"Mom, don't just say they can't figure it out, even I can't figure it out, why did you harm the old lady?" Xiao Ruqin asked, "She doesn't pose any threat to us?"
"You think I want to harm her? This old man has been acting weird lately. He is actually investigating your missing aunt!" Since they are her two daughters, Lin did not hide it. "I overheard the Duke talking to her that day, and it seems that they have found some clues."
Xiao Ruyun frowned, "But even if that girl is found, what can happen? She's already twenty-five or twenty-six years old. What impact can it have on our family? At most, we can just give her some dowry." The Duke's Mansion is such a big foundation, there is no need to worry about going poor after giving a dowry.
Lin just shook her head, "If it's really as you said, why would I do this." Lin lowered her eyes. She knew that murdering her mother-in-law was a serious crime, but if she didn't take the risk, she would have nothing.
"A few days ago, I went to serve the old lady, and the Duke was there by chance. Do you know what I heard them say at the door?" Lin asked this question but did not expect her daughter to reply to her. She continued, "The Duke said that he felt sorry for the old lady in this life and would definitely find her daughter. When he finds her daughter, who is your grandmother, he will find her a husband. When she gives birth to a son in the future, he will inherit the title of the Duke's Mansion!"
"What?!" Xiao Ruqin opened her eyes wide, "Grandfather must be joking, how is this possible? How can you do things this way? If this gets out, won't people laugh at you to death?"
Lin said: "What is your grandfather afraid of being laughed at? If he was afraid, he would not have refused to help your father. Until now, your father is just a fourth-rank official. Look among the civil and military officials in the court, there is no such noble position as the Duke's Mansion, but the legitimate son is a fourth-rank official!" Lin was convinced that Duke Xiao had been delaying the appointment of a crown prince just to pave the way for You's descendants.
She laughed sarcastically, "People outside say that Youshi is pitiful, but why should she be pitiful? When she was young, she captured the old Duke's heart, and she was favored by the Duke even though she gave birth to a daughter. If I hadn't had foresight and was afraid that she would steal your favor, I would have sent her away first. Now I'm afraid there would be no place for us in the Duke's Mansion."
Xiao Ruqin and her sister seemed to have digested something when they heard this. "Back then, back then, my aunt..."
Lin raised her eyes, "I did it, but I don't regret it. If you were sensible at that time, you would have seen how much your grandfather doted on that woman Youshi, and you would have known that my concerns were not unnecessary." Lin closed her eyes, "I do regret that I took her daughter away and made Youshi feel hopeless, but I didn't kill her directly. If I had brought her back now, your father and we would have been the ones to die."
Xiao Ruqin was not stupid. After hearing this, she understood her mother's intention of calling them here. "So what do you mean, mother?"
It has come to this point, so Lin naturally didn't waste any words, "To cut the grass, you must remove the roots."
——
After leaving the small Buddhist temple, Xiao Ruqin and Xiao Ruyun sat in the sedan chair together, and neither of them planned to return home.
"Sister, are we really going to kill my aunt?" After all, Xiao Ruyun was not very old, and she had not done anything bad. At least that's what she felt in her heart. Harming Liu was helping her sister, and harming her enemy was certainly not a bad thing.
But the old lady was not a bad person. Even if she had no conscience, Xiao Ruyun knew that she and her sister grew up under the old lady's care, thanks to her care.
Xiao Ruqin looked at her sister coldly, "What else? Let her come back. Our family has already been sorry to the old lady. Now that grandfather has secretly dealt with mother and has not implicated us, do you think it is really none of our business? Do you know what it means to occupy the magpie's nest?"
Xiao Ruyun was frightened by her sister's look and could only shake her head. Xiao Ruqin said, "We are the dove. Now the magpie has returned, but the nest is so small. If she comes back, how can she have our place? And it was done by mother back then. Do you really think that grandfather is so stupid that he can't investigate it?!"
No matter how capable Lin was, she was still just a woman. Duke Xiao had been a veteran for three dynasties, so how could she lose to a woman in terms of scheming and tactics? It was just that the Xiao family was weak, and in this generation, there were only their father, their sisters, and their younger brother who was only seven or eight years old.
But if the aunt is found, and the grandfather has never been a man of rules, and he really finds a son-in-law for the aunt who has been missing for many years, and becomes the real descendant of the Xiao family, then what are the daughters of the Duke of Xiao's mansion? How can the descendants of the aunt respect them?
Xiao Ruyun felt scared when she called her sister, but at the same time, a chill inexplicably rose from the soles of her feet, "But sister, don't forget, the old lady has loved you the most since you were a child?" The young lady was lost when she was a child, so the old lady gave all her love for her daughter to Xiao Ruqin, who was the same age as her daughter.
"That's why I can't ask her to come back." Xiao Ruqin's eyes were cold. "If I ask her to come back, there will be no place for me."
After hearing this, Xiao Ruyun stopped asking questions, but she inexplicably felt a chill penetrate into her heart.
