Chapter 191 - She is Innocent
Chapter 191: She is Innocent
Why should they fear of a little girl and an old woman?!
Mrs. Chang and Mrs. Qin were obviously neutral. Princess Jing was having tea. Superficially, she took the little bitch’s side, but she didn’t seem to be coming over. Among the maids, two were previously arranged by the Empress. As long as they ordered, they could come and help.
Mrs. Xie and An exchanged a look and paced on Mo Qianxue. Although this method was improper, if this failed, Princess Yuhe would run into trouble and, more importantly, the series of follow-up plans would be ruined too.
If she didn’t teach them a lesson to memorize, they would stop pushing harder. Mo Qianxue sneered inwardly while the needles were already pinched between her fingers. These two pampered middle-aged noble women dared to use violence on her? ridiculous!
As long as they came over, she would give them a shot of the needles. Then their limbs would be stiff and paralyzed as if they were caught by a stroke.
Tensions!
They laughed grimly; Mo Qianxue remained unchanged.
“Tread on me first if you want to take off my daughter’s clothes. I’d like to see whether there are laws and justice in Tianiq.”
In view that these women could be shameless as such, Mrs. Jia, in rage, stepped forward in front of Mo Qianxue and stood in between to protect her from Mrs. Xie and An.
Mo Qianxue appreciated her kindness and took back the needles in case she might hurt her by accident. Besides, in the imperial palace, it was best not to resort to violence.
Taking back the needles, Mo Qianxue looked downward and smiled coldly, “I guess Mrs. Xie and Mrs. An are determined to be the first one in Tianqi to break ancestor’s rules…
If so, I’ll risk my life to resist; if you use violence…haha… If the ladies of the Imperial Tutor of Prime Minister were accused of unchastity, I would also ask for the Empress’s permission and send people here to strip them for checking too.”
As the addressee changed, Mo Qianxue then looked at Mrs. Qin and Chang who were having tea calmly, “With this precedent, I think the Empress won’t refuse or do wrong to your ladies… Do you think so, Mrs. Qin and Mrs. Chang?”
Mo Qianxue’s stern face carried resolution. She said it lightly, but the words were powerful and cogent, and the overtone was self-evident.
She not only dropped a hat of breaking rules on Mrs. An and Xie, but also warned them seriously. If they didn’t stop, their daughters would face the same accusation tomorrow as well as leading in the trouble to Mrs. Qin and Chang.
Want to stay neutral? No way.
Mrs. An thought for a second and gave up. Her daughter An Eryan had just been engaged, and there were another two daughters at the age for marriage. Nowadays, people’s lives were cheap. When well paid, people dared to say and do anything.
A barefooted person isn’t afraid of those with shoes. If Mo Qianxue’s reputation was spoiled, this tough girl would probably act recklessly and do something. If such a scandal really happened, the daughters of the An family would all be ruined.
Mrs. Xie hesitated too.
The inner courtyards of big mansions often witnessed filthy traps like this. Hence, the existence of the virgin cinnabar helped save the reputation and dignity of noble ladies. If they started the first case, then in the future, the ladies needed to take off clothes frequently to prove their innocence. By then, the two families would become the arch enemy of all the ladies.
Certainly, they couldn’t offend the Empress and Princess Yuhe, but then there was a surging public rage, they would be pushed out as the punching bag. Then, their husbands would suffer too.
Being questioned and realizing how serious this matter was, Mrs. Chang and Qin could no longer sat leisurely.
Mrs. Qin said, “I agree with Miss. Mo. If the first case is made, then the ladies are longer nobler. I’ve seen Miss. Mo’s cinnabar. She’s indeed an innocent unmarried girl.”
Mrs. Chang said, “We’ve already checked just now. The cinnabar of the lady of Founder mansion is complete. She’s still a virgin.”
Now that they had expressed their attitudes and stance, Mrs. Chang and Qin coughed and looked at Mo Qianxue with a superficial smile.
