Steward Song’s smile hid a hint of ruthlessness. "Otherwise, with Miss Yi Ling’s background, does she hope to become an honored concubine? Our old master has shown mercy. Yi Ling must not be ungrateful. Otherwise, from today onwards, our Sun family will wash our hands of her. We will simply turn around and leave. As for Yi Ling’s fate, it may not necessarily end well."
Such a barefaced threat!
Yi Ling stared at Sun Yaowen with bloodshot eyes. He stood there as if nothing was wrong, seeming to have entirely forgotten his promise to grant her the identity of an honored concubine.
Now, if the Sun family would not help her, even if she had stolen the servitude contract from Madam Chen, she could easily be tortured to death by her!
Madam Chen had tortured her to the brink of her life but had not killed her. Wasn’t the only reason for this to placate the Sun family?
If now the Sun family proclaimed that they would abandon her, would Madam Chen still let her off the hook?
She was all alone and had no jurisdiction to challenge Madam Chen!
The Sun family had shamelessly exploited this situation, using it to threaten her, asking her to choose? What choice did she even have?
After all her sacrifices, after all the help she had given to the Yihong Courtyard, even sacrificing her own talents and betraying the entire ’house of flowers’, merely to become a lowly concubine?!
Her eyes were pulsating red with anger, her entire body trembled, her eyes filled with hate.
Steward Song sneered, uncaring, "Since Miss Yi Ling seems unwilling, let this matter drop. After all, our Sun family doesn’t lack such a concubine."
With that, he turned to leave, dragging Sun Yaowen with him.
In front of Steward Song, an utterly useless Sun Yaowen didn’t dare to resist and naturally had to go along.
Looking up at Madam Chen’s sinister smile, Yi Ling shivered all over, quickly grabbing Sun Yaowen’s clothes, sobbing out, "I am willing! To be a mere concubine, I am willing. Please take me with you, I beg you."
Otherwise, she would be beaten to death!
A flash of delight crossed Sun Yaowen’s eyes! This was quite the win!
Originally, he had thought that making a prostitute his honored concubine was somewhat embarrassing. But when he thought of the benefits Yi Ling brought him, he felt he could bear the scandal. Little did he expect that this windfall would allow him to secure those benefits and dispose this beauty as a modest concubine, truly hitting the jackpot!
His grandpa was truly formidable.
Steward Song, laughing, bowed to Madam Chen, "In that case, we will take the girl with us. After all, she is no longer part of the ’house of flowers’. Madam Chen, you have no right to keep her."
Madam Chen now seemed quite generous: "This base creature, since your Sun family wants her, take her away. What would I need with her?"
Get rid of such a traitor as soon as possible!
Steward Song glanced at Madam Chen somewhat suspiciously, finding her unusually calm, without any hint of resentment.
However, he did not dwell on this thought. He merely ordered someone to take Yi Ling back to the Sun Manor.
Originally, Sun Yaowen wanted to carry her. But upon seeing her bruised face, he found it unbearable. Instead, he let two burly women carry her out.
The Sun family’s people left swiftly.
The ’house of flowers’ quickly regained its tranquility. Ah Lian, who usually disliked participating in uproars, slowly descended the stairs, furrowing her delicate eyebrows and saying, "You shouldn’t have let her go."
The Sun family’s steward personally came to pick up Yi Ling, which indicated that she held a secret the Sun Family was unaware of. Since the Sun family could not know about it, Yi Ling should not have been handed over to them.
Madam Chen stared at the departing carriage of the Sun family, scoffing: "Do you think the Sun family will let this matter rest if we refused to hand her over? Yi Ling has stolen her own servitude contract. If we continued to keep her here, we would have been in a tricky situation. If this matter was blown up, we wouldn’t gain anything."
Indeed, this matter could be considered insignificant or important, depending on the perspective. If one were to take it lightly, Yi Ling had no one to rely on. Even if the ’house of flowers’ did not possess her servitude contract, if she were to die, no one would know or inquire about it.
If one were to make a big deal of it, it would be a legal violation. However, only the privileged can infract the law, for example, if the Sun family insisted on taking Yi Ling, they would definitely blow this up. If the Sun family becomes her patron and the ’house of flowers’ didn’t have her servitude contract, it would be difficult to justify.
Given that Yi Ling was intertwined with the Sun family’s interests, the Sun family would definitely escalate this.
Ah Lian replied solemnly: "But letting her go to the Sun family is likely to cause more trouble in the future."
After all, she had access to all the plans and arrangements of the ’house of flowers’. Once she was in the Sun Manor, she would likely share everything with the Sun Family.
Now, Madam Chen’s expression was considerably lighter, and raising an eyebrow she said, "That may not necessarily be the case."
"What do you mean?" Ah Lian asked curiously.
Facing Ah Lian, a sense of reverence stirred within Madam Chen. After all, Ah Lian was a distinguished courtesan from the capital city. Hence, she was very respectful towards her. Moreover, Ah Lian was not young anymore, she was shrewd, insightful, and not easily fooled like the younger girls. While talking to her, Madam Chen felt somewhat nervous.
"I can’t say much about it. All I know is that every step is being guided by our master." Madam Chen replied.
Although Madam Chen’s mind was not as sharp as Ji Xinhe’s, she had been around for many years. If she did not see clearly by now, her years of experience would have been in vain. Ever since their master had instructed her to take good care of Yi Ling and to inform Yi Ling about everything, when she went to report the incident, the master had remained calm and let her deal with Yi Ling according to the rules. Madam Chen had guessed that the master had other plans.
Because everything had been orchestrated by the master, Madam Chen felt peculiarly at ease. This master had unknowingly given her a great sense of security. She felt that since every step had been instructed by the master, there must be a reason behind this.
Madam Chen always had the feeling that they might not necessarily end up in trouble over this issue.
Upon hearing this, Ah Lian raised her eyebrows as if understanding something. The furrow in her eyebrows unfolded, and she nodded her head before going back upstairs.
Madam Chen would definitely not let go of such an excellent opportunity to set an example, so she cleared her throat and sternly admonished the girls who were watching the scene unfold in the ’house of flowers’: "You all saw what happened today, right? You have witnessed what happened when Yi Ling betrayed us! Let me tell you, pack up those complicated thoughts of yours. If anyone else dares to entertain such thoughts, I will be the first to tear her down, even before consideration by the master!"
All present instinctively gasped, shuddering in fear, the example of Yi Ling was undoubtedly too brutal!
Being beaten half to death was nothing compared to the ultimate insult of becoming a lowly concubine! It was the biggest joke of all!
As for the anticipations of the master, he had not shown his face or got involved even when Yi Ling was nearly beaten to death, indicating his intentions could not be clearer.
"Madam Chen, don’t worry, we won’t dare," the girls hastily responded.
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