Transmigration: From Farmer To Empress-Chapter 2009 - 2017: Spending the Night in the Suburb (Part 3)

"On what grounds? I do not agree, they are my children, what right do you have to take them away?"

"Master Mu, do not push us too far, Lian’er has already been promised to someone. If you take her away, how will we deal with this mess?"

Prince consort Dong and Princess Zhao Qing simultaneously retorted, and Dong Qi, with a hint of anger, said, "Chong Wen, even if you suspect us, you shouldn’t go this far. Why should the members of my Dong family have their fates decided by you?"

"Because they do not want to be part of your Dong family at all."

I looked around coldly and said, "Leaving the Dong family is their brother and sister’s heart’s desire, and it is my way of repaying the Third Miss. If you disagree, let’s take it to the Tongzhou Prefect and see whose side the Prefect takes!"

Although I do not know the Tongzhou Prefect, I dared to challenge them, because I am convinced they do not have the guts to face me at the Yamen. Though this family is shameless, they are of noble origin, and if the drugging incident were to be exposed, their daughters would truly have no prospects for marriage, and they would lose face in Tongzhou.

Sure enough, my words silenced the people in the room. Prince consort Dong no longer dared to speak to me, but turned his eyes towards the Third Miss angrily and said, "Lian’er, what do you mean by this? Are you conspiring with outsiders against your father? How have I wronged you? I have raised you with good food and drink, and this is how you repay your father?"

The Third Miss coldly laughed and said, "Ever since I entered your Dong family door, I have been eating spoiled and leftover food every day, wearing your daughter’s unwanted old clothes, and being beaten and scolded is a common occurrence. Even my mother’s life was lost here. I’ve long had enough of this hell on earth and wish to escape at once. How can you expect me to feel grateful and attached for all this?"

"You... you... this is outrageous!"

Prince consort Dong was stung by the Third Miss’s words but had no argument, and his face turned livid with anger as he stared at her, wishing he could hit her, but did not dare because I was present.

Princess Zhao Qing said to the Third Miss, "It seems you hold this Palace responsible for your mother’s death, and you blame this Palace for the actions the conniving slaves took behind my back. Very well, they say being a stepmother is difficult, and it appears true now. Since you harbor such hatred for this Palace, do as you please, but without the Dong family, I’m afraid your marital affair will also be ruined. Not even an ordinary people’s family would want to marry a woman expelled by her family clan."

Upon hearing the word ’marital affair’, the coldness on the Third Miss’s face deepened, and she said, "In the order of age, your two daughters are older than I am. Leave the silly son of the Tongzhou Prefect to them. I feel they suit him better than I do. After all, yours is the match in social and economic status."

Upon hearing the Third Miss’s mockery, Dong Qing’er was instantly so furious her eyes were blazing, and she scolded, "You loose-tongued slut, you’re the one suited for a fool like that. We are all legitimate daughters, precious and noble. Unlike you, an unashamed concubine-born inferior breed, only a cotton-eared man would be fooled by a cheap slut like you."

As she scolded, she glanced at me, implying that I was that cotton-eared man being fooled.

I did not intend to compete with a foolish woman over a fleeting argument, but I couldn’t stand Dong Qing’er’s arrogant demeanor and couldn’t help but retort coldly, "Miss Dong must have drunk quite a bit of foul water when she fell into the pond the other day."

Calling attention to the embarrassment of the Second Miss Dong, her face flushed. The scene of her sprawling on her back, falling off the bridge the day before yesterday, was witnessed by everyone, and she returned to her courtyard soaked and shabby like a drowned rat, seen by many servants along the way.