Chapter Ninety-Four Confession

  Zhao Wei brought Zhang's family over, just to catch the thief and retrieve the stolen goods, then ask Zhao Jiong and Old Master Ba to bear witness, so that they could discuss it in advance within the clan and drive Xiao Changfang out of the family. Unexpectedly, things took a turn for the worse, and Lu Dasou suddenly attacked his parents and escaped. Zhao Wei looked at the scene and was also at a loss.

  Zhang's family was the first to regain their composure, and upon seeing the miserable state of Lu Changxiu in the house, as well as the painful expression on Lu's mother's face, she didn't bother to ask about what had happened. Instead, she immediately ordered someone to go fetch a doctor.

  The doctor arrived quickly and examined Lu Changxiu's injury. At this time, he had already fainted and lost consciousness completely. However, he hadn't stopped breathing yet, which was a blessing in disguise. The doctor judged that when Lu Changxiu was pushed by his eldest son, he collided with the shelf, grabbed it to steady himself, but unexpectedly fell along with the shelf, causing everything on it to fall down, including the iron wooden box on the top layer. The box was very heavy and its sharp corner hit Lu Changxiu's head, causing him serious injury. However, a head injury is not trivial, even if he didn't die, it's hard to say whether he would wake up again or have any sequelae after waking up, which requires observation for several days to determine.

  Lu Mama's injury is not serious, it was just a severe collision. After resting for two days, she will be fine.

  Lu Changxiu was carefully moved into the inner room, and Lu's mother stayed behind to take care of him. Suddenly suffering from consecutive blows, she cried until her eyes were red, now almost without tears, and she didn't have the mood to understand what happened to her eldest son. Whether her husband's injury was intentional or accidental, her eldest son dared to be so ruthless to his own father, no different from a beast? The old lady looked at her eldest son with leniency due to their long-term master-servant relationship, but now it had reached the point where punishment was unavoidable, and she didn't want to add more trouble for her master. She just threw out a sentence "It's all up to the old lady", without even looking at Lu Dashou, and then went into the inner room.

  Zhaowei snapped out of his astonishment, his face slightly flushed, feeling that he had been too impulsive. How could he have panicked just because something unexpected happened? He quickly got back to the point, in front of Zhaojiong and Old Master Ba. He asked Bilian to take down the package of medicine powder from the beam in the room and hand it over to Wang Siping for judgment, confirming that it was the poisonous "Seven Days Down". Then he asked Xiaoman about the details of how Lü Dashou had injured his father and escaped. After that, he let the two siblings stay behind to take care of their father, while he himself led a group of elders, taking Lü Dashou back to the main courtyard.

  Zhaoyao also received the news and rushed over. She had previously sent another maid to comfort Bilian. And ordered the servants to invite a doctor for Lu Changxiu, not to be negligent in any way. At this point, being generous would make herself appear magnanimous, but what was most important was to firmly grasp the loyalty of Lu Mama and Bilian, Xiaoman.

  Lu Dazhou now knew that he couldn't escape. Hearing that his father wasn't dead, he also let out a sigh of relief, but didn't ask again about the severity of his father's injuries. He himself couldn't explain it clearly. Just now, why did he suddenly push his father away with great force, and after seeing his father's miserable state, not notify his mother and younger siblings, but instead run away? But everything was too late, what he could do now was to try his best to redeem himself, to confess everything he knew, in the hope of getting his master's pardon. He didn't expect to be treated leniently again, he just wanted to preserve his own life with all his might.

  Originally, after the title of Marquis was abolished and Zhao Jiong died, Jiang's family entered prison, Zhao Yue went to Jinzhou as a sesame official, and Niu's family moved out of the Hou Mansion with their children. After that, the days of the small house were not going well. Most of the mansion's property was left behind, and what she could save, apart from her dowry, Jiang's dowry, and her husband and son's private houses, were just over 20 servants. Later, she dispersed some of the servants to reduce expenses and made a deal with the Jiang family, who did not want their daughter to be divorced, and received some financial assistance. With the help of the Niu family, she had two or three million taels of silver in her hands, and an annual income of several thousand taels. The main source of income was the more than 9,000 mu of land divided among the family members, as well as a few shops that belonged to the private house. Compared with the past when they were in the Hou Mansion, this amount of money was nothing, but compared with ordinary families, it was already considered wealthy. As long as they managed their finances well, the small household had a relatively small population and did not have to worry about making ends meet.

  But Niu had been the Marquis of Southern Peace for more than half a year and was used to living in luxury, how could she be willing to lose the dignity of the Houmen mansion? She also kept thinking about taking back her title, for the sake of her son's future, she often gave gifts to people. In less than a year, the money had been spent more than half, if this continued, it would probably not last. But she wanted to curry favor with the Yingwang Fu and give gifts to the king and queen, but at the moment, there was no spare money available, so she could only set her sights on Xiao Er Fang's house.

  Zhang brought Xiao Er Fang back to her hometown, but the house in Jingzhong was kept intact. Many of the furniture and decorations obtained during the division of the family property were still there, as well as many gifts she had received from Old Duke Gong over the years. Most of them were left in the house, including some precious items. Old Duke Gong was very generous to this young stepmother. Niu Shi thought of buying the house from Lu Da Shou and wanted to get a few good things from Xiao Er Fang. Anyway, Zhang Shi was not in Jingzhong, and by the time she discovered that things were missing, it might be several years later.

