Jinzhan glanced at Meng Shuping and explained, "This morning, Prince Zhao arrived. He was furious to learn that the Fifth Young Master had fallen into the water, so he ordered the person responsible to be sent to the magistrate's office."
As for Meng Shuping's complaint to Prince Zhao, there was no need to mention that to Wu Shi and the others.
Fourth Madam Wu Shi said in disbelief, "How is that possible? Why would Prince Zhao concern himself with such a trivial matter?"
Meng Shuping looked at her disdainfully, "Why not? I've told them repeatedly not to provoke me, that the Prince would stand up for me. Is it my fault if her memory is failing?"
Yao Shi looked at Wu Shi with concern, "Sister, what should we do now?"
Fourth Madam Wu Shi said dismissively, "So what if Prince Zhao gave the order? If our noble household goes to ask for his release, would they really deny us face?"
Besides, this was just a family matter. As long as they could get Meng Shuping to cooperate, wouldn't it be easy to get Qian'er released?
No sooner had she thought this than Meng Shuping's voice chimed in, "Not so fast. Giving you face would mean showing disrespect to the Prince. Anyone with half a brain would know which side to choose!"
Wu Shi was furious. Why did Meng Shuping always contradict her? Only Yao Shi felt somewhat reassured by Fourth Madam Wu Shi's words.
Because Meng Shuping spoke with such certainty, Fourth Madam Wu Shi didn't dare test this. She glared fiercely at Meng Shuping, "Get up now and go beg the Prince to release Qian'er!"
Hearing her entitled tone, Meng Shuping was completely exasperated. He agreed readily, "Sure, I can do that."
Fourth Madam Wu Shi hadn't expected Meng Shuping to agree so easily. She was stunned for a moment but quickly collected herself, "Then hurry up and go!"
Meng Shuping looked at her sincerely, "Then should we exchange Fifth Sister for him at the magistrate's instead?"
Wu Shi flared up, "Are you mocking me?"
"No, no," Meng Shuping quickly said, "It's mainly because he's taking the fall for Fifth Sister. Originally, Fifth Sister should have been arrested too, but since she's a girl, he had no choice but to shoulder all the blame."
"What?" Yao Shi was shocked, "Qian'er is taking the fall for Ziyun?"
She looked at Wu Shi, "Sister, what's going on? Why would he say that?"
Wu Shi hurriedly explained in a fluster, "He's trying to sow discord between us. How can you believe such words?"
Meng Shuping said coolly, "Then figure it out yourselves! Jinzhan, show them out!"
Wu Shi wanted to say more, but she saw Meng Shuping frown and lean back on the couch, "Ahhh, so annoying! If you keep talking, I'll have someone torture him in prison! I'm sure he'll confess under duress, right?"
"Honestly, instead of wasting time picking fights with me, you'd better hurry to the prison and make some arrangements. Maybe you can ease his hardship, after all, he'll be in there for a long time. Hahaha!"
Jinzhan's mouth twitched, but she quickly pressed her lips together. No, she mustn't laugh, but Fifth Young Master's words were just too funny.
Wu Shi was stung and said furiously, "How can there be someone as vicious as you?"
Meng Shuping said modestly, "No, no, I'm nowhere near your league."
"You... you..." Wu Shi's finger trembled as she pointed at Meng Shuping. She never expected that the seemingly introverted and shy country bumpkin from back then would become so difficult to deal with.
No, perhaps they had misjudged him from the start. With such arrogance inside, how could he possibly be as soft and easy to bully as he appeared?
Seeing Wu Shi so angry, Meng Shuping grew a bit concerned, "Is she going to faint here again? Ugh, is it really such a big deal to get this worked up? Do all of you from the fourth branch have such short tempers?"
"Honestly, she really should learn to control her temper. This is just the beginning—there'll be plenty more reasons to get angry in the future. How will she manage?"
Fourth Madam Wu Shi was both furious and resentful, but her remaining rationality told her not to provoke Meng Shuping further. After all, others might still show some consideration, but if Meng Shuping were pushed too far, he was capable of anything.
