Mrs. Qi has been in a bad mood lately. For three years, the sickly child of the He family had been under her nose, and she never thought that he would turn out to be such an unfeeling person. When she saw her own husband being beaten, his eyes didn't even blink, and he left without looking back, making her feel resentful, angry, ashamed, and hurt. Although she was furious at the time and hated the sickly child so much that she wished he would leave and never come back, but afterwards, she regretted it a bit.

  One reason is that the He family used that thing to threaten their own home, and another reason is that at this juncture, the position of the He family's daughter-in-law cannot be left vacant! It's obvious that it gives people an opportunity to take advantage of. So she fully agrees with Liu Chengcai's "drag" strategy. Who is afraid of whom? Her grandsons and granddaughters are all there, and they can continue to have children. In the future, after dragging her until He Mutan becomes old and worn out, Liu Cheng will still be a handsome young man, and relying on their family background, they will marry a good girl from a good family as usual.

  But things developed somewhat beyond her expectations. The day after He Mudan left, the Qinghua County Master came to his house, claiming to be visiting him, but actually had Liu Chong intercepted. Liu Chong was also at fault, being evasive and trying to placate her, but he ended up having a big argument with the Qinghua County Master, who was so angry that she almost overturned the house.

  She was afraid of causing a big trouble, so she went forward to mediate, but was pushed out far away by the Qinghua County Master with a slap, and hurt her old waist. But she couldn't care about it anymore, persuading this demon head was the most important thing, after all, she didn't persuade him successfully, the Qinghua County Master threw down a few harsh words and walked away in anger. She remembered the face of the Qinghua County Master and those words, always feeling very uneasy, her eyelids kept jumping, as if it was going to be a big trouble.

  Liu Chang didn't care, and walked away with a flick of his sleeve. In the evening, he returned home reeking of wine, his face looking terrible enough to scare people, causing all the concubines in the house to wail and cry. She looked at him disapprovingly, called Xi Xia over to ask what had happened, and only then found out that Liu Chang had almost gotten into a sword fight with someone...all because of that shameless He Mudan!

  It was easy to wait for Liu Chengcai to return home, she hurriedly grabbed Liu Chengcai's sleeve: "Master! Are you going to let people live or not? One He Mudan has turned our family upside down, I don't care, you quickly get to the bottom of this!"

  Liu Chengcai was burning with hunger, and at noon he had to attend to official duties without eating his fill. He was so hungry that his chest was stuck to his back, and he was a bit annoyed with his old wife who was no longer pampered. Afraid of her authority, he didn't dare to lose his temper, so he patiently said: "I'm starving! Let me change out of my official uniform first, then we'll talk. What's cooking in the kitchen? Bring some over!"

  Niang Jiao'er hastily handed over the silk gown, wanting to attend to Liu Chengcai's change of clothes. Niang Nu'er said: "Madam saw that it was hot outside and especially ordered the kitchen to prepare a cool meal for Master, which is being chilled in the ice bucket. I'll go fetch it immediately."

  Madam Qi saw that he was indeed sweating profusely and, rarely showing kindness, asked him: "There's some freshly brewed Mengding Shihua tea soup, do you want some?"

  "Why not? Give me a big bowl!" Liu Chengcai changed into a light and cool silk robe, comfortably lying on the recliner, lifting his feet for Nianjiao to take off his boots. Unexpectedly, he was hot and swollen, and usually didn't like wearing big boots, so it was harder to take off than usual. Nianjiao was anxious and broke out in a cold sweat, afraid of hurting him, and also afraid that if she stayed too long in front of him, Qi Furen would become suspicious, the more anxious she became, the harder it was to take off.

  Liu Chengcai was originally a bit annoyed and wanted to scold someone, but as soon as he got up, he saw the fine sweat on Nian Jiao'er's face like dew on flower petals in the morning, as well as her rosy and full lips and snow-white neck, emerald green blouse... Suddenly, it was like being blown by a cool breeze on a hot summer day, all the irritation disappeared. Without saying a word, he lifted his legs to help Nian Jiao'er take off her clothes, even deliberately hooking his ankle, making it difficult for her to remove them.

