Old Madam Gu shook her head and left dejectedly.
Gu Han followed along, stumbling along the way.
"Gu Han..." Li Jiaojiao stopped after taking two steps.
Only after they left did Li Jiaojiao wipe away her tears, staring coldly at the Duchess of Pingguo: "See! What can you do to me!"
Lady Pingguo, enraged, cried out, "Li Jiaojiao, you're a heartless ingrate! An ungrateful ingrate who can't be tamed!"
Li Jiaojiao said angrily, "I'm an ingrate, and what are you? Didn't Ye Caiping save you back then? How did you repay her?"
"Knowing she was your savior, you still made her kneel in the teahouse! At the Shen family, you didn't care about anything and just cooperated with me to frame her for stealing the hairpin. You're all wolves in sheep's clothing, who's more noble than whom?"
"You—" The Duchess of Pingguo could no longer bear the blow. With a "poof," she spat out a mouthful of blood and fainted to the ground.
"Ah..." The surrounding maids were so frightened that they took a step back.
Li Jiaojiao, her face pale, gritted her teeth and said in a trembling voice, "Someone, take her to the Marquis of Du'an's residence. Also, come with me back and get one hundred taels of silver as a living allowance. That amount of money could feed an ordinary family for a lifetime! I'm just an adopted daughter; I've already done more than enough!"
After saying that, he turned and left coldly.
Since things have already come to this, let's just go all out!
Does she think they'd thank her if she gave them a thousand or ten thousand taels?
All she has left to hold onto now is this ten thousand taels and Gu Han.
She needs to win back Gu Han's heart as soon as possible!
After all, Gu Han still possesses half of the Ningguo Marquis's estate, and she needs to keep all of that in her hands.
Furthermore, she needs to give birth to the eldest son as soon as possible so that she can firmly secure her position as the eldest wife.
Li Jiaojiao returned to her room, took out one hundred taels of silver, and had the servants send the Duchess of Pingguo away.
Less than an hour later, the second wife of the Marquis of Du'an came to cause trouble, cursing Li Jiaojiao as an ingrate who had ruined her family and made her mother vomit blood, and demanding that she pay 100,000 taels in compensation.
However, the gates of the Ningguo Marquis's residence were tightly shut, and no matter how much she cursed, she couldn't even get in.
Moreover, even the government has no evidence to arrest people, so what can outsiders do?
After cursing for a long time without any response from inside, the second wife of the Marquis of Du'an had no choice but to go home crying.
This event caused both excitement and sighs among the people of Beijing.
The next morning, the Duchess of Pingguo woke up at the Marquis of Du'an's residence, but she was acting erratically. After taking her pulse, the imperial physician shook his head and said that she had suffered too much of a shock and had gone mad.
The second wife of the Marquis of Du'an was furious, but there was nothing she could do. Moreover, her husband's family wouldn't allow her to keep the wife of the Duke of Pingguo at home.
Finally, the second wife bought a small two-courtyard house in a town ten miles outside the capital, settled the wife of the Duke of Pingguo there, and hired two old women to take care of her.
Without abalone, sea cucumber, shark fin, or various fancy clothes, the monthly expenses are only about twenty taels, and that's how they manage to support themselves.
The second wife of the Du'an Guild was filled with resentment; she would never let Li Jiaojiao off so easily!
......
Tomorrow is the thirtieth day of the first lunar month, the day Ye Caiping and Shen Zhiyan will leave the capital.
Everything in the house is tidied up.
Ye Caiping brought Chang Xi back from outside. As soon as they entered the room, they saw three maids lying on the couch playing backgammon.
Jin'er turned around: "Mother's back! Is everything arranged?"
Ye Caiping nodded: "Yes!"
Although she didn't need to pack her luggage, she had other things to do.
She's busy buying land in the suburbs of Beijing, hiring people, and generally all sorts of other things. After all, her three workshops are about to start construction here.
Huan'er said, "We heard Li Jiaojiao's jokes again today... Tsk tsk, what an ingrate."
"And then there's that Lady Pingguo, well, although she's an ingrate, she's quite pitiful."
Shen Manman said, "I feel like it's too easy on Li Jiaojiao, that she actually got away with it. Although her past was exposed, the ending wasn't so bad after all."
Ye Caiping's expression turned slightly cold: "Then let's give her a piece of good fortune!"
The three maids looked at each other in bewilderment: "Fortune?"
Ye Caiping asked, "Changxi, is Qin Miaoyu, the daughter of Prefect Qin, still here?"
Changxi walked in: "Yes. Prefect Qin has already returned, but the boat he took wasn't as good as ours. So Madam Qin and Miss Qin set off a little later and came with our big boat."
Ye Caiping nodded: "Please ask Miss Qin to come over. I have something to ask her."
Chang Xi agreed and left.
Although Ye Caiping didn't want to deal with Li Jiaojiao anymore, Li Jiaojiao was too immoral. It was no longer a minor moral issue, but something that almost ruined a family.
This is already a criminal case, but they just haven't found any evidence yet.
Ye Caiping felt that she should act when the time was right.
Before she leaves, she will give Li Jiaojiao a big gift!
......
Ningguo Marquis's Residence
Everyone in the Gu family knew that the Duchess of Pingguo had gone mad, and they all gasped in shock.
Old Madam Gu lay on the daybed, lost in thought.
At this moment, Xuehua walked in: "Madam, is Miss Qin, the daughter of Prefect Qin of Nanzhou, here to visit?"
Madam Gu: "The Qin family? We're not that close to them, are we? Why are they here at this time? What brings them here?"
Xuehua said, "She and...the eldest madam are both from Nanzhou. She said she's going back tomorrow. Is there anything she needs to take back with her?"
Madam Gu frowned. Did Li Jiaojiao know this Miss Qin?
Moreover, the family scandals kept piling up, growing more frequently than leeks, so I really didn't want Li Jiaojiao to see anyone anymore.
I had a feeling that Miss Qin came with ill intentions and that she had some ulterior motive.
But the Qin family...
She learned that the Qin family and the Shen family had become allied.
If Miss Qin doesn't achieve her goal, the Shen family and the Empress Dowager might become even more dissatisfied with the Ningguo Marquis's mansion.
After thinking for a moment, Madam Gu nodded: "Please invite her in!"
Snowflakes turned and left.
A short while later, a beautiful young girl of about fifteen or sixteen years old entered with her maid. She was Qin Miaoyu, the daughter of Prefect Qin.
Qin Miaoyu smiled and curtsied, "Greetings, Madam Gu, this is my daughter, Qin Miaoyu."
"Please rise. Miss Qin, do you know my eldest grandson's wife?"
"Oh. I don't know them, but we're from the same place, so I came to ask. Are Madam Gu and Young Master Gu here?"
"Yes. Snowflake, have them come over immediately."
......
Li Jiaojiao has lost a lot of weight recently because of what happened.
At this moment, Xuehua came in: "Madam, the old lady wants you and the eldest son to come to the main hall."
Li Jiaojiao reluctantly left the room, and a moment later, seeing Gu Han emerge from the side room, she quickly went up to him: "Gu Han..."
Gu Han glanced at her, his feelings extremely complicated, and limped forward.
Li Jiaojiao chased after him: "Whether you believe it or not, I will change. Please believe me."
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