"Why was my uncle arrested suddenly?" Mrs. Ding looked anxious, but her expression was far from as anxious as she appeared. She was even in the mood to drink tea late at night.
The tea is good. I heard that it was sent by the Ruan family. This time, my cousin passed the imperial examination. I don’t know how much gifts the Ruan family will send. Mother Ding looked at Second Madam Ding and asked. She could no longer sip tea leisurely as before. She said in an angry tone: "It’s all because of those villains. They said that our old man accepted bribes. Our old man has always been honest and upright. He has walked every step on his own. My cousin, our family is in a mess now. It just so happens that we heard that our cousin passed the imperial examination. If he can find some connections for us, we will be grateful to him."
"The affairs of my aunt's family are our business, so I have no obligation to refuse. I don't know how much my aunt has helped us on weekdays, but the second master hasn't come back yet? I am a woman, and I have no way of doing many things!"
Mrs. Ding thought the Yu family was very absurd. Mr. Yu had only been a minor official for a few years, but he bought houses in the provincial capital and the provincial capital, had countless servants, and owned hundreds of acres of land in the countryside. He was dressed in silk and satin all day long, and the young master of the Yu family was fed by his wet nurse.
This adds up to nearly a thousand taels. How did a minor official whose annual salary was less than ten taels make so much money? Is there any need to think about it?
What’s even more speechless is that he even took away the profits from his relatives’ fields, leaving his own nephew unable to continue his studies.
On weekdays, she gave the leftover dried fish and tangerines distributed by the government to her relatives, and also gave away her old clothes that she no longer wore to them. Everyone praised her for being so kind.
But you have to know that when her husband actually took part in the college entrance examination, the former kind-hearted man did not say a word.
If Mi Niang had not told her about the purchase of the land, which was really terrifying when she thought about it carefully, she would still think that her aunt was good. After all, in her husband's family, only Aunt Yu was the kindest to her.
But if we talk about the actual goodness, there is actually nothing good about it.
"My dear cousin, please don't say that. It only takes one day to travel from Jiangling to Wuchang by boat. It's inconvenient for you to bring the child with you. Just ask your cousin to come back." Mother Ding still hoped that Ruan Jiading would come back.
"My cousin has a reputation for being a great judge of people, and he is on par with the county magistrate. With his ability, it would only take a few words to do it."
Mother Ding was still talking to herself...
Mi Niang, who was eavesdropping outside, was startled. What a stupid idea! Let the examiner who was about to go to Beijing for the imperial examination go home to make excuses for his relatives? What's more, Master Yu might really be corrupt. Wouldn't that mean her father was protecting corrupt officials?
If the people are outraged by that time, his father might even be deprived of his fame and fortune.
Then I heard Second Madam Ding say weakly, "Grandma Gui in our clan has some connections. Why don't I go ask her and let her help me first? Otherwise, Madam Ding, my husband has to go to Beijing to take the exam soon, and he can't wait!"
From what Second Mistress Ding said, she did not want her husband to help, and Mi Niang could not help but nod. Confucianism praises protecting one's relatives. If Ruan Jiading comes back and does not help Concubine Yu, he will be accused of having no sense of kinship. If he helps, he will be aiding and abetting the tyrant, and people will talk about him anyway, so it is best to avoid him.
Mother Ding was very angry when she heard this: "My dear cousin, you can't be a person without conscience. Your father-in-law was a gambler and almost lost the ancestral home to others. Everyone in your family stood by and watched, but our old man and his wife worked hard for you. Now that our old man is in trouble, how can you not help him?"
“This…this…” Second Grandma Ding was in a dilemma.
Mi Niang's heart was also in a knot, she was afraid that her mother would agree.
Seeing that Second Madam Ding's expression had relaxed, Madam Ding immediately took advantage of the situation and said, "Madam, only Master can help with this matter. I kneel down in front of you..."
The sound of "dong dong dong" of several kowtows made Mi Niang outside feel that this Mother Ding was an important person. If an ordinary person saw this scene, he would probably have compromised long ago.
Perhaps the future of Master Yu is also related to her. In her previous life, Mi Niang once lived in the Yu family for a period of time. Although she rarely interacted with outsiders, the servants often gossiped about her. It is said that although Mother Ding is the mother, when Aunt Yu is inconvenient, she will secretly serve Master Yu, and the relationship between the two is very close.
Although Mr. Yu is gone, Aunt Yu still has her biological son, but Mrs. Ding’s fate may not be good.
As expected, Madam Ding's rendition was very good. Second Mistress Ding whispered, "Madam Ding, please get up quickly. I am a woman and I don't have any opinions. My aunt's family has helped us a lot. If others knew that you begged me for help, we would be laughed at in the future."
But Mother Ding just refused to get up. Instead, Second Mistress Ding said a lot of good things before Mother Ding stood up. However, the situation was soon taken control by Mother Ding, and she even became the host.
"My dear cousin, my son Ding Xiong is outside. There is no time to waste. Please write a letter and have Ding Xiong take it to Wuchang. Maybe we can reach Wuchang tomorrow morning."
Second Madam Ding was embarrassed and said, "Mother Ding, I can't read. How about this? You can ask cousin Yu to write a letter to her."
Mother Ding suddenly realized what was wrong and said, "It's my fault. Anyway, let's just write a letter to our young master."
