Chapter 97: The East Window Incident

  Fu Muqi's face was stern and cold as she said, "Now that you are the master of the house and have some ability, I can no longer control you. Fine, since this matter involves many people, you should handle it properly and not leave a bad impression on Prince Zhongrui, lest it affect your future prospects."

  Fu Yiyang seemed to have gotten used to Fu Mu's way of speaking, and looked up at her with a glance. "I also had the intention, came to inform mother, just to let mother rest assured. I wonder what mother called me for?"

  Fu's mother had already spoken out and blocked her own retreat, yet she still didn't remember. She said to herself: "It's just a trivial matter, those old people in front of me came crying and shouting early in the morning, shouting until my head hurt. I haven't managed anything for many days, so I don't know how to give them an explanation. Now that you're here, speak up, what did the Deng, Mao, and Wang families do wrong? Is it worth making a big fuss about taking them away? Their families used to serve the Duke, can't be too excessive."

  "Not deaf, not dumb, don't be a tyrannical husband. Previously, you didn't listen to advice and sent Wei Yong's whole family to prison, which was somewhat excessive. Not to mention that Madam Wei has been serving you for over a decade and gave birth to your eldest daughter, their family is also one of the old servants in the mansion. Such severe punishment will inevitably make other servants feel chilled."

  Fu's mother put down the teacup, not in the mood to drink tea, and put it back. Fu Yiyang didn't interrupt her, and the anger that had been pent up in her heart dissipated a bit. She continued: "Actually, there was also the matter of your older sister's wet nurse. The whole family lost their jobs and couldn't even get enough to eat, so they came to me for help. I myself wanted to do a favor for your older sister, but didn't agree to it."

  "When the master is sometimes willing to turn a blind eye, I know you can't tolerate any sand in your eyes, but you have to consider things comprehensively. It's not worth making the Hou Mansion a mess for this." Fu Mu said with a hint of meaning.

  Fu Yiyang's expression remained unchanged. He only said, "The principle that clear water has no fish, I naturally understand. But the Deng, Mao and Wang families that Mother mentioned have not been investigated yet. If they are innocent, then as the master of this house, I will not treat them like ordinary servants. Mother can rest assured."

  "It's just a small matter. Mother only needs to send someone to ask me and that's it, I still have things to attend to, so I won't bother mother anymore." Fu Yeyang said stiffly, and turned around to leave.

  Fu's mother endured it once more, but this time she couldn't bear it anymore. With a loud "slap", she slapped the kang table, exclaiming: "It's getting more and more outrageous!" However, in her heart, she didn't dare to push further. The elder lady was too stubborn, and marrying into their Fu family was already a clash of fate. They shouldn't have agreed to let someone from such a humble background marry into their family in the first place!

  Fu's mother silently cursed her late mother-in-law several times. It is said that children's marriages are the orders of their parents and the words of matchmakers, but Fu Qiyang's marriage was actually discussed by Old Master Hou and that old woman, leaving her no room to intervene.

  Now that the old woman is dead, her chosen daughter-in-law still takes care of herself. The more Fu Mu thinks about it, the more she believes that her previous suspicion that Fu Xueyang's concubine was a plot by Su Ying is 80 or 90% correct. Keeping her would be a disaster!

  What a pity! I didn't expect her to be so stubborn!

  Fu's mother caught her breath and said to Bai Yu, "Go call Third Aunt over, I have something to say to her."

  The white egret returned after a while and said: "Third Madame has caught a cold and can't get out of bed."

  Fu's mother's face sank, "Is he really ill?"

  Bai Lian lowered her head: "When I went, the little maids were decocting medicine, and listening to San Tai Tai's voice was also weak. Afraid it's not a light illness. Moreover..."

  "What's with the mumbling? Spit it out!"

  "The slave saw the eldest maternal aunt leading people over and went straight to the second house." The eldest maternal aunt here naturally refers to Mrs. Chen, the third lady's mother, Mrs. Dai.

  Fu's mother only felt a wave of dizziness in front of her eyes, and she had just kicked the iron plate at Fu Yiyang's place, so this son had never been liked by her. He was also not close to her, and she took it for granted that he was raised by that old woman, and couldn't pretend to be a loving mother and son either.

