If Hongye had not been beaten and had not been frightened by Feicui, she would never have betrayed Chen.
But at this moment she had no idea what she was saying and she gave Chen away unconsciously.
Chen clenched his fists, veins bulged on the back of his hands, and pursed his lips.
"What do you mean by this? A confession under torture? Who knows if anyone used threats or bribes outside just now?"
Shen Zhixiu ignored it and continued to interrogate Hongye.
"Where did you get the spices? What did the eldest lady tell you?"
Hongye seemed to have regained her senses suddenly, "It wasn't the Madam's order. This matter has nothing to do with the Madam."
She didn't realize that she had just told the truth unconsciously and thought that Shen Zhixiu was trying to trick her.
Shen Zhixiu stared coldly at Hongye with his deep eyes. "You just said it was the eldest lady's order, and now you say it's not?"
Hongye was so scared that she quickly shook her head, "I was talking nonsense. This matter has nothing to do with the Madam. It was my idea alone."
She didn't dare to implicate the Madam. She couldn't avoid this matter anyway. It would be better to remove the Madam, so that the Madam could still maintain her family's livelihood.
"Then tell me, why did you want to harm Concubine Xiang and the eldest lady?"
Hongye's eyes flickered, and then she said, "I just can't stand Concubine Xiang's spoiled look. On the day of the eldest young master's wedding, the lady asked me to go see her, but she was so arrogant because she relied on the eldest master's favor."
"I came up with this idea when I was angry."
Chen suddenly felt a little relieved. Hongye's words were consistent with Wu Laoqi's.
Shen Zhixiu sneered, "Come here, bring in the owner of Li's Spice Shop."
Then, a middle-aged woman walked in and said, "Hello, old lady, and meet the masters and ladies."
"Shopkeeper Li, those spices mixed with musk are from your Li's, right?" Shen Zhixiu asked coldly.
Shopkeeper Li bowed slightly and said, "In reply to Lord Shen, it was indeed made by our Li family. It was made half a month ago when a girl brought musk to us and asked us to make it."
"What did she say then?"
"She said the mistress of the house didn't want to get pregnant, and this method was easy and convenient."
Shen Zhixiu asked again, "Do you recognize that girl? Look around to see if there's anyone like her in the room?"
Shopkeeper Li looked around and finally his eyes fell on Hongye.
"It was this girl who came to pick it up after the operation."
Shen Zhixiu ordered someone to bring Manager Li down, and then looked at Hongye.
"What else do you say? You said it was because Concubine Xiang didn't treat you well on the day of the eldest young master's wedding."
"But you made this thing before the young master got married."
"The mistress of the house doesn't want to get pregnant?" Shen Zhixiu looked at Chen again, "Could it be that the eldest sister-in-law asked her to buy it for use in the room?"
Logically speaking, Shen Zhixiu was his brother-in-law, so it was not easy for him to ask directly about such matters. But now that things had come to this, he could no longer care about so much.
Chen was stunned for a moment, not knowing what to say. She couldn't really say, "This is for her contraception, right?"
The things had indeed been bought a long time ago, but she had not yet decided how to use them. Only after Shen Zhao got married did she think this matter through thoroughly.
Shen Zhixiu knew that Chen couldn't say it, so he didn't continue to ask.
Instead, he looked at Shen Zhiheng and asked, "Brother, what do you think about this?"
No matter how big a mistake Chen made, the final punishment would have to be approved by Shen Zhiheng and the old lady.
Su Qingyu also looked at Shen Zhiheng. It was obvious that Chen wanted to get rid of Xiangdong's child, which implicated Shen Wu.
After the Chen issue is resolved, she will also interrogate An Lan, the warehouse maid who had previously slandered her.
If her suspicions were correct, An Lan must have been instigated by Li Chaoyun. She was going to deal with both the mother-in-law and the daughter-in-law today.
Shen Zhiheng pondered and said nothing, his face gloomy and unclear, and no one knew what he was thinking.
Shen Zhixiu didn't urge him, but drank his tea calmly and waited to see what Shen Zhiheng would say.
Before Shen Zhiheng could speak, a woman suddenly walked in.
"Report to the old lady, the maid Anlan in the warehouse has suddenly died. It looks to me like she was poisoned."
Su Qingyu's face changed. Poisoned? She had specifically ordered Chuntao to watch over him, fearing someone would do something shady. How could he be poisoned?
Just as she was thinking about it, Chuntao walked in quietly and said in Su Qingyu's ear.
"Madam, it seems that An Lan had hidden poison in her mouth. I was staring at her the whole time, and no one was touching her. Suddenly, she vomited blood and died."
Su Qingyu turned and glanced at Li Chaoyun. How quick she had acted. However, by doing so, Li Chaoyun had actually cleared herself of all charges. Everyone would think An Lan was a member of the Chen family, and that her death was the work of the Chen family.
In this way, Chen took another life.
The old lady looked at Chen with a cold expression and shouted angrily, "What on earth do you want to do?"
"Not only could they not tolerate a bastard, but they also tried to pin the blame on your sister-in-law, and in the end, Wu'er and her unborn child were also involved."
"How could there be a vicious woman like you in my Shen family?"
"Come here, prepare the pen, ink, paper, and inkstone. Boss, you must write me a letter of divorce now."
Everyone in the Shen family's main house changed their expressions. They didn't expect that the old lady would directly ask them to write a divorce letter.
Su Qingyu felt unsatisfied. Several lives were lost, and it was all over with just a letter of divorce?
But she also knew that the divorce letter was a huge punishment for Chen. What happened today would not cost Chen her life.
Fortunately, she still had a big gift to give to Chen, which should be enough to send her to hell.
When Chen heard that he was going to divorce her, he immediately knelt on the ground and threw himself at the old lady's feet to beg.
"Mother, I know I was wrong. Please forgive me this time."
"I will never do that again, my daughter-in-law. I beg for your forgiveness, mother."
As she spoke, she looked at Shen Zhiheng.
Shen Zhiheng also looked at the old lady pleadingly, "Mother, please calm down. We need to think about this matter carefully. Although Ping Hui was wrong, but..."
Hearing that he was about to plead for Chen, the old lady interrupted him coldly.
"But what? Boss, oh boss, I'm not saying anything bad about you, but you also have to take half the responsibility for what she did today."
"She is your wife. If she does anything wrong, you should teach her more behind her back."
"And your concubine, even if you favor her, can't surpass the wife of the main house."
"These days, the first wife has been in trouble one after another, all because of your poor management of the family."
The old lady's words made Shen Zhiheng blush, but he didn't dare to refute her and could only plead cautiously.
"Mother is right. It's my son's fault. Now that things have come to this, Ping Hui truly knows he was wrong."
"Madam Xiang's child is gone, so it's gone. As for Wu'er, I will go to the Rong family to explain myself."
"And my third sister-in-law, I asked Pinghui to apologize to her. This will never happen again."
After all, they were married, and Shen Zhiheng didn't want to divorce her. He just wanted to cover up the matter. As for Chen, he would naturally teach her privately.
Shen Zhao and Li Chaoyun looked at each other, and they also stood up and knelt beside Chen.
"Grandma, I am willing to take the punishment on my mother's behalf. Please give her another chance."
Li Chaoyun also spoke up, "Grandma, calm down. If this matter gets out of hand, it will be detrimental to the Shen family's reputation. Please think twice."
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