"Old Madam, I swear to God, that silver really was accepted by Eunuch Qin." Madam Shen raised her hand to swear, crying and pleading.
"Liar! If he took the money, why wouldn't he do the job?"
"he……"
Madam Shen was speechless, her face showing difficulty.
She dared not tell the old lady that the three thousand taels of silver was merely a stepping stone to meeting Eunuch Qin; if she wanted him to agree to save the person, she would have to endure nineteen tortures in the Qin household.
Just hearing the numbers terrified her, so she quickly left with her maid, not daring to ask what the specific punishments were, for fear that if she lingered even a moment longer, she wouldn't be able to leave.
But such words are obviously not appropriate to say to the old lady.
Seeing Madam Shen stammering like this, Old Madam Shen was furious and wanted to invoke family law.
Upon seeing the old lady Shen's maidservant come out with a rattan cane, Madam Shen panicked instantly.
If she were really beaten today, getting injured would be one thing, but where would she put her face as the matriarch of the household? If word got out, she would be laughed at to death!
Out of the corner of her eye, Madam Shen caught sight of Shen Qiyin standing to the side. As if grasping at a straw, she hurriedly said, "Yin'er, quickly help your mother explain to your grandmother that the silver was really not embezzled by me."
Where did it go?
“You…” Madam Shen was stunned.
In the past, whenever the old lady made things difficult for her, this daughter would always step forward and try her best to get her out of trouble.
What's wrong with me today?
Frowning at Madam Shen, Shen Qiyin sighed and said, "Mother, even if you have your reasons for hiding it, won't it be exposed once Grandmother questions everyone who went to the Qin residence with you today?"
Upon hearing this, Madam Shen immediately chimed in, "Someone! Bring all the servants who visited the Qin residence today to my room."
How can it be concealed now!
Madam Shen hurriedly and honestly explained the situation, weeping bitterly, looking utterly pitiful.
"The instruments of torture were laid out in the courtyard. He would only agree to help us rescue the master if I survived after being subjected to them one by one."
"I... I am afraid, but for the sake of my master, I am willing to risk my life. But when I think about how my master is already in prison, and if something happens to me, the manor will be even more without a leader. What will we do then!"
"We must save this life first, and then we can make further plans..."
"Pah!" Before Madam Shen could finish speaking, she was interrupted by Old Madam Shen's gruff voice.
She stood up abruptly, her hand trembling as she pointed at Madam Shen: "What a silver-tongued wife! You've said everything, good or bad. You're not good at bearing sons, but you're good at playing the fool."
"That's your husband! The father of your children! Are you really going to just watch him die in prison?"
"Have you lost your conscience?"
When Old Madam Shen pointed her finger at her and scolded her, Madam Shen didn't dare to utter a word in response.
She only reacted when she heard the other party say that she would make him divorce her when Shen Cang returned.
Instead of retorting fearlessly, or begging in panic, he grabbed Shen Qiyin, as if she were a lifeline, and pushed her in front of Old Madam Shen.
She said urgently, "No! You can't divorce me, you can't! Yin'er, Yin'er can help me, she can go and save Master."
As if to prove that what she said was true, she turned Shen Qiyin to face her, her eyes, red from crying, filled with expectation: "Yin'er, you will help your mother, won't you?"
“The son must pay for the father’s sins. Your mother did something wrong, so of course you should make amends.” Saying this, Madam Shen suddenly felt confident: “Besides, that’s your father. It’s only right and proper for you to go and save him!”
Honeysuckle listened, utterly astonished.
Madam is sending Miss to her death!
"Madam, this servant is willing to take Miss's place..."
Ren Dong bent her knees as if to kneel, but Shen Qiyin raised her hand to stop her and pulled her behind her.
Shen Qiyin looked at Madam Shen in front of her and suddenly smiled.
Disappointed?
It seems unlikely.
Because she knew from the beginning that her life, death, fortune, or misfortune was insignificant to the other party.
Strangely enough, my heart still aches dully.
In fact, in her previous life in the Qin family, she did not suffer all nineteen punishments, but only eighteen.
As she lay dying, Qin Li ordered her to be released.
She was completely baffled.
All she remembered was Qin Li looking at her with an inscrutable expression, and saying with a sinister smile, "You'll understand later..."
The "later" that Qin Li mentioned refers to three years after Shen Qiyin was seriously injured.
During the Mid-Autumn Festival family banquet, the Shen family pressured her to marry Qin Li in order to advance her career, and she suddenly realized the truth!
This was the nineteenth punishment.
The first eighteen extreme tortures wounded his body, but this last one was to pierce his soul.
The executioners were the entire Shen family!
Of all the family members, the one who hurt her the most was her mother.
Because children always habitually have expectations of their mothers.
I hope... she will love me the way I love her.
After Madam Shen finished speaking, Shen Qiyin did not respond, but only stared at her with red eyes.
Feeling guilty, she spoke again, her tone unconsciously hardening: "Are you going or not?"
Shen Qiyin lowered her eyes and said, "Oh my god..."
“If I go, even if my father shouldn’t have died, he probably won’t survive.”
Madam Shen quickly pressed, "Second daughter, what do you mean by that?"
"Today, while I was offering incense at Jing'an Temple, I overheard two noble ladies from prominent families chatting. They were saying that the Imperial Noble Consort and the Imperial Noble Consort had a falling out over the management of the six palaces, which displeased His Majesty."
She originally knew nothing about the affairs of the imperial concubines, but in her previous life, the two fought each other more and more fiercely, and even though she was in the countryside, she heard about it.
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