Since there was nothing she could do about Meng Shuping, she finally turned away angrily and said, "Let's go!"
Meng Shuping was somewhat disappointed, "Huh? That's it? I thought she was preparing some grand retaliation—gave me quite a fright!"
Wu Shi's back stiffened for a moment but quickly returned to normal. That wretched Meng Shuping—just wait until she got Qian'er out, then she'd have her reckoning with him properly!
After Wu Shi left, Meng Shuping heaved a great sigh of relief. Although he had seemed to have the upper hand earlier, it was all a front. After dealing with Wu Shi, he felt even worse.
He lay tiredly on the couch with his eyes closed, "Ah, since they've brought this upon me, it's only right that he stays in prison a bit longer. That way, no one will have time to make trouble for me."
After leaving Meng Shuping's place, Wu Shi hurried anxiously to Old Lady Fu Shi, "Old Lady, something terrible has happened!"
Old Lady Fu Shi frowned and glanced at her, "What's so terrible that has you in such a rush? Don't you have any dignity as a matron?"
Wu Shi paid no attention to Old Lady Fu Shi's attitude and said with great worry, "Old Lady, Meng Shuping has accused our Ziyun before the magistrate, saying Ziyun attempted to murder him. Now Qian'er has been thrown into prison. If he can't withstand the torture and confesses, our Ziyun will be arrested too!"
"What?" Fu Shi said displeased, "He actually took our family matters to the authorities? He's utterly disgracing the household! Didn't you send someone to get Qian'er out?"
Wu Shi quickly said, "Of course I did, but now he has Prince Zhao backing him. Since Prince Zhao said not to release him, the authorities don't dare let him go!"
Hearing this, Old Lady Fu Shi was enraged, "That wretched bastard! Now that he has Prince Zhao's support, he thinks he can disregard everyone, doesn't he? Doesn't he fear the day he loses favor?"
Fourth Madam Wu Shi urged anxiously, "Old Lady, don't waste time scolding him now. We must first find a way to get Qian'er out. If our Ziyun really gets arrested, her life will be ruined!"
Reminded by her, Fu Shi collected her thoughts. She slapped the armrest, "Send for the second master and his wife here!"
Anyway, she had no desire to see Meng Shuping again anytime soon, otherwise she might not be able to resist clawing his face.
Soon, Meng Wenxiu and Feng Shi were summoned. As soon as they arrived, Old Lady Fu Shi scolded angrily, "Look what your son has done!"
Meng Wenxiu was baffled, "Old Lady, what do you mean? What has my son done?"
"You still have to ask?" Fu Shi rebuked harshly, "He's taken our family matters to the authorities. Do you want everyone to laugh at our household?"
Meng Wenxiu grew even more confused, "Old Lady, what exactly happened? If you don't tell us, how are we supposed to know?"
Fourth Madam Wu Shi sneered, "How dare you ask what happened? Let me tell you, your base-born son has accused our Ziyun before the magistrate, saying Ziyun attempted to murder him. Over such a trivial matter, does he actually want Ziyun to go to prison?"
"What?" Meng Wenxiu was furious, "Meng Shuping did this? What is he trying to do?"
"Whatever he's trying to do," Old Lady Fu Shi said with a dark face, "You go see him now. If you can't control him, you'll keep kneeling in the ancestral hall again tonight!"
She then turned to Feng Shi and scolded sternly, "Feng Shi, you should advise him too. If his actions ruin the reputation of all the girls in our family, your Qing Yun won't have a decent marriage either!"
Hearing the threat in Old Lady Fu Shi's words, Feng Shi seethed inwardly. This Old Lady, unable to deal with Meng Shuping herself, was now pressuring her—how shameless!
But she had no choice. Otherwise, who knew what Old Lady Fu Shi would do to her daughter!
Meng Shuping had just started feeling a bit better when he heard someone outside say, "Second Master and Second Madam are here."
He immediately rolled his eyes. No need to ask—they were here to cause trouble again.
Meng Wenxiu stormed into the room filled with rage. As soon as he saw Meng Shuping, he rebuked harshly, "You unfilial son! Look what you've done!"
