Chapter 131 Troubles within the family
Everyone went out, and when only the old lady, the first wife, the second master and the second mistress were left in the room, the old lady let Bai Ju speak.
It turned out that when Aunt Li first came into the house, the Second Aunt's son Xiao Ming was two years old. He was smart and cute, and the Second Master treated him like a treasure. Almost every time he returned home, he would go to see his son first, and sometimes he would stay at the Second Aunt's place for dinner. The Second Aunt was already beautiful, and she spoke softly and charmingly every day, serving the Second Master very comfortably. After dinner, he often stayed at the Second Aunt's place. He was truly honored and favored.
Aunt Li was the prettiest of the four concubines and the best at flirting. She was doted on as soon as she entered the house. She could get whatever she wanted in front of the Second Master. However, there were too many people and too little meat. There was only one Second Master in the Xiao Mansion, and the four concubines were vying for his favor. The Second Master had a lot of external affairs and was often not at home. He was also overwhelmed when he was at home. He often agreed to go to the Chrysanthemum Garden, but was kept there by the Second Aunt when he went to see his son. There were several times when the Second Master had already rested in the Chrysanthemum Garden, and the Second Aunt sent her maid to report that the Young Master was ill and made a big fuss, so she insisted on asking the Second Master to leave. After several times, Aunt Li was so angry that she smashed everything in the room and wished she could tear the Second Aunt to pieces. From then on, she regarded the Second Aunt and the Young Master as thorns in her side and wanted to get rid of them as soon as possible.
As the saying goes, we are always worried about thieves stealing, but we are always worried about thieves keeping their eyes on us. Ever since Aunt Li had her eyes on the young master, she paid extra attention to his daily life, looking for an opportunity to strike. Not to mention, Aunt Li finally found the opportunity. She accidentally heard from her family that beef and brown sugar were taboos and eating them together could kill people. Coincidentally, Bai Ju came to report that day that the kitchen had made beef soup in the evening. When Aunt Li heard this, she was secretly happy that the opportunity had come.
So Huang Ju was asked to go to the kitchen to make candied haws with brown sugar. When she came back, she passed by the orchid garden and was seen by the young master who was playing with Bai Ju and others at the gate of the courtyard. Naturally, she gave the young master two strings. Because they were all red, no one noticed that they were made of brown sugar. When Huang Ju went back, she disposed of all the remaining candied haws.
After the young master fell ill and died, the old lady and the second master also investigated the matter. They asked a doctor to check the leftovers of the young master, including the half string of candied haws. The doctor said that there was nothing wrong with the food, and no one thought that it was a food taboo. Aunt Li, Huang Ju and others also insisted that they had all eaten candied haws that night, and there was definitely nothing wrong with the candied haws. In the end, the matter became an unsolved case.
When Ming'er just died, the Second Master was very sad and often went to Lan Garden to comfort the Second Aunt and to find some solace. But the Second Aunt had been like a madman every day since Ming'er left. Whenever the Second Master was gone, she would cry and no longer speak sweet words to him as before. She even arranged all of Ming'er's belongings in the same way as when he was alive, which made the Second Master even more sad. Every time he went there, he would feel sad. Over time, he lost interest in going to Lan Garden, and finally ended up favoring Aunt Li alone.
Logically speaking, the time the Second Master spent with the other three concubines in a month combined was not as long as the time he spent in Juyuan. Aunt Li should have been content, but human nature is greedy. If Aunt Li was really content, what happened today would not have .
Seeing that the Second Master had married two more women in less than two months in addition to his wife, and that the First Wife had a cousin who pestered the Second Master every day , the Second Master came to Ju Garden only a few times, especially in the past month, and even if he came, he seldom stayed overnight, Aunt Li felt a sense of crisis.
Seeing Cuiping again, in just a few days, she was promoted from a maid to a concubine, and was also given the largest crabapple garden. This made her realize that as the team of women in the Second Master's backyard continued to grow, she would eventually become a thing of the past like the eldest concubine.
Seeing the Second Master bringing women into the courtyard one by one, she was unable to stop him and could only jump up and down in anger. The only one who could stop him was the Second Mistress, but Aunt Li also realized that the Second Mistress was like a deaf ear in Xiaoxiang Courtyard - a decoration.
The Second Mistress doesn't even care about the affairs of the courtyard, which are taken care of by the First Aunt. Apart from coaxing the old lady every day, she spends most of her time like a cuckold in the east wing. Even if the Second Master collects all the women of Da Qi into Xiaoxiang Courtyard, the Second Mistress won't say a word.
This made Aunt Li curse inwardly. Since the Second Master doesn't favor you anyway, you just need to please the Old Madam and remain the Second Wife. All those beautiful girls coming into the backyard are vying for her favor!
Cuiping's favor frightened Aunt Li, making her feel that she was no longer the only one for the Second Master. In the past, she was simply seeking favor, but now she understood that a man's favor was only temporary. Once a woman's youth was gone, she would have nothing. Only by grasping the power in this courtyard could she have a long-term plan. With this in mind, she began to think about the First Aunt.
She thought to herself that the Second Master had hardly entered the Plum Garden in the past year, but the Eldest Aunt still had the final say in this courtyard, and the Second Master respected her very much because she was in charge of the affairs of Xiaoxiang Courtyard.
The Second Master doted on her so much that he didn't let her take care of affairs. The reason was that the First Aunt had two daughters, and he just hated that the Second Master was not conceived. During those days, the Second Master stayed in her room every day, but she didn't get pregnant. Since he had no children of his own, he thought about getting rid of the First Aunt's children.
As long as these two children are gone, the prestige of the eldest aunt will be destroyed. Maybe the eldest aunt will become like the second aunt, stupid and unable to manage affairs. While she is still in favor, she will seize the power of Xiao Xiangyuan. Thinking of the successful elimination of the young master last time and the fact that nothing has happened in the past year, she is even bolder and plans today's events with Bai Ju and Huang Ju.
But if you walk too much on the road at night, you are bound to encounter ghosts. Today, a second wife who claims to have unparalleled medicinal skills came to Xiaoxiangyuan, and her conspiracy was doomed to fail.
Guessing the truth is one thing, but having it spoken out clearly to you is another. After listening to Bai Ju's story, the people in the hall were all shocked, especially Xiao Jun, who was even more shocked and angry. He didn't expect that the gentle and kind Aunt Li, who would be sad even if a bird died, would actually kill his lively and lovely son, his Ming'er, with her own hands!
If it weren't for Mengxi, his two daughters would have passed away today. Is there really such a vicious woman in the world? She is the one he has always doted on. For the first time, he began to doubt whether it was right or wrong for his courtyard to marry so many women?
After a long while, the old lady's voice came without any tone:
"Come here, take Bai Ju away first, put her under guard and wait for her punishment, bring Li up here."
Just as he finished speaking, two maids came in, grabbed Bai Ju from the ground and carried her out. At this time, someone had brought back Aunt Li, who was staying in the side room, and made her kneel in front of the old lady.
The old lady looked at Aunt Li lying on the ground with a dignified look. After a long while, she asked word by word:
"Ms. Li, do you admit or deny what happened today?"
