Chapter 539: Hiding Corruption and Sheltering Filth

Chen Yiyi froze for a moment, she heard that the people from the front courtyard returned to report, saying that Junior General Zhao had returned.

She dressed up happily and walked toward the front courtyard, not expecting that the person coming to meet her was the Princess Consort of Rui.

At that moment Chen Yiyi's heart gave a jolt, and her heart instantly panicked.

This Princess Consort of Rui is notorious for being hot-tempered in Shang Jing; whenever she wants to stir up trouble, no one can suppress her.

She secretly thought this was absolutely impossible; she had done everything flawlessly, even if the Princess Consort of Rui came to cause her trouble, she could hardly be dealt with, right?

Moreover, the Princess Consort of Rui is human, not a god; how could she possibly catch hold of her weakness?

Moreover, she is from the An family; her great-uncle even saved Prince Rui, so how could Prince Rui possibly bully the niece of his lifesaver?

This matter, no matter what Gu Jiu Ling thinks of, cannot be blamed on her.

Chen Yiyi steadied herself, stepped forward to salute Gu Jiu Ling, and put on a charming smile: "I, Yiyi, am the distant cousin of the young mistress; I did not expect the Princess Consort's visit, so I failed to greet you properly; please forgive me, Princess Consort."

Her bearing and demeanor were just right, but Gu Jiu Ling's gaze grew even colder.

Now Jinzhi is staying in her medical clinic, life or death unknown, yet this woman before her is dressed so brightly and beautifully.

She has time to pluck her brows and paint her lips, but no time to go to the medical clinic to see how her older cousin is doing—whether there is any danger.

What distant cousin, what a damn cousin!

Perhaps Old Lady An deliberately brought her to the Junior General's mansion to disgust Jinzhi, right?

Now looking at her clothing made of silk from Jiangnan, the whole household is already near frantic, everyone worried about the young mistress's safety, yet this person, who is closest to Jinzhi in this mansion, behaves like this.

When others' husbands return home, she is this excited, actually coming out from the rear courtyard, walking out two doors, and meeting them at the front hall.

Those who know understand this is a guest of the Zhao family; those who don't still think she came out to welcome her own husband.

Gu Jiu Ling snorted coldly and walked toward the rear courtyard.

Chen Yiyi's expression changed, but she still carefully followed behind, walking and walking, yet she deliberately slowed her steps a bit, consistently staying behind Gu Jiu Ling and stepping in step with Zhao Lang.

At this moment Zhao Lang was anxious as fire, still worrying about his son whom he had just met; he had no energy to nitpick this woman's demeanor and movements.

Chen Yiyi leaned beside Zhao Lang and whispered: "General Zhao, what business does the Princess Consort of Rui have coming to the mansion today? She looks fierce; I fear it won't be easy to deal with."

Chen Yiyi quickly heard that General Zhao and Xiao Yin have always been at odds, and now there is some suspicion of sowing discord.

Zhao Lang simply hadn't heard what she was saying; he hurried a few steps, caught up to Gu Jiu Ling, and said: "Princess Consort, where are you going? I'll show the way!"

Gu Jiu Ling also quickened her steps, turned her face to look at Zhao Lang, and said: "Go see your daughter."

As soon as Gu Jiu Ling said the two words "daughter", Chen Yiyi, who was following behind, panicked a bit and hurried forward: "Princess Consort, the eldest miss is not in the rear courtyard; I had the servant women take her out to play."

"This eldest miss child is indeed a bit mischievous, can't stay in the courtyard, so I had the servant women take her out to play; when she's tired and comes back, she can also eat a bit more rice..."

Chen Yiyi had not even finished saying the two words "rice and dishes" when Gu Jiu Ling suddenly turned and slapped her hard across the face.

"You..." Chen Yiyi was stunned.

Gu Jiu Ling's slap was delivered with great force; instantly Chen Yiyi's left half of her face swelled up high, she looked at Gu Jiu Ling in disbelief, not knowing why this woman had suddenly gone mad and struck her.

"Princess Consort, although you are noble as the Princess Consort of Rui, to strike someone for no reason—this is unjustifiable, right?"

Suddenly, with a pa sound, Gu Jiu Ling slapped Chen Yiyi's other cheek.

Now Chen Yiyi's both cheeks are somewhat red and swollen; she frightenedly kept retreating, fell to the ground, and burst into tears.

"General Zhao, look—this is your inner residence; the Princess Consort of Rui behaving like this, where does she put you?"

Chen Yiyi wept with tears like pear blossoms, delicate and moving, and grabbed Zhao Lang's cuff.

Zhao Lang snorted coldly, pulled the cuff from Chen Yiyi's hand; this time Chen Yiyi truly burst into tears.

Her face turned deathly pale as she incredulously looked at the two people standing before her.

At this moment the Zhao family's servants, coming and going, also saw this scene; they variously stopped their steps, not daring to approach, yet their gazes were as if watching a joke.

Gu Jiu Ling, looking down from above, fixed her stare on Chen Yiyi, suddenly raised her voice, looked at the servants watching from left and right, and pointed at these people, shouting loudly: "Come! Seize all these onlookers watching the joke, each to receive ten blows."

"Where are the stewards? With such a large courtyard, could it be that all the stewards are dead?"

Not long after, two stewards of the Zhao family hurried over, still slightly smelling of alcohol.

Gu Jiu Ling flew into a rage, pointed at the two men and shouted loudly: "Remove these two stewards, each to be heavily beaten with thirty big boards, search their rooms for all gold, silver, and valuables, quickly give them to this Princess Consort, and send them to the front hall."

"If there are too many valuables, immediately send them to the official office; stealing a master's property is not so easy."

The two stewards, upon hearing this, trembled all over and immediately knelt down.

The Zhao family's residence was recently built in Shang Jing; this general's mansion was even an imperial grant.

These people were all hired by the Zhao couple from under the bridge in Jing Cheng.

The Zhao couple came from Long West, bringing few people; maintaining such a large household required too many hands, so they hired many people from the local Shang Jing area to work in the residence.

Old Master Zhao and Old Lady Zhao are both kind-hearted; moreover, having previously lived in that border region of Long West, they had never dealt with these servants.

The Zhao family keeps growing, the sons' merits also keep increasing, but the elderly couple managing all this are somewhat overwhelmed.

Thus they entrusted the two stewards to manage; the young mistress Jinzhi is mute and also somewhat simple-minded, so the two stewards took control of the entire general's mansion.

Usually the finances also weren't free of corruption; now being pointed out by the Princess Consort of Rui in public, they were instantly frightened into a dazed stupor.

"General, general, look—we are Zhao family people; how can we let this outsider boss us around at will?"

"We Zhao family slaves, Junior General, you ought to decide for us old slaves!"

"Decide for your mother, get lost!"! Zhao Lang at this moment could not fail to see the situation.

He himself had been busy training the new army, returning home very rarely; even when he did return, it was only to think of Jinzhi.

The classroom had actually become like this; his mother, though cheerful and hot-tempered, lacked the means to manage the servants.

Gu Jiu Ling's light remark made her realize that her Zhao family younger sister was in big trouble.