Chapter 94 Secrets
The guests, who were originally immersed in watching the show, were startled by the sudden noise and looked over.
The wife of the Earl of Yongyi was filled with rage, her eyes fixed on the stage, as if she wanted to drag the person down and beat him to death.
The wife of the Earl of Yongyi angrily ordered the maid: "Go, call the master over!"
The maid immediately went to invite the host.
Everyone was stunned and had no idea what had happened. They suspected that a scene from the opera troupe had inadvertently hurt Lady Yongyi.
Especially Shen Mingzhu, she had no idea what went wrong. She had clearly asked someone to write a script about Shen Qingtan's life story, and then bribed the troupe owner to perform it at the birthday banquet today.
The script is very targeted. After listening to the entire play, everyone will guess that the protagonist of the script is Shen Qingtan based on what happened in the Marquis' Mansion and the Duke's Mansion during this period.
When everyone in the capital was speculating about Shen Qingtan's background, she invited a rural couple to come and recognize her as her relative.
After Shen Mingzhu came up with this plan in mind, she began to bribe a village woman and even made up a cheesy story for her.
She made the village woman claim that she had deliberately stolen her so that her daughter could enjoy wealth and glory, and then sent her daughter to the marquis's mansion to replace her and enjoy wealth and glory.
Shen Qingtan stole her life and she became the daughter of a marquis and enjoyed happiness for more than ten years. But she suffered all the hardships for Shen Qingtan. Who wouldn't feel sorry for her after hearing this?
Although there will still be people who look down on her, there will definitely be people who pity her and are willing to accept her into the circle of noble ladies.
As for what will be Shen Qingtan’s fate?
She has such terrible parents. Not only will all the officials' families in the capital despise her, even the Duke's Mansion will no longer recognize her as their granddaughter-in-law, right?
Shen Mingzhu had arranged every detail and thought it would be foolproof.
Who knew that the play sung by the female role was clearly not the one she prepared for the troupe!
Shen Mingzhu looked at the angry wife of the Earl of Yongyi, and then subconsciously looked at Shen Qingtan, only to see her holding a teacup and sipping tea leisurely, as if nothing had happened.
Shen Mingzhu felt a chill in her heart, always feeling that this matter was related to Shen Qingtan.
But she has no evidence...
The next moment, Shen Mingzhu saw the maid invite the troupe leader to the presence of the wife of the Earl of Yongyi, and she guessed that it was this scene that angered the wife of the Earl of Yongyi.
Could it be that the song is about the secrets of the Yongyi Marquis’s Mansion?
Sure enough, she heard the wife of the Earl of Yongyi ask, "Where did you get this play?"
The troupe owner was over fifty years old, with white hair and beard, a hunched back, and looked extremely thin. He was wearing a gray coat, which made him look even more shifty and rat-like.
He limped over with his heart in his throat.
Just now, he saw the nobleman behind the scenes getting very angry. He knew that he had committed a crime and regretted being blinded by money and being bribed to perform this play.
He originally didn't intend to accept it, but the other party offered too much.
He was also hoping for a lucky break, thinking that even if he offended an important person, at most he would suffer a little physical pain and then move to another place to survive.
But now that the time has come, he feels timid.
The troupe owner said with a cold sweat: "Sir, the common people love to watch this kind of play. Our troupe just edited the script according to the audience's preferences."
The wife of the Earl of Yongyi sneered repeatedly. She didn't believe a word the boss said.
The title of the Earl of Yongyi is not hereditary, but a hereditary title of a lower rank. When each generation inherits the title, it is one rank lower than the previous generation's title.
Originally, the title inherited by her father-in-law was to be downgraded to Viscount.
My father-in-law is quite capable and also very ambitious. He doesn't want the family business to decline.
At that time, wars were raging one after another, the national treasury was empty, and there was no way to support the border wars.
The father-in-law married the mother-in-law who had a large fortune and made the family richer. He then donated all of the mother-in-law's fortune to the imperial court and obtained the hereditary title of earl.
The late emperor valued his father-in-law very much because of his righteous act. He not only allowed him to retain his title, but also promoted him.
The more successful he became in officialdom, the less he wanted others to say that he had achieved all this through women.
From then on, the father-in-law neglected his mother-in-law, and even disliked his legitimate sons and daughters. He began to favor the concubine in the backyard and valued the illegitimate sons born to the concubine.
How ridiculous was it at one point?
The illegitimate son made a mistake outside and offended the prince, and his father-in-law actually let the legitimate son born to the legitimate wife, who is now the Earl of Yongyi, take the blame.
If the elders above are so unreliable, no matter how talented and capable they are, they will not be able to raise successful children and grandchildren.
