Chapter 263: Feeling Very Ashamed

Mu Junzhu returned to her residence with her family, and seeing the family's embarrassed faces, the duchess began to wail and weep.

"It's all my fault; I caused you all to be so humbled and servile."

Mu Guniang stared at her with a cold face, "Mother, think back to when our great ancestor had nothing, following the late emperor horse and saddle, starting as a lowly soldier. One must not forget one's roots; now that our family has risen, we forget the past. The families you despise are precisely those we cannot afford to offend."

"We have merely suffered an insult for nothing."

"Mother, could you stop saying that? Who provoked this insult? If you hadn't tried to take someone's Dizi, would she have acted so?"

"You, your elbow is twisted outward; I don't have a daughter like you."

"I also don't want a mother who treats lives lightly, but there's nothing I can do,"

"You"

Mu Guniang's two younger brothers had their throats squeezed today, feeling very ashamed.

"Sister, you have decided on his family, right?"

"Believe me, in the Ming Imperial Court, there is nothing I cannot resolve."

"Otherwise? If she showed any attitude of admitting fault, I wouldn't let her go like this. I originally wanted to get along well, after all we were to become in-laws, but their family is resentful. Then let the screw be pulled out and roll smoothly, hum!"

"If Dizi doesn't take the bait, there won't be so many troubles."

"What is there to disagree with? Our Mu family is already a high-status household; letting Rong'er marry into another high family is not a stab in the Emperor's eye? Moreover, marriage looks at the man's nature, not his household; as long as he treats Rong'er well and she likes him, that's enough."

He was unwilling, took a signboard to the palace to request the imperial physician, only to be told the duchess was not ill. My heavens.

"Hmph, is this what you call being insulted? She sent people to kill your relatives; try it, can you forgive?"

Many people knew the princess had set her sights on a fifth‑rank minor official's son, and they mocked in secret; the Emperor even summoned the Duke to the palace because of this.

Qiao Mai was unceremonious, immediately had someone arrange Mu Guniang's lodging and work from dawn to dusk, identical to the household servants.

"Not afraid. If she dares to send someone again, I'll break her son's leg. If my son loses even a single hair, I'll make her son pay with his life."

Since the princess moved in, Yunfeng hasn't visited her, and the two seem to have abruptly lost contact.

In just a month, the Duke's affairs spread throughout Jingcheng.

"Fine, get up. It's not your fault; Mu Junzhu deliberately flirted with you for her own gain. What does it have to do with you?"

Yunfeng didn't look particularly pleased upon seeing Mu Guniang; the two merely nodded at each other.

Frankly, the feudal Imperial Court is accustomed to crushing others with power; the strong despise the weak. They didn't expect they'd hit a solid wall.

"Will it be fine after a year? What kind of poison is this?"

"Mu Aiqing, I have heard rumors outside; what exactly has happened in your family?"

"Going to Tianshui Town this time, I just felt humiliated, by a woman..."

In the end, it was a general who leads troops into battle, steadier than his wife; in the rear courtyard his wife assigned several more people to attend to him.

"How is that man?"

"Do you really want to continue the feud?"

"Yes."

"Father, do you approve this marriage arrangement?"

After the Duke returned to Jingcheng with his wife and children, looking at his wife lying limp in bed, he couldn't believe what had happened in Tianshui Town.

"Who told you you lack others' abilities?"

The Old Duke called his son to his study, "Did you see that woman?"

"Yes, Your Majesty."

Mu Guniang didn't think she was wrong at all, "I'm not wrong; Yunfeng is handsome and talented, better than both of you. Why should I hand over such a fine man?"

"Hmm, as long as his character is good, I will grant them marriage,"

"A successful examination candidate."

"It's all your fault, sister; you coveted others' belongings, flirted with their son. If you had kept to your proper role, this situation wouldn't have arisen."

"Sigh, she can't understand, insists on opposing them, now the two families' relations are tense, and Rong'er has been forced to farm at her house."

