Butler Han was so angry that he spat out his saliva.
"The Xu family are truly despicable. What are they accusing our Marquis's mansion of?"
Steward Cao said with a blank face, "What else can they sue? They'll just say the Marquis's mansion is to blame. They want us to drag them out. I suspect the Xu family also wants to sue our Marquis's mansion for harming their young lady, but they just don't have any evidence. The magistrate said that with Prince Jin backing them up, they have no choice but to come. But Madam said that the Sixth Madam is seriously ill and can't take any provocation. She was so angry with the Xu family yesterday that she vomited blood. The magistrate is still worried and says that he can only tell the Xu family this for now and see what they do next."
The more Butler Han listened, the angrier he became. He said, "They're really despicable. A bunch of shameless people who care about money. Their ancestors were once upright generals. What kind of shady things have their descendants done?"
The steward said listlessly, "You can keep cursing here. I still need to report back to Madam. She may have some instructions for me."
"Then go ahead."
Butler Han stood still, muttering curses under his breath, as if he hadn't finished cursing.
Steward Cao had no time to pay attention to him and hurriedly went to Wutong Garden. He asked the maid and learned that Qin Yuan was still in the hall. He knew that his guess was correct and went straight to the hall.
From afar, Hongye could be heard cursing: "Are you just going to watch the Xu family smear our Marquis's mansion? It's infuriating! We treat them as relatives by marriage, but they treat us like suckers. You're already so old, and you're still so confused. Do you want to go back to the Xu family to serve their masters in the future?"
Steward Cao didn't rush in. He listened outside for a while before going in. He saw Granny Zhao with disheveled hair, kneeling on the ground, her body hunched over, her clothes wrinkled, looking haggard and pitiful.
Qin Yuan sat at the head of the table, with Cui Ming standing behind her. Hong Ye stood beside Zhao Mama, hands on her hips, her eyebrows and nose looking completely unkempt, her face full of anger as if she were about to breathe fire. She had burned Zhao Mama's hair in one go.
"You've arrived," Qin Yuan said to him. "Sit here for a while, and we'll talk about dealing with the judge later."
The maidservant then brought out a small stool for Steward Cao to sit on.
Butler Cao didn't refuse and sat down next to him.
With a bitter face, Granny Zhao said, "This old servant is just a servant, merely acting on the orders of the Sixth Madam. I followed the Sixth Madam to marry into the Marquis's mansion, so naturally I am a servant of the Marquis's mansion, and I will never have any other master in my heart. But this is a matter that this old servant cannot decide. Even if the Sixth Master comes, this is all I can say."
Hongye was furious and jumped up to curse.
Qin Yuan waved her hand to stop Hongye and said to Zhao Mama, "I called you here not to interfere in the affairs of Sixth Master's room, but because the Xu family has now filed a complaint with the Jingzhao Yin Prefecture. If it is a deliberate false accusation, I'm afraid the Marquis and Sixth Master will be implicated. If you are smart, go back and think carefully about what to do. For the sake of Sixth Madam and her child, you should know what to do."
Hongye muttered, "If she were a smart person, she would know what to do, but she's a fool. Even at this point, she's still thinking about relying on the Xu family. Doesn't the Xu family know what kind of person the Sixth Madam is? They still went to complain. If they cared about the Sixth Madam even a little, would they have done something like this?"
Granny Zhao rose tremblingly and said, "This servant takes her leave."
Qin Yuan said, "Go back and take care of your sixth sister-in-law. I'm busy here and haven't had a chance to see her yet. Keep this in mind, because the magistrate will come to question you later."
Granny Zhao bowed her head and responded, her expression unreadable, and listlessly dragged herself away.
Hongye said angrily, "I've never seen anyone so muddle-headed."
"Alright, she has her difficulties too," Qin Yuan said to Steward Cao. "I'm afraid the Xu family won't let this go so easily. The magistrate will come to argue about it later. The Sixth Madam's health isn't very good either, so it will be even more troublesome in the future. When the magistrate comes, you should deal with him first."
Steward Cao nodded and said, "That makes sense. We brought her here because Madam is in charge of the affairs of the whole household."
Qin Yuan said, "It's alright. I just can't always entertain him, so I can only leave these matters to you. You and Steward Han are older and more experienced in dealing with the government than I am."
Steward Cao said worriedly, "This is my duty, but before the magistrate left, he said that the Xu family might not let go easily. As you know, Madam, the Sixth Madam has tens of thousands of taels of silver in business with the Xu family. If the Xu family really wants to renege on this money, they will definitely keep pressing the matter of Miss Xu."
Qin Yuan was also worried: "This is exactly what I feared most. My sixth sister-in-law is in this state now, which makes things really difficult."
Steward Cao said, "At a time like this, we shouldn't talk about the dignity of marriage. To put it bluntly, if something happens to the Sixth Madam, there will be no way to verify these things. If things get out of hand, the Marquis's mansion will suffer the most."
Qin Yuan asked, "Then what do you think is the best course of action? Please tell me your thoughts."
She was also worried about this; with the Xu family causing such a ruckus, it was hard to say how long Madam Gu would live.
If Madam Gu is gone and Xu Zhen can't be found, this matter will become an unsolved case.
When the time comes, if the Xu family wants to punish the Marquis's mansion, they will bring up this matter and make a scene.
Who knows when, it might be used by someone to attack and impeach Lord Gu, with the most outrageous and sensational methods possible.
Having witnessed how Lin Ziqi orchestrated the smear campaigns against his political enemies and brought them down in his previous life, Qin Yuan was naturally very cautious and wary.
Butler Cao twisted his body.
"This old servant thinks that the Marquis's mansion should just sue the Xu family as well. Even if the Xu family doesn't sue this time, they'll come back next time. Then, we won't be able to control the Xu family."
Qin Yuan pondered for a moment and said, "Let me think about it some more."
After Steward Cao left, Hongye said, "Miss, Steward Cao is right. The Xu family's repeated fussing is clearly a case of wanting money but not this marriage alliance. If we let them swallow the money this time, they can come to sue us again after the Sixth Madam's death, and the Marquis's Mansion will have no evidence."
Cui Ming nodded and said, "The spring breeze cannot extinguish the wildfire, and the wildfire will burn again."
Qin Yuan said, "There is still evidence... but... alas... this matter is of great importance, I cannot make the decision myself, it still needs the old lady and the marquis to decide."
Looking at the time, it's time to go to the upper room.
Qin Yuan stood up. "Let's go to the main room and eat in Mother's small kitchen. After we eat, we can talk to Mother about this matter slowly."
The group walked from Wutong Garden toward the main house, but none of them were in the mood to talk.
As Qin Yuan rounded the artificial hill made of Taihu stones, she thought of the real Granny Yang who had been murdered that day and sighed, "Where exactly is Xu Zhen?"
People leave traces as they pass by, geese leave their calls as they fly by.
How come Xu Zhen and her maid didn't leave a single trace?
Gu Shiba and his companions had followed Lord Gu for many years, searching all the way to Yuyuantan, but they couldn't find out anything.
That was really wrong.
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