swear not to be concubine

Chapter 54

When Xu Zhongxuan walked into the bright room of the upper room of Songhe Hall, Mrs. Wu was sitting on the Arhat bed with a sullen face, Mrs. Qin was sitting in the first rose chair on the left, drinking tea leisurely, and Wu Jingxuan was sitting In the first rose chair on the right hand side, with her head down, she twisted the autumn-colored handkerchief restlessly in her hands, and on the ground was a maid kneeling on the ground.

Seeing Xu Zhongxuan coming in, Wu Shi, Qin Shi and Wu Jingxuan were all surprised.

"Why are you here?" Wu asked first.

Qin Shi asked Yun Xiang who was following Xu Zhongxuan: "Why didn't Miss Jian come?"

But Wu Jingxuan got up and stood up, and called out in surprise: "Big cousin."

Xu Zhongxuan didn't look at Wu Jingxuan at all, and turned a deaf ear to her yelling.

He just bowed to Wu Shi and Qin Shi each, and then said calmly: "I was at Jin'er's just now, and when I heard Rue Xiang say that grandma and mother were interrogating the maid here, I thought it was interesting for a moment, so I thought about it." Come over and listen in. Miss Jian is accompanying Jin'er. I thought that she is a relative of our family after all. It would not be good to ask her to come and confront a maid. It would bring shame to our Xu family if it spread, so I didn't let her She's coming."

Mrs. Wu wished that Jian Yan wouldn't come, so a few smiles appeared on her face immediately, she nodded and said with a smile: "That's right. Miss Jian was originally a relative of our family, and she was also a girl from a decent and good family. Why don't you ask her to come over and confront a maid? By doing this, you are being polite and general."

While talking, he glanced at Qin Shi.The meaning is obvious, that is to say, the Qin family does not understand etiquette and general principles.

When Qin heard this, she gritted her teeth in anger.On the one hand, he was angry with Xu Zhongxuan.

Speaking of which, even though Xu Zhongxuan was not born to her anymore, he was still a person in the big house, and it was recorded in her name, but why did he turn his elbow outward, instead of helping her, he went to help Mrs. Wu?
At this time, Xu Zhongxuan had already sat down in the second rose chair on the left.Immediately, a little maid took a small gold-painted and lacquered tea tray with both hands, brought a cup of tea, and placed it on the rosewood table beside his hand.

Xu Zhongxuan didn't drink tea, but looked at Xueliu, and asked in a calm voice: "I heard Yunxiang say that you were the one who held a grudge because Miss Jian scolded you and slapped you again, so I specially slapped you. Make up a lie and let the little maids in Tangli Garden spread the rumors everywhere, so as to tarnish Miss Jian's reputation?"

Xueliu only felt that although Xu Zhongxuan looked at her indifferently, but like a needle in the cotton, it still made her feel like a light on her back.For a moment, she was extremely nervous, and even thin beads of sweat appeared on the tip of her nose.

She thought, even if she confessed Wu Jingxuan now, it would be useless.If Wu Jingxuan was kicked out of Xu's residence, as her personal servant girl, then she would definitely not get much favor.But if she took on this matter with all her strength now, Wu Jingxuan would naturally not treat her badly after the rumors passed.

And after all, this is the girl she has served and accompanied for so many years.So although Xueliu was afraid in her heart, she still gritted her teeth and replied firmly: "Yes. The servant is holding a grudge because Miss Jian once beat the servant, so she made up such a statement, specially I really want to discredit Miss Jane. From the beginning to the end, this matter was done by the servant alone, and no one instructed the servant."

"Very good." Xu Zhongxuan laughed angrily when he saw that she refused to admit that he was instigated by Wu Jingxuan.So the next moment he quickly asked, "Then let me ask you, what day was the day Miss Jian punished you? Was it sunny or cloudy? What color dress was Miss Jane wearing at that time? What kind of flowers are embroidered on the skirt? What kind of jewelry is she wearing on her head? What kind of earrings are she wearing on her ears? Is the maid she brings with her is Bai Wei, or April, or both, or none of them? ?”

