Tianliangyuan

Chapter 266 Rumors

Several illegitimate daughters of General Li's household got into a fight over the marriage of an illegitimate son from the Qu family.

Actually, it was Li Mingshu who started it first.

Xu Zhaozhao arranged for Dingxiang to investigate. It was quite easy for Dingxiang to find out anything she wanted from the inner quarters of the General's Mansion.

“Miss, this marriage was originally intended for Li Minghua by Madam Li, but unexpectedly Li Mingshu wanted to interfere. After Li Minghua and her aunt found out about this, they naturally disagreed, which is why this dispute arose.”

"Fortunately, the matter did not escalate, otherwise the entire General's Mansion would have been disgraced."

Dingxiang carefully observed her mistress's expression before whispering, "When I was inquiring outside today, I overheard people talking about the General's Mansion, and it seemed to be related to the inner quarters."

Xu Zhaozhao frowned: "Has the news already leaked?"

"It should be, and I'm worried that someone is secretly stirring things up."

Within just a few days, rumors began to circulate.

It is said that several daughters of the Li family were vying to marry the illegitimate son of the Qu family.

I don't know who is so malicious as to deliberately throw this dirty water on Li Mingya.

Because of this matter, Madam Li has been heartbroken these past few days.

Who would have thought that because of a few illegitimate daughters, the marriage of the legitimate daughter would also be dragged into this?

There were also some scoundrels spreading rumors about Li Mingya, saying that the third young master of the Xu family was just picking up discarded shoes and treating them as treasures.

As the situation escalated, Xu Zhaozhao had no choice but to call Xu Junting back.

"Third Brother, someone from the General's Mansion came early this morning with a message saying that Sister Mingya fainted several times after hearing the rumors, and even considered committing suicide. What do you plan to do about this?"

"Since this happened inside the Li family residence, how could it have gotten out?"

Xu Zhaozhao nodded. She also believed that this was due to the Li family's lax management of their household, especially the inner quarters, which were practically leaky.

Madam Li is too lenient; she allows her concubines and illegitimate daughters to cause trouble in the inner quarters.

Xu Zhaozhao sighed: "What are your plans, Third Brother?"

"The root of this matter lies with the Li family, and it should be handled by them. However, I will send someone to the Li family first to express my intentions and to avoid causing Mingya any unnecessary worry."

"not enough!"

The rumors circulating outside are rampant right now, and if they can't be stopped, they might even damage the reputation of the Marquis's mansion.

The best solution, of course, is to find out who the real culprit is.

But is it so easy to find the real culprit behind this?

"Third Brother, I have a plan. I wonder if you would like to hear it?"

"Tell me quickly, I'm so anxious my hair is turning white, stop keeping me in suspense."

General's Mansion.

Looking at her haggard daughter, Madam Li felt both guilty and sad.

But what's done is done, and there's no point in wallowing in despair.

"Mingya, this matter was indeed due to my oversight. Please rest assured, I will definitely find that villain and beat him to death with sticks!"

Li Mingya, on the other hand, looked lifeless, leaning there sickly, as if she were half-dead.

Madam Li was anxious. Her daughter had been like this for three days. What could she do if there was no other way?

Madam Li was of a gentle nature, and it was precisely because of this that she gave Li Mingshu and the others a chance.

This time, her daughter was involved, and Madam Li's good temper disappeared.

"Guards, take those bastards to the ancestral hall and make them kneel down. They are not to get up without my permission, and they are not to eat anything."

"Yes, ma'am."

This incident has caused such a huge uproar that even if the general knew that the lady had severely punished those concubines and illegitimate daughters, he wouldn't say a word.

Just then, Xu Junting's men arrived at the door.

"This is a letter from my young master to his future young mistress. He also asked me to pass on a message."

Hearing the words "future young mistress," Madam Li finally felt a little more at ease.

"Tell me quickly."

"My young master said he would handle this matter himself. I ask Miss Mingya to rest at home and recuperate. Also, I ask Madam to take good care of the inner quarters. Perhaps there will be some benefits."

Madam Li was slightly taken aback. If even a man could see it, how could she not have thought of it?

However, the previous investigation yielded nothing.

Could it be that I'm being too compassionate?

Madam Li glanced at her daughter, who was clearly showing signs of life, and immediately hardened her heart.

"Guards, summon all the servants to the front yard and have them kneel down. I want to interrogate them myself!"

This time, she was willing to have several men beaten to death, even if it meant bearing the reputation of a wicked woman, just to get justice for her daughter.

In a restaurant in Pingkangfang, a few hooligans were huddled together bragging. They had barely exchanged a few words when someone kicked one of them away.

"who!"

"Why do you hit people?"

The men didn't care about that; after a beating, they sent him directly to the government office.

Xu Junting filed a complaint directly with the Jingzhao Prefecture, because not only people in Chang'an County, but also people in Wannian County were talking about it. Since that was the case, he might as well file a complaint with Zhao Changqing.

Most importantly, Zhao Changqing is quite skilled at handling cases and is fair-minded, so he will surely find a way to investigate this matter thoroughly.

The Xu family mobilized nearly a hundred servants, and in less than a day, they had arrested dozens of people and sent them to the government office.

Xu Zhaozhao's suggestion to Xu Junting was actually quite stupid, but it was very effective.

The idea is to find someone who is gossiping, and then make them confess where they heard it from. By doing this, you can naturally find the source.

Besides, the Xu family has plenty of people!

They attacked from multiple angles, but ultimately their attacks all pointed to two people.

One was a servant in the general's mansion, and the other was a waiter in a restaurant.

The two men were brought to the court, and the case was now largely solved.

The waiter was just an ordinary waiter, nothing special, but the restaurant he worked for belonged to the Duke of Su's mansion. However, after Liu Huai'en was stripped of his title as heir apparent, the restaurant fell into Liu Huai'en's hands.

So, it was the Liu family who made the move in secret?

Xu Zhaozhao didn't think things were that simple, but that was all the clues she could find.

Moreover, the servants at the general's mansion only identified one nanny, but when they found her, she had already committed suicide.

Therefore, whether there are other traitors within the general's mansion remains unknown.

However, after this commotion, there was much less gossip about the Li family's daughters.

Most importantly, these people all admitted that they were instructed by someone to spread rumors, and this alone was enough for Xu Junting to achieve his goal.

He only wanted to protect Li Mingya's reputation; he didn't really have any hope of finding the mastermind behind it all.

So he's quite satisfied with the result he found.

After learning about this, Xu Zhaozhao immediately pinned the blame on the Jiang family.

Her revenge is about to begin.