Qin Wanru said lightly with a calm face, as if she was talking about her life and death. But the meaning in her words terrified all the Young Madams present.
If this happened to any girl among them, the girl would really be ruined today. With an ambiguous relationship with someone ill-behaved like Wang Shengxue, except for being his concubine, suicide was her only choice. At the thought of this, each of them became terrified and indignant instantly!
“Remove his official rank!”
“Yes, remove his official rank! He’s unqualified to be an official!”
“Someone as shameless as him is unqualified to attend the imperial exam. Remove his official rank!”
“His official rank must be removed!” …
Considering Qin Wanru in their own place, all Young Madams were extremely resentful. Wang Shengxue in front of them disgusted them. A girl’s reputation was so important and fragile. They usually maintained their fragile reputation and dared not make any mistake. But men were different. They seemed to be inherently superior to women.
A bad reputation was just an unimportant defect for a man.
This kind of thing often ended up with nothing definite because of the lady. But at the thought of it, all Young Madams were horrified and couldn’t stand by.
In order to save the face of Madam of Duke Xing, they could drop the idea of sending Wang Shengxue to the government office. But removing his official rank would not influence the reputation of Duke Xing’s Mansion!
Wang Shengxue’s face really turned as pale as the snow, and his eyes became dull. He did have an official rank. The Wang family had already declined, and he wanted to make his family flourish by virtue of his official rank.
Even though he could not get a higher official rank, with the recommendation of Duke Xing’s Mansion, he still had a very promising future instead of being a childe from a declined family. But if his official rank was really removed, he would have no promising future.
“Aunt, I have a sister to take care of. Aunt, I don’t dare to do that anymore!” Wang Shengxue begged Madam of Duke Xing.
He was so flustered. If he was sent to the government office, he would probably make a confession in detail within a few words. Although Duke Xing’s Mansion was not afraid of that, it would get into trouble if it got involved in what happened before.
After making the decision, Madam of Duke Xing said with a stern face, “Come and take him away!”
“Yes, Madam!” Two supervisor maids came over to drag Wang Shengxue off. The inferior maids were strong, while Wang Shengxue was just a weak scholar. He struggled several times, but was finally subdued and dragged off.
Madam of Duke Xing raised her eyes to look at Qin Wanru with a bitter smile and said, “Second Miss Qin, rest assured. This time Duke Xing’s Mansion will definitely deal with him properly.”
“Thank you, Madam. Will his official rank be removed?” Qin Wanru bowed sideways and said.
“Yes! Second Miss Qin, rest assured. I promise that something like this will never happen again!” Madam of Duke Xing nodded, and then sighed. “When he was young, he was a good kid. I did not expect that he has grown into such a person now. Anyway it’s my fault!”
After finishing speaking, she turned her head sadly and seemingly wanted to wipe a tear from the corner of her eyes.
Immediately many Madams became increasingly sympathetic to Madam of Duke Xing and successively comforted her. Every family had a few ill-behaved relatives. Wang Shengxue and his sister were this kind of relatives. Madam of Duke Xing should not be blamed for their misdeeds.
“Second sister, I really thought you… Now it’s great!” Qin Yuru raised her pale face and reached out excitedly in an attempt to hold Qin Wanru’s hand, seemingly feeling glad for Qin Wanru’s escaping from the incident.
Qin Wanru stepped back to avoid Qin Yuru’s hand calmly. “Big Sister, you thought I really did that?”
Qin Yuru looked at Qin Wanru tearfully with fear on her face and shook her head vigorously. “I didn’t think so, but thought there must be some plots behind it. You are so smart that you find out the truth so quickly!”
“If I’m not so smart, I’m afraid I’ve lost my life!” Qin Wanru said with a faint glance. Seemingly not want to say anything else to Qin Yuru, she turned and left.
Now that the matter had been settled, she didn’t need to stay.
Qin Yuru seemingly sensed Qin Wanru’s indifference, hurriedly stepped forward in an attempt to drag Qin Wanru’s sleeve, but failed. With Qin Wanru’s sleeve slipping through her hand, she staggered, failed to stand firm and fell heavily on the ground.
Mei Xue, who was behind her, screamed and reached out to help her, but failed. Both of them fell down together.
It happened accidentally. Everyone looked at Qin Wanru in astonishment and then looked at Qin Yuru who had fallen to the ground, wondering what was going on now.
“Ah, the wrist…” Someone suddenly screamed.
The gaze of everyone fell on Qin Yuru’s arm that was exposed as her sleeve was uncovered. There were bruises all over her arm with faint blood stains. Obviously she had been beaten and scratched.
With their faces changing drastically, they immediately looked towards Qin Wanru. Could it be possible that Qin Yuru was injured during the fight with Qin Wanru?
Qin Yuru pulled off her sleeve and began to shiver all over.
