A Beautiful Duchess with a Dark Heart – Chapter 113

Chapter 113

How could Eldest Master Liu dare to look?

He shouted frantically, “Stop!”

Nanny Cui came up and stopped Wen Yu for a moment, but her attitude was very respectful: “Miss Wen, the deceased are paramount. Even if you want to stand up for Miss Liu, you must pay attention to the method. Don’t be too impatient.”

Eldest Master Liu looked at Nanny Cui. Was she really standing up for her?!

“I understand, Nanny Cui, I was too agitated.” Wen Yu responded.

She turned to Eldest Master Liu and said: “Still the same words, if you do as I wish, we’ll be even. If not, I’ll publicize the abuse you and your wife inflicted on the siblings! In the end, you’ll lose both your wealth and reputation, and won’t be able to stay in this place! Your son will be ridiculed when he goes out! And no one will dare to be your second wife!”

Is this a girl? She’s clearly a shrew?! I really want to kill her! “What exactly do you want?” Eldest Master Liu asked.

“What do I want? Magistrate Liu, are you a smart man? Let me analyze it for you: Liu Lanfang’s parents passed away, and both their wealth and care fell into your hands. You just need to find a suitable marriage for Lanfang, give her a decent dowry, marry her off, and it’s over!”

“You have four sons but no daughter. If Lanfang marries well, wouldn’t it be beneficial for you and your sons?”

Eldest Master Liu lowered his head.

“As for Lanzhou, you don’t even have to treat him particularly well. He doesn’t need money for school, he doesn’t need to marry and have children, he’s not picky about food and clothing, you only need to… find two people to take care of him, don’t bully him, get him medical attention when he’s sick, that’s all. How long can he live in his condition? If you could do such a simple thing, would Lanfang still be worried about him and insist on taking him with her when she gets married?”

“Take care of him for a few years, he dies, and all the property rightfully belongs to you. You gain a good reputation and obtain the property, isn’t that good? Do you have to sacrifice several lives and the Liu family’s reputation?”

Eldest Master Liu licked his lips… He regretted it too!

He had indeed been careless in this matter.

He thought his wife could control the situation, but he didn’t expect Liu Lanfang to act so decisively…

He even less expected Wen Yu to stand up for her so resolutely…

Thinking about her drive and current influence… If they had a falling out, she might not gain much, but he wouldn’t benefit either, or it might be even worse for him.

After difficult negotiations, they finally reached a settlement: to suppress the matter, Wen Yu would privately take Lanzhou away, and to the outside world, they would say he went for medical treatment.

As for the property, Eldest Master Liu only agreed to give half, otherwise, even if he had to ruin his reputation, he wouldn’t let Lanzhou go.

He said half, but in reality, it was definitely less. Because those furniture pieces, valuable items, and servants were all irretrievable.

As for the house and fields, what could Eldest Master Liu do if Lanzhou couldn’t live in the house and manage the fields?

Wen Yu didn’t want to entangle further. She secretly hated him: When I rise up in the future, I will definitely avenge this!

Eldest Master Liu resentfully took out a few thousand taels of silver notes. He also thought to himself: If Liu Lanzhou dies in your hands… Hehe, I’ll make a big fuss, and everything you took will be spit back out.

By the time Magistrate Zhang arrived, they had already reached an agreement.

Zhang Jiangqing and Zhang Moqing arranged the specific matters, including finding a coffin shop and someone to handle the funeral.

Eldest Master Liu gave up a large room and set up a simple mourning hall, as no one would come to pay their respects anyway.

Wen Yu knew that Lanfang didn’t want to stay here any longer and expressed her wish to bury her the next morning. Then, she would directly take Lanzhou away.

Eldest Master Liu was only too happy to agree.