  Now she was slapped in the face by her sister-in-law from her mother's family. She came to the house but didn't come to pay respects to her first, not even a word of notice, and just went straight to the second house. Isn't this a slap in the face? What's even more hateful is that those two nieces of hers didn't think to inform her, it's as if they wanted to turn the sky upside down!

  Fu's mother shook her hand and scolded Bai He: "Every day, you will pick up some trivial matters like chicken feathers and garlic skins. You don't have any dignity at all, Bai He, I'm telling you." Who exactly was being scolded by these words, only Fu's mother knew clearly.

  Mrs. Fu scolded and cursed, releasing a burst of evil fire, then leaned against the brocade backrest to ponder the reason for Mrs. Dai's arrival. Before she could figure it out clearly, she saw the white heron kneeling on one side, and in a fit of anger, she threw a teacup over: "You're still standing there, what are you waiting for? Go take a look at her, what is she here for!"

  Luckily still wearing thick clothes, the white heron's body was intact, but the clothes were all wet. Not daring to show any dissatisfaction, she left with her wet clothes on.

  The ones who were waiting outside originally, hearing the sound inside was not right, all shrunk their heads, perked up their ears, and when they saw the white egret come out with wet clothes, it was as if no one dared to approach the house front, and they all quietly looked for other errands.

  There's still a cuckoo in the house, no need for them to rush up to ask for rewards.

  Bai Niang put on a dress, went out the door without saying a word to change into clean clothes and come back out. She just walked out of the upper house and strolled over to the second house. After walking for a while, the cold wind blew and the sun shone, although the wet mark was not very obvious, but if you looked closely, you could still see it.

  The old woman on the road saw a lot, usually Bai Yu was the first proud person among these old women, even the cats and dogs in front of the old lady were more dignified than others. Although today is different from usual, Fu Mu's prestige still exists, and Bai Yu's status is still there.

  Nowadays, the white egrets are like this, they can't help but point and whisper behind their backs. The white egret pretends not to hear or see, still with a wooden face, walking her own way at her own pace.

  Just as she walked to the front of Madame Chen's courtyard, she heard a sharp cry coming from inside, accompanied by the sound of bowls and plates shattering. Bai He's face twitched. Unconsciously biting her lip gloss-covered lips until they were almost bleeding, she clenched her fists, as if making up her mind. She stepped forward into the courtyard.

  Inside the house, Mrs. Chen, with a big belly, was shedding tears, her throat making gulping sounds, and her eyes rolling wildly. Mrs. Dai, pale-faced, helped her catch her breath, patting her back and massaging her chest. She said sternly: "Think of the child in your womb, hold on for me!"

  Mrs. Chen seemed to have been given a stimulant, touched her bulging belly, pinched Mrs. Dai's arm and trembled with her voice: "It's Auntie, it's her!"

  "Mrs. Chen's shrill voice was like a sharp knife, piercing people's eardrums, 'That golden, resplendent bowl and plate were given by Auntie, no mistake, I remember it clearly!'"

  Mrs. Chen recalled that she was desperate to get pregnant at the time. Originally, she wanted to borrow some good luck from her elder sister-in-law and also thought of taking advantage of the situation to ask for the antique vase given by the old lady to her elder sister-in-law, but was stopped by the old lady.

  The old lady allowed her and her sister to go to the warehouse to choose their favorite decorations. At that time, she immediately fell in love with the most luxurious and eye-catching set. The white egret who took her to see it also said that there were only two sets of this kind in the mansion. Even the big madam didn't have one, which made her even more eager. She immediately asked for that set of decorations to be brought over.

  She's just an idiot!

  If it weren't for her getting pregnant later and worshiping Buddha, she wouldn't have used such exquisite decorations. Instead, she put away that set of bowls and plates that she exceptionally liked and replaced them with simpler ones. Whether the child in her belly could be kept safe was still uncertain!

  After she became pregnant, she was always not very stable. She thought it might be because it was her first pregnancy, and the doctor also said it was normal, but she just couldn't feel at ease. Thinking back to how her sister-in-law's body had never fully recovered after a miscarriage, yet she still gave birth to two plump and white sons, apparently thanks to the care of an experienced midwife who knew about medicinal properties.

