After being forced into a marriage with a wealthy family, the virtuous wife caused a huge uproar.

Su Jingyi, having done something wrong, was the first to kneel down.

The old lady walked out of Shousong Courtyard in such good spirits. When did she become so healthy?

She arranged for people to deliver food to the old lady at regular times every day, and also arranged for people to serve her in Shousong Courtyard, but she didn't receive any news at all.

Next were Gu Jingcheng and Guo Shi.

In the end, even Gu Ce and Rong Yingluo knelt down.

"Mrs. Su, tell me, what exactly happened?" The old lady's voice was sharp, her eyes like knives. She didn't even call her by her name anymore, but directly called her the most distant Mrs. Su.

"Mother, your daughter-in-law doesn't know either." Su Jingyi truly didn't know what went wrong.

They had planned it all out perfectly, bringing Rong Shi and Li Xuan Ye together, and then bringing people to catch them in the act of adultery.

This would eliminate the Rong family, fulfill the Crown Prince's orders, and ruin the reputation of the Prince of Liao's heir.

She thought about it for a long time before she could figure out the purpose of His Highness the Crown Prince's actions.

The Liao Prince's Mansion, occupying the northern lands and wielding considerable military power, posed the greatest threat to imperial authority. The Crown Prince did not want the Liao Prince's Mansion to continue existing, but he also did not want to bear the infamy of being intolerant of meritorious officials. Therefore, he planned to destroy the Liao Prince's Mansion during the Emperor's reign so that he could seize imperial power upon ascending the throne.

Unfortunately, Gu Ce ruined the entire plan.

The adulterer was caught, but the man had changed; they were husband and wife, so catching him was pointless.

"You don't know? How do you manage the household? Since you can't manage the household, then hand it over to Madam Rong." The old lady jabbed her cane forcefully again, exuding authority.

"Mother, how can you take away my daughter-in-law's power to manage the household just because of one mistake? Besides, Liuli has only been in the manor for a little over a month. She doesn't even know all the servants in the manor. How can she manage the household?" Madam Su was unwilling to accept the idea of ​​taking away her power to manage the household.

"Mother, please calm down. Our Gu family hasn't held such a large banquet in a long time. It's understandable that my sister-in-law didn't think things through," Gu Jingcheng pleaded on her behalf.

Guo knelt behind, gritting her teeth in anger.

Just now, her sister-in-law actually threw herself at her husband. She suspected that there might be some kind of illicit relationship between the second master and her sister-in-law.

But the sister-in-law only said one sentence before she was pushed to the ground, and there was no follow-up evidence.

"Hmph, such a huge mess has occurred, how do you expect us to clean it up? More than a dozen families are involved, and the consequences are unimaginable." The old lady couldn't bear to think about the potential repercussions.

"Mother, no one will tell anyone about what happened today. We just need to attribute it to evil spirits, send some gifts, apologize, and that will be the end of it. Besides, His Highness the Crown Prince was also present, and his reputation is more important, so no one will hold a grudge." Gu Jingcheng was not worried.

Several noble ladies surrounded the crown prince, asking for his hand in marriage. The crown prince was in a good mood and would certainly not pursue the matter. Since the crown prince would not pursue the matter, others would be even less likely to make a big fuss about it.

Everyone was in a hallucination at the time. No one had time to care about what others did or said; they only remembered what they had done.

"Mrs. Su, if you can't handle this matter properly, you'll have to hand over the power of housekeeping." The old lady knew that she wouldn't be satisfied with taking away Su Jingyi's power of housekeeping just because of today's incident.

But she made a mistake this time, and if she makes another mistake in the future, there will be even more reasons to take back power.

"Xiyu, starting today, you will assist your sister-in-law in managing the household affairs every day. If there is anything unreasonable, you may raise your objections directly. If you are dissatisfied, you may come to me."

"And all affairs in my courtyard will henceforth be managed by Liuli. Madam Su, hand over all the indentures of the servants in my courtyard to Liuli," the old lady added.

Xiyu was actually from the Guo family.

The old lady made arrangements for her second daughter-in-law and granddaughter-in-law, and even put the second daughter-in-law in charge of supervision, so Su Shi no longer dared to do things as she pleased.

"Mother!" Su Jingyi exclaimed in surprise. She was the Duchess, yet she allowed the second branch of the family to supervise her. What kind of behavior was this?

Is this a sign that Guo will take over the management of the household affairs?

