It was obvious that the two girls suddenly running to the people in the Earl's Mansion to cry and complain was the key to the sudden turn of events. Given their panic-stricken state at the time, they would never have thought of showing loyalty in front of their old master and clearing themselves of this. This must have been instigated by someone. Su Nuannuan had her own guess as to who it was, but the guess would only be based on the testimony of the two girls.
Duan Tingxuan raised his eyebrows, turned his head to look at his wife, leaned over and whispered: "Congratulations, Madam, on your victory."
"It's also because of my good cooperation." Su Nuannuan also replied in a low voice. Because he couldn't lose his dignity and fail at the last moment, he said this coldly, which made the young marquis a little embarrassed.
Cuiping and Fengxian were dragged back. They lay on the ground, shaking badly. Su Nuannuan didn't say anything, just drank her tea slowly. This finally made the two of them lose hope. Fengxian looked up and said with tears streaming down her face, "Grandma, if we tell you who ordered us to complain, will you spare our lives?"
"As long as you didn't harm Grandma Yun..."
Su Nuannuan opened her mouth, and before she could finish, she heard the two girls shouting in unison: "It really wasn't us, grandma. If we had done such a heartless thing, we would have been struck to death by lightning without a burial place."
"Okay, I also believe that you would not do such a foolish thing, otherwise you would not have waited until today. Tell me, who instigated you to cry out for injustice in front of the people in the Earl's Mansion and frame the Marquis' Mansion? As long as it is found that you were indeed deceived, you will not be forgiven for your living crime, but you will be exempted from the death penalty. Do you think I am willing to kill people at will?"
Fengxian and Cuiping looked at each other, knowing that they couldn't get through this hurdle easily. After hesitating for a moment, Cuiping said, "We... can't say that we were the mastermind. We... we just accidentally heard the maids beside Grandma Lan talking. They said... that Grandma Yun died too quickly this time, and the Earl's Mansion would definitely... definitely not give up. But Grandma Yun died of resentment, so what kind of explanation can the Marquis' Mansion give? In the end, they just found two people to hand over to the Earl's Mansion for disposal, which was considered an explanation. And these two people... are naturally the two of us who serve Grandma Yun. We were scared to death at the time and had no idea what to do. And I heard from the little girl that if this matter happened to her, she would never sit and wait for death. At most, she would go to the masters of the Earl's Mansion and say that Grandma died unjustly. Ask the Earl's Mansion to make the decision. In this way, even if the people of the Earl's Mansion are angry at the Marquis' Mansion, we will get ourselves out of it after all."
Cuiping stopped talking here. She looked at Fengxian beside her, and Fengxian took over the conversation. She choked and said, "Grandma, please understand. We were also scared at that time. We thought that if we really did such a thing, how could the Marquis' Mansion forgive us in the future? But that... but those two little girls seemed to be able to see through our thoughts. They gave the answer in their words, saying that we had served in the Earl of Chengming's Mansion for many years, but we just married with Madam Yun. If we show our loyalty to the old master and ask the old master to take us in and save our lives, the old master will definitely have more sympathy for us. It is not difficult for them to ask the Marquis' Mansion to return the maids when Madam Yun just died. At that time... at that time, we were too scared, so... we were blinded by greed... and we really did what they said. Please understand, grandma, we were just... just afraid of being pushed out to take the blame, and never thought of framing the Marquis' Mansion..."
"Shut up, you still dare to quibble here. Although Grandma Yun died suddenly, the cause and effect are clear. So far, there is no evidence to point out that someone murdered her. You ran to the people in the Earl's Mansion and talked nonsense. Isn't this a false accusation against the Marquis' Mansion? Considering that you are only trying to protect yourselves and were confused for a moment, I will spare you the death penalty, but you are worthy of death, and you can't escape this living crime."
Su Nuannuan spoke sternly, and said to Xing'er beside her: "Remember this, when this matter is over, let them go to Aunt Jing to receive their punishment. Each of them will be slapped fifty times on the face as a warning to others."
"yes."
Xing Er agreed. Cui Ping and Feng Xian cried with joy. Compared with being pushed out to take the blame or being beaten to death, being slapped fifty times was cruel, but it was a narrow escape, so it was worth celebrating.
The two of them kowtowed to thank Su Nuannuan for not killing them, and then knelt down and walked aside. They knew that since the mistress of the house had shown off her power today, she would not give up. She did not ask them to leave, probably because she had other instructions.
Sure enough, Su Nuannuan asked, "You said you accidentally heard the maids beside Grandma Lan talking about something. Who was the one who was talking about it? Tell me now."
Fengxian said, "The two little girls sat with their backs to us. I recognized one of them, she was Feiyan who was beside Grandma Lan. If I asked her to recognize the other one from her back, I could recognize her as well. I think that although Xia Yuxuan was in chaos yesterday, except for a few masters, the other servants did not dare to come over to make trouble and ask questions, so they should all be the people beside Grandma Lan."
