Chapter Two Hundred and Eighty

"Madam, please, I beg you to save me! I didn’t lose the Little Miss on purpose!" Xiaolian cried out, her voice trembling with terror.

She didn't want to die.

"I remember now," Lady Yao said suddenly, a realization dawning on her. "When I was looking for the child, I ran into you. You were in such a frantic hurry that we collided, but you didn't say a word and just rushed off. You seemed extremely nervous at the time." Lady Yao realized that the person who had bumped into her was indeed the young maid standing before them.

He Yushan realized then that the one who had lost the child was Xiaolian. However, she couldn't understand why Xiaolian would do such a thing.

Now that Xiaolian was her subordinate, she felt responsible for failing to keep her own servant in check.

"Why would you hold a grudge against a mere child?" Gu Yunfan asked, looking at He Yushan with disbelief.

"I didn't! Husband, please believe me. I am a mother myself; how could I possibly do something so cruel?" He Yushan was devastated that even Gu Yunfan doubted her.

A wave of sorrow washed over her. She couldn't understand why no one believed her.

"Xiaolian is your personal maid. Who else but you could order her to do such a thing?" Gu Yunfan said, his brow furrowed in frustration.

He Yushan wanted to explain, but she found herself unable to defend her innocence when even her own husband lacked faith in her.

"Mother-in-law, Second Brother, Sister-in-law... Xiaolian is my maid. I accept responsibility for her actions, but I truly did not order her to do this!" He Yushan knelt before them in grief. She didn't beg for mercy; instead, her voice was filled with a profound, hollow desolation.

To the side, Li Zhiwei and Lady Yao exchanged glances. This was a private family matter of the Grand Princess’s manor; they wondered if it was appropriate for them to be witnessing this.

"Someone, take this wretched servant away and interrogate her thoroughly!" The Grand Princess closed her eyes briefly before ordering Xiaolian to be dragged out.

Xiaolian tried to struggle. She had done everything for the sake of her mistress; why wouldn't her mistress save her?

The Grand Princess looked at He Yushan, her eyes filled with both disappointment and confusion.

"Are you jealous of the affection I show Nuonuo?" the Grand Princess asked with absolute certainty.

"I..." He Yushan froze, startled by the directness of the question.

It was a secret thought she had harbored in her heart, but she hadn't expected her mother-in-law to see right through her.

"Madam He, I have not treated you unkindly. How could you be so narrow-minded as to strike out at a child?" The Grand Princess’s voice carried both anger and a deep sense of letdown.

He Yushan remained silent. She hadn't wanted it to be this way.

But in truth, her heart was indeed consumed by jealousy.

"Mother, perhaps Madam He was momentarily confused. If you wish to assign blame, then blame me as well. It is my failure for not properly guiding my wife," Gu Yunfan said, kneeling down beside Madam He.

He Yushan kept her head bowed, refusing to look at Gu Yunfan. Only one thought echoed in her mind: he didn't believe her.

Consequently, she didn't utter another word in her own defense.

"Mother-in-law, I wonder if someone with ulterior motives egged Xiaolian on to do this, specifically to frame my sister-in-law and sow discord within our family?" Ruan Jingge looked at the Grand Princess and asked tentatively.

She still found it hard to believe that He Yushan would do such a thing to her daughter.

After all, her sister-in-law had always been poised and dignified. They had never even had a disagreement as sisters-in-law.

Moreover, her sister-in-law had already given birth to two sons, while Nuonuo was just a little girl. She didn't think He Yushan was so petty that she couldn't tolerate the child's presence.

He Yushan was stunned that the first person to speak up for her was actually Ruan Jingge.

However, even she found those words hard to believe.

"You think it wasn't her?" The Grand Princess looked at Ruan Jingge as if she were a fool.

"Grand Princess, since you have family matters to attend to today, we shall take our leave," Xu Heming said, having no intention of involving himself further in the Grand Princess's private affairs.

"I am grateful to Prince An, Lord Xie, and the young masters for today's help. I shall visit your manors another day to express my formal thanks," the Grand Princess said, standing up to address them.

Once outside the Grand Princess’s manor, Xu Heming looked at Li Zhiwei and said, "Shall we drop you off first?"

"Then I shall trouble the Prince," Li Zhiwei replied without ceremony. After the chaos at the manor, her own carriage had already been sent back.

"Xu Qingshi?" Xu Heming turned around, noticing his son hadn't followed them out.

"Prince An, Qingshi said for you all to go ahead without him!" Jiang Yu said as he came running over.

Xu Heming’s first instinct was that his son was being considerate, not wanting to interrupt his time with Li Zhiwei.

"Go and fetch that boy out of there immediately!" Li Zhiwei said, stuck between laughter and tears as she remembered Xu Qingshi’s earlier insistence on holding the baby.

She was truly worried that Xu Qingshi might end up being thrown out of the manor.

Inside, Xu Qingshi was staring unblinkingly at the little bundle in Ruan Jingge’s arms.

"Does the Heir wish to see Nuonuo again?" Ruan Jingge asked, feeling somewhat bewildered by his gaze.

In fact, looking at Xu Qingshi’s intense expression made Ruan Jingge feel a bit uneasy.

"Heir, your father is waiting for you," Gu Yunshu said, stepping in front of his wife and child to block the boy's view.

She thought to herself, this brat is truly unbearable.

"Didn't you promise to give her to me?" Xu Qingshi said, looking at the two of them with a face full of displeasure.

Gu Yunshu: ...

Ruan Jinge: ???

"You brat, why haven't you left yet? What are you trying to do?" Xu Heming walked in just in time to see his son saying something to Gu Yunshu.

Xu Heming didn't understand the situation. However, he didn't want to keep Li Zhiwei waiting too long. He just felt that the atmosphere at this moment was somewhat bizarre.

"Prince An, please take the Heir Apparent and leave quickly!" Gu Yunshu said, adding silently in his heart: and don't ever come back.

"Are you leaving or not?" Xu Heming didn't have the face to ask Gu Yunshu for the reason, but even without asking, he knew it couldn't be anything good.

"I won't..." Xu Qingshi tried to say he wouldn't leave.

Xu Heming didn't care whether he was willing or not. He hoisted the boy directly onto his shoulder, waved to the crowd, and walked out.

Everyone in the room breathed a sigh of relief!

"I didn't realize our little Nuonuo was quite the charmer," the Grand Princess said with a chuckle.

Thinking of this, the Grand Princess turned her gaze back to Madam He, who was still kneeling on the floor.

"You may return for now. I will investigate this matter. If it wasn't your doing, I won't wrong you; but if this truly was your idea, I will not treat you with leniency!" Having seen many palace intrigues, the Grand Princess knew she couldn't assume it was Madam He's idea just because Xiaolian was her eldest daughter-in-law's maid.

"This daughter-in-law thanks Mother and my younger sister-in-law!" Madam He finished speaking and headed toward her own courtyard. As she left, she didn't spare Gu Yunfan a single glance.

"Let me go! I want to get down!" Xu Qingshi struggled to get off the carriage while glaring at Xu Heming, looking like a furious little lion cub.

"Sit still and stop embarrassing yourself in public!" If it weren't for the fact that Li Zhiwei was present, Xu Heming would have loved to grab the brat and give him a good hidden-swatting on the bottom.