Zhou returned to the Duke's mansion in a daze.
She neither saw Song Yuqing nor obtained the antidote, and was truly worried about Shen Danru's safety, so she had no choice but to return to the manor first.
As soon as they entered the Duke's mansion, several burly old women surrounded them.
Shen Xiaohua was also startled by the commotion, and then scolded, "Are you all blind? You don't even recognize the madam?"
But the old women ignored her completely, glaring fiercely at Shen Xiaohua, and without pausing, they came up to tie her up.
Although Shen Xiaohua grew up in the countryside, she was no match for the old women, and in no time she was tied up tightly.
"Stop! All of you, stop! What do you mean by this? Why are you tying her up?"
The old women were veterans of the Duke's mansion. Although they looked down on Zhou Shi, they would still abide by the rules of the Duke's mansion. One of the old women stepped forward, bowed respectfully, and replied:
"Reporting to Madam, this is the eldest young master's order. Shen Xiaohua was bought by the princess for eighty taels of silver. Since she is of lowly status, there is no need to report her wrongdoing to the government. Our Duke's Mansion can deal with her as we see fit. The young master said to beat her to death with sticks and throw her into a mass grave to feed the wild dogs."
As the old women talked, they took out the wooden sticks behind them and slammed them down with a series of cracking sounds.
After a few blows, her face turned deathly pale, and her mouth was stuffed tightly with a rag, so she couldn't make a sound.
She opened her eyes wide and looked to Zhou for help.
Zhou couldn't bear to see Shen Xiaohua being beaten right under her nose, so she stepped forward to protect Shen Xiaohua.
"Madam, I'm so sorry..."
Two of the old women grabbed Zhou Shi, pulled her aside, and imprisoned her.
In the blink of an eye, Shen Xiaohua fainted from the pain.
“How dare you plot against the princess! Throw the water on her to wake her up, and continue beating her.”
As a basin of water was poured over her, Shen Xiaohua woke up with two coughs.
Then came the sound of a wooden stick hitting flesh, and Shen Xiaohua was beaten to death right under Zhou's nose.
Even in his dying moments, he stared wide-eyed at Zhou, his eyes filled with pleading, sorrow, resentment, unwillingness, and despair…
Zhou watched this scene in disbelief. She had brought Shen Xiaohua to Shengjing, but she never expected her to die right in front of her.
"Little Flower, Little Flower..."
She broke free from the two old women's restraints, ran forward, and shook Shen Xiaohua.
"It was you! You killed Xiaohua! You murderers..."
Several old women quickly knelt down: "Madam, this has nothing to do with us. We were just following orders from the eldest young master."
"Yu'an, it's Yu'an! Where is he? I need to see him."
Upon learning from the old woman that Shen Yu'an was currently at Shen Danru's Muxue Garden, he hurriedly and absentmindedly went to Muxue Garden.
She barged into Shen Danru's room, completely disregarding Shen Danru's unconscious state, and slapped Shen Yu'an twice across the face.
"You, how could you become so cruel? Xiaohua may have been of lowly status, but she was still your sister! You just beat her to death like that! How am I supposed to explain this to your third uncle and aunt...?"
As Zhou spoke, she began to pound on Shen Yu'an's body.
Shen Yu'an grabbed Zhou Shi and dragged him out of the courtyard, instructing the old woman:
"The lady is already out of her mind. Send her to the estate and keep a close watch on her. Without my orders, she is not allowed to see anyone."
Mrs. Zhou was stunned. She looked at her eldest son in astonishment, unable to believe that he would treat her like this.
When he had the last conflict with Ru'er, he ordered his servants to keep an eye on her without saying a word, forbidding her from leaving her own courtyard and making her reflect on her mistakes behind closed doors.
This time it was because of Ru'er again, and they wanted to send her, her mother, to the countryside to suffer.
Is this still her son?
The son she had raised for twenty years now completely favored Ru'er after she returned.
"You, you unfilial son, how dare you treat me like this! I'm going to find your father right now and let him see what an unfilial son you are!"
Seeing Zhou Shi yelling at him like a madwoman, Shen Yu'an was somewhat incredulous.
How did Mother become like this? She has completely lost the gentleness she had in Shangqing Village.
Is this still their mother?
Shen Yu'an also wanted to understand why her mother did this and why she wanted to kill her second sister.
"Mother, why did you poison Ru'er? We are where we are today because of Second Sister. How can you do this to her?"
Unexpectedly, Shen Yu'an's words did not arouse any remorse in Zhou Shi; instead, they made Zhou Shi hate Shen Danru even more.
She gritted her teeth and said, "Ru'er, Ru'er, you only care about her, you don't care about your mother at all. Have you thought about Qing'er? Qing'er has been harmed so badly by her. Qing'er is also your sister. She has harmed so many people. Since I gave birth to her, I have the right to deal with her..."
Seeing her mother's hysterical state and the complete lack of remorse, Shen Yu'an was very disappointed in Zhou Shi.
“Mother, Yuqing is the young lady of the Song family, and Ruer is my sister. It was the young lady of the Song family who wanted to harm my second sister. If it weren’t for my second sister’s cleverness, she would probably be the one whose innocence would be ruined.”
“Mother, although my second sister didn’t grow up with me, she has always thought of our family since she came back. She makes sure we have enough to eat and wear. Without her, we would never have been able to reunite with our grandfather. Please wake up.”
"You've poisoned my second sister and she's already collapsed, yet you still show no remorse. Even the Duke's physician can't figure out what poison she's been poisoned with. If you keep causing trouble like this, aren't you afraid of the Sixth Prince's wrath? Aren't you afraid that Grandfather will collapse from anger again? You should pack up and go to the estate. I'll come to see you there."
Shen Yu'an then instructed the old women to pack their things and send Zhou Shi to the estate to be kept under guard, forbidding her from seeing anyone.
At first, Zhou thought Shen Yu'an was just talking, but she didn't expect him to actually have the old woman keep an eye on her.
"Your father won't approve of you treating me like this."
Shen Yu was silent for a moment before saying, "Father knows about this too. He said he doesn't want to see you again."
“Mother, if you want Grandfather to fall down again and want Father to divorce you, then go ahead and make a scene.”
"As for Shen Xiaohua, she was originally a servant bought by the second sister. She didn't know her place and dared to harm her master. It was her own fault for being beaten to death."
After saying his last sentence, Shen Yu'an went back to his room.
Looking at the cold and indifferent figure, Zhou collapsed to the ground, powerless.
"Madam, everything is packed. We should get going."
One of the old women stepped forward respectfully and said, though she was reporting, her tone left no room for refusal.
The other two old women helped Zhou up—or rather, supported her—and carried her towards the carriage.
As Zhou was about to get into the carriage, she saw Shen Yulan rushing over with her maids and servants.
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