Xue Yuxuan looked at the woman in front of him. In the past, she used to call him "Father" or at least "Father-in-law". But later, when she came back, she always coldly addressed him as "Uncle Xue", as if he were a stranger to her.
Now, she didn't even call him "Uncle Xue", just a plain "Lord Xue"?
There was a tinge of hatred in his heart. This girl was an ungrateful wretch. The Xue family had raised her for fifteen years, and she had been his daughter for fifteen years. But she only recognized the powerful and influential relatives from the eldest branch. Wasn't she an ungrateful wretch?
He stared at Shen Yuning viciously. "You want to sue me?"
Shen Yuning smiled. "Lord Xue, you're wrong. You didn't slander me, nor did you abuse me. Why would I sue you?"
Xue Yuxuan's forehead throbbed. Slander? Abuse?
He looked at the woman cowering behind Xue Yuxi. Concubine Bai was timid and didn't even dare to breathe loudly in front of others. How could she possibly sue him?
Just then, the butler rushed in, shouting nervously, "Master, Mistress, something terrible has happened!"
Xue Yuxuan was already in a fit of rage. Hearing this, he punched the butler several times. "If you say another word like that, I'll cut out your tongue!"
The butler was beaten for no reason and dared not say a word, looking dazed.
It was Lady Shao who calmly said, "What's going on? The steward from Uncle's mansion is in such a hurry. Uncle, why don't you ask?"
The steward stammered for a while and finally said, "Second... Second Miss... has brought the officials from the Ministry of Justice... saying that she wants to sue you and the mistress for using private punishment and mistreating the servants."
Xue Yuxuan jumped up and roared, "This unfilial girl! She's getting too bold! I'll beat her to death today!"
The old lady coughed. "In front of me, you can even say such things about beating Han'er to death. It shows how harsh you've been to them on a daily basis."
Xue Yuxuan was furious and shouted, "Mother, didn't you hear? That unfilial girl is actually going to sue me."
The old lady glanced at him. "If you've done nothing wrong, why are you afraid of being sued? A daughter suing her father doesn't bring any good reputation. Han'er is doing this. Isn't it because you've been forcing her aunt, driving her to desperation?"
Xue Yujiao argued, "Grandmother is so partial. Just now you said that Han'er's mother should be my mother. If so, why does she always think about Concubine Bai? She should respect my mother. Such a heartless girl. It's only right for Father to beat her to death."
The old lady sneered. "The good daughter you've raised. She always threatens to bully others and beat people to death. Xiao Qian, when Han'er was born, I clearly said that as the legal mother, you should raise her yourself. But what did you do?"
Lady Xiao's face turned red and then white, white and then red. "At that time, my health was not good..."
The old lady continued, "Yes, your health was not good. You only cared about your own pleasure. Fine. Let me just say, the wife of the Chen family has many children. You're familiar with her. She doesn't raise all her concubines' children by herself. But how do her concubines' sons and daughters treat her? Is it because the children are inherently different?"
Lady Xiao lowered her head, but she was extremely indignant in her heart. The concubines' children of the Chen family were as arrogant as anything. Lady Chen didn't even discipline them. If it were her, she would surely suppress them well. How could she allow the concubines' children to surpass the legitimate ones?
The old lady naturally saw what she was thinking and sighed helplessly. "If parents are not kind, how can they expect their children to be filial? Forget it. I've said such things many times, but you just don't listen. I just regret that I was too lenient with you in the past."
She sat at the head of the hall, quietly sipping tea and ignoring other things.
Xue Yuxuan only then realized why his mother had come today. Clearly, she had known that Yuhan would sue him. No, it wasn't that she had known in advance.
He looked at them and fixed his eyes on Shen Yuning. This girl had always been smart and clever since childhood. Regarding today's matter, Yuhan couldn't have thought of it. Clearly, it was this girl who had given her the idea.
"Shen Yuning, you're unfilial! You're unfilial!"
Shen Yuning didn't even lift her head and just smiled faintly. "My father always praised me for being smart, sensible and filial. Mother, isn't that so?"
Lady Shao nodded with a smile and stroked her hand. "Yuning is naturally the most filial."
Xue Yuxuan was so angry that he was about to attack.
The old lady coughed and said, "Yuning, when you came, weren't you accompanied by several guards from the prince's mansion? Call two of them in to serve you closely."
Xue Yuxuan stared round-eyed. There were maids and nannies in the room. Why did they need guards to serve? Mother clearly was afraid that he would attack Yuning and called in the guards to prevent him.
He was so angry that his fists clenched tightly, making a cracking sound.
The butler was extremely anxious and carefully accompanied a smiling face. "Master, Master, the people from the Ministry of Justice are still waiting outside. Otherwise, shall I invite them in first?"
Xue Yuxuan roared, "What for? They'll dirty my place."
He lifted his feet and walked outside. Lady Xiao was in a complete mess. Since Xue Yuhan was suing the head of the family and she was also involved, she quickly followed him out. Naturally, Xue Yujiao didn't want to stay with this group of people who didn't like her, so she followed Lady Xiao out.
