Tianliangyuan

Chapter 444 How vicious!

Xu Junting immediately perked up: "Sister, is something wrong? As for this jade pendant you mentioned, I really gave it to your third sister-in-law last year. As for why she hasn't used it since, maybe she was pregnant and put it away? I, I really don't know the specifics. I didn't ask her again after I gave it to her!"

Xu Junting was really anxious.

He had absolutely no idea what was wrong with the jade pendant.

"Zhaozhao, where did you see this jade pendant? Was it soaked in medicine, which is why your third sister-in-law had a premature birth?"

"Of course not! This was taken from Li Mingshu."

Xu Junting looked completely bewildered: "Li Mingshu? Could it be that my wife gave it to her? But that's impossible! I gave it to her, how could she possibly give it to someone else? Besides, it's a jade pendant, how could such an item be given away so casually?"

Men and women shouldn't just give each other things casually, let alone something as personal as a jade pendant.

Xu Zhaozhao also felt that it couldn't have been given by her third sister-in-law.

So the question arises: how did this jade pendant end up in Li Mingshu's possession?

Was Li Mingya's miscarriage upset caused by seeing this jade pendant?

When Xu Zhaozhao told Wang Ruolan about the matter, it immediately caught her attention.

Fortunately, thanks to the medicine delivered by Xu Zhaozhao, the child was finally born safely an hour later.

Everyone waited until now, well past lunchtime, but everyone's attention was on the new mother, so naturally no one thought about eating.

When the midwives came out to announce the good news, they naturally had different thoughts.

"Congratulations, Madam! Congratulations, Third Young Master! The Third Young Mistress has given birth to a daughter."

"Good! Good! My Xu family finally has a granddaughter. Guards, reward her!"

The midwife received a reward of a handful of silver beans, and she was so happy that she couldn't stop smiling for a long time.

There were two midwives inside, as well as a doctor and an imperial physician waiting outside, along with the nannies and so on. Wang Ruolan rewarded everyone.

Of course, Wang Ruolan directly ordered the imperial physician to be sent back; this was not a reward, but a thank-you gift.

As for Lady Ji, she looked worried. Her daughter had given birth to a girl, which meant that the third branch of the family had no legitimate son.

Wang Ruolan didn't care about her anymore and directly shouted: "Pass down the order that all those serving the Third Young Mistress today will have their monthly wages doubled!"

"Thank you for the reward, Madam!"

Xu Junting had been eagerly waiting to see his own daughter, but unfortunately, he couldn't take her out to hold her for the time being.

Moreover, the child is too young to be exposed in public freely.

Once everything was arranged, only Li Mingya was still lying in the delivery room. She needed to stay in that position a little longer before she could move to the main house.

"Madam, lunch is ready."

More than an hour had passed since lunchtime, and it was only after being reminded by her that Wang Ruolan realized she was actually a little hungry.

Li Mingshu hadn't expected that her elder sister and her daughter would be safe and sound. But that was fine too. Since there was no legitimate son, she could marry into the family later, give birth to the eldest son first, and then the third young master would surely side with her.

Ji ate her meal absentmindedly, but was still happy that her daughter was safe and sound. If she could have one child, she could have a second and a third, and eventually give birth to a big, healthy boy.

Once Ji Shi understood, her smile broadened considerably.

After everyone had eaten their fill, Ji Shi prepared to take her leave, but Wang Ruolan stopped her.

"Someone, remove all of these. Mother-in-law, let's talk over there."

"Yes, please."

We're not discussing matters here simply because we don't want to disturb Li Mingya's rest.

But when Wang Ruolan led her to a hall, she discovered that there were a whole bunch of maids kneeling outside.

"Madam Xu, what is this?"

“These people all serve the third daughter-in-law. I think my mother-in-law should also know a few of them.”

Lady Ji looked closely and found that it was indeed so. Several of them were even Mingya's personal maids.

"Why are they here? Mingya just gave birth and needs someone to take care of her, Madam Xu?"

"Mother-in-law, please don't be in a hurry, please sit down."

Li Mingshu stepped back and suddenly had a bad feeling.

Just as she was about to hide the jade pendant, someone suddenly grabbed her wrist.

"What are you going to do?" Li Mingshu questioned.

Zisu sneered, dragged the person to the front, and kicked him in the back of the knee, causing him to kneel down with a thud.

After discussing it with her master and the third young master, Zisu quietly returned the jade pendant to her.

So, right now, this jade pendant is being worn openly around Li Mingshu's waist.

"Mother, save me! This Xu family is going too far! My elder sister just gave birth to their daughter, and they treat me like this. Please, Mother, do me justice!"

Ji Shi was also confused by this scene.

But she wasn't stupid. She looked at Wang Ruolan with a puzzled expression: "Mrs. Xu, what's going on?"

"Someone, bring over the maids who serve the Third Young Mistress for questioning."

"Yes, ma'am."

Wang Ruolan pointed to the jade pendant hanging on Li Mingshu's body and asked, "Does this belong to your young mistress?"

The maids all nodded in confirmation, except for one whose eyes darted away, clearly sensing that something was wrong.

With just a glance from Xu Zhaozhao, Shaoyao immediately slapped the maid to the ground.

"You lowly servant! You nearly killed your master! Even if your whole family died twice, it wouldn't be enough to make up for it! Now that things have come to this, why don't you tell the truth!"

The maid who was hit was stunned for a moment, but when she saw the two ladies sitting down, she panicked.

"Madam, spare me! I was coerced! It was Miss Mingshu who said she liked that jade pendant and threatened my parents' lives, so I dared not disobey."

Wang Ruolan coldly retorted, "Explain yourself clearly!"

"Yes, it was Miss Mingshu who had taken a liking to the Third Young Master and wanted to marry him. So she had me secretly steal this jade pendant. Today, she wore it so openly that the Young Madam saw it and assumed it was a gift from the Third Young Master, which is why she was heartbroken."

Lady Ji never expected there to be such a hidden story: "You, Li Mingshu, how dare you!"

Xu Zhaozhao reminded her, "Auntie, please don't be hasty. Sit down and let them finish speaking. Can she really marry into the Duke's mansion with just a jade pendant? Li Mingshu is overthinking things. But she's clearly not that stupid, so she must have a backup plan, right?"

The maid who had been beaten was so frightened that she immediately prostrated herself on the ground and cried out, "This servant knows her mistake, please have mercy, Madam! This servant never thought of harming the mistress. It was Zhang Mama who did it. This servant overheard Zhang Mama and Miss Mingshu's conversation. They wanted to drug the young lady and then make her die in childbirth. Their plan was to remove the mother and keep the child so that Miss Mingshu could marry in as a second wife!"