Chapter 71: Go and apologize in person, go to Madam Chu and make amends...
Before the carriage had even stopped, Lu Minzhong staggered off the carriage. As soon as he rushed into the front hall, he took off his black gauze hat and slammed it on the table. The hat bounced twice on the table and fell off. The servant beside him rushed forward to pick it up, dusted it off and put it back on the table.
"Where's the Madam?! Where did the Madam go? Call her here immediately!" His eyes were red as he roared at the maid at the door.
The maid shuddered, hurriedly replied "yes", and ran to the backyard to invite the lady.
Not long after, Xue Shutong approached gracefully. As she crossed the threshold, she met her husband's eyes, which seemed to be spitting fire. Her heart skipped a beat. She blinked, her voice cautious, "Husband, what's wrong? What happened to provoke you so much anger?"
Lu Minzhong laughed in anger, squeezing out a sentence from between his teeth: "What's wrong with me? I want to ask you! What good things have you done recently? Tell me!"
"Offend someone?"
Xue Shutong's heart skipped a beat, and the faces from the night party the night before flashed before her eyes. She gathered herself, clenching the handkerchief in her hand. Qiangzi said calmly, "Why don't I understand what my husband is saying?"
"I don't have the energy to argue with you about all these twists and turns!" Lu Minzhong rubbed his sore forehead irritably, and sat down on the armchair next to him. The chair legs made a harsh sound when they rubbed against the ground.
He pointed at Xiangmei, the maid behind Xue Shutong: "You say!"
Xiangmei shuddered all over, glancing at her wife in horror, then at the furious master. She dropped to her knees with a thud, trembling, "Master...this servant, this servant knows nothing! Really, nothing!"
You know nothing? That means Madam didn't do anything?!
Lu Minzhong stood up suddenly and paced twice, his anger rising. He suddenly raised his foot and kicked the wooden table next to him hard. With a loud thud, the table was kicked out of place, and the cups and plates on the table were all shaken.
Xue Shutong was so frightened that his shoulders trembled and his face turned pale.
"Good! Very good! You truly have a deep bond between master and servant, a heart of one!" He gritted his teeth and shouted, "Rather than being tricked to death by a bunch of idiots like you someday, I'd rather clean up the mess today! Come on—drag this cunning slave away and beat him to death!"
Two servants immediately came in from outside, grabbed Xiangmei's arms on the left and right, and dragged her out. Xue Shutong saw this, and the blood drained from his face. He screamed and rushed over to stop them: "Stop! What are you doing! Stop it! Are you trying to rebel against the heavens?"
The two servants were so strong that they twisted Xiangmei's arms while pulling. Amidst the chaos, there was only a slight cracking sound. She screamed in pain, tears streaming down her face. She could no longer care about anything else and shrieked, "I'll tell you! I'll tell you! Master, spare me! Spare me!!"
"It was Madam! It was Madam who scolded General Pei's wife at the night party the other day!"
Lu Minzhong glared at Xue Shutong angrily and shouted, "Why are you cursing? What did you curse at? Who was there at the time? Tell me! Tell me every word!"
"You stupid girl! How dare you talk nonsense!" Xue Shutong screamed, swung his arm and slapped Xiangmei in the face, causing the agate bracelets on his wrists to clink.
Xiangmei's head was hit so hard that it tilted sideways. Half of her cheek immediately swelled up, and five high-raised fingerprints appeared on it.
"Let her speak!" Lu Minzhong was so angry that his face turned red. He grabbed the teacup on the table and threw it hard at Xue Shutong's feet. The porcelain pieces flew everywhere and the scalding tea splashed on her skirt.
Xiangmei's face was burning with pain, but she didn't even dare to cover it. She banged her head on the ground and cried so hard that she almost died.
"A few days ago, Madam went to the Chu household to visit Madam Wu. She saw that Madam Wu had been bullied by General Pei's wife, and she couldn't stand it. At the night party... there were four or five people surrounding the General's wife... I only recognized the fifth daughter of the Marquis of Mingxuan's mansion and the two daughters of the Fang family of the Weiwei Temple. There were about seven or eight ladies gathered around to watch the fun."
Great! Now everything is correct?!
Lu Minzhong felt dizzy, his feet felt light-headed, and the blood vessels in his solar plexus were throbbing and swelling.
In just one day, she managed to cause such a huge mess!
In front of so many prominent officials and their wives, she pointed at Madam Chu's face, calling her a concubine's son and calling Pei Yue a worthless piece of shit! She was truly his good wife! A good mistress! Fortunately, he didn't confront Pei Yue face to face today, otherwise, his old face would have been thrown into the moat!
He panted heavily and slumped back into the armchair. It took him a long time to catch his breath. He raised his trembling finger and pointed it directly at Xue Shutong.
"Ha! Ha! Who do you think you are? What kind of person are you? Huh?! You're going to defend the Chu family's mistress? You're truly a hero! Good! Good! You're enjoying all the glory and attention out there...without caring about your husband's life or death! You don't care about the life or death of our Lu family!!"
Seeing him like this, Xue Shutong became furious. She waved her hand violently, swept the vase on the high table beside her to the ground, and said angrily.
"Her mother and I are only close friends. Doesn't that make me half her elder?! What's wrong with me saying a few words to her?! Is there anything I said that wasn't the truth?!"
