Contentment with modest wealth

Chapter 385 She succeeded!

Li Mama forced herself to get up and said, “Our mistress has already retired for the night. Madam has given instructions that I will have her go to receive them first thing tomorrow morning.”

Madam Yan glanced at her and went straight to her room.

Granny Li quickly stepped forward to stop her: "Madam was beaten today and really cannot get up. Please forgive her, Madam!"

Just as Madam Yan was about to unleash her fury, the old woman who had already pushed open the door and entered the room rushed out: "Madam! The young mistress is not in her room!"

"Not here?"

Madam Yan looked at Li Mama on the ground, then turned and went into the house.

There were three or four maids standing in the room, but Lu Ying was nowhere to be seen on the bed!

……

Lu Ying stumbled back to the third room. Seeing that the courtyard was quiet and the room was still dark, just as when she left, with only a few lamps lit under the eaves, she felt relieved and pushed open the door.

"Granny Li, light the lamp."

She leaned against the door, speaking with her eyes closed.

The lamp in front of her suddenly lit up, and she opened her eyes. It was Madam Yan walking towards her step by step, holding a tinderbox.

The dim light illuminated her face in the darkness, making her appear like a ghost.

As if her tail had been stepped on, Lu Ying bounced to the side.

"Where have you been?" Madam Yan asked, her eyes slightly narrowed, her voice seemingly floating in mid-air.

After glancing subconsciously at the empty room, Lu Ying quickly regained her composure, stood up straight, and moved away from the wall.

"I was punished by my mother earlier, and my back was in so much pain that I couldn't sleep well, so I got up. I just went for a walk in the back."

Madam Yan sneered, "Still dare to lie?"

She held the tinder close to the lamp wick, and the room brightened. "Are you making a judgment about whether I'm blind or deaf? Can't see or hear? You're wearing the same clothes you were wearing when you came out of my room. If you were lying down, why are you still wearing them?"

Lu Ying swallowed hard, listening to the silence outside, knowing that Madam Yan had dismissed everyone and was determined to keep bothering her. She gritted her teeth and said, "Mother, did you come all this way in the middle of the night just to pick a fight with me?"

"I'm not a prisoner. Even if I walk around late at night, I haven't left this mansion. What's wrong with that?"

"Then tell me, who did you go to see?"

Under the lamplight, Madam Yan's eyes gleamed with a sharp light.

Lu Ying felt a chill in her heart. Apart from punishing herself, Madam Yan had never visited their third branch of the family. After Yan Liang had rebuked her earlier, it was even less likely that she would come.

Could it be that her words suggest she knows that he went to the back garden to see Lu Jia?
Was she really that careless?

How did I end up bringing her here?

Looking up at the empty room, with no sign of Li Mama and Yingzi, her heart sank further. She bit her lower lip: "I didn't see anyone."

After saying that, she glanced back at him and said, "When Madam came over, did my elder brother know? He saw that I was being bullied many times, so he placed a lot of people around me. Madam made a special trip here, so please don't let it be misunderstood again."

Yan Liang certainly wouldn't get involved in such matters, but Lu Ying didn't mind using it to put pressure on Madam Yan.

Without her husband by her side, Madam Yan has lost power. Now, it is the Yan brothers who are shouldering the heavy responsibility. No matter how ruthless Madam Yan is, she will not choose to go against Yan Liang, who has stood up for himself, at this time.

If we can drive her away, we'll be safe.

Lu Ying really wanted to get some rest.

But how could she know what Madam Yan had overheard before arriving? And how could she know that this was the very thing the other woman couldn't bear to hear at that moment?
As soon as Lu Ying finished speaking, Madam Yan stood up abruptly: "What a shameless slut! To my face, you still dare to be so brazen. It's clear that what they said is true. You dare to lay a finger on someone you shouldn't be messing with. You're asking for death!"

Madam Yan is in her prime and has been in control of everything inside and outside the house for decades. How could she be a weak woman?

Whether the Yan family is guilty or not does not affect the fact that she is a lady from a high-ranking family. How could such a scandal happen to her son?

Not to mention that Yan Song had been having an affair with Wei Shi for many years and had even given birth to Jiang Shi, which disgusted her to no end. Now, the one who is eyeing Yan Liang is that ungrateful slut Jiang Shi's daughter. How can she remain calm?
In her rage, she slapped him across the face, leaving a handprint instantly on Lu Ying's cheek.

Lu Ying had only recently left her status as a young lady confined to her chambers; how could she possibly be a match for her?

Seeing that she was about to strike a second time, he couldn't dodge in time and didn't care about rules or etiquette. He stretched out his hands and pushed Madam Yan with all his might!
Even a rabbit will bite when cornered.

She can't keep being manipulated, can she?
Madam Yan was pushed back a few steps until she bumped into a flower stand in the corner before she regained her balance.

When she turned around in shock, Lu Ying was already bracing herself against the edge of the table with both hands, glaring at her fiercely through gritted teeth.

Madam Yan had known her since birth, and from the beginning she knew that this girl was not simple-minded, but how many young ladies raised in families like theirs would be simple-minded? So she never cared!

But Lu Ying at this moment is no longer the Lu Ying she used to know, the one she was confident she could always control!

"Even if I don't know about the shady dealings of your Yan family now, I have ways of finding out! If I really can't live anymore, I'll make sure you can't live anymore either!"
"You forced me to kill my mother, so you should know I'm not a soft-hearted person! If you dare lay a hand on me again, or bully me again, I'll be the first to go to the Dali Temple to report you!"

Lu Ying finished speaking through gritted teeth and turned around unsteadily.

As she passed by the mirror, she leaned closer to take a look. Her left cheek was swollen from being hit, and blood was flowing from the corner of her mouth. She looked extremely awful.

But she had no heart to fight. She had been beaten in the afternoon, and the argument with Yan Liang had also exhausted her. When she saw Lu Jia again, her emotions were stirred up. She was already exhausted. If she were to fight back now, she would have no energy left to entangle them.
She wearily wiped her mouth and walked heavily toward the door.

As she turned, something fell to the ground, and the light shone on it, illuminating it clearly! It was none other than the jade pendant that Yan Liang had given to Lu Ying!
Madam Yan had seen this jade pendant before, but only when she was accusing Jin of being unreasonable.

Upon looking at it again, Madam Yan suddenly felt that she understood everything!
This jade is proof of their secret exchange. Yan Liang gave her the jade, so she was absolutely right. This slut, the slut born of Jiang, really did have designs on Yan Liang, and she succeeded!
"Bitch!"

Madam Yan grabbed a Duan inkstone from beside her and smashed it against the back of her head!

Lu Ying saw the shadow on the ground and quickly retreated. Madam Yan, seeing that she hadn't been hit, rushed forward again!

The rebounding inkstone fell to the ground, smashing a large crater in the granite floor tile!
Lu Ying felt a chill run down her spine. When she saw Madam Yan's ferocious face so close to her, she instinctively grabbed a plum vase from the flower stand, raised it high, and smashed it down on Madam Yan's head!

……