Chapter 56, Lock the Door
Zhu Xiuyun's foot was fine, it was just a cut from a broken piece of pottery basin. It looked like a lot of blood was flowing, but it was actually not serious.
After Yan Zhigao ordered his servants to send Zhu Jiaoyu and his daughter home in a carriage, he turned and went to Songheyuan.
When Old Lady Yan learned that Yan Zhigao had slapped her precious granddaughter, she could no longer sit still. After asking about what happened, she found out that it was related to the people from Shuangxinyuan. Without saying a word, she asked Grandma to call Aunt Lin.
The old lady did nothing and asked nothing. She just asked Aunt Lin to kneel in the yard.
At this moment, Aunt Lin had been kneeling for more than half an hour.
When Yan Zhigao hurried over, Aunt Lin's face had turned pale.
"Mom, what are you doing?"
Old Madam Yan sneered at Yan Zhigao and said, "You can beat my granddaughter without asking why, but can't I make your concubine kneel down? Look how heartbroken you are! I wonder how you can be so cruel. You beat me without saying anything. Daohua's face is so swollen now that she can't even face anyone."
As she spoke, the old lady couldn't help but shed tears.
"From childhood to adulthood, I have never dared to touch Daohua. You hit her, my delicate daughter, in front of so many people. How can she face others in the future? You have no conscience."
Seeing his mother crying, Yan Zhigao felt a headache and quickly knelt on the ground: "Mom, I thresh the rice flowers because they need to be threshed."
Old Madam Yan quickly took over the conversation: "I asked Lin to kneel, and that's what she should do. She made me, an old woman, feel unhappy!"
Yan Zhigao was helpless: "Mom, could you please stop talking nonsense?"
Hearing this, Old Lady Yan stood up with a jerk, trembling and pointing at Yan Zhigao, she said sadly, "Yan Zhigao, are you going to abandon your own mother just for a concubine?"
Seeing that the old lady was extremely angry, Yan Zhigao dared not say anything provocative anymore, and his tone immediately softened: "Mom, don't be angry. It was your son who said the wrong thing. You can hit me or scold me if you want, but don't get angry at yourself."
Sun's mother was also afraid that the old lady would get angry and hurt herself, so she quickly helped her to sit on the stepping stone: "Old lady, don't worry, if you have anything to say, let's talk to the master."
Old Lady Yan's breathing became smoother, but her expression was still extremely grim. She looked at Yan Zhigao coldly and said, "Let me ask you, why are you beating the rice flowers?"
Yan Zhigao: "Daohua injured the daughter of Zhu Jiaoyu's family with a flowerpot. If I hadn't given Zhu Jiaoyu an explanation, would Zhu Jiaoyu's family have let it go?"
Hearing this, Old Lady Yan couldn't help but burst into tears again. "So, just to appease your subordinates, you beat my rice flower with all your might? She's only 9 years old. How could she withstand such a beating?"
Yan Zhigao felt a little uncomfortable when he thought of the red marks on his eldest daughter's face. He was really angry at the time and didn't hold back much.
Old Madam Yan held back her tears and said, "I know Daohua very well. She would never hit anyone with a flowerpot. Tell me, who said such slanderous words against Daohua?"
Yan Zhigao was stunned for a moment. It was Yishuang who said that. Of course, he didn't think Yishuang was lying. In his eyes, Yishuang had always been a well-behaved and sensible girl. It was impossible for her to do such a thing to slander her elder sister.
Seeing that her eldest son remained silent, Old Lady Yan knew very well that he was protecting Yan Yishuang. Thinking of Daohua who was beaten, she was extremely disappointed for a moment.
"Go and call the three girls who were in the pavilion at that time." The old lady said to Sun Ma.
Mother Sun nodded and walked out immediately.
Soon, Yan Yishuang, Yan Yile and Yan Yihan were brought into the house.
Such a big thing happened, and everyone in the Yan family, except Daohua who was beaten and Madam Li who was taking care of Daohua, gathered in the old lady's yard.
As soon as the three girls entered the room, they saw Yan Zhigao kneeling on the ground, and they immediately knelt down as well.
Old Lady Yan's expression was cold. "Yishuang, Grandma is asking you, why did you say that it was your eldest sister who smashed the Zhu family girl's foot?"
Yan Yishuang seemed a little frightened, and looked at Yan Zhigao beside her tremblingly.
