Left Speechless

Lady Zhu is a seasoned veteran of palace intrigue; she naturally understands that details determine success or failure. If she immediately appears the moment Lady Su makes a move, wouldn't that seem too convincing? In the end, no matter what, everyone will say that they plotted to bully Lady Su.

Lady Su had gone to great lengths to choose this alleyway, hoping to ruin Zhao Ruxi's reputation. Lady Zhu, of course, could not let her good intentions go to waste.

She had to make the Lady Su famous in this alleyway.

Of course, this is also based on having great confidence in Zhao Ruxi.

Given Zhao Ruxi's intelligence and competence, Lady Zhu believed that with the protection of Gao Weiqiang, Lady Luo, and others, she would definitely not suffer any losses. That's why she only left the house after the servants had entered to report.

At this moment, she walked over and, before Lady Su could react, "Slap!" five finger marks appeared on Lady Su's fair face.

"You... you dare to hit me?" Lady Su covered her face, staring at Lady Zhu in disbelief.

In her eyes, Lady Zhu had always been kind and magnanimous. Even when she had gone too far in her words and actions with Lady Wei, Lady Zhu would always let things go and not hold it against them for the sake of the overall situation of the Earl of Suiping's Residence.

She never expected that Lady Zhu would slap her in front of everyone.

"You hit my daughter, so I can't hit you back?" Lady Zhu said coldly. "You bullied my daughter and came here to ruin her reputation. One slap from me is too lenient."

She pointed at the maids and servants behind Lady Su: "Lady Su, you've really gotten yourself into trouble. Leading your maids and servants to the alley entrance to beat people up, do you think that just because the Third Brother has become a high-ranking official, you can do whatever you want?"

Lady Su was filled with grief and indignation. She pointed at Zhao Ruxi and said, "Do you know what she did?"

"What did she do?" Lady Zhu wanted to get to the bottom of things so she could explain it clearly in public.

The worst thing you can do in this kind of situation is to be vague or ambiguous, which leads to unfounded speculation. This easily causes rumors to spread and become increasingly distorted, making it difficult to clarify the situation later.

"Why did she provoke the Earl of Zhongqin's Residence for no reason? She attracted their revenge, and my master was beaten to the point of barely breathing. When he was carried back, he was covered in blood. I was almost scared out of my wits." Lady Su cried again.

"Provoking the Earl of Zhongqin's Residence for no reason?" Lady Zhu sneered.

She glanced at the crowd of onlookers, "The Heir of the Earl of Zhongqin has forced the craftsmen into a corner..."

She recounted Ge Wu's tragic past in detail, then added, "My daughter didn't know any of this. At the time, we needed to hire a craftsman, and since we heard that Ge Wu was skilled, we hired him directly. It's like when you hear that a chef there is exceptionally good at cooking, and you want to host a banquet, so you hire him to cook for your family. Who knows what he might have gone through before?"

Everyone nodded in agreement.

"We are all nobles, all earls. Although none of us from the Earl of Suiping's Residence hold official positions in the court, we still possess noble titles. But that Heir of the Earl of Zhongqin didn't utter a word, and just did this..." Lady Zhu pointed at Lady Su, "Stopped my daughter on the street, humiliated her, and threatened to ruin my entire family."

"My daughter isn't without support. She has a powerful master, Mister Kumu; and she's very close friends with the County Princess of Qingyang from the Prince of Zhennan's Residence. Both mansions sent people to plead with the Earl of Zhongqin. Somehow, the censor found out about this, and the Earl of Zhongqin was impeached, dismissed from his post, and demoted."

"Gentlemen, tell me, what does this have to do with my daughter? Can't she hire craftsmen? The Heir of the Earl of Zhongqin bullied and threatened her, and the Kang Family and the Prince of Zhennan's Residence sent people to plead for him. What's wrong with that? The Earl of Zhongqin was impeached simply because he offended someone in court, and others seized the opportunity to impeach him. What does this have to do with my daughter?"

"Now look what's happened! As her aunt, Lady Su doesn't even bother to visit or comfort her niece who's been bullied outside, and my third uncle, who's an official, doesn't even speak up for her. Now Lady Su is even running to the alley entrance saying something about 'provoking the Heir of the Earl of Zhongqin, ' speaking unclearly and trying to mislead everyone and ruin my daughter's reputation. Everyone, please judge for yourselves, what are her true intentions? I strongly suspect she's in cahoots with the Earl of Zhongqin's Residence. Look at these tactics of blocking the road and humiliating people, they're exactly the same."

Seeing everyone nodding in agreement with Lady Zhu's words, Lady Su grew anxious. "How could that be? We have absolutely no connection with the Earl of Zhongqin's Residence's family. My master was almost beaten to death because of this, and he even lost the official position he had worked so hard to obtain. Are we going to harm ourselves? This was all because Miss Xi offended someone. Seeing my master almost lose his life, isn't it only right that I come to seek justice?"

Everyone agreed that this made sense, so they looked at Lady Zhu to see what she would say.

"You mean that the Earl of Zhongqin's Residence wants to retaliate, but instead of targeting our powerless eldest son's family and Miss Xi herself, they're targeting the Third Master, who has separated from the family and now holds an official position in the Office of the Grand Steward?" Lady Zhu asked.

Lady Su was speechless.

She simply couldn't understand the power struggles and factional infighting in the imperial court. Even if she did, she wouldn't dare to say it in front of everyone.

Lady Zhu continued, "Besides, isn't the Court of Office of the Grand Steward Sacrifices the Crown Prince's residence? The Earl of Zhongqin isn't an official of the Office of the Grand Steward. What benefit could he possibly gain from going to such great lengths, risking angering His Highness the Crown Prince and being beheaded, to retaliate against your master?"

Since Lady Zhu was prepared, she naturally didn't forget to arrange two or three shills here. The one who spoke up for Zhao Ruxi just now was one of those shills.

As soon as Lady Zhu finished speaking, one of the shills laughed and said, "Isn't that right? For example, if I had a fight with my neighbor, instead of retaliating against my family, he would bully a distant relative of mine, whose Earl of Zhongqin's Residence -in-law is a constable in the yamen. Isn't that a joke? Only a fool or a madman could do something like that, right?"

Some of the people were unfamiliar with court affairs and couldn't understand Lady Zhu's meaning. Now, with examples from their own lives, everyone understood, and their gazes towards Lady Su became even more disdainful.

"It's just taking it out on her. Her husband must have offended someone or made a mistake, got beaten by his superior, and lost his job. They think the older brother's family is easy to bully, so they came here to ruin their niece's reputation and extort some money," another shill in the crowd said.

With this kind of public opinion guidance, everyone couldn't help but scoff at the Lady Su.

While Lady Zhu was speaking, Lady Su did have opportunities to interject. However, everything Lady Zhu said was true, Lady Su couldn't refute it.

It was clearly Zhao Ruxi's fault that her master lost his official position, but now she was the one being accused of being unreasonable, extorting money, bullying the weak and fearing the strong. Yet she couldn't say anything or explain herself. Lady Su burst into tears.

"Tsk, here we go again." Everyone looked down on Lady Su with utter contempt.