He asked a series of questions quickly, without giving anyone any time to think.Not to mention Xueliu, even Wu Shi, Qin Shi, Wu Jingxuan, and all the maids in the room were stunned.

When Wu Shi and Wu Jingxuan saw that Xu Zhongxuan did not let Jian Yan come over, they were relieved. Wu Jingxuan was even secretly thinking that Xu Zhongxuan was on her side, and she was secretly happy, thinking that Xu Zhongxuan was still more or less the same. Interested in her.But now Xu Zhongxuan's series of questions were quickly thrown out, and the faces of Wu Shi and Wu Jingxuan immediately changed.

Where is Xu Zhongxuan helping them?It is simply to kill them.What he meant was clearly a posture that he would never let go until he found out the real instigator behind the scenes.

But Qin's heart was filled with joy.Thinking, sure enough, after all, Xu Zhongxuan is still a member of the big room, so he will definitely help her.So she immediately opened her mouth to urge Xueliu: "Eldest Young Master asked you something, why didn't you answer? If you can't answer any of these questions that Eldest Young Master asks, then it can be seen that you are lying to your face."

Xueliu was naturally dumbfounded by the question.I turned around quickly in my mind, but the answer was still stuttering: "Well, it was sunny that day. Miss Jian was wearing red and red shirts, white and white skirts, embroidered, embroidered The flowers are, yes, yes, irises. On her hair..."

Before he could say a word, Xu Zhongxuan said coldly: "Ms. Jian's father passed away less than a year ago, and she is still in the filial piety. How can she wear a red shirt? It can be seen that you are lying."

Xueliu hurriedly said: "The maidservant made a mistake. Miss Jian was wearing a pale pink shirt that day."

Xu Zhongxuan just looked at her coldly, without saying a word.And Wu Jingxuan met at the side at this time, afraid that Xu Zhongxuan would ask her to instigate the spreading of those rumors in the end, and think her intentions were vicious, so she hurriedly scolded Xueliu: "You bitch, you are actually lard Confused, why are you slandering Miss Jian for no reason?"

Yin turned to Mrs. Wu again and said, "I don't dare to keep such a vicious maidservant by my side anymore. Auntie, why don't you just ask someone to pull her out right now, beat her up dozens of times, and then call the matchmaker Come, take it out and sell it right away."

"Miss Cousin's heart is really cruel," Qin said with a smile on the side, "This maid wants to bear all the guilt on her own, so as to protect you as a girl. It's just you, a girl, I don’t say I’m grateful for him, but I’m afraid of hurting myself, so I rushed to make trouble. If this were me, wouldn’t I die of disappointment? What kind of scapegoat will you bear.”

Qin's words naturally meant to sow discord.But I have to say that what she said was indeed useful.Xu Zhongxuan could see Xueliu's gaze flickering at Wu Jingxuan, and the hands lying flat on his knees slowly curled up.

Looking at Xueliu's hands, Xu Zhongxuan commented lightly: "Your hands are not bad."

As a big maid, the daily work is to make the bed and fold the quilt, serve tea and water, and so on. You don't need to do any rough work. Needless to say, your hands are white and tender, fingers like spring onions.

Everyone in the room didn't know why Xu Zhongxuan would say such a sentence suddenly, they were all a little stunned.Wu Jingxuan even looked down at her own hands, then at Xueliu's hands, comparing whether her own hands were better or Xueliu's were better.

But at the next moment, everyone heard Xu Zhongxuan speaking slowly: "There is a punishment in Dali Temple called 拶. It is to put the ten fingers of the prisoner between the connected wooden sticks, and then two yamen servants use force on both sides. Tighten the rope. As the rope is gradually tightened, the prisoner will feel that the bones of his ten fingers are being crushed inch by inch. He can even hear the sound of his bones slowly breaking."

All the people in the house are female relatives, and they seldom go out on weekdays.The methods of punishing people that I have come into contact with the most are nothing more than hitting the board and slapping the face.When Xu Zhongxuan suddenly heard Xu Zhongxuan mentioning this kind of punishment, cold sweat broke out on everyone's body, and Xueliu was trembling all over.The hands that were originally on the knees were even carried behind their backs.

