“Second brother, you are so light-hearted. Everyone knows that although the Second Sǎo has a bad temper and loves to make some jealous things, she has always followed the Second Brother’s lead in major matters outside. Now Second Sǎo has done such a thing, Second Brother said that he knew nothing about it, who would believe it?”

Zhou Hezhi curled his lips.

“What does Third Brother mean by this?”

“Second Brother, you must know very well what I mean. Second Sǎo was never a person of much intelligence, and now she’s executed such a meticulous plan? It’s impossible. I believe it was certainly under your direction,” the Third Lady chimed in.

“You all!” Zhou Yingzhi gritted his teeth in anger, kowtowing several times to the Old Lady. “I truly know nothing about this matter. Please investigate, Old Lady! The Third Family has always harbored dissatisfaction towards their dàsǎo, and they have been eyeing my son with jealousy. They see me as an obstacle. Their words now are meant to slander me, aiming to eliminate me so they can benefit!”

“If you don’t believe it, ask this bitch and see what she says. If she says that this matter is related to me, then I will definitely not refuse!”

“You say!” The old lady shouted at the Second Lady.

After Second Madam arrived here, she started quarreling and crying incessantly. The Old Lady ordered someone to gag her with a towel to silence her.

Now that the Old Lady asked questions, the people next to her had already pulled off the towel.

The second wife felt her mouth loosen up, and then tears fell. She kowtowed to the Old Lady, “This is my idea alone, and it has nothing to do with the Second Master. I just don’t like Master Yi, and I thought that if he died, the family property would be given more to our second room, so I came up with this foolish idea…”

“Third brother, third sister-in-law, what else do you have to say!” Zhou Yingzhi shouted at Zhou Hezhi.

Zhou Hezhi and the third wife looked at each other and gritted their teeth.

This second wife really listened to Zhou Yingzhi. She was so obedient that she was stupid!

Damn it!

“Old lady, this is all the Second Sǎo’s one-sided words. Who knows if she said so to protect the second brother?” The third wife was full of anger.

What a fool!

Li Shi frowned and sighed in her heart.

Understandably, the third room wanted to use this to overthrow the second room, but the third room was too eager for quick success, which made the second room and his wife stick together.

After all, for the Second Madam, as long as Zhou Yingzhi was saved, the Second House would still have the hope of making a comeback, and her son would also have the hope of getting the family property.

Li Shi paused, “Speaking of which, why didn’t Aunt Qiao¹ come?”

“Aunt Qiao is pregnant, and this matter has nothing to do with her, so she begged the old lady to let her stay in the yard, so as not to be frightened and have a miscarriage.” Zhou Yingzhi explained.

“That’s right, although Aunt Qiao is just a concubine, the baby in her belly is still the grandson of the Zhou family. The child is innocent, and there is no reason for the crime committed by the Second Madam to involve the fetus in Aunt Qiao’s belly.”

Li Shi said, “Aunt Qiao is smart and polite, and the children she will give birth to in the future will definitely be very smart and successful, so there must be no mistakes.”

As soon as Li Shi finished speaking, the Second Madam’s face turned pale.

Yes, Aunt Qiao was a smart one.

On the surface, Zhou Yingzhi instructed her to do this, but who knew if it was Aunt Qiao who instructed him to do it?

Zhou Yingzhi had always protected Aunt Qiao, and Aunt Qiao was not a good person. After Aunt Qiao got into trouble, her child had to suffer so much injustice at the hands of Aunt Qiao. If Zhou Yingzhi made Aunt Qiao his legal wife, Aunt Qiao’s child would become a legitimate son and would be more favored than her legitimate son who had lost his mother. What would happen to her child then?

Now she had shouldered all the responsibilities alone. Wasn’t she making wedding dresses for others?

This was really like being sold and still having to count money for others!

There was absolutely no such thing in the world!

The second wife was so angry that she stiffened her neck and shouted at the Old Lady, “Old lady, this matter, this matter was instructed by the Second Master!”

“He brought the plum blossom dew and medicine powder and asked me to instruct Mama Zheng to find an opportunity to put them into Master Yi’s tea or food. He asked me to do it, it was all him!”

“He also said that as long as Master Yi was gone, the eldest sǎo was a widow and could not be trusted, so the second house would definitely be entrusted with important tasks. In the future, the Zhou family’s property would belong to us. I was blinded by lard, and I was afraid that if I didn’t do it, the Second Master would divorce me for this reason, so I did such a thing…”

Since she couldn’t live well, then no one should live well!

Zhou Yingzhi was furious when he heard this, and he slapped the second wife with his hand, followed by a round of punches and kicks, “Bitch, who told you to talk nonsense here!”

“I’m telling the truth, Old Lady, you are wise!”

“Bitch, you stupid pig-like thing, dare to betray me!” Zhou Yingzhi punched again even harder.

“See, I told you, this thing must be done by the second brother.” Zhou Hezhi raised his chin.

“You are not a clean person either!” After beating up the second wife, Zhou Yingzhi glared at Zhou Hezhi fiercely, “You were the one who instigated this!”

“What does this have to do with me? The second brother, please don’t drag me into this!” Zhou Hezhi panicked.

“Why is it not your business? Why did you pick plum blossoms and send them to our yard? If you hadn’t been doing bad things behind the scenes, how could I easily win over Mother Zheng? You are the one who caused trouble behind the scenes and pushed our second house to be a shield in front!”

“Only plum blossoms can be given in winter. The second brother has a vicious mind. Why do you blame me? I don’t know about Mother Zheng’s affairs…”

“Are you still quibbling here?”

Zhou Yingzhi gritted his teeth and swung his fist to hit Zhou Hezhi in the face.

Zhou Hezhi was not a good person either. He and Zhou Yingzhi started fighting.

The yard was in chaos.

They were not good people. Dogs bite dogs and they were all furious!

Li Shi snorted coldly, bowed, and said to the Old Lady, whose face was already livid, “Mother, let’s leave this matter to the government office.”

“Tie up these black-hearted bastards, hand them over to the government officials to take them back to the government office, and let the county magistrate decide their fate!” the Old Lady shouted.

The servants and maids in the yard surrounded them and tied them up, gagged those who needed to be gagged, and dragged those who needed to be dragged away.

In an instant, the yard returned to its previous silence.

“These bastards, with crooked minds, are not fit to be seen!” The Old Lady tapped her cane loudly and then turned to look at Li Shi, saying, “You and Yier have been wronged.”

“With mother in charge, we mother and son will not be wronged.” Li Shi forced a smile.

“I’m a person who cares about my reputation the most. No matter how much intrigue there is at home, I never want to tell anyone about it. But this matter…”

(End of this chapter)

---

Footnote

1. Concubine