Qī Wǔ's wife smoothed her hair, her smile unchanged. "I don't know how much you heard, but I'm guessing it was just me scolding Ah Zhen. Mother, I'm really worried, Ah Zhen is going to come of age next year and will soon be at the age where we need to discuss marriage, but she's still so weak and can't handle anything. I have no choice but to push her to learn more, even if it's just for a short while, so that she'll remember it in her heart and be on guard against others, rather than being taken advantage of and not knowing what's happening. You say, isn't that right? But despite my good intentions, she still can't understand me, I don't know who she's been listening to, making excuses for herself and arguing with me, it really gets my blood boiling."

  The old lady's face was expressionless, quietly listening to her finish speaking.

  "That means I misunderstood."

  "There's nothing like that, you just didn't listen to the whole conversation. If I were in your shoes, I'd think so too. Oh, Mother, how did you end up here? Is there something going on? Can't someone just call my wife over?"

  She slid down the Buddhist beads on her wrist and turned them over in her palm one by one, and the old lady closed her eyes and kept reciting "Amitabha" in her heart.

  Qī Wǔ's heart had just calmed down a bit, but now it was hanging in suspense again.

  The old lady's emotions are not right, and she came suddenly. Has something happened that she doesn't know about?

  "Ge Niang, is it that you're hiding too deeply or was I mistaken about you from the start?"

  "Mother......" Qi Wu's family was shocked and subconsciously wanted to make excuses for herself, but facing her mother-in-law's gaze, she felt that saying anything would be futile.

  The old lady got up and walked to the table, looked at the things spread out on it, and picked one up to take a look.

  Qī Wǔ's family was secretly scolding her, she really lost her mind, actually didn't put these things away when her mother-in-law entered the house.

  It's too late to go and collect now.

  But it doesn't matter, ordinary people can't understand what's written on it anyway.

  "Ge Niang, have you forgotten my origins?"

  Qī Wǔ's face turned pale, it was true that the Qī estate had declined, but in its heyday, it was truly glorious. At that time, discussing marriage and alliances was enough to secure a connection with the imperial family.

  The Jiang family, the maternal grandparents' home, was not as prosperous as the Qi Manor back then, but it wasn't much worse off either. Now that the Qi Manor has declined to second-rate status, the Jiang family still stands tall and unshaken.

  The more people there are, the more things they know.

  As a mother-in-law, she probably understands more than her, even if she can't see it, just thinking about it for a moment will make her think of many things.

  She carefully picked up the papers, folded them and held them in her hand. Only then did the old lady raise her eyes to look at her, "You say if I were to thoroughly investigate these matters, what would be the outcome? Would Rui not have died with his eyes closed?"

  Qī Wǔ's face turned even paler, but he remained calm and collected, as if he had been wrongly accused. "Mother, my wife may be bold, but she would never dare to harm Master's child. How could you think it was her doing? It was Doctor Sun who diagnosed the illness back then, he said it was a sudden onset. Don't you believe him?"

  The old lady looked at her deeply, "What do you say? Do you still want to teach these things to my legitimate granddaughter? Are you trying to ruin her for life? If you live like this until you're 40 and lose face, lose the affection of your parents-in-law, it's also because they saw through your nature early on after getting married and didn't want to come to your house. Do you want your daughter to end up like you too?"

  "No, no, Ah Zhen will be happy, I'll make her very happy, choose the best husband for her, definitely will let her be happy."

  Qiu Wu's words were cut off abruptly as she realized the implications of what she had just said, which was almost tantamount to admitting that she was indeed the one who did it. If Master knew...

  "Mother, who doesn't want their daughter to be happy? You really scared me with what you just said. If I've offended you, please punish me."

  The old lady watched her performance with a calm and composed expression, and she even pretended to be quite good, with sincere eyes.

  If it were in the past, she would have really believed it.

  This daughter-in-law is a straightforward and innocent person.

  "It's good or bad, I have a conclusion in my heart, you can't admit it, and I don't need your admission. Nobody is stupid, Artisan girl, you also experienced the most chaotic time of the Qi family, I don't want to stir up waves again."

  The Qi Wu family's mind gradually calmed down, as long as the old lady didn't thoroughly investigate, she would be fine.

  "From today on, Qi Zhen will move to my place and I'll personally teach her. Don't bother Yu'er's wife anymore, she needs to learn a lot of things to help the Qi family gain face in front of the Crown Prince's consort. I'm taking charge, so she won't need to come here to pay respects to you again. Yunniang, this is between us, I won't let Zhongran know about it, I'm saving you some face. Be more careful with your spending, don't waste it all away, or else Zhongran will really divorce you and I won't stop him."

  She didn't even want to look at Qi Wu again, the old lady walked out of the door, walking very slowly, with a feeling of stumbling.

  She felt a chill run down her spine as she thought about how deeply one person could hide.

  "Mother..."

  "Shut up." The old lady suddenly turned her head, with a ferocity in her eyes that she had never shown before. Wu Yun thought back to the year when the old lady had killed more than twenty people in the mansion without batting an eyelid.

  These years of gentleness are not a sudden development of compassion, but rather a reluctance to stir up trouble again.

  The Qi government can no longer withstand such turmoil.

  Slowly knelt down, Qi Wu was afraid to speak again.

  Staring at her fiercely, the old lady finally turned around and left, leaving behind a warning: "Don't make me take drastic measures to deal with you."

  Liu's mother came in and saw her like this, hurriedly helped her back to the room, wiping away tears, but couldn't say a word of comfort.

