Chapter 724 - 726: The Outcome of Madam Liu
Everyone in the house had given gifts to Bai Ruozhu, even Guizhi rushed back from the Hot Spring Mansion early in the morning to present Bai Ruozhu with a beautiful waistband she had personally crocheted.
"What did your brother-in-law give you?" Guizhi nudged Ruozhu teasingly with her elbow and asked.
At her question, everyone looked over curiously. For some reason, people in the yard were still very scared of Jiang Yichun and didn’t dare to talk to him much. They always felt that he was out of the ordinary, so they also assumed that his gift must be extraordinary.
Seeing that everyone was looking at her, Bai Ruozhu reached to pull out the pocket watch around her neck when she suddenly thought of Little Dengdeng and paused on her action.
"You take Dengdeng for a walk around the yard, otherwise he’ll see this and start crying again," Bai Ruozhu said to Jiang Yichun.
Jiang Yichun could not help but laugh, "That’s because you, as a mother, are too stingy to let him play with it."
Bai Ruozhu gave him a glare. She treasured what he gave her and he still had complaints?
He took Dengdeng out, and Bai Ruozhu then pulled out the pocket watch from her neck to show everyone, announcing that it was a time-keeping device from the West.
Everyone in the room thought it was fascinating, but after opening it, they didn’t understand. Bai Ruozhu then patiently taught them how to read the time. The crowd didn’t realize the importance of a watch yet, but they understood that it was certainly valuable and praised Jiang Yichun.
At that moment, guests arrived. The voice of Xu Huilin came from the outside, "Junior Brother, I’ve come to give your wife her birthday gift. Surely you can treat me to a meal today?"
Hearing the voice, Bai Ruozhu rushed out to meet him. Xu Huilin was really frank; he had brought a large roll of cloth as a gift. Bai Ruozhu felt a cold sweat seeing so much fabric; she couldn’t possibly make it all into one garment, could she? It would be suitable for making uniform apparel for her servants, but this was a birthday gift she had been given, and she didn’t feel right dispersing it so casually.
Jiang Yichun gave him a kick, "Did you purposely come here to cause trouble?"
Xu Huilin gave a smirk, then whispered to Jiang Yichun: "Don’t forget that I’ve done you a huge favor."
Jiang Yichun was stunned and left speechless for a moment.
"Senior Brother, thank you," Bai Ruozhu called a guard to help carry the roll of fabric away.
Xu Huilin gave her a cheeky smile, then said: "Actually, there’s another matter I need to discuss..."
Before he could finish, Bai Ruozhu interrupted him: "Are you here to play peacemaker?"
Xu Huilin was taken aback and didn’t know how to respond.
Bai Ruozhu lazily said, "Whatever happens in your Wu Residence is your business; don’t involve me. You tried to take my child, poisoned my child, and fed me poison. Haven’t you scared me enough already?"
Jiang Yichun’s face also turned grave, "Master has truly crossed the line this time."
"Master was just worried about his niece, and being in a hurry, resorted to such measures. After all, she’s his only child. Could you please try to understand his perspective?" Xu Huilin softened his tone as he tried to reason with them.
"We also only have Dengdeng as a child. Who will understand our perspective? Now Wu Wanqing is still missing, and I’m yet to let off steam." Bai Ruozhu said sourly, "You guys chat, I’m going to get busy."
She took Dengdeng and headed straight back into the room, looking incensed.
Jiang Yichun stared at Xu Huilin, displeased, "Today is my wife’s birthday. Did you come here purposely to upset her? Are your muscles feeling too loose?"
Xu Huilin’s mouth twitched, "You’re quite protective of her, aren’t you? I’m not saying you should forgive her, only that Master has been sighing every day; he is too embarrassed to talk to you, so he asked me to convey a message to you. He admitted he was too eager and owes you and Ruozhu an apology."
"I owe Master a debt of gratitude for raising me; no matter how he treats me, I won’t resent him. However, he shouldn’t have conspired with the political history officer to treat Ruozhu that way. I can restrain myself from resenting him, but I cannot insist that Ruozhu let this matter go. You go tell Master that we both hope he will find her sooner, so my son can get a fair settlement from her." As Jiang Yichun spoke, his voice took on a stern tone.
"This time, she indeed overstepped the boundary. She’s lost herself completely," said Xu Huilin in a low voice. "Master is investigating the cause of Senior Brother’s death. It seems to be really related to her."
Jiang Yichun’s eyes darkened a bit. He could probably guess the cause of his eldest brother’s death by now. When he disappeared after the accident, Wu Wanqing had been searching for him everywhere, which must have sparked his eldest brother’s dissatisfaction and perhaps even exposed her deep secrets. Wu Wanqing must have plotted to murder her own husband for that reason.
Even though Wu Wanqing was treacherous, Jiang Yichun felt he was somewhat responsible for his elder brother’s death as well, leading him to feel a pang of guilt.
After Xu Huilin left, Jianqi came to report that the court case of the Qiao Family had reached a verdict.
"The investigation has found that Lu Wenlin drugged Qiao Qiyu, causing him to stagger into the gambling den. He claimed that Hao Zongze’s wife instructed him to do so, as her family managed some businesses under his name, and if he refused, his family wouldn’t be able to stay in Beiyu City anymore. Also, Hao Zongze’s wife instigated Li Meinang to set up Qiao Qiyu. Lu Wenlin’s wife is a general’s daughter, so he dared not bring Li Meinang home, so Hao Zongze’s wife promised to broker Li Mei as a concubine once the matter was settled."
Bai Ruozhu nodded, "So Hao Zongze is off the hook?"
"He was cunning enough to claim that the jade pendant and painting were gifts from his wife, and he had no knowledge of them. His only charge was his inability to manage his household, and at most, the impeachment officer in the capital will file a complaint against him." Jianqi scoffed. "His wife has taken all the blame and was beaten thirty times in court for plotting to seize someone else’s property and sent to labor on the frontier for a year."
"The year will be over in the blink of an eye, she got off quite lightly," Bai Ruozhu murmured.
"Madam, should we..." Jianqi elongated his voice, making a cutting gesture on his neck.
Bai Ruozhu shook her head, "No need, the upper echelons may already have their eyes on this matter. It’s not necessary to involve ourselves for her sake."
"Yes." Said Jianqi, "Judge Lu has ruled that the Hao family should compensate the Qiao family for all the losses. The Qiao family really doesn’t need to sell their shop anymore. Additionally, Lu Wenlin and Li Meinang have both been imprisoned, and Lu Wenlin has been stripped of his official rank."
This outcome was within her expectations.
To her surprise, in the evening, Qiao Qiyu and his father visited them. Upon seeing Bai Ruozhu, they immediately knelt down and performed a kotow. Bai Ruozhu was startled. Once she recovered, she hastily asked the servants to help them up, exclaiming, "Why are you offering me such extreme respect? It’s too much!"
"Miss Bai, we know that without your help, this lawsuit wouldn’t have been resolved so easily. If you hadn’t reminded us that day, we might never have known we’d been schemed against, and my son’s life would have been ruined." Qiao Qiyu’s father said gratefully.