Chapter 175 Grandfather and Mother Meet, Qiu Shui Explains
Qiu Shui lay on the ground, wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth, and tremblingly stroked the jade hairpin in his hair, still holding on to the last glimmer of hope.
"Jiang Si and I are in love, and he said he would marry me... I just have feelings for him, but I will never betray the Xu family!"
She said excitedly, "Yes, yes, he wouldn't lie to me. He even gave me a token of love, and this hairpin is the token of love."
"A token?"
Pu Wei walked out, took out a green jade hairpin from her sleeve and threw it in front of Qiu Shui.
"This broken hairpin is not worth even three taels of silver. Jiang Si must have bought a bunch of them and given them away to all the young maids in the Bo Mansion!"
When she was in Wanxiangyuan before, Jiang Si had given her a hairpin like this in order to win her over.
"If you don't believe me, go to the Bo's Mansion and ask. Everyone knows that Jiang Si has affairs with many of the maids, and you are the dumbest one among them."
Qiu Shui picked up the hairpin on the ground, pulled out the jade hairpin from her own hair, and compared them carefully.
Exactly the same.
"No, it's impossible. How could this happen..."
Her fingers trembled, and the hairpin slipped from her hand to the ground, breaking into two with a "snap".
Thinking about what she heard from the doorman of Bo's Mansion tonight, she finally understood that from the beginning to the end, Jiang Si had only been using her.
Mr. Xu looked at her, feeling both pained and angry.
He really treated Qiu Shui as his goddaughter, but he never expected that the maid he had trusted for so many years was Xie Mingan's person!
Qiu Shui met Mr. Xu's gaze and lowered his head in shame, with resentment and hatred surging in his eyes.
However, when Mr. Xu turned his head and saw Xu Susu beside him, the anger in his heart suddenly disappeared.
His daughter is back, so why would he still care about a goddaughter who has two minds?
Xie Yao kept watching her grandfather's expression out of the corner of her eyes, and only when she saw the old man's brows relaxed did she feel relieved.
Only she knew how much her grandfather missed her mother.
She invited her mother over, and her grandfather was so excited and happy that he didn't care about being sad for a servant.
Even though my mother didn't know how to face my grandfather, she would not reject me.
Old Master Xu couldn't help but look at Xu Susu once, twice.
He thought to himself, apart from the day of little Ayao's wedding, how long has it been since he last saw his daughter?
Ever since she insisted on marrying Xie Mingan, the father and daughter have not had a good word to each other in these years.
"Susu," Mr. Xu said in a somewhat awkward tone. He took a cautious step forward, wanting to hold Xu Susu's hand, but he couldn't let go of his pride. "Why are you here?"
"Ayao asked me to come and said--" When Xu Susu heard her father's voice, the coldness in her eyes faded away and guilt welled up in her eyes.
She should have said that Xie Yao had called her, but when she turned around and looked at Mr. Xu's white hair, her eyes suddenly turned red and she choked up and said, "Dad, I miss you!"
"How come your hair is all white? It was still black when I left home."
Old Master Xu frowned, and smiled, "Hehe," with tears in his smile: "I am already quite old, with a few white hairs, I look calm and steady."
Xu Susu shook her head: "It's my daughter's fault for being unfilial. She came back late."
"It's good that you're back, Susu, it's good that you're back."
Old Master Xu took his daughter's hand and walked into the main hall without even glancing at Qiu Shui lying on the ground.
"It's cold outside, let's go inside and talk, Lao Yu, come on—"
Housekeeper Yu wiped away his tears and sighed heavily, "I'll go make Miss's favorite meal right now!"
"As for her," Mr. Xu paused and said with his head tilted, "Little A'yao, I leave her to you."
Back in the house, he looked up and down at his daughter whom he hadn't seen for many years, feeling extremely uneasy.
Xu Susu took the Tremella soup served by the housekeeper and originally drank it in small sips, but for some reason, she suddenly couldn't hold it in anymore, and her tears uncontrollably fell into the bowl in big drops.
"I'm sorry, Dad. I was ignorant back then."
After saying this word by word, Xu Susu let out a long sigh.
"There's no need to talk about the past."
Old Mr. Xu looked at his daughter, raised his weathered and dry hands and wiped her tears.
"Susu, you just need to remember that everyone makes mistakes in their life. It doesn't matter if you take the wrong path or marry the wrong person. No matter how old you are, when you return home, you will always be your parents' daughter."
Xu Susu threw herself into Mr. Xu's arms and began to cry suppressedly.
In the woodshed.
Qiu Shui was tied up in a corner, his face pale and his eyes staring stubbornly at the door of the woodshed.
As if she was waiting for someone to plead for her.
Xie Yao sat on the only wooden chair, with Honeysuckle and Baisui standing behind her.
"Tell me," Rendong spoke first, "What is the purpose of Earl Wenchang placing you in the Xu family's courtyard?"
