She Became A Downfall Noble Lady
Chapter 248 - 247: Nanny Jin’s Reaction

Chapter 248: Chapter 247: Nanny Jin’s Reaction

Madam Liang felt her heart nearly plummet into an abyss. If Lady Qi relied on the Duke’s Mansion and refused to let Liang Qiyuan off the hook, there was absolutely no chance for a peaceful resolution. If the matter blew up, both the Liang family and her own Zhou family...

Zhou Bingyi sneered coldly, "They have status and backing, and are in charge of the Sixth Master’s business dealings, yet they’ve stopped doing business altogether, just watching as people keep getting thrown into jail. Not only is he not worried or afraid, but he even has a fallback plan, a plan that could send his entire family to the guillotine. What a fool!"

Indeed, with Prince Yu in Qingyuan County, even if Lord Liang intended to suppress the matter, how could he do so in the face of a prince? The more Madam Liang thought about it, the more frightened she became. What were they to do if it came to that, with both their families?

Madam Liang pleaded, "Please, my lord, make a trip to Qingyuan County and speak to Jiang Yifan. After all, you are still his superior for the time being, and he should give you some face. Even if it means assigning a lesser charge to Qiyuan, that would be better. And... I don’t even know if we can get a word to Sixth Master Rong."

Zhou Bingyi stood up, flinging his sleeves, and said in a deep voice, "What’s the rush? They are just waiting for me to come to them now."

Madam Liang choked, not understanding Zhou Bingyi’s meaning. Her voice trembled as she spoke, "Could it be that Sixth Master Rong has been dissatisfied with you for a long time, just waiting for an opportunity to deal with you?"

"What nonsense are you talking about? What sort of things do you think about all day?" Zhou Bingyi waved his hand impatiently and said, "Enough, enough, these matters are not for women to worry about. You just make sure everything at home is in order and don’t cause any more trouble." With that, he picked up the letters and documents in his hand and headed to the outer courtyard’s study to discuss with his advisors.

...

When the commotion first started outside the Qingyuan County government office, Nanny Jin had instructed Qi Ercheng to pay special attention to the development of the situation. Therefore, on the day the Yamen opened court in the afternoon and the Magistrate Sir ordered someone to go to Clear Water Village to summon the elder sister for questioning, Qi Ercheng ran back to the snack shop as fast as he could to tell Nanny Jin that the government office was coming to the village to arrest their elder sister for questioning.

Nanny Jin was stunned and thought it impossible. Lord Jiang was fully aware of the situation, and he even sent someone to inform their family that they need not pay attention to the troublemakers, as the government office would handle it. And here it was, just a few days later, would Lord Jiang send someone to arrest the elder sister on false charges?

Even though she thought it unlikely, Nanny Jin still left the snack shop in Qi Ercheng’s care and hurried back to Clear Water Village in a state of trepidation.

Qi Younian and Ye Xinyan were both busy—one supervising the construction site and managing the dairy project, and the other either instructing the clerical officers in writing documents in the new house’s reception hall or taking care of the cattle farm and experimenting with cheese production. None of the people in charge were present.

In the Second Branch family’s old courtyard, only Nanny Liu and several others from Anshun’s Household were sorting through the old house’s belongings, preparing to move to the new house in a couple of days.

Anshun’s Household found it strange that Nanny Jin had come back so early today. As soon as Nanny Jin entered the yard, someone from Anshun’s Household asked, "Why have you returned so early today? Is there trouble at the shop?" Wasn’t everything supposed to have settled down these past days?

Nanny Jin, only finding peace in her heart upon seeing that everything was quiet both inside and outside the house, peeked her head out to look around and then turned back and said, "I had Ercheng keep an eye on the county government office’s movement daily, didn’t I? Today, there were a lot of people causing a stir at the Yamen, and Jiang Yifan began his court session."

"Oh?" Hearing about the case related to the snack shop disturbance, Nanny Liu also set aside the stack of books she was sorting and huddled together with her.

