Chapter 107 - Who didn’t know how to act

The court chief found that this old lady was quite easy to talk to. She was probably deceived by her family.

This was the general’s residence. How could the gold and valuable items given by the emperor be stolen?

If all of these were stolen, how could he qualify as a general?

It was probably an internal strife.

He was also somewhat disgusted with Xiao Yuanshi and his wife.

He heard that the old lady and the others had sold their house and land in their hometown, and were robbed along their journey here.

They begged all the way to the capital to see their son.

They actually lied to Old Lady Xiao.

But he did not say much.

In any case, the higher-ups had ordered a thorough investigation, so he had to investigate.

He ordered others to bring all the stewards and relevant personnel guarding the warehouse away.

Ge Chunru’s face couldn’t help but turn pale. She did not expect these people to be so fast.

Unfortunately, the general had left the city to handle some matters.

She had already sent people to look for him, but seemed like it was too late.

Thus, she smiled and went up to greet him. “Is there some misunderstanding?”

The old lady saw the smiling face of this foxy woman and became even more resentful.

She could not help but want to go up and spit at her, but Mdm Wu restrained her.

Mdm Wu said in a low voice, “Mother, cry then!”

Shi Qingluo had said that in front of outsiders, Old Lady Xiao had to act like a loving mother and a good mother-in-law.

She must not be fierce to the two of them.

She hadn’t put much thought into it initially, but after coming to the capital and seeing Ge Chunru’s little tricks, she felt that this was too reasonable.

With this reminder, Old Lady Xiao recalled that she had to act like a good mother-in-law.

Recently, she had gotten used to mending this little hoof and nearly exposed herself in front of others.

This vixen must have done it on purpose to make her lose her reputation in front of others.

Hence, she wiped her eyes with her sleeve and dipped it in ginger juice, causing her tears to come out instantly.

4

She looked at Ge Chunru and asked, “What do you mean by this?

“Do you think that I, your mother-in-law, was the one who moved the money and things in the storeroom?

“Previously, you insisted that I take charge of the house. You said the two of you hadn’t parted your kinship with us yet, so I had to help oversee the house.

“I saw that your housekeeper was spending too much money. It was not easy for my son to become a general, so I reluctantly agreed.

“But after being the lady of the house, I realised that the money in the storeroom might not be right, and there weren’t any valuable items.

“I’m just afraid that they were stolen. Such a big general’s residence, with so many people to feed. How will we go about in the future?

“You actually said that it was a misunderstanding the moment you arrived. Are you blaming me, your mother-in-law, for meddling in other people’s business?”

She even showed an expression that her daughter-in-law hurt her feelings. “Waa, waa, then I don’t care. If the money and valuables are stolen, so be it.”

This made Ge Chunru completely dumbfounded.

What’s wrong with this old lady? She actually made such a scene in front of her.

Moreover, it was all nonsense. When did they take the initiative to ask her to be the lady of the house?

Old Lady Xiao was simply too shameless.

The key was when did she become so smart?

Could it be that she was pretending to be stupid at the countryside?

With Old Lady Xiao crying and distorting the truth, how would others view her?

As expected, Ge Chunru noticed that the court chief and the others were looking at her with disapproval.

She immediately pulled Xiao Yuanshi’s out. “How would I do this to you, mother? It’s just that the general isn’t around. I’m afraid that there’s been a misunderstanding about what happened in the storeroom and that Sir had a wasted trip.”

Old Lady Xiao suddenly didn’t know how to respond, so she gave Mdm Wu a veiled look.

Mdm Wu rolled her eyes. “Second sister-in-law, you are at fault for this.

“Our mother is doing this for the general’s manor. Didn’t you hear the court chief saying that the gold and valuable items bestowed by the emperor previously were not in the storeroom?

“How can we lose items bestowed by the emperor?

“Our mother invited the capital magistrate to investigate this for your own good. Otherwise, our second brother, who is a general, would be neglecting his duty.

“You actually blame our mother for meddling in other people’s business.

“Back then, you took the initiative to ask her to be the lady of the house. What do you mean now?

“If you can’t bear to part with the authority a lady of the house possesses, then just say it. Our mother isn’t that kind of unreasonable mother-in-law.”

Old Lady Xiao wiped away her tears and said, “Yes, if you don’t want me to be in charge of the house, you can just say it and I’ll immediately let go of it.”

She copied Shi Qingluo’s letter and looked at Old Master Xiao with a sorrowful expression. “Since our daughter-in-law doesn’t like us to stay in this general’s manor, why don’t we go back to our old residence?”

That girl had said that if they wanted to stay, they had to stand at the highest point and counter-attack.

Let others know that they weren’t the ones who insisted on staying in the general’s residence.

Later, these two beasts would still have to beg them to stay.

Otherwise, the outsiders’ saliva from criticising them would drown the two of them.

Old Master Xiao was also saddened by his son and daughter-in-law’s actions.

Although they were a little biassed, they had never starved their second son since he was a child!

Their faces could not help but reveal some disappointment and sadness. “Alright, since they don’t welcome us, let’s go back to our hometown.”

It looked like the two of them did not want to stay in the general’s residence.

Mdm Wang was anxious. “Father and mother, we had sold our house and land. The money and luggage that we brought along have also been snatched away. How are we going to go back?”

Old Lady Xiao said with great backbone, “We’ll go back to beg for food. Anyway, we also begged our way to the capital.

“When we reach the village, we’ll borrow some money from our clansmen and rent a house. You guys can go out and be their labourer. I don’t believe that we won’t be able to live by ourselves.

The old master also made up his mind. “Right, let’s go back. Since they don’t like us, we won’t stay in the general’s manor anymore.”

Hearing them saying one after another, new facts were established from the thin air.

Ge Chunru was so angry that she wanted to faint on the spot.

In the past, she was good at using these kinds of tricks.

She really didn’t expect that one day, these people from the old residence would use them to disgust her and her husband.

What did she mean that they did not welcome them and didn’t care about the general’s mansion?

Did Old Lady Xiao mean that she also wanted the general to be investigated for failing to do his duty?

Ge Chunru wondered who had called the capital magistrate and his people here.

These people were too detestable. They bullied them too much.

Tears welled up in her eyes. “It’s not like that. How could I possibly dislike my mother-in-law and father-in-law? I can’t wait for all of you to stay in the general’s manor so that the general and I could be filial to you.”

Old Lady Xiao also wiped her tears and cried even louder. “You weren’t wrong. We are the ones who wanted to go back.”

She even deliberately said to the court chief, “We really wanted to go back. It has nothing to do with my daughter-in-law.”

Hmph, who didn’t know how to act.

Ge Chunru thought to herself, why didn’t Old Lady Xiao point at her and scold her like before?

At this moment, she really hoped that she would slap her in public.

But this damn old lady actually knew how to act. She was going crazy.

The more she said this, the more it seemed like she was forced to do so.

She was just about to open her mouth to explain to the court chief when she spoke again.

“Whether it’s a misunderstanding or not, since y’all have reported the case and our Sir has acknowledged it, we will investigate this thoroughly.”

He said meaningfully, “After all, it still involves the emperor’s imperial gifts. We can’t afford to be careless about this.”

“General’s wife, it’s better for you to focus more on honouring and be more filial to your in-laws.”

Looking at the old lady and the old master’s appearance, they were honest villagers, and they even looked like they wanted to cover up their daughter-in-law’s action.

This general’s wife was really not a good person.

Then, without listening to Ge Chunru, he led his men to directly escort the steward and the others in charge of the warehouse away.