Looking coldly at Shen Lixue, Lei Shi thought: This matter is definitely related to her. Deal with the current matter first, and settle accounts with her when we get back to the manor!
"We saw it with our own eyes, what misunderstanding could there be?" Lei's condescending attitude, with its condescending air, made the beggars very uncomfortable. They angrily retorted, "If you don't want to distribute porridge, don't pretend to be kind..."
"That's right, they tampered with the porridge, making us so weak we can't even stand up..."
"Brothers, stop wasting your breath on her and smash that nasty porridge bucket of hers..."
Roar! Like a stone stirring up a thousand waves, the angry beggars roared and swarmed forward, pushing aside the busy guards of the Prime Minister's residence, and rushed to the panicked Lei Shi and Shen Yingxue.
Although Lady Lei was the Prime Minister's wife, she had long lived in the inner courtyard and had never seen such a riot. Looking at the beggars rushing in frantically, she was at a loss and pulled Shen Yingxue. She turned around and tried to escape, but the angry beggars grabbed her clothes and pulled her back hard. As soon as they let go, the mother and daughter were pushed apart.
"I am the Prime Minister's wife, how dare you... um..." Before Lady Lei could finish speaking, she was grabbed by the hair and shoved hard into the porridge pot. Lady Lei gasped for breath, her arms flailing wildly as she struggled to lift her head. Her dignified face was covered in thick white porridge, white grains slowly dripping down her cheeks, making her look extremely disheveled...
"Mother, save me, save me..." Shen Yingxue was lifted high by several beggars, screaming in terror. Her beautiful face was covered with tears, and with her slender figure, she looked pitiful at first glance.
The beggars were furious and showed no mercy. They grabbