable.
At that time, he also sat by the side like this, and when she was frightened and about to cry, he calmly said to his mother: "I accidentally dropped it."
She remembered the look in his eyes at that time, which was soothing and made her panicked heart settle down at once.
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