Chapter 425 - The Crime of Deceiving the Emperor and Being an Impostor
Chapter 425 The Crime of Deceiving the Emperor and Being an Impostor
There was a group of people clustering around Rui'an Great Elder Princess at the door, whom they respected.
Seeing the angry Rui'an Great Elder Princess, Madam of Duke Xing did not felt good. She lowered her head in a hurry and ordered Nanny Sheng with a few words. Nanny Sheng secretly left with a terrible look on her face. She did not expect that the defensive plan decided by the First Miss and Madam would be used now, but this was not the best timing.
At this time, everyone was looking at the door. No one noticed that Nanny Sheng had left quietly except Qin Wanru.
The Old Madam of Duke Xing stood up. Rui'an Great Elder Princess had not been to Duke Xing's Mansion for several years. Even though she wanted to see her grandson, Rui'an Great Elder Princess always took him away.
This time, she seemed to come with no good intentions.
With a cold face, Rui'an Great Elder Princess glanced at the faces of everyone present and sneered. Before hearing the invitation from Old Madam of Duke Xing, she stepped in and haughtily sat down in the most honorable seat among the guest seat. Old Madam of Duke Yong, who had originally sat on this seat, could only take a step back.
Everyone stepped back, but no one dared to sit down.
However, Old Madam of Duke Xing slowly sat down and looked at Rui'an Great Elder Princess with disgust. She took a deep breath and calmed down.
She did not like her daughter-in-law and one of the main reasons was that she did not like the mother of her daughter-in-law. Rui'an Great Elder Princess dared to ignore her in the name of Great Elder Princess. It was really annoying.
She rarely had this kind of annoyance on other people, except her daughter-in-law, Rui'an Great Elder Princess in front of her, and Qin Wanru, who had just met.
Even though Qin Wanru had saved her life, this disgust could not fade away. It was unexplainable for her to dislike Qin Wanru and feel uncomfortable when seeing her.
Old Madam felt that it was because Qin Wanru's previous behavior had made her feel disgusted. She was greedy and complied with elders' words in appearance but opposed these in heart, so it was really annoying.
"Great Elder Princess seldom comes here. What a rare guest! Serve tea!" Old Madam of Duke Xing's Mansion calmed down and showed a trace of smile on her face.
Rui'an Great Elder Princess had a noble status, so she did not dare to offend her casually.
Madam of Duke Xing gestured to the servant girl aside and the servant girl hurriedly brought in a cup of tea and respectfully placed it in front of Rui'an Great Elder Princess.
Qin Wanru glanced at Old Madam and lowered her head quietly. Her long eyelashes fluttered a few times like a fan, covering the darkness at the bottom of her eyes. Her grandmother came at the right time!
There was finally someone on her side who could uphold justice for her!
"If I do not come now, are you going to adopt a fake granddaughter for me?" Rui'an Great Elder Princess snorted, saying, "It is a capital crime to falsely claim to be relatives of the emperor!"
Qin Yuru had been held aside, but how she could not help trembling and looked at Madam of Duke Xing in a panic.
Madam of Duke Xing raised her head calmly and looked at Qin Yuru's face coldly with a smile. Qin Yuru was so scared that she hurriedly turned her head to avoid seeing Madam's eyes. She held Mei Xue's wrist tightly and her face turned pale.
"Great Elder Princess, why do you say that? I just want to have a nominal foster granddaughter and kept her in the name of my elder son. He used to prefer girls. If he had a daughter, he would be happy even in his grave!" Old Madam of Duke Xing's Mansion said lightly.
Infanta Qinghua had royal blood, but after a woman got married, their child's surname would be her husband's surname, and thus the child did not belong to the wife's family. Moreover, now they just wanted to have a nominal foster relative in their name, so it was indeed unnecessary to inform Rui'an Great Elder Princess.
"In the name of the former heir of Duke Xing's Mansion, then who is her own mother? I do not remember that the former heir of Duke Xing's Mansion had other concubines!" Rui'an Great Elder Princess sneered.
Since she would be recorded in the pedigree of their clan, she should have a biological father and a mother.
"My elder son also had a maid in name as a concubine at the very beginning. Since she would have been promoted to be a concubine, so she had been recorded in the pedigree. She moved away when Infanta Qinghua married to our mansion later. So Qin Yuru can be recorded as her daughter!" Old Madam of Duke Xing's Mansion said.
If Rui'an Great Elder Princess did not come, this would obviously be recorded in the name of Infanta Qinghua. But now Rui'an Great Elder Princess came, so she had to change a person.
"Why do I not know that the former heir of Duke Xing's Mansion had a servant girl as his concubine?" Rui'an Great Elder Princess asked.
"There was one before, but after Infanta Qinghua married into our family, she was sent away later," Old Madam of Duke Xing's Mansion said calmly. In fact, there was such a person, but this had not been arranged in advance. It was Old Madam who had given this servant girl to her son after hearing that her son had not cared about her will and had gone to ask for the imperial edict.
In order to disgust Infanta Qinghua, Old Madam had also asked someone to record that servant girl in the pedigree. She had said that as long as Infanta Qinghua had been married into their family, the servant girl would be promoted to be a concubine. So the servant girl had been directly written in the column for concubine in the pedigree in case of any trouble in the future.
However, her son had not cared about the servant girl at all, so the servant girl had been left and locked in the most remote corner. After that, the servant girl could not bear this and had escaped and disappeared without a trace. Later, when Old Madam realized this, she knew that it must be her son's trick that he had directly let the servant girl leave.