  She had advised her early on that while the young lady had learned some things, there were others she couldn't learn; after all, she wasn't a daughter of a wealthy family and needed to learn those things in order to secure a place for herself.

  Everyone's precious daughter is particular about, is temperament.

  Soon, Lin Mama brought two little maids over and after paying her respects, said: "The old madam has sent me to pack some everyday items for Miss Zhen. Does the first wife have any instructions?"

  Qī Wǔ's eyes were blank as he stared at her, his mind a complete void, only feeling that the person was extremely unfamiliar.

  Liu's mother, seeing the situation, hastily smiled and stepped forward, saying: "My wife's body is not feeling well, it's a blessing for you to be personally taught by Old Madam, please also ask Older Sister to often remind her, don't let her offend Old Madam."

  "Look what you're saying, Zhen Niang is clever and wise, she's a sensible girl, no need for me to remind her." Lin Daiyu said calmly, without showing any emotion.

  Liu's mother knew that she had a lot of face in front of the old lady, and her attitude basically represented the old lady's attitude. When she heard this, she felt a chill in her heart. To what extent was the mistress of their house being despised?

  Qī Wǔ shì hui guo shén lái, dàn dàn de sǎo le liǎng rén yī yǎn, tǎng le xià qù, "nǐ men kàn zhe bàn ba, wǒ lèi le."

  Translation:

  Qiwu woke up, glanced at the two of them lightly, lay down and said, "You guys handle it, I'm tired."

  The two of them exchanged a glance, bowed and took their leave, each going back to pack up their belongings without mentioning the trivial matters.

  The old lady turned back into the house, and Qi Zhen obediently went forward to support her, with a demure and obedient appearance.

  Sit down on the stool, the old lady looked at her steadily and said, "Lift up your skirt and let grandmother take a look."

  Qijin was reluctant to see her mother's coercion, nor did she want to bring disaster to her mother. Moreover, now that Grandmother knew about this matter, Mother would be in a terrible situation. If Grandmother were to know more, Mother would be in an even more difficult position.

  "Grandma..."

  "Get excited."

  This was the point of no return, and Qi Zhen had no choice but to pick up Chu Zi.

  The old lady glanced at Shuang Ji, and Shuang Ji understood, stepping forward to roll up the hem of her pants.

  New red scars and old blue bruises crisscrossed each other, with obvious high swelling, pitiful to behold.

  Both of them felt heartbroken when they saw it.

  The old lady was even more angry and heartbroken, hating to drag that ruthless woman in front of her and give her a few slaps on the face to wake her up.

  If a permanent mark is left, how can Qi Zhen marry in the future?

  She's determined to ruin her own legitimate granddaughter!

  Qī Zhēn saw that things were not going well, and hastily stepped forward to gently pat her grandmother's back, softly saying: "Grandmother don't be angry, mother held back her strength, won't leave a mark, it's just that I'm not good enough, always can't learn, mother is worried that after I get married I'll suffer, in the end, she's doing it for my own good."

  "It's all swollen like this, and you're still speaking up for her. How could she bring herself to do it? Which family's daughter isn't spoiled, afraid that a single mark on their body will make them unacceptable to their husband after marriage? How can she be so heartless!"

  "Grandma, don't worry, it won't leave a scar on the child. You can rest assured." After a pause, Qi Zhen said in a low voice: "Sister secretly gave me a box of ointment, I applied it and it was very useful, the mark disappeared quickly."

  The old lady finally stopped panting so hastily and thought of what Hua Ru had asked for at the beginning, and couldn't help but ask, "Have you talked to her?"

  "No." Qi Zhen shook her head repeatedly, knowing the principle of not airing family dirty laundry. "When sister took me to the tea garden to make tea, I was playing and stepped on some mud. Sister had someone bring water to clean me up, maybe... that's when she saw it."

  "She is really concerned about you, just like an elder sister."

  When he heard his sister-in-law's praise, Qi Zhen smiled with a simple and pure joy, "Sister-in-law is very good to her granddaughter."

  If it wasn't for your own good, how dare he say such things to her, knowing that it would incur his mother-in-law's dislike, yet not backing down. This kind of temperament is what she truly likes.

  There are all kinds of masters in the Qi mansion, big and small. In the past, only San's wife was looked up to, but now Yu'er's wife is considered much better than San's wife.

  "Your sister-in-law knelt down in front of me and begged me to take you with me and raise you properly, probably because she knew that you had a hard time at your mother's place. Qi Zhen, be good and respect your sister-in-law, even if you get married later, don't distance yourself from her. Your maternal family is your support, and in the future, only your brother and sister-in-law can hold up your backbone in this Qi Manor."

  It turned out that her sister-in-law was helping her from behind, no wonder the grandmother who rarely went out would suddenly appear at her mother's place and take her away.

  Qī Zhēn's eyes reddened, but she still smiled, "Grandmother, her granddaughter will definitely remember her sister-in-law's kindness and dare not forget."

  "Don't blame your sister-in-law for being too nosy, she's timid but dared to do this for you, it counts as taking responsibility."

  "My granddaughter Xie, don't worry, Auntie is thinking of me, I know."

  "That's good." The old lady sighed, her face full of fatigue. "From now on, you'll stay with your grandmother and learn from her when she handles things. And remember what I told you about your sister-in-law, it will only be beneficial to you."

  "Yes, granddaughter knows."

  PS: Looking for pink powder now.

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