Marrying a treacherous official

Overwhelmed with fear, Madam Gu swayed unsteadily. Granny You quickly helped her up and set her down on the armchair in the front hall.

When Madam Cui saw that this fellow had gone mad and frightened the eldest daughter-in-law's aunt so much, she hurriedly ordered someone to go out and fetch a doctor. She served him tea and applied medicine, and there was quite a flurry of activity.

Madam Gu, smelling the clear styrax fragrance waking her up, felt dizzy and woke up.

She had heard that Cui Zemin was cruel and bloodthirsty, but seeing him rush out with a knife and kill people in person still deeply shocked her.

What kind of good daughter would marry such a madman?

Poor Ji'er, such a virtuous, gentle, and dignified noble lady, but she married such a tyrannical man. How could she possibly live a good life in the inner quarters?

If her husband hadn't returned home from court that day, still shaken, saying that Cui Zemin was going to kill Ji'er, and if she hadn't later heard from Chunxuan that Ji'er was being held alone in the inner courtyard, she wouldn't have gone to Old Madam Cui's door to beg her to do something for Ji'er.

She regretted not visiting earlier, which had caused Ji'er so much suffering and sin in the Cui family. Had she known this would happen, she would have pleaded her way out of the predicament to take Ji'er and divorce her.

Madam Gu opened her eyes with tears in her eyes and saw Cui Zeming offering her a cup of Dragon and Phoenix Tea.

She was so frightened that she froze and dared not move.

"Second Auntie was frightened. Have some tea to calm your nerves."

Cui Zemin raised the teacup slightly with one hand, and Granny You hurriedly accepted it with trembling hands, thanking him repeatedly on behalf of Madam Gu.

"You're so kind, son-in-law."

The sound of hurried footsteps came from outside the courtyard. Everyone looked in the direction of the sound and saw the Marquis leading Madam You, followed by a group of old women and guards. It was clear that they were coming for Cui Zeming.

"You wretched creature, who did you kill this time with your knife?"

"A traditional Chinese eight-immortal table was chopped in half."

Faced with his unfounded accusations, Cui Zeming retorted with a calm and composed expression.

With a glance from Madam You's phoenix eyes, Granny Tong helped the fallen Madam Zheng into the front hall.

Seeing that the Marquis was backing her up, Madam Zheng immediately caught her breath and cried out her grievances.

"My lord is going to kill me! He's going to hack my great-aunt to death! My lord, you must do me justice!"

"If I really wanted to kill you—"

Cui Zemin took two steps closer to Zheng Shi, which frightened her so much that she collapsed onto the brick. No matter how much Tong Mama tried to pull her up, she couldn't get her up.

"My great-aunt's head was split open right after that knife was slashed."

Madam Zheng choked and almost couldn't catch her breath. Fortunately, Granny Tong acted quickly and helped her catch her breath, preventing her from fainting.

Madam Cui sat firmly in her chair and gave a low shout to the people in front of her: "Sit down, all of you."

Cui Zemin strolled back to the armchair, flicked his sleeves, and sat down with an air of nonchalance, his eyes fixed on Zheng Shi, who was slumped on the ground, barely clinging to life.

Old Madam Cui confronted him directly:

"What's happened this time that makes you want to shout and fight in the courtyard?"

"This old hag said to my face that she would beat my wife to death with a stick."

Cui Zemin argued arrogantly, "How could I not rush ahead of her and kill her with a single blow?"

The Marquis slammed his fist on the table beside him, roaring in fury, "Nonsense! Why would Auntie beat the First Madam to death for no reason?"

Madam Cui knew Cui Zemin's character well. When he went mad, he didn't care about other people's lives, but he didn't go mad for everything, and when he did go mad, he didn't really want to kill people.

That is why she consistently favored this eldest grandson.

"Invite the women from the clan in the courtyard and ask them what happened."

As soon as the women of the clan entered the front hall, they saw Madam Zheng lying on the ground, barely alive. Seeing the old lady's accusatory posture, they dared not hide a word and confessed everything in detail.

"My aunt said that the First Madam secretly emptied the storeroom of silver, and under the guise of providing disaster relief at Xiangguo Temple, she transferred ten thousand taels of silver to the Gu family and embezzled it all."

"They also said that after the First Madam's affair was exposed, she was detained in the courtyard by the Master. So she summoned a few of us to go with her to bolster her power, saying that she would do anything to get the money back for the Master so that she could use it to help the close relatives in the clan."

Upon hearing this, Madam Gu's finger trembled as she pointed at the woman, and she angrily hurled insults:

"Nonsense! How could I allow an old woman like you to slander the Gu family's reputation?"

"Second Aunt, don't be angry."

Cui Zemin picked up the teacup on the table, leisurely sipped the tea, and said:

"When I first heard this, I wanted to tear their faces apart, but I couldn't help but patiently continue listening. Who would have thought that even more infuriating things were yet to come?"

The women huddled together in fear, none of them daring to utter a sound.

Madam Cui hated Zheng Shi to the core. How could such a person, who had been wicked her whole life, live so long and not die early?

"Did your sister-in-law ever say she wanted to beat the First Madam to death?"

"……some……"

When pressed like this, the woman only wanted to shift the blame onto Zheng to extricate herself from this predicament.

"My aunt said that even if a letter of divorce were sent to expel the First Madam from the mansion, it would not be enough to quell her hatred. She insisted on having the First Madam beaten with eighty strokes of the cane."

"The master was worried that this would kill the first wife, but the aunt said that she had many ways to make the first wife suffer a fate worse than death."

Madam Gu was both angry and frightened, tears streaming down her face. She pointed at Madam Zheng and shouted:

"You cruel old woman! How can there be such a vicious person like you in this world? What has my Ji'er done wrong that you have to kill her?"

Hearing his wife's aunt hurl such insults, the Marquis lost face and said with a sullen expression:

"Carry Aunt out of the Marquis's mansion. From this day forward, she shall not be allowed to set foot in the Marquis's mansion even once."

"Wait a minute."

Cui Zemin rose from the armchair and stopped him, saying, "I have one more question to ask my great-aunt."

He walked up to Zheng Shi and saw that she was about to faint, so he pinched her brow bone, which painfully woke her up.

"Grandmother, who told you that the First Madam is going to transfer all the silver from the treasury to the Gu family?"

Upon hearing this, Chi Ying and Granny Tong shuddered, while Madam You remained seated, seemingly unconcerned about anything.

Zheng was panting heavily, so how could she possibly reply?

Cui Zemin threatened her, saying:

"Your death may end everything, but what about your descendants? Do they even want to live?"

Zheng was determined to make sure she could pronounce the last sentence clearly.

"It was Granny Liu, who fed the stables, who went over to curry favor with me and secretly told me about it."

Ignoring Zheng's life or death, Cui Zemin glanced at Lady You, the Marquis's wife, and gave the order:

"Bring me Granny Liu from the stable."

"Your subordinate obeys."

Li Xiuji, accompanied by two guards, went to the stables as ordered, and returned in less than a quarter of an hour. He knelt on the ground to report:

"General, when I arrived at the stables, Granny Liu had already hanged herself."