As she spoke, Li Chaoyun got up from the bed and asked Danju to help her down.
The old lady quickly reached out to stop him, "Why did you get up? The doctor told you to take good care of yourself. If you need anything, just tell the staff below."
Li Chaoyun insisted on getting down and knelt at the old lady's feet.
"Grandma, please have mercy on me and give me and my son a chance to live."
The old lady leaned over to help her up, "What are you doing? Get up quickly, be careful not to hurt yourself."
Li Chaoyun, however, remained motionless, her lips tightly pursed, tears welling in her eyes. Yet, not a single tear fell, and she looked extremely aggrieved yet pretending to be strong.
Su Qingyu watched coldly from the side, lowering her eyes and sneering. Ever since Shen Zhao passed away, Li Chaoyun had become increasingly adept at pretending to be pitiful.
Xiangdong, who was walking to the door and about to go outside to ask Chen Cheng something, also stopped. She had to see what Li Chaoyun was going to do.
Then Li Chaoyun said sadly, "Grandma, I suspect that the Fifth Young Master did this on purpose to prevent me from giving birth to this child."
"But the Fifth Young Master is only a little old, what does he know? All of this was ordered by Madam Xiang. Poor Young Master's body is still warm, and these people are going to kill his child."
Li Chaoyun cried until she choked with sobs, and leaned over the old lady's legs and said, "Grandma, I almost lost this child."
The old lady naturally felt uncomfortable with her behavior.
He supported Li Chaoyun and comforted her, "May the ancestors of the Shen family bless you, the child is fine. Get up quickly and take good care of the baby."
Li Chaoyun shook her head and said, "Grandma, Madam Xiang can't tolerate me. She is now the head lady of the Shen family's main house. I can't change her."
"Grandma, please give me and my son a chance to live. I'm so tired of living in fear and dependence on others."
The old lady gave Xiangdong a probing look. Li Chaoyun had been complaining to her quite a lot these days, either about Xiangdong being unruly or about Chen Cheng being rude and overbearing.
At first, she just thought that Li Chaoyun looked down on Xiangdong and Shen Cheng's backgrounds, but as things got more serious, the old lady became suspicious.
She could be said to have some understanding of Xiangdong, but one could never judge a person by his appearance. It was possible that her identity and thoughts had changed.
While the old lady was pondering, a servant came in to report that Princess Yongjia had arrived.
Just as he finished reporting, Princess Yongjia walked in quickly.
When everyone saw her come in, they all bowed and greeted her.
Princess Yongjia paid no attention to her. She looked at her daughter kneeling on the ground and said distressedly, "Didn't you say you almost had a miscarriage? Why are you still kneeling?"
As she spoke, she glanced at the old lady, her tone clearly dissatisfied, "The Shen family has really big rules. They let a pregnant woman set the rules."
Li Chaoyun quickly explained, "Mother misunderstood. It was me who insisted on giving Grandmother such a great gift, begging her to give us mother and son a chance to live."
On the way here, Princess Yongjia already knew what was going on. She helped her daughter up and made her sit down beside the bed.
Then he said to the old lady in a cold voice: "How exactly do the Shen family plan to deal with that concubine and illegitimate son? My daughter and unborn grandson have suffered such a great injustice, the Shen family should not think of letting this go peacefully."
In Princess Yongjia's heart, no matter how Xiangdong and Shen Cheng were elevated to higher status, it could not change their humble origins.
"Princess, please calm down. I will investigate this matter thoroughly. If it is true as you said, the Shen family will never cover it up." The old lady replied calmly.
Su Qingyu thought for a moment, then stepped forward and said, "Mother, why don't Madam Xiang and I go ask the Fifth Young Master what's going on? He was wrong to do this, but there must be a reason."
The old lady nodded and motioned Su Qingyu and Xiangdong to go and question them.
Li Chaoyun sneered inwardly. She could even imagine what they were going to say. It was nothing more than that Chen Cheng had been beaten, and they suspected she was the one who was trying to harm Xiangdong. They wanted to make a big deal about the Wanxiangtang incident and bring the blame on her.
She wished they would say so, as this matter had nothing to do with her. If Xiangdong said so, it would further confirm the fact that they and their son were maliciously slandering her.
Xiangdong and Su Qingyu went to the yard as instructed by the old lady.
Xiangdong walked to Chen Cheng and squatted down to look him in the eye.
"Cheng'er, tell your mother what happened? Why did you hit the princess?" Xiang Dong asked softly, and raised her hand to wipe the sweat off Chen Cheng's face.
The servants of Hanshuiyuan had asked this question before, but Chen Cheng didn't say a word.
But when his mother asked, he naturally didn't hide anything.
Chen Cheng whispered, "I just thought that my sister-in-law might be trying to do something bad to my mother. So I ran over quietly, and when I was lying on the courtyard wall, I happened to hear my sister-in-law talking to the maid."
He repeated what Li Chaoyun and Danju had said, and then said, "Although they didn't say it explicitly, that's what I heard. It's that my sister-in-law is colluding with others to secretly harm my mother."
Speaking of this, Shen Cheng still looked resentful.
Xiangdong asked him again, "You didn't tell anyone else about this, did you? Did you tell your grandmother?"
Chen Cheng shook his head. "I didn't tell anyone. I was afraid that my mother might have other instructions, and I was also afraid that those people wouldn't pass on the message properly, so I didn't tell anyone."
Xiang Dong helped Chen Cheng smooth his hair and said appreciatively, "You did the right thing. Don't tell anyone else about this."
There is no evidence, if Shen Cheng said these words, one can imagine how angry the old lady would be.
Xiangdong carefully recalled Su Qingyu's words again, and then gave some instructions to Chen Cheng.
Then he stood up and returned to the inner room with Su Qingyu.
After entering the room, Xiangdong knelt down again and said, "Old Madam, it is my fault that I did not teach my child well. I am willing to accept any punishment."
The old lady glanced at Xiangdong and said in a deep voice, "Tell me first, why did Chenger attack her sister-in-law?"
Xiangdong looked embarrassed and glanced at Li Chaoyun. "The Fifth Young Master has been wronged these past few days, and there's been a rift between him and his sister-in-law. He acted impulsively and made a huge mistake."
Li Chaoyun's face was filled with anger, and he rushed to say, "Is there a grudge between him and me? It's clearly him who's disrespecting his eldest sister-in-law, but Madam Xiang is good at whitewashing it."
"There's no need to talk about what happened before. I don't mind. Let's just talk about what happened today."
Xiang Dong snorted inwardly, but said, "Since the old lady asked, I must explain it clearly."
"When the princess just returned to the mansion, they happened to be starting to make summer clothes, so I sent someone to Hanshui Courtyard to take her measurements. But she said that she was pregnant and in mourning, so she didn't need the mansion to make her clothes this year. The maids sewed them for her, and they were what she liked and she was comfortable with them."
"I will naturally follow the princess's wishes and even send her the materials."
"But a few days ago, after the clothes were distributed, the princess came to me to settle accounts, denying all the things she had said before. She kept saying that I was deliberately making things difficult for her and said a lot of unpleasant things. It just so happened that the Fifth Young Master was there that day and heard it all."
The old lady's face darkened slightly. She knew about this. Li Chaoyun had mentioned it when he went to Qingyuan Residence to pay his respects, and he was full of grievances when he said it.
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