“Bang!”
Seeing her like this, Old Lady Yan slapped the table and said, "Let me ask you a question. What are you looking at your father doing? Could it be that this old woman is going to eat you up?"
Yan Yishuang was so scared that she started to cry softly. She didn't know that things would get so serious. At that time, she received a signal from her uncle, and she didn't know what it meant, so she said those words instinctively.
She really didn't expect her father to beat her elder sister.
Yan Yile and Yan Yihan were also very scared and huddled aside.
Seeing his little daughter crying, Yan Zhigao immediately felt heartbroken: "Mom, let's talk it over nicely. Look how scared Yishuang is."
Old Madam Yan was so angry that she laughed: "I just asked her a question, and you thought she was scared. Then when you slapped Daohua, did you ever think that she would be scared?"
Yan Zhigao looked a little embarrassed. "Daohua wouldn't be scared, mother. You didn't see that she even dared to talk back to me. She even said she didn't want to be the eldest daughter of the Yan family. Listen, what kind of treasonous words are these?"
Old Mrs. Yan was stunned for a moment: "Did Daohua really say that?"
Yan Zhigao nodded: "Of course, mother, Daohua is too stubborn. You can't just ignore her. You shouldn't blindly favor her. Look at her now. How can she act like an older sister?"
Old Lady Yan looked at Yan Zhigao indifferently, just looking at him without saying a word, until Yan Zhigao lowered his head.
Old Lady Yan didn't want to pay any more attention to her eldest son. She turned to look at Yan Yihuan and Yan Yile: "Yihuan, Yile, you two were in the pavilion at the time. Did you also see your eldest sister hit the girl from the Zhu family with a flowerpot?"
When Yan Yihan heard the old lady asking them, she trembled and was about to say something when Yan Yile beside her spoke first.
"Grandma, we did see the eldest sister hit the Zhu family girl with a flower pot."
As soon as these words came out, Yan Yile felt that Old Lady Yan's gaze instantly turned into a sharp blade, shooting straight at her, scaring her so much that she immediately lowered her head.
For some reason, Yan Zhigao felt secretly relieved when he heard Yan Yile confirm that Daohua had hit someone with a flowerpot. He was about to say that since the matter had been clarified, he should let the three girls get up, but when he looked up, he saw the old mother's cold gaze.
Old Mrs. Yan stared at the four people on the ground in silence for a long time: "Very good, you are all fine!" After that, she closed her eyes, as if she didn't want to see the four people anymore.
Yan Zhigao looked at Old Lady Yan, wanting to say something but not knowing how to start.
The four of them just knelt there.
A quarter of an hour later, Grandma Sun stood up and said, "Master, the old lady wants to rest. You can go back now."
Yan Zhigao then stood up with the three girls and said to Sun Ma, "Take good care of old lady Tian." After that, he left.
As soon as the four people left, Old Lady Yan opened her eyes. When she heard that her eldest son had left, she asked Aunt Lin to get up and then dismissed everyone else in the yard.
"Once a person's heart is set on the wrong path, no one can pull him back!"
After a moment of silence, Old Lady Yan sighed again, "Daohua and Zhigao, father and daughter, must have been enemies in their past lives!"
Second room.
Yan Zhiyuan and Sun brought Yan Yile, Yan Yihan, and Yan Wenjie back to their courtyard. As soon as they entered the house, Sun immediately looked at Yihan and Yile and asked, "Did Daohua really hit the girl from the Zhu family with the flowerpot?"
Under her mother's gaze, Yan Yile shrank her neck, and Yan Yihan also looked hesitant.
At this point, the shrewd Yan Zhiyuan and Sun knew the answer.
In fact, Yan Zhiyuan knew that something was wrong as early as when he was in the pavilion. His eldest niece had too clear eyes, and there was also Master Lin standing next to her.
Sun tapped Yan Yile's forehead in frustration, "You guys are really driving me crazy. Didn't I tell you all along that if it comes to the fight between the Main Courtyard and Shuangxin Courtyard, you should stay out of it?"
Yan Yile pouted and said, "I don't like my elder sister. When she came, my aunt didn't even want to give us a few pieces of fabric."
Sun was so angry that she laughed: "You are so short-sighted. You have offended the main courtyard so badly. Don't even think about getting materials in the future."
