Chapter 215: Before The Storm
Translator: Henyee Translations Editor: Henyee Translations
Su Qiong felt suffocated. She had never wanted to kill someone so much.
She was so angry that her entire body was trembling and her face was fierce. At this moment, her elegance and composure were all gone. Her genial pretense had disappeared. All that was left was the anger of a mother.
Nanny Sun and Nanny Xiao looked at Liu Sanniang with cold and vicious expressions. If not for this girl, this secret would be buried six feet under with them.
“Lock them up. No one is to say a word about what happened today.”
Su Qiong gritted her teeth and instructed with difficulty.
She had never treated anyone unfairly, but now it seemed that her kind-heartedness had been taken as a weakness for people to take advantage of her.
Nanny Sun and Nanny Xiao wanted to shout, but Yu Cui quickly covered their mouths with handkerchiefs.
The people in the main courtyard were all Su Qiong’s trusted aides, so they naturally wouldn’t let out a word.
Su Qiong looked so sad that the servants did not know how to comfort her.
After a while, Su Qiong said, “Go and report it to the government office. Also, tell the kitchen not to prepare anything for dinner. Tell everyone to come to the main courtyard tonight.”
After all the servants left, Su Qiong covered her face and sobbed.
She choked and said in a trembling voice, “I’m the only daughter in my family. The Su family is rich and powerful, but there are no men to inherit it. Choosing a son-in-law was the only way. My parents doted on me. Other than the marriage, they agreed to everything I said.”
“Lu Shiming was chosen by my parents after careful consideration. He was well-read and treated money with disdain. After we got married, I took care of the family business while he wrote his poems. However, this didn’t last long. No one can put on an act for their entire life. Ambition and desire will be revealed bit by bit over time.”
“In his eyes, I’m the one who changed. I’ve become snobbish and only cared about the family business and money. What a joke. When have I changed? He thinks I changed simply because I didn’t do what he wanted. How I hoped that this conspiracy had nothing to do with him and that it was all Concubine Yun’s doing.”
Su Qiong was really heartbroken.
She was unwilling to think the worst of Lu Shiming and believed that he was deliberately leading Lu Qingqing to hate her.
Liu Sanniang listened quietly. Things ended up this way because Su Qiong repeatedly made compromises.
Fortunately, the family business had always been in her hands. This gave her the right to get rid of everyone who was causing trouble in the mansion.
However, it would pain her no matter whom she had to get rid of, and there was no one there to share the pain with her.
The county magistrate of Changlin County was surnamed Zhu and was called Zhu Changyuan. The Su family was rich and powerful, so Zhu Changyuan naturally would not take this matter lightly. Moreover, after hearing what happened, he was also shocked.
Hundreds of constables entered the mansion and surrounded every courtyard according to Su Qiong’s request.
Su Shun and Yu Cui brought a few servants across the mansion to pass the message. “Madam has instructed everyone to go to the main courtyard.”
Lu Shiming had six concubines who had given birth to a total of ten children. Although they were illegitimate sons and daughters, they had never been reprimanded and treated unfairly by Su QIong.
As Lu Shiming’s concubines, they led a life of a rich lady, and Su Qiong was magnanimous enough to give her husband to them without resentment. As time passed, everyone understood that the real owner of the Lu mansion was actually Su Qiong.
When the concubines were called to gather in the main courtyard, everyone was flustered.
In the main courtyard, they looked at each other, trying to find out what was the matter. However, no one knew what was going on.
Su Shun reported from outside the door. “Madam, they’re all here.”
Su Qiong asked coldly. “Is Lu Shiming here?”
Su Shun replied. “Master hasn’t returned yet.”
Su Qiong said in a low voice, “Go and fetch him by force.”
Su Shun immediately went out with a few servants to carry out the order.
Zhu Changyuan was invited into the room. He looked at Su Qiong but did not ask anything. From time to time, he would steal curious glances at Liu Sanniang and Chu Yan.
Liu Sanniang did not mind. She entered a meditative state, letting her mind drift away, but in the eyes of others, she was simply being absent-minded.
The sky gradually darkened, but no one dared to say a word.
The concubines had never felt so terrified before, not even when they were just brought back by Lu Shiming.
Lu Shiming was pulled out of the brothel by Su Shun and a few servants.
He was so angry that he wanted to beat these stupid slaves to death. “You bastard, who gave you the guts to treat me like this?”
Lu Shiming raised his fist, but Su Shun dodged him nimbly. He said coldly, “Arrest him.”
In the past, though Lu Shiming did not have any real power, he was after all Su Qiong’s husband. However, without Su Qiong, Lu Shiming was nothing.
Lu Shiming was manhandled out of the brothel. He felt that everyone was looking down on him and mocking him for being a coward. After so many years, he still didn’t have a say in his own house.
After being taken back to the mansion, Lu Shiming wanted to curse, but he realized that there were many constables around. He frowned. “What happened? Has Su Qiong gone crazy?”
Su Shun remained silent.
Lu Shiming panicked a little. These servants were usually not so bold. Why were they suddenly so impudent? What happened?
Lu Shiming had always had a bad temper, but he knew in his heart that this Lu Mansion did not belong to him. As long as he was still Su Qiong’s husband, he would be safe. But what if Su Qiong divorced him?