The mistress of the Hou family worked herself to death, and she did not serve after her rebirth

Gu Lanzhi was led by the doorman to the old lady's courtyard. She was thinking in her mind, and secretly going over the words she had thought about countless times on the way.

The Wang family is a family of scholars, but their status is not lower than that of the Chu family. The person who currently supports the Chu family is her father-in-law, who is over 60 years old and is only a fifth-rank official.

Although the Wang family did not have a prominent figure like her father-in-law, they were full of scholars, and most of them worked in major academies in the capital.

The old man of the Wang family is now the teacher of the Imperial College, and his students are all over the world. It is said that more than half of the civil officials in Beijing are from the Wang family.

This family may seem inconspicuous, but it should not be underestimated.

She originally tried to please Liu in order to pave a way for Brother Zhou, but she didn't expect that the road would be cut off by that filthy Pei Jiuniang before it was even built.

Thinking of this, Gu Lanzhi felt even more angry and thought to herself, Pei Jiuniang, you forced me to do this.

Not long after, the concierge reminded her that she had arrived, escorted her there personally, and called out inside, "Mrs. Chu is here."

Then a cough was heard from inside, followed by a slightly older voice, "Please invite Madam Chu in."

Then a maid came out quickly, opened the curtain, bowed to her and made a gesture of invitation, and she walked in.

Before she could even stand properly, Liu rolled her eyes at her in an unpleasant manner, and said with sarcasm, "I heard that you smashed someone's shop, but in the end you still have to compensate them. What's the matter? Don't you think you can't afford the compensation and want to blame us?"

Gu Lanzhi was a little embarrassed. According to her previous temper, she would definitely not tolerate it, but now she was almost without the support of her family, and compared to that, she hated Pei Jiuniang more. She gritted her teeth and forced a smile, "Sister, you are joking."

"I'm not kidding. It was you who forced us to go there to pick out jewelry. You patted your chest and said it was a dowry shop given to you by your parents. We couldn't save our face so we followed you. But in the end, you were chased out. Your reputation was ruined. People who didn't know us would think we were poor people who were begging for money and couldn't afford good jewelry. We had to beg for it. It was all because of you. Why are you here now?"

Thinking back to how she had been scolded and punished by Old Madam Wang today, Liu vented all her pent-up anger towards Gu Lanzhi.

She didn't mean to just throw a tantrum. Firstly, she wanted to let Old Madam Wang know that she didn't mean to get close to Gu Lanzhi. Secondly, seeing that Old Madam Wang never interfered, she knew that she wanted to pass the blame on.

Although doing so might offend the Marquis' Mansion and the Chu Family, it was obviously not worth mentioning compared to preserving the reputation of their Wang Family.

Even if Gu Lanzhi was made of clay, she was still furious after being scolded. Seeing that Liu wanted to continue, there was a hint of anger on her face, and the handkerchief in her hand was almost torn.

At this time, Mrs. Wang scolded Liu, "It was you who did something wrong without knowing the limits, but you pushed all the blame away."

As he said this, he seemed to have just noticed that Gu Lanzhi had not yet sat down, and he scolded his men, "Why don't you show Madam Chu a seat?"

Then he put on a friendly face and said to Gu Lanzhi, "Don't bother with her. I punished her too harshly today and she's angry. She's not treating you as an outsider so she's going after you."

Then he winked at Liu, who was reluctant but had no choice but to continue, "Yes, sister, don't argue with me, I..."

Liu knew that her mother-in-law was used to using people as guns, but she couldn't understand why she suddenly changed her attitude towards Gu Lanzhi. However, she was a straightforward person, and she couldn't understand why she suddenly wanted to show goodwill to Gu Lanzhi for a while.

However, Gu Lanzhi responded quickly, "I know that Sister Liu is always outspoken, so it's fine if you vent to me. We are still good sisters in the future, and we will still have to interact with each other in the end."

"You're right."