The matter came to a temporary end. Wen Yu called Nanny Cui aside, her face flushed, embarrassed: “Nanny Cui… Today, Wen Yu overstepped her bounds. I misused Madam’s name and took advantage of you. This is really outrageous! I was too anxious and couldn’t think of any other good solution for a while…”

“You’ve also seen Lanzhou. If I don’t take him away, he’ll die soon. But no matter how many reasons I have, it’s still wrong to do so. Wen Yu apologizes to Madam and you. Please go back and explain everything to Madam! If Madam blames me… or if the marriage doesn’t happen because of this, Wen Yu will understand.”

She was uneasy, she had gone too far!

What kind of mother-in-law could tolerate such a daughter-in-law?

If the marriage doesn’t happen… She probably wouldn’t be able to stay in the Wen family anymore.

If the Wen family let her go, she would take Yan Zhu and Lanzhou to find her uncle, then find a manor to live in, and that would be her life. If they didn’t let her go… Heh, with Liu Lanfang as an example… She didn’t believe she couldn’t carve out a bloody path!

It’s just that her original plan went awry, and she felt a little lost.

But Nanny Cui smiled: “Miss Wen, you don’t have to overthink it. Madam is not an ordinary woman. Our Cui family values family and friendship the most. When Madam was young, she was also very straightforward. I’ll go back and tell Madam everything in detail. I’ll go back first, how about you, Miss?”

“I’ll make arrangements for Lanzhou and then go home. Tomorrow morning, Lanfang will be buried. I’ll take Lanzhou away. It just so happens that I rented a courtyard before.”

“Good! That young master doesn’t look well, you should find a doctor quickly. If it’s not possible, use some sleeping pills to let him sleep for a few days.”

“Ah? Thank you for reminding me, Nanny…” Wen Yu only realized this now.

Not long after, a high-quality coffin and the people from the coffin shop arrived. Yan Zhu coaxed Liu Lanzhou and guarded outside the door. Special people came to comb Lanfang’s hair and tidy her up, then she was placed in the coffin.

Wen Yu pulled Liu Lanzhou to the coffin, looked at Liu Lanfang inside, took off the hairpin from her head, and inserted it into Lanfang’s hair.

“I remember when you were little, you loved to dress up. These past few years, you’ve been in mourning for your parents and your mood hasn’t been good, so I haven’t seen you wear bright clothes. Today, you’re going to see your parents, dress up nicely, they must be very happy to see you… Don’t worry, Lanzhou is in my care!”

“Lanzhou, doesn’t your sister look beautiful? She’s gone to find your parents. From now on, will you follow Sister Yu and Sister Zhuzhu, okay? Be good, obedient, don’t make your sister worried or angry, okay?”

Liu Lanzhou didn’t speak, his eyes fixed on Liu Lanfang, his hands tightly gripping the edge of the coffin.

It was getting late, and she had to go back.

✿✿✿

Zhang Jiangqing came over and said, “Ah Yu, you go back, I’ll keep watch tonight.”

“Okay. I’ll come early tomorrow morning.” She looked at Liu Lanzhou, very worried. “Zhuzhu, you stay here with him too. If he can eat, let him eat a little and drink some water. Spread out a mat here and coax him to sleep for a while.”

Yan Zhu pulled Liu Lanzhou and nodded.

✿✿✿

As soon as Wen Yu got home, she was called to Old Madam’s room, where Wu Shi was also present.

“Where have you been?” Old Madam asked angrily.

Hearing that two people had died at the Liu family’s residence, Old Madam Wen was startled. Although she didn’t know what had happened, it was definitely not a good thing!

Then, someone from the Liu family came to call for the “adults” of the Wen family, and their attitude was particularly bad, refusing to explain anything. Knowing that Wen Yu was at the Liu family’s residence, Old Madam was even more puzzled. Wasn’t she supposed to be at Madam Qi’s? How did she end up at the Liu family’s?

Heavens, getting involved in this matter, would her reputation be ruined?

Would the Wen family’s reputation be ruined?

With the situation unclear, Old Madam Wen definitely couldn’t show up, so Wu Shi angrily went over.

