Some people were unhappy, saying, "What's wrong with this? This is under the emperor's nose, not your own street. What's wrong with us standing here and watching the show?"
“You…you all…” Jiang Mingwei stamped her foot, turned her head and saw the familiar carriage at the corner, and immediately rushed over.
Xiao Youran and Madam Su were instructing Old Feng to drive home when they heard a woman's clear, disgruntled voice outside the car. "Second Sister-in-law! You clearly promised me last time that we would find a time to discuss this matter. Why did you act so ruthlessly today, catching us completely off guard?!"
Madam Su lifted the carriage curtain, looked at Jiang Mingwei's bright smiling face, and smiled faintly, "Mingwei, I have already tried to be polite before resorting to force. I remember the agreement you made with me last time. I suppose the Earl's Mansion also needs sufficient time to make preparations, so I waited day and night, but I did not receive any news that you wanted to meet with me. Three days ago, I had no choice but to personally deliver invitations to the Earl's Mansion to request an audience, but after delivering three invitations, there was still no response. I am a weak woman who has just divorced, powerless and without influence, and I cannot even enter the gates of the Earl's Mansion, so I have no choice but to ask the Prefect of the Capital to make a decision."
Jiang Mingwei's anger was trapped in her chest, unable to be released.
She had no idea that Madam Su had sent three invitations to her door in a row, and when the Jingzhao Prefecture sent a message early this morning, the Lady of Yong'an Marquis left in a hurry, so she didn't know what had happened.
“Mingwei, I’ve already repaid the favor I owed you last time. I didn’t want to hold your Jiang family accountable for bullying and humiliating me. But now you’ve dared to commit murder to cover it up for the sake of this dowry. My daughter and I are not to be trifled with. I hope the Jiang family will keep to themselves from now on, or else I will fight you to the death!” After saying this, Madam Su slammed the carriage curtain shut and told Old Feng that he could leave.
The onlookers stared wide-eyed. "What? The Marquis's mansion actually dares to hire someone to commit murder?"
"Look over there, those carriages have made five or six trips back and forth already, haven't they? With such an enormous dowry in their hands, who would be willing to give it up?"
"They wouldn't really want to kill us to cover their tracks, would they? The Yong'an Marquis's family is utterly inhuman!"
"Didn't you hear what that Madam Su said about how the Jiang family bullied and humiliated her? Maybe there's some unspeakable dirty secret behind her divorce from that Jiang second son!"
"Now that you mention it, I'm reminded of something. It's said that at the princess's daughter's 100-day celebration, some people suspected that the princess's daughter wasn't premature at all, and that she was perfectly healthy!"
"Hiss...you mean...they were already..."
Jiang Mingwei couldn't stand it any longer and angrily returned to the Jiang residence.
Upon entering, they learned that after waking up, her mother discovered that the key to the public storeroom was missing, as was the key to her private vault, and she fainted again.
...
The discussion here was not heard by Xiao Youran and her mother, but it was spread one by one by the servants and maids guarding the door into the Yong'an Marquis's mansion.
The three members of the Yong'an Earl family and Gao Shi were busy accompanying the people from the Jingzhao Prefecture to inventory the items, so they naturally had no time to pay attention to these idle gossips.
At this moment, Madam Tian, the third wife of the Marquis of Yong'an, was in her room, eating melon seeds and sipping tea, watching the Marquis's family make a fool of themselves.
A personal maidservant came in and whispered a few words of gossip outside the door in her ear. Madam Tian covered her mouth and laughed, "I never expected this! Last time, Madam Su's disturbance at the Marquis's mansion was a half-hearted affair. I thought she had given up! I never expected that there would be an even more ruthless trick here!"
"Isn't that right? I heard that the old lady's private vault key was also taken away, and a lot of things were moved out of her private vault!" the maid said with a smile.
"That's inevitable! That old woman has hidden away so many good things! She'll have to give them all up this time, she'll be heartbroken!"
The maidservant then reminded her, "I heard that the old lady has fainted again. Shouldn't you go and see her?"
"Hmph, with Jiang Mingwei around, why would I go and join in the fun?"
"But the First Madam is busy taking inventory of the storerooms, and there might be some things that are missing. Only the Old Madam knows for sure," the maid said meaningfully.
Suddenly realizing what was happening, Madam Tian spat out the melon seed shells in her mouth, stood up, tapped the maid's forehead with her index finger, and laughed, "You're so clever!"
"Madam Xie is too kind."
Tian adjusted her hairpins, then swayed her hips as she walked out.
When she arrived at the old lady's courtyard, she indeed heard the old lady cursing loudly. At this moment, she saw that the Earl of Yong'an had also come over with Madam Gao, so she quickly stopped and bowed.
The Earl of Yong'an raised his hand to signal her to be quiet, but the three of them did not go into the house for a while and listened outside the door.
"...Oh dear, that damned Su! My family is her former husband's family, yet she dares to be so disrespectful and unfilial! Just wait and see how she'll remarry after she loses her dowry!"
Jiang Mingwei sighed and patted her on the back, "Mother, please stop scolding and calm down for a while. You just woke up, and now you've fainted again! Second sister-in-law has two children, so it's fine if she doesn't remarry."
"You're so biased! If you hadn't talked to her about returning the dowry last time, why would this have happened today?!" Lady Yong'an was furious.
"Mother, how can you blame me? If it weren't for my second sister-in-law doing me a favor last time, we would have made a scene at Father's birthday banquet. If you ruined Father's birthday banquet, would he give you a good look? The guests in the main hall are all important officials of the court! If you had listened to me afterward and tidied up your things and had a proper talk with her, how could things have turned out like this today? I also heard that my second sister-in-law sent invitations every day for the past three days. You must know that, Mother, right? She has already gone through the motions of politeness before resorting to force, and you still blame her?"
Lady Yong'an was speechless. Of course, she knew that she had deliberately ignored her. Who would have thought that this Lady Su would be so bold as to file a lawsuit against her in court and cause such a scene?
Upon hearing this, the Marquis of Yong'an could no longer contain himself. He angrily kicked open the door, shouting, "So it was all your fault, you old woman! When our superior came to our mansion to ask for her dowry during the birthday banquet, why didn't you tell me?! The banquet was over a month ago now, and you haven't thought to discuss the dowry with that Su woman? She came to our door seeking an audience, and you ignored her completely? You're trying to disgrace the Imperial Household Department, letting the entire capital trample on you!"
Lady Yong'an's lips trembled, and she looked like she was about to faint again.
Jiang Mingwei originally wanted to ask more about the hired killer, but when she saw her father come in, she quickly shut her mouth.
Madam Tian quickly stepped forward to support her, saying, "Mother-in-law, please take care of yourself."
The Marquis of Yong'an shouted, "Stop pretending to be unconscious! There are still many items on this list that are missing! Quickly tell us where they are! The people from the Jingzhao Prefecture are waiting!"
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