Chapter 382
Wei Qiufu had just stepped into the door when she cried out in alarm. Her body quickly fell backward, and Ming Yan, who was following behind her, hurriedly reached out to support her, preventing her from falling. However, Ming Yan was standing outside the threshold at this moment and was about to lift her leg to walk in. Everything happened so fast that she didn’t have time to react. Thus, she fell to the side with Wei Qiufu in her arms.
“T-Third Elder Sister, what are you doing?” This was the only thing the people outside heard Wei Qiufu exclaiming other than the abrupt shriek. Then, they saw her fall down and press against Ming Yan’s body. No one knew what was going on.
However, the maids shuddered in fear when they recalled how Wei Yuejiao had lost her temper and smashed things randomly. Therefore, no one dared to approach Wei Qiufu at this moment, because whoever went to her would experience her wrath directly.
See, even the always gentle Fourth Young Lady had suffered.
The maids and the old maidservants continued to carry on with their own duties. They didn’t even greet Wei Qiufu and they tried their best to stay away from the main apartment.
Jinzhu was also startled. She walked way behind them, so she did not know what had happened in front of her. When she heard Wei Qiufu exclaim, she was shocked and quickly looked up. Only then did she see that Wei Qiufu and Ming Yan had fallen out together.
“Fourth Young Lady…” Jinzhu cried out in surprise.
Wei Yuejiao was equally shocked. She and Yuzhu, who was beside her, also looked at Wei Qiufu with shock and confusion.
“T-Third Young Lady, why did you hit Fourth Young Lady?” Ming Yan had already understood Wei Qiufu’s intention and she shouted in dismay.
“Me? I didn’t do anything!” Wei Yuejiao was enraged. She walked over and rebuked.
“You threw something and almost hit Fourth Young Lady. That’s why she fell!” Ming Yan snapped angrily while helping Wei Qiufu to get up.
Suddenly, Wei Yuejiao, who was so angry that her whole body trembled, swung her uninjured hand toward Ming Yan and slapped her hard in the face.
Wei Yuejiao was so frustrated today after being wronged, so when a lowly maid accused her of something she didn’t do, she couldn’t stand it any longer.
Ming Yan was caught off guard. After she was slapped, she fell down again and dragged Wei Qiufu, who had just gotten up, down with her too. Because all of this happened at the door, the maids and the old maidservants, who happened to look over, saw the entire incident clearly. As expected, Third Young Lady was up in arms and vented her anger at the maid, and Fourth Young Lady had to suffer the consequences too.
Did Third Young Lady really slap Fourth Young Lady’s maid? Everyone was trembling in fear…
“T-Third Elder Sister, what are you doing?!” Seeing that Wei Yuejiao had slapped Ming Yan, Wei Qiufu helped Ming Yan up and asked angrily.
“I’m teaching your maid a lesson!” Wei Yuejiao raised her head and barked.
“She’s my maid! I’ll discipline her myself! Stay out of it!” Wei Qiufu’s face turned pale, and her lips trembled. She snapped indignantly.
“Stay out of it?! Your maid raised her voice at me and framed me! She’s too bold!” Wei Yuejiao was getting angrier and angrier. She was sure that Wei Qiufu had heard what Ming Yan had said, but Wei Qiufu still insisted that she had gone too far.
“H-How can you say that! You’ve gone too far!” Wei Qiufu shouted angrily.
“I’ve gone too far? It was clearly you who went too far. What are you doing here at this time? Are you here to mock me? Are you here to see if I’m injured or disabled? You’re obviously here for some nasty reasons. You’re up to no good! Also, drop your act. Stop looking so pretentious and pitiful, hypocrite. You fell down yourself, but you blame me for it. I’m not a pushover!”
Wei Yuejiao was full of rage because of Wei Qiufu, so now, she burst out her irritation furiously.
“W-What did you say? Okay… I’ll go to Grandmother’s place and tell her about this. I came here to visit you, but it seems that I’ve made a mistake!” Wei Qiufu grunted sadly, tugging her handkerchief and forcing her tears back. After that, she turned around and left with Ming Yan.
“Miss… Let’s go and have a look!” Upon hearing Wei Qiufu’s remarks, Jinzhu and Yuzhu knew that something bad would happen, so they hurriedly persuaded Wei Yuejiao.
“Alright, let’s go. I’m not scared of her. Her maid started it first!” Wei Yuejiao shouted in exasperation, feeling that Wei Qiufu’s maid had humiliated her.
Therefore, the two teams returned to Madam Dowager’s Tranquility Courtyard one after another.
Madam Dowager was resting. When she heard that Wei Yuejiao and Wei Qiufu were fighting again, she angrily patted the edge of the bed and asked Nanny Hong to lead them in.
Wei Qiufu and Wei Yuejiao walked in one after another with their maids. Wei Qiufu and Ming Yan looked haggard and miserable. When she saw Wei Yuejiao coming in with a face full of indignation, Madam Dowager was furious. She had planned to dismiss the matter of the fire in the small kitchen, assuming that it happened merely because of the girls fighting for her favor.
However, Wei Yuejiao looked like she was unconvinced and outrageous at this moment. All of a sudden, Madam Dowager felt that she had misjudged Wei Yuejiao all these years. Concubine Dong was unreliable and sly, and her daughter was hopeless too.
“Grandmother, I went to visit Third Elder Sister, but she said that I went there to mock her, and that I was a hypocrite and was up to no good. She also slapped Ming Yan, saying that she was disciplining my maid.” As soon as Wei Qiufu entered the door, she knelt down with a plop. She wiped away her tears with a handkerchief while secretly observing Madam Dowager’s expression.
When she spotted Madam Dowager’s dismayed frown as soon as Wei Yuejiao came in, She knew that her plan worked. Wei Yuejiao would not be able to get away with it no matter what.
