Chapter 70
The courtyard fell silent for a moment, with only the echo of Mu Yulu kowtowing breaking the silence.
She slammed her head hard on the ground, completely defying her own fate.
There was no trace of heartache in Mu Yugang's eyes, only a heart full of anger.
In a fit of rage, he threw the imperial edict at Mu Yulu, shouting, "Fine, if you don't want to live, then your whole family will die with you!"
This time it was Mu Zhao's turn to be anxious. She rushed over and hurriedly snatched the imperial edict. After examining it carefully, she found that there was no trace of Mu Yulu's blood on it, and then she breathed a sigh of relief.
She handed the imperial edict to Qiu Chi beside her, grabbed Mu Yulu's hair, forced her to raise her head, and then slapped her hard with both hands. "I carried you for ten months and gave birth to you. I was about the same age you are now when I was pregnant with you. I suffered so much on the day I gave birth to you, and I almost had a postpartum hemorrhage. Now I really regret it. If I had known that you were such an ungrateful wretch, I should have strangled you as soon as you were born, so that you wouldn't cause trouble like this now!"
Mu Yulu didn't cry even though her face was swollen from being slapped. It was Mu Zhaoshi who started crying first as she spoke: "How much suffering did I endure to carry you and give birth to you? Do you think this life is your own? Let me tell you, it isn't! Your life was given to you by your parents. Even if you want to die, you have to get your parents' permission. Otherwise, you will go to the eighteenth level of hell and never be reincarnated!"
“If you hadn’t obediently followed your parents’ arrangements, why would I have taken such a great risk to give birth to you? Now you’re doing this, saying you don’t want to get married and kowtowing a few times, thinking you can repay the kindness of giving birth to us and raising us? That’s not possible!”
Xinyun and Mohe arrived at this moment. When they saw Mu Yulu covered in blood, Xinyun screamed and rushed over to pounce on Mu Yulu. The next second, Mu Zhaoshi's slaps rained down on Xinyun's face.
Seeing that no one was stopping them and everyone was just watching as Mu Zhaoshi beat Mu Yulu to death, Mohe felt a surge of anger rising within her. She rushed over and shoved Mu Zhaoshi away.
Mu Zhao was already furious when Mo He suddenly pushed her hard, causing her to stagger backward. If Qiu Chi hadn't caught her in time, her face would have made intimate contact with the floor tiles.
At this moment, Mu Wanyi also rushed back to the Mu residence. As soon as she arrived at the front hall, she saw Mohe shoving her mother. She immediately rushed over angrily and slapped Mohe across the face.
Although Mu Zhaoshi was caught by Qiu Chi and did not fall to the ground, she still accidentally sprained her ankle and cried out in pain as she supported herself on Qiu Chi's arm.
Pu Zhaoshi, who arrived right behind Mu Wanyi, was overjoyed at the sight of the chaotic scene before her. She quickly pushed through the crowd and rushed over, supporting Mu Zhaoshi and wiping away her tears as she shouted, "Heavens above! This girl has been raised all these years, and she wants to kill her mother! To lay a hand on one's own mother, is there no law left?"
Seeing her twisting the truth like this, Mohe ignored the stinging pain from the slap on his face, took two steps forward and glared at Pu Zhaoshi. He was about to argue with her that he was the one who pushed the person and that it had nothing to do with the young lady, but he was pushed by Mu Wanyi again.
The second young lady's almost shrill voice rang in her ears: "Like master, like servant! What kind of master raises what kind of slave! How dare you lay a hand on the mistress of our Mu family? I'll beat you up and sell you to a slave trader!"
At this very moment, the drama unfolding in the Mu family courtyard was truly spectacular.
There were parents who threatened to kill themselves out of gratitude for their upbringing, a daughter kneeling and kowtowing with her face covered in blood, and so-called relatives crying and wailing, wishing they could add fuel to the fire of the chaotic situation.
All walks of life, demons and monsters, have gathered in this small courtyard.
Mohe stared blankly at the scene before him, shaking his head in disbelief.
She couldn't understand why, in broad daylight, under the clear sky, in what was clearly the human world, all she could see were ghosts and monsters.
Among the large group of people standing there, some were indifferent and unconcerned, some were watching the spectacle with shining eyes, and others were terrified and uneasy, fearing that they might be implicated...
Only Feng Wentang, standing behind Mu Yugang, showed pity and unbearable sorrow in his eyes. He sympathized with Mu Yulu's situation and her current plight. In addition, there was a hint of heartache in his eyes.
Mohe, as if grasping at a lifeline, knelt down in the direction of Feng Wentang: "Please, save Miss."
Although she was asking for a favor, she didn't name names. But how could these onlookers miss such a spectacle? They all followed her gaze and looked towards Feng Wentang.
Seeing this, Xinyun knelt down before Feng Wentang with a thud. "Guard Feng, you know that Miss really doesn't want to marry Prince Mu. Letting her marry into the Prince's mansion would be the death of her. Please, please save her."
Mu Yulu's consciousness was already somewhat scattered. She struggled to lift her head from the ground and turned her gaze to Feng Wentang, who stood outside the storm.