When my father-in-law was still alive, my mother-in-law and uncle had a very difficult life. They finally got the title and finally made it through. These past events became a taboo for them.
Now that this troupe is performing this play at her birthday party, it is clearly a slap in the face of their uncle's family.
The wife of the Earl of Yongyi was so angry that her head was dizzy. She pointed her finger at the owner and said, "If you don't tell the truth, I will find out and make you pay for it!"
"Sir, I'm wronged. This play was written by our troupe and has been performed elsewhere." The troupe owner was so frightened that his legs went weak. He knelt on the ground and kowtowed, begging for mercy: "I'm just an ordinary citizen. How dare I offend you? Please have mercy on me and forgive me this time!"
Seeing that he refused to admit it, Lady Yongyi was about to scold him when she heard a loud sound of footsteps and the clashing of sword sheaths behind her.
She subconsciously turned her head and saw the lady-in-waiting beside the eldest princess, walking towards her with a group of guards and a stern expression.
The wife of the Earl of Yongyi's face changed and she opened her mouth: "Aunt..."
The female official ignored the wife of the Earl of Yongyi and instead ordered, "Arrest all the members of the troupe and take them away!"
The guards immediately set out.
Everyone in the troupe turned pale and screamed in fear, protesting their injustice.
The boss had never seen such a scene before, and was so frightened that he collapsed on the ground like a puddle of mud, shouting that he was innocent.
The guards simply covered his mouth and took everyone away without leaving any reason.
The female official then bowed to the wife of the Earl of Yongyi, turned around and left without saying a word.
It was so sudden that Lady Yongyi was unable to react for a moment.
The guests were shocked and asked, "What happened? Why would the guards take the troupe away for no reason?"
After hearing what everyone said, the wife of the Earl of Yongyi finally reacted and guessed that the opera troupe was in big trouble.
She subconsciously looked at Madam Shen, wanting to ask about the situation. But she saw Madam Shen looking at the class owner with an unpredictable expression, and that look made her feel cold in her heart.
The wife of the Earl of Yongyi did not think much about it, mistakenly thinking that Mrs. Shen was angry because of the play performed by the troupe.
In fact, Mrs. Shen was staring at the class owner's hands. His hands were different from those of ordinary people because he had an extra finger and six fingers on one hand.
The first time she saw someone with six fingers was in Nanlingzhou.
At that time, there was a happy event in the family of the aunt in the mansion. Old Madam Shen was in poor health, so she asked her to take people to Nanlingzhou to congratulate.
It just so happened that someone brought news that a mobile opera troupe had come to Nanlingzhou, and this troupe had big problems.
All the actors in the opera troupe were captured and trained since childhood.
After they finish a case in one place, they will move to another.
When Shen Mingzhu got lost, this opera troupe happened to be in the capital.
At this time, Mrs. Shen sent people to investigate the opera troupe, but found no trace of Shen Mingzhu.
She was very disappointed, so she took Mother Wei to the place where the opera troupe was performing and met Shen Qingtan.
Shen Qingtan sat on the boy's neck, his round, black eyes fixed on the stage. On the boy's shoulder was a small cloth bag, like a treasure chest.
He could take out whatever the little girl wanted from the cloth bag, which showed that he doted on her very much.
Mrs. Shen looked at her for a long time, and it was not difficult to see that she would be a very outstanding beauty when she grew up.
A girl with outstanding appearance, good character and talent can definitely bring huge benefits to her family.
It happened that at this time, the play on the stage was halfway through, and the female role scattered copper coins to the audience. The audience scrambled for the copper coins. The scene was very chaotic, and the troupe took advantage of the chaos to kidnap the person they had chosen.
She got excited and had an idea.
Afterwards, he instructed Mother Wei to bribe the opera troupe, negotiated a price, and specifically asked for Shen Qingtan.
After four or five days, the troupe owner sent a message asking her to go to a place to meet him.
She rode over in a carriage, and the troupe owner had just arrived. He hurriedly stuffed the child into her carriage as if he was throwing a hot potato, took the reward and ran away.
At that time, she discovered that the hand of the troupe boss who reached into the carriage to take the banknotes happened to have six fingers.
She didn't expect that after so many years, she would actually meet this troupe owner in the capital.
When Mrs. Shen realized that the class leader had been taken away by the eldest princess's men, her heart instantly rose to her throat.
But after a moment, she slowly relaxed her stiff body.
The person who took over the class from the owner was Mother Wei. Mother Wei is now dead, so she is not afraid that the owner will recognize her.
Although she went to pick up the child in person, she dressed casually and wore a veil so that the owner of the class could not see her face.
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