The moment Old Lady Xiao came, she had already tested the benefits of using filial piety, which were the weakness of these two beasts.

As Ge Chunru cried, Second Son Xiao’s heart ached.

So Old Lady Xiao immediately sat on the ground, slapped her thigh and cried.

“My second son, you are a beast! Your father and I sold our house and land and came all the way here.

“After we were robbed, we begged along the way to come to the capital to see you. You even scolded your own mother.

“Your wife despised me, who was her mother-in-law. I only asked her to serve me the dishes. So what? Your heart is already aching?

“Besides, you committed adultery before marrying her. It’s a fact that you abandoned your wife and raised a mistress to be your wife. Since you dare to do it, why can’t others gossip about it?

“Don’t think that no one knows about the disgusting things you did when you came to the capital.

“If you continue to be so unfilial, we will immediately go out and help you spread the news.

“This foxy woman pretended to fall and have a miscarriage and blamed it on Mdm Kong.

“You took the opportunity to divorce and break off your kinship with your biological children.

“I would like to ask the emperor if his personally conferred senior general is supposed to do such an inhumane thing.

“Although Mdm Kong doesn’t say it, Zheng’er and the others are still your biological children. You are a heartless beast.”

The more she spoke, the angrier she became.

She vented out all the grievances she had suffered along the journey and when she was in the village, and when she was despised here.

As she saw the two beasts living a good life, she nearly forgot about their grievances.

Shi Qingluo said that not only did she have to use filial piety to suppress them, she also had to get hold of the two beasts so that she could stay in the general’s residence and seize the authority of the family head.

They could not neither be polite nor give in to these two beasts.

They could only compete on who was the more ruthless one, or else they would be suppressed.

Humph, to compare ruthlessness, they weren’t afraid to be barefooted.

At worst, they would return to the village and live their original lives, but they definitely could not let these two beasts off easily.

Once she said these, the expressions of Xiao Yuanshi and Ge Chunru changed simultaneously.

When did Old Lady Xiao’s words become so precise? Everything she said hit the main points.

Not only did she stab their lungs, but she also hurt their hearts.

They became even more anxious and feared that they would really run out and spread rumours.

It wouldn’t have much effect to do these things in private.

Not to mention that they were just newly rich, other aristocratic families also encountered quite a number of similar issues.

However, if this were to be spread out openly to the public, it wouldn’t be good if they caught the attention of others.

Xiao Yuanshi was certain that this was definitely not something that Old Lady Xiao could say or think of.

She even dared to demand asking the emperor.

Not only did she use filial piety to pressure them, but she also even knew how to use it against them.

This wasn’t a good sign.

He took a deep breath and walked over to help Old Lady Xiao up. “Mother, you have misunderstood.

“We had just arrived in the capital and did not have a firm footing. That was because our plans were delayed.

“I had always wanted to bring you and my father to the capital to care for you.”

Old Lady Xiao was throwing a tantrum.

There wasn’t a thing he could do.

He couldn’t possibly let someone kill his own mother, right?

He could only coax her first and do what she wanted.

Then, he would slowly find an opportunity to send her back to the village.

Old Lady Xiao pursed her lips in her heart. She didn’t believe these words, and neither did the rest.

Then, a look of satisfaction appeared in her eyes.

Indeed, it was right to listen to Shi Qingluo.

It looked like this would make this beast, Second Son Xiao, lower his head.

Since her son had given her an out, she naturally went along with it.

The main reason was that she smelled the aroma of the dishes and was extremely hungry.

Hence, she returned to her original seat and continued to let Ge Chunru serve her dinner.

Ge Chunru covered her face that had been slapped.

When she saw her husband’s distressed and comforting gaze, she understood what he meant.

He did not want Old Lady Xiao and the others to go out and tarnish her reputation, so she could only choose to endure it.

She wiped her tears and went up to serve Old Lady Xiao sulkily.

She would remember today’s beatings and humiliation.

She would definitely take revenge later.

Old Lady Xiao disliked Ge Chunru a lot, even more than Mdm Kong.

In addition, she was currently heartbroken, hence very picky.

