Reborn as a Merchant Girl, the General's Beloved

"As soon as Meng Sanniang died, you hurriedly sent away everyone in her room. Even the old housekeeper who had been a part of the Meng family's dowry for many years and Yuan Ge'er's wet nurse were not spared. Tell me, why did you do that?" Huang said it directly.

Mrs. Ge kept staring at her, and sweat slowly began to form in her palms, soaking her hands. She secretly wiped the sweat from her palms into her sleeves.

"Are you scared?" Huang said proudly, "Before, they were young and couldn't do anything to you, but now Ze Ge'er is trusted by the royal family and is in charge of the Shenji Camp, and Yuan Ge'er is the commander-in-chief of Yongning Guard. If I tell them about this, what will you do?"

Mrs. Ge lowered her head and remained silent, listening carefully to every word that Mrs. Huang said.

Huang thought she was just scared, so she continued, "Your Earl would hide away immediately if he got into any trouble. Even his brothers are not immune. If Ze and Yuan start a quarrel, can you, an old and ugly Earl with a weak family background, be sure that he can protect you?"

Mrs. Ge took a deep breath. Seeing that all Mrs. Huang said was threats and nothing else, she forced a smile, held Mrs. Huang's shoulders, and said with a smile, "The third sister-in-law is so angry that she is confused! She is just talking nonsense!"

"My elder sister was infected with the plague, remember? She is dead, but the plague is going to harm the entire Earl's Mansion! This means that all the people in her courtyard will be sent to the manor! If it weren't for the fact that the Lord felt sorry for his two children and took the risk to keep it a secret, the two brothers would have been sent to the manor too!"

"My Lord, it's not because he doesn't trust others to take care of them that he has entrusted the two brothers left by his sister to me to take care of! Ze has a cold temper and didn't like me in the first place. When he saw Yuan was scalded, he insisted that I was abusing him and took Yuan to the mountains. For so many years, he didn't go home and didn't get close to his father. My sincerity was treated like a donkey's liver and lungs. After all, they are my own children. I can only say that it's hard to be a stepmother!"

"It's fine if others don't know and gossip about me, but I just can't believe that you, my sister-in-law, would frame me like this! I've been very kind to you over the years! Now that you're just talking about my third brother, you're digging up all these hurtful things and saying them to hurt me. It's really heartbreaking!"

As she spoke, she took out her handkerchief and began to sob, "I knew I was old and ugly, and there were vixens in this room, each more attractive to the Lord than the other. I had no choice but to stay in this room and rely on the children to keep myself from losing heart. I only drink tea and chat with you every day, and you are so good as to stab me in the heart!"

Huang was a straightforward person and she heard all those words from her second sister-in-law Ma. Seeing Ge so heartbroken, and knowing that her words were reasonable, Huang thought that Ge, her eldest sister-in-law, was always polite and had never let her down, and she felt uneasy.

Huang then thought of the fact that she had no friendship with the brothers Hongze and Hongyuan. When they were young, they only saw each other during the holidays. Later, after going up the mountain, she had forgotten about those two people and naturally there was no question of caring for them.

Ma also mentioned that Madam Hongze was a shrewd woman. She was afraid that these groundless rumors would not fool her. Therefore, her husband's affairs would eventually have to be entrusted to her elder brother who inherited the title of Earl of Anyuan. After a simple analysis of the pros and cons, she hurried over and pretended to slap herself in the face twice, smiling and saying, "Sister-in-law, sister-in-law!"