Chapter 91: She Personally Slapped Qu Shi!

Duan Rongshi's face is unusually grim today.

He pressed his lips together and stayed silent, yet the murderous aura around him was so solemn that those nearby had already been terrified several times.

"Continue the pursuit!"

Jiangjun Fu.

Pei Lao Furen paced anxiously in the front hall, "How is it? Have you gone to fetch the lord back yet?"

The young servant reported, "Madam, the lord is entertaining colleagues tonight and said that if anything arises, you can handle it yourselves, no need to trouble him…"

Pei Lao Furen flared up instantly, "His own daughter, and you call it bothering him!? Is he no longer a decent person!?"

Zhang Mama hurriedly urged from the side, "Madam, don't be angry. Our people have already gone out searching; they will surely find the young lady!"

"Moreover, there's Deng Mama and Que'er. Since they left a mark, nothing serious should happen…"

Pei Lao Furen: "How can it not be serious? They said that's a remnant of the Lotus Sect!!"

"She went out with her mother to select jewelry, didn't she? How can Cui Er and Huan Jieer both return, yet she runs off to that tea house!?"

"She makes me worry to death!!"

"And that Qu Shi, why hasn't she returned yet!! Does she even know that Luo'er has had an accident!??"

Pei Lao Furen kept slapping the pillar beside her; if it weren't for a surge of anger supporting her, she would have actually been knocked out by the fury.

As she spoke, Qu Shi's carriage had just arrived at the gate, and the moment the person stepped inside, the steward stopped them.

"Madam, you finally returned! There's a serious matter; the old lady asked you to hurry to the front hall!"

Qu Shi, exhausted after a day, did not notice the steward's anxiety.

She rubbed her temple lightly and said, "Fine, I understand."

Qu Shi, without resting, went to the front hall and, upon seeing Pei Lao Furen, said, "Daughter-in-law has seen mother—"

Before this calm could be settled, Pei Lao Furen slammed a tea cup heavily at her feet!

"Luo'er!?"

Qu Shi jumped in fright; the back of her hand was cut by flying porcelain shards, and a thin line of blood seeped out instantly.

Qu Shi's temple throbbed wildly; swallowing her grievance she replied, "Didn't the daughter-in-law send someone to bring her home? Could it be that she hasn't returned yet?"

Qu Shi turned her head toward Chang Mama behind her.

Chang Mama: "Madam, I indeed sent Xiao Jiezi back to the residence to fetch a carriage and go to Wangchun Lou to pick up the young lady! Xiao Jiezi, where is the young lady? Did you slack off and fail to fetch her!?"

Xiao Jiezi came forward from behind, fell to the ground and cried, "Injustice, Mama! I indeed returned to fetch a carriage, but while I was hurrying the carriage to Wangchun Lou, the young lady had already left! She saw you leaving, so she chased after you!"

"I, I couldn't find you, and you all went elsewhere; I thought the young lady had caught up with you…"

Qu Shi's face finally turned pale: "Why would she chase after me!?"

Pei Lao Furen shouted, "Audacious servant! Just because the young lady left early, you can't go look for her? It's clearly your lazy excuse!"

"How could you, just because she is not favored or valued in this house, even look down on someone like you? Bring him down, and beat him with twenty lashes!"

Xiao Jiezi immediately cried out, begging for mercy.

However, Pei Lao Furen was thunderously angry today, determined to thoroughly discipline everyone in the mansion from top to bottom.

If they hadn't been so dismissive of Luo'er, she wouldn't have met such an accident!?

It was because I had been too lax before, wanting Luo'er to conquer and intimidate the servants of this mansion herself, that this catastrophic disaster occurred today!

Thinking of this, Pei Lao Furen's heart ached with pain.

If her Luo'er truly had an accident… how could she bear it?

A wail rang in the courtyard, yet Pei Lao Furen did not stop, and again ordered the people around Qu Shi to be punished.

Chang Mama received five lashes, Qing Yi twenty slaps.

"Master, you act foolishly; you don't know how to advise or guide, letting her run wild! Our Jiangjun Fu has always had few heirs, sparse population; in the past half year, many major incidents have occurred involving the young lady and the young master, and you shrewd servants are at fault!"

Sweat beads rolled down Qu Shi's forehead.

Today the mother-in-law unleashed her fury, even striking those close to her; isn't that essentially beating the face of the mistress in front of all the servants?

But even if she had her teeth knocked out, Qu Shi could only endure.

She was angry and resentful inside, yet could only say, "Mother-in-law, calm down… If Luo'er hasn't returned, could she have gone to watch the spectacle? Today there was a fire at a restaurant on Zhengyang Street, I saw many people watching. I heard that in the south city, there's a new troupe, perhaps…"

In Qu Shi's heart, however, she blamed Li Qingluo entirely.

What a short‑sighted girl!

Even though she grew up in the mountains and never saw Jinling's splendor, now she's a daughter of a great household, how can she still act so willfully?

Where did she run off to play wildly, not even knowing when to return!

She caused the entire mansion, including herself, to suffer because of her!

The old lady really is, being overly nervous about Luo'er; with a capable girl and a grandma by her side, how could Luo'er truly have any trouble?

This is making a mountain out of a molehill; it's clearly an excuse to give this mistress a face loss!

Qu Shi was thinking, when suddenly Pei Lao Furen walked over and slapped her herself.

Qu Shi touched her face, humiliation and shame flooding her heart at once.

In her whole life, has she ever been humiliated like this!?

"Even if you are mother‑in‑law, you shouldn't—"

Qu Shi nearly rushed forward, but Zhang Mama stopped her with a hand.

"Madam, you must not act so!"

Pei Lao Furen: "Let her come! I want to see what she can still do to me!"

"Qu Shi, today I strike you because you deserve it!"

"Do you know that today's burning restaurant was because a cult gathered there, and the authorities discovered them, so they killed people and set fire to destroy evidence!"

"And you, not knowing what demon possessed you, abandoned your own biological daughter, ran away for a whole day, only just returning now!"

So you didn't know that the official and the tea house proprietor came in person, saying that Luo'er couldn't find you, so they went to the tea house specifically to wait for you, but they didn't expect to be seized and taken away by five fleeing Lotus Sect disciples!

The entire tea house corridor and rooms were littered with corpses, the whole place soaked in fresh blood; they rampaged, killing without any humanity!

Did you understand that!?

Pei Lao Furen's voice thundered, shaking Qu Shi back step by step, until she could barely steady herself by bracing a hand on the door.

She only felt a sudden darkness before her eyes: "M‑Mother, what you said isn't true…"