Everyone at present was shocked by Mo Shujun's decision. Only Zhou Ruyu had a smile on her face, as if the position of d.u.c.h.ess had been hers already.

Dong Hui was astonished, like shocked by lightning. Her tears condensed in her eyes and then fell silently. She was like a puppet without strings, sitting on the ground without any energy.

Seeing that the subordinates in Shou'an Hall had entered the room to execute Mo Shujun's order, s.h.i.+ Qingxue subconsciously blocked in front of Dong Hui.

Mo Shujun's face turned gloom. She was dissatisfied with s.h.i.+ Qingxue's being against her over and over again today, "What are you up to this time?"

s.h.i.+ Qingxue was silent for a moment and only asked, "My mother didn't do anything wrong. Wasn't it unfair to count the theft on her?"

Mo Shujun sneered, "Dong Hui had no son for so many years. I never mentioned it before for First Master's sake. But such matters happened today. If I let go of her again this time, maybe the basic of the s.h.i.+ Family that our ancestors built for us will be destroyed by her."

s.h.i.+ Qingxue knew that Mo Shujun was very dissatisfied with Dong Hui, but she didn't expect that it had reached such a serious level that she would divorce Dong Hui from this family.

"Why are you still standing there stupidly? Haven't you heard what I say?" Mo Shujun scolded coldly when she saw that the subordinates didn't make a move yet.

"This..."

Subordinates were also in a dilemma. s.h.i.+ Qingxue was standing in front of Dong Hui. They couldn't do anything!

However, at this time, Zhou Ruyu pretended to have a kind heart and persuaded, "Qingxue! I know you want to defend your mother. But what your mother have done is obvious, and she has confessed it herself. Don't annoy your grandmother because of this. It's not worth it!"

It was clear that she was thinking good for s.h.i.+ Qingxue, but every word actually made Dong Hui's heart even more painful.

s.h.i.+ Qingxue didn't answer yet, and then s.h.i.+ Baoning came to pull her, and whispered, "Auntie is right. You shouldn't make grandmother angrier."

Even though s.h.i.+ Baoning's voice was very low, and only the two of them could hear it, Qingxue still stared at her in surprise. She couldn't believe that it was what her sister could say!

"Baoning, what nonsense are you talking about? Grandma wants to divorce our mother now. Are you going to just stand by and watch?"

s.h.i.+ Baoning's eyes dimmed and her voice was low, "Grandmother isn't doing anything wrong."

s.h.i.+ Qingxue, "..."

Perhaps s.h.i.+ Baoning also realized that what she said was a bit ruthless, she quickly changed her words, "I didn't mean that. I just want to say that grandmother is angry now. You are not able to save mother even if you keep sticking to it. It might have bad effects."

"Then you just watch grandmother send our mother back to the Dong Family?" s.h.i.+ Qingxue's voice became cold completely and asked impolitely.

s.h.i.+ Baoning looked embarra.s.sed and after a while, she reluctantly said, "I just want to persuade her until grandmother is not that angry. There is room to compromise. When grandmother is not angry any more, we persuade her together, and then we definitely can get mother back here."

"What if grandmother keeps unwilling to compromise?"

s.h.i.+ Baoning's face froze, and she couldn't say anything.

s.h.i.+ Qingxue didn't talk to s.h.i.+ Baoning anymore. She knew that if she moved away at this moment, Dong Hui would surely be driven back to the Dong Family. No matter whether Mo Shujun would compromise and let Dong Hui back or not at last, the taint left when she was once divorced would be with her forever.

She couldn't watch Dong Hui's reputation ruined, and the matters seemed too coincidental, as if someone had planned them well secretly.

"Before things are investigated clearly, don't try to touch my mother." s.h.i.+ Qingxue resolutely stood in front of Dong Hui.

Zhou Ruyu was afraid that the truth would be revealed as time went by, she anxiously said, "How haven't the things been investigated clearly? Even your mother has admitted the matter of theft with evidence and witnesses. Let alone your two uncles even lost their faces in front of the imperial family. What else do you want?"

s.h.i.+ Qingxue sneered coldly, "My mother is the d.u.c.h.ess. And her cla.s.s was rewarded by the Empress Dowager. Now my father has not returned. She won't be divorced just by your words!"

