Transmigration: The Evil Mother-In-Law Is Actually Innocent!

Chapter 801: Chapter 801 Gu Liufeng

In the street, Zhulan took her daughter to buy some carved materials first. The shop was filled with more men than women, who were a rare sight.

Yushuang and Yu Lu weren’t interested in the materials; they preferred rouge and face powder and asked Zhulan for permission to go to the cosmetics shop across the way.

Zhulan didn’t know much about the materials and was mainly uninterested. She looked at the materials on display and couldn’t tell their quality, only gauging their preciousness by the price.

Xue Han furrowed her brows, and Zhulan asked, ”What’s wrong?”

Looking at the piece of material in the hands of a gentleman in front, Xue Han’s reaction was slow, and someone else had grabbed it before her. She wouldn’t snatch it from another, yet she was unwilling to settle for less and asked the shopkeeper, ”Do you have any better materials?”

The shopkeeper’s face split into a grin at the question, ”Of course, of course.”

He took out a key and unlocked a locked cabinet, from which he removed several pieces of material. ”These are treasured items at the bottom of the chest, only taken out upon request. Miss, please see if you like any of these.”

Xue Han chose a piece the size of a palm and was about to pay in silver coins when a burst of commotion and the sound of a child crying came from outside. Xue Han felt a gust of wind as the gentleman who had been haggling with the shopkeeper just a moment ago dashed outside.

Worried about Yushuang and Yu Lu, Zhulan hurried outside. Xue Han, in haste, paid in silver and rushed out with the material in hand.

On the street, the startled horse had been calmed. Some stalls were overturned, leaving the street in quite a mess.

Zhulan spotted Yushuang, who had twisted her ankle, leaning on an old woman, afraid to put weight on one foot. The one crying was a little girl around eight or nine years old; she appeared to be shocked rather than hurt.

Zhulan quickly walked up to her granddaughter, ”Besides the twisted ankle, are you hurt anywhere else?”

She had been just three years old when Zhulan arrived in this ancient era, and watching her grow up all this time, even a cold that caused her discomfort made Zhulan distressed, let alone an injury.

Yushuang’s forehead was dotted with fine sweat from the pain. She shook her head, not wanting to worry her grandmother, ”Grandma, I’m fine.”

Yu Lu was very displeased and stared at the still-crying little girl, ”My sister and I were standing out of the way of the carriage, and then this girl rushed out, startling the horse, causing the carriage to head our way. If it weren’t for the presence of our young servants today, who stopped the horse in time, it would have definitely hit my sister and me. Even so, my sister hurt her foot protecting me, and yet she’s the one crying first.”

It truly was an unwarranted disaster that left her seething with anger.

Zhulan saw that the little girl was accompanied by people now, including the gentleman from the material shop and two ladies in their thirties—one looking bewildered and the other with a face full of distress and anger.

Xue Han spoke up, ”Mother, we should go home to tend to Yushuang’s foot.”

Concerned about her granddaughter’s foot, Zhulan gestured for the young servants to call their carriage. While waiting for the carriage, the gentleman from earlier came forward, bowed with an apologetic manner, ”I’m terribly sorry for the disturbance caused by my cousin. It seemed that the miss had been hurt. Here is some silver tael, please accept it.”

Zhulan looked at the young lord before her, a boy of about fourteen or fifteen, not short for his age. She had seen his earlier gesture—the boy had touched his money pouch. The silver was for buying materials, and there wasn’t much; he had mentioned eight taels of silver at the shop earlier, so the pouch likely contained slightly more than that.

The young lord, holding his money pouch, hadn’t waited for Zhulan to speak before a shrill voice rang out, ”Your cousin was just frightened, indiscriminately tossing out silver. Conveniently, your cousin wants rouge, so the silver should be spent on rouge for her.”

Zhulan couldn’t help but laugh with displeasure. She stepped past the young lord, whose face had paled, and approached with a cold expression. From the lady’s jewelry and garments, it was clear she was also from an official’s family, ”Today’s incident was caused by your daughter’s rashness. If the horses hadn’t hit anyone, it was only because my young servants were quick to act. Otherwise, I don’t know how many might have been hurt. Now my granddaughter has twisted her ankle, and you, instead of managing the matter properly, are making a scene. Truly, you have opened my eyes, lady.”