——
It rained heavily a few days ago. It was said that the entire south was hit by floods, and the areas around the capital were also affected. The rain did not stop for half a month in a row, and no one went out of the Marquis Gu’s Mansion.
The sky finally cleared up that day, and Mother Chen and Jin Cai carried a whole box of clothes out to dry them to get rid of the smell of rain. Liu was sitting in the main hall of the house, holding a piece of material in her hand, sewing an official robe for Gu Yong. After the heavy rain a few days ago, Gu Yong rarely came back.
After Chen Mama and Jin Cai came back from hanging the clothes, they came over and poured Liu a cup of tea. "I don't know what happened to the Marquis. He hasn't been home for seven or eight days. How about we send him a letter to ask about it?"
Liu was a little hesitant. "The Marquis is busy at court. If we write to him now, will it disturb him?"
Mother Chen was anxious, "Why are you disturbing me, Madam? Don't be too virtuous. What is our Marquis? He is a favorite in the eyes of all the noble ladies in the capital. If you are not anxious, there are many people who are anxious." Mother Chen spitted all over her body and added, "The Marquis still has feelings for you now, but how can such feelings be guaranteed? The real thing is to give birth to a child properly and cleanly, and then secure the position of the Marquis' wife."
Liu naturally knew that Mother Chen was doing this for her own good, and that what she said was not illogical. However, she still had a deep relationship with Gu Yong, and now that someone had pointed it out to her, she couldn't help feeling a little disappointed.
"What is Mother Chen talking about here?"
It was Shen Qingqiu who came out from the back. She was wearing a short top and her long hair was tied up at the back of her head, revealing her smooth forehead and neat face. She had just finished practicing and there was still a lot of sweat on her forehead. Liu was sitting there and waved, and Shen Qingqiu walked to her side.
Liu took a handkerchief and wiped the sweat off her face.
"They say you are disobedient all day long, you have not learned anything about women's needlework or the four books, and you only know how to run around and touch things."
Shen Qingqiu wrinkled her nose after hearing this, "Mom, don't lie to me, I heard everything when you just came over, do you miss my dad?" She looked up and asked Liu, Gu Yong was a father ten or a hundred times better than Shen Bin, she didn't feel any pressure to call him dad.
Liu's pretty face turned red, "What are you talking about, little girl?"
Shen Qingqiu said: "If you don't want to, then I'll go see him. Mother, you won't go?"
"Don't mess around." Liu said hurriedly. She knew that her maid was fearless.
Shen Qingqiu said: "It rained heavily a few days ago, and there was a flood in the south, so he was naturally busy. But now that the sky has cleared up, I guess all that's left is to finish the work. He's probably still tripped and can't come back. If he can't come back, it's not like you can't go see him, mother?"
Liu was still a little hesitant, but Madam Chen stirred up the fire and said, "The barracks are full of stinky men. The Marquis hasn't been home for a while, so he must not be eating or drinking well. He might not even have a change of clothes. Madam, if you go there now, maybe you can help the Marquis."
Liu was a soft-tempered person, so she was persuaded by the people around her. She asked Jin Cai to pack some clean clothes, and asked the kitchen to prepare some exquisite snacks in lunch boxes, and then she got in the carriage and prepared to go to the outskirts of the city where Gu Yong was stationed.
——
Outside the garrison
It rained heavily a few days ago. The million lions led by Gu Yong were naturally not only used for fighting. When faced with natural disasters and man-made disasters, since they had eaten the people's food, they naturally had to share the burden with the people.
Their army is not like other dignitaries who just eat the people's blood and sweat but do nothing for the people.
Everyone has a scale in their heart. The houses of the people around were destroyed and a lot of their property was washed away. Only Lord Gu's team was willing to take off their clothes and go into the water to save people, property and food. The people were grateful, so as soon as the sky cleared up, they pushed carts full of things to deliver them.
"We already said we didn't want it, but our Lord didn't allow us to accept it!"
The cooks kept refusing and explained to the common people, "The imperial court will not let us go without food. Take all your food back!"
But the whole cart of things was not accepted, and the people still left behind a few chickens and ducks when they left, saying they would not take them away no matter what. In the end, the cook had no choice but to leave them here to be eaten by wild wolves, "or take them back and stew them for the Marquis?" The Gu family army issued a strict order not to take any of the people's money.
But how can we return the chickens and ducks when we don't know whose family they belong to? The older soldier looked at the head cook and said, "Don't you see that the Marquis has been very upset these days? If you take them away, you are just throwing them into a fire."
The cook rubbed his head and asked, "Why is the Marquis so anxious?" He had never suffered a defeat. Although there was no war and millions of soldiers were idle, the Marquis was not the kind of person who loved war, right?
"What do you know? The Marquis has been a widower for more than ten years. He finally married a beautiful wife, but not long after that, he was detained here with a bunch of stinky men. Wouldn't you be annoyed if it happened to you?"
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