Chapter 313 Class Dismissed
The old woman who had spoken earlier became somewhat annoyed when she saw that Yuan Hongqu and her students were answering questions and completely ignoring her suggestions.
"Lord Yuan, in the capital, the Second Mistress of the Jia family held a charity auction because of the snow disaster that year, and the money raised was initially used to help the refugees affected by the snow disaster. Since these people committed wrongdoings because they were impoverished and hungry due to the snow disaster, shouldn't we also ask the Second Mistress of the Jia family to help them?"
She once donated some antiques to a charity auction, and that was part of her effort!
Yuan Hongqu didn't even glance at her, but Yu Xiaodi's eyes lit up when he heard what the old woman said, and he quickly said...
“We’ve never heard of such a good thing before in our remote and impoverished area. If we had known earlier, we wouldn’t have gone down this path.”
"Kind old lady, please help us! People in our village are really starving to death!"
Suddenly, someone in the bandit group also started shouting.
They knew, of course, that the village's affairs couldn't withstand close scrutiny; once exposed, the entire village would be doomed.
They absolutely must not go to the post station; who knows what awaits them there, perhaps even exile or beheading them...
If someone could rescue them now, things would be much easier.
The commotion among the bandits grew louder and louder; they were all begging the old woman to put in a good word for them and spare their lives.
The old woman looked at Yuan Hongqu with a smug expression.
Yuan Hongqu was speechless: There are still people eager to vouch for bandits, do they think they are too clean?
"Whose family is this?" Besides the guards, there were over a thousand people in the group, and Yuan Hongqu naturally couldn't possibly recognize them all.
The old woman's face darkened upon hearing this. She had seen Yuan Hongqu more than once, but she hadn't expected that Yuan Hongqu wouldn't recognize her.
Yuan Hongqu didn't even ask her to introduce herself, but instead asked the people next to her.
“I am Granny Zhou, the head of the Wen family’s household. In terms of status, I am even higher than Mr. Yuan’s former governess.”
Before anyone could introduce her, the old woman spoke up, revealing her identity while simultaneously putting down Yuan Hongqu.
Granny Zhou came to the study tour with the princess from the prince consort's family. On the one hand, she was responsible for taking care of the princess, and on the other hand, she looked down on Yuan Hongqu. She came along this time to expose Yuan Hongqu's true colors and see what she was capable of!
When she first came to the capital, she was just a governess in Lin Ruhai's household, not even as good as me. In just a few years, I don't know what methods she used, but she became the head of the female officials and could speak eloquently in the court just like men.
Even the Imperial Son-in-Law Wen greatly admired Yuan Hongqu, constantly marveling at her as a truly "extraordinary woman."
Miss Wen from the Prince Consort's family also wanted to watch the "Imperial Guards vs. Bandits" play outside, but Granny Zhou stopped her and wouldn't let her go out to watch.
Miss Wen was feeling annoyed when she saw Granny Zhou get off the carriage and start criticizing the Dean.
If it weren't for the fact that Granny Zhou was an old servant of her grandmother, she would have wanted to gag her and send her back to the capital!
Over the years, relying on Old Madam Wen's influence, Granny Zhou has been meddling in things at home. Fortunately, Granny Zhou never dared to interfere in her mother's affairs, so her mother didn't pay much attention to her. This time, she wanted to come along, saying that it was Old Madam Wen's idea.
Miss Wen thought it was just a study tour, what kind of trouble could she possibly cause? Little did she expect that on the very second day, Granny Zhou would start causing trouble.
Listening to Granny Zhou spouting nonsense outside, she decided that she should stop going to the academy; the old woman was making her lose all face.
Especially when she heard Granny Zhou say that her status was even higher than that of the former headmaster, Miss Wen felt as if her face was about to bleed.
"Oh, from Princess Ningyi's residence? You're not one of Princess Ningyi's people, are you?" Yuan Hongqu said meaningfully.
"I am the head maidservant by the old lady's side!"
Granny Zhou touched the Buddhist beads hanging around her neck with a smug look. Her kind and gentle face, which had initially looked so good, had completely disappeared when she opened her mouth to speak. She looked no different from the old women in the Rongguo Mansion who drank and gambled.
Granny Zhou boasted smugly, "I'm the old lady's most trusted person. These Buddhist prayer beads are her most cherished possessions. She specially gave them to me as a reward during my business trip..."
"Stop her chattering. She keeps talking for the bandits. I don't even know if she's a spy! Tie her up, gag her, and send her to the last caravan! Send someone to fetch Miss Wen to my carriage."
Yuan Hongqu still admired Princess Ningyi quite a bit. Since she knew that this person was not one of the princess's people, there was no need to save face for him.
Because of the interruption by the nanny this week, which disrupted her classroom order, the next lesson would have to be changed to a different topic.
Yuan Hongqu lost patience with this person and ordered that Zhou Mama be sent to the last caravan to be kept under guard.
Seeing this, Yu Xiaodi dared not say anything more. This woman looked scholarly, but how could she have such a bad temper, tying up her own people so easily?
When I saw her holding the crossbow just now, the murderous look on her face made her look more like a bandit than he did, and her arrows never missed.
Each arrow precisely avoided vital points, striking Boss Yu's limbs, piercing them all.
Yu Xiaodi could imagine that when the boss woke up and saw all the holes in his body, he would faint from the pain again.
When she put down her bow and crossbow, she was calm again, as if she hadn't been the one who shot the arrow.
The cheerful sounds coming from inside the carriage, followed by clapping and cheers, made Yu Xiaodi even more furious.
But now he can't do anything. Like Boss Yu, he's tied up like a piglet by the Imperial Guards and being carried by the brothers who came out with him.
They had just finished lining up when they heard Lord Yuan shout, "get out of class dismissed!"
Then, from the bushes beside the road, a number of women wearing veils suddenly appeared. They stood in twos and threes, peering curiously through their veils at the bandits who had been subdued on the road.
"Your Excellency, what crimes will they be convicted of?" Chen Zhu, the granddaughter of the Minister of Justice, was very curious as she walked among the students.
"At present, they have only disturbed the families of officials and attempted to rob them on the road." Yuan Hongqu spoke based on the facts.
Hearing her words, many students stopped in their tracks. The girls' college had a law class, and although they didn't have as much knowledge about it as Chen Zhu, they knew that this wasn't a serious crime.
"What about their other crimes?" Chen Zhu had just heard Yuan Hongqu say that there were other cases of child trafficking and fraud in their village.
“When we go to the post station in the evening, the county magistrate will come to interrogate us. We are not law enforcers. We can speak out for justice, but we cannot interfere or bully others.”
None of these girls are ordinary people. If they are not careful, they may get involved in bullying or other forms of abuse of power. This serves as a reminder to them.
For example, Wang Xifeng in the original story was convicted because she took advantage of the power of the Rongguo Mansion to take on too much responsibility, and this was one of the reasons why she was eventually punished.
Yuan Hongqu did not want her students to go astray in the future.
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