She didn't beg him, but instead shed a tear of blood, dug her fingernails deep into the cracks in the brickwork, and said, word by word, "If I marry into the Mu family, I will really die."
She wasn't making a prophecy, nor were these words her imagination. She uttered these words with difficulty and certainty, as if she were pronouncing her own fate.
She was terrified; she really didn't want to go back to the place where she had died tragically in her previous life.
Although she has been reborn, she feels that the tormented and resentful soul from her previous life still lingers above the Mu King's mansion. If she were to return to that place, she would repeat the fate of that wandering soul, and she would no longer be able to live in this world as a vibrant person.
Feng Wentang could naturally see Mu Yulu's fear. The heartache in his eyes was almost overflowing. Under this intense, piercing pain, he could hardly stand up, and even the hand holding the sword began to tremble slightly.
All eyes were on him, awaiting his choice, or rather, his answer.
He stood there silently and with great difficulty, as if simply standing there had exhausted all his strength. He couldn't bear to look at Mu Yulu's pleading eyes any longer. After a long while, he closed his eyes very slowly and painfully, and then took a small step back.
His slight retreat instantly extinguished the last remaining light in Mu Yulu's eyes.
Xinyun stared wide-eyed in disbelief, while Mohe seemed to have already guessed this outcome, letting out an untimely sneer.
Aunt Wang sneered, "As expected of unruly maids! Your young mistress has found a good marriage, and instead of offering any advice, you're begging a guard to save her. What are you begging him for? Do you think your young mistress's reputation isn't bad enough already?"
Mu Yulu knelt on the spot in a daze, her gaze still fixed on Feng Wentang, but the light in her eyes had dimmed, making her appear somewhat dazed.
She finally stopped looking at him, slowly shifting her gaze away. Her eyes swept over her mother, who was standing to the side patting her chest to catch her breath, then over her younger sister, who stood angrily in front of her with fierce eyes, and finally landed on her father, who was sitting in the armchair, tilting his head and glaring at her.
Her eyelashes fluttered slightly, and tears mixed with blood fell from them. This gentle fall felt as heavy as a thousand pounds, bending her back and forcing her to kneel on the ground once more.
Xin Yun hurriedly stepped forward to help her, but she gently pressed her hand down.
Mu Yulu then bowed once more to Mu Yugang, who was sitting in the chair.
"I will not make a fuss anymore. This marriage is both an arrangement by my parents and a blessing from heaven. I will obey my parents' wishes." With that, she bowed to Mu Zhaoshi again, and then stood up with Xinyun's help.
"I have repaid the debt of giving me life and the debt of raising me. From now on, we owe each other nothing, and we should never meet again in the next life."
Her voice was weak, but anyone could hear the determination in it—a resolute resolve akin to cutting off one's own flesh and bleeding out. She turned and left, heading towards the fate she could foresee, severing all ties with them without the slightest lingering attachment.
Her resolute attitude, which seemed to be on the verge of death, stunned Mu Yugang for a moment.
At this moment, Pu Zhaoshi shouted again: "What do you mean by 'no debts owed'? And 'never to meet again in the next life'? Sister, I really feel sorry for you. Ten months of pregnancy and childbirth, how much suffering and hardship you endured, and in the end you risked your life to give birth to such a daughter? Just hearing her heartless words makes my heart ache..."
She wiped away her tears with a handkerchief, wanting to continue speaking, but Mu Yugang interrupted her: "Shut up! This is our family matter, no need for you to concern yourself!"
As he spoke, he raised his hand and pointed at Mu Zhaoshi from a distance: "You've already raised one daughter to be like this, and you still won't discipline the other one? You're just letting her run wild here? Are you only happy when they cause some insurmountable trouble?"
Before Mu Zhaoshi could speak, Pu Zhaoshi retorted indignantly, "Brother-in-law, can you be reasonable? What does this have to do with my sister? What does it have to do with Wanyi? Isn't it because you abandoned Xiaolu in the countryside and insisted on coming to the capital to do business that you raised a child like this?"
Mu Yugang stood up from the armchair, seemingly unconcerned about arguing with his sister-in-law. He glared at Mu Zhaoshi and continued, "You are, after all, my legal wife, the mistress of the Mu family. Can't you take responsibility for managing this large mansion? Instead, you let an outsider interfere. What kind of behavior is this?"
Upon hearing this, Mu Wanyi was displeased and jumped up to defend her aunt, "My aunt is my mother's younger sister, which means she is my own aunt. She is clearly family with us, so how can she be an outsider?"
Her interruption prompted Mu Yugang to shift his anger towards her: "You dare to interrupt here? Do you even have a place to speak? You have no manners at all! You should learn from your sister. You juniors shouldn't be here today. Did you even see her shadow today? That's what proper etiquette is!"
Mu Wanyi hated it most when he compared her to Mu Xingzi. Upon hearing him say that, she immediately covered her face and started crying.
The storm that had briefly subsided because of Mu Yulu's departure was stirred up again, and the servants of the Mu family began to enjoy the new spectacle once more.
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