Tu Shanjin issued her commands in a direct tone.
"First, take away my personal maid."
"Second, by order of His Majesty, take 100 taels of silver donated by Minister Yun."
The second condition was improvised by Tu Shanjin, purely to irritate him.
The Yun family had also been wiped out by the "Demon Thief Gang", so could they produce 100 taels at once?
These two demands indirectly slapped Yun Liang in the face again.
He was so angry that his rage threatened to overcome him, and he spoke with a sarcastic tone: "Fine, fine. Why don't you follow Consort Miao's orders!"
Aunt Yun, however, was anxious. The Yun household couldn't produce 100 taels of silver at once now.
Moreover, that wretched maid hadn't yet revealed the whereabouts of the items, so she absolutely couldn't be allowed to leave!
"You, lead the way," Tu Shanjin gestured.
The palace maids Zhimo and Biyan directly seized the servant who had been singled out, secretly pressing blades against his waist under their pink sleeves, and said expressionlessly, "Won't you lead the way for the Consort now?"
The servant was so frightened his legs turned to jelly, trembling as he pointed the way.
They were all living Yama Kings, every one of them!
The servant led Tu Shanjin and her group to Aunt Yun's elegant little courtyard. From afar, they could hear the "thwack, thwack, thwack" sound of a board striking flesh.
When they entered, they saw a servant wielding a stick, beating someone mercilessly. The figure tied to the long bench was already a bloody mess, motionless.
"Stop!" Tu Shanjin commanded.
Zhimo and Biyan threw the servant to the ground and strode forward, kicking the beating servant squarely in the chest.
The two were trained and didn't hold back at all. The servant fell to the ground and stopped breathing.
Tu Shanjin walked towards the bloody figure, her brow slightly furrowed.
Had she arrived too late? Was the person already dead?
Tu Shanjin wasn't feeling pity; she just thought it would be difficult to explain when she returned.
Niu Xiu'er struggled to open her eyes. The first thing she saw was a graceful figure backlit by the sun. She seemed like a descending deity, gesturing for the two lackeys beside her to kick away the person who had been beating her.
Blood and tears blurred her vision, and Niu Xiu'er let out an ear-splitting, excited moo: "Young! Miss!"
The sound startled the birds roosting in nearby trees, causing them to flap their wings and scatter in all directions.
"Wuwuwuwuwuwuwu!"
Tu Shanjin, who had bent down to take a closer look, suffered an occupational injury, feeling her entire head buzzing.
"..."
To be able to make such a vigorous cry, it seemed she was very much alive and well.
Niu Xiu'er had very distinctive features: a square face with small eyes, crying with snot and tears, looking like a big fat cow that had suffered a great injustice.
"Wuwuwu Young Miss, they falsely accused me of stealing, and beat me. What's most hateful is that they even spoke ill of you, trying to drive a wedge between us!"
Tu Shanjin withdrew her gaze in disgust, ignoring her, turned around, and stepped away.
Niu Xiu'er wiped away her tears, feeling a bit puzzled about why the Young Miss had suddenly become so cold.
A cool voice spoke at just the right moment.
"Find a female doctor to treat her wounds."
"As for the others who bullied her, kill the servants, and give Madam Yun thirty lashes."
Niu Xiu'er's eyes widened, and she let out another grateful moo: "Young Miss!!!"
Hearing this, Yun Liang could no longer contain himself, his voice shaking with anger: "Consort Miao, Li is after all Concubine Yan's birth mother. How can you continue to bully her like this! How can she endure thirty lashes!"
Tu Shanjin considered seriously for a moment: "You're right, she's not entirely of low status."
"Then let it be fifteen lashes."
"You..." Yun Liang wanted to protest further.
But he didn't expect to meet Tu Shanjin's suddenly cold gaze: "Minister Yun, she dared to bully my people. Shouldn't she pay the price?"
This gaze was too cold, too violent, and carried a thick murderous intent.
Somehow, Yun Liang was reminded of His Majesty.
His Majesty's frightening face seemed to overlap with this wicked daughter's face at this moment, inexplicably causing him to feel afraid.
He suspected that if he said another word, this wicked daughter would dare to beat him too!
So, Yun Liang backed down, turning his head away in distress, no longer pleading.
On one side, Madam Yun was howling as she was beaten with the board. On the other side, Tu Shanjin called for a female doctor to apply medicine to Niu Xiu'er, bandage her wounds, and feed her medicinal soup.
