Lu Changxuan felt he hadn’t been this bewildered and helpless in at least ten years.

Ten years ago, when he first saw Qin Feifei, he was immediately enchanted and swore to marry her.

At that time, he had no official position, but Noble Consort Lianpin had already given birth to Sixth Prince. Though Qin Yongtao’s own official rank wasn’t high, he wielded real power and naturally wouldn’t agree to the match.

To get close to Qin Feifei, he married Qin Yaoyao.

From then on, he always remembered his oath – he would definitely marry Qin Feifei.

He didn’t betray his oath. He worked hard to climb upward and finally caught the Qin family’s attention.

Qin Feifei had also lost her husband and become a widow.

At this point, Qin Yaoyao became an obstacle.

He decided he couldn’t wrong Qin Feifei, so Qin Yaoyao had to become a woman who had lost her chastity. Feng’er was his son – naturally he never intended to take Feng’er’s life.

But Feng’er’s fate was too unfortunate. He had been particularly busy those few days and hadn’t paid attention. By the time he returned, he found Feng’er was beyond help. He could only blame Qin Yaoyao for not recognizing her situation. Even in that state, she wouldn’t obediently die but insisted on having Feng’er accompany her. If not for staying with Qin Yaoyao, why would Feng’er have died?

Though he was sad, he quickly forgot the feeling of sadness.

Because his schemes to go to Hangzhou were showing promise, and Qin Feifei was also with child.

Sons – there would be more in the future.

But now, he felt somewhat bewildered…

“Who dares to cause trouble here? Don’t they know what kind of place this is? Go report to the authorities and have them all arrested – give each one thirty strokes!”

An angry rebuke pulled Lu Changxuan back from his bewildered state. It was actually Old Madam Lu being supported out by Lu Changju.

Hadn’t he just instructed the servants to absolutely not let Old Madam Lu come out?

Ziteng lowered her eyelids and gave a cold laugh.

The servants of the Lu residence were truly driven mad by poverty. She had merely whispered quietly to one of the four old women who had been pushing her earlier – “Madam, these people are truly lawless – how dare they curse Old Madam for not observing womanly virtue? We should ask Old Madam to come out to suppress them! Old Madam was so imposing in her day – no neighbor failed to submit to her…”

She had also given that old woman a tael of silver, and sure enough, the woman had gone inside to relay the message.

Just as Miss had said, these old women had all been bought cheaply later on. The price of slaves corresponded to their abilities – with such low prices, naturally they didn’t understand rules and propriety. Combined with Old Madam Lu’s own ignorance of rules, and Qin Feifei having to act virtuous and magnanimous before Lu Changxuan, not daring to oppose Old Madam Lu’s wishes, there were even fewer rules.

With just a mere tael of silver from Ziteng, that old woman had no judgment whatsoever of the current situation and hurried off immediately.

When Old Madam Lu heard that people at the gate were cursing her for not observing womanly virtue, she, who had always prided herself on being a chaste and virtuous woman, couldn’t bear such provocation and immediately rushed out.

“Mother, why have you come? You should go back and rest,” Lu Changxuan advised with a severe headache.

Old Madam Lu pushed him aside, stood with imposing dignity, and spoke in a voice as loud as gongs and drums: “Bah! Where do all these people come from? Haven’t even figured out their own family affairs – what are you doing standing at my door? All of you get lost!”

Qin Shuying covered the smile at the corner of her lips with a gesture of rubbing her forehead.

Without Old Madam Lu joining in, how could it be a good show?

Standing below Old Madam Lu, Qin Shuying quickly pointed at the jade hairpin on her head, crying, “Old Madam, that’s my deceased mother’s relic – please quickly return it to your niece!”

Old Madam Lu spat. Qin Shuying dodged away, and Old Madam Lu cursed, “Bah! Child of a whore! You certainly run fast, escaping a good scolding! You should look in a mirror – what are you? This is the Lu residence – is this a place for you to run wild? Little whore! Shameless hussy!”

Qin Shuying swayed as if about to collapse from the abuse. Ziteng cried out, “Old Madam, my young miss is still an unmarried maiden – how can you insult her like this? Master! Mistress! Why did you abandon Miss to suffer torment in this world? Wuu wuu wuu…”

Old Madam Lu, full of vigor, pointed at Ziteng, “Little whore! Whore ridden by ten thousand men! Stop your false pretenses with me. Who doesn’t know what you’re thinking? All you think about are men…”

Lu Changxuan could no longer care about anything else and shouted at Lu Changju and Nanny Yuan behind Old Madam Lu, “Why don’t you quickly help Old Madam back inside!”

Startled by Lu Changxuan’s shout, Old Madam Lu’s mind cleared somewhat. She remembered her son’s countless admonitions that this wasn’t Jing’an Ward – everything said and done here had to follow rules.

Old Madam Lu paused, looking at the clamoring crowd, seeing disdain and discussion in their eyes. For a moment she hesitated, about to turn around. Just then, Ziteng cried out again, “Old Madam, it was Physician Lu himself who said… said you… had trysts with men… didn’t observe womanly virtue… you can’t blame this servant…”

These words immediately ignited Old Madam Lu’s fury. Her remaining reason vanished completely. She jumped up cursing, “Bah! Shameless hussy ridden by thousands and ten thousands! Can’t men’s things shut your mouth? One isn’t enough – do you need two…”

The words that followed were even more vulgar and unbearable to hear…

Lu Changxuan made an immediate decision, raising his hand to cover Old Madam Lu’s mouth, shouting at Nanny Yuan, “Why aren’t you going back?!”

Nanny Yuan had been listening with great interest. Startled by Lu Changxuan’s shout, she quickly helped Old Madam Lu back inside.

Old Madam Lu was unwilling, but Lu Changxuan covered her mouth, pulled her behind the door, and the main gate closed accordingly.

Seeing this, Nanny Liu and the few remaining Lu residence servants outside hurriedly followed one after another, then the gate closed and wouldn’t open again.

At this moment there were many onlookers outside. With the Lu residence people gone in shame, everyone had even more to talk about.

“Old Madam Lu is actually this kind of person? Utterly vulgar, utterly vulgar!”

“Such a person should quickly get out of Chongde Lane!”

“Are there really such people under heaven?”

…

There were also wives and old women who came to comfort Qin Shuying: “Young lady, don’t be afraid. We all understand clearly now what kind of family the Lu family is. When you say she stole your jewelry, we all believe it. In front of so many people, she could treat you like that – if there were no one around, wouldn’t she want your life?”

“That’s right, that’s right.”

“What a sin! How could you have such relatives?”

“How can the Lu family be such a household? It’s truly unbelievable!”

“I’ve always heard that this Old Madam Lu is extremely vulgar and unbearable. Now that I’ve seen her, it’s exactly as described.”

“This Physician Lu can’t be trusted either. With his upper and lower lips opening and closing, he wanted to destroy this young lady’s reputation – that’s trying to take someone’s life!”