One moment, she said that the vegetables were too hot, and the next moment, she said that they were too cold.

In front of the servant girls of the general’s residence, she was giving Ge Chunru, the wife of the general, a lot of face.

Every time Xiao Yuanshi wanted to help his little wife, Old Master Xiao would complain about the past and how to treat him better, so much that he didn’t have the opportunity to speak.

After eating, the two of them had no choice but to arrange accommodations for them.

Who knew that Old Lady Xiao would propose to visit Ge Chunru’s courtyard, and ended the tour with her outburst of scolding.

She accused Xiao Yuanshi and Ge Chunru of being unfilial and living in such a nice courtyard by themselves and chasing them away to a remote courtyard.

If Shi Qingluo and Xiao Hanzheng hadn’t shared with them about this before they came, the old Xiao family would not have known that they could use this opportunity to make things difficult for them.

As the word “filial” was suppressing Xiao Yuanshi, he could only pinch his nose and temporarily move out of the courtyard where he and Ge Chunru lived for Old Lady Xiao and Old Master Xiao.

After that, he tried to worm something out of her, “Mother, why did you sell the house and land in the village? Did Xiao Hanzheng ask you to do this?”

The people in the old house were stupid and ignorant, and they valued money more than anything else. How could they bear to sell their house and land?

Moreover, they even knew that the daughters-in-law of a rich family had to serve their mother-in-law, and hence forcing his wife to lower her head.

Furthermore, they kept using filial piety to pinch him.

This was definitely not something that the old Xiao family could think of, so he suspected that Xiao Hanzheng taught them.

However, Xiao Hanzheng was also a farmer who had never been to the capital, so it was unlikely that he would know how to use these matters hidden from the public to make a fuss, right?

When Old Lady Xiao heard his question, her heart skipped a beat.

In order to hide her guilty conscience, she glared at him. “Ever since you and Zheng’er separated from each other, we haven’t had much contact with him.”

She absolutely could not sell Shi Qingluo out. Otherwise, who would help them to come up with ideas in the future?

Now that she had her son and his vixen wife temporarily in her hands, not only was she very pleased, she also felt a great sense of satisfaction.

She did not want her plans to be ruined.

“It’s all because of you, you ungrateful wretch. Once you got rich, you forgot about your parents. When you came to the capital, you forgot about us, your family.

“If we didn’t miss you and were forced to sell our houses and land, how could we have suffered so much and been bullied like beggars?”

Xiao Yuanshi thought to himself, miss me your ass, I don’t believe it.

Before he could reply, Old Lady Xiao continued, “If you think that we shouldn’t have come to see you and that we shouldn’t miss our son, then I’ll go out tomorrow and ask everyone if other people’s sons and daughters-in-law are so unfilial to their parents.

“If the yushi thinks that what you did was right, then your father, your brothers and nephews, and I will continue to beg and return to Nanxi county.”

“Let everyone see how mighty a general you are in front of your father and mother.”

Xiao Yuanshi was shocked.

F * ck, Old Lady Xiao actually knew about yushi 御史 (a supervisory official in charge of supervising officials appointed by the emperor).

He would definitely not believe that no one had instigated her.

He realised that Old Lady Xiao and the others had become so difficult to deal with.

This wasn’t a good sign. He had to send them back as soon as possible.

At the same time, he also wanted to find out who was the mastermind.

Their actions were too vicious.

He suspected that it was Xiao Hanzheng, but he wasn’t sure.

After all, his impression of this young man was upright and elegant with no contact with the people and matters of the capital.

Therefore, he suspected that it was someone who didn’t like him and secretly found someone to instigate the old Xiao family to do so.

Even after Xiao Yuanshi racked his brains, he wouldn’t imagine that his son, whom he didn’t want, would suddenly have a little wife.

Then, that little wife with a belly full of bad ideas deliberately packaged these problematic old Xiao family members, who would exploit him with morality and filial piety to the extreme, and sent them as gifts for him and his wife.

Footnote:

yushi 御史 – a supervisory official in charge of supervising officials appointed by the emperor