Xue Yuxi straightened his back, knelt on the ground, kowtowed three times heavily to the old lady, then pulled Concubine Bai and also went out.
The old lady didn't go. Her face was deathly pale. After a moment of daze, she said to Lady Shao, "Xin'er is pregnant. Go and take care of her. Don't let them get so angry that they hurt Xin'er."
Lady Shao had been worried about her daughter who wasn't feeling well. She immediately responded and rushed out.
Shen Yuning looked up at the old lady. She was so old. There had been too many troubles in the Xue mansion over the years, which had exhausted her energy.
She stepped forward, just like when she was a child, leaned against the old lady's side, sat on the ground and buried her head in her lap.
The old lady quickly said, "Don't sit on the ground. It's cold."
Shen Yuning shook her head. "It's not cold. As long as I can lean on Grandmother, I'm not cold. During those years when I was away, I thought about it day and night. How wonderful it would be if I were a daughter of the Xue family. How wonderful it would be if I could still serve Grandmother at her knees."
The old lady smiled and stroked her face. "Yuning, you're originally a daughter of our Xue family."
A clever maid quickly moved a small table over so that Yuning didn't have to sit on the ground.
The noise outside was so loud that it could be heard even inside the room.
Shen Yuning looked up nervously. She was worried that Xue Yuxuan and the others would make a scene and that Concubine Bai was too soft-hearted. If Yuhan wasn't firm enough, this lawsuit might not succeed.
After all, in no family could a concubine freely decide to separate from the master.
The old lady patted her hand to comfort her. "Yuning, don't be anxious. I've sent someone to invite several uncles from the collateral branches. For the sake of your father, they will handle this matter properly."
Hearing this, Shen Yuning was completely relieved. The second branch of the Xue family had made such a mess that the family's reputation was ruined. The members of the Xue family were already impatient with them. How could they let them have their way?
Sure enough, after a while, Lütiao, who had been watching outside, ran in happily and said, "Old Lady, Princess, the eldest miss is really amazing. Her eloquence is comparable to yours, Princess."
The old lady seemed calm, but in fact, her heart was pounding. She quickly asked, "How is it going?"
Lütiao replied crisply, "Don't worry, Old Lady. Everything is fine. Now it's up to the second master to make a decision. If he agrees to let Concubine Bai go, the third miss will not sue him. If he doesn't agree, the third miss said that she would rather be beaten than not sue him. Now the scars on Concubine Bai, the third miss and the young master can't be faked. It must be the master who beat them like that."
Shen Yuning's eyes curved into a smile. Yuhan really didn't disappoint her.
Lütiao vividly described how Lady Xiao and Xue Yujiao had made a scene, but Lady Xiao was so eloquent and looked so guilty. She pulled Concubine Bai and said that the Xiao family was sorry for her and so on.
Finally, because the members of the Xue family had come, this matter, which was originally about Lady Xiao forcing a good girl to be a concubine and Xue Yuxuan using private punishment to mistreat his family, was turned into a family matter.
The uncle from the collateral branch of the Xue family forced Xue Yuxuan to sign and seal on the spot, releasing Concubine Bai's slave contract.
Xue Yuxuan gritted his teeth in hatred and refused to admit that he had mistreated his family. He only said that Concubine Bai was shameless and had an affair with General Liang.
Concubine Bai finally came to her senses. She knelt on the ground and cried bitterly. She even wanted to hang herself on the spot to prove her innocence.
Unfortunately, Xue Yujiao was so stupid that she still shouted that a concubine was the same as a slave and that it was okay to beat her to death. Although the lives of servants were in the hands of the master's family at that time and there were many cases of secretly killing servants and concubines, how could such words be said in public? The law was real. Even if one had entered the slave register, they were still human beings. Unless they had committed a major crime and were to be dealt with by the local government, the master's family was never allowed to use private punishment.
So the already bad reputation of the second branch of the Xue family got even worse.
When Lütiao said this, her words faltered.
Seeing this, Shen Yuning quickly asked, "What happened later? Did something happen?"
Lütiao replied honestly, "It's not a big deal. It's just... just that the young master knelt down in public and asked the second master to remove him from the Xue family genealogy."
The old lady was shocked. "What is Xier doing?"
She stood up in a hurry. Shen Yuning quickly stood up too and supported the old lady as they walked outside.
At this moment, there was a crowd of onlookers outside the gate of the second branch of the Xue family. Marquis Xue and Xue Yusong had also come. Xue Yuxi stubbornly knelt on the ground, while Xue Yuxuan was angrily scolding him beside him.
Xue Yuxi said loudly, "Since you don't think I'm a son of the Xue family, why don't you let me go? I don't want the title of a Xue family son anymore. Uncle, no, Marquis Xue, don't worry about me. Anyway, I will never let my mother suffer the slightest bit of pain again."
Xue Yuxuan was about to get angry again when Marquis Xue waved his hand and said, "He's determined to go. Why are you keeping him? Do you want him to stay in your mansion so that you can look at him every day, think about those unfounded things in your heart every day, and then beat him again?"
Xue Yuxuan was extremely angry and shouted, "I'm his father. Why can't I beat him? You have your own son. If your son also wants to leave the Xue family, would you agree?"