  Madam Chen couldn't bring herself to ask Su Ying's mother, who was knowledgeable about medicine, for help, fearing that she might be from the main house and didn't know if there would be any ulterior motives. So she had no choice but to send a letter to Madam Dai, asking her to find someone knowledgeable about medicine to come over. Who would have thought that the woman would actually say that the bowls were coated with medicine? Madam Chen immediately blamed all her discomfort during pregnancy on those bowls!

  That set of bowls and plates was personally selected by her, all were her own doing, it's all because she was grateful to the old lady and listened to the old lady's words. But who would have thought that it was her kind and loving aunt who ruined her.

  Mrs. Chen slapped her own face, crisp and loud, tears streaming down: "I'm so stupid, I should have thought of it earlier, Auntie has always been ruthless, even my sister was heartless enough to ignore!" Thinking of this, Mrs. Chen suddenly startled, pushing Mrs. Dai: "Madam, at that time, your sister also got a piece, you quickly go and ask the nanny to take a look too!"

  Mrs. Dai grasped Mrs. Chen's hand, embracing her shoulder, and tears fell down, "I've let go of the past! You have to take good care of yourself, we can't let the baby suffer!"

  "Alright." Mrs. Chen hastily wiped away her tears and covered her bulging belly.

  Mrs. Dai's tears kept rolling down, seeing this she turned her back to wipe away her tears, gritted her teeth, and was so angry that her lungs were about to burst. It wasn't enough that they ruined one of my daughters, now they're coming after another one of my daughters, isn't it just great!

  At this time, Yu Chui, who was guarding the gate and not allowing anyone to approach, came in and said: "The white heron that was in front of the old lady has arrived."

  Madam Chen's eyes widened in anger: "She dares to come, it was her who led me to choose that set of bowls and plates, the despicable thing with a black heart! She'll come to no good end!"

  "Don't think I don't know, this little slut has always been thinking of climbing up to be the second master's concubine and mistress! Bah!" Mrs. Chen said with increasing agitation, Mrs. Dai feared that she would get overexcited and coldly said: "This is not the time to bother with a lowly maid, what's most important for you now is to calm down and take care of your pregnancy, and give birth to the child safely!"

  No matter how displeased Mrs. Chen was, Mrs. Dai had the maid help her into the room to rest properly and not be stimulated again.

  As soon as Mrs. Chen left, Mrs. Dai thought for a moment, let out a cold snort and said in a low voice: "Let her come in."

  "Please, Auntie, take a seat." Bai Lian's eyebrows and eyes were respectfully lowered, her body clad in a lotus-colored jacket with a cyan satin embroidered back heart, an aqua-green skirt, a wasp waist and a duck-egg-shaped face, oily black hair, a high nose, and a few freckles on either side of her cheeks.

  Her expression was gentle and didn't show any coquettishness, but Mrs. Dai's eyes were sharp and naturally noticed the wet marks on Bai Yu's clothes. She immediately had a plan in mind and said in a low voice: "Where did you come from?"

  The white egret seemed to be unaware of the oppressive atmosphere in the house, and even when her husband spoke ill of her, her expression did not change. "I have come at the orders of Old Lady to see if there is anything that Aunt wants to instruct."

  Mrs. Dai's gaze stopped on Bai Yu, "It turns out that the lady thought it through and sent her most capable personal maid to do errands for the little maid. This is convenient for me too, as I have something to ask you carefully."

  The white egret still lowered its head: "I dare not."

  Mrs. Dai's eyes were furious and her voice was cold: "I see you're quite daring."

  The medicine woman who went to the third wife's place came back, leaned over to Madam Dai's ear and whispered two sentences. Madam Dai first let out a sigh of relief, then her face suddenly turned stern, and her eyes became even more severe as she looked at Bai He. "You treacherous slave, do you know your crime!"

  Fu Yiyang obtained confessions from several households, initially they didn't say anything, but after being tortured, their testimonies were surprisingly consistent, and the same as those of the bribed bandits, all saying that they were dissatisfied with their circumstances and took a risk to give the lady a show, and the 500 taels were collected by them, each one still very arrogant.

