The abstinent and powerful minister is cold and aloof during the day, but he adores her in his dream

Chapter 274 She naturally wanted to destroy Zhiwan

The younger generation of the Wei family were all stunned.

Although they came from wealthy families, they had never seen such an extravagant birthday gift.

It really comes down to my uncle and aunt's ability.

Zhiwan was also deeply shocked by what she saw.

She knew her aunt's birthday gift wouldn't be simple, but she never expected it to be such a valuable tortoise shell birthday screen.

This tortoise shell longevity screen is the highest-level birthday gift available today. It is not only rare, but more importantly, its craftsmanship is extremely complex, time-consuming and labor-intensive. It is estimated that dozens of craftsmen are needed to make this longevity screen.

Moreover, after the longevity screen is made, it needs to be sent to a temple for consecration and blessing.

"Hui'er is so thoughtful." Old Master Wei was clearly stunned by the birthday gift from his daughter. When he came to his senses, the wrinkles on his face deepened with a smile.

He originally wanted to scold his daughter for being so extravagant, but looking at the funeral screen, he couldn't bring himself to say the words.

He loved this birthday gift so much.

He tried to resist, but couldn't help getting up to examine the longevity screen closely and touching the patterns and designs on it.

He admired the longevity screen for a long time before remembering something and hurriedly ordered someone to move the screen, along with the pine and crane painting given to him by Zhiwan, to the front courtyard reception room for display.

Seeing that her father liked the birthday gift she had given him so much, Madam Wei was overjoyed.

It was worth the expense of having this commemorative screen made for her father.

After that, guests came one after another to wish Old Master Wei a happy birthday.

Then, Lady Wei took Zhiwan to meet the other elders of the Wei family.

Out of respect for the Wei family, the other members of the Wei family were still polite to each other and dared not make things difficult for Zhiwan. However, the old lady of the Wei family and the eldest maternal aunt of the Wei family, Xu, spoke in a somewhat sarcastic tone.

"Minghui, your future daughter-in-law is quite formidable," said Madam Wei, still harboring resentment about what happened at the teahouse last time.

"Of course she's amazing, otherwise why would Jinzhi insist on marrying her?" Madam Xu covered her mouth and laughed, sounding like she was joking, but actually implying that Zhiwan had used underhanded methods to seduce Lu Zhan.

Listening to the two of them singing in unison, their words filled with malice towards Zhiwan, Madam Wei's face darkened, and she said indifferently, "Thank you for recognizing Wan'er, Mother. She is indeed not stupid. As for Jinzhi insisting on marrying no one but Wan'er, that's because Jinzhi has a discerning eye and has chosen a good wife for himself."

Hearing her words and how she was protecting Zhiwan, both Old Madam Wei and Madam Xu were somewhat resentful.

After a long pause, Madam Wei finally managed to say, "As long as you don't regret it in the future, that's fine."

“Mother, you’re right. You’ve never regretted having such a capable and virtuous daughter-in-law as your eldest sister-in-law, so how could I? My Wan’er is so well-behaved and filial, I’m just content!” Madam Wei said calmly.

Upon hearing this, Madam Xu became somewhat annoyed.

What does it mean to have a capable and virtuous daughter-in-law like her? Wei Minghui was clearly mocking her.

Xu was furious, but she couldn't say anything, since the other party hadn't scolded her and had even praised her for being capable.

Seeing that both Madam Wei and Madam Xu were rendered speechless by her aunt's retorts, Zhiwan lowered her head and smiled. Her aunt's mouth was always sharp, and few people could get the better of her.

However, she was fortunate that her aunts trusted and protected her unconditionally, and that they did not succeed in sowing discord among her.

“Sister-in-law Wan’er, this place is so boring. Shall I take you for a stroll in the garden?” At this moment, Wei Jinxiu walked up to her, tugged at her sleeve, and whispered.

Zhiwan hesitated.

Wei, who happened to be standing next to her, heard this and said gently, "Go ahead and go for a stroll with Jinxiu. Come back after the banquet starts."

Upon hearing this, Zhiwan nodded, "Okay, then I'll go."

"Jinxiu, take good care of Wan'er," Madam Wei instructed.

"Don't worry, Aunt, I will definitely take care of Cousin Wan'er. If anything happens, just come to me," Wei Jinxiu assured her.

Madam Wei laughed and scolded, "What trouble could possibly happen to you in the Wei family?" As she said this, her gaze swept over the women of the Wei family.

Upon seeing this, Madam Xu frowned, wanting to say something, but remembering how formidable her sister-in-law was, she kept her mouth shut.

Zhiwan followed Wei Jinxiu to the garden.

"Sister-in-law Wan'er, come and see! These koi are so beautiful!" Wei Jinxiu walked to the edge of the pond and waved to Zhiwan behind her.

Hearing her address, Zhiwan felt somewhat helpless. "Jinxiu, you should just call me sister."

