The warm sunlight sprinkled on the body, driving away the cold that invaded the bones in the long winter and awakening the good mood that had been sleeping all winter. Everything revives, the little tree spits out new shoots, the grass pokes out its head, the low-flying swallow announces the arrival of warm spring, and Yiqiē seems to return to the calm days.

"Last year, in this door today, the peach blossoms on the human face were red. The face of the person does not know where to go, and the peach blossoms are still smiling in the spring breeze. ”

Xia Xue'er sat in front of the window, holding her head in her hands and looking at the large pink peach blossoms in bloom in the courtyard. A fresh breeze blows in your face, with a hint of warmth and a hint of floral fragrance.

No one answered in the house, Xia Xue'er put her hands flat, rested her head on her arms, and talked to herself, and her mother sat on the side and looked at her dotingly, listening to her words.

"Mother, from today onwards, you don't have to remember the marriage of the eldest brother, this morning the emperor pointed out the marriage of Princess Manjushri and the eldest brother in front of the ministers. The daughter of Princess Manjushri has seen it, gentle and virtuous, and her mother can rest assured. In addition, there was news from Jiangnan's grandfather's house that her aunt and cousin Wan had already gone on the road early yesterday morning, and the daughter estimated that they would arrive at the capital in four or five days, and the daughter would take someone to wait at the gate of the house early. It's just that my daughter hasn't seen my aunt yet, and I don't know what Cousin Wan looks like, and I don't know if they know that I have lost my memory, otherwise there will be a lot of jokes when we meet.

Oh, there is also her grandmother's handwriting in the letter, and my daughter can guess it by reading the contents. Grandma was very anxious after learning that you were ill, and originally said that her old man would also go with her aunt, but then considering that her grandmother was old after all, she couldn't stand the bumps in the road and had to give up, so her old man told her daughter in the letter, so you should hold on and strive to wake up as soon as possible! ”

"Miss?"

As soon as Xia Xue'er finished speaking, she heard a thin voice calling her, so she turned her head and saw Cuizhu standing respectfully at the door, it seemed that she had been in for a long time, but she couldn't bear to disturb her. So he asked, "Spit it out?" ”

"Spit it out," Cuizhu nodded.

Xia Xue'er stood up and walked to the bed, stared at her mother's peaceful face, and said softly: "Mother, you can sleep peacefully, my daughter has already raised eyebrows about the fire in the small building!" ”

After that, he stretched out his hand and tucked the silk quilt, and then put down the gauze tent, and then walked out of the door.

There is a gloomy place in the Xia Mansion, which everyone calls the Underworld, which is specially prepared for minions with improper thoughts, similar to the Shen Xing Si in the palace. In fact, in a cold place like the underworld, there are zài in almost every big family's mansion, although the sparrows are small and have all kinds of organs, there are all kinds of torture tools in this place. The minions who don't spit out the truth when they enter there must have an iron body and a bronze spirit!

There is only one narrow window in the underground, and the beige window paper with very poor light transmission is the only color in the whole room from the outside, and the closed window forms an enclosed space, and there is still half a cobweb hanging from the dark window with the paint off. Looking up, there was no plaque on the top of the tall wooden door. To the outside world, this is an unknown existence.

Pushing the door in, the biting chill hit instantly, and suddenly there was a feeling of falling into the underworld, Cuizhu couldn't help but shiver, but Xia Xue'er didn't seem to feel uncomfortable at all, although she raised her legs and strode in, she also hurriedly picked up steps to keep up.

The room was very dim, and a five-headed candle hanging on the roof emitted a faint flickering light, illuminating the three bloody prisoners tied to the torture equipment, and even the two five big and three rough mothers who were tortured were also in the dark, only two faces with horizontal eyebrows flashed from time to time, as if they were the little ghost in charge of the execution next to the king of Hades.

When they got closer, they saw that the tortured were two maids and a servant. Among them, the most tragic injury was a maid, although she was scarred all over her body, and her messy hair was wrapped in sweat like rain and pasted on her pale face, Xia Xue'er still vaguely recognized her as Bai Yining's henchman!

"The slave has seen the third lady."