Sure enough, before Wei Yuejiao could say anything after coming in, Madam Dowager shouted sternly, “Kneel!”
“Grandmother! I…” Wei Yuejiao tried to defend herself.
Madam Dowager slammed the edge of the bed and barked angrily, “Kneel down!”
Noticing Madam Dowager’s fury, Wei Yuejiao knelt down with a thud. “Grandmother, it was Fourth Younger Sister who failed to discipline her maid. This lowly maid accused me of hitting Fourth Younger Sister as soon as she entered my room. I was so angry that I slapped her!”
Wei Yuejiao felt that she was very reasonable, and the more she thought about it, the more she felt that she was right. She pointed at Wei Qiufu and confided loudly.
“Grandmother, it’s easy to tell the right from wrong in this matter. From my perspective, Third Elder Sister smashed something for no reason and scared me. Then, she slapped my maid. Please send someone to investigate this matter.” Wei Qiufu did not directly imply that Wei Yuejiao was lying. She just wiped her tears and let Madam Dowager check the truth.
Madam Dowager glanced at Nanny Hong, who then hurriedly ordered an old maidservant beside her. With a nod, the old maidservant turned and ran out.
“Yuejiao, did you smash things?” Madam Dowager asked coldly. She did not directly ask if Wei Yuejiao hit her maids or threw something at Wei Qiufu.
Taken aback, Wei Yuejiao quickly shook her head. “No, Grandmother. I didn’t smash anything.”
“If you didn’t smash anything, why did all the porcelain in the room break?” Wei Qiufu asked angrily.
“All?!” Madam Dowager felt heartache when she heard this. The things inside Wei Yuejiao’s were not entirely Concubine Dong’s. Madam Dowager put a lot of her personal precious belongings in that room in order to make the first branch satisfied with the room decoration. When she heard that all of them were smashed and broken, she felt extreme pain and sadness.
“N-No! I didn’t do it. Grandmother, please believe me. It’s not me. It’s… I-It’s the cat! A wild cat came in and accidentally knocked them down.” Seeing that Madam Dowager was so angry that she couldn’t even speak, Wei Yuejiao hurriedly shook her hands and quavered.
“Wild cat?” Madam Dowager didn’t believe it at all. With a burst of cold laughter, she snapped, “Wonderful! Someone, drag the two maids outside and flog them 100 times! Why should I keep you when you can’t even keep the cat out of the room!”
Madam Dowager was up in arms. She was already angry with Wei Yuejiao. Seeing that she was still making trouble now, she was like a bear with a sore head.
“Third Young Lady, please save us. Third Young Lady, please!” The two maids knelt behind Wei Yuejiao and pulled her skirts, crying in despair. They knew that they wouldn’t be able to survive after being flogged 100 times.
The two maids never thought that Madam Dowager would punish them for this.
Wei Yuejiao pondered for a moment as the maids pleaded. These two maids were not only her most trusted servants, but also Concubine Dong’s most trusted servants. They knew some secrets about Concubine Dong and her, and they probably would have a slip of the tongue if they were forced into a dead end. Wei Yuejiao became nervous and finally made up her mind. She gave the two maids a comforting look before turning to Madam Dowager and lamented, “Grandmother, i-it was me who accidentally knocked over the porcelain. Because of my injury, I was in so much pain that I couldn’t stand steadily, so I tripped myself as I got into the room and knocked them over the cabinet. I lied because I was afraid that you would punish me if I said the truth.”
She had no choice but to say these words, or Madam Dowager would definitely not spare the two maids.
“You’re in pain?” Although Madam Dowager did not insist on taking the two maids out of her room, she glared at Wei Yuejiao fiercely. It was obvious that she did not believe Wei Yuejiao’s words at all. She snapped coldly, “You did this to yourself. You burned down my small kitchen, and after you returned to your room, you smashed all the porcelain in your room. It seems that after so many years, Concubine Dong did not teach you well. You failed to handle even such a small matter!”
“I…” Wei Yuejiao blushed.
“Ask Concubine Dong to compensate for the broken porcelain. Some of that porcelain is not your father’s. They are your mother’s, and they had nothing to do with you! You can’t ruin your mother’s stuff just because of your unruly willfulness,” Madam Dowager grunted in frustration because she found Wei Yuejiao so displeasing.
Actually, some of the things were Qin Xinrui’s, but of course, they had become hers naturally.
Madam Dowager was only saying this in the spur of the moment and did not intend to get back the things for Wei Yuewu that were rightfully hers. As for Qin Xinrui, the so-called “mother”, Madam Dowager hadn’t mentioned her for many years.
“M-Mother?” Wei Yuejiao was dumbstruck for a moment. It was because she hadn’t addressed Qin Xinrui as “mother” for ages. In her memory, Concubine Dong was her mother, and she didn’t have any other mother that she knew of. “W-Who…”
“Huh! You only know about Concubine Dong, but you forget about your mother!” Madam Dowager was enraged again. The more she looked at Wei Yuejiao, the angrier she got. In fact, she was angry with Wei Yuejiao no matter what she said.
“Grandmother, I do not…” Wei Yuejiao came to her senses at this time and hurriedly tried to explain herself.
The curtain was suddenly lifted. The furious Wei Luowen stood at the door. The scar on his face was twitching. He was so angry that he trembled slightly, and his hand clenched the curtain tight.
Anyone could see that Wei Luowen was extremely furious, so much so that he almost couldn’t control himself! Behind him, Wei Yuewu stood with a pale face. She held Jin Ling’s shoulder, and she looked extremely shocked and bewildered.
“Luowen…” At this time, Madam Dowager shivered in befuddlement. Her lips trembled twice, and then she heard her own voice…