Chapter 98: Close the door and beat the dog
When Mengxi ordered Zhixia to deliver the message, he secretly asked Zhidong to guard the second gate to prevent anyone from delivering the message to the first wife.
After hearing this, several maids finally understood what Second Madam meant by closing the door and beating the dog. They couldn't help but sigh inwardly at was, for she could come up with such words. These maids were not people who were afraid of trouble. They had long been angered by what Xiu Girl had done in Xiaoxiang Courtyard, but Second Madam suppressed them and didn't let them cause any trouble, so they had to endure it. They had been gnashing their teeth in hatred behind their backs for a long time, and when they saw that Second Madam was finally going to stand up, they were all ready to fight, not caring about the consequences.
After hearing the second wife's instructions, Zhixia stood up, responded, and turned to leave.
After Zhixia left, Mengxi led Zhichun and Zhiqiu to the pharmacy in the backyard, took out a small bottle of medicine, handed it to Zhichun and said:
"We will go out together later. If I say I want to beat someone, you guys beat him up. After that, I will take Zhiqiu to the old lady to apologize. Zhichun will stay in this courtyard. When the second master comes back, I will find a way to mix this medicine into his tea."
"Second Madam, this..."
When Zhiqiu and Zhichun heard this, they both knelt down. They thought that the Second Mistress was going to poison the Second Master.
"Don't worry, this is just a drug that makes people sleepy. It won't kill anyone. Don't you believe it?"
"Are you really okay?" Zhichun asked.
"Yes," Mengxi nodded affirmatively.
"Okay, I'll do it."
Seeing that Second Madam looked confident , Zhichun straightened his chest and spoke firmly.
Hearing Zhichun's tone as if he was asking for death, and looking at the expressions of the two people, Mengxi frowned. She was just using some tricks, but why did these two people look like they were willing to sacrifice their own arms, as if they really wanted them to die heroically. They really looked like revolutionary martyrs.
You can be open and honest in dealing with a gentleman, but you can only use villain methods to deal with a villain. Miss Xiu's conspiracy is right at her doorstep. Of course, she cannot learn from these pedantic ancients. She must be open-minded and deal with it in an upright manner. She is just a little woman, not a gentleman.
Seeing Zhichun agreed, Mengxi thought for a moment and then said to Zhichun: "Remember this, when the Second Master faints after drinking tea, you must change the tea while the chaos is going on, lest the old lady ask the doctor to find any traces and cause trouble."
"I know what to do"
"Okay, everyone, get up, grab a chair, and let's go out."
After saying that, Mengxi reached out and helped the two of them up, and the three of them walked out the door together.
The door of the east wing was slowly pushed open by Zhiqiu from the inside, and the noise outside stopped. The yard was full of people, all looking from afar. Bingxin, Yuxin and the two Taoists also looked up at the door.
Mengxi held Zhiqiu's hand and walked out slowly. From a distance, they looked like a tortoise crawling. Finally, they reached the middle of the garden and stood up straight. Bingxin Yuxin hurried forward and bowed slightly. Without waiting for the Second Mistress to speak, she straightened up and said,
"Second Grandma..."
Mengxi raised her hand to signal them to shut up first, and said calmly:
"Not urgent"
No matter how rude Bingxin and Yuxin were, they dared not openly contradict the Second Mistress. There were servants in the yard watching them, so they could only stand there and wait.
After a while , Zhichun brought out a chair and placed it in the middle of the garden. Zhiqiu went forward to wipe it with a towel and helped the Second Madam to sit down. Several maids had already come forward to set up an umbrella like a pergola to shade the Second Madam from the sun. After the Second Madam sat down, she straightened her body, straightened her clothes, and signaled for tea. Zhixia and Zhidong turned back and entered the east wing. After a while, the two of them brought out a small stone stool, lifted it to the Second Madam's hand and put it down. Then they went back to get the teapot and teacups, and poured tea for the Second Madam. Then the two of them stood behind the Second Madam with their hands hanging down.
I saw the second grandma gently picked up the tea, opened the lid, tried it, felt it was a little hot, and blew it slowly.
