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

"You guys...you're doing a great job." For the first time, Su felt a sense of fear.

Now that Gu Ce is the prime minister, it will be easy for him to deal with her or her family once he has secured his position.

"Mother, can you hand over your dowry now?" Rong Yingluo's words carried a blatant threat.

"I've been married into the Duke's mansion for nineteen years, and my dowry has long been used up. Where would I get a dowry for you?" How could Madam Su bear to take it out?

She simply refused, wanting to see what Rong Shi could do to her. After all, she was the Duchess of the State; her son had made a mistake, and it was impossible for her to divorce him. Besides, the Duke wasn't even in the manor.

She went to such lengths to get her son the key in that way so that if anything went wrong, she could pin the blame on him.

At most, she will be blamed for failing to raise her child properly.

The son is a descendant of the Gu family, so at most he will be punished and the matter will be over.

"Really? But my husband said that when my mother first married into the Duke's mansion, she only had three shops under her name. After more than ten years of operation, she has added six more shops."

You even misappropriated the Duke's mansion's money to pave the way for your own shops; otherwise, you wouldn't have been able to add six more shops.

As for Zhuangzi, you certainly didn't have him, because your Su family didn't have the financial resources at that time.

However, over the years you have used the money you have earned to buy two 100-mu (approximately 6.7 hectares) estates for yourself. Although they are not in the suburbs of Beijing, they are not far from the capital.

"Do you want me to get the land deeds and house deeds from the government as proof of registration?" Rong Yingluo listed the two most valuable properties of the Su family in great detail.

Now, it would be easy for Rong Yingluo to obtain this information.

"Rong, how dare you! I am your mother-in-law, and I am still the Duchess of the State. How dare you be so disrespectful? If this gets out, how can Gu Ce be the Prime Minister if he has a wife like you?" Su had completely abandoned all shame and threatened him.

"You're nothing but a stepmother. There are many wicked stepmothers in the world, but you're the most wicked of them all. Don't you know what you've done all these years?" Rong Yingluo truly admired her shamelessness.

"Over the years, I've worked so hard to raise A-Ce. I brought him winter clothes when it was cold and brewed him cooling tea when it was hot. He's never lacked a piece of clothing all year round. I love A-Ce from the bottom of my heart. I married him off when he was eighteen, and he married another woman after one died. Stop slandering me here!" Madam Su screamed.

"You're right. This is the image of a kind mother you put on for the sake of your reputation, which has fooled everyone in the capital."

I think you know what you added to the cooling tea you gave me, right?

At that time, your husband was young and didn't understand. It wasn't until the Duke arranged a doctor for him that you became less daring. Then you changed your approach and took advantage of his trip to a banquet to make your move, thus clearing yourself of any wrongdoing.

"Yes or no?" Rong Yingluo was going to tear off her layers of disguise today.

"I don't know what you're talking about. What evidence do you have?" Su refused to admit anything unless she produced irrefutable evidence.

"I have no evidence that you harmed my husband, but I have solid evidence that you harmed me. We've been living in the same household for two months now, and I'm sure Mother already knows pretty much everything about me."

As soon as I got into the bridal sedan chair, you gave me a big gift: you put poison in the chair that could drive people mad. I crushed the apple in my hand and poured the juice onto the poison powder, so I wasn't poisoned.

You blatantly placed iron nails on the other side of the fire pit, making me look foolish.

Just in case, you added a poison to the wedding candles in the bridal chamber that would put everyone into a deep sleep.

On our wedding night, you made my husband kneel in the ancestral hall to avoid the poisonous smoke from the burning wedding candles. The next day, when we were serving tea, you tampered with the prayer mat, trying to prick my knees.

When I returned to my parents' home, I was ambushed on the way, and when I went out to offer incense, I encountered bandits, and so on.

"Even the Crown Prince's scheme against me at the racecourse was orchestrated by my mother-in-law, wasn't it?" Rong Yingluo recounted one of the things Su Shi had done, one by one.

With each statement she made, Su's face paled a little more.

"You...so you knew everything." Su was trembling all over.

That damned Rong family! She's been holding back until now. She knew all along, but she didn't ask A-Ce to get justice for her. Any other woman would have filed a complaint long ago, but she only took action today.

"That's right, but you've never succeeded even once. Do you hate me to the core?" Rong Yingluo said with a sly smile.

"Why don't you retaliate?" Su couldn't understand this point.

"Who said I didn't get my revenge? On our wedding night, you were in excruciating stomach pain, that was my lesson to you, but you still didn't learn your lesson."

And the chaotic dancing at the flower-viewing banquet revealed to me that you and your second uncle were having an affair—that's definitely dirt on you. Your second brother must be your second uncle's child, right?

Do you know why you've lost half your hair? In at most another month, you'll have no hair left at all.

I've been waiting for you to beg me.

Do you know why I haven't touched my dowry for the two months since I married into the family? I was fishing, and look, you've taken the bait!

I like to play slowly with my opponents, watching them lose everything little by little, and enjoying the feeling of rolling down from the top of the mountain.

"Today I'm only taking your dowry. I haven't had enough fun yet; you can continue being your Duchess." Rong Yingluo stopped wasting words with her.

The four guards were instructed to begin moving Su's dowry, including the land deeds and house deeds, which were to be searched directly in Su's house.

Just then, Gu Qingya rushed over.

"What are you doing?" Gu Qingya asked as her maid reported that Madam Rong had brought several men into the main courtyard. She quickly dressed and went to see what was going on.

She knew that her grandmother had punished her mother by confining her to the house for half a month, but she didn't know why.

The day before yesterday, my grandmother sent people to guard the main courtyard where my mother lived, and no one was allowed to enter or leave. She was not even allowed to go in to ask my mother what had happened.

"Qingya, my little sister, is here?" Rong Yingluo said with a smile.

"Rong Liuli, how dare you bring several guards to the main courtyard to cause trouble? Do you have no concept of filial piety?" Gu Qingya saw four guards carrying boxes out of the main courtyard, and those boxes were the ones her mother had packed.

The mother said that the things in the box were all part of her dowry.

But now the Rong family has taken it away. What exactly happened?

"Qingya, these are all things Mother promised to give me. If you don't believe me, go ask Mother." Rong Yingluo stepped aside to let her in.

"You're talking nonsense. These are my mother's dowry, and they will also be my dowry in the future. How could my mother possibly give them to you?" Gu Qingya couldn't possibly believe it.

Rong Yingluo stepped forward, leaned close to Gu Qingya's ear, and told her that Madam Su had allowed Gu Xi to steal her dowry to gamble, and that the old lady had ordered Madam Su to compensate her for these things.

Gu Qingya felt terrible after hearing this.

The dowries of the first four sisters-in-law were also gambled away by the second brother in the same way, and nothing happened to them. Why was it discovered this time?

By the way, in the past, the eldest sister-in-law's dowry was only disposed of after she died, but now Rong is still alive and well.

"Rong Liuli, why don't you just die?" Gu Qingya suddenly went berserk and pushed Rong Yingluo forcefully.

Unfortunately, Rong Yingluo dodged by simply shifting her body slightly, while Gu Qingya fell flat on her face.

Ignoring the pain, she hurriedly got up and rushed into the main courtyard.

"Mother, what's wrong?" Gu Qingya saw the dazed Su Jingyi and felt that she might lose her support.