Farm Girl's Manor
Chapter 1027: Return unto Others as They Have Done unto You (4)

Chapter 1027: Chapter 1027: Return unto Others as They Have Done unto You (4)

"Ah, listening to you all talk, it does sound plausible! Right after Elder Sir Xiao passed away, General Xiao went off to the battlefield. That year, the general was only thirteen and dared to fight the enemy with a real blade. Could he have done that if he had grown up pampered by his parents? It must have been without Elder Sir Xiao’s protection, forced by someone else!"

"Good heavens, maybe that’s true. It seems the waters run deep at the Lord Wei Yuan House! Tsk, tsk, I’d heard before that where there’s a stepmother, there’s a stepfather, and I didn’t believe it. But now, after hearing you all, I do think that Lord Wei Yuan isn’t any good either. Who knows if he’s also siding with that woman, scheming against his own son? Alas, the Hou Mansion is simply no place for anyone. It’s a wonder how General Xiao has endured all these years. If it were me, I’d probably have been hounded to death by a pack of those vicious-hearted people."

A loud voice broke through the buzz of discussion, putting a decisive end to the matter. The booming voice shouted so that the entire tea house could hear.

Strangely, many people agreed with the speaker, and suddenly, there were murmurs of doubt about Lord Wei Yuan and Lady Marquis Weiyuan everywhere. Even Xiao Ruiqing, miles away, could not escape the cycle of suspicion voiced by the people.

The fat man and his accomplices, who were still at the center of it all, were stunned. Even though the accusatory words from the audience were not directed at them, their payoff for spreading rumors had not only failed, but they had also drawn the calamity they created onto the very individuals they served. Now, instead of pocketing shiny silver and living luxuriously, they feared for their very lives.

Their final trump card had yet to be revealed, so how had things taken such a turn?

Thinking of their impending fate, the fat man and his companions turned as pale as ghosts, feverishly denouncing Xiao Ruiyuan using the pretext that he hadn’t celebrated at the Hou Mansion the night before, in a desperate bid to blacken his name and shift attention back to Princess Hejia. But, flustered and contradictory, their words were mercilessly exposed by those around them.

Upon the "enlightenment" of some "savvy" onlookers, the crowd, who were nearly used as pawns, finally realized that these spreaders of false information and smears against their revered War God were acting on someone’s orders. Suddenly, all eyes were on Lord Wei Yuan, Lady Marquis Weiyuan, and Xiao Ruiqing.

The fat man and his group were chased and beaten by the enraged tea house customers. Outmatched, they could only run for their lives, protecting their heads. When they finally escaped the tea house, there wasn’t a single part of them that wasn’t bruised, their faces swollen like pig heads.

Finding a secluded alley where they hoped to rest and discuss how to deal with their predicament, several large sacks fell from the sky, enveloping them completely. Before they could struggle, a sharp pain at the back of their necks threw them to the ground, askew, as they lost consciousness in an instant.

Back at the Hou Mansion, waiting for "good news," Xiao Xiong and Lady Wei were blissfully unaware that their agents sent to spread harmful rumors about Xiao Ruiyuan and Mo Yan were already beyond their help. They were also oblivious to the greater troubles awaiting them.

By the time the two realized the tide had turned against them, their misdeeds had already spread throughout the streets. Some had even turned the affair into stories and children’s rhymes that echoed through the alleys, curiously sung by innocent children unaware of the facts. In the tea houses, storytellers regaled the audiences, spitting as they spun the tale, inadvertently boosting their business significantly as people flocked to hear the saga of grand feuds within noble gates.

In the Prince’s Mansion, Chu Heng looked nostalgically at his cousin, whose cold face he felt he had not seen in a long time. However, fond memories notwithstanding, what needed to be said had to be said.

"One cannot draw two ’Xiaos’ with a single stroke. Those two are indeed despicable, but they do not deserve your method of injuring the enemy by a thousand and losing eight hundred yourself!"

The Lord Wei Yuan House had a hundred years of legacy. For a title, strife among ancestors was not unheard of, but never had anyone allowed such issues to spill outside the mansion, tarnishing the entire mansion’s reputation, no matter who benefited.

Not just the Lord Wei Yuan House, but any family that values their reputation would tightly cover up unspeakable matters, even if they festered and rotted, without letting a hint slip through.

This cousin of his took a different approach—not a whisper, then suddenly a thunderclap—using the enemy’s own tactics against them, shaming those two without the slightest hesitation.

Xiao Ruiyuan coldly smiled, his gaze particularly chilling: "Were it not for the ’Xiao’ name, I would have sent them to their deaths right away."

Chu Heng’s lips twitched as he silently shed a tear of sympathy for Xiao Xiong, followed by a thought: Serves them right! Having lived for so many years, he never saw anyone more foolish than Xiao Xiong. If not for Hanzhang, a son to be proud of, his father, the previous emperor, would definitely have revoked their titles after the old marquis’s death.

The Court’s grain is not meant to feed the useless and the vermin!