Chapter 9 Mu Qingyu Slaps Her Son
Wen Xueling caught a glimpse of Wen Jinli’s furious face from the corner of her eye and scoffed inwardly.
She looked up, feigning confusion, and innocently asked, “Brother, what are you talking about? Ling’er……doesn’t understand.”
Seeing her deny it, Wen Jinli recounted the morning’s events at the Prime Minister’s Estate, his words brimming with accusation.
Mu Qingyu was greatly displeased by her son’s act of blaming her daughter and firmly declared, “Ling’er is innocent!”
“Mother! You can’t spoil her like this. We can’t protect her. Today, we must send her to the authorities and have her locked up.”
Just thinking of his mother bedridden and An’an crying to the point of fainting in the mansion filled Wen Jinli with anger towards Wen Xueling!
This sister was truly too troublesome, not at all comparable to An’an!
Wen Xueling sneered upon hearing his words, “Is Brother angry for the sake of those maids, or because his stepmother was frightened?”
Upon hearing her words, Wen Jinli’s body stiffened.
He took a deep breath, straightened his back, and said, “Neither. It’s because of you! You have truly disappointed me!”
Wen Jinli did not feel there was any problem with his words or actions.
“Ling’er, Father and your brothers have sacrificed themselves for the nation and its people, upholding justice. Yet, you are so cold-blooded and heartless, deliberately bullying her. How can you be worthy of the Wen family’s name?”
He raised his voice, standing on moral high ground, and continued to condemn her, “Do you know the heavy price Mother’s clan paid for Rong Kingdom? Such heroes, yet they are bullied by a little girl like you. As your older brother, I feel a chill in my heart because of this.”
A chill in his heart? Hahaha.
Wen Xueling met her mother’s worried gaze, handed her the medicine bowl, and gently said, “Mother, the medicine will get cold. Drink it first.”
Even at this moment, her daughter’s sole concern was her frail body. Mu Qingyu’s heart tightened into a knot.
“Good, Mother will drink it.”
Seeing her drink it, Wen Xueling felt a little relieved.
Meanwhile, Wen Jinli beside them was still prattling on.
“Wen Xueling, do you know that Mother was so frightened by you that she fainted and has not yet woken?
Father is not in the capital now, and only I can seek justice for Mother’s grievances in the mansion. Come with me to the Prime Minister’s Estate now and kowtow to admit your mistake. As long as Mother doesn’t wake, you are not permitted to rise for a moment.”
He made a move to grab Wen Xueling’s wrist, but was met with a slap from Mu Qingyu that sent his face askew.
She struggled to sit up and demanded, “Wen Jinli, I truly misjudged you. You keep saying ‘Mother,’ but do you still remember who your birth mother is?!”
Wen Xueling anxiously supported her body, “Mother, your current health cannot withstand agitation.”
Wen Jinli’s eyes showed defiance, “Mother, you always favor her!”
“She is your sister, the youngest in the family, yet from childhood, she always gave you brothers the best food and drink. If we’re truly talking about favoritism, it’s clearly Ling’er who favored you! In just two years, have you forgotten?”
Mu Qingyu tore off the scarf from her neck, revealing a circle of fatal red marks wrapped around it. “Look at this!”
Although these marks were drawn by Wen Xueling, the fact that those maids and old women tried to harm them last night was true.
Unexpectedly, Wen Jinli subconsciously retorted, “Impossible! Mother is not that kind of person! She doesn’t even know of your existence, so how could she harm you?
Absolutely impossible! Mother, you can’t talk nonsense just to favor this girl!”
Wen Xueling immediately retorted sharply, “Since that mother of yours doesn’t know of our existence, then what do the deaths of her maids have to do with me?”
Wen Jinli’s thoughts were instantly muddled, and suddenly he felt her words made sense.
But then he remembered that among the five dead, there were Granny Xu and Mingyue……
“Granny Xu and Mingyue were assigned by me to you. Now they are dead in front of Mother’s window……”
“That has nothing to do with us. Granny Xu and Mingyue disappeared since last night. I had the guards urgently report back to Brother. Didn’t you receive the message?”
After dealing with his stepmother's lackeys last night, Wen Xueling had her hidden guards capture the existing guards and take their places.
Wen Jinli’s brow furrowed tightly. He had been guarding his mother’s room, so how could he have paid attention to matters at Fangfei Courtyard?
He vaguely remembered his pageboy reporting that someone had arrived at Fangfei Courtyard, but he was worried about his mother at the time and had no mind to spare for Fangfei Courtyard.
“Someone!” Wen Jinli didn’t believe Wen Xueling’s words and called for the guards.
Hearing from them that things were indeed as she had said, he frowned and stated, “Anyway, I don’t believe it. Impossible. Mother is such a kind person, she would never lay a hand on you!”
“You malicious girl, you don’t deserve to be my sister. I’m going to teach you a good lesson right now!”
Gazing at the love and trust for his stepmother in his eyes, Wen Xueling found it only humorous and ironic. She was about to retort when she suddenly felt something wet fall onto the back of her hand.
She lowered her gaze, and her pupils contracted instantly.
Hearing his youngest son defend his stepmother and belittle his sister, Mu Qingyu became agitated to the point of coughing up blood, and blood rushed to her head.
Drops of blood, one after another, slipped from beneath her nose, dripping onto Wen Xueling’s arm.
“Mother, you’re bleeding from your nose?” This was a sight Wen Xueling had not seen since her rebirth.
Mu Qingyu suppressed the rising blood in her heart, offering her a gentle smile, “Mother is fine……cough, cough.”
With this cough, the urge to vomit blood could no longer be held back.
After spitting out the clotted blood that had been accumulating in her chest, Mu Qingyu paradoxically felt a sense of immense relief, as if a long-standing illness had suddenly eased.
Wen Jinli also panicked, but made no move to rush forward and support her, “Mother, are you alright?”
Then he took half a step back, “I, I’ll go find a doctor. Mother, wait for me!”
Wen Jinli left in a daze, running and saying that he was going back to the Prime Minister’s Estate to find the family physician to save her, and would return tomorrow morning.
Suddenly, a force was transmitted from the hand Wen Xueling held tightly in her palm.
“Ling……Ling’er, don’t be afraid. Mother just doesn’t want to see him bully you. Let him go. I said before I would……would protect you. We won’t be separated.”
Wen Xueling met Mu Qingyu’s gentle eyes and brows, feeling her trust, and her tears flowed even more uncontrollably.
That night.
A pillar of fire pierced the darkness of the capital. Fangfei Courtyard vanished from existence.
Wen Jinli rushed over early the next morning, only to see the scorched remains of the residence.
He stared at the scene before him in disbelief, his legs gave way, and he collapsed onto the ground.
“How could this happen?”
He had only gone back to accompany An’an, fulfilling his filial duty by his mother’s side for one night. How could Fangfei Courtyard become like this?
“Mother—Ling’er—”
The only reply was the biting cold wind of winter.
When Wen Xueling learned from the hidden guards that Wen Jinli had fainted from excessive grief, she was all smiles, moving with her mother into the private residence Liang Jue had arranged for her.
This was one of the remunerations she had received in exchange for the arrow blueprints.
After moving, she stood by the window, contemplating the next items to exchange with Liang Jue, when a sound suddenly came from the courtyard wall.
Their eyes met, and a shiver of coldness suddenly ran down her spine.
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