The Phoenix is Back - Chapter 18

Chapter 018 Lead a Monarch into an Urn
The matriarch looked at Nurse Liu and said, “If you have something to say, just say it.”

Nurse Liu said, “Old Granny knows that this servant has always liked to make all kinds of spices. Just now, this servant took a closer look at this puppet and discovered that the words on it were not written with cinnabar. Instead, they were written with pomegranate flower sweat mixed with alum and other things … If you don’t believe me, you can smell it, this puppet still has the faint fragrance of pomegranate flowers.”

The matriarch took the puppet and sniffed it. Sure enough, she smelled a faint fragrance of pomegranate flowers.

Pomegranate has always symbolized many children and blessings, rich and honorable. As for the entire manor, only the Li Clan’s Hua Jin Garden has pomegranate trees.

Since this puppet is not written in cinnabar, then it means that the person making the puppet is not cursing but …

Framing!

These two words jumped out of the old lady’s mind almost immediately. Her expression changed as she smashed the puppet in her hand onto Madam Li’s body. “Do you still want to argue?”

At this moment, Madam Li finally realized that he had underestimated Xiao Xiwei too much. From the beginning, this girl had set up a trap and led her into the trap step by step. It was ridiculous that he did not know about it and even thought that he held onto something against her …

Thinking of this, Madam Li suddenly felt a chill coming from her bones. She raised her eyes to look at Xiao Xiwei’s slightly snow-white and tender face. No matter what, she did not dare to imagine that this fourteen-year-old girl actually had such meticulous and vicious thoughts and methods!

“It’s you! It’s you, isn’t it? You designed all of this! You deliberately tricked me and then framed me! Right?” Madam Li’s venomous eyes suddenly looked at Xiao Xiwei, who was quietly at the side.

Xiao Xiwei was shocked by Madam Li’s expression, “Mother … why did Mother say that …”

“Enough!” Xiao Yan finally couldn’t suppress the anger in his chest. He slapped the table and suddenly stood up. “I thought you were gentle and refined, but I didn’t expect you to be so venomous. You didn’t take my words to heart at all!”

Today’s matter reminded him of what he had revealed to Madam Li a few days ago about wanting to give Xiwei to the Seventh Prince! She must be unwilling to let Xiwei take this matter from her, so she deliberately framed Xiwei!

“Master, why do you suspect me? If I did this, I would die a terrible death!” Madam Li swore to Heavenly Curse.

“It’s better not to say anything nonsense. Maybe it will come true one day!” The matriarch stared coldly at Madam Li.

Madam Li choked on the old lady’s words and suddenly remembered that she had cursed and sworn in front of the old lady that year that she had absolutely no affair with Xiao Yan … Thinking of this, her face suddenly turned pale. No matter how much she tried to defend herself, she could not say a single word at this moment.

“Matriarch, please take a careful look. This matter has nothing to do with Madam. This puppet was dug up in Second Miss’s courtyard. Second Miss also admits that the word is hers … Madam … Madam is really wronged!” Nurse Zhu knelt on the ground and explained for Madam Li.

Xiao Xiwei saw Xiao Yan turn around to look at her. She hurriedly waved her hand, “Father, it’s none of my business. I… I don’t know why the handwriting on that puppet belongs to me either. Perhaps… maybe someone deliberately imitated my handwriting. Father, didn’t you say that there are too many capable people in the capital? Perhaps someone is good at imitating other people’s handwriting?”

Xiao Yan’s eyes suddenly moved. He suddenly remembered that Master Zhao Fu of the Qingshan Academy was very good at imitating other people’s handwriting and could almost take it as fake. However, he relied on his reputation and refused to write easily. However, Madam Li’s nephew Li Po was his proud disciple. Thinking back to the day when Madam Li suggested to him that he wanted to give Xiwei to Li Po, he changed his mind. Could it be that … the nephew and aunt had worked together to plan this?

A dignified Marquis Mansion matriarch would actually use such a disrespectful method to frame her stepdaughter. If this were to spread out, wouldn’t it become the laughingstock of the entire capital? What made him even angrier was that Madam Li didn’t even take his words to heart!

Thinking of this, the more Xiao Yan looked at Madam Li, the more annoyed he felt.

“Grandmother, father … I think this matter should be a misunderstanding. Why don’t we just let it go like this?” Xiao Xiwei looked up at Xiao Yan and said.

“Alright! None of you need to say anything about this. From today onwards, Madam Li will be grounded in Hua Jin Garden for a month. She is good at cultivating her body and temperament. All the major and minor matters in the manor will be handled by … Xi Wei.” The matriarch paused and said with a cold face.

‘”Mother” Madam Li was greatly shocked. He looked at the matriarch in disbelief, unable to regain his senses for a long time.

Was the matriarch trying to deprive her of her steward’s authority?

Seeing that the matriarch did not look cold or moved, Madam Li felt as if his heart had fallen into an ice cellar. However, he still said unwillingly, “Mother, Xiwei is still young, and she has never taken care of the inner courtyard. My wife is afraid that when the time comes …”

“No one was born to do this, so they should learn more because they don’t know how to. Besides, seeing that Xiwei is about to get married, they should learn how to look at the inner mansion.” The matriarch interrupted Madam Li without hesitation.

“But …”

“There’s no buts! Could it be that I can’t decide on such a trivial matter?” The matriarch interrupted Madam Li again.

“Grandmother, mother is right. I have never taken care of the inner mansion. I’m afraid … I’m afraid I’m not competent.” Xiao Xi raised his eyes slightly and looked at the old granny with some embarrassment.

