"Zhen Mei, let's go apologize to Mother first, it was my fault for bringing you out."

  I don't want to make a scene here, said Hua Ruochu.

  When he heard his sister-in-law say that, Qi Zhen nodded without a second word. The obedient yet lively appearance made Liu's mother feel surprised again.

  The girl in front of Mrs. Big isn't so... lively.

  The Second Ancestral Hall, the main house of the eldest son of the Qi family.

  Qī Wǔ's family has been sitting there for a long time without moving.

  No longer furious, calm and even more terrifying.

  Hearing footsteps, Qi Wu's eyebrows and eyes did not lift.

  Qī Zhēn knew that her mother was furious, the strict discipline of so many years had left a shadow in her heart, causing her to subconsciously shrink her neck, slow down her footsteps, and hide behind her sister-in-law.

  Hua Ru turned her head and glanced at her with a faint gaze, yet with a clear and visible disappointment.

  Qī Zhēn's heart tightened, although frightened to the point of pale face, still biting her lip and firmly moved her feet to stand beside her sister-in-law.

  She's not afraid, she's not afraid.

  This is her mother, don't be afraid.

  The daughter-in-law has met her mother-in-law.

  The daughter has seen her mother.

  Qī Wǔ's family lifted their heads and looked at Qī Zhēn, before they used to call her Niáng.

  "Kneel down."

  The two of them knelt down without hesitation.

  His gaze moved and fell on Hua Ruochu's body.

  The ten-li red makeup at the door was enough for her to save face, even if she despised her humble origins, but didn't dislike her.

  She didn't visit her parents-in-law often because she was a new bride and missed home, so she endured it.

  She dotes on him and understands that she is newly married. She doesn't say much, as long as he can have a grandson for her soon.

  She often goes out, her mother-in-law says it's to help with childcare, and she doesn't make things difficult for her.

  But now, she has been away from the mansion for more than ten days, and she has taken her young sister out of the mansion five times.

  Could she have imagined how much trouble a careless move would bring to Zhen'er?

  Zhen'er is still young and unmarried, if bad rumors spread, what will happen to her for the rest of her life?

  The Qi manor cannot afford another daughter with a tarnished reputation.

  "As soon as you married into our Qi family, you should have followed the rules of our household. If you're not content with your life here and want to run away, why don't you just ask for a divorce?"

  "It's the daughter-in-law's fault for taking Zhenmei out, mother should punish her."

  Qī Zhēn knelt down in front of Qī Wǔ's wife and hastily explained, "It wasn't her fault, Mother, it was mine. I had to follow her. If you want to punish someone, punish me."

  Hua Ru was secretly calling for trouble. If he had let the Qi Wu clan vent their anger, this matter would have been settled, and at most, they would have received some punishment.

  Qī Zhēn coming out to speak for her like this won't help her at all, on the contrary, it will only make Qī Wǔ Shì hate her even more.

  Qī Wǔ's family fiercely glared at his daughter, angrily saying: "You're still speaking up for her? Do you know how important a young lady's reputation is? If something happens, what would you do?"

  "I know reputation is important, Mother. I really do. Every time we go out, Sister always brings a few extra guards with her. We're just going to the tea garden, and she never lets me get down from the carriage. She's always been very strict with me, Mother. Don't blame Sister, it's my fault. If I hadn't insisted on following her, she wouldn't have taken me along either. It's me who made things difficult for Sister, Mother. Punish me if you must, but I won't go out again, ever."

  Hua Ru closed her eyes, although she knew that Qi Zhen saying this would only make things worse.

  Watching her defend herself like this, he felt relieved in his heart.

  After paying out, I got a return, this feeling is great.

  Qī Wǔ's face turned upside down, and with a flick of her hand, she gave Qī Zhēn a loud slap on the ear. "You're still speaking up for her? What benefits has she given you that makes you so biased towards her? I'm your mother, I worry about you, I think of you, but you don't even consider my feelings. And yet you're helping her?"

  The intense emotional ups and downs made Qi Wu's head spin, covering her chest and looking at Hua Ruochu with a gaze full of resentment. "Good, really good, great skills, great abilities, Hua Ruochu, I underestimated you, deceiving my son and making my daughter lean towards you, impressive, you're impressive."

  Hua's expression became increasingly shriveled, her body began to tremble, her eyes turned red, and her eyelashes quivered, as if she was about to faint at any moment.

  Only by letting Qi Wu vent his anger can this matter be settled.

  She was once a proud and stubborn person like Qi Zhen, but now she is just a mother who endures hardships for the sake of her child.

  "Mother, I didn't, I took Zhenmei out with grandmother's consent, otherwise I wouldn't have dared to do so even if you lent me the courage. Mother, don't be angry, I promise not to take her out again."

  "Don't always bring that old lady to bully me, I can tolerate it if she just goes out once, but you take her out five times, which young lady from a respectable family is so reckless? Do you think all the young ladies from noble families are like those shameless people in the martial arts world who chase after men?"

  The room was so quiet that a pin dropping could be heard. Yun Shu's eyes were red, and she asked, "Why are you bullying Miss like this?"

  What's so great about being a young lady from a noble family? Not even one of Miss's fingers can compare.

  "Actually, Mother had such a big opinion about the Emperor's arranged marriage. If so, why didn't she oppose it from the beginning?"

  The sound is cold and faint, from far to near.

  Kai Yutaka's tall figure appeared in everyone's line of sight.

  "The son greets his mother."

  The surge of energy that had been building up in Hua's heart instantly subsided.

  Being polite but distant in attitude, for a mother, this should be no less than the blow of her daughter speaking on behalf of someone else.

  As soon as he said that, Qi Wu knew he had acted impulsively.

  Even if she thought so in her heart, she shouldn't have said it out loud.

