Members of the Ma family serving in court felt utterly disgraced and one after another took sick leave, and at the same time, they ran to the clan leader to make trouble. With the clan unanimously agreeing, the clan leader publicly expelled Ma Guangli (the original Old Marquis) and all his bloodline from the clan.
Several family in-laws of the Ma family loudly declared severing all relations with the Ma family members.
Madam Xu and Madam Zhang’s parental families also claimed that the two women were reclusive by nature, never heeding their parents’ teachings since childhood and seldom interacting with their sisters.
The parental families of Madam Zhao and Madam Liu were even more straightforward. They immediately arranged divorces for the two women from Eldest Young Master Ma and Second Young Master Ma and took away the children born to them. The Ma family’s reputation was in ruins; Eldest Young Master Ma was even more scandalous for having a bastard child. If the children remained in the Ma family, they would never be able to lift their heads.
After marrying Madam Liu, Second Young Master Ma shared a deep affection with his wife and adamantly refused to divorce. In the end, he voluntarily left the Ma family.
The Lau family was quite pleased with this son-in-law and did not have the heart to let their daughter live alone with her children, knowing that a divorced woman would hardly remarry. Now that Second Young Master Ma had left the Ma family, the Lau family tacitly approved, allowing them to reside in a manor far from The Capital.
The Old Madam had no reason to object and could only reluctantly agree.
The people from Ma Mansion dared not venture out, or they were sure to return smothered in rotten eggs and spoiled vegetable leaves.
The most miserable ones were Ma Weisheng and Ma Weicai’s legitimate sisters, the concubine Maternal Aunt Yue of Prince Ke’s hereditary son, who was also sent back in a divorce, wailing inconsolably day in and day out.
Upon waking from a drunken stupor and learning of this series of events, Ma Guangli fell ill and took to bed, and before long, he passed away.
Ma Ruyin and Ma Rulin had lost their chastity, Ma Ruqing’s beauty was completely destroyed, and all three had a mother with such a notorious reputation. Forget a good family; not even the prodigal sons, let alone sons of the poor commoners, would deign to marry them.
As the Ma family was caught in the eye of the storm, it was not convenient to deal with Madam Xu and Madam Zhang. The Old Madam ordered servants to guard day and night outside the two chambers where they were confined, preventing any escape and leaving them to their fate.
After that day, Ma Weisheng locked himself in the study room, drinking himself into a stupor each day, losing all his usual strict and dignified demeanor. Ma Weicai, on the other hand, had taken up permanent residence in the brothel, fraternizing with the girls there.
The Old Madam reprimanded the two brothers several times, but it was a pity that Ma Weisheng turned a deaf ear to it, and Ma Weicai became even more infuriated. After exploding in anger and forgoing further reprimands, she thought that after some time, the brothers would come to their senses on their own, not realizing that she would never live to see that day.
Of course, all that would come later.
With the Ma family scandal reaching new heights, the affair of Prince Jing and Long Yanrou seemed less conspicuous. They heaved a sigh of relief in secret, not knowing that their fate was already sealed.
In the Lin family study room.
After reporting the external rumors to Lin Zheqi, Le Xing took a deep breath: "I had no idea Princess Chen was so ruthless!"
She had not moved a finger until now, but when she did, she made sure the Ma family could never recover. Princess Chen was both decisive and ruthless.
"Ruthless?" Lin Zheqi raised his eyebrows slightly, speaking in an indifferent tone, "If Princess Chen were not ruthless, then she would be the one dead today."
Even if Prince Chen was deeply in love with Princess Chen, and even if the Emperor doted on and relied on Princess Chen, once Princess Chen lost her purity, for the sake of the Royal family’s reputation, not to mention the Emperor, even Prince Chen would execute Princess Chen.
Le Xing and Le Shui both deeply agreed.
As the old saying goes, to be merciful to one’s enemy is to be cruel to oneself, Princess Chen did nothing wrong.
"Speaking of which, we should actually thank Princess Chen."
Seeing the perplexed expressions on Le Xing and Le Shui’s faces, Lin Zheqi let out a heavy sigh, "Princess Chen could easily see through our plan upon seeing Le Shui, yet she kept quiet and instead employed a tactic to divert disaster, counterattacking the Ma family and covering for us. Now everyone believes Long Yanrou is possessed by a demon, and no one suspects us."
"I have failed in my duties, for I accidentally let Princess Chen glimpse it. Please, Young Master, punish me!" Yang Mengchen saw the piece of fabric that was, in fact, Le Shui’s garment.
Gesturing for Le Shui to stand up, Lin Zheqi spoke with a calm expression, "You’re not to blame for this. I didn’t think it through thoroughly. Fortunately, Princess Chen indirectly lent us a hand, leading to a satisfactory resolution."
With his father informed of the news, he would likely not have to marry Long Yanrou. Since there were no women of similar age in Prince Ke Mansion, he could breathe a sigh of relief, too.
"Young Master, why would Princess Chen help us?" Le Xing asked in confusion.
Lin Zheqi did not answer, instead lifting the tea cup on the desk for a sip, his gaze dropping to the leaves floating and sinking in the cup, his brows lightly furrowed.
He also didn’t understand why the astute and graceful Princess Chen, with whom he had no connection at all, would reach out to help him?
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