Seeing his mother so angry, Yan Wenjie was a little disapproving: "Mom, look how anxious you are. What's the big deal? Yan Yishuang was the one who was responsible for this. Even if my aunt wants to settle the score, it won't be our fault."
"Besides, with my uncle protecting Shuangxinyuan so much now, it's still unknown whether my aunt will settle the score later. You, don't worry about it here."
Sun looked at Yan Zhiyuan, and Yan Zhiyuan nodded.
The eldest brother's attitude was very clear. Even if he really blamed Daohua wrongly for what happened today, he would still protect Shuangxinyuan.
Sun didn't say anything, but she still said to Yan Yihuan and Yan Yile, "How old are you, and you already know how to lie? Go and copy the rules for women ten times for me."
Yan Yile and Yan Yihan's faces immediately fell, and they returned to their rooms in a depressed mood.
Three bedrooms.
Yan Zhiqiang and Wu were waiting anxiously in the house. When they saw Yan Wentao coming back, they pulled him over and asked, "How is Daohua?"
Yan Wentao shook his head and said nothing.
Wu was extremely anxious: "Why don't you say something? What does shaking your head mean?"
Yan Wentao said in a muffled voice: "Daihua didn't cry."
Hearing this, Wu breathed a sigh of relief, but Yan Zhiqiang frowned: "Daohua must be feeling resentful towards her brother."
"Ah?" Mrs. Wu was stunned.
Yan Wentao agreed. "That's right. If Daohua had cried, it wouldn't have been a big deal. But she didn't react at all. She must have been really ruthless."
Mrs. Wu immediately patted her son on the head and said, "What nonsense are you talking about? What your uncle did today was wrong, but it's only natural for me to spank my son. How can I hate him just because of this?"
Yan Wentao: "Mom, you don't understand Daohua. Daohua is willing to quarrel with you, which means she still cares about you. But if one day she doesn't want to pay attention to you, it means that you are no longer important to her."
He grew up with Daohua, and he saw her personality clearly.
The slap from uncle was quite hard, but Daohua didn't say a word. She must have been extremely disappointed with uncle.
Mrs. Wu sighed and said, "Look at what a fuss this has caused. Chinese New Year is almost here."
Yan Wentao snorted coldly, "This is all Shuangxinyuan's fault. When I was listening to operas and stories with Daohua before, Daohua said that having too many wives and concubines is the root cause of family chaos. It turned out to be true."
Yan Zhiyuan glared at his son and said, "Just keep your mouth shut! How can a junior like you have any say in your uncle's affairs? Go back to sleep!"
After his son left, Yan Zhiyuan said to Wu: "Go to the main courtyard more often these days to check on the rice flowers. That girl likes to dwell on trivial matters. Don't let her become estranged from her eldest brother. That would be what Shuangxinyuan wants."
Mrs. Wu nodded and complained, "Big brother is really cruel. He raised this child by his side, so he really doesn't feel sorry for him."
"You should talk less."
Main courtyard.
Mrs. Li returned to the main room wiping her tears only after Daohua fell asleep.
When I returned to the room, I didn't see Yan Zhigao, and my heart felt extremely cold.
"Go, close the gate. From today on, if the master doesn't come back by midnight, lock the gate."
Pingtong paused and hesitated.
Since the lady married the master, she has never locked the courtyard gate. Even if the master went to Shuangxin Courtyard, the door of the main courtyard was left open for him, meaning that the master could come back at any time.
But today, the master slapped the eldest girl, hurting her and also hurting the lady's heart.
Ping Tong hesitated, but Ping Xiao had no worries. He picked up the key and locked the gate.
The fact that the main courtyard was no longer in the palace was soon known to all parties, but Yan Zhigao only found out about it on the 28th day of the twelfth lunar month, when he was on holiday.
In the past few days, in order to appease Aunt Lin who was punished by Old Lady Yan to kneel, he has been resting in Shuangxin Courtyard. If he had not discussed the banquet for colleagues with Madam Li tonight, he might have to wait until the New Year to return to the main courtyard.
Looking at the closed main courtyard, Yan Zhigao was dumbfounded.
He was so angry that he wanted to knock on the door, but he was afraid that the noise would be too loud and alarm others, which would embarrass himself. In the end, he could only return to Shuangxinyuan in anger and depression.
(End of this chapter)
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