Old Madam Wang nodded, with a smile on her old face, and she seemed very satisfied with what Gu Lanzhi said.

Gu Lanzhi also put on a smile, but she felt rotten inside. She used to envy those families with a scholarly background and thought the air was full of books. It was only after she married into the Chu family that she realized what kind of people they were. Coming to the Wang family today, she felt that the Wang family was of the same kind.

However, this did not prevent her from regarding herself as a person from a scholarly family and of noble character.

"Mrs. Chu definitely didn't come here today to see me, an old lady. If you have something to say, just say it directly."

After the polite exchanges, Old Lady Wang took the initiative to speak.

"Madam Wang, I did come to discuss something. This is of course to apologize to the old lady and Sister Liu. Although what happened today was not my intention, it was also caused by me. Alas, I really didn't expect that Pei would turn the tables. The shop clearly belongs to the Marquis's Mansion. My mother bought it for me as a dowry. But you also know that the Chu family is not allowed to do business, and I am really not good at it. In addition, Pei took the initiative to volunteer to manage it for me, and later simply registered it under her name, but who could have thought that she would do this."

"What? Are you telling the truth? But people outside say that the shop is Pei's dowry? And can the shopkeeper and the clerk inside testify to this?"

Liu was stunned.

"Of course I had to say that to cover up my tracks. As for the shop assistants and the shopkeeper, since they are managed by the Pei family, it wouldn't be difficult for them to replace them. I can only blame myself for being too careless and trusting her. I never thought that she would have other evil ideas... It wasn't until today that I realized that she had been eyeing my shop for a long time, and not only that..."

Gu Lanzhi deliberately hesitated to speak, which aroused Liu's curiosity.

She was indeed impatient. "Just tell me, don't hesitate, what else do you have to say?"

"It's not convenient for me to talk about this because it concerns my mother's family. Anyway, this person is really a traitor."

Gu Lanzhi lowered her head, looking hateful and annoyed. She deliberately wiped the corners of her eyes with a handkerchief, pretending to be crying.

But Liu, who was always eager to find a good thing, was really anxious.

Old Lady Wang glanced at Liu, who was impatient, and coughed quietly. Liu then sat down again and lowered her head, but she still couldn't help but be curious.

To be honest, she didn't quite believe what Gu Lanzhi said before, but she was hooked by her and just wanted to curry favor with her and continue talking quickly.

"Good sister, please tell me quickly. To be honest, I am also curious. Pei has been married to your Gu family for five or six years. She has always been careful to curry favor with you. It doesn't make sense for her to suddenly turn against you."

"Even you noticed something was wrong? Well, it must be because my mother trusted her too much, and my brother was always out, so she actually had second thoughts..."

Gu Lanzhi deliberately stopped talking halfway, as if she had let something slip. Thinking about it, she was anxious and annoyed, "I, I didn't say anything. If my brother knew, it would be terrible. Oh, Qian, I'm also down. I'm relieved that my sister is not angry. I have to go back quickly."

As he was about to leave, he seemed to remember something and turned around to say to Madam Wang, "Madam, I heard that one of your children is working at Taoxi Academy. My nephew is there. It's the adults' fault, not the child's. My nephew is a little... Anyway, I hope you can take good care of him."

Having said this, he bowed to the old lady and left in a hurry.

The old lady didn't say anything, but Liu stood up hurriedly and said, "Mother, I'll go and see her off. It's dark now, and the courtyard is far from the gate of the mansion. I won't feel relieved until I see her off to the carriage."

The old lady didn't say anything, which was regarded as acquiescence.

Liu hurriedly pushed Gu Lanzhi out.

Giving it as a gift is fake, taking the opportunity to inquire about the news is real.

Not long after, she came back triumphantly. Before she even entered the house, she shouted to Old Lady Wang in the room, "Mother, something really happened. Gu Lanzhi refused to tell me at first, but later she couldn't stand my questioning and finally told me the whole story. What are you going to do?"