“Miss, Miss, are you okay? Does it hurt? Let’s go back and apply some medicine!” Mei Xue said anxiously, sat up in tears and reached out in an attempt to hold Qin Yuru’s hand. However, seeing a scar exposed under her cuff, Mei Xue didn’t dare to hold her vigorously, only crying anxiously.
“What happened? Who beat her?” Madam of Duke Xing said with her face darkening.
Qin Yuru stood up with the help of Mei Xue and said with a pale face, “Madam, I’m fine. I just fell down carelessly!”
She was obviously making an excuse. The injuries caused by accidentally falling and being scratched and beaten were completely different.
“Miss!” Mei Xue said sadly.
Qin Wanru stood still and thoughtfully looked at Qin Yuru’s wound. A strange idea suddenly came into her mind!
“Tell me what happened to your master. Did she get hurt because your servants didn’t take good care of her?” Madam of Duke Xing asked Mei Xue in a sharp voice.
Mei Xue trembled in fear and shook her head hurriedly. “No, it’s Madam… Madam…”
She stuttered so unclearly that others failed to figure out who the Madam she mentioned was!
“Mei Xue, shut up!” Qin Yuru hurriedly retorted.
“Okay, I’ll shut up.” Mei Xue lowered her head and sobbed in a low voice. “What should I do to the injury on your hand? Madam… Why Madam…”
Although she didn’t finish her words, many people understood the meaning in her words. Madam of Duke Xing frowned and asked, “Is the First Miss’s injury caused by Madam Di?”
“No, no!” Qin Yuru anxiously said in a slightly loud voice, which made others think she was bluffing.
“First Miss, why did Madam Di beat you?” Madam of Duke Xing ignored her excuse and asked in puzzlement.
“I, I don’t know…” The words almost destroyed Qin Yuru’s psychological defense. She burst into tears with her voice choked with sobs.
Her injury was really caused by Madam Di. Everyone present was shocked. Why did Madam Di beat her daughter so severely? No wonder when the First Miss Qin showed up in front of everyone, she looked pale with a forced smile. She was obviously hiding the truth for her biological mother. She could be considered a filial daughter.
Many Madams involuntarily praised her in private.
Qin Wanru stood quietly, watching Qin Yuru and Mei Xue putting on such a show, with increasing deepness in her eyes. Madam Di was so cruel that she was willing to bear any bad reputation for Qin Yuru. She was even willing to expose her misdeed of treating her daughter harshly and bear the bad reputation.
She was so vicious. It was thus evident that she had reached the end of the rope!
“Someone goes to ask a doctor here to treat the First Miss Qin!” Madam of Duke Xing ordered the servants around her.
Immediately a smart maid ran out.
“First Miss Qin, you can go to the guest room to have a rest, and the doctor will treat you a moment later!”
“Thank you, Madam!” Qin Yuru wiped her tears, and expressed her thanks carefully.
“Big Sister, I will go there with you!” Qin Wanru stood out and said.
“Uh… thank you, second sister!” Qin Yuru looked increasingly pitiful and thanked Qin Wanru with red eyes.
“You are welcome!” Qin Wanru said.
Seeing the matter had been settled, the onlookers dispersed, and secretly discussed the Qin sisters with animated gestures. What happened today had something to do with them. No one knew because of their bad luck or other reasons, terrible things happened to both of them.
Speaking of the Qin sisters, they talked about the rumor spread in the capital before. Someone said that Qin Wanru had been raised by Madam Di, but later it was found out that she was not Madam Di’s biological daughter. Over the past few years, Qin Wanru had been claimed to be Madam Di’s biological daughter.
It was reminiscent of the exposed injury of Qin Yuru. Someone suddenly had a strange thought that this First Miss Qin might not be Madam Di’s biological daughter either. How could a mother beat her biological daughter so severely?
On hearing the words, many people immediately agreed on it and considered it the only answer. Otherwise, Qin Yuru would not have so many injuries on her arm. They could tell from her injuries that she must have been severely beaten.
As a Miss, she looked listless with a pale face, but still struggled to show up. She was so pitiful.
Some rumors were spread like this. As they talked about it, it seemed to be increasingly reasonable. Everyone speculated and mentioned the previous rumor of Qin Wanru’s family background. At the end, most of the Madams thought that Qin Yuru was probably not Madam Di’s biological daughter but was raised by Madam Di like Qin Wanru.
These discussions were silently spread among the guests, and more and more people heard such a rumor.
After the crowd dispersed, Qin Wanru looked at Qin Yuru coldly with her gloomy eyes.
“Second sister…” Qin Yuru looked delicate and wanted to talk, but was slapped vigorously by Qin Wanru. She took two steps backwards, almost fell, and instantly failed to maintain the tenderness on her face…