  Lu Dazhou was young at the time, looking for a house in Beijing by himself. Without his parents' guidance, he was tempted by the allure of wealth and status offered by the eunuchs who had been stripped of their official positions. He was also taken to those places of luxury and pleasure several times by people sent by Niu Shi. As a result, he became corrupted and personally removed the screen from the kang. However, he only took this one item when he encountered the newly appointed Crown Prince and Princess's emissaries who came to inspect the small houses in Beijing. The palace official even asked if there were any suspicious individuals causing trouble, such as those from the Xiao Chang Fang. Lu Dazhou felt guilty and feared being discovered by the Crown Prince for his actions, so he refused to help Niu Shi take anything else. In the end, Niu Shi had no choice but to spend her own money to purchase several valuable items, including the screen, which she sent to the Ying Wang Fu together with other gifts.

  Niu Shi was not willing to let go of Lu Da Shou's lead, she had spent a lot of money, time and effort on him, and she wanted to get her investment back. So she asked Lu Da Shou to report to her regularly about the dynamics of Xiao Er Fang, no matter how small the matter was. Whether someone from Xiao Er Fang went to Beijing, what they did there, what big things they did in Fengxian, how many industries they had, how much money they made each year, who were the managers of their various industries, their names and backgrounds, whether they had any relatives in Xiao Chang Fang... etc. Lu Da Shou thought that it was easy to find out these things if he put his mind to it, so he reported everything to Niu Shi one by one. Later, he even continued to report all the things about Xiao Er Fang mentioned in the letters from his parents and siblings. Although Niu Shi had a mind to play tricks, unfortunately, she lacked money and people around her. The only thing she could do was to mix her own people among the many maidservants, through Lu Da Shou's relationship, into Xiao Er Fang's mansion in Beijing as servants, in preparation for future use.

  This time, Zhang brought his grandson to the capital, and people in the imperial circle began to mention that Zhao Wei had grown up and could inherit the title of Duke of Jianan left by his grandfather. When Niu heard the news, how could she let Xia Er Fang get away with it? She also felt that Xia Er Fang's backer, Guangping King, had lost his position as heir and was no longer a contender. She set her sights on Ying Wang Fu again, and as long as Xia Er Fang didn't get in the way, the title would eventually return to Zhao Wei's head. So she played her trump card, promising that after the matter was settled, she would immediately help the Lu family change their registration. The method used was to let them fake their own deaths, change their names and surnames, take money and "legal" household registration to live elsewhere. She lured Lu Dashi to follow Zhang's ancestors back to their hometown, and secretly poisoned him, also to wash away the suspicion of Xiao Chang Fang.

  Lu Dasou, influenced by Xiao Changfang and his wife in recent years, had become accustomed to a life of luxury. Under the influence of greed, he did not hesitate for long and agreed to Niu Shi's request, taking the package of poison back home. However, he did not expect the incident with the kang screen. Although he returned smoothly to Fengxian with his master, he lost his job. The package of poisonous powder in his arms could no longer be found an opportunity to be put into the tea, food, and drink of several masters.

  Lu Dazhou cowered on the ground, his whole body trembling as he finished speaking: "I also heard my father say before that if I could avoid being an official slave, it would be better. So I told my father about it. My father told me to throw away the package of poison and pretend not to know anything, absolutely do not take action. He said that although we want to get rid of this official slave identity, we cannot risk our lives. Xia Changfang is not kind-hearted at all. If something happens to the old lady and my brother and sister, it will be us who will bear the responsibility. Xia Changfang can easily push the blame away by saying he didn't know anything, and then take over the family property and title without caring about our lives. Although we are servants in the second house, my mother is a major manager, and life is comfortable. If this matter is exposed, the good family business will be ruined. It's better to think carefully before acting. I was afraid when I heard these words, but I was also worried that if I threw away the poison carelessly, someone would discover it. So I hid it first and planned to bury it in a remote place when I had the chance to go out... who knew my sister would find it..."

  The truth was finally revealed, and Zhao Wei thought that things had gone as he wished. He didn't bother to investigate the extent of Lu Changxiu's involvement in the matter. He ordered his men to take away Lu Dasou, then turned to face Eighth Old Master and Zhao Jing, saying: "Eighth Uncle, Elder Brother Jing, our Second House has not interfered with First House for years, nor have we ever done anything to them. Yet they still won't let us off the hook, even resorting to poisoning! If this is allowed to continue, who knows what other atrocities they will commit? My grandmother's nature is kind and lenient, but she can't just let others humiliate our family! Please, Clan Elders, you must take charge of this matter for us!"

  Mrs. Zhang looked at her grandson with some surprise and was very pleased in her heart. The actions of the young master had already crossed her bottom line, making her recall the pain of losing a child again. At this point, she could no longer deceive herself by looking at the face of the Duke's father and repeatedly letting the young master off easy. With tears in her eyes, she said to the Eighth Elder: "I can't do things that harm people's lives, but the Zhao family clan can no longer tolerate such descendants. I will propose a public discussion within the clan to expel the young master's family from the clan! From now on, his family and the Zhao family clan have nothing to do with each other!"

  Zhao Xuan timely inserted a sentence: "Xiao Changfang is still closely related to the Ying Wangfu, I heard that Ying Wang has always wanted to be the emperor, what if something happens and involves Xiao Changfang, will it implicate our family?" She had already heard about it from her brother yesterday.

  This time even Old Man Ba's face changed, and he hastily asked Zhang Shi: "Sister-in-law, is this true?!"

  "It's a matter of life and death for the entire Zhang family," Zheng nodded solemnly. "This is the truth, once you leave this door, never tell anyone else again. I'm afraid even the injury to Guangping King is also related to him. The nobleman has already taken notice."

  The old man looked at Zhao Yun with a serious expression, and Zhao Yun immediately made a decision: "Tomorrow, we will hold a family meeting, and the little long house can no longer stay!"