Xu Zhongxuan saw it, and continued slowly: "There is another kind of punishment. The thick iron stick, the top is ground to a finer point, and the prisoner's finger is slowly tossed with a hammer. It was nailed down. It was nailed down with an iron stick. If the prisoner still refuses to be recruited, it doesn’t matter. Use a hammer to nail down the second finger. Ding ding dong dong, every click, it’s all because of the hammer hitting the iron. The sound on the stick. If the yamen servant misses the hammer and hits the prisoner's hand by mistake, the prisoner won't feel the pain. Xueliu, why do you think this is?"

Xue Liuzheng was frightened and held her breath while listening to Xu Zhongxuan's words.Obviously his voice didn't have any ups and downs, he was just talking about the execution process in a straightforward manner, but Xueliu felt as if he could see the prisoner lying on the ground with his hands held down by someone, and a yamen servant took an iron stick Putting it on his nails, another yamen servant raised the hammer high in his hand, and smashed it down with a bang, the nails were broken and blood spattered everywhere.Immediately, the prisoner screamed in pain, his body thrashed like a fish jumping out of the water.But his body was firmly held down by the yamen servant, no matter how much he struggled, it would be of no avail.So he could only watch helplessly as another iron stick was placed on his other finger, and the yamen servant raised the hammer in his hand again...

It seemed to be an illusion, but Xueliu just felt that her fingers were in severe pain right now.It seemed that the iron stick was stuck on her finger.

Her heart that was being horrified was lifted up tightly, as if she couldn't breathe, she could only gasp, but at this moment she suddenly heard Xu Zhongxuan calling her name, asking why she was clearly an iron man. The hammer hit the prisoner's hand, but the prisoner didn't feel any pain.

She was so bluffed by Xu Zhongxuan's plain and straightforward words that she couldn't even roll her eyes. How could she even think about why?So she just looked straight at Xu Zhongxuan with her eyes, her voice trembled, and the words she said were like dead leaves in the cold wind, trembling out of shape.

"But why, why?"

I saw Xu Zhongxuan's lips twitch slightly, and smiled slowly.

Obviously he was born handsome and elegant, this smile can be said to be dazzling, it only made him look more handsome and unrestrained, but this smile fell in Xueliu's eyes, and it felt like the hell demon opened his bloody mouth, revealing the seriousness in his mouth. White Fang's bloodthirsty smile was even more terrifying.

"Because, compared with the pain of an iron stick being driven into your finger, the pain of a hammer being stuck in your hand is nothing at all."

Xu Zhongxuan spoke very slowly, and then he managed to see that the pupils of Xue Liu's eyes shrank slightly after hearing his words.

So Xu Zhongxuan took advantage of the victory to pursue, and asked very slowly: "Then, Xueliu, how many iron sticks do you think you can withstand?"

Although the last snowflake that crushed the branch fell lightly, the branch broke and fell to the ground with a click at that moment, and the snowflakes splashed everywhere.

Xueliu's kneeling body softened, and she collapsed on the spot.

Everything after that couldn't be easier.Xueliu explained exactly how Wu Jingxuan told her these words and gave her money, and how to let her distribute the money to the little maids in Tangli Garden, and let them spread these words everywhere, for It is to discredit Jian Yan's reputation, so that she can no longer hold her head up as a human being.As for the reason why Wu Jingxuan did this, Xueliu said that it was because when Miss Jian said something to Wu Jingxuan for the third girl when she went to Taoyuan to enjoy the peach blossoms a few days ago, Wu Jingxuan held a grudge because of this, and came back day and night. Hate Jian Yan.

Wu Jingxuan was suspicious by nature, even though Xueliu was her first maid, she still refused to trust her very much.Xu Zhongxuan didn't say a word to Xueliu about what she was interested in Jian Yan, so Xueliu only thought that Wu Jingxuan held a grudge against Jianyan because of the incident in Taoyuan, and she couldn't think of anything else go.

