Chapter 106 - 105: The Buzz of Alcohol (160+ Monthly Tickets)
Mrs. Chen was grinding her teeth in anger, and several old ladies were trembling and about to go in when Mrs. Zhen stopped them.
"Sister-in-law, first get to the bottom of what’s going on," Mrs. Zhen said word by word.
Mrs. Chen gasped at Mrs. Zhen’s icy gaze, feeling a pang in her molars.
Since she married into the Zhen Family and met Mrs. Zhen, who was still unmarried at the time, it’s been nearly twenty years. They had always gotten along well, but this was the first time she saw this side of Mrs. Zhen.
Mrs. Zhen was saying to get to the bottom of things, but what more was there to understand?
This was Du Yunluo’s room. Du Yunluo should have been resting inside, but now, the door was broken, the chair overturned, and it felt as though bandits had stormed in.
Zhen Wenqian just happened to be in there, and that was already more than a thousand times wrong, what else was there to ask?
Even though Zhen Wenqian was Mrs. Chen’s son and she wanted to protect him, at this point, Mrs. Chen didn’t know how to explain it to Mrs. Zhen.
She glanced at Zhen Wenqian, who was motionless inside, feeling blood rushing up her chest, desperate to rush over and drag her son up and ask what was going through his mind!
Mrs. Wang stood by, feeling heartbroken.
What a mess!
They came out to pray for blessings and fetch spring water for the old lady, and now this has happened. It’s enough to anger the old lady to death.
It was not appropriate to just stand frozen at the door, so Mrs. Wang held Mrs. Zhen’s hand and advised, "Sixth Sister, look at Yunluo’s face, it’s tear-streaked and smeared. Let’s go in and sit, let Yunluo wipe her face so it doesn’t get red and sore from the wind. As for Qian, let’s wake him up first."
After all, Mrs. Zhen was concerned about Du Yunluo, so upon hearing this, she asked Jin Rui to fetch water, while she supported Du Yunluo inside.
The old ladies came to their senses, hastily propped up the chair, took out handkerchiefs to wipe it clean, and invited the ladies to sit down.
Jin Rui brought in a basin of water, and Mrs. Zhen personally wiped Du Yunluo’s face, applied fragrant ointment, and combed her hair.
Mrs. Chen, seeing her with a cold face busying herself, then called the few remaining old ladies over: "You, tell me yourselves, whoever can make sense of this should speak."
They knelt down with a thud, glancing at each other, but no one dared to recount Zhen Wenqian’s actions.
Mrs. Chen’s face went ashen: "Have you all gone mute? You can’t serve people, can’t talk, are you being kept as decoration?"
Jin Rui glared at those old ladies.
If this were at the Du Family, she would surely explain everything clearly.
But now Mrs. Chen was scolding the Zhen Family’s old ladies, and if she spoke rashly out of indignation, it would put Mrs. Zhen in a difficult position.
The old ladies jostled each other for a while, and finally, Mrs. Mao with a round face braced herself and said, "The young master drank too much, and that’s why..."
"Wine? This is Qinglian Temple! Where did the wine come from!" Mrs. Chen raised her voice and questioned.
"I don’t know." Mrs. Mao kept shrinking back her neck, but unfortunately, she had nowhere to hide, so she could only lower her head deeply and avoid looking at Mrs. Chen’s expression, "We were standing outside, and the young master suddenly came in reeking of alcohol. He insisted on going into Cousin Yunluo’s room, and when we tried to stop him, he was too drunk to listen."
"Miss Jin Rui heard the commotion, opened the door and saw the young master acting drunkenly, so she quickly shut the door again and blocked it with a chair."
"The young master is strong, we couldn’t stop him, and he kicked open the door. There was only Miss Jin Rui inside, and the young master tried to question her, but he fell asleep on the floor as the alcohol hit him."
"We were about to move the young master back, but Miss Jin Rui said it would be hard to explain if we did, so..."
"Later, Cousin Yunluo came back, just said two sentences, and then you..."
Mrs. Chen’s face turned various shades of green and white as she listened.
Drinking in a Buddhist temple, drunkenly rushing into Du Yunluo’s room, not finding her but just sleeping it off in her room—what, what could she say about this!
Zhen Wenting was also wide-eyed, not knowing that her usually mild-mannered elder brother, when drunk, would have the audacity to do such shocking things.
"Nannan, you weren’t in the room? Where did you go?" Mrs. Zhen’s concern was all for her daughter.
Du Yunluo leaned on Mrs. Zhen and whispered, "I heard noise outside, so I told Jin Rui to block the door. I was afraid he’d drunkenly charge in, and I wouldn’t be able to fend him off, so I climbed out through the back window. Jin Rui was supposed to climb out with me, but she didn’t have time before the door was knocked open. Jin Rui stayed inside to stop him, and I hid in the bamboo grove not far behind the house. Mother, I was just startled, no other issues."
Even though Mrs. Zhen was extremely angry, what she cared most about was whether Du Yunluo had been accosted by Zhen Wenqian. Hearing her daughter say this and seeing Jin Rui nodding continuously, she believed it at once and chanted a Buddhist mantra: "Thank goodness you’re alright, thank goodness you’re alright."
Mrs. Chen, feeling as though she was sitting on pins and needles upon hearing that Du Yunluo had to climb out of the window, found her vision turning white. Her sixth sister-in-law’s treasured daughter had been driven to such lengths, she thought she might as well end it all in front of the old master and old lady when she got back!
Mrs. Wang, who had initially thought of playing the peacemaker and letting Mrs. Zhen’s anger subside, sighed and pressed her temples after hearing all of it, thinking there was nothing she could do here; let what must happen after they got back, happen.
The room fell into silence.
From the corner came a muffled groan, and Zhen Wenqian held his head, swaying as he tried to stand up.
He was not good with alcohol, and it hadn’t worn off. His head felt like it was being split open, and he squinted at the blurry figures in the room, seeing two Mrs. Chens, two Mrs. Wangs, two...
Two Du Yunluos!
He started, disregarding everything else, and staggered, holding onto the wall to stand up: "Where did you go? I’ve been looking for you."
His slurred words were like a knife stabbing into Mrs. Chen’s heart, and she could no longer hold back. She grabbed the porcelain bowl from the table and hurled it at Zhen Wenqian’s head.
There was a crisp crash.
The porcelain bowl smashed against the wall, fragments flying, grazing Zhen Wenqian’s face and leaving a bloody mark.
Zhen Wenqian sobered up immediately.
Mrs. Chen’s eyes were bloodshot, gasping: "You’ve really grown up! If I don’t deal with you, just wait for your father to handle you when we get back!"
Mrs. Chen went out to arrange the carriage and horses, sending someone to inform Mrs. Zhen and Mrs. Wang, and then collapsed inside the carriage, motionless for a long time.
Zhen Wenting, hands trembling, helped Mrs. Chen rub her chest.
"Sister Ting, tell your mother, what is with your brother? Who gave him the alcohol? Who gave him the audacity? Is he trying to kill me?" Mrs. Chen’s eyes bulged, gasping for air.
Zhen Wenting’s eyes filled with tears, words stuck in her throat, but finally, she couldn’t hold back and said, "If we knew it would come to this, we might as well have agreed back then to marry Du Yunluo into our family, and none of this would have happened!"
"You’re blaming me!" Mrs. Chen shrieked, "Even now, you’re blaming me?"
Zhen Wenting wanted to explain, but seeing how furious Mrs. Chen was, she ended up staying silent, pouring water and patting her chest.