kvmb Chapter 240 Crash
Chapter 240 Crash
The second wife should have been happy to hear the news.
But when she saw the Bodhi beads scattered in the carriage, she panicked.
This doesn't seem like a good sign.
The maid asked, "Madam, are you going into the mansion now?"
For a moment, the second wife wanted to back out, but then she remembered something.
No one knew about the secret passage of the second wife, and no one knew that she was hiding a private fortune.
Now that Pei Wuyan is working with her from the inside, she can quietly move out of her private belongings.
"Go as soon as possible." Every time the Second Madam clashed with Shen Qingtan, she suffered a defeat, and she was almost instinctively wary of her: "Get things done before that little slut returns."
The maid helped the second mistress down from the carriage.
This area is full of government residences, and it becomes exceptionally quiet at night, with not a single person in sight.
In particular, the residence adjacent to the West Garden was not bestowed upon other officials by Emperor Jing'an, but was left vacant.
The second wife arrived at the side gate of the West Garden and knocked on the door three times (long and two short).
A moment later, the tightly closed door opened.
Pei Wuyan's servant instructed, "Second Madam, the young master's painting is almost finished, you need to hurry up."
The second wife hummed in agreement and led seven or eight servants into the secret passage.
Each servant carried a bundle of thick hemp rope and a fire torch.
The group entered a dark room, where more than a dozen boxes were piled up.
The servants covered the chests with coarse black cloth, then tied them with hemp rope, and carried them out of the secret passage.
The second wife reminded her, "Be careful not to break the porcelain inside."
The last servant carried away the two trunks, and the second mistress finally felt relieved.
These items were accumulated one by one after she married into the Duke's mansion.
Even after leaving the Duke's mansion, with this private savings, their family could still live a life of wealth and comfort.
Fearing retaliation from the Prince of Zhenbei, the younger brother sent out a large sum of money to curry favor with the Prince of Yu.
Once the storm had passed, she set aside some money and asked Prince Yu to find a job for Jue'er.
Emperor Jing'an had few sons, and the most promising one was Prince Yu.
After Prince Yu ascended the throne, he would absolutely not tolerate the Zhenbei Prince's Mansion.
The more the second wife thought about it, the more hopeful she felt for the future. All the bitterness of the past few days vanished, and she walked out of the secret passage with light steps.
The servants stood in the courtyard waiting for her to come out, and then they would go back to Xingning Street together.
The second wife took a handkerchief, patted the dust off her clothes, and walked towards the side door.
The servant boy followed behind her, carrying chests and trunks.
The maid opened the side door.
In an instant, the torches outside the door illuminated the backyard as bright as day.
When the maid saw who was outside the door, her legs went weak and she knelt down with a thud.
As soon as she knelt down, the scene outside the door was laid bare before the Second Madam's eyes, and she was nearly scared out of her wits.
The second wife's face turned deathly pale, and the handkerchief in her hand fluttered to the ground.
"Mother... mother..."
The second wife stared blankly at the old lady surrounded by servants, her mind a complete blank, her limbs weak. But when she saw Shen Qingtan supporting the old lady, she utterly broke down.
That bitch, it's her again!
Didn't that bitch go to her appointment?
Why does it appear here?
"Luo Lingzhi, your second branch of the family has been separated from the Duke's mansion. What are you doing here in the middle of the night?" The old lady's eyes were icy as she looked at the servant carrying a load behind the second wife, her face darkening. "What's going on here? Aren't you going to explain?"
They were caught red-handed today, with the evidence all at their disposal, and the second wife had no way to explain herself.
Everyone in the Duke's mansion had witnessed the great abilities of the second wife.
She couldn't explain how she acquired this large sum of private property.
“Mother…Mother, you separated us from the manor and didn’t give us a single copper coin. These days, we’ve been relying on my brothers’ help to barely have enough to eat.”
The second wife knelt on the ground, tears streaming down her face: "My husband and Jue'er have no official positions, no business, and do no production. There's only a little food left in the house. Mingzhu is pregnant, how can we let her go hungry? I have no choice but to come to the Duke's mansion."
The old lady remained silent, coldly watching the second wife continue her weeping.
"The West Garden was the residence of the former Duke. A secret passage was dug in the study, which connected to the storeroom of the second branch of the family. Below the storeroom was a hidden room where a lot of gold, silver and jade artifacts were stored."
"I discovered them by chance, and fearing that these gold, silver and jade artifacts were of dubious origin, I didn't dare to use a single copper coin."
"I was desperate, that's why I set my sights on this money... I didn't expect you to catch me in the act."
At this point, the second wife burst into tears: "Mother, your daughter-in-law knows she was wrong. When I discovered this ill-gotten wealth, I should have reported it to you instead of harboring selfish intentions and wanting to keep it for myself."
The old lady scrutinized the second wife with sharp eyes, trying to find traces of lying on her face.
The second wife was terrified, afraid that her secret would be exposed, and she wiped the tears from her face with her handkerchief.
The old lady withdrew her gaze, leaned on her cane, and slowly walked into the courtyard, her eyes sweeping over a dozen chests and cages covered with black cloth.
She said, "Open it."
The servant dared not disobey the old lady and hurriedly opened the chest.
Boxes of gold, silver, and jade artifacts were all exposed to the public's view.
A gasp rippled through the courtyard, as if someone had been stunned.
Even the usually composed First Madam couldn't help but walk into the courtyard and examine the boxes one by one, becoming increasingly alarmed with each look.
The First Madam learned from Shen Qingtan that the Second Madam was secretly making counterfeit goods.
In retrospect, this money was not the private savings left by the former Duke, but rather ill-gotten gains made by the second wife.
In order to extricate herself, the second wife used the name of a former duke from the previous dynasty as a pretext.
"The previous dynasty..." The old lady, leaning on her cane, stood in front of the second wife and said with an ambiguous tone, "You're saying that all these gold, silver, and jade artifacts were left in a secret room by the Duke of the previous dynasty?"
The second wife dared not admit that this private property was hers; if she did, she feared she would have no way to survive.
She steeled her resolve and gritted her teeth, saying, "If my daughter-in-law tells even half a lie, she will be punished by heaven."
Hearing her swear a solemn oath, the old lady seemed to believe her: "In that case, leave the thing behind, and you may leave."
The second wife's expression changed, and she quickly said, "Mother, when you divided Jingde Hall among our second branch, I thought that this gold, silver, and jade artifacts were in our second branch..."
The First Madam interrupted her: "Mother said last time that you plotted to harm Yi'er, so the Second Branch's belongings will be left to Yi'er as compensation."