Later, she had checked the contract to buy the servant girl. Sure enough, it had disappeared early.
For this reason, Old Madam had also severely beaten the former heir of Duke Xing's Mansion, but now she pretended that there had indeed been such a thing.
"So, this will still be recorded in the name of the former heir of Duke Xing's Mansion and my daughter will be her mother, right?" Rui'an Great Elder Princess asked coldly, and she did not want to argue with Old Madam of Duke Xing about this.
No matter this would be recorded in the name of whom, Infanta Qinghua still bore the title of the matriarch.
It was not easy for Old Madam of Duke Xing to answer this question. After thinking for a while, she said slowly, "If Rui'an Great Elder Princess thinks so, we are also okay with this."
"Great Elder Princess, do not be angry. Indeed, we should discuss this with you, but since you have been unwilling to meddle in the affairs of our mansion for so many years, so we do not want to bother you with such trifle and have not informed you," Madam of Duke Xing said with a smile.
Since Infanta Qinghua still bore the title of the matriarch, anyway, they ought to inform Rui'an Great Elder Princess.
Duke Xing's Mansion was in the wrong if they argued in detail.
Seeing that things were not going well, Madam of Duke Xing went forward to remedy it in a hurry.
"Discuss with me? What do you want to discuss? To accept a fake granddaughter?" Rui'an Great Elder Princess's smile became colder and colder and she glanced at Madam of Duke Xing with disdain.
Like Old Madam of Duke Xing's Mansion, Rui'an Great Elder Princess disliked this pair of mother-in-law and daughter-in-law in front of her most. They both had two faces, which was really annoying.
"Great Elder Princess, I just want to have an adopted granddaughter. How can there be a fake one?" Although Old Madam was unhappy, she only showed a trace of helplessness on her face.
It did not matter whether the granddaughter was fake or not, since she just wanted to have an adopted granddaughter, which would not be a real bloodline inheritance. Old Madam thought that as long as she adopted her as biological granddaughter, it did not matter whether Rui'an Great Elder Princess recognized her. Anyway, she had found her son's offspring, so she felt that she had acted worthily of her son.
Originally, Old Madam had not been willing to let Rui'an Great Elder Princess know about this and was afraid that she would come to disturb the situation.
"Is it necessary to change her census register to adopt a nominal foster granddaughter? To recognize a granddaughter, do you need to know whether she is Madam Di's biological daughter? Do you need to spend a long time investigating in Jiangzhou to find such a qualified one before you adopt a granddaughter? Do you really think I am easy to fool, Old Madam?"
Seeing that Old Madam was still hiding something, Rui'an Great Elder Princess was furious and said, "Well, well, well. Let's go to the palace now and ask Empress Dowager and Empress to judge this. Duke Xing's Mansion sent someone out in the name of finding a daughter for the former heir and my daughter, but found a fake one. Now you are afraid that the fake one does not meet the right condition, so you deliberately change her birth date and horoscope. Duke Xing's Mansion will be blamed for this crime of deceiving the emperor!"
When thinking that her daughter had been forced to leave by this woman and her daughter-in-law, Rui'an great elder princess was so angry that her whole body trembled. Her daughter, who she had raised like a pearl and a treasure, had ended up like this, how could she not feel distressed?
She had had no evidence in the past, but things were different today, because her own granddaughter was by her side.
Since she recognized Qin Wanru, Rui'an Great Elder Princess had not been idle and had listened to her granddaughter's instructions to wait for such a day. She had many pieces of evidence in her hand, and others could not falsely claim someone as her granddaughter.
The crime of deceiving the emperor? Several elders of the clan looked pale, and they regretted to be greedy for the money from Duke Xing's Mansion. If this was really a crime of deceiving the emperor, the whole Shao family would be implicated.
Qin Wanru looked around and looked at the calm face of Qin Huaiyong. Since Rui'an Great Elder Princess came in, his face did not look good, but he was still calm. Compared with other people, Qin Huaiyong was the calmest.
However, the calmer he was, the more Qin Wanru's eyes turned cold. Did her father really know nothing? Did Madam Di exceptionally adept in trickery?
Did Qin Huaiyong really know nothing?
Did her own father really leave without a word?
Madam Di had no affection for her, but what about Qin Huaiyong? Her own father had saved his life. Did he really have no affection for her?
Her hands trembled slightly and her heart throbbed with a little pain. Qin Huaiyong had raised her for such a long time, including last life and this life. Even though he had no feelings for her before, what would happen later!
In her last life, she had fallen into that tragic condition and had not seen Qin Huaiyong reaching out at all. It seemed that everything had been done by Madam Di and her daughter, but he had not seen it at all.
Had he really been blinded by them?
In the last life, Qin Huaiyong's position had been promoted again and again, and had a successful official career. Had he really been a fool in the family affairs?
Had Madam Di hidden all the truth so that Qin Huaiyong had not suspected her?
There were too many doubts hidden in her heart. However, every time there was one more doubt, she felt more pain in her heart. She took a deep breath and suppressed the pain in her heart. When she looked up again, there was only the coldness in her eyes.
Get to the bottom of it and let them pay for this with blood. She would find out the truth.
"Old Madam... Madam, some people come outside and say that they are looking for Second Miss Qin!" An old maid rushed in. When she saw so many people in the flower hall, she was stunned for a moment, but she still said to Madam of Duke Xing timidly.
"Why do they come here? This is not Qin's Mansion!" Madam of Duke Xing said unhappily. In this situation, no one was in the mood to welcome other people.
"They say, say that they are Second Miss Qin's biological parents!" The old maid was more confused by the question and stammered.