Bingxin and Yuxin stared at all this. They didn't know why this Second Madam was acting so arrogant at this time. She was about to be cooked, but she was still holding on. Let's see how long you can hold on. If you are not in a hurry, then neither are we. Anyway, we have to go into the East Wing today, and not only that, but we also have to add some seasonings!
It turned out that the two men had secretly prepared three small wooden figures with Miss Xiu, on which were written the birth dates of the First Wife, the Second Master, and Miss Xiu. They planned to hide under the Second Mistress's bed while the Taoist priest was performing a ritual, and falsely accuse the Second Mistress of secretly haunting the First Wife and the others. Xiu'er had just been ill, and with the Taoist's words, she was just dealing with this matter. Seeing that the Second Mistress would not leave this time, this was today's main course. As for letting the Taoist priest enter the Second Mistress's room to perform a ritual and ruin her reputation, that was just an appetizer.
Mengxi held the tea and looked up at the sun. She was delaying as much as possible, hoping that she could delay until she went to the old lady to apologize and catch up with the Second Master's return. But the Second Master only came back after dark these days. She knew that she could not delay until then, so she could only try her best. It would be a waste of time to hurt the enemy. She had beaten Bingxin and Yuxin today, and the punishment from the First Lady was inevitable. She only hoped that the time between the Second Master's return and the First Lady's attack could be shortened. The shorter the time difference, the less suffering she and her maids would suffer.
The tea finally cooled down. He took a sip and then looked up at Bing Xin and said:
"What's the matter? It's so hot , why don't you stay indoors to cool off instead of coming out here to make a noise?"
"Replying to Second Madam, the young lady was ill a few days ago, and the first wife asked a Taoist priest to see her. He said that Second Madam's fate and the young lady were in conflict, and that some rituals had to be performed in Second Madam's room to resolve the problem. I followed the first wife's instructions and brought two Taoist priests to perform rituals in Second Madam's room. The first wife said that this was also for the good of Second Master and Second Madam."
When Mengxi heard this, he put the teacup in his hand on the stone rock with a snap:
"Nonsense, Da Qi has always worshipped Buddhism and suppressed Taoism. Taoism is a side branch. My Xiao family is an aristocratic family. The eldest wife is of such a noble status. How could she believe the nonsense of a few people from side sects and do such a thing that damages her reputation? It must be you who are behind the scenes using the eldest wife's name to cause trouble, which not only slanders the eldest wife's reputation, but also humiliates my reputation. What a good plan to kill two birds with one stone. Don't you know that I was originally carried into the Xiao Mansion in an eight-man sedan chair, and I am the second master's legal wife. You humiliated me today, which is equivalent to humiliating the second master. Come on, slap me five times!"
Zhiqiu and Zhichun were well prepared. After hearing the Second Mistress's instructions, they started beating without saying a word. Bingxin and Yuxin were not pushovers either and started struggling. Seeing this, Zhixia also went up to help. Two of them held them and one beat them. After five hits, Bingxin and Yuxin's delicate faces were already a little red and swollen.
Bingxin and Yuxin were so angry that they would never believe that the Second Madam would really dare to hit anyone. They couldn't figure out what the relationship was between the Daqi family and Taoists, and how it could slander the reputation of the First Madam. When Zhiqiu and the others stopped, the two struggled forward to explain that it was indeed the First Madam's order. However, when the Second Madam heard this, she continued to beat them. After a few rounds of beating, their faces were so swollen that their parents couldn't recognize them.
Only then did Bingxin and Yuxin come to their senses. The Second Mistress was deliberately looking for trouble with them. Looking back at the few confidants they had bought over in the courtyard, they thought to themselves, how could these people be so stupid? They were provided with food and drink on a daily basis, but they didn't dare to come forward at this time with the Second Mistress around. It was understandable. At least they should go to Yangxin Garden to give the young lady a message. If the First Mistress moved in, everything would be solved. How could they suffer such a big loss?
Little did they know that when these people saw Zhiqiu beating people, they wanted to go out and report the news. They also wanted to take credit in front of Miss Xiu and the First Madam. But Zhidong led a few servants to guard the second gate, saying that the Second Madam had asked them to guard the door and not even a fly was allowed to fly out. Looking at them, they were much bigger than flies and of course they couldn't get out.