It was originally an extremely difficult matter, but since Xu Zhongxuan came, after only a few rounds of questioning, Xueliu immediately made all the tricks.

Mrs. Qin immediately said to Mrs. Wu: "It's not that my daughter-in-law is poisonous, it's just that people like Miss Cousin are really cruel. Ms. Jian just said a few words about her because of the third girl, and my daughter-in-law feels that it's just because of the third girl. Those two sentences about Miss Jane are not bad. But because of such a trivial matter, Miss Biao actually deliberately wanted to ruin Miss Jane's reputation. Fortunately, she clarified it in time, otherwise such rumors would be broken After two more days, everyone believed it. Didn't they want to force Miss Jian to seek death? Such a cruel person, why should he stay in our house? Mother, if you want to think about the allusion of Zhongshan wolf, don't give up Sincerely treat her well, but in the end she will repay you with kindness. Not to mention, seeing this maid Xueliu is an example. Xueliu is only thinking about the cousin girl, and only wants to make this girl Everything happened to me, but how did the Biao girl treat her? Asked La to beat dozens of boards, called the matchmaker, and sold it immediately. Such a person, do you know what it means to be grateful? It is a disaster, and it is only serious to send her back to her home as soon as possible."

Wu Jingxuan had already covered her face with the handkerchief in her hand, crying into tears.Hearing Qin's rejection of her like this, she wanted to refute a few words, but she found that she couldn't refute.

Finally, she suddenly remembered, speaking of the Xu family, from the Wu family to the Qin family, down to the lowest servants and servants, who would dare not listen to Xu Zhongxuan's words?As long as he can say a word, it will be helpful for her to be considerate.

So she took off the handkerchief covering her face, raised her head, looked at Xu Zhongxuan with tears in her eyes, and begged with choked voice: "Big cousin, you, you should speak for me. Me, I don't want to go back."

What good is there in going back?Grandfather was just working as a magistrate in a poor and smoky place.And according to his honest nature and his current age, it may be difficult for him to get any promotion in this life, so he can only live in that poor, bad and smoky place for the rest of his life.If I go back here, won't I have to stay there for the rest of my life?How could she be willing?

But no matter how much she begged Xu Zhongxuan like a cuckoo crying blood, Xu Zhongxuan always treated her with indifference, and didn't even look at her.

Wu Shi also felt very embarrassed at this time, but she was also angry in her heart.

What is embarrassing for her is that after all, Wu Jingxuan is her grand-nephew, and she came out after doing such a bad thing, and even bringing her as an aunt would be ridiculed by Qin's like this. ?What annoyed her was that this Wu Jingxuan was so worthless.If he really had a grudge against Jian Yan and wanted to plot against her behind his back, he would have thought of a smarter way to come out.Such an inferior method is full of loopholes, and it is so easy to be picked out on the spot and questioned, how can there be room for change?

But in her heart, she actually didn't want Wu Jingxuan to leave.Firstly, after all these years of getting along, she still has some feelings. Secondly, these years, she has spent a lot of effort and money on Wu Jingxuan, only thinking of making her the wife of the big house, From now on, she can indirectly control the big house.But if I let her go back now, all my hard work and money for so many years will be in vain. The key point is that it is equivalent to cutting off the way for her to control the big house in the future.So it's not that the Qin family is not shrewd, she just knew her plan, so she took advantage of this matter and insisted on it, making it clear that she wanted to drive Wu Jingxuan out of Xu's house.

It's just that the Wu family no longer wants Wu Jingxuan to stay, but the current situation is like this, and the Qin family is watching from the sidelines.I'm afraid that whenever she says nothing, Qin Shi has two baskets of words waiting for her.So Mrs. Wu thought about it, and finally asked Xu Zhongxuan: "Brother Xuan, what do you mean by sister Xuan's going or staying?"

Now the only chance is Xu Zhongxuan.As long as he asked Wu Jingxuan to stay, no matter how annoyed Qin was, she would dare not say anything publicly.

So for a while, everyone's eyes were focused on Xu Zhongxuan.Wu Jingxuan was even more nervous and tightly held the handkerchief in her hand.