When the two grandmothers saw Xia Xue'er walk into the house, they hurriedly put down the torture equipment in their hands and saluted. Xia Xue'er nodded slightly at the two of them, and then pointed at her eyes and asked, "Who are they?" What did you call? ”

"Miss Huisan", a grandmother pointed to the lightest little girl in the innermost part and said: "That person is the porter of the west corner gate, he said that on the eve of the incident, a woman wearing a hat gave him a piece of silver and asked him to put a tightly wrapped thing in the bamboo forest that night, out of curiosity, he opened it privately before leaving the bamboo forest to see it, it was an iron cage containing ten live rats. ”

Xia Xue'er glanced at the little guy, there was no scar on his face, but he was not very impressed, and it was estimated that he couldn't resist the temptation of that ingot of silver, and now he was eager to save his life, so he was happy.

Nodding slightly, he moved his gaze to the maid in the middle, who was obviously more seriously injured than the little maid.

"Who's that? It's familiar. ”

Mama looked at Xia Xue'er's gaze, and immediately replied: "No wonder the third miss looks familiar, it is the maid in the lady's yard, but she is a girl who sweeps the backyard, only works in the backyard, and the third miss may have seen it when she went to the backyard." ”

"She brought that thing into Yalanxuan?"

The third lady guessed correctly, she was the one who went to the bamboo forest to pick up the cage the night before the incident. It was also the little guy who felt that something was wrong, and hid in the dark to secretly check and found out that the sneaky person was her little, and she also placed the dirty thing on the small building of the lady, and she also confessed to it. But she didn't admit that she had ever released the stout rats, but after being tortured by the slaves and maids, she asked the person who instructed her to do this. ”

Xia Xue'er pointed to Bai Yining's personal maid and asked, "Is that her?" ”

"Exactly."

Mama nodded and continued, "But...... On top of that, the slaves asked for something else! ”

"Oh?" Xia Xue'er turned her head to look at the grandmother who was talking, waiting for her later text.

These two were originally fellow villagers, and they entered the Xia Mansion in the same year, and after entering the mansion, both of them worked as errands in Meilin, and they did not separate until Aunt Bai entered the mansion, one of them followed Aunt Bai, and the other remained in Meilin. Three years ago, the one who stayed in Merlin had been caught in the slave for stealing the second lady's beloved. It was supposed to be severely punished, but under Aunt Bai's strong persuasion, coupled with Mrs. Lady's benevolence and kindness, she did not cut off her hands according to the law, but only fined the moon silver in March, and transferred to Yalanxuan to clean the sparsely populated backyard. This is the beginning of what happened later, because this person is grateful to Aunt Bai for rescuing him, and he and Aunt Bai's personal maid have many years of sisterhood, so they have long obeyed their good sisters. ”

Then, Mama told Xia Xue'er all the things that the two wolves had done for adultery over the years, and all of them were aimed at her mother and herself, and after listening to it, it was really shocking and terrifying. It was also thanks to his and his mother's lives that they were able to escape this ruthless move from the shadows!

"Because this matter involves the master, the slave and maid are not good at making decisions, so I should ask the third lady to come up with an idea."

Mama said and looked at Xia Xue'er quietly, waiting for her to give instructions. After all, although Aunt Bai is not a noble person, she also belongs to the master of the Eight Classics, and without the orders of a more noble person, she really doesn't dare to tie up Bai Yining involved and torture her.

But before Xia Xue'er could speak, another low roar with a chill and majesty came into the room.

"Go and tie up that sinner to Ben Shao!"

"Big brother?"

Xia Xue'er turned her head and saw that it was none other than his eldest brother, Xia Qi! He himself has that kind of temperament that is not angry and self-imposing, let alone really angry, you can imagine what a terrifying picture it is!

And the two grandmothers in charge of the criminal law were already waiting for Xia Xue'er's order, but now that the eldest young master has ordered them, they are even more fearless! So he hurriedly took the hemp rope and went to receive the order.

"Wait!" Xia Xue'er hurriedly spoke out to stop her, and then ordered: "You wait outside the door, this matter is very important, and I need to discuss it with the eldest young master." ”

"Yes!" The two grandmothers exited the door and piggybacked on it. Once again, the room fell dark and silent, except for the breathing of a few people.

She still doesn't know whether to sue her eldest brother for what she knows, which will be related to her mother's status in her eldest brother's heart. She has been Xia Xue'er for less than a year, and she is still so unacceptable after knowing the truth, not to mention Xia Qi, who is the real son of his mother, and he is a child who has respected and loved his mother for more than 20 years! If he knew the truth of the matter, it would definitely be a huge shock to her spiritual world!

Xia Qi stared at his sister for a moment, the anger in his eyes gradually subsided, and his body was no longer as cold as he was at the beginning. Strode towards the house, glanced at the three people who had been tortured, and then focused his eyes on his sister, full of distress.