Qiu Shui raised her head and said in a hoarse voice, "Jiang Si only asked me to keep an eye on the master and report anything to him. He didn't ask me to do anything else."
Her tears fell like rain: "Princess, the master treats me like a goddaughter, how could I harm him?"
Honeysuckle: "You won't hurt him, but you will lie to him."
She took out a yellowed list, on which was the ancestral prescription Qiu Shui had given to Mr. Xu when his cold worsened a few years ago.
"This folk remedy is just an ordinary remedy, but the old man is in good health, so there's no way he has a cold!"
She said slowly.
"I asked Housekeeper Yu. At that time, a relative of his passed away, so he returned to his hometown to visit his family. He left all the affairs of the other courtyard to you. I'm afraid you made Mr. Xu catch a cold, and then pretended to give him a folk remedy to cure him!"
Qiu Shui nodded gently.
"Yes, I am possessed by the devil."
Xie Yao looked at her indifferently, with a cold look in her eyes: "My mother is my grandfather's only daughter. Now that she is here, do you think my grandfather will still care about a goddaughter?"
Honeysuckle: "You have been in the Xu family for eighteen years. What have you done?"
Seeing her silence, Xie Yao chuckled, but the smile did not reach his eyes: "Since you are unwilling to confess, then obey mother's instructions, give you fifty strokes of the cane, and sell you off."
Bai Shen shook the sword in his hand and said, "Princess, with her body like this, fifty strokes of the cane will surely kill her."
Qiu Shui shuddered.
Honeysuckle: "With my servants here, I can save him, but he will probably be paralyzed."
Qiu Shui widened his eyes in horror.
Bai Mi: "Okay, even if Miss Honeysuckle is a skilled doctor and saves her life, she is still half dead and can't be sold at a high price."
"Does Guard Xiaobai have any good ideas?" Xie Yao asked with interest.
Bai Mi rubbed his hands eagerly: "Why not leave it to me? Although I never lay hands on women, there is a pack of wolves in the mountains behind the palace. They feed them dry and tasteless Xirong people all day long. It's time to change the taste occasionally."
As he spoke, he smiled grimly: "These wolves eat people, starting with the internal organs, which are hot and delicious. However, they will bite your neck first, so you don't have to be afraid. When you die, you won't feel any pain. But if I want to be a hero and save the beauty, I definitely can't-"
Before Bai Mi finished speaking, Qiu Shui could no longer control his retching and even had the thought of biting his tongue to commit suicide.
Honeysuckle: "Miss Qiushui, you want to bite your tongue to commit suicide? I am a doctor. With your strength, you probably can't bite yourself to death. I will have to pull your tongue out to save you. Please don't be so disgusting."
Qiu Shui: “…”
Xie Yao and Rendong, one was used to seeing life and death, the other was skilled in medicine, both listened to Bai Mi's words with expressionless faces.
"I was wrong. I am willing to die as an apology. I only ask, I only ask you not to feed me to the wolves..."
Qiu Shui said with tears streaming down her face.
"It's all my fault. Back then, it was me who told Master Bo about the young lady's preferences and taboos, and I passed on a message for him, inviting her to the Xie family's villa in the suburbs of Beijing for a spring outing and a drink at Qushui Liushang. I also sent Madam Su away..."
She told him everything that happened eighteen years ago.
With every word, Xie Yao's face darkened.
It turned out that the mother had no interest in Xie Mingan at the beginning.
It was Qiu Shui who praised the top scholar of the Xie family in her ears every day, creating opportunities for Xie Ming'an.
It was Xie Mingan who took advantage of his drunkenness to humiliate his mother, and said that he had loved his mother for a long time and was willing to marry her.
He was so sincere and acted so perfectly that his mother believed his lies.
It was not until her mother gave birth to her that Xie Ming'an came to the Xu family in person to propose marriage. He spoke so beautifully that her grandfather had no choice but to marry his daughter into the uncle's house.
Although she already knew this, she still couldn't help but clench her fists when she heard Qiu Shui's words.
"I know I've let the young lady down, and I've always regretted it. But Wenchang Bo saved my life, and Jiang Si, he, he was drunk and lost his composure with me. He said he would marry me, so I started dating him. I didn't expect... I was blind."
There was more hatred in Qiu Shui's crying.
As she spoke, she understood that if Wenchang Bo could get the eldest daughter after drinking, then the first time Jiang Si drank with her must have been a plan of his.
Suddenly, Qiu Shui thought of something and a light flashed in his eyes.
"Princess, I am willing to atone my sins. Jiang Si said that Wenchang Bo still has something for me to do. He will definitely come to me again. I can pretend to agree and then hand over the evidence of his crime to you!"
"Mr. Wenchang plotted to murder the master. With this evidence, the eldest lady can use it to divorce him!"
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