  The breakthrough was with Wei Huai. At that time, the one who came forward to trade with the bandits was him. The other few families all wanted to push the blame onto him.

  Wei Huai was also afraid of death and greedy for life, so he told everything he knew later on.

  It unexpectedly involved Fu Mu, and Fu Yiyang's face changed drastically. He wanted to say it was impossible, but he didn't say it out loud. He took a deep breath, trying to calm down. But the more he looked at Wei Huai's confession, the more shocked and chilled he became.

  It felt like falling into an ice cellar, and a wave of nausea surged up her throat. It turned out that not only was this incident true, but also the ugly affair that occurred during his birthday celebration was actually orchestrated by his mother. Firstly, it was to frame his wife, trying to use the opportunity to make him divorce his wife and marry her niece from her natal family; secondly, it was to tarnish his reputation, even if he couldn't take away his title, at least his reputation would be ruined, waiting for a chance to plot again in the future, letting the title fall into the hands of the second branch.

  Fu Yiyang had already vaguely known the answer in his heart after going through what happened before, but he held it back at that time. At that time, he still had illusions, but he didn't expect such a major blow to come so quickly!

  Fu Xueyang's angry roar still echoes in my ears: "If it weren't for your good fortune in having a son, who knows which family this title would have fallen to later on? By then, where will you be able to show off your power?"

  "Big brother, you'd better take good care of your son, or else one day he'll be gone and you'll have no place to cry!"

  Thinking of his wife who suffered this calamity, and then thinking of the scene where his sons were taken away, Fu Yeyang suppressed the bitter sweetness that surged up to his throat. King Zhongrui was right in scolding him - he was indeed unworthy as a husband, unable to even protect his own wife.

  Yongping came in with endless oppression, almost lowering his head to the ground: "Master, the second aunt is making a disturbance and asking you to go upstairs, saying that the maid beside the old lady intends to harm the fetus in the belly of the second wife."

  "Pffft——" A mouthful of sweet and pungent liquid spewed out, Fu Yiyang's face turned pale, Yongping was startled and hastily said: "Master, what's wrong with you? I'll go find the doctor!"

  "Come back!" Fu Yeyang stopped him and stood up, "Help me wash and dress."

  Yongping trembled as he went to fetch water, not daring to look at that dazzling bright red color.

  Upper house

  The white egret knelt down, crying and wailing, "It was all the fault of the slave's own foolishness that led to this terrible thing being done. The slave is not worth saving, but I beg of you, old lady, auntie, please spare my family..."

  Mrs. Dai's face turned red with rage, and she slapped White Crane, who fell to the ground, half of her face swelling up, and a thread of blood oozing from the corner of her mouth.

  The cuckoo couldn't bear to look, but she hadn't figured out what had happened yet, and Auntie was already furious. She came up to apologize, then carefully peeked at the old lady's expression, seeing her face sink like water, her complexion pale. Maybe she wasn't clear about what had happened either. Not daring to speak, she could only lower her head and turn away, not daring to look at White Egret.

  Mrs. Dai, still not satisfied, kicked the White Egret again and pointed at him in anger: "You wicked thing! You have no conscience! You did such an evil deed and now you have the nerve to ask us to spare your family? When you were doing this despicable thing, didn't you think there would be consequences?! If my son's child has even a slight problem, I'll skin you alive and pull out your tendons!"

  Mrs. Dai was still not comfortable, and coldly laughed, then scolded: "Really know people by face but not by heart! In the past, I thought you were obedient and a good person, who would have thought that even your heart is black! You deserve to be struck by lightning, after death go to the 18th level of hell, in the next life be reborn into an animal!"

  Fu's mother also inferred from Mrs. Dai's words what Bai He had done. She was probably rude to the second wife, and now seeing that Mrs. Dai still had the heart to scold Bai He here, she feared that the second wife and her son were safe.

  Although I've always thought that Bai Yu's thoughts were quite big, she's been thinking about the second master every day. Now it's just a matter of time before she gets punished, and it should be her who does the punishing. Madame Dai's scolding sounds like she's cursing someone else instead.

