The Mute Wife Who Brings Prosperity-Chapter 600 - 567: Arresting the Second Master for Court (Update 1)
The bridal sedan chair hadn’t even entered the mansion when the bride in a peach-red wedding dress was taken away by a government officer.
She was both a murderer and the bridegroom’s own sister-in-law.
The sky was gloomy and overcast, snowflakes falling incessantly and covering the courtyard still adorned with red silk, which seemed particularly ironic.
After Tang Yuan fainted, he was sent back to the front courtyard, and someone had already gone to fetch a doctor.
In the front hall, Mrs. Qiao sat upright with a stern face, her eyes sharp as knives, feeling as though something was blocking her chest, unable to vent her anger and unwilling to swallow it down.
All the stewards and servants who had participated in welcoming Aunt Yun stood outside, each shivering, barely daring to breathe.
The commotion outside the corner gate was so great that half of the servants in the mansion had heard about it, realizing that there was no Aunt Yun, a so-called younger sister of the first wife. The person inside the bridal sedan was actually the first wife herself.
And years ago, the first wife was suspected of murdering the eldest master.
The most repulsive part was that the second master intended to take his own sister-in-law and his brother’s murderer as his woman.
The amount of information in this was overwhelming, and those servants who bowed their heads had all sorts of thoughts.
But what they thought about the most, undoubtedly, was the eldest master’s death.
The elderly in the mansion all knew that Mrs. Jiang was originally supposed to be sent to bring joy to the second master. It was just that when the eldest master went to greet the bride, he had an affair with her at an inn on the way, and had to continue with the mistake to save everyone’s face.
With such a prior connection, now with Mrs. Jiang entering the Tang family again as the second master’s concubine, the motive for murder became clear—the second master had always resented his wife’s brother for snatching his intended bride and had planned for years to take her back.
So there was an eighty to ninety percent chance that the eldest master was killed in a conspiracy between Mrs. Jiang and the second master, with the aim of making Mrs. Jiang a concubine of the second branch instead of the first wife.
Some things, the more you think about them, the more terrifying they become.
Of course, as servants, they could only dare to think these thoughts privately.
Now, the Tang family was at a critical juncture, and anyone who dared speak a word could have their throat slit by the mistress, offering up their blood to honor the spirit of the deceased eldest master. 𝒻𝘳𝘦𝘦𝘸ℯ𝒷𝘯𝘰𝑣ℯ𝑙.𝘤𝑜𝘮
The freezing wind howled, and a young servant child struggled to remain standing, softly asking the steward beside her what to do.
The steward could only return a frozen, bitter smile.
With premeditated murder and scandalous acts exposed to outsiders, the mistress was now frustrated with nowhere to vent her anger. As servants, they naturally became live targets, fearing for their lives, and hoped the mistress wouldn’t decide to silence them in a fit of rage.
After a time equivalent to burning an incense stick, the maid Ning Lu, who attended to Tang Yuan, quickly approached with her sleeves folded, and after entering the hall, reported to Mrs. Qiao: "Madam, the second master has awakened."
"Why didn’t you bring him here?"
Mrs. Qiao’s face was unrestrainable in her anger.
Ning Lu replied, "The second master is still running a high fever, and he’s very weak now."
Mrs. Qiao coldly snorted, stood up, and followed Ning Lu out, glaring at a few stewards, "Stand straight, anyone who falls over gets beaten and sold off!"
The servants were as quiet as cicadas in winter. That young servant child, already unable to endure, started to sob softly upon hearing Mrs. Qiao’s words, but before Mrs. Qiao’s gaze could land on her, her parents already covered her mouth.
Mrs. Qiao went directly to Tang Yuan’s room.
The doctor was prescribing medicine, and Tang Yuan leaned against the headboard with soulless eyes, not even turning his gaze when Mrs. Qiao entered.
Standing in front of the bed, Mrs. Qiao fixed a chilly gaze on him, her tone as hard as stone, "Awake?"
Tang Yuan turned his head, seeing only Mrs. Qiao, he hurriedly asked, "Where is the second lady?"
Mrs. Qiao sneered, "When you took her as a concubine, you thought she was a soft bundle. Now that something’s happened, you remember her."
The suspicions in the servants’ hearts were naturally also in Mrs. Qiao’s mind.
Ever since Mrs. Jiang became the legitimate wife of the main branch, the second son’s relationship with his elder brother gradually became distant, to the point where each meeting was just a nodding exchange of pleasantries.
However, the second son’s attitude towards Mrs. Jiang seemed unchanged from beginning to end.
Before Mrs. Jiang went to the outer estate, each time she was reproached by her mother-in-law, the second son would always protect her a bit.
In the past, Mrs. Qiao thought nothing of it, only considering her youngest son’s kindness, not holding a grudge against that woman’s betrayal.
Looking back now, how could it be kindness? It was clearly calculated.
The second son obviously hasn’t let go of what happened back then, which is why he tried every means to bring Mrs. Jiang into the second household.