Lady Jin opened her mouth to retort but stopped herself. She had been too focused on her own daughter and hadn’t taken notice of her surroundings, nor had she observed the calamitous actions. It was only now that she saw the two young ladies accompanied by a maid and a young servant blocking the way.

Hearing the term ”lady,” Lady Jin panicked. Only the relatives of a Third-rank official had the right to be called a ”lady,” and her husband was a Six-rank official at the Ministry of Revenue—there was a vast gap in rank between them. She rushed to lower her head in apology, ”It’s all my daughter’s fault. If money is needed for the miss’s injury, we will compensate. Please don’t lower yourself to our level.”

As she spoke, she opened her purse and took out a silver note. Zhulan glanced at it—a fifty taels silver note—and signaled Madam Song to take it.

Zhulan frowned, ”And what about the overturned stalls?”

Lady Jin didn’t want to deal with it but didn’t dare to offend, either, ”We will compensate, certainly.”

Zhulan saw the little girl glaring at her, a girl spoiled through and through. She merely glanced indifferently until the girl, frightened, tucked in her neck before withdrawing her gaze, ”Behave yourself.”

If the Zhou family’s official rank were not high today, they would have had no choice but to accept this. The capital exemplified the exercise of power to its fullest extent.

The Zhou family’s carriage arrived, and Zhulan gestured to the old maid to help Yushuang get on, just as she was about to board herself, she spotted Zhou Shuren standing nearby, still in his official robes.

Zhulan, surprised, ”Why are you here?”

Could Zhou Shuren say that he had watched the whole scene unfold? Coincidentally, the Crown Prince had chosen to walk towards the Palace direction to trouble Mr. Phang and took a detour here. Because of the roadblock, he came over to check, and upon hearing that it was his family involved, Zhou Shuren hurriedly got off his carriage.

Zhou Shuren didn’t mention the Crown Prince, who could not show his face, ”I’m out on an errand.”

Yu Lu greeted him, ”Grandfather.”

Zhou Shuren signaled Yu Lu to board the carriage, then helped his wife onto it, and finally got on himself.

Because of Zhou Shuren’s official robes, Lady Jin did not react in time, and by the time she did, the Zhou family’s carriage had already departed.

Lady Jin, truly frightened, dreaded the possibility of being held a grudge against, and glared fiercely at her young sister-in-law, ”Harbinger of doom.”

Lady Hu was genuinely scared, ”Elder, elder sister-in-law.”

Lady Jin with a stern face, ”Don’t call me; stay away from me, harbinger of doom.”

Gu Liufeng, with one hand supporting his teetering mother and the other clenched into a fist, ”Mother, don’t be afraid.”

Lady Hu was truly afraid, she couldn’t lose... No, her son couldn’t lose the protection of his elder brother, ”It’s all mother’s fault, had I not mentioned it today, none of this would have happened.”

In the Zhou family’s carriage, Yushuang frowned while Yu Lu asked with concern, ”Is your foot pain severe, elder sister?”

Yushuang shook her head, ”The foot is much better. I’m just thinking that the young master from earlier won’t have an easy life when he gets back home.”

Although she had only heard a few words, her intelligence allowed her to guess the young master’s likely background, understanding the difficulty of living under the charity of others.

Yu Lu, ”It wouldn’t be surprising if today’s compensation gets charged to that young master.”

Xue Han knew that the young master earlier didn’t have silver to buy fabric, and had the maid purchase the first piece he had looked at, and was now fiddling with it.

Yushuang noticed right away, ”Little cousin, why did you buy two pieces of fabric?”

Xue Han explained what had happened in the shop earlier. Things had gone awry for Yushuang today, and Xue Han handed over the fabric she bought later, ”This piece is for you.”

Yushuang was embarrassed, ”Little cousin, I can’t accept it.”

With her younger sister Yu Lu present, if she were to accept the fabric, in the name of fairness, the little cousin would surely give something else to Yu Lu; she didn’t want the little cousin to spend unnecessarily.

Xue Han took out a bracelet from her purse, gave the bracelet to Yu Lu, and the fabric to Yushuang, ”Today, your little cousin is happy, just take them both.”

Yushuang knew it would be like this, looking at the bracelet, ”Isn’t this the one you made yourself a few days ago, little cousin?”

Xue Han’s smile was beaming, ”Yes, I was planning to give you sisters one each. Now that I’ve given you the fabric, I’ve saved myself some effort.”

Yushuang held the fabric, knowing the little cousin had said this on purpose.