Chapter 147: Trouble
Chen Xi had never felt so helpless as she did today. She leaned against the bathtub and couldn't stop crying.
The Second Madam was in the South Courtyard. When she heard the maid report that Shen Ying had sprained her foot and was taken back home, she hurried to Qinglan Garden. She could enter and exit Shen Ying's inner room at will, so she went straight in, walked around the screen, and saw the marks on Shen Ying's body. The Second Madam's heart sank to the bottom of the valley.
It was not difficult for someone who had experienced this not to know what the mark was. The second wife felt as if the sky had fallen. "Who made this?!"
Knowing that it was the Prince of Changping Marquis, he was still unwilling to take responsibility. The Second Wife wanted to skin the Prince of Changping Marquis alive, and even wanted to kill Chen Tang.
After Xie Guimo left, Chen Tang stayed in the room, sneezing one after another.
Just as she was rubbing her nose, Gingko came in and said, "Miss, the old lady wants you to go to her place."
It was obvious why the old lady wanted to ask her to go now. The old lady had stopped all the quarrels in the mansion, let alone leaving the mansion. The two sisters left the mansion together, but they came back separately. The old lady would not agree to that.
And there was Chen Xian. She failed in her plot against her and got herself into trouble. The Second Wife was so pissed off that how could she not find fault with her? Even if she had to punish her by making her copy the family rules, she would not let her get away with it.
Chen Tang finished the tea in his hand before standing up.
After entering Songhe Hall and walking around the screen, he felt a cold and bone-chilling gaze sweeping over him. The second wife's face was green. Chen Tang asked directly, "Second Aunt looks so bad, are you sick?"
This sentence drew everyone's attention to the second wife, and even the old lady felt that the second wife's expression was too ugly.
The Second Madam tried her best to be patient and regained some of her composure. "The old lady repeatedly told you sisters to get along, but you went to Shunwang Mansion to attend the lotus viewing banquet. The eldest girl sprained her foot, but you didn't even come back with her. Do you still have any sisterhood?"
These words made Chen Tang so disgusted that she almost vomited her breakfast. How could Chen Xian be qualified to talk about sisterhood with her?
Chen Tang glanced at the Second Madam and said, "Second Aunt's accusation is unreasonable. Everyone in Kyoto knows that I, Chen Tang, value sisterhood the most. In order not to hurt sisterhood, I refused to marry the Prince of Jingyang. But Second Aunt said that I have no sisterhood. I have never seen you criticize my eldest sister like this."
Even if Chen Xian really sprained her ankle in Prince Shun's mansion, she didn't accompany him back. Compared with Shen Xian who poisoned herself and framed her to marry the Prince of Jingyang for happiness, it's not worth mentioning.
Don't tell her that it's okay for the sisters to quarrel in the mansion, but not outside.
This is what the Second Wife meant, and she did not hide it at all, "You sisters can quarrel all you want in the mansion, but when you go out to visit others, you still do this..."
Chen Tang said, "So that's how Second Aunt taught my eldest sister. I can't do something so hypocritical, with a gilded exterior and a rotten interior."
The second wife was just short of being pointed at by Chen Tang and scolded for being all show and no substance. Her face turned green.
Chen Tang looked at the old lady and said, "Grandmother, I didn't know about my elder sister's sprained ankle until I returned home. I didn't even know when my elder sister left Shunwang Mansion. I didn't see her from the beginning to the end of the Lotus Appreciation Banquet. I asked the maids of Shunwang Mansion to help look for her several times. It was not until the end of the banquet that Princess Ding'an told me that my elder sister had left Shunwang Mansion a long time ago. That's when I returned home."
"My eldest sister didn't tell me why she left, and she didn't take the carriage in the mansion. She left the carriage to me. I thought this was not in line with my eldest sister's personality, but Second Aunt believed that I deliberately didn't accompany my eldest sister back to the mansion and blamed me. Second Aunt was too protective of my eldest sister!"
The old lady only knew that Shen Xian and Shen Tang did not return to the mansion together, and she did not know that Shen Xian did not return in the carriage of the Marquis's mansion.
Chen Xian was raised by the old lady. She sprained her ankle in Prince Shun's mansion, but she refused to let Chen Tang accompany her and even left the carriage to Chen Tang. This would not have been possible even if the sun rose from the west.
Moreover, Chen Xian returned home only a quarter of an hour earlier than Chen Tang. Chen Tang said that Chen Xian was nowhere to be seen during the entire lotus viewing banquet. That long time was enough for Chen Xian to walk from Prince Shun's Mansion back to Marquis Pingyuan's Mansion.
The old lady looked at the second wife, "Why does it take so long to get back to the Marquis' Mansion from Shunwang Mansion?"
The second wife said, "Xier's feet hurt so much that she couldn't stand it. She was delayed on the way to see the doctor and get medicine."
Chen Tang said, "Second Aunt knows so much, how come she doesn't know whether it's me who doesn't accompany my eldest sister, or my eldest sister doesn't want me to accompany her at all?"
The Second Madam was only concerned with attacking Chen Tang, but she didn't expect that she would end up getting herself and Shen Ying involved. What Chen Tang said was well-reasoned and could withstand questioning, but the Second Madam's words could not withstand scrutiny. Either she felt too sorry for Shen Ying and reported the matter in a distorted manner, asking the old lady to punish Chen Tang, or Shen Ying did not tell the Second Madam the truth.
No matter who it was, the fault for not returning home together today could not be blamed on Chen Tang. Even if they were sisters, they were not tied together hand and foot, and there would always be a time to separate. Chen Tang was not a worm in Chen Xi's stomach, and could know what she thought and did.
The second wife had a cold face and was speechless. The old lady scolded, "Is this how you protect Xian'er?!"
These days, Chen Tang has been trying to put on a show in front of the old lady more than once, letting her know how partial and protective the second wife is. People in the mansion have been vaguely wondering whether what Jiang said back then is true. Chen Xian is not the daughter of the eldest house, and Chen Sui's estrangement from the second house is like a thorn in the old lady's throat, making her unable to sleep or eat.
Now the Second Wife is making trouble for no reason and protecting Chen Xi to the point of being unreasonable, which makes the Old Lady even more uneasy.
The second wife was so angry that she lost her mind today. Now she came to her senses and hurriedly admitted her fault, "I didn't understand the matter clearly..."
Scold her, and then want to expose the truth without clarifying a single word?
It's not that easy.
Chen Tang looked at the old lady, choking with sobs, "Grandma, Second Aunt loves my eldest sister and has wrongly blamed me more than once. Although my mother has passed away, my father is still alive, and Fourth Aunt is in charge of the household affairs. I don't want Second Aunt to interfere in the affairs of our eldest house in the future. My eldest sister and I will leave the house together. No matter what happens, Second Aunt always thinks it's my fault. It's better for my eldest sister and I not to live under the same roof. I will follow my mother's will and live in the Jiang family."
The old lady scolded, "Nonsense! You are old enough to get married, and you can't live in the Marquis' Mansion for long. How can you live in the Jiang family?"
I wasn't allowed to go when I was young, and if I move to the Jiang family now, who knows what kind of rumors will spread.
Chen Tang's eyes were red, and he looked aggrieved, "There's nothing I can do about it."
The old lady's eyes swept towards the second wife fiercely, "From now on, if you say one more word about the affairs of the eldest house or the two sisters, you will kneel down in the Buddhist temple and reflect on your sins!"
The second wife wanted to speak, but the old lady's eyes became even colder, and she was so suppressed that the words that were about to come out of her mouth could not come out.
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