"What, do you want to hand over the housekeeping power directly to Xiyu?" The old lady jabbed the floor again.

"I wouldn't dare," Su Jingyi had no choice but to accept reality.

The old lady is the mother-in-law, and as long as she lives, she is the highest authority in the Gu family.

"Granddaughter-in-law thanks Grandmother for her trust." Rong Yingluo happily accepted the task arranged by the old lady.

This was to prevent Su from interfering in the affairs of the old lady's courtyard, and to hand over the servants' indentures to her, so that anyone who dared to be disloyal to their master would be sold off or killed.

According to the Gu family rules, apart from the dowry servants of newlywed wives who marry into the family and their owners, the indentures of all servants purchased or born into the Gu family are held by the head mistress or the head of the household.

In the old lady's courtyard, Granny Ye was the daughter of the old lady's dowry maid. Naturally, the indenture was in the old lady's hands, and she was also the most loyal person by the old lady's side.

The old lady has been married into the Duke of Zhenguo's mansion for so many years, and the servants around her have changed batch after batch, but the one who has stayed by her side the longest is only Granny Ye.

The old lady's instruction for Su to hand over the indentures of the servants who served her to Rong Yingluo was a way of handing over management power to the future matriarch.

The old lady was very clear about dividing up Su's rights.

Su Jingyi knelt on the ground, her face pale, but she couldn't refute it. Today's incident had caused too much of a stir, and the fact that the old lady hadn't punished her was already an act of great mercy.

"Starting tomorrow, the gates of Shousong Courtyard will be wide open, and the daily morning and evening greetings are indispensable." The old lady's authority swept over the group of younger generations.

"Yes, Mother (Grandmother)." Everyone responded.

"Everyone, you may leave now." The old lady stood up and stopped as she passed Rong Yingluo. "Granddaughter-in-law, you and Qingyin will accompany me to Shousong Courtyard."

Rong Yingluo and Gu Qingyin quickly got up and each helped the old lady up.

Su stared at Rong Yingluo's back with a sinister look in her eyes, showing no sign of drunkenness whatsoever.

Guo Xiyu's eyes were like sharp blades as she stared at Madam Su: "Sister-in-law, this is the flower-viewing banquet you painstakingly organized, and the son-in-law you chose for me has been snatched up by your dear niece. Shouldn't you give me an explanation?"

"How can you blame your sister-in-law for this? Nobody knew that Miss Cui was so shameless," Gu Jingcheng tried to defend Su Jingyi.

"Husband, tell me, why did your sister-in-law throw herself at you when she went crazy?" Guo Xiyu also gave Gu Jingcheng a cold look.

"I... at that time, who knows what anyone is doing? My sister-in-law probably mistook me for her older brother." Gu Jingcheng was a little guilty, but he raised his head and spoke with a straight face.

He dared not truly offend his wife, whose family was even more prominent than his sister-in-law's.

"Sister-in-law, do you think it's true?" Guo Xiyu was skeptical.

"Second sister-in-law, at that time I couldn't tell who was who at all. Second brother and Duke are brothers, and they look alike. At that time, I was thinking about Duke and didn't care who the person in front of me was." Su was also guilty, but she couldn't let Guo see through her.

Gu Ce stood up, flicked his clothes, and listened to the three arguing without any reaction.

"Second Aunt, Grandmother asked you to assist Mother in managing the household affairs. You should focus your attention on that instead." Gu Ce left these words behind and strode away.

Su Jingyi, having managed the household affairs of the Duke's mansion for many years, prepared the apologies from each family in just two days and then sent the head maid to each mansion to apologize on behalf of the master.

The flowers that Rong Yingluo promised were also sent to each household along with the dowry.

Su Jingyi personally visited several households.

For example, the Gao family, the Cui family, and the Crown Prince's Palace.

Rong Yingluo took over the old lady's courtyard and summoned every servant for questioning.

She could read faces; with just a few words and by observing the other person's expression, she could quickly identify the two lowly maids that Madam Su had specially arranged.

After the two maids were dismissed, the entire Shousong Courtyard was peaceful and harmonious.

Gu Qingyin came to massage the old lady every day on time and served her by her side.

There was a small kitchen in the old lady's courtyard, where she prepared all her meals every day; no one else could do it.

On the first day of the tenth month, Gu Ce hurriedly returned to his residence and found Rong Yingluo.

"Madam, please come with me somewhere."