After all this commotion, it was time to return to the palace.
Hearing that Tu Shanjin was going to take her away, Niu Xiu'er wanted to let out another excited moo.
Indeed, following the Young Miss was good. Such immense fortune was about to fall upon her, Niu Xiu'er!!!
Tu Shanjin was prepared. Just as that blood-curdling mouth was about to open and howl, she threw a carrot to plug it.
Niu Xiu'er: Moo?
Taking the carrot out of her mouth and meeting that cold gaze, Niu Xiu'er's voice unconsciously became smaller.
"Young Miss, I never told you before, but Madam prepared some money and property for you before she passed away, including land and property deeds. Now that Young Miss has her own status, I can feel at ease giving them to you."
"Madam Yun somehow found out about this and tried to threaten and bribe me, searching my body and digging up the ground many times, but she never found them. I hid them so well!"
"Young Miss, can you guess where I put those things?"
Tu Shanjin responded perfunctorily, "I won't guess."
She would definitely tell her anyway.
"Oh come on, Young Miss, just guess!" Niu Xiu'er pleaded like a playful cow.
Tu Shanjin wasn't having any of it and turned to leave.
Niu Xiu'er immediately pulled out a red dudou from the wardrobe. Due to her large size, even the dudou was four or five times larger than normal.
She squinted and smiled, "I sewed them into the dudou! Bet you didn't expect that!"
Tu Shanjin: "..."
After urging Niu Xiu'er to pack her things, with Zhimo and Biyan supporting her on either side, the group left the room.
As the door closed, a thin figure emerged from under Niu Xiu'er's bed, clutching that dudou.
He had been hiding there early on, and had finally heard where the items were hidden.
While Niu Xiu'er was turning to pack, he immediately stole the red dudou from her bundle!
The servant ran towards Madam Yun's room to claim his reward. Madam Yun, who had just been beaten, was overjoyed to hear this news. Disregarding her pain, she personally led people to the government office.
Time was of the essence; they needed to go to the office quickly to transfer these land and property deeds to her name!
And so, at the gates of the Yun residence, two carriages set off in opposite directions.
One headed towards the imperial palace, the other towards the government office.
As the sun slowly set overhead, different scenes unfolded at either end of the official road.
Inside the government office, the constables arrested Madam Yun and her group.
"How dare you forge fake land and property deeds! Such audacity! Arrest them and throw them in jail!"
"You dare to claim you're the Minister's wife? Looking at your state, you must have just been beaten. I reckon you were trying to deceive people with fake deeds and got beaten for it. You haven't learned your lesson!"
"Haha, if you're the Minister's wife, then I'm the long-lost son of the Grand General!"
On the other side, Niu Xiu'er lay in the spacious carriage, marveling at the valuable decorations inside.
"Wow, what a big night pearl!"
"Wow, what a beautiful golden cup!"
"Wow, what a..."
"Shut up," Tu Shanjin said with her eyes closed, resisting the urge to throw her out of the carriage.
Niu Xiu'er felt wronged, but she knew the Young Miss must think her wounds were too severe to let her talk so much.
So Niu Xiu'er reached into her clothes again, rustling around for a while before pulling out the dudou she was wearing.
Tu Shanjin: ?
Niu Xiu'er quickly explained, grinning, "Young Miss, the deeds were indeed hidden in the dudou, but in the one I'm actually wearing!"
"Who knows if Madam Yun had people still watching me? If there were people hanging from the rafters or hiding under the bed, it would have been exposed. So at the Yun house, I only told half the truth."
Niu Xiu'er gently picked at the stitching of the dudou with a needle, and like a magician, pulled out sheet after sheet of thin land and property deeds from various hidden pockets.
She carefully smoothed and folded them, placing them in front of Tu Shanjin, and said seriously,
"Young Miss, now you have money and property to rely on. Even if you lose the Emperor's favor, we won't starve to death."
Tu Shanjin looked at the thick stack of deeds and suddenly felt that this Niu Xiu'er, who appeared simple and foolish, was actually smarter than the Yun family.
"Mm."
Meeting Niu Xiu'er's passionate, burning gaze, Tu Shanjin shuddered, feeling uncomfortable. She turned her head away and lifted the curtain.
The shops along the road were bustling with activity, and pedestrians walked in pairs, laughing and chatting.
She wondered how Yun Yaoyao was doing...