So, the eldest son’s death very likely wasn’t solely the work of Mrs. Jiang.
Thinking of this, Mrs. Qiao was filled with grief and anger, raising her hand to slap Tang Yuan hard across the face.
The old doctor, who was writing prescriptions at the table, was stunned by her actions.
Unwilling to bring up family disgrace in front of outsiders, Mrs. Qiao took a deep breath and said to Ning Lu, "Take him to the accounts office to get the money."
Ning Lu acknowledged, then said a word of invitation to the old doctor.
The old doctor hurriedly took his medicine chest and followed Ning Lu out quickly.
Once the room door closed again, the room was already silent, and Mrs. Qiao’s eyes were bloodshot with ferocity, "You wretch! Did you kill your elder brother?"
Tang Yuan looked up in disbelief, "Mother, do you suspect me?"
Mrs. Qiao didn’t want to suspect him either, but all signs pointed to the second son being involved.
Seeing his mother’s unsightly expression, Tang Yuan didn’t take the time to comfort her and kept asking, "Where is the second aunt? Did she say anything?"
Mrs. Qiao closed her eyes.
Tang Yuan urgently said, "Mother, the most important thing now is to find a way to get the sister-in-law out of the government office, otherwise, once the government exposes her identity, our Tang family will be completely finished!"
Mrs. Qiao bit her teeth in anger, eyes fierce, "You want me to rescue a murderer? Second son, how much poison did that woman feed you? For her, you even disregard your own brother’s life and death. Even collateral relatives know what propriety, righteousness, integrity, and shame are. How can you, as a direct descendant and future head of the family, make such a heartless mistake!"
"Mother, I did not." Tang Yuan shook his head repeatedly, "Elder brother’s death has nothing to do with me."
"How dare you argue now!" Mrs. Qiao wished she could slap him awake again, but out of love for her son who was still ill, she held back, "If it really has nothing to do with you, why would you defend that woman?"
"I am not defending, Mother, I am considering the bigger picture. Sister-in-law originally married into the Tang family under a different identity. Now that she has fallen into the hands of the government, once they convict her, it will confirm the non-existence of Jiang Qingyun in the world. At that time, the Tang family will only fall into an even more embarrassing situation. So, please, Mother, find a way to get her out. No matter how much you hate her, once she’s out, you can punish her however you like, just don’t let her get involved in a lawsuit."
Tang Yuan spoke quickly and urgently.
Mrs. Qiao had considered all these, "But Mrs. Jiang was taken away by a government officer from Shuntian Prefecture. Whom do we ask to get her back?"
"Ask the second aunt." Tang Yuan said, "The second aunt has many relatives, especially Minister Song, who even sent such heavy gifts to the second aunt last time. That shows the second aunt’s good relationship with their family. As long as Minister Song is willing to help, Qingyu will definitely come out safely."
A few days ago, because of the mechanical beast, Mrs. Qiao personally went to ask for help once. This time, to ask for help for a woman, Mrs. Qiao was naturally unwilling, "How does a mother-in-law bow to a daughter-in-law? You ask for help."
"Alright, I will go." Tang Yuan lifted the brocade quilt to get out of bed, wrapped himself in a cloak, and just stepped over the threshold when he saw a young servant running frantically from the outer courtyard.
Already overwhelmed by a series of bad news today, Tang Yuan frowned at the servant’s reckless approach, "What’s going on?"
"Second Master, it’s not good, the government from Shuntian Prefecture has come again." The servant’s face was deathly pale, "It’s that Chief Zhang from before, saying he’s acting on Lord Governor’s orders to take you to court for trial."
"What!" Tang Yuan’s heart skipped a beat, "Arrest me?"
The servant shook his head, "I don’t know the specifics either. Right now, the main gate and the two corner gates on the east and west are completely surrounded by the government officials. If you don’t go out now, Chief Zhang will personally come in to escort you, Second Master, what do you think..."
Tang Yuan kicked him, "Get lost!"
After shouting, he turned and headed for the inner courtyard, determined to settle things with Xu Jia before Chief Zhang came in.
But when he arrived at Zilan Courtyard, a few women responsible for cleaning told him that the second aunt returned to her parental home.
Tang Yuan was stunned on the spot, "Returned home? How could she go home at this critical moment?"
Since marrying into the house, Xu Jia treated her servants well. Despite being lowly maids, these women had often been favored by her. Hearing Tang Yuan say this, one of them was discontented and spoke, "Second aunt said, Second Master deceived her by trying to bring his own sister-in-law over, she found it disgusting and couldn’t stand it, so she went back to her family home to stay for a while."
Growing up, Tang Yuan had always upheld the image of a gentleman who knew propriety and decorum in the eyes of the servants. Being pointed at and insulted like this by them was probably the first time, leaving him shamefully speechless. After a moment, he ordered in a low voice, "Prepare a horse, I need to go to General Changwei’s Mansion."