Then, she pointed at Lu Minzhong with her backhand, her voice suddenly rising, piercing and piercing: "Besides! What are you afraid of?! What on earth are you afraid of?! He, Pei Yue, is a fourth-rank official, and you, Lu Minzhong, are also a fourth-rank minister! Oh, his uncle is the Minister of Works? So what?! And your father-in-law is the Minister of Rites! My father is even a dignified Silver and Green Guanglu Doctor! Don't I have the qualifications to teach a bastard who crawled out of my concubine's belly a lesson?!"
Hearing her actually utter the word "bastard", Lu Minzhong's eyes widened and he spoke at an alarming speed: "Bastard?! How dare you call someone a bastard?! Xue Shutong, do you know who is the most popular lady in the capital right now? It's this bastard born out of wedlock that you're talking about!"
"She's young, but with her amazing skills, she cured the old lady of the Mingxuan Marquis's Mansion of her chronic illness! She even snatched the dying young master of the Xin Guo Mansion back from the clutches of the King of Hell! Even the eldest prince used her medicine during the battle of Saibei, and specially sent someone to give her a generous gift as a thank you! Which of these families isn't more prestigious than the Lu family, or your own family? Which one wouldn't give her a bit of face? Which one wouldn't give Pei Yue a bit of face for this?! And what about you? You don't even know how to enjoy yourself at home! I, your husband, was walking on thin ice and cautiously in the previous dynasty! What did you do behind the scenes?! You're not even worthy of carrying their shoes!"
"I'm a fourth-rank official! But don't forget how I climbed to this position! My good second brother is always watching me covetously, hoping that I'll make some mistake so he can pull me down! Father's heart has always been on his side, don't you know?! And Pei Yue, he earned his fame by fighting on the battlefield! Now he's in the emperor's favor and is close to the Crown Prince. He's at the peak of his career! Why...why would you provoke him at this time?!"
"I don't know how miserable I am today because of you. How many people have troubled me, and how much money have I lost?!"
Xue Shutong's face turned pale from his words, but he still stiffened his neck and glared back at him, "You're destroying your own ambition and boosting others' prestige!"
"Foolish woman! Truly an incorrigible fool!" Lu Minzhong completely lost the energy to argue with her. He closed his eyes wearily, and when he opened them again, he said, "Tomorrow, no! This afternoon! Get the hell out of here! Go to the Pei Mansion in person and apologize to Madam Chu!"
"Me?! I go and apologize to her? Are you crazy?!" Xue Shutong was like a cat whose tail was stepped on, his eyes full of disbelief.
Lu Minzhong laughed out loud twice, his laughter tinged with self-mockery. "I'm crazy. I ignored you when you were making things difficult for Lin. I also ignored you when you were dating Wu, which led to this huge mistake today!"
He fixed his eyes on Xue Shutong's face and said word by word, "It's okay if you don't go. If you don't go, from today on, you should pack up your things and go back to your parents' home!"
Xue Shutong was struck by lightning, and his whole body froze. "What do you mean by this? You want to divorce me?! How dare you! How could you! Lu Minzhong! Have you been planning to make that little bitch Wanniang your legal wife?! I'm your legal wife, married with eight sedan chairs, three matchmakers, and six betrothals! My father is Yin Qing..."
"Enough!" Lu Minzhong shouted suddenly.
"I'm giving you two choices now. Either you go to the Pei Mansion and apologize right now! Or you get out of the Lu family right now!"
-
When Chu Yufu heard that Madam Luo had come to visit, she was sitting on the couch by the window, holding the piece of paper with Madam Shen's poisoning symptoms written on it, and pondering it carefully.
After two days of searching medical books and discussing the situation privately with Doctor Xu, they both agreed that it was erysipelas. However, erysipelas can be divided into two types: cinnabar poisoning and lead yellow poisoning. It was difficult to determine which was which. Furthermore, the antidotes for the two differed greatly.
In the ice container in the center of the room, the ice melted, releasing wisps of cool air. Lan Zhu fanned herself slowly with a round fan embroidered with hibiscus flowers. She was about to drift off to sleep when she suddenly heard the maid come in to announce that Madam Luo had arrived. She was startled out of her doze: "Madam Luo? Why is she here? I didn't receive the visiting card yesterday!"
Chu Yufu wrinkled her nose, not knowing what the other party was trying to do.
To be honest, ever since she learned that Mrs. Xue was Mrs. Luo's daughter-in-law, she really didn't want to see her family at all and avoided them as much as possible.
She lowered her eyes, her long eyelashes trembling slightly. She placed the paper in her hand on the table and said lightly, "Just say that I just rested and fell asleep at noon. I'm afraid I won't wake up for a while. Ask her to come back another day."
"Yes, ma'am." The maid bowed and retreated.
But a moment later, the maid returned with a troubled look on her face: "Madam, Madam Luo said she has nothing to do today, so it's okay for her to wait in the hall until you wake up."
She hesitated for a moment and added, "Madam, Mrs. Luo did not come alone. She brought another lady with her. That lady called Mrs. Luo mother."
Bring someone? Mother?
"Okay, I understand." Chu Yufu said with a frown.
She stood up and walked to the mirror. Lan Zhu picked up a comb, dipped it in some osmanthus hair oil, and carefully combed the loose hair around her temples. She opened her jewelry box and picked out a pair of translucent red agate earrings for her to wear, muttering quietly, "She brought someone with her. Could it be that Madam Xue?"
Chu Yufu snorted softly and tucked a jade hairpin into her hair in the mirror. "Why? Didn't you get enough of scolding at the night party? You're chasing me back to my house and scolding me again, pointing your finger at my nose?"
Lanzhu's big eyes rolled around, and she thought of the general's gloomy face the night before, and she had a bold guess in her mind: Could she be here to apologize?
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