Another old woman servant, seeing the three of them whispering together, didn’t know what they were talking about but wisely went to keep watch at the entrance of the yard.

Nanny Jin continued, "Just now, Ercheng rushed back and said that Lord Jiang has already accepted those false accusations and will send someone to Clear Water Village to summon the defendant for questioning in court immediately. That’s why I hurried back to see what was really going on. If they really are going to summon the defendant, then I should go; we can’t allow Ye Zi to stand trial."

"Pfft, you’re worrying over nothing," Nanny Liu scoffed at Nanny Jin’s anxious demeanor. "With Sixth Master and Lord Jiang in Qingyuan County, they won’t allow Young Lady to step foot in the Yamen’s main hall."

Nanny Jin replied, "I also think it’s unlikely, but it’s better to be safe. If something goes wrong and Ye Zi really is brought into the main hall, it would be a complete farce."

Members of Anshun’s Household said something strange, "Logically speaking, the government office shouldn’t send anyone. But if no one comes to fetch the accused, what will Lord Jiang do about those accusers when the court session begins tomorrow without a defendant present?"

As the three of them spoke, the voice of an old woman servant calling out from the gates reached them: "Steward Lian, you’ve worked hard."

Lian Gui, bringing back a carriage to transport rarely used household goods, heard the greetings from the mansion’s old woman servant and instinctively responded. It was only when he entered the yard that he found it odd and gave the old woman servant an extra glance. Why on earth had someone been stationed at the gate?

As soon as Nanny Liu saw the way Lian Gui looked at the old woman servant, she couldn’t help but laugh and said, "We were just discussing matters concerning the Yamen, afraid of being overheard, so we left someone to watch the gate."

"Oh? Is there any news about the small eatery’s case?" Lian Gui asked.

Lian Gui had grown impatient days ago with the trouble at the small eatery. According to him, they should have just tied the culprits to the back of the eatery’s extended yard and interrogate who was behind it all. Then, confront the Liang family directly, give him a good thrashing that would leave him bedridden for a year or half, and see if he’d dare to mess with the Qi family again.

He simply didn’t believe that Liang’s brother-in-law, the governor of Yuyuan Prefecture, would dare to trouble Duke An in the capital city.

Nanny Jin repeated the situation to Lian Gui and then said, "Mainly, I’ve been hiding this from Ye Zi, not daring to let her know about the summons from the Yamen in advance. If she knows, she will definitely refuse to let someone else appear in court on her behalf."

Waving his hand, Lian Gui said, "No problem, I’ll go to the county government office early tomorrow and wait. If they really need to bring the defendant for the trial, then I’ll step forward and see. On that day, it was me who led our people in the fight at the Liang Residence. I really want to see what kind of big shot in Qingyuan County can wrongfully accuse someone from Duke An’s Mansion in a small county town."

Nanny Jin looked at Lian Gui and nodded emphatically, "Good, it would be for the best if Steward Lian could go. If you could take the trouble to go tomorrow, that’d be great. If there’s no issue, then there’s nothing to say, but if something comes up, Steward Lian’s status is more than enough to handle them."

Steward Lian had arrived in Qingyuan County with his status known; as a steward from Duke An’s Mansion in the capital, standing in the county government office’s main hall meant he held significant status – no ordinary person would dare to take him lightly.

So, the next day when Jiang Yifan presided over the court, Lian Gui, along with two servants from Duke’s Mansion, blended in outside the county government office’s main hall and watched the entire process.

Watching how two or three dozen plaintiffs scrambled out of the county government office, dodging the gathering crowd and vanishing in the blink of an eye, Lian Gui wondered for a moment about Jiang Yifan’s intentions. He recalled the message Jiang Yifan had sent a few days ago, saying that the Yamen would handle the matter by themselves and realized that Jiang Yifan had probably been waiting for this day to treat this case seriously.