  How could he be so dead set on it and even let Yu'er go listen?

  It wasn't until Jing Yu reminded her that she realized her previous words were already disrespectful to the emperor. If outsiders heard...

  The hand clutching the handkerchief tightened, and at this moment, Qi Wu finally calmed down.

  She looked up at her tall son, who was always polite in front of her but never close.

  With a bitter feeling in his heart, Qi Wu forced a smile and said, "Why did you return so early today?"

  "The son has been coming back at this time every day." Out of the corner of his eye, he saw that Chu was still kneeling upright, occasionally shaking slightly, probably, he had been kneeling for quite some time.

  A surge of anger rises in his heart, but he cannot express it.

  The mother-in-law instructs her daughter-in-law with reason and justice; if he interferes, it becomes disobedience.

  His daughter might not be able to take it, but it's entirely possible that she would still treat him the same as before. If that were really the case, then things would be tough for him from now on.

  No matter if it's him or someone else, this tone is gone for good.

  Thinking of this, I feel even more suffocated.

  "I don't know what I did wrong at first, making Mother so furious."

  “She…”

  At this time, another person came in from outside and looked at the scene inside, frowning, "What's going on?"

  Qī Wǔ shì hastily got up, "It's just a small matter in the inner courtyard, Master has returned early today."

  Qī Zhōngrán glanced at her and didn't say a word, then walked straight over to sit down in the main seat.

  Qī Yòu's eyes remained downcast as he bowed, "Father."

  "En." To this son, Qi Zhongyan attached great importance to him. He knew he didn't like to get close to himself, so he kept a distance, but his attention never diminished.

  "You're no longer needed in the house, all of you can go down now."

  Liu's mother stole a glance at Madame and retreated in response.

  Only four people were left in the house. Qi Zhongran finally turned to his wife and asked, "What's going on? You hit Zhen'er's face?"

  "Old master, I'm really fed up. Zhen'er will be coming of age next year and it's time for her to learn the rules in the mansion, but she's only been out for a few days and my wife has already taken her out five times. What if something happens?"

  The Shi family values their reputation, and upon hearing this, Qi Zhong's expression turned stern. "Yu'er's wife, what are you talking about?"

  Hua Ru was getting a bit unbearable, if she hadn't gone through hardships since primary school, she would have given up long ago.

  When Gong Gong asked, she didn't have any intention of defending herself at all. She directly took on the responsibility and said, "It's my fault for taking Zhen Mei out. Zhen Mei is young and doesn't understand things, please don't blame her, Father and Mother."

  "No, it's not like that..."

  "Shut up." Qi Wu glared at Qi Zhen, "Kneel properly and don't speak unless spoken to."

  "Mother..." Qi Zhen was about to say something else, but Hua Ruochu slightly raised her head and looked at her for a moment, the intention to stop her was very clear.

  Qī Zhēn bit her lip, and big tears fell straight down.

  She's so mischievous and gets her sister-in-law into trouble, she's a bad thing.

  "If she made a mistake at first, punish her for it. But Mother shouldn't have brought up the Emperor's arranged marriage, that's extremely disrespectful."

  Qizhong Ran looked at his son and then turned to his wife, "What did you say?"

  "I, I am..." Qi Wu's heart was anxious, that sentence absolutely could not be repeated again, otherwise it wouldn't just be a matter of the old master being unable to get past this hurdle, if it were to spread and let the elderly gentleman and lady know, she would be the one to suffer.

  Looking at her expression, Qi Zhongran still didn't know what good words he would say, and coincidentally, his son heard it.

  Heaving a sigh, Qi Zhongyan said: "It's all in the past, so let's not mention it again, lest we invite trouble. Yu'er's wife, as the elder, should think carefully before doing anything. Zhen is still an unmarried young girl, and it's normal for her to yearn for the outside world. You should advise her well to learn domestic rules at home and prepare herself for marriage, rather than indulging her by taking her out. This isn't good for her, it's harmful."

  Hua Ru's face was initially calm, but she couldn't help but sneer inwardly. Just as she was about to respond and cover up this mistake, her legs began to tremble slightly.

  Qī Yòu was unwilling.

  Taking Qi Zhen out was his tacit consent.

  It was agreed by grandma.

  Apart from spoiling Qi Zhen, apart from being good to her, what did I do wrong in the first place?

  The eyes of Qi Zhen's sincere prayer looked up at his parents.

  "Take out your warrant card again."

  Hua Ru Chu remained silent and didn't even lift her head to look at anyone. She took out a bright yellow silk handkerchief from her bosom and held it high with both hands.

  Qī Yòu Ná held it in his hand, from start to finish, his eyes were always light and calm. "The prince's order, instructs Qī Huá Shì to present tea, the Qī manor should open a convenient door, Father, Mother, as before, is doing things for the prince."

  Qī Zhōng Rán and Qī Wǔ Shì exchanged a glance, with surprise and delight.

  The Qi family is a faction of the iron plate nail, of course, the more the prince values them, the better. However, the prince is a person with very high demands, and ordinary people can't meet his expectations.

  The entire Qi family, except for You'er being trusted by the Crown Prince as his right-hand man, only had Old Master Qi having a bit of face in front of the Crown Prince.

  But now, a woman in the inner courtyard actually has the prince's token, and she even ignores those rules, allowing the Qi family to open a convenient door. Among women, apart from Concubine Tao, this is also a unique privilege for the daughter-in-law.

  "But...it's also not right to take Zhen'er out."

  "Qī Zhēn wants to get married, what's wrong with learning more? Moreover, are you willing to keep Qī Zhēn confined in the inner courtyard? At first, you wanted her to see the outside world before getting married, what did she do wrong?"

  PS: The busy days have finally passed, updates should be on time from now on, 8am, 4pm or 5pm.

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