The Female Lead Decides to Act Wickedly

Chapter 1290: Chapter 481: Palace Schemes Can’t Compare to Rebellion (Part 18)

After the first wave of panic and shock, Lady Hu quickly calmed down.

”It’s the Tao Family! It has to be them!” she said through gritted teeth.

”The Tao Family? Duke Dingguo’s Mansion?” Zheng Youliang was as honest as ever; when something happened to his children, all he could do was worry and feel distressed.

As for other things, like rational analysis, that was simply beyond him.

”But why? Why would they do this to us?”

Zheng Youliang’s face was full of confusion and bewilderment. In his view, the Zheng Family and the Tao Family were not even in the same circle.

The Tao Family were trusted ministers of the late Emperor, holding military power in their hands; Duke Tao, the Duke Dingguo, was a Great General whose name shook the realm.

And in comparison, what were they, the Zheng Family? Ahem, it was only because Lady Hu was the Emperor’s wet nurse, that—

All along, Zheng Youliang had been very clear-headed, and very clear about who his family was.

Their family could not be considered true nobles; being rejected by the powerful was only to be expected.

Lady Hu, however, seemed not to have heard her husband’s question, and continued to speculate and analyze along her own line of thought:

”Dalang was beaten while on duty in the Qianniu Guards. And what sort of people are the Qianniu Guards? They are the blade-bearing, attendant guards of the inner palace, the Emperor’s trusted aides!”

Lady Hu, as if muttering to herself, slowly sorted through her thoughts.

The Qianniu Guards were the Emperor’s personal guard, ”all filled from among the high-born sons and youths of fine appearance.”

Which meant that Qianniu Guards were either sons of the powerful, or young men chosen for their handsome looks.

The Dayuan Dynasty had only been founded twenty or thirty years; most of the Qianniu Guards were still sons of Military Merit Families.

Tao Yong, the Great General and Duke Dingguo, was the foremost among those with Military Merit; his sons, nephews, or clan juniors also served in the Qianniu Guards.

The generals, Ministers and other officers of the Qianniu Guards were mostly comrades-in-arms of Tao Yong, some even his former subordinates!

So, if the Tao Family wanted to teach a lesson to someone serving in the Qianniu Guards, Tao Yong wouldn’t even need to say a word himself; merely revealing a hint of displeasure would bring a crowd eager to ”help.”

”And Erlang—he’s always been frail and bookish, he rarely quarrels with others, unless someone deliberately picked a fight!”

Lady Hu continued her analysis; in her eyes, the person who had clashed with her second son must also be someone connected to the Tao Family, deliberately looking for trouble.

Sure enough, just as Lady Hu forcibly calmed herself to keep speculating and analyzing, another slave came running to report—

”Madam, Master, we’ve asked around clearly: the one taken away to the Magistrate Mansion with Erlang is the Liulang of Marquis Zhenbei’s Mansion!”

”Marquis Zhenbei?”

Lady Hu’s gaze flashed; she pressed her lips together hard.

If she remembered correctly, though Marquis Zhenbei was not an old subordinate of the Tao Family, Marquis Zhenbei’s daughter was the Tao Family’s daughter-in-law.

The two families were joined by marriage.

And that so-called Liulang was just a Concubine Son.

Now, in order to vent their in-law’s anger, they could afford to throw away a Concubine Son who wasn’t particularly favored; Marquis Zhenbei was certainly good at calculation.

Once Lady Hu had sorted everything out, a blazing anger had already ignited in her chest—Duke Dingguo’s Mansion was going too far!

But... so what?

They had bullied you, they had taken your daughter and sons and given them all a thorough thrashing—what could you do about it?

Could you run to the Magistrate Mansion to cry injustice, storm Duke Dingguo’s Mansion to demand an explanation, or go to the Emperor and lodge a complaint?!

Lady Hu squeezed her eyes shut. These ideas flashed one by one through her mind, only to be rejected by herself.

In the past, perhaps life had been going too smoothly for her, or rather, Empress Dowager He had never really come down hard to deal with the Zheng Family, otherwise—

Lady Hu let out a bitter laugh in secret. ”I really did get a bit overconfident! Just because people called me ’Madam’ a few times, I actually thought I was someone important!”

She had even taken pleasure in seeing those noblewomen looking ”stifled,” thinking that they clearly despised her yet still had to curry favor with her!

But in reality, they were not ”currying favor” with her at all; they simply couldn’t be bothered to stoop to quarrel with her.

Look now—without the Tao Family even needing to step onto the field themselves, merely expressing a faint displeasure with the Zheng Family, and all three of Lady Hu’s children had run into trouble!

As for the little Emperor—heh—without Empress Dowager He’s wholehearted protection and support, he himself could hardly move a step; how could he spare any thought for his wet nurse?

If Lady Hu went to Emperor Yongcheng for help now, at best it would only add to his vexation and anger, and would not bring a single way to solve the problem.

If handled poorly, the Emperor might say nothing aloud, but in his heart he would disdain the Zheng Family as useless—good for nothing but causing trouble for him, unable to help in the least.

Lady Hu knew the little Emperor was fond of her, and that he cared greatly for Nianer.

But when faced with cruel reality, things like affection were not worth mentioning at all.