CHAPTER 353: CHAPTER 347: I AM THE MARQUIS MANSION DOWAGER 36

Tang Zong had no idea what was happening when he was called over.

He looked on, somewhat dazed, at Ms. Zhang kneeling on the ground wailing, as well as at the furious, livid-faced Mrs. Song and Tang Bai.

"Mother, brother, what’s going on?"

Before Mrs. Song could speak, Tang Bai pointed at Ms. Zhang and sneered coldly: "Little brother, take a good look at the wife you’ve chosen, oh, she’s really something, isn’t she? She’s nearly stripped our home bare, and now she’s framing me for all sorts of crimes."

"Big brother, I don’t understand what you mean?"

Tang Zong was still clueless.

Tang Bai couldn’t even bring himself to be angry at Tang Zong.

Tang Zong was a naive and sweet fool, always believing that there were no problems within the manor. He always thought that the family was very close, a model of maternal love and filial piety, brotherly respect, and fraternal deference. Little did he know that beneath the surface, the Marquis Mansion was already swirling with dark undercurrents.

Tang Bai rubbed his forehead: "Little brother, from now on, you should stop constantly scolding Rong. I’ve realized that Rong is just like you; like father, like son. Dragons beget dragons, phoenixes beget phoenixes, and the sons of mice know how to burrow. This old saying doesn’t deceive."

Tang Zong opened his slightly small peach blossom eyes, which appeared even smaller from his slight weight gain: "Big brother, I really don’t understand, I hope you can enlighten me."

What more could Tang Bai say?

Facing such a foolish little brother, he had no choice but to grit his teeth and accept it.

He pointed at Ms. Zhang: "This foolish wife you married, she’s so stupid and vicious. She actually dared to practice usury behind our backs and colluded with outsiders wanting to smuggle salt. She’s also sold our three thousand mu of land in Jinling..."

As Tang Bai listed Ms. Zhang’s crimes one by one, Tang Zong listened until he was clutching his chest, struggling to breathe.

He simply couldn’t believe it.

He usually looked down on Ms. Zhang, a woman ignorant of the most basic characters, but he had always believed that Ms. Zhang was decent, at least very respectful to Old Madam, and loving towards the children below.

He had never imagined that Ms. Zhang would do such things behind everyone’s back.

The more Tang Bai spoke, the angrier he became, blue veins throbbing on his forehead: "Little brother, the land Ms. Zhang sold is our ancestral land, our ancestral land! I have let down our ancestors of the Tang family, how could I not have noticed that Ms. Zhang dared to sell our ancestral land."

This time, Tang Zong also grew angry.

What was the ancestral land? It was the foundation of a family. Over the years, the Tang family had been accumulating ancestral lands, considering the future generations. They feared that one day the Marquis Mansion would decline, or become convicted; then the family, returning to their hometown, could still rely on the ancestral land to study and live, and may still have hope for redemption.

Ms. Zhang’s act of selling the ancestral land was like maliciously wishing for the Tang family to end its lineage.

Tang Zong couldn’t stand it, and with one kick, he toppled Ms. Zhang: "Venomous woman, venomous woman, I will divorce you."

What could Mrs. Song say at this time?

What more could she say?

Faced with such a daughter-in-law, she too was angered.

"Master, master, I did all this for our manor’s sake, all for our children."

Hearing that Tang Zong wanted to divorce her, Ms. Zhang immediately cried out and clung to Tang Zong’s leg: "I did it for you, master; you can’t divorce me, my... my brother won’t let you divorce me either."

Ms. Zhang’s eldest brother was now a second-rank official, and a powerful one at that, a standing the Tang family could not compare with. Ms. Zhang invoked her brother’s name, hoping that Tang Zong would spare her for her brother’s sake.

However, no sooner had she finished speaking than the voice of Tang Tao was heard: "Second Uncle, your wife isn’t only guilty of those charges; not only did she sell our ancestral land, but she also sold our hereditary properties in Jinling. We originally owned eighteen shops in Jinling City, and now she has sold eight of them."

As Tang Tao spoke, he entered the room.