  Niang Jiao'er, who was used to being clever and resourceful, couldn't help but think that Old Master Liu was intentionally making things difficult for her. She couldn't help but quickly glance at him through the gap between her eyelashes, only to see Liu Chengcai looking at her with a profound and unfathomable expression on his face. She was so frightened that her soul flew out of her body, and a layer of cold sweat broke out all over her body, causing her to involuntarily tremble and shout: "Madam..."

  Liu Chengcai was extremely displeased, lifted his foot and kicked Nian Jiao'er in the chest, scolding: "You stupid thing who eats idle food! Can't even take off your boots properly! Serving your mistress with all your heart, am I not your master?"

  Niang Jiao was kicked to the ground, but immediately got up and only knocked her head, holding back tears and not daring to make a sound. Offending the master would only result in anger, but offending the mistress could be fatal.

  Madam Qi brought the tea over, saw the situation and coldly laughed, then strongly placed the teacup on the table next to Liu Chengcai. The scalding hot tea splashed out and burned Liu Chengcai, who jumped up and wailed in pain. She didn't care, her face cold as she chased Nianjiao out, spat in Liu Chengcai's face, gritted her teeth and said: "Shameless old thing! You've caused trouble again and now you're making your wife and children take the blame for you, just when things were getting a little better. Now you've got that filthy idea again! Disaster is coming soon, see what you can do about it! Sooner or later I'll make sure the Liu family line dies out!"

  Liu Chengcai's temper flared up again, and he clenched his teeth to suppress the fire in his belly. He wiped the saliva from his face with his sleeve and stomped his foot, saying, "What now?"

  Madam Qi vented her anger and recounted the events of the day from start to finish, saying: "If you don't come up with a good solution soon, either that wicked slave will get your son to kill someone or that **** will destroy the Liu family's legacy!"

  Liu Chengcai had long been thinking, and deliberately let her be anxious: "Things have come to this, what do you want to do?" The He family had eaten the iron scale and steeled themselves. Could it be that they would go to the door to take back that sickly thing? As long as the He family was willing to take out that thing and not ask for their money back, it would be a great kindness. In the future, he wouldn't believe that the He family dared to oppose him, this third-grade official! As for the county princess, didn't Liu Chengcai like her? The county princess had favor, more than some real princesses, she really wanted to marry Liu Chengcai, it wasn't a big deal, and it wasn't as if she couldn't give birth. How could their family line be cut off?

  Madam Qi heard this, her beautiful eyes suddenly opened wide, and she went forward to pinch Liu Chengcai's ear: "Are you a man? Why did I marry you? What am I supposed to do? Alright, alright, you asked the right question, let's go ask our son to make things clear..."

  Liu Chengcai was in pain, and seeing a shadowy figure flashing outside the curtain, he couldn't help but feel extremely annoyed. He grabbed Qi's wife's hand and flung it down, saying: "A woman's opinion! How can you be so biased?! What is his family, just a small merchant household? Even if they have some money and know some officials, what does that amount to?! How can they compare to my three generations of noble heritage?! If he acknowledges defeat and submits, I'll let it go! But if he wants to compete with me... I'll make him regret it! You'd better not mention that **** woman's name again, or you'll bring disaster upon yourself! Does she really think she can enter this household? It's up to me to stop her! You're just afraid of losing your mother-in-law's dignity, aren't you?!

  Mrs. Qi's face turned red and white as she was scolded by him, but she was not willing to admit defeat yet, wanting to bring up past events to argue, Liu Chengcai had already thrown her out on his own accord. Seeing Liu Chengcai leave without looking back, she felt a bit anxious in her heart, and couldn't bear to ask someone to go see where Liu Chengcai had gone. It wasn't until Zhu Ayi came from Liu Cheng's courtyard to report that he had indeed gone to Liu Cheng's courtyard that she finally let out a sigh of relief. When Nian Jiao'er came up to attend to her, she couldn't bear to look at her, thinking about whether or not to drive Nian Jiao'er out.

  Just as she was thinking to herself, a report came from outside: "Auntie has arrived." It turned out that her brother's wife, Mrs. Pei, had come to visit. Mrs. Qi was already feeling anxious and annoyed, and she complained, "It's almost dark, what is she doing coming at this hour?" However, she couldn't avoid seeing her, so she could only let Nian Yu'er help her get dressed and do her hair before lazily going out to greet her.

  Madam Pei, who was no more than thirty-six or seven years old, wore a golden hairpin with a jade cicada-shaped clasp on her head, tied with a five-colored printed silk skirt, draped in a sky-blue embroidered silk cloak, and stepped into a pair of gold-threaded lily shoes. With a spring breeze on her face, she walked in, smiling: "Sister, I wanted to come two days ago, but things were busy and I couldn't make it. Today, I finally had some free time, so I rushed over to find you."

  Madam Qi politely asked her to sit down, first inquiring about her family members before asking about the purpose of her visit.

  Mrs. Pei saw that Mrs. Qi looked listless and was obviously unhappy, so she didn't rush to talk about her own affairs, but instead asked with concern: "But isn't it too hot today? You're not feeling well, are you? Don't worry too much, don't spoil your son and daughter-in-law too much."

  She didn't mention it, but as soon as she did, Madame Qi's nostrils almost flared with anger. She snorted and said, "Don't mention that! Just thinking about it makes me angry!"

  Mrs. Pei said in surprise, "What's going on? Who made you unhappy? Tell me quickly and I'll help you vent your anger!" The news of the He family moving things from the Liu family had already spread to the government office from the neighborhood, so she actually knew about it. She just needed to pretend not to know today in order to draw out Mrs. Qi's words.

  "Madam Qi recalled the scene of that day and was still shaking with anger: 'That He family is truly a group of coarse and unrefined people, they look down on everyone, not even a bit of upbringing...'"

  Mrs. Pei listened quietly until she finished, then said: "I heard Erniang say that the day Zidi Shu and others fought was the one who performed the dance horse, it seemed to be someone from their He family?"

  "Absolutely not! It was that good-for-nothing, short-lived ghost's distant cousin, the son of Ning Wangfu's long history who didn't take office but ran to do business, Li Xingzhi! He was born without a brain and was incited by the sickly child with just a few words and then took action! Today, he almost drew his sword again. Luckily, heaven wants to protect me, so one by one they fall into my hands!"

  Mrs. Pei accompanied her and said a few harsh words, and Fang pretended to be nonchalant and said: "I heard that on the Dragon Boat Festival, which is also the birthday of Her Majesty the Empress, the Ning Wang Fu will present two dancing horses to Her Majesty as a birthday gift. At that time, they will perform in front of the Diligent Government Building. I wonder if you and your sister's husband have heard about this?"

  Madam Qi was not to be blamed, the Empress had given birth to two princes, the elder son was made Crown Prince and died just over two years later. The Empress was heartbroken, so the Emperor ordered a grand ceremony to comfort her. More than two years after the death of the former Crown Prince, there were many talented grown-up princes, but none of them had been appointed as the new Crown Prince, showing that the imperial favor was deep. And this Prince Ning happened to be the youngest son of the Empress.

  She slammed her hand on the table and scolded, "No wonder Li Xingzhi is so arrogant! The He family is indeed looking down on people! It turns out that they are relying on their powerful backing!"

  Madam Pei hung her head and didn't speak. The Li family had been serving as the chief historian of the Ning Wang Fu for a long time, not just one or two days. How could she only realize now? Was it really because she had enjoyed too much prosperity and become foolish?

  Madam Qi thought for a moment, then laughed again: "I'm not afraid of him!"

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