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

Li Yi's gaze changed, and his expression turned ugly.

This rebellious daughter is forcing her like this!

She did know who did it, but where would she get so much money to cover the losses?

"My lord, I have managed the household affairs for so many years, keeping the Marquis's mansion in perfect order. How could I possibly embezzle?"

Chu Xunzhen immediately said to her adoptive father, "The Lady of the Marquis wouldn't steal from her own residence. Could it have been done by a servant? Father, I suggest searching the entire mansion. Search both the master's quarters and the servants' quarters to see who hid the counterfeit seal and framed me."

Upon hearing this, Li Yi frowned and refused, saying, "No, sir. The gambling den people came today, and everyone in the Marquis's mansion is in a state of panic. If we search again, I'm afraid everyone in the mansion will feel insecure."

Chu Xunzhen scoffed, "Does the Lady of the Marquis mean to let that person with the fake seal continue to siphon money from the public funds without any consequences?"

Chu Mingli raised his eyebrows in anger and said, "Who knows if this person is you? Maybe you deliberately sent someone to forge a private seal, then stole public property, and then claimed that someone else did it."

"presumptuous!"

Chunxi shouted angrily, immediately stepped forward, raised her hand, and slapped Chu Mingli hard across the face.

With a snap!

Five red finger marks appeared on Chu Mingli's face, and blood gushed down from the corner of his mouth.

Li Yi was heartbroken. Her voice was shrill as she glared at Chunxi and said, "How dare you! You actually hit my son?"

Chu Xunzhen's gaze turned cold, her voice icy as she stared at Li Yi and said, "Chu Mingli falsely accused me, and I only punished him because of our blood ties. If he weren't my brother, I would have ordered him arrested and handed over to the prefectural government so that Lord Zhou could punish him for a serious offense of disrespect. Madam Hou, do you perhaps think that Chu Mingli was right to falsely accuse me? And that it was wrong for my maid to give him such a minor punishment?"

Li Yi's face paled, and she stared intently at Chu Xunzhen, her fingers trembling slightly as she roared, "He's your brother! How could you allow a lowly servant to slap him? Chu Xunzhen, do you even have any regard for me, your mother?"

Chu Xunzhen looked bewildered and couldn't understand. She asked in confusion, "Madam Hou, didn't you sever ties with me? Why are you now demanding that I still consider you my mother? Or were you just saying that you severed ties without any real understanding?"

Li Yi's expression was complex; he could only point at Chu Xunzhen, unable to utter a word for a long time, "You, you, you..."

"Enough!" Chu Zhanpeng slammed his right hand on the table, his anger surging. "Search the Marquis's mansion. Search all the masters' courtyards, including the servants' and maids' quarters. Search them thoroughly."

"Yes."

The guards acted according to Chu Zhanpeng's instructions.

Chu Mingli's eyes flickered.

In less than half an hour, the forged private seal was found.

"Reporting to the Marquis, the fake seal was found in the Third Young Master's room."

The guard reported.

Everyone looked at each other.

Chu Xunzhen raised an eyebrow.

Chu Mingxuan was formerly the Potian Protector of the Gu Sect.

Although his Gu techniques were not particularly profound, he was still considered a master of Gu.

If you really want money, you can easily earn it without any fraud or need to go to the public office to collect it.

Chu Mingxuan, who likes to study Gu poison, is a bit dim-witted and lacks any strategic thinking, so it's impossible for him to forge a private seal.

Chu Zhanpeng ordered the guards, "Bring the Third Young Master up."

Chu Mingxuan was brought up.

Everyone was stunned when they saw it.

Although Chu Mingxuan was not exceptionally handsome in the past, he was still quite dashing and strong as an ox.

Now, he was disheveled, his hair was unkempt, and he smelled terrible, as if he hadn't bathed or groomed himself for many days.

"You unfilial son! You unfilial son!" Chu Zhanpeng roared angrily, his face ashen, as he looked at his son's heartbroken expression.

With a look of heartache in his eyes, Li Yi said, "Master, Xuan'er is blind and in great pain. Please have compassion on his behalf."

Chu Xunzhen's gaze turned icy as he suddenly looked at the guards and said, "Summon all the servants who searched the Third Young Master's courtyard earlier."

Chu Mingli's face darkened, and he roared, "Chu Xunzhen, what's wrong with you now? Why are you making such a fuss?"

Upon hearing this, Chu Xunzhen looked at Chu Zhanpeng and said, "Third Brother is blind, what would he need money for? Before this month, he basically lived outside. In my opinion, someone clearly knows that he is blind and deliberately used the pretext of a search to put a fake official seal in his room to frame him."

Chu Mingli coldly said, "These are all your guesses, Chu Xunzhen. Don't discourage the servants."

Chu Xunzhen glanced at Chu Mingli, then her gaze fell on the maids and servants.

"To forge a seal, one must leave the Marquis's residence. If this person is framing Third Brother, they must know about the seal. Moreover, the person behind it won't let too many people know about the fake seal. Therefore, I suspect that among those who searched Third Brother's courtyard, whoever left the Marquis's residence in the past two months is the most suspicious."

Upon hearing this, the steward immediately pointed to one of the maids and said, "It's her, Zixia. In the past two months, only Zixia has left the Marquis's residence."

Upon hearing this, Zixia turned pale with fright.

Chu Xunzhen glanced at Chu Mingli with a half-smile and said, "Second Brother, this seems to be Chu Wanrou's maid, right?"

Chu Mingli wanted to retort, but then he heard Chu Zhanpeng summoning Chu Wanrou.

He immediately said, "I forged the seal and took the money without permission. It has nothing to do with Rou'er."

Chu Xunzhen chuckled inwardly.

Chu Mingli truly dotes on Chu Wanrou.

It was clearly Chu Wanrou's maid who forged the seal; we were almost at the truth, and now Chu Mingli has readily admitted it.

Previously, Huang Ying had reported that Chu Wanrou had taken a lot of silver from the public funds and sent it to the Marquis of Zhongyi's residence.

She deliberately let it go and didn't expose her, just to see how she would handle things after the incident was exposed.

"So, just now, Second Brother deliberately cried wolf to slander this county princess?"

Chu Xunzhen's voice was cold, completely unlike his meek and pleading demeanor just moments before.

Chu Zhanpeng stared intently at Chu Mingli and said angrily, "Chu Mingli, you have truly disappointed your father."

"Father, I don't think Second Brother did it. This maid named Zixia is Chu Wanrou's maid. Doesn't Second Brother use his own people? Is he deliberately using Rou'er's people? Or are they both involved in this?"

Upon hearing this, Chu Zhanpeng immediately ordered someone to go to the Peony Garden to invite Chu Wanrou over.

Peony Garden.

This was the first time Chu Wanrou had ever lost her temper with Gu Changfeng.

"My lord, you've taken so much money from me, why are you humiliating me with this wedding dress? Don't you like Rou'er anymore?"

A tear rolled down Chu Wanrou's cheek as she held her wedding dress, her slender body trembling slightly, looking at me with pity and tenderness.

Gu Changfeng was also very angry, and he became aggressive, speaking loudly.

"I'm sorry, Rou'er, I didn't know. It was my mother who prepared the wedding dress. She said it wasn't easy for me to move into the Marquis of Zhongyi's mansion, and that if you knew the difficulties the mansion faced, she certainly wouldn't blame me. Rou'er, are you bothered? Are you bothered that the wedding dress our Marquis of Zhongyi's mansion prepared for you isn't as good as the wedding dress the Ninth Prince prepared for Chu Xunzhen?"