"Why? Can't she be divorced by me?" Mo Shujun's eyes became strict and she stared at s.h.i.+ Qingxue coldly, "I am the hostess of the house of the s.h.i.+ Family. Do I need to ask anyone else before making a decision?"

Zhou Ruyu quickly agreed, "Yeah! Now it is the order of mother. If you continue to mess around, then we will have to deal with you according to family rules. Dong Shuang, pull your master away."

Dong Shuang also felt that Mo Shujun's decision to divorce Dong Hui was too ruthless, but she was more afraid that s.h.i.+ Qingxue would make herself trapped instead of saving Dong Hui back by confronting the seniors.

"Sixth Lady, how about us..." Before Dong Shuang finished her words, she was glared by Qingxue and shut her mouth up obediently.

Her master was so determined that she could not be persuaded.

What should she do? Did she really have to watch s.h.i.+ Qingxue ruin her reputation under impulse?

Mo Shujun also became impatient and gave a sign to her first-cla.s.s servant, Zhu, "Pull her away."

Zhou Ruyu watched s.h.i.+ Qingxue struggling like a trapped beast, not to mention how happy she was.

Huh! You should struggle as much as you could! Anyway, you would be driven out of the s.h.i.+ Family. At that time, wouldn't she be in charge of the s.h.i.+ Family? And wouldn't all the people obey her words?

Zhou Ruyu's eyes were widely opened and she wished to see s.h.i.+ Qingxue helpless when restrained by others. But something unexpected happened.

When Zhu brought a few subordinates to get close to s.h.i.+ Qingxue, she wasn't struggling but looked quite calm. She only looked at Mo Shujun quietly, as if she had given up hope after being desperate.

Before Zhou Ruyu became extremely overjoyed, she heard s.h.i.+ Qingxue say in a calm voice, "If grandmother has to make such a decision, then I will have no choice but to use the token granted by the Emperor."

Everyone stopped and looked at s.h.i.+ Qingxue in amazement.

What was the token granted by the Emperor?

That was given by the Emperor to the meritorious officials. As long as one had the token granted by the Emperor, he could be forgiven even when he would be sentenced to death. In a family, this was even a token that was more useless than anything.

s.h.i.+ Lei helped the Emperor to establish the Mo Dynasty, so he also got a token. According to the rules, if Mo Shujun didn't keep the token granted by the Emperor, it should be pa.s.sed on to his eldest son, s.h.i.+ Junhe.

But s.h.i.+ Lei loved his young granddaughter, s.h.i.+ Qingxue, when he was alive, he gave the token to s.h.i.+ Qingxue in front of everyone.

Mo Shujun held the handle shook, and her old face wrinkled like a chrysanthemum, "Do you have to be against me?"

s.h.i.+ Qingxue responded calmly, "I don't dare to. But grandmother ignores my mother's hard work in the s.h.i.+ Family for half of her life and insists on divorcing her. I can't stand by and ignore it. Grandmother, please forgive me."

Seeing that Mo Shujun was choked by s.h.i.+ Qingxue's words and seemed to really let go of it, Zhou Ruyu anxiously said, "Mother, this time Dong Hui has done such things that ruin the reputation of the s.h.i.+ Family. If there is no punishment on her, I'm afraid it won't be convincing even when you want to punish someone in the future! You can't..."

"Shut up!" Mo Shujun scolded ferociously, venting all her anger caused by s.h.i.+ Qingxue on Zhou Ruyu.

Zhou Ruyu was strictly criticized but she didn't dare to say a word back, only staring at s.h.i.+ Qingxue unwillingly.

It made no difference.

At this time, the subordinate came to report that King Rui's eldest son arrived.

Mo Junyang came here again!

Everyone thought of this involuntarily, even though no one could understand the purpose of Mo Junyang's arrival, Mo Shujun still had to send people to welcome him.