This belated hypocritical smile made Mo Qianxue shivered with aversion.
She said indifferently, “Thanks for your frank words, madams. I don’t get married. Of course I’m innocent.”
All was fate. If they had had sex before, Ning Shaoqing probably wouldn’t have let her go back to the Founder mansion.
However, what he hadn’t expected was the fact that the Founder mansion wasn’t as safe as he thought, but was full of daggers.
A smile appeared on the lips of Princess Jing. She hadn’t spoken for her just now because she wanted to see whether Mo Qianxue could turn the tables on her own.
Now with her words, Mo Qianxue managed to let Mrs. Xie and An, who had always been bullies, clamed up, and to force Mrs. Qin and Chang to take her side. Excellent methods.
The show ended. It was time to end.
Princess Jing stood up and announced, “Mrs. Xie and Mrs. An, since everyone has expressed your attitudes. Shall we go to the court and report the result to the Emperor?”
At this point, Mrs. Xie and An had no other choice.
Eyes were on them, so it was impossible for them to play other tricks even if they wanted to. Alright. They had tired best. Even if the Xie family was irritated, it could only blame the Empress and Princess Yuhe’s incapability.
**
When Mo Qianxue left the court, except for those who stayed neutral as on-lookers, the rest had divided into two factions and started to argue nonstop.
One faction were officials represented by Censor Wan, criticizing Mo Qianxue of disrespectful and bold deeds.
The other faction were officers who criticized the officials of slandering the daughter of a deceased loyal commander and fabricated rumors groundlessly.
The officers mostly belonged to the Su family. The intention of protection was too obvious.
What does the Su family wanted to do? To protect Mo Qianxue at all costs? They also wanted a share?
The Emperor pondered and pondered—whether to do a favor for the Su family and let Mo Qianxue marry a Su, because it already boasted a huge portion of the military power. When he took it all back, there would be a even bigger portion.
Shame that Mo Qianxue was already useless as a chess piece. Now she was only a withered flower. How could she deserve the eldest lord Su Jinhan? He was afraid when the result was publicized, the Su family would be embarrassed, and Su Jinhan would only want to dig a hole to hide in.
Since this wouldn’t work out, the Emperor stopped thinking about it. He took a glance at the people and smiled slyly… From his point of view, the more discordant these people were, the better for him. Naturally, he wouldn’t express his attitude right now. Hence, they argued louder and louder, making the imperial palace clamoring like a big market…
As the Emperor didn’t express his stance, somehow, the focus of the quarrel shifted from Mo Qianxue to how to educate children.
The officials said the officers had no idea of education and raised their offspring to burly-built but simple-minded violent bullies who knew nothing about classic learnings or etiquette…
The officers didn’t agree and satirized, “You know education? Then how could you only raise children who know nothing except for indulging in sensational pleasures and ruining public morals? …” Some dandies of the officials were proven to have done nasty stuff.
The officials weren’t as loud as the generals, but they articulated in an organized and logical way. Yet, when it came to this, they were kicked to the lower hand.
Their faces were flushed with anger but could only blame the generals for talking rude and vulgar.
They had long forgotten about Mo Qianxue.
As the two factions were in heated arguing, the six madams took Mo Qianxue to the court to report.
As the high-pitched long notice of the eunuch rang, the court instantly turned silent.
Mo Qianxue and the six madams came forth and greeted the Emperor.
Those three people were still kneeling there. As the palace got quiet again, they couldn’t help trembling and sweating worse. In fact, their clothes were wet and dry again and again.
Facing down, Zhao Ergou took a look at his wife. The bag of gold was hard to earn. As their eyes met, they quickly looked back.
Although the Three Madams were invited as the main checkers, Princess Jing ranked highest among the madams.
Therefore, after greeting, Princess Jing announced, “Your majesty. We have checked on the lady of Founder mansion. She is indeed unmarried and innocent. Please do her justice, your majesty.”
Now, it was the Emperor’s turn to be shocked.