"Spouting nonsense? Smearing someone?"
Yun Xi suddenly sneered, as if she had heard a big joke.
"The storytellers in the teahouse have been spreading your glorious deeds as tales. Haven't you heard a single bit of the news?"
Yun Xi's black eyes swept over Lady Jiang's face that pretended to be calm. Her lips slightly parted as she said,
"Perhaps, we should call you - Liu Xu?"
The moment Yun Xi uttered that name, Lady Jiang staggered. All the color drained from her face instantly.
The disgraceful memories she had hidden for so long seemed like demons from hell, howling and rushing towards her with that name, gnawing at her flesh and bones!
Seeing her usually strong mother looking so dejected and pale, Yun Ni was startled. She quickly grabbed Lady Jiang's arm and shouted at Yun Xi angrily,
"What are you doing scaring my mother? Everyone knows mother's name is Jiang Xu. But you deliberately call her Liu Xu. What's your intention?!"
Yun Ni was so intent on protecting Lady Jiang that she completely forgot to think. A name that could make Lady Jiang react so strongly must be extraordinary.
Yun Xi just smiled faintly, her tone even more mocking.
"Yun Ni, don't you ever go to the teahouse or pay attention to the rumors in the capital? Liu Xu is not a name I made up. It's the stage name your mother used when she was a government prostitute in the Music Bureau."
"The Music Bureau? A government prostitute?!"
Yun Ni looked completely incredulous. She looked at her mother doubtfully, seeking an answer.
The Music Bureau was under the Ministry of Rites. It was responsible for playing music during grand ceremonies and when receiving distinguished guests in the Liu Kingdom. But everyone knew that it was actually a government - run brothel!
Most of the government prostitutes there were the wives and daughters of officials who had been stripped of their titles and punished.
They came from noble families, but once they entered the Music Bureau, they endured inhumane treatment and were used for others' pleasure. Until they grew old and haggard, they would be sent to military camps as camp prostitutes. Their fates were extremely miserable.
Yun Ni knew that her maternal grandfather's family had once been an official family. Due to the decline of the family, her mother had been implicated and suffered a lot.
But she was the second young lady of the Prime Minister's Mansion. How could her mother have ever been a government prostitute in the Music Bureau?!
Yun Xi's mother, a low - born merchant woman, would be a thousand times more noble!
How could the Crown Prince ever take a fancy to her?
"Absolutely impossible!"
Yun Ni roared angrily. She grabbed Lady Jiang's shoulders tightly with both hands and shook her vigorously.
"Mother, say something! You can't just be slandered like this! We still care about our reputation!"
Yun Xi's eyes were cold. Seeing Yu Zhu who had returned outside the door, she was even more certain in her heart.
"Whether I'm slandering or not, you can go and ask around outside!"
Then, she turned her gaze to the shocked old lady and spoke in an extremely gentle tone.
"Grandmother, you should take a good look. The mistress of the Prime Minister's Mansion that you've always trusted and even tried your best to make the legal wife has been hiding her true self under your nose for so many years. See how she has been scheming and encroaching on the property of the Prime Minister's Mansion!"
"Yun Xi..."
Yun Sheng frowned and was about to say something when Steward Liu rushed in hurriedly from outside the door with a worried look on his face.
"Reporting to the master, the Jiang family has come to the mansion. They said they must see the mistress today no matter what!"
Yun Sheng frowned and immediately gave a cold order.
"Throw them out!"
The mansion was already in a complete mess. There was no time to deal with the Jiang family.
Hearing Yun Sheng's words, Steward Liu looked embarrassed. He couldn't help but glance at Lady Jiang and reported truthfully,
"I've ordered the servants to throw them out, but there are a large number of people from the Jiang family this time. The one leading them is Lady Li, the wife of Jiang Da. She has been scolding very vulgarly. She even ordered her people to fight with the servants of the Prime Minister's Mansion..."
Steward Liu wiped the sweat from his forehead. Just thinking about that well - known shrew in the capital gave him a headache.
"Now the outside of the mansion is surrounded by people. I'm worried that if this continues, it will be bad for our Prime Minister's Mansion!"
If they were other hooligans, they would have dealt with them directly.
But the Jiang family was related to the Prime Minister's Mansion after all. He couldn't think of a good way, so he had to come and ask Yun Sheng for instructions.
Hearing this, Yun Sheng's eyebrows furrowed even more tightly. He stroked the memorial tablet in his hand and gently placed it on the altar. He said to Steward Liu,
"Go and invite them all to the front hall."
It was better to solve things behind closed doors than to let everyone know.
Before leaving the door, Yun Sheng glanced at Lady Jiang and finally landed his eyes on Yun Xi's face. He hesitated to speak but didn't say a word in the end.
Seeing her father leave, Yun Xi let out a soft sigh.
Looking at the memorial tablet of her mother, she felt mixed emotions but didn't regret what she had done. When she turned to look at the old lady again, her eyes were clear.
"Grandmother, don't you want to hear what the Jiang family has to say?"
The old lady always pretended to be weak, mostly to control her father.
However, after all these twists and turns, although the old lady looked embarrassed, she could still stand up on her own without any support after her father left.
Thinking about how she used to act like she was dying and how she had just raised her walking stick to beat her father, it was really ironic.
The old lady looked at Lady Jiang doubtfully. Seeing that Lady Jiang was silent and had completely lost her usual eloquence, her heart sank even more.
A cold glint flashed in her cloudy eyes. She said to Lady Jiang,
"Come here, Lady Jiang! Support me!"
It seemed that she didn't want Lady Jiang to escape.
So, Lady Jiang supported the old lady. Followed by Yun Xi and Yun Ni, they all went to the front hall together.
Along the way, seeing the servants with bruised faces and lying around in a mess, the old lady's face became darker and darker. As soon as she stepped into the front hall, she saw Jiang Qing lying in the middle of the living room on a wooden board.
He had a black - and - blue face, a bandage on his head, and a bamboo splint on one of his legs. He was lying there groaning weakly.
His shrewish wife, Lady Li, was sitting on the ground, banging her head on the floor and wailing.
She scolded Lady Jiang for being ungrateful and breaking the contract from back then. If it weren't for the Jiang family's rescue back then, Lady Jiang would have become a camp prostitute by now. How could she have the chance to become the prime minister's wife?
However, after Lady Jiang became prosperous, she only gave the Jiang family a pittance. Indirectly, she had caused the death of her son. Even the dozen or so shops she had given were taken back!
When Jiang Da had owed gambling debts and asked for her help, he was blocked outside the door several times. Now, the gambling house had broken Jiang Da's hands and feet when they couldn't collect the debts, making him a cripple!
That was why the Jiang family was so angry that they decided to expose Lady Jiang's true face even if it meant ruining themselves!
By this time, Lady Jiang still wanted to argue, but the Jiang family took out the document that should have been burned long ago.
It was a list of government prostitutes who had been sent to the Music Bureau back then. Lady Jiang's name was clearly on it! Even the fact that she had later changed her name to Liu Xu was recorded in it.
Facts spoke louder than words. Lady Jiang was instantly deflated like an eggplant beaten by frost.
Under the old lady's furious outburst, she was escorted to the ancestral hall.
But it wasn't over yet. The Jiang family was determined to destroy Lady Jiang. They then exposed that Lady Jiang had secretly bought fields and shops.
The person in charge of these transactions was actually Steward Liu, whom the old lady had placed great trust in!