Meng Shuping cleaned his ear impatiently, "What have I done?"
"You still have to ask?" Meng Wenxiu fumed, "I'm asking you, why did you take our family matters to the authorities? Do you have any idea how this makes our family look? Are you trying to bring shame upon our entire household?"
Meng Shuping nodded, "Yes!"
"If it's about losing face, it's Meng Ziyun who should be ashamed. What, she can do it but others can't talk about it? If you have the guts, go lecture Meng Ziyun instead of coming here to run your mouth at me."
Meng Wenxiu was left speechless, nearly choked on his words from this retort. He took a deep breath and tried to collect his thoughts. "Do you have any idea how serious the consequences of your actions are? If your Fifth Sister really ends up in jail because of you, the reputation of all the girls in our family will be dragged through the mud. Are you trying to ruin Qing Yun and Huiyun's chances of marriage?"
Meng Shuping said sincerely, "Haven't you heard the saying? The emperor's daughter never worries about finding a husband."
Meng Wenxiu said angrily, "What does the emperor's daughter have to do with our family affairs? I'm telling you, don't change the subject!"
Meng Shuping kindly explained for him, "What I mean is, if the two sisters can't get married, it can only be blamed on the fact that you're not successful enough. How can you blame me? If you were more successful, no matter how flawed the two sisters are, they could still marry into good families. So what you should be doing now is looking in the mirror. Why keep blaming others?"
"If he himself is so useless, how does he still have the face to blame others? He's truly shameless! Ah, being born as his daughter must be the worst luck in eight lifetimes!"
After hearing this, Feng Shi almost laughed out loud. She quickly pinched her thigh—no, this wasn't the time to laugh!
Meanwhile, Meng Wenxiu was so angry his eyebrows stood on end. "Stop twisting my words! I'm asking you, what about your sisters' reputations being ruined?"
Meng Shuping said in surprise, "Then take it up with Meng Ziyun. It wasn't me who ruined them."
"Get your facts straight, okay? I'm not the one who did wrong. Instead of going after the perpetrator, you only know how to bully the victim. What, does the bigger asshole always win?"
"In that case, sorry, but I can be a real piece of work too. Does that mean I'm right?"
Meng Wenxiu had no comeback to Meng Shuping's words but stubbornly insisted, "If you hadn't dragged it to court, would your sister's reputation have been ruined? Ultimately, this is still your fault!"
Meng Shuping said in astonishment, "Then this should be blamed on Old Lady. If she hadn't provoked me, would I have taken it to the authorities? Ultimately, the damage to my sister's reputation is Old Lady's fault!"
"Tsk tsk tsk, he wouldn't still try to guilt-trip me, would he? No need, really no need. Don't you know I'm the least moral person?"
Seeing that Meng Shuping remained unmoved, Meng Wenxiu said urgently, "But you still shouldn't have reported your Fifth Sister to the authorities. She was just joking with you. Do you have to be so ruthless?"
Meng Shuping asked humbly, "So I should just finish her off, right?"
"Dead people have no more problems."
Meng Wenxiu was choked up and unable to speak for a long time. After a while, he said angrily again, "You're fine now, aren't you? We're all relatives. Can't we sit down and talk properly? Do you have to destroy someone's entire life?"
Meng Shuping said puzzledly, "Well, I can't touch their next life too!"
"We're all relatives, and Old Lady even punished him by making him kneel. He wouldn't still be grateful to Old Lady, would he? Tsk, what a kiss-ass!"
Meng Wenxiu said furiously, "Do you have to keep backtalking me?"
"You start shit, you get hit. Blame me?"
Meng Shuping said perfunctorily, "Ah, please continue."
"Let the show begin."
Meng Wenxiu: "..."
He bit his tongue repeatedly before finally saying stifledly, "Go find Prince Zhao now and tell him to let him go."
Meng Shuping closed his eyes and didn't speak. "What, he's a spineless wonder himself, so he wants others to be useless too?"