The matriarch pondered for a moment and then said to Nurse Liu beside her, “La Yue, from today onwards, you will help Second Miss take care of Marquis Mansion. If there is anything difficult to decide, just come to the Tranquil Garden and look for me.”

“Yes.” Nanny Liu blessed herself and replied.

“Master” Seeing that nothing had changed, Madam Li hurriedly turned her gaze to Xiao Yan.

Xiao Yan coldly glanced at Madam Li and then glanced at Daoist Nun Ma. When Daoist Nun Ma received Xiao Yan’s gaze, her entire body trembled from fear. She hurriedly lowered her head and secretly complained in her heart.

“Didn’t this Taoist nun say that your health is not good? It’s good to take advantage of this period of time to recover properly. Don’t let these moths come out all day long!” Xiao Yan said coldly.

The matriarch was right. Seeing that Xi Wei was about to arrive in time, it was best for her to study as soon as possible about the matters of the rear residence. If she married into the royal family one day, she would not be in a rush.

After Xiao Yan finished speaking, he turned around and bowed to the old lady. “Mother, your son’s unfilial behavior has troubled you.”

The matriarch waved her hand and said, “You shouldn’t have been worried about all these matters in the rear mansion. Go ahead and do your job! I’m in charge of everything!”

“Yes.” Xiao Yan replied and walked out without looking at Madam Li.

After Xiao Yan left, the matriarch sat back in her chair. She raised her eyebrows and looked at Daoist Nun Ma, who had not snorted since just now. The corner of her mouth hooked and she said with a smile that was not a smile, “Daoist Nun just said that my daughter-in-law was cursed because of something marinated and dirty?”

The Taoist nun’s face turned pale, but she had no choice but to forcefully prop herself up and say, “Yes, that’s true …”

“But the date of birth on this puppet is not my daughter-in-law’s? What does Daoist nun have to say about this?” The matriarch stared coldly at Daoist Nun Ma and said.

Daoist Nun Ma was rendered speechless by the old lady’s question, and her entire body was covered in cold sweat from anxiety.

At this time, a girl suddenly came in and sent a message, “Matriarch, there is a Taoist nun who calls herself Ma.”

“What are you talking about?” The matriarch glanced at the person in the room who also called herself ‘Daoist Nun Ma’. She was both shocked and angry in her heart.

At this moment, Daoist Nun Ma’s legs were weak and her entire body was cold. She looked at Madam Li guiltily.

Madam Li’s face turned pale.

When she learned that Xiao Xiwei had secretly made a puppet to curse her, She was anxious to find a Taoist nun to lead everyone to Shuying Pavilion in a proper way, In order to gain the trust of the Matriarch, she found Daoist Nun Ma, who was quite famous in the capital. Unexpectedly, Daoist Nun Ma refused to do anything. She did not want to. Instead, she met Daoist Nun Ma’s twin sister. Once the two of them clapped hands, she let Daoist Nun Ma’s twin sister pretend to be Daoist Nun Ma and entered Marquis Mansion. However, she did not expect that Daoist Nun Ma would suddenly come to the door.

“Miss, isn’t Daoist Nun Ma here?” Biyun Yu pulled Xiao Xiwei’s hand and whispered.

Xiao Xiwei only saw the expressions of Daoist Nun Ma and Madam Li, and knew that Madam Li had invited someone from somewhere to pretend to be Daoist Nun Ma. She did not expect that the current Lord would come to her.

Thinking of this, Xiao Xiwei’s lips curled into a cold smile.

Looks like this play is getting more and more interesting.

The matriarch’s expression darkened. “Go, invite Daoist Nun Ma in.”

Hearing this, Daoist Nun Ma’s legs and legs went limp and she collapsed to the ground.

Not long after, the girl led a daoist nun dressed in a light yellow robe into the room. She saw that the daoist nun was exactly the same as the daoist nun in the room. However, there was a trace of compassion between her eyebrows.

“Poverty Dao greets Matriarch.”

Although the matriarch was surprised by their appearances, she still stood up and bowed, “Daoist nun, there’s no need to be too polite.”

“Poverty Dao is ashamed of himself. I hope that Old Lady Jun will forgive me.” The Taoist nun bowed to the Old Lady, then turned to look at the collapsed ‘Taoist nun Ma’ and said, “Ah Rong, don’t apologize to the Old Lady.”

“Old Lady, forgive me! Old Lady, forgive me!” The Taoist nun called ‘Ah Rong’ hurriedly kowtowed to the matriarch.

“Daoist nun, what’s going on?” The matriarch frowned.

“Amitabha, it’s all because of poor discipline, this is poor fellow sister, a few years ago, her hometown was drought, doctors and children died, so they came to the capital to run poor way. A few days ago, you came to invite the poor dao to your mansion for a magical service. The poor dao just happened to be comprehending Buddhism and refused. I didn’t expect that the poor dao sister would pretend to be the poor dao and come to your mansion … This is truly a sin. I hope the old granny can forgive me. ”

Although Daoist Nun Ma said that Marquis Mansion had invited her, But the matriarch only saw what Madam Li did today and knew that it must be her good daughter-in-law who took the money and wanted to bribe Daoist Nun Ma to frame Xiwei. Fortunately, Daoist Nun Ma was kind and upright and refused Madam Li. She did not expect Madam Li to bribe Daoist Nun Ma’s twin sisters. The two of them performed such a farce together in the mansion!

“Those who do not know will not be guilty. This matter cannot be blamed on Daoist nun.” The matriarch said gently to Daoist Nun Ma.

This matter has been clarified. The mastermind behind it is Madam Li. If word were to spread, it would still be Marquis Mansion’s fault. Besides, Daoist Nun Ma has personally come to apologize. It would be inexcusable if she didn’t give Daoist Nun Ma this face.