The husband I snatched halfway through his life is strange.

Not a single word was something Zhou Xuan wanted to hear!

He was about to vomit blood!

Pian Ning Yunling swaggered off to lead the way.

Zhou Xuan completely lost his mind, and even went to the backyard without Ning Yunling's guidance. But Xiao Huaiyan stopped him.

"Why are you walking so fast? Come with me."

At first, few people dared to follow suit. After all, the Duke's mansion held considerable power, and no one dared to laugh at them.

They were all eagerly waiting for someone to step forward and lead the way.

Jiashan has taken action.

She said calmly, "I do need to go and see for myself. Seeing is believing. Putting everything else aside, the matter of the Chu siblings is now a done deal, so that the Duke of Zhou's mansion won't deny it to the death and even accuse me of smearing them."

"Back then, the Duke of Zhou's younger brother used Five-Stone Powder as food. He became addicted, hallucinated, and fell into the water and died. He blamed it on my Gu family. Later, his son Zhou Xuan got drunk and couldn't stand steadily. He fell from the building and broke his leg. He also blamed it on the Gu family. They made things difficult for him many times. Is there anything that the Duke of Zhou wouldn't dare to do?"

Although the latter thing was done by Gu Fuju.

But does the Duke of Zhou have any evidence?

As soon as she moved, Gu Fuju stood up.

"Although it is a family matter of the Duke's mansion, in principle, we should not get involved. However, it involves a wide range of people. Not to mention my family, the Duke's mansion is also involved."

"The Wei family has been loyal and virtuous for generations."

"The Duke of Zhou's mansion is the maternal family of the Empress. Absolutely no stain is allowed. This is no longer a matter for the Zhou family."

She is the mother of a nation!
The dirty secrets of one's maternal family can be magnified completely.

He Xuran did not come.

But the Imperial Censor-in-Chief attending the banquet today was led by him. After a few glances, they all stood up.

"If anyone in the Duke of Zhou's household does anything despicable, the Censorate will certainly report it to the Emperor and submit a memorial. There will be absolutely no favoritism because the Duke of Zhou is the Emperor's father-in-law."

After they finished speaking, they bowed to the Duke of Zhou.

"If Duke Zhou has a clear conscience and has not done anything wrong, the Censorate will surely prove your innocence."

Gu Fuju nodded and said, "Your young mistress is a daughter of the Chu family."

He called out a name.

“Wang Quan”.

The Minister of Rites stood up and said, "Your humble servant is here."

"His father worked for you?"

"Your memory is correct. Chu Zhen served as the Vice Minister of the Ministry of Rites."

"The Ministry of Rites is in charge of the administration of rites, sacrifices, and the imperial examinations. If the children of its officials are morally deficient and disregard human relations, how can they be competent officials if they cannot manage their families properly?"

Gu Fuju casually glanced at the officials on the men's side of the table.

"Everyone."

"Light" is just two words.

All the civil and military officials rose and respectfully clasped their hands in greeting.

"Master."

Grand Tutor Gu: "Why don't we go together?"

Nearly 80% of the officials answered without hesitation: "Yes."

With Gu Fuju gone, most of the officials also left. Only the Crown Prince's faction and those who followed the Duke of Zhou remained.

The women, seeing their husbands set off, also got up and followed behind.

It wouldn't be an exaggeration to say that the procession was spectacular.

The Duke of Zhou felt his blood rush to his head; the event had come so suddenly that he didn't know what to do.

Should we stop it?
But at this critical juncture, if we really try to stop it, I'm afraid that before the incense stick burns out, word will spread that he has no shame and is having an affair with his daughter-in-law.

He was utterly despondent.

I don't want to take the blame.

For a fleeting moment, she even thought it would be wonderful if he were her child!
but……

He quickly calmed down.

Although the child is not of Zhou family blood, he will never know his true parentage.

Unable to bear it any longer, the old woman walked straight toward Duke Zhou.

"Lord Duke, you..."

Duke Zhou knew what she wanted to say.

They were simply asking him if he was really having an affair with Chu Ning.

Duke Zhou is thinking about it now!

At least that child still has the surname Zhou!

He shook his head heavily.

The old woman's heart sank deeper and deeper; she felt utterly bewildered! But...