But when she arrived at the Liu family’s residence, she wasn’t allowed into the inner quarters, only to the mourning hall of Eldest Madam Liu in the front.

Actually, at this time, Wen Yu and Eldest Master Liu were already in the final stages of their negotiation. The tone had been set, and Eldest Master Liu didn’t want any further complications, so he didn’t let Wu Shi in.

Wu Shi burned incense in the front, looked around, but Eldest Madam Liu didn’t show up, and there weren’t even any women to receive her, so she didn’t know who to ask.

After a while, they asked her to leave.

She walked out, confused, and even went to the side door to have a look, but the door was tightly shut… She couldn’t hear anything.

When she got home, she told Old Madam everything, adding her own embellishments.

Old Madam Wen knew that Wen Yu had a very good relationship with the Liu siblings, what was she doing there?

Catching Wen Yu at this moment, Old Madam was both shocked and angry.

“Grandmother.” Wen Yu was tired and dejected. “Lanfang is dead. I went to take care of her funeral!”

“Who are you? Who is she? An unmarried girl, running off to take care of the funeral of another unmarried girl, how could you even think of that…” Wu Shi screamed excitedly.

“Second Aunt, I’m a person with a heart!” Wen Yu replied coldly, glancing at Wu Shi, but still addressing Old Madam: “Lanfang and I are best friends, she died, I had to go and see her.”

“Don’t give me that! What did you do at the Liu family’s? Why did the Liu family come to our house?” Wu Shi said fiercely.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about…” Wen Yu ignored her.

Wu Shi stood up abruptly and rushed towards Wen Yu: “You don’t know? You did something that disgraced the Wen family, and you’re just going to say you don’t know and be done with it?”

She gestured, wishing she could slap Wen Yu twice. She hated Wen Yu so much now, Wen Jiao was making a fuss every day…

“Second Aunt!” Wen Yu narrowed her eyes and looked at Wu Shi, “What did I do that disgraced the Wen family? I lost my dear friend, and I’m not even as agitated as you… What do you want? Do you also want to hit your own niece? I’m Wen Yu, not Liu Lanfang!” Her attitude changed drastically as she glared fiercely at Wu Shi.

Wu Shi was startled, “You, you’re rebelling?!”

“Heh!” Wen Yu turned to look at Old Madam.

Old Madam, however, remained impassive. The situation was unclear, she would let Wu Shi make a fuss first and see!

Although she hadn’t paid attention to Liu Lanfang, she knew Eldest Madam Liu, who was picky, demanding, pretentious, and mean… It wasn’t impossible that she would bully Liu Lanfang. But how did they both die?

Wu Shi pointed at Wen Yu: “Wen Yu, do you think that just because you have a good marriage arranged, you can forget yourself? You can disrespect your elders?”

“Second Aunt, first of all, you have to act like an elder. In this regard, your demeanor is far inferior to that of Grandmother and Eldest Aunt. You’re going to the capital, learn a little! Don’t be too embarrassing when compared to others!”

“Little…” The word “bitch” was on the tip of her tongue but she swallowed it back down, Wu Shi wanted to hit her…

“Enough! What’s all this noise about?” Old Madam glanced at Wu Shi, “Wen Yu, you don’t have to play both sides. The Liu family came today, and their attitude was extremely bad. Anyone who encounters such a thing would be agitated. If you really did something wrong… Grandmother doesn’t care who you’re marrying into, the family rules are not just for show!”

“Grandmother.” Wen Yu said respectfully, “Having lived in the Wen family for so many years, of course I know that the family rules… are not just for show!”

“…” Old Madam was actually speechless for a moment.

This damn girl’s attitude was fine, and there was nothing wrong with every word she said. But why was it so awkward?!

“Grandmother, I’m tired after a long day, I’ll go back to my room and rest. I have to go see Lanfang off early tomorrow morning.”

After saying that, she bowed respectfully and left gracefully…

Old Madam felt that today’s Wen Yu seemed to have changed again…