She's not married to my cousin yet, so calling her "cousin-in-law" is kind of embarrassing.

"I don't want to, otherwise I'll have to change my mind later." Wei Jinxiu said with a smile, taking the fish food from the maid and giving some to Zhiwan, "Scatter the fish food down, and they will swim over immediately."

As instructed, Zhiwan scattered the fish food in her hand into the pond.

Sure enough, a school of koi immediately swam over, vying for the fish food. The two were having a great time when suddenly, Wei Jinyi arrived with several male guests.

"You're here too, what a coincidence." Wei Jinyi greeted them casually, as if she wasn't the one who had targeted Zhiwan at Old Master Wei's Shou Kang Ju earlier.

When Wei Jinxiu noticed that there was a man among the guests she had brought, she frowned and said to Zhiwan, "Let's go somewhere else to play."

Zhiwan didn't want to be with Wei Jinyi, that troublemaker, so she readily agreed, "Okay."

"Ladies, why are you trying to leave as soon as you see us? Do you look down on us?"

At this moment, a man reached out and blocked their path, glancing at Zhiwan with clearly ill intentions.

Wei Jinxiu was furious. "If you don't move aside, I'm going to call for help."

"Go ahead and shout. You'd better call everyone over to see who's really at a disadvantage then," the man said confidently. The other two men with him also burst into laughter.

Seeing that the group clearly had ill intentions, Zhiwan frowned and looked at Wei Jinyi.

Wei Jinyi's expression changed, as if she hadn't expected things to turn out this way.

"Don't you dare do anything reckless. One of them is a girl from my Wei family, and the other is the fiancée of the Minister of the Court of Judicial Review. If anything happens to her, my cousin will not let you off the hook."

"So you're the fiancée of the Minister of the Court of Judicial Review, my apologies!" The men immediately became flustered.

Seeing this, Wei Jinxiu felt relieved and immediately scolded, "You all leave quickly. We can pretend that today's events never happened."

"Yes, yes, yes, we'll leave now." The men nodded and bowed, then turned and walked towards the moon gate.

Zhiwan, however, did not relax.

Wei Jinyi bringing several male guests here out of the blue must mean something more.

"It's alright, they're gone," Wei Jinyi said with a sigh of relief.

"Fifth Sister, what's going on? Why did you bring a male guest here?" Wei Jinxiu asked unhappily.

Wei Jinyi said awkwardly, "Guests are guests. They said they wanted to stroll around the garden, so I brought them in on my way. I didn't expect to run into you. Luckily, I mentioned my cousin's name and scared them away."

Zhiwan gave her a scrutinizing look. "Wei Jinyi, those people aren't guests of the Wei family, are they?"

"What do you mean by that? If they're not guests, what are they?" Wei Jinyi said unhappily.

“Those people have no manners at all; they’re like thugs. The Wei family shouldn’t have any relatives or friends like that, right?” Zhiwan looked at her sharply.

Upon hearing this, Wei Jinxiu looked at Wei Jinyi with suspicion, "Fifth Sister, did you bring those people into the manor? What exactly do you want to do?"

Wei Jinyi's eyes flashed. What did she want to do? She naturally wanted to destroy Zhiwan.

Suppressing her resentment, she feigned anger and said, "It's too much for you to doubt me like this. Fine, I'm not playing with you anymore." With that, she left with her companions.

"Cousin-in-law Wan'er, have we misunderstood her?" Wei Jinxiu frowned.

"We'll find out soon enough whether there's been a misunderstanding," Zhiwan said.

"What?" Wei Jinxiu asked, puzzled.

Zhiwan didn't say anything more, and pulled her to hide behind a rockery not far away.

Just as they had hidden themselves, they saw the three men who had left earlier return and were standing by the pool, searching for something.

"Where is the person? Why is he missing?"

"Could they have already left?"

"Impossible. We've been guarding the garden entrance the whole time, and we haven't seen them leave at all. They should still be in the garden."

"Then let's look for it quickly."

The three men split up and began searching.

The three of them made quite a commotion, and the others hiding behind the artificial hill heard them.

Wei Jinxiu gasped. The three men hadn't left, and it seemed they intended to harm them.

Seeing one of the men approaching the artificial hill, she immediately grabbed Zhiwan's sleeve nervously, "Sister-in-law, what should we do? Someone's coming."

"Don't be afraid, ladies. I'll go and distract them in a moment," Shuang'er whispered after peeking out.

“No, your injuries haven’t healed yet,” Zhiwan objected. Those people were no good; if Shuang’er fell into their hands, it would be troublesome. How could she let Shuang’er take such a risk?

Moreover, there wasn't a single servant in the huge garden, clearly having been sent away beforehand.

Thinking it over, she looked around and picked up a stone, whispering, "Only one person is coming this way. If we work together, we might be able to subdue him."