Since things have come to this, we can only continue with the mistake, and no one else knows about the switch.

The old woman covered her face, unable to bear it.

The Crown Prince's own daughter will likely bear the stigma of being a wicked child for the rest of her life.

Can……

Nothing can stop the Empress and the Zhou family's grand plan.

Even if it's a sacrifice, it's paving the way for the Zhou family.

Because she was born a girl, she couldn't compete for the throne; that was her fate.

The old woman had a cold and hard heart.

"I will report everything that happened today to Your Majesty."

She had no intention of going to watch, already convinced that the Chu siblings were having an affair.

The officials who were there just now were all shrewd people; how could they not see through it! They were only following the Grand Tutor to gather evidence!
In the end, there was no room for maneuver, and the Zhou family could only accept their fate. The only thing the Duke of Zhou could do was to distance himself from the matter.

Can……

The Gu family came prepared, and the Duke of Shun's mansion was also involved. If they manipulate the situation, I'm afraid... they won't be able to extricate themselves from the situation either.

Shen Zhiyi anxiously followed the group, but as soon as they left the flower hall, Yu Tingwan stopped moving.

Yu Tingwan lowered her head and kicked at the pebbles.

"What? What are you standing there for? Come on! Let's go see what's going on."

Yu Tingwan said softly, "Xiao Huaiyan and Ning Yunling are paving the way ahead, I have to stay behind to clean up the mess."

Shen Zhiyi: ?
She doesn't understand.

But it wasn't until Tan Jiang tugged at Yu Tingwan's clothes that things started to get interesting.

"Madam, you've arrived."

Yu Tingwan smiled, kicked the stone away, and let out a soft sigh.

Shen Zhiyi: "What... happened again?"

"Something suddenly came to mind, and I couldn't help but sigh."

Shen Zhiyi: ...?
What are you sighing about?
She was about to yell at Yu Tingwan, asking if she was crazy.

But looking into Shangyu Tingwan's clear eyes, I suddenly felt that she must have a deeper meaning!

Shen Zhiyi humbly sought advice.

"what?"

Yu Tingwan: "Our area is poor, and many families can't find wives. In the end, the elders arrange marriages between close relatives."

“Some grandparents would arrange for their own cousins ​​to marry. Others would arrange a marriage exchange with their aunt's family, where the cousin would marry the aunt's son and then marry the aunt's daughter. In this way, no dowry was required.”

"But I don't know why. Most of the children born are not right. I know of one woman who gave birth to eight children, six of whom had problems. At first, I couldn't tell anything was wrong, but as the children grew older, I could tell that something was wrong."

Shen Zhiyi didn't react at first.

She nodded.

"How could this be? As far as I know, cousins ​​are not allowed to marry, and even among close cousins, marriage is rare."

Yu Tingwan said calmly, "People from remote and impoverished areas are hard to educate and have limited understanding. Even if they know the risks, they are so poor that they can't even afford to eat. So, for the sake of so-called carrying on the family line, they become selfish."

Those that were mentally challenged were sent directly to the deep mountains to become food for wild beasts; or if something seemed wrong and they were unwilling to be kept, they were simply strangled.

If one out of eight is normal, then for those people, it's worthwhile.

Yu Tingwan: "That's why I'm worried."

Shen Zhiyi suddenly realized: "You're worried that the child might also be mentally challenged."

"I didn't think much of it at first, but now that you mention it, I'm starting to have some concerns. I noticed the baby seemed listless and not in good spirits earlier. I thought it was because of the premature birth, but I'm afraid that's not the case."

She lowered her voice: "If it's the Duke's, that's fine, since they both share the Zhou surname. But if it's the Chu family..."

Yu Tingwan's voice was not low as she added, "What if he is also an idiot? That would be a real sin."

As she was talking, she turned her head.

He looked at the old woman who had appeared behind him at some point.

The old woman was stiff and had a gloomy expression.

Shen Zhiyi instinctively flinched in fear.

Yu Tingwan met the old woman's eyes, slowly covered her chest, and pretended to be scared.

Her voice was gentle and soft, but she took the initiative and spoke with more arrogance than anyone else.

"This is truly eye-opening."

"Why are you eavesdropping on other people's conversations?"

(End of this chapter)