Chapter 266: Relationship upon relationship, it's just a circle

Chunxiang Sao was a servant born in the Marquis's Mansion. Before redeeming her freedom, she had been serving in the Marquis's Mansion and had even served before the Old Madam. However, she wasn't a head maid, but a second-class rough-work maid.

This qualification didn't look like much, but it was enough for Chunxiang Sao to move freely in the inner courtyard of the Marquis's Mansion. Whenever the Marquis's Mansion had activities like banquets, temporary recruitment of helpers always included Chunxiang Sao.

Chen Guanlou didn't know the relatives and friends of the Marquis's Mansion, but Chunxiang Sao must have known. Whenever relatives and friends came to visit, they had to go to the Old Madam to pay respects and ask after her health.

Chunxiang Sao thought carefully for a while and shook her head. "The Marquis's Mansion has no relatives surnamed Meng, at least I don't know of any surnamed Meng. If you want to know the exact news, find Chen Guanxiang. He works in the Marquis's Mansion as a gatekeeper servant. He knows all the relatives and friends who have dealings with the Marquis's Mansion."

Having received Chunxiang Sao's guidance, Chen Guanlou entrusted someone to contact his clan brother Chen Guanxiang, inviting the other party to drink at Guanmei Tower.

Actually, the two were about the same age; Chen Guanxiang was only half a year older than Chen Guanlou.

But the two weren't familiar; except for those two years in the clan school, they basically had no dealings.

However, both were surnamed Chen. Although there were no dealings on weekdays, the middleman brought a message, and Chen Guanxiang still arrived on time. This is the benefit of being of the same clan—whether close or not, both are surnamed Chen, so what does it count to do a favor? Of course, the key to Chen Guanxiang's attendance mainly lay in Chen Guanlou having money.

The clan's evaluation of Chen Guanlou was: this kid made a fortune and hugged the Great Master's thigh. Among the younger generation, except for the Chen clan children who joined the army, Chen Guanlou was the most capable.

Prison guards are lowly?

Hehe!

Being able to achieve results in a lowly job and bringing a lot of silver home—that's not called lowly, that's called capable.

Chen Guanxiang wanted to take a close look at what kind of person the capable Chen Guanlou was. Clearly, when they were studying, Chen Guanlou was a stick that everyone hated. After several years of not seeing each other, how did he become a capable guy?

The two met at Guanmei Tower, vaguely seeing the appearance of their youth on each other's faces.

"Hahaha..." Almost simultaneously, the two burst into loud laughter. "You kid, you've changed a lot!"

"Xiang Ge is becoming more handsome and dashing; I don't know how many little girls are having sleepless nights because of you."

"Each other! I heard long ago that you are a regular at the flower street; I'm afraid the sisters in the brothel have all had their souls hooked away by you."

The two teased each other, and the strangeness of their first meeting instantly disappeared, as if they were old friends who had known each other for many years. After a few cups of wine, they became good brothers who talked about everything.

Chen Guanlou had the heart to flatter, and Chen Guanxiang's bragging was so awesome that there wasn't a noble in the capital he didn't know; he was just short of receiving the old Emperor.

After the bragging was almost done, Chen Guanlou brought up the main business.

"I have two prisoners in my hands who say they have a roundabout relative relationship with the Marquis's Mansion. I asked around and everyone said they didn't know them. I thought that there wasn't a relative or friend of the Marquis's Mansion that you didn't know, Xiang Ge, so I asked. If they are really relatives, it's only right to take care of them. If they are using the guise of relatives to deceive me, then I definitely won't be polite; I'll give them three axes first and break their legs."

"You really found the right person. As long as they are relatives of the Marquis's Mansion, there isn't one I don't know."

"Surnamed Meng, two brothers. Do you have any impression, Xiang Ge?"

Chen Guanxiang frowned and pondered deeply. "Are you sure they are surnamed Meng?"

Chen Guanlou nodded. "Definitely surnamed Meng."

"There is a general surnamed Meng who once came to the Marquis's Mansion to send gifts. However, as far as I know, this General Meng is currently serving in the south and is very close to the Eldest Young Master. Other Mengs... wait, there is another family surnamed Meng, but they are not relatives of the Marquis's Mansion, but relatives of the Second Young Mistress's maiden family."