  Fu's mother felt extremely uncomfortable in her heart, but since it involved the second wife and the unborn child, and with Mrs. Dai from her maternal family present, Fu's mother could only endure her dissatisfaction towards Mrs. Dai and asked in a gentle tone: "Auntie, please calm down, even if this servant girl has committed some mistake, I will investigate clearly and definitely punish her severely!"

  She ordered Dujuan to serve tea to Mrs. Dai, who was still fuming with anger. She grabbed the teacup and smashed it at Baihe, who was kneeling on the ground. Her voice was icy cold as she said: "Let this servant girl tell you, how did she plot to harm my son and the child in her belly? If I hadn't caught them today, I wouldn't have known what would have happened to my son!"

  Fu's mother's heart skipped a beat, her fingers gripping the armrest turned white, and her gaze shot towards Bai He like a sharp blade.

  At this moment, footsteps were heard outside the house, and a maid shouted: "Master. Second Master."

  Fu's mother's face sank like water, staring at Mrs. Dai.

  Mrs. Dai's eyes turned red, and a stream of tears fell straight down. "Don't think I'm being nosy, Elder Sister, but I've even brought the men back! If my son hadn't suffered such great injustice, I wouldn't have lost control like this!"

  "Second Master is the father of my son's child, he has the right to know about this matter; even if it were the eldest nephew, it should be his wife who came, after all she is the mistress of your Hou Mansion. But I also heard that she was ill and couldn't let her follow and work hard, only heard that the eldest nephew was in the mansion, he is the master of the family, now inheriting the title. Letting him come would be the same."

  "My poor son!" Mrs. Dai spoke extremely quickly, tears streaming down her face, completely gone was the fierce look from earlier, but the words she spoke were almost all piercing to Madam Fu's lungs, yet Madam Fu couldn't get angry, only letting people call in Fu Yeyang and Fu Xueyang.

  Fu Mu didn't notice that Fu Yiyang had changed into a new set of clothes, his expression cold and stern. As for Fu Xiyang, he was called over, with a hint of impatience between his eyebrows. When he came in and saw the situation, he sneered: "What's going on today? Is this some kind of trial or what?"

  Madam Fu hadn't even had time to clear Fu Xueyang's name when Madam Dai, wiping away tears and with red eyes, spoke up: "Young Master, put aside your joking intentions, this matter concerns the issue of Young Master's descendants! What kind of ruthless, hard-hearted, and vicious person would take action against an unborn child?!"

  This remark stirred up a hornet's nest, Fu Xueyang gave a cryptic cold laugh, but he was still worried about the child in Madame Chen's belly, furrowing his brow to ask if the fetus in the second madam's abdomen was okay, and only breathed a sigh of relief after getting an answer from Madame Dai.

  Mrs. Dai's expression improved slightly at this.

  The trial continued, and the white egret knelt on the ground crying, telling how she had secretly harmed Madame Chen. She also said that she resented Madame Chen for humiliating her, saying that she would never be able to serve as a servant by Old Master's side in this lifetime, and that she was possessed by evil spirits when she came up with such an evil plan to take revenge on Madame Chen.

  "If it wasn't for the nanny by my side recognizing it, I wouldn't have known that there was such a dirty thing placed next to my child. The glaze on it actually contained medicine, fortunately, the time used was short and the medicinal properties were shallow. If the time had been longer, perhaps this pregnancy would not have been possible, let alone having to take care of it now."

  Mrs. Dai brought out that set of colorful and magnificent bowls, her expression extremely resentful, "It's all because of this treacherous and ruthless person hiding such evil intentions, Eldest Sister, what do you think should be done about this? A lowly and despicable maid has the audacity to harm your niece, your grandson, it's really deserving of a thousand cuts!"

  Mrs. Dai's words were laced with meaning, and even a ordinary maid could hear it, let alone Fu Mu? Looking at Mrs. Dai's piercing gaze, as well as the words that clearly meant to mock her, Fu Mu felt her vision blurring black.

  Fu Yiyang's fingers turned pale white, and this matter made him think more, especially after what happened yesterday.

  ps：