She gave Dong Hui a cold glance. Although she was unwilling, she had to put down the matter of divorcing her for the time being, and only said, "Dong Hui, you have a good daughter. She protects you with the token granted by the Emperor! But even if I spare your life in the family this time, you can't get away from the crimes. You kneel in this ancestral hall to reflect on your mistakes. If I find that you dare to pretend to obey but to covertly oppose me, then don't blame me for driving you back to the Dong Family regardless of anything!"

After that, Mo Shujun waved her sleeve and left quickly.

Although s.h.i.+ Baoning was also worried about her mother, seeing her grandmother's anger at the time when she left, she only gave Dong Hui a glance and followed Mo Shujun up, lowering her head.

When there were only those of First Master's Family in the ancestral hall, s.h.i.+ Qingxue didn't care what Mo Shujun had just said, she wanted to hold Dong Hui up, "Mother, are you all right? Can you get up yourself?"

But Dong Hui was unwilling to stand up, and smiled at Qingxue with tears, "Princess Royal made me kneel just now. If I stand up at this time, won't I send them the chance to threaten me? I won't give them any opportunities to bully you any more. Don't worry. I'm not tired. It won't matter if I kneel for a while."

s.h.i.+ Qingxue's heart was painful. Looking at Dong Hui's expression of suppression, her tears were about to fall.

"Since you are unwilling to get up, I shall accompany you to kneel on the ground!" s.h.i.+ Qingxue couldn't bear watching her mother kneel in front of her anyway, so she also knelt down.

Then Dong Hui became anxious, and hurried to pull s.h.i.+ Qingxue up. But the latter remained motionless.

She sighed helplessly, and understood Qingxue's intentions. Her heart that was once hurt by Mo Shujun and the others gradually became warmer. She put her hand on Qingxue's shoulder and called her in a low voice, "Qingxue..."

Infinite sadness was contained in the silence.

No wonder Dong Hui just pleaded guilty to those charges without resisting. On the one hand, she did feel that the absurdity of her brothers and their wives had made the s.h.i.+ Family lose face. On the other hand, it was more painful that her mother-in-law, whom she had served even more cautiously than she treated her birth mother for over ten years, could actually decide to divorce her so easily.

Huh!

For a moment, she was really thinking, "Compared with struggling in such a big house full of intrigue and that even her own daughter wouldn't help her, she would rather be divorced and go back to the Dong Family! At least, she had a father who would always love her!"

Fortunately, such a thought just pa.s.sed by. s.h.i.+ Qingxue's behavior later made her regain some confidence. Although her eldest daughter had been raised beside mother-in-law and was not close to her, she still had the daughter who would defend her for no reason!

She had her husband too!

In any case, Dong Hui would always hold on until s.h.i.+ Junhe came back with triumph.

s.h.i.+ Qingxue silently accompanied Dong Hui on her knees for a while, and suddenly mentioned, "Mother, although the two uncles love drinking, they have never caused trouble at the banquet before. As for the aunts, it's not the first time that they have come to the house of the s.h.i.+ Family. Haven't they taken enough golden and silver jewelry from you in normal time? Why do they steal?"

"This..." Dong Hui used to believe that her troublesome relatives made the s.h.i.+ Family lose face, but when she heard s.h.i.+ Qingxue's words, she also found out something strange, and said doubtfully, "When the wedding banquet of Third Princess just started, I specially told Shaokang and Shaoyang not to cause trouble and they both promised. But later I didn't notice them. They were in quarrel with those of the Qin Family and they almost had a fight."

"The Qin Family?" s.h.i.+ Qingxue suddenly came up with an idea, and asked, "Which Qin Family?"

"Who else could it be? The Prime Minister Qin's family. But it was said that it was a distant relative of him, so they didn't mind it too much. Otherwise, who would know what this thing might be like?"

Speaking of this matter, Dong Hui still was scared in her heart, thinking that it was her luck to have escaped from such a disaster.

But s.h.i.+ Qingxue sneered at this moment, "This may not be what it looks like."