Sure enough, he found the right path.

Chen Guanlou filled the other party's empty wine cup. "Tell me about this Meng family, Xiang Ge; could it be that they offended someone?"

"I actually heard about this matter, and it was just a casual listen. There are some disgusting things here."

"The time is still early. Tell me quickly, Xiang Ge, just to pass the time today." Chen Guanlou flattered.

Chen Guanxiang then told the story.

The Second Young Mistress's maiden surname was Wang, and the Wang family had a relative surnamed Zhao.

The most promising in the Zhao family was the second branch, which had many children, totaling six sons. The first three sons were born to the original legitimate wife, while the last three sons were born to concubines. The one with the most ability, however, was the fourth son, who had always been ignored and was born to a concubine.

The fourth son was capable, and after getting a job, he was promoted all the way.

So, the Zhao family arranged a marriage for him—the niece of the original legitimate wife's maiden family, and she was also legitimate. Legitimate matching illegitimate—more than enough.

Forgot to say, the original legitimate wife's maiden surname was Meng.

But the fourth son of Zhao wasn't happy!

He hated his legitimate mother to death and definitely wasn't happy to marry the niece of his legitimate mother's maiden family as his wife.

However, Old Master Zhao forced him to marry the Meng girl; if he didn't marry, it was unfilial.

For the sake of his future, the fourth son of Zhao could only pinch his nose and accept this marriage. His job was obtained through the Wang family, and the Wang family was an in-law of the Marquis's Mansion. The Wang family also had dealings with the Meng family early on.

Anyway, it was a circle. It's just that the Meng family fell first, not as good as before, and could only rely on the name left by their ancestors to support their face.

After marrying, life didn't get better, and it could be said that they looked at each other with disgust.

However, the fourth son of Zhao's official position grew bigger and bigger, already surpassing the eldest son of Zhao who inherited the family business. Every time he saw his legitimate mother and his wife, his heart became more and more unbalanced, and a foul breath grew.

Relying on his full wings, he ran to the Meng family to disgust people. How did he disgust them? He directly snatched his father-in-law's favorite concubine and entered the bridal chamber that night.

The Meng family was so humiliated by their son-in-law—how could they swallow this breath?

Although it had been ten or twenty years since the incident, many old people in the capital still remembered this joke.

The Meng family lost face and from then on formed a deadly feud with the fourth son of Zhao.

The Zhao family wanted to make peace, but the fourth son of Zhao was stubborn and refused to bow his head. He even moved out of the house and set up a separate mansion directly with the snatched concubine.

The situation remained deadlocked until it was completely broken a year ago.

The Meng family suffered a disaster!

The fourth son of Zhao was prosperous in his official career and climbed onto Jiang Tu.

The snatched concubine, known as Hua Niang, was deeply favored by the fourth son of Zhao. She also gave birth to a son for the fourth son of Zhao.

However, for so many years, she had never been able to enter the Zhao family door, and her son couldn't be entered into the Zhao family genealogy.

Hua Niang hated the fourth son of Zhao's original wife, Meng Shi, to the bone. In her view, it was precisely because of Meng Shi's obstruction that her son couldn't be entered into the genealogy and had been an illegitimate child identity until now, being despised by others when going out.

The Meng family suffering a disaster—the person most happy about this was none other than her.

The grievances of these years had properly turned her into a pervert.

She forced the fourth son of Zhao to clean up the Meng family, especially the brothers of Meng Shi's maiden family. Because her son had been humiliated by the Meng brothers. She wanted to double the revenge.

The fourth son of Zhao, backed by Jiang Tu, cleaning up the fallen Meng family was not a problem at all.

To please his concubine, he ignored his father's advice, ignored his legitimate mother's face, ignored his legitimate wife and son's feelings, and actually found an opportunity to catch the two Meng brothers, used connections to put them into Zhao Prison, and tortured them to death.

Until now, the Meng family didn't know what kind of suffering the two brothers had suffered in Zhao Prison. They only thought it was a general punishment; as long as they still had their lives, there was hope. ===== CHAPTER 267 =====