Meng Wenxiu's face turned livid with anger. He glared daggers and said, "Can't you hear me talking to you?"
Meng Shuping still ignored him. "Talking isn't good, not talking isn't good either. Why is he so hard to deal with? I bet his interpersonal relationships are really bad."
Meng Wenxiu shouted, "Meng Shuping!"
Meng Shuping thought his eardrums would burst. "Why so loud? All you've got is volume? Does being loud make you right?"
Afraid that if Meng Shuping continued like this, things would spiral out of control, Feng Shi quickly said worriedly, "Ping Geer, please figure something out. If your father fails to handle this matter, Old Lady will have him kneel in the ancestral hall again."
Meng Shuping suddenly opened his eyes and looked at Feng Shi with a pained expression. "Really?"
"Hahaha, serves him right! Why am I so happy about this? Old Lady actually gets it right sometimes! Hahahaha!"
Meng Wenxiu's temples throbbed. Don't think I don't know how hard you're laughing inside right now! And this Feng Shi—is she here to help or to screw things up? How can she be so tactless?
Feng Shi, however, knew exactly what she was doing. Old Lady told her to come, and she came. If she couldn't persuade Meng Shuping, surely it couldn't be blamed on her?
Besides, even though her relationship with Meng Shuping had been relatively good since he returned, she didn't think Meng Shuping would take the fall for Qing Yun's sake. And if Meng Shuping really gave in this time, wouldn't he be manipulated by Old Lady like this every time in the future?
So it was best to let Old Lady think that she didn't mean squat in Meng Shuping's heart and that they couldn't use her to control Meng Shuping.
She putting on a sincere act persuaded Meng Shuping, "So you should go find Prince Zhao and ask him to release the person. You don't want the master to suffer, do you?"
Meng Shuping nodded, "Okay, okay."
"Oh I want to, alright. I'll have someone tell the prince right away to have that cousin beaten up in jail and make the kneeling punishment even more intense!"
Meng Wenxiu was furious. He said angrily, "You'd better go ask the prince to release the person. Otherwise, do you think you'll have a peaceful life from now on?"
Meng Shuping glanced at Meng Wenxiu and nodded, "Yeah, yeah, whatever."
"Believe it or not, if he dares say one more word, I'll make sure he regrets it immediately!"
Meng Wenxiu was about to get angry again, but then he thought—regardless of what Meng Shuping really thought, he had agreed on the surface. He could go back and report success. As for whether Yao Qian was ultimately released or not, if Meng Shuping changed his mind later, what did that have to do with him?
So he stormed off, calling to Feng Shi, "Let's go!"
Feng Shi quickly seized the moment to advise Meng Shuping, "Ping Geer, rest well. If you need anything, just send someone to tell me."
Meng Shuping nodded quickly, "Okay, See you later, Second Madam!"
After leaving Meng Shuping's place, they went back to Old Lady Fu Shi. Meng Wenxiu smilingly said, "Old Lady, Ping Geer has agreed. He said he would go find His Highness Prince Zhao today and ask him to release the person."
Wu Shi exclaimed in delight, "Really?"
Feng Shi quickly added, "Of course it's true. As soon as I told Ping Geer that you would punish the master, Ping Geer immediately agreed to ask the prince to release the person. Ah, for all his faults, Ping Geer is still very filial to the master."
Meng Wenxiu's expression was priceless. Meng Shuping filial to him? If he were filial, would he be so happy to hear about him being punished? How could Feng Shi even say that!
Fu Shi and Wu Shi also exchanged doubtful looks. When Meng Wenxiu was punished before, wasn't Meng Shuping quite happy? Why was his attitude different this time?
But since Meng Shuping had caved in, they would just wait. If Meng Wenxiu dared deceive them, he'd regret it!
Old Lady Fu Shi and Fourth Madam Wu Shi secretly sent people to watch Meng Shuping's courtyard. Not long after, they found that Meng Shuping really called a servant in, and after a while, that servant left the courtyard and went out of the mansion.
Fu Shi and Wu Shi both finally relaxed. Since he had even dispatched a servant, this matter should be settled, right?