Demoting my wife to a concubine? After being reborn, I turned around and married into the imperial f

"Why are you looking at me like that, sister? Rou'er really doesn't mean any harm. Look how intelligent they are."

As soon as Chu Wanrou finished speaking, Chu Mingli scoffed.

"Rou'er, don't worry about her. How could someone as despicable as her possibly have the heart to feed birds?"

Chu Xunzhen glanced at Chu Mingli, a smirk playing on her lips, and asked in a deliberately wicked tone, "Second Brother, have you raised enough money?"

Chu Mingli's expression changed drastically, and he said coldly, "Money, money, all you ever think about is money. No wonder everyone in the manor says you reek of money."

Upon hearing this, Chu Xunzhen, clutching his handkerchief, smiled and said, "You don't need money? Then why do you owe me so much? Second brother, I told you, if you don't return the money, I'll report you to the authorities. I was too busy before to go, and I also thought you were my elder brother, so I gave you some time. Now that you despise me for being so greedy, then please return the money to me."

Li Yi's expression changed, her brows furrowed, and she said with displeasure, "Chu Xunzhen, Mingli is your brother, what's wrong with him using a little of your money? As his own sister, how can you be so stingy? There's no need for such petty calculations between siblings!"

Upon hearing this, everyone immediately started pointing and whispering at Chu Xunzhen.

Chunxi panicked and quickly said, "Madam, since you think the amount is too little and you've already severed ties with the young lady, why don't you pay it back for the second young master? The young lady is kind-hearted and told us not to include odd amounts when keeping accounts. Since the young lady returned, the second young master has borrowed a total of 60,000 taels of silver from her. As for the other odd amounts, they have already been rounded up."

"How much did you say?" Li Yi asked, his voice drawn out, his eyes wide.

"Sixty thousand taels of silver." Chu Xunzhen chuckled, then looked at Li Yi. "Does Madam intend to give silver notes or gold and silver?"

Li Yi suddenly looked at Chu Mingli and said, "How could that be? My son is self-disciplined and respectful of propriety; how could he possibly ask you for so much money?"

Everyone was in an uproar.

In an ordinary family, if the young master of the household could spend several thousand taels of silver a year, it would already be considered wasteful.

Chu Xunzhen had only been back for three years when this second young master asked her for at least 60,000 taels of silver.

Is this true?

Chu Zhanpeng's gaze sharpened as he stared intently at Chu Mingli, coldly asking, "Why did you ask your sister for so much money?"

Noticing that all the guests around him were staring at him, Chu Mingli's face turned red and then white, and he couldn't say a word for a long time.

His face was grim, his eyes wide with shock and anger as he stared intently at Chu Xunzhen.

He couldn't understand why she would allow the maid to reveal the exact amount he owed her.

Does Chu Xunzhen really not care about his older brother anymore?

"Father, Brother Mingli must have his reasons. The guests have been waiting for a long time. Why don't we let Brother Mingli and Sister discuss and resolve this privately?" Chu Wanrou tugged at Chu Zhanpeng's sleeve, gently shaking his arm as she advised.

Chu Zhanpeng immediately smiled, a kind and amiable smile, and said to everyone, "Rou'er is right. Let's not let their little matter spoil everyone's enjoyment. The flower viewing banquet shall officially begin."

Chu Xunzhen chuckled and immediately walked forward.

Along the way, the women gathered grains to feed the birds.

Chu Xunzhen looked at the happy crowd and was about to leave when a maid walked up to her and said, "Young Miss, Madam requests your presence at the front. The Second Young Master is waiting for you."

Upon hearing this, Chu Xunzhen subconsciously stepped forward, but the next moment, she remembered the miracle she had overheard Li Yi talking about.

She raised the corners of her mouth and gave a mocking smile.

The next moment, the once docile birds flew away as if they had been frightened.

"Evil spirits descend from beneath the willow tree; a calamity star falls from the sky, and birds fly away before it can. If you wish to know how to avert it, the solution is to dispel the disaster and cleanse the world."

Suddenly, the Imperial Advisor spoke.

The moment the poem was recited, the entire room fell silent.

Everyone's gaze instinctively fell on Chu Xunzhen.

Chu Xunzhen gave a half-smile, his gaze falling on the Imperial Preceptor.

"Does the Imperial Advisor mean I must die?"

Chu Xunzhen asked very directly.

The Imperial Advisor smiled enigmatically and said, "The secrets are not easily revealed, so I cannot disclose them. However, if Miss Chu wishes to know the way to break this predicament, it must be done at the same time and place as before."

Chu Xunzhen suddenly looked at Li Yi and said in a cold voice, "Is there anything else, Madam Li?"

Li Yi looked puzzled.

Chu Xunzhen smiled and said, "If Madam has any other tricks up her sleeve, then use them all at once. There's no need to rack your brains here trying to figure out how to kill me."

Li Yi's face stiffened as she looked into Chu Xunzhen's clear gaze, her heart filled with panic.

At this moment, she felt like a clown jumping around, as if nothing could be hidden from Chu Xunzhen.

"Chu Xunzhen, what are you saying? I don't understand."

Chu Xunzhen smiled and pointed to the flowerbed from earlier.

"Where Chu Wanrou is, there is fragrant dew condensing on the flowers and plants. It is clear that you sent someone here last night to apply fragrant dew ointment to the flowers and plants. When she came here, the strange phenomenon occurred. The evidence is in the grass next to us, and there is also a porcelain bottle containing fragrant dew."

Upon seeing this, everyone erupted in uproar.

Someone picked up the bottle of perfume, opened it, and sniffed it; it was indeed perfume.

Upon hearing this, Chu Mingli snorted coldly and denied it, saying, "Rou'er has always been kind and innocent. How could she harm you like that? Besides, what kind of evidence is the perfume bottle? Maybe someone was passing by and it accidentally fell down."

Chu Xunzhen wasn't annoyed. He raised an eyebrow, smiled, and said, "Near that perfume bottle, there's a huge footprint. If Second Brother doesn't believe me, have someone compare it to the shoes of the servants in the manor. I believe we can find the person who threw away the perfume bottle in less than half an hour."

"Fine. Then tell me, if birds weren't intelligent, why would they choose Rou'er instead of you?" Chu Mingli said coldly.

"The strange phenomenon just now was even simpler. If Chu Wanrou were to smear something that birds like on her body, and then pretend to feed them, she would naturally attract many birds."

An old nanny in a crimson robe behind Chu Wanrou shouted, "Nonsense! Miss Rou'er is a kind and virtuous person with great fortune. Birds are intelligent and fly here hoping to share in Miss Rou'er's good fortune. But you, eldest young lady, startle all the birds, not a single one wants to stay by your side. You are a calamity sent by heaven. How can such an unfortunate and immoral person stay in the Marquis's mansion? If the eldest young lady continues to live here, she will probably cause chaos in the Chu family and make the whole Chu family uneasy."

"How dare you! How dare you slander the county princess?" Chunxi shouted angrily and immediately slapped the old woman across the face.

The old woman was knocked to the ground, her face filled with shock and anger: "You daring, lowly servant! How dare you hit this old servant! This old servant is the nanny specially sent by the Empress to educate the Second Young Lady."

"You are the one who is being presumptuous! I am a county princess personally appointed by His Majesty. How dare you, a mere nanny, say that I am unlucky and unvirtuous? You have no respect for rank and deliberately infringe upon the Empress's name, using her power to deceive your superiors and subordinates. Guards, drag her out and slap her a hundred times."

As soon as she finished speaking, the old woman was pulled away.

Chu Xunzhen immediately curled her lips into a dangerous smile and looked at Chu Mingli, saying, "Send people to search this area and my clothes, and you will find things that birds hate."

"These are all your one-sided accounts," Li Yi said coldly. "Since you say today that I deliberately set a trap for you, then let's take the final step: question the heavens. Do you dare, Chu Xunzhen?"

"No." A familiar voice rang out from afar.

Everyone looked in the direction of the sound and their expressions changed drastically.