Xu Zhongxuan just sat in the chair drinking tea and didn't say a word ever since he asked Xueliu about the truth of the matter.Let Qin's innuendo speak, Wu's face was gloomy like water, Wu Jingxuan was crying there, he just pretended that he didn't see or hear, but just turned his head to look at the crape myrtle outside the door Shu, thinking in her heart, wondering if Jian Yan listened to him and waited for him to go back to have dinner together in Ning Cui Xuan?It's just that her words to him used to go in one ear and out the other. If she went back to her own yard now, what method would she think of to call her out again?

And when Wu Shi asked him, he finally turned his head around.

Putting the teacup in his hand on the table next to his hand, there was a light click.Then he raised his head and said unhurriedly, "I mean the same as my mother."

The implication is to agree with Qin's intention to let Wu Jingxuan leave Xu's house and go back to her own.

As soon as Qin Shi heard it, a complacent expression appeared on his face.

Since Xu Zhongxuan said so, what else can Wu do?The only thing that can't be said is to let Wu Jingxuan leave the Xu family.

At this moment, Wu Jingxuan forgot to cry, but looked at Xu Zhongxuan in disbelief, and said nah, "Big cousin, you..."

But Xu Zhongxuan had no time to talk to her, and he had to rush back to have lunch with Jian Yan.Don't wait for it to be too late, Jian Yan will go back.

So he stood up from the chair, nodded to Wu Shi and Qin Shi as a compliment, and then said: "Jin'er is still waiting for me to have lunch together, so I will leave first. "

Who in the room dares to stop him?She could only watch helplessly as he turned and left.

But Wu Jingxuan looked at his tall and straight figure like a green bamboo, and felt that tears flowed down her cheeks uncontrollably.

What is this?Speaking of which, wasn't everything she did for him, but in the end he wanted to drive her out of Xu's house. He was so cruel that he didn't care about his own feelings for him?
But she also knew that she was afraid that after this farewell, she would never see Xu Zhongxuan again in her life.So in the end, she didn't care about it, got up and ran to catch up.

She had to tell him all of her heart, and then begged him to let her stay.She would rather be his concubine, but she would be content to see her every day.

It's just that Xu Zhongxuan left very quickly, and by the time she caught up, she had already left the courtyard gate of Songhe Hall.

"Big cousin." Wu Jingxuan ran all the way to catch up, and stretched out her hand to pull his arm regardless.

But it's a pity that before her hand even touched his sleeve, Xu Zhongxuan turned sideways to let her go.

Then I saw Xu Zhongxuan with a cold face, and said two words to her very coldly: "Respect yourself."

When Wu Jingxuan heard this, her tears immediately became more intense.

He has always been like this to her all these years, and there is no time for tenderness.As long as he said a word to her gently and smiled, she would rather do anything for him.

"Big cousin," she choked up, but still insisted on asking, "Do you hate me that much?"

Xu Zhongxuan was a little impatient to talk to her.

Under such a weak appearance, there is a heart that wants to force Jian Yan to death.Why would she cry in front of him now?Everything today is all her own fault, and she has no one to blame.

Wu Jingxuan saw that he didn't speak, and looked at her with indifference. For a moment, she felt like a knife was stabbed in her heart, and she couldn't bear the pain at all.

"But big cousin, I love you." She begged sadly with a mournful face, "Just don't let me go, I'd rather be your concubine and serve you every day."

When Xu Zhongxuan heard her words, he laughed instead.

It's just that this smile doesn't seem to have any warmth, on the contrary, it's like the cold wind in the middle of the night, blowing on the body, I feel that the bones inside are chilly.

"But I don't love you," Xu Zhongxuan replied concisely and cruelly, "Even if you want to be my concubine, I don't want it either. With a woman like you with a heart like snake and scorpion by my side, I'm afraid of falling asleep It's going to be unstable."

After all, he ignored her, turned around and walked straight away.

Wu Jingxuan stood where she was, watching his bamboo-like figure drifting away with blurry eyes, and finally couldn't hold on anymore, squatted down, covered her face with a handkerchief, and burst into tears.

(End of this chapter)