Su Nuannuan nodded and said to Xing'er, "Go out and find someone to tell Qiuyun Pavilion to tell Grandma Lan to bring all the maids from Qiuyun Pavilion over."
Xing'er agreed and hurried out to pass on the message without mentioning it again.
Let's talk about Xue Zhilan. She was dressing up in Qiuyun Pavilion at this moment. Long Yan was combing her hair carefully. There was no one in the room. Long Yan whispered, "The move that grandma made yesterday was really risky. Master and grandma are both smart people. How could they not know that Fengxian and Cuiping suddenly cried out for injustice? They are just two maids. There is no need to torture them. They will confess if you scare them a few times. Even if grandma sends Feiyan and Lang'er to talk to them behind their backs, they may not be able to recognize them. By then, won't the blame be on grandma? This is really an unprovoked disaster."
Xue Zhilan said slowly: "You can see these drawbacks, how can I not see them? But wealth and honor are sought in danger. If you want to achieve great things, how can you do it without taking some risks? Don't worry, I have left a way out."
"No way? I can't think of any way out of this matter. Once Fengxian Cuiping confesses, the fire will burn on grandma's head in an instant." Longyan was indeed surprised, and her surprised expression undoubtedly pleased Xue Zhilan. She smiled and said, "Silly girl, if you think like this, then don't take risks. The so-called risky gamble must have at least a 60% chance of success, and what I did yesterday was even more firmly in an invincible position." At this point, she sighed again and murmured, "I can't say I'm invincible. I'm afraid that if the master knows, I don't know what he will think of me."
Long Yan was silent. She didn't know how to answer this question. This had never happened. Duan Tingxuan came here now just to see the children and talk to Grandma Lan. There was no intimacy between husband and wife at all.
Suddenly, Xue Zhilan laughed out loud, and her spirits perked up again. She gritted her teeth and said, "So what? As long as we can overthrow that woman, as long as we can expose her true colors, so that I can see her true face... Hehe, Xu Ranyun is dead, and I am the real master of this house. In the future, the position of the legal wife will also be mine."
Long Yan whispered: "Grandma, tell me, could this really be done by the great grandmother?"
"Of course she didn't do it herself." Xue Zhilan sneered and said lightly: "But with her current ability, can't she drive others? Think about it, why didn't she go back to her parents' home earlier or later? Why did she go back at this time? How many people in the mansion know that Xu Ranyun can't stand lotus root? Fengxian Cuiping will definitely not do such a thing. I didn't do it, and I know it in my heart. Who else can do this?"
Long Yan thought for a moment, then said carefully, "Grandma, are you talking about... Aunt Jiang?"
"If not her, who else could it be?"
Xue Zhilan laughed and continued, "But to be honest, this is not Aunt Jiang's fault. If I was bullied by Xu Ranyun like that, and I saw that the other party had a clear attitude of either her or me, I would also take the initiative. This is Xu Ranyun's own death. She only looked down on Aunt Jiang and always treated her as a submissive servant, so she didn't even bother to hide a knife behind her smile, but she didn't know that such a person would be cruel and heartless once revenge. In the end, she died at the hands of someone she looked down on. This can be regarded as retribution. Who made her want to harm Chuan Ge'er that day? Since Aunt Jiang saw through it, how could she not hate it?"
Long Yan's hands trembled slightly. Why did Xu Ranyun want to harm Duan Maochuan? She knew the whole process very well. It was her master who had been instigating her step by step. Now that her master said it was retribution, how could she not be suspicious? She felt that if it was really retribution, she and her grandmother would not be able to escape. Why did her grandmother say such a thing? Wasn't this an ominous sign?
Xue Zhilan didn't notice the look on the maid's face. She was still immersed in her own reasoning and said complacently, "It's just that Madam Jiang has always been cowardly. If you count on her, she will never be so bold. So there must be someone who fanned the flames around her and gave her all kinds of benefits, which made her greedy and dared to do such a thing to harm her master. Is there any need to ask who this person is? Who else can cover the sky with one hand in the mansion and protect Madam Jiang's life except the eldest grandmother?"
As soon as she finished speaking, she heard Cai Sang's voice outside panicking, "Grandma, it's bad. Madam Liang came with a few maids and said that the eldest grandma sent a message, asking you to take all the maids of Qiuyun Pavilion to Xia Yuxuan immediately. She wants to ask something."
Long Yan's face turned pale all of a sudden, and she murmured, "What should we do, Grandma? It must be that those two girls, Fengxian and Cuiping, couldn't bear the torture, and called Feiyan and Lang'er out. Grandma, what should we do?"
"What are you afraid of? Just confess. I didn't expect them to be able to withstand it in the first place."
Xue Zhilan was not flustered at all. She stood up and looked at her jewelry in front of the mirror: the plain dress and the white camellia on her head made the already stunningly beautiful woman even more stunningly beautiful. She turned half a circle in front of the mirror and said to Long Yan, "Order all the maids and servants in Qiuyun Pavilion to gather together. I will take them to Xiayuxuan."
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