Meng Ruyi trembled. Even while holding her breath, she could smell the overwhelming anger coming from her aunt.
"Niece...niece is guilty of many sins."
She lowered her head and kowtowed to the floor tiles. The tip of her forehead touched the cold blue bricks, and the trembling on her body became more obvious.
"You also know how sinful it is?" The old lady stopped in front of her and kicked Meng Ruyi's chest with her embroidered shoes embroidered with golden lotus branches, forcing her face to lift up and meet her gaze: "You know You have sinned so much, how come you still have the guts to come to me alive!"
Meng Ruyi trembled, not daring to meet her gaze.
Mrs. Gongsun's face was not very gentle, and her eyes were particularly sharp. Now that they were looking at each other so close, their eyes became more and more frightening.
She swallowed and couldn't speak: "Niece... my niece is unforgivable, but she dare not take the decision for her own life. My niece knows that she cannot escape the blame for this crime, but please, for the sake of the Meng family, please Spare my niece’s life!”
Mrs. Gongsun gritted her teeth and kicked Meng Ruyi to the ground.
"For the sake of the Meng family! If the Meng family has such a reputation, why would they instigate you to do such a wretched thing! They colluded to ruin my son's reputation!"
She narrowed her eyes, and her whole body looked terrifying and cold in the candlelight.
"No!" Meng Ruyi crawled back and knelt down after being overthrown, "I don't want to harm the prince. Even if I had a hundred courages, I wouldn't dare to harm the prince. It's just... it's just..."
"But what?" Mrs. Gongsun stood still, her teeth clenched tightly, and she stared down at Meng Ruyi who was lying at her feet.
Meng Ruyi raised her head and glanced at the old lady quickly, but did not dare to say a word.
Old Madam Gongsun frowned as she looked at her, and the coldness in her voice suddenly became more serious, "Let me ask you, what are you planning to do by joining forces?!"
Meng Ruyi flinched.
She didn't dare to say that her second brother was setting up a trap for the prince. In fact, it was her cousin's money that she was plotting. It was already a sin to harm someone. If she added it to make money, wouldn't it add to the crime?
"Say it quickly!" Mrs. Gongsun shouted violently and threw a cup on the ground.
The shards of the cup bounced onto Meng Ruyi's face and neck, and she fell back with a hiss. This move was too hasty, and a sweet taste hit the bottom of her throat and rushed to the base of her tongue, and then her eyesight turned black.
Meng Ruyi was so frightened that she swallowed the blood in her throat, gritted her teeth, pushed herself up and knelt down, "What we are trying to do...is my cousin's money. We don't really want to harm the prince, we just want to set up a trap to show off." The cousin vomited some money and the eldest brother is dead. Now the Meng family is counting on the second brother, but the second brother has offended someone and needs money. I am a Meng family. Even if I get married in the future, I will have to rely on my natal family... Aunt, I really am not We intend to harm the prince! We are just putting on a show for Mrs. Xiao."
"silver?"
Mrs. Gongsun found this reason from her string of words.
She meditated on the incident and figured out the cleverness involved, "Your second brother knew that I was going to take you to the palace, and together with Han Qi, he set up a trap to harm the prince. He wanted to take advantage of Mrs. Xiao's panic and desperation to lure her out. A sum of money? So, you didn’t want to be Jingzhi’s concubine at all, you just wanted to take the money and go back to the Meng family!”
Meng Ruyi looked pale and nodded slowly, "Master Han came to ask for marriage, and the second brother has already agreed on my behalf... My aunt suddenly proposed to take me over to be the prince's concubine. I didn't want to be a concubine... but the second brother Before I found out that the Xiao family was in trouble, I had already saved a lot of money for my cousin, so..."
Mrs. Gongsun looked at her, her expression even a little erratic under the surging anger.
So not only did she lure the wolf into the house, but she also indirectly plotted against her daughter-in-law's private property!
At this moment, she was no longer disgraced, but even her spine was turned into powder! She suppressed her anger and asked, "How much money did you extort from Mrs. Xiao?"
Meng Ruyi said carefully: "More than twenty thousand taels..."
"More than twenty thousand taels..." Mrs. Gongsun looked at Meng Ruyi, motionless, her eyes seemed to be fixed on her face, "Where is the silver now?"
Meng Ruyi shivered: "The second brother took it away and paid off half of the debt. The rest was sealed by his boss.
I gave some silver to Han Qi, and me... I also got two thousand taels..."
When Mrs. Gongsun heard that the money was about to come back, she was so angry that she almost passed away.
She could find out the truth, couldn't the eldest son find out the truth?
Afterwards, when he knows the cause and effect, he will definitely come to question him.
If she can take out 20,000 taels and return it to her daughter-in-law, and then hand Meng Ruyi over to Xiao, she might be able to save her face as a mother and mother-in-law.
But now, where can she find more than 20,000 taels!
Their family was from a grassroots background and had little financial resources, and she did not have a very generous dowry. Although the eldest son had saved some money for the emperor's wars over the years, and later he was given a generous reward by the Northern King of Fengzhen, but if this money came from the public account If it comes out, the daughters-in-law will inevitably know about this.
Things are obviously at a dead end!
But she had to make a choice.
Or, offer Meng Ruyi and the silver to Mrs. Xiao together, so that you can be clear about your conscience.
But in this way, I have lost all my dignity, and I will no longer be able to show off my power and show off my mother-in-law's favors in front of Mrs. Xiao.
Moreover, in her son's opinion, she, a mother who knew nothing about people, almost harmed him, but Mrs. Xiao used her private property to save him from disaster!
Mrs. Gongsun gritted her teeth, no, this will never work.
Or, she can only make mistakes, cover up for Meng Ruyi, and use Meng Ruyi to get rid of the Xiao family before her son finds out the truth, and it's all over! !
The old lady looked at Meng Ruyi for half a stick of incense.
Meng Ruyi felt extremely uneasy. She didn't know what her aunt's gaze meant. Was it because she hated her answer, or was she doubtful about her confession. She felt a little weak after being stared at, and her waist finally couldn't support it. , his body tilted and he knelt down on the ground.
The old lady suddenly turned away and looked out the window, "You should get up first."
Meng Ruyi's expression paused, and she managed to stand up with her knees in hand.
Because she had been kneeling for too long, she staggered twice when she stood up, and she held on to the table beside her before she could stand upright.
The old lady's face had calmed down, "Since your surname is Meng, this disaster was stopped in time and the loss was not caused. I will keep you for now."
Her voice was neither high nor low.
Meng Ruyi looked up at the old lady in disbelief, and saw that the other party's expression was softened and slightly sulky, and she did not seem to be deliberately speaking sarcastically. She didn't have time to think too much. After a moment's pause, she quickly knelt down and kowtowed, "Niece, thank you aunt for your forgiveness!"
She thought that even if the old lady did not execute her, she would not be able to make things easier for her. Maybe she would be sent to a nunnery to have her hair shaved off, or she might be escorted to Zhuangzi for the rest of her life.
She never thought her aunt would forgive her!
For such a result, she would not only kowtow a few times, but she would be willing to sacrifice half of her life!
But the old lady still had something to say next.
