The Eldest Daughter-in-Law [Reborn] - Chapter 25

The Second Master had been craving the crystal sashimi for a long time.

After hearing what her husband said, Jiang stopped crying. Although she was old enough to be a grandmother, she was beautiful and had a pretentious personality. She would act like a spoiled child in front of her husband from time to time, and the Second Master was completely controlled by her.

But at the end of the next day, news came from the Senate that the Duke had returned.

The Jiang couple were shocked.

“Normally, there is always news delivered in advance so that everyone can prepare in advance. Why is it so sudden today?”

The Second Master Wang Shou was cowardly, and Jiang was unstable. The couple had often been scolded by the Duke, so when they heard the “bad news”, they felt as upset as eggplants hit by frost.

Speaking of the Duke’s Mansion, there were four houses in total. Each house was lush and leafy, and the land was narrow and densely populated. Later, the late Empress, the Eldest Princess’ mother, came up with an idea. She simply merged the Princess’s Mansion and the Duke’s Mansion next door. The two mansions became one, so that four families could live together. No one else had any objection to this move, but the Second Madam was unhappy.

In this case, would it be the Princess’s residence or the Duke’s residence?

Except for the second branch, all the others were the Eldest Princess’s children. The first branch knew that very well and would not compete with the two younger brothers. However, the second branch was the legitimate eldest son of the Duke and should have inherited the main house. With the mix-up, it was hard to predict what the future of the second branch would be.

Because of the Eldest Princess’s superior status, the main courtyard where she and the Duke lived was named Qinghui Palace. In the afternoon, the birds were chirping, the sun was scorching, and outside the Qinghui Palace there was a crowd of people standing in the courtyard. People from all the houses had come, waiting to pay their respects to the Duke.

After a while, the palace door was opened with a creaky sound by a servant, and a man was sitting in the grand and majestic main hall.

The Duke was in his sixties, with a broad forehead and face, a solemn expression, and was wearing a new long gown. He did not smile, but he was intimidating without even getting angry. Although he was in his sixties, he was still tall. He sat at the very top with his hands on his knees, and his children and grandchildren below did not dare to make a sound.

Next, people from each house were called in for questioning one after another. The eldest son of the family had no blood relationship with the Duke, so the Duke asked a few token questions and then released him.

It was the second branch’s turn.

Wang Shuhuai was still in the yamen area, and Xie Yunchu was not there either. Without the eldest son to support the family, Wang Shou timidly led his wife and others over the threshold.

Except for Wang Shuhuai and his wife, everyone else from the second branch was like a mouse seeing a cat when they saw the Duke.

The Duke took a quick glance and saw that everyone in his eldest son’s family was in low spirits. His square face instantly fell. “What’s the matter? Are you so upset just by seeing me?”

“Father, I miss you and I feel sad without you,” the Second Master choked and knelt down first, and the others all fell to the ground in silence.

Whenever the Second Master said something like that, the Duke would calm down. His son had been wronged, and he was aware of it.

As expected, the Duke stopped scolding him.

“Get up.”

The Duke was not surprised that Wang Shuhuai was not there. Shuhuai was a calm person and was full of energy, so it was normal for him to be busy in the yamen. Where was that girl Yun Chu?

There was a reason why the Duke suddenly left the palace. When he didn’t see Xie Yunchu, his expression became even uglier than before. 

“Where is Huai’s wife?”

Hearing that, Jiang plucked up the courage to look at her father-in-law. He looked gloomy and obviously angry. She thought he was angry with Xie Yunchu, so she said, “In reply to Father, Huai’s wife has been in a bad mood recently. Half a month ago, she used the excuse of being sick to stop coming to the upper room to serve her parents-in-law…”

When the Second Master heard that, he gently pulled his wife’s sleeve to ask her to stop.

His father would never allow his family to criticize each other, expose each other’s strengths and weaknesses, or cover up other people’s mistakes. Madam Jiang’s behavior would only make his father unhappy.

Madam Jiang was helpless. She finally caught Xie Yunchu doing something wrong and complained angrily, “That Xie went to the Xie Mansion under the pretext of celebrating her father’s birthday and didn’t come back for a few days. She left the household to the Third Son’s wife and didn’t take care of her child. When I sent someone to call her back, she still refused. She is simply lawless.”

As soon as she finished speaking, the room fell silent.

Dou Keling and Xu Shiwei were somewhat gloating.

The Duke narrowed his eyes and looked at Madam Jiang quietly. Xie Yunchu had been married for a year and a half, and the Duke knew her well.

Although the old man was not often at home, it did not mean that he was deaf. He waved his hand first, signaling the other people in the second branch to go out, leaving only the Second Master and his wife. Then he called the blue-clothed servant at the door and asked about Xie Yunchu’s recent situation.

The servant told the story in detail about Xie Yunchu’s illness, the doctor’s visit, and her return to the Xie family to host a birthday banquet. In the end, she even told him how Madam Jiang had sent someone to scold Xie Yunchu and told her not to come back. Hearing that, Madam Jiang turned pale with fright, and then she realized that her father-in-law was very cunning, so she quickly shut up.

The Duke looked at his eldest son and his wife in disappointment. “Although I am old, I am not blind. She is the Eldest Daughter-in-law of the Duke’s Mansion and your son’s wife, not your servant. You asked her to serve you, so why don’t you serve your own parents-in-law? As an elder, you keep telling her not to come back. What about her self-respect?”

He had something important to tell Xie Yunchu and couldn’t delay.

“I order you to go to the Xie family and bring her back immediately!”