He handed the evidence to Tang Zong: "Moreover, your wife is quite good at meddling in affairs. The reason that the girl from the Chang’an Defender’s family committed suicide by throwing herself into the river was because of a wrongdoing by your wife, who tried to pressure the family into marrying her off to the uneducated son of the Magistrate by flaunting her influence. The girl, enraged, took her own life. Additionally, when the new Magistrate of Jinling took office, your wife was involved in many legal cases, causing many families to be ruined and people to die. Right now, people in Jinling are bitterly cursing our family."

Tang Zong’s hands trembled as he took those pieces of evidence, reading through them bit by bit, with towering rage brewing in his eyes.

"Ms. Zhang..."

Tang Zong bellowed, "You... you’ve brought such disaster upon the Tang Family, I cannot keep you."

"Second son."

Mrs. Song, who had been sitting in silence, spoke up.

She knew that with these matters exposed, Ms. Zhang would not meet a good end, but still, she couldn’t allow Tang Zong to divorce her.

After all, their family currently relied heavily on the Zhang Family and she could not afford to offend them. Moreover, for the sake of Tang Ying in the palace and her most cherished Tang Rong, Mrs. Song couldn’t let Ms. Zhang be cast aside, which would bring shame upon Tang Ying and Tang Rong.

At her call, Tang Zong immediately looked at Mrs. Song.

He fell to his knees before Mrs. Song with a plop, crying so hard that Mrs. Song felt a pang in her heart: "Mother, it is all my fault, I failed to discipline this foolish woman properly, I am incompetent, it’s all because I married such a creature, she has brought great misfortune upon our Tang Family."

Mrs. Song, seeing her own son cry like this, felt an extreme hatred towards Ms. Zhang.

She glared fiercely at Ms. Zhang, "What else have you done? Be honest and confess everything. I will write a letter to the Zhang Family immediately to have them take you back."

Ms. Zhang was so frightened upon hearing this, she continuously kowtowed: "Old Madam, Old Madam, don’t divorce me, please don’t. I’ve observed three years of mourning, you can’t cast me aside."

Just as she finished speaking, someone outside shouted, "Old Madam, Old Master, Mr. Xu has sent someone over."

Tang Bai immediately went out, and soon after, entered with Housekeeper Xu, whose face was grim.

Housekeeper Xu entered and bowed to Mrs. Song, "Old Madam, peace be upon you. I am here under the command of our master specifically to clarify how our Madam passed away, and also to seek justice from your honorable household."

Uh?

Mrs. Song’s heart tightened; she had a very bad premonition.

Tang Bai was looking at Ms. Zhang with a gloomy expression.

Ms. Zhang was even more terrified.

No one knew better than Ms. Zhang how Tang Xu had died.

"What, what do you mean by that?"

Instead, it was Tang Zong who was still confused about the situation.

Housekeeper Xu didn’t beat around the bush and directly said, "After our Madam passed away, our Old Master ordered the inspection of our Madam’s belongings in her room, and it happened that a young maid who had just entered the household had previously learned some medical knowledge from her father. That maid pointed out that the things in the Madam’s room were not right, the bed curtains were soaked in some sort of potion and were made of silk, and these curtains were the ’hundred sons and thousands of grandchildren’ gifted by your household. Even the jade pillow that the Madam used was made of Heavenly Jade, and many of the decorations in the Madam’s room were also gifts from your household, but all had problems, all had been tampered with medicines that either caused sterility or weakened the body."

With Housekeeper Xu having explained to this point, there was nothing left unclear to anyone.

Mrs. Song, Tang Zong, and Tang Bai all stared at Ms. Zhang.

But it was Mrs. Song’s gaze that was almost lethal, as if she wanted to bite Ms. Zhang to death.

Housekeeper Xu didn’t bother with their reactions and continued, "When the Old Master found out, he was furious and ordered a thorough investigation. He detained the Madam’s personal attendants and the servants from your household that had accompanied the Madam to the Xu Family, interrogating them all. In the end, it turned out that it was the Second Mrs. from your household who had orchestrated this, who had bought our Madam’s personal maid years ago to secretly administer the drugs to our Madam. And over several years, everything gifted from your household had issues."

"Ms. Zhang."

Mrs. Song snatched up a teacup and hurled it at Ms. Zhang.

Ms. Zhang didn’t dare dodge, and the teacup struck her head, causing blood to flow from the injury, and bright red blood streamed down her cheeks onto the floor.

Tang Zong turned his face away in disgust, unwilling to look at Ms. Zhang any longer.