"I really didn't expect that my mother and you have suffered so many twists and turns over the years! Don't worry, the eldest brother will definitely not be able to spare Bai Yining! ”

Xia Xue'er saw that her eldest brother Yu Wei was still there, and she was worried that he would really break Bai Yining's body into ten thousand pieces, so she hurriedly persuaded her: "Big brother, this matter is very important, don't act in a hurry!" ”

"The third sister is worried that Aunt Bai is not the real mastermind behind this matter, and the person who planned this matter has other plans?"

Xia Qi frowned when she heard this, and looked at her sister for some reason and asked.

"It's not like that, it's just that Aunt Bai is my father's side room after all, our elder, married into the mansion for so many years, there is no merit and hard work, how can she be pressed into the underworld by our two juniors and tortured, isn't this an excuse for outsiders to treat concubines harshly, and there is no distinction between the young and the old?"

Xia Qi shook his head and said: "My sister's words are wrong, my eldest brother knows that you have a good heart, and everything is for the sake of the century-old reputation of Xia Mansion, but after all, she is only a concubine, and she has framed the main room and her concubine many times, and she should be severely punished in terms of rules!" Besides, the state has a national law and family rules, and there is no impermeable wall in the world, since this incident has happened, it must be said that my father and I are both people who govern the army, and we know that someone has made mistakes but ignore them, which is very unfavorable after it is spread. Besides, since ancient times, if this poisonous woman is not punished, it is inevitable that his father will have a bad reputation as a favored concubine and killing his wife in the future! ”

Xia Xue'er listened to what her brother said is not unreasonable, but this matter can be traced back to Bai Yining's resentment towards her mother for decades, no matter what, she can't let her eldest brother interfere, she has already made a decision in this matter, if she really lets Xia Qi intervene, with his character, he will definitely ask Bai Yining clearly before dealing with Bai Yining, what should her mother do at that time?

The eldest brother is like a father, thinking of the eldest brother's care and devotion to his younger brother on weekdays, Xia Xue'er changed her words and simply moved out of Xia Linlai.

"Bai Yining is self-inflicted, and it's not a pity to die, but has the eldest brother thought about what Tianlin should do? He is still young, and leaving his mother will have a detrimental effect on his growth! ”

Don't mention this matter, when you mention it, Xia Qi is even more on fire.

"For more than ten years, how could she have thought about Tianlin? Without that poisonous woman, it will only be beneficial to his growth! Besides, the Xia family's education is based on filial piety first, and I am the eldest son in the family, and I learned that my mother has been framed by others for many years and even has a threat to her life but is unmoved, how can I talk about a filial piety! ”

Hearing this, Xia Xueer didn't know what to do. She also hates Bai Yining, but she has no other way, her eldest brother treats her well, and Mrs. Xia regards her as the pearl of her palm, and she has to win the initiative in this matter no matter what.

"Third sister?"

Xia Qi saw that her sister's eyes were dull and blank, and she knew that her thoughts were already far away at the moment, but she didn't know what her sister wanted to say?

"Big brother, if I say that I know everything Bai Yining did to my mother and me before, you ......"

"Then why don't you say it?!"

Looking at the eldest brother's puzzled eyes and slightly angry face, Xia Xue'er struggled for a moment, and finally said ruthlessly: "If it weren't for the fact that this incident involved my mother's life safety, and I didn't expect it to be Bai Yining's doing, otherwise the eldest brother would never know about those trivial matters in the past." The grievances of the elders, we as the younger generations should not talk too much. It turned out that our Zhao family owed her, and those stumbles should be regarded as paying off debts!

I hope my brother doesn't ask about this matter, if you can trust your sister, you will leave it to your sister to deal with, I will definitely give you a satisfactory answer, if you want to ask, then it is not my relative! ”

Xia Qi was dizzy when he heard his sister's words, why did he involve the Zhao family? What other grievances and debts are repaid, what is going on? Who can sue him!

However, the younger sister obviously didn't want him to know the reason at all, and after saying the puzzling words, she left the underworld without looking back, leaving him alone in the gloomy room to meditate.

Xia Qi glanced up and down at the three minions who were half-dead after being tortured, and he didn't have the heart to continue to investigate.

"Come on, deal with these traitors who seek glory and are disloyal and unrighteous according to the rules!"

Before leaving, he did not forget to order people to deal with these treacherous things.