"Exactly! Have I raised you for all these years in vain? Now that you've become a phoenix on a high branch, you don't care about your mother anymore. As a princess, you're unfilial. Even the current emperor wouldn't neglect his own mother!"
Mu Rendong pointed at Mu Fengqie with hands on her hips. While speaking, she seemed full of energy, looking nothing like someone who hadn't had a full meal for several days.
Mu Fengqie finally understood. This wasn't about coming to seek refuge with her at all. It was a Hongmen Banquet! They had set up a trap and were just waiting for her to jump in!
She now wished she could slap herself hard for that stupid thought just now. Sure enough, one shouldn't be too soft - hearted, or one would only end up suffering.
Mu Fengqie grinned and said slowly, "Brother and Mother, your words are a bit unfair, aren't they? First of all, I'm not Mother's own child. I know Mother had a hard time raising me. But from childhood, I did more work than Brother. And when I got married, I gave Mother a gold tassel. Not long ago, I also gave Mother quite a bit of silver. Why don't you mention these things?"
At that time, Mu Fengqie just wanted to buy off trouble. Since Kong liked money, she could give it to her. As long as Kong could let her live in peace, she wouldn't mind giving more silver. It seemed that the thirty taels of silver she gave back then was even worse than feeding it to pigs!
Mu Fengqie's words changed the mood of the on - lookers. Everyone was pointing and whispering, saying all kinds of things.
"How can you be so sharp - tongued, girl? We know your status is different now. You're a princess bestowed by the Empress Dowager. Naturally, you want to break away from us common folks. But one shouldn't forget one's roots. Even if you don't care about your brother, you should care about your mother, right?" Mu Rendong pretended to wipe away tears.
Mu Fengqie snorted and then burst out laughing. "Brother's words are really a big joke. Brother is idle all day long, only knowing how to eat, drink, whore and gamble. What right does Brother have to scold me?"
Kong glared at Mu Rendong, and Mu Rendong shut his mouth awkwardly. Then Kong said, "I'm old and can follow your father. But I'm most worried about your brother. Can you, for the sake of me raising you for more than ten years, take good care of your brother for me?"
"The Princess of Peace seems so glorious on the surface, but actually she's such a heartless person. She doesn't even care about the mother who raised her so hard. She's really as vicious as a snake!"
"Anyway, she's a princess. If it were you, would you want to have such a poor maternal family?"
"Is being a princess so great? Who knows how she got this title!"
"Exactly. The Empress Dowager's imperial edict was quite obvious. This princess must have seduced the current emperor, and that's why the Empress Dowager granted her the title to save face."
Mu Fengqie listened to the discussions around her coldly. She suddenly found it quite interesting. Had these people seen it with their own eyes? They were telling lies so convincingly!
Xiao Qing couldn't swallow this anger. She had never liked Kong, Mu Rendong and Mu Xingrou. Why were they all so annoying?
"I've seen shameless people, but I've never seen such shameless people like you! Are you worthy of being someone's mother and someone's brother?" Xiao Qing was so angry that she was out of breath, and her chest kept rising and falling.
Mu Fengqie waved her hand, but didn't explicitly forbid Xiao Qing from speaking. Xiao Qing didn't want Mu Fengqie to be so wronged. Hearing what those people said, even Xiao Qing thought it was too much.
"One of you came to steal money, and the other came to make trouble. You kept saying you wanted to beat our young lady to death. The money our young lady has is all she saved with hard work. Why should you take it? Don't you know that a married daughter takes her husband's surname?"
"You keep saying you're our young lady's mother. Your own daughter almost killed our young lady. Instead of holding her accountable, our young lady even gave you a sum of money to live on. Is this how you repay our young lady?"
As she spoke, Xiao Qing shed tears. She had accompanied Mu Fengqie through all these things. Even as an outsider, she felt cold - hearted. One could only imagine how Mu Fengqie felt at that time.
Hearing these words, Kong's expression was quite wonderful. Her face turned green and then white, which betrayed her. She had received Mu Xingrou's instructions and came to cause trouble in the imperial city. She never thought that the little bitch would tell everything.
"It seems she was the one who played the victim first. We've all wronged the princess..."
"The Princess of Peace has suffered so much in silence. She's been extremely kind to these relatives!"
In an instant, Kong and Mu Rendong became the targets of public criticism. Unable to bear the blame, they patted their butts and ran away in a hurry.
Mu Fengqie actually got a blessing in disguise and gained a wave of popularity.
Back at the Minister's Mansion, the more Mu Fengqie thought about it, the more something seemed wrong. Kong and Mu Rendong didn't have the brains to come up with the idea of causing trouble in the imperial city. Even if they had the brains, they wouldn't have the guts. So there was only one person instigating them behind their backs.
She never thought that Mu Xingrou was still up to no good after being beaten by her husband. She didn't know where Mu Xingrou had gone after that, but Mu Fengqie didn't plan to let it go. The more you indulged some people, the more insolent they became!
"Zhu Fei, go and find out where Mu Xingrou is. Try to teach her a lesson. If a tiger doesn't show its claws, people really think I'm Hello Kitty!"
Zhu Fei answered and then disappeared from the room. Xiao Qing still couldn't swallow the anger in her heart. Her cheeks puffed up, looking as cute as a little hamster.
"Alright, I'm not angry. Why are you so angry? By the way, haven't we received a reply from the young master yet?" Mu Fengqie asked puzzledly.
More than half a month had passed, and there was still no reply. Mu Fengqie always felt something was wrong. Jing Xinche wasn't such an unreliable person. The secret guard had sent the letter but then there was no news. Had something happened to him?
But she clearly heard Li Wantong say that the army would soon return to the capital. So what was the reason that he didn't even reply to a single letter?
Xiao Qing shook her head, equally puzzled. "Could something have happened to the young master? It's been more than half a month since the young lady sent the letter. Logically, the young master wouldn't not reply to the young lady."
"This matter is very strange. Find a time to go to the courier station and look for Jiang Yanqin. See if he can find a way to take me to the military camp."
Mu Fengqie was worried. She wouldn't be at ease until she saw it with her own eyes. If something happened to Jing Xinche, what was the meaning of all her efforts?