"Aunt Qiao is a good person, very kind; if you hadn't forced her, she wouldn't have done this,"

The elderly lady sighed, "The Old Duke's family is full of loyal heroes; I didn't expect their daughter-in-law to be so overambitious yet incompetent?"

"What? Is there some misunderstanding in between?"

"Both literary talent and martial skill are good; this year's outcome..."

"If it's a year, then a year it is; he'll just wait for it."

"A master is a master; you can't help but admire, look at how they poison."

"Qiao Niang merely imitates the duchess; she can't stand being overpowered. In her eyes, she treats others like ants; when she wants to kill them, why doesn't she admit she's wrong?"

"This time they're not only returning empty‑handed, but I also kept the princess locked at our house to do farm work."

"Before, I was eager to move in and truly experience it, but now her mood is really complicated."

Yunfeng's tears burst forth, and he immediately knelt before Qiao Mai, "It's all Dizi's fault,"

It seems that because of the two of them, the two families have reached this state, and both have shadows over them.

"A fifth‑rank minor official is fortunate to marry such a wife; you should help more in the future, don't say your daughter‑in‑law is untouchable, you must cherish her; our family needs such in‑laws."

"I can understand she wants her daughter to marry a well‑matched family, but it was absolutely unforgivable to send people to kill my son at midnight; that's something I cannot tolerate."

"Then you just watch our mother being insulted?"

"What are you testing?"

"How are your negotiations going?"

"If Qiao Mai were just an ordinary person, the Qiao family would inevitably be suppressed by the Duke's family."

The princess glanced at the Duke, "Father, when you wage war, the medical supplies in the rear are all provided by Qiao Niang. Your soldiers say Yuan County Magistrate arranged it, but actually Qiao Niang paid for it. Every year, refugees fleeing from Nanfang receive porridge, settlement funds, and grain from Qiao Niang; she is a meritorious official of our Ming Imperial Court."

"That's not confinement, that's training; going ahead to adapt is fine. A master has a master's ideas; since she dares to confine, we dare to keep, after all it's just her son's beloved, can she still mistreat the daughter‑in‑law?"

No illness yet you can lie down and not get up? So they invited all the doctors from Jingcheng, and the diagnosis was still the same.

Qiao Mai returned to the back courtyard, and the old lady, the old master, brought Yunfeng, Fengyun, and Chuan'er over.

The old man had high expectations for Qiao Mai; they wanted to go to the Qiao Family to see what kind of woman she was, that made their son and daughter‑in‑law so frustrated.

The old master and the old lady exchanged a glance; perhaps only the old master had confidence in Qiao Mai, but both of their hearts were still being misled beyond repair.

For a moment the two younger brothers were left speechless by her rebuke; if anyone dared to treat their family that way, they would definitely risk their lives to demand an explanation.

"It's because our family's status is too low; she looks down on us,"

"It's not a big deal; the minister's only daughter has taken a liking to the son of a fifth‑rank minor official,"

"What a misunderstanding, that woman even sent people to kill Feng'er; if I strike back, would I be fit to be his mother?"

"What's your impression?"

Meals are also eaten together with the servants; there's nothing special.

"Child, I know you are capable; the Mu family is a massive powerhouse."

"Wang Jiaru's Servant Girl, Grandmother is worried."

"Alas, Father knows and has even inquired; it's our family that has wronged them. Killing the meritorious minister is Father's fault, for not taking good care of your mother."

"The appearance is ordinary, but the martial skill is unfathomable; truly, one cannot judge a person by looks."

The Mu family left Tianshui Town on the twelfth day of the first month; Mu Guniang brought a servant girl and moved into the Qiao Family on the eleventh day of the first month.

"Whose son?"

"Weicheng, the son of the County Magistrate of Shexian."

"Oh?"

The emperor's interest arrived, and indeed it's possible; Yuan Jiaqi made the Princess develop feelings, and his son made the Princess develop feelings.

(End of chapter)