Then Second Madam Ding began to worry about Aunt Yu's health, and Madam Ding said a lot before leaving.
Mi Niang had already slipped into her room and waited until Mother Ding and her group left before going upstairs.
Mrs. Ding's face was full of fatigue. She rubbed her temples and said, "What's wrong? Did the visitor outside wake you up? Well, you are always smart. Let me tell you, my aunt has been put in jail. Madam Ding came here to ask us to help my aunt."
"No, Mother Ding is just a decoy. The rest of her family can go to Wuchang without your permission." Mi Niang finally felt that something was wrong.
Mrs. Ding was puzzled: "What does this mean?"
Mi Niang said, "If I'm not mistaken, the Yu family is afraid that my mother and I will intercept Dad at the Jiangling shore, so they pretend to come at this time. First, you may not be able to get up early the next day, and second, we all think that even if Ding Xiong goes in the middle of the night, Dad will at least arrive in the evening tomorrow. Little do we know that Dad may arrive earlier."
The Yu family knew their own family very well, especially after Second Grandma Ding moved here, she did not have close contacts with the Yu family.
"Why didn't I think of this? The Yu family was afraid that I would stop your father, so they deliberately blocked the news of your aunt's imprisonment and sent people to Wuchang early. In the middle of the night, they deliberately came to me to beg for mercy. They made me mistakenly think that your father would not arrive until tomorrow night, so that I would not have time to stop him." Second Madam Ding looked horrified.
The Yu family had long seen that she didn't want to help, but they were afraid that she would cause trouble, so they deliberately created a trick.
"How did you know that?" Mrs. Ding asked her daughter.
Mi Niang said, "Mother, she came to beg for mercy, but she was in the mood to look at the color of the tea, looked anxious, and was able to chat with you. Most importantly, we clearly know the local wealthy families Luo, Guo, and Tao. These local tyrants are more effective than my father. My father has no foundation except for his status as a judge. But she only asked my father to come back, and in the end she asked you to write a letter. She knew that you could not read, so it didn't make any difference whether she came to beg you or not."
Mrs. Ding had never thought that her daughter was so smart. She planned to wait along the river tomorrow evening and take the opportunity to let Ruan Jiading return.
It can be said that Ruan Jiading was not a smart and strong person, but his relatives all knew that he listened to his wife very much.
"Mom, let's go to the shore now. It will be dawn in an hour and a half." Mi Niang made a prompt decision.
"Is it done? What did Mrs. Lu say?" Aunt Yu asked Mother Ding, who had been in a state of shock ever since her husband was taken away by the officials.
Mother Ding said, "Mrs. Lu was very reluctant at first, but I forced her to agree by citing the friendship between our two families."
"It's okay. As soon as the old man is in jail, I will send Yu Da to Wuchang Prefecture. Even if Lu is two-faced, I'm afraid I can't do anything about it."
Mother Ding smiled and said, "You are really very smart."
Aunt Yu smiled bitterly: "I am not a master of strategizing, and I can't do anything about it. If the old man has worked so hard to earn his fortune for so many years and it is confiscated, how will we live?"
In fact, Mother Ding was also puzzled: "But if you ask me, even if the young master was imprisoned, he is just an imprisoned person. If you ask him for help, I think the help he can provide is limited."
"No, everything will be fine only if he helps." Aunt Yu said firmly.
Thinking of this, she was heartbroken again: "I felt it was inappropriate when Jiading insisted on marrying Lu. Who wanted to marry him as a son-in-law at that time? That was Xu Yuanwai. His family was rich and his daughter had a lot of dowry. But he was blinded by greed and insisted on marrying Lu Shujun. What's so good about Lu Shujun? Her parents are long gone. Apart from her good looks, she has nothing else to offer."
"It's over now that I've married her. My sister doesn't like her at all, but I've done nothing wrong to her. She's nice, she said I was greedy for the money from Jiading's land sales, so she told Jiading not to have anything to do with us. Now that my family is in trouble, she's just standing by and watching."
"Little did they know that this incident was caused by her."
Mother Ding was even more confused: "What does this have to do with her?"
"Brother Zhu Dagou sent an anonymous letter of accusation to the government office. What does this letter mean? Which official would not accept a basket of such letters? According to the previous rules, we should have gone to the government office to make arrangements. Do those stinky common people really dare to fight against officials? Guess what I found out. The person behind Brother Zhu Dagou is Mrs. Zhang's supervisor. With this person around, the county magistrate took ruthless action."
"How did Mrs. Lu become enemies with Mrs. Zhang?" Mother Ding didn't understand.
Mrs. Lu was usually gentle and timid, and she didn't dare to speak loudly.
Aunt Yu shook her head and said, "I don't know the details. My son-in-law brought money with him, and he said this for the sake of the money. He only recognized Jiading. If I don't let him come, how can the old man come out?"
"He is a great man now. He was always willing to help me even if I asked him not to. I have always treated him well. As long as I asked, he would definitely help. We are a family after all!"
Speaking of this, Aunt Yu missed the days when Ruan Jiading was not married.
Mother Ding smiled and said, "After what happened tonight, I'm sure that Mrs. Lu won't be able to get up tomorrow morning. She might still think that she will arrive tomorrow. No matter what, by the time she finds out, it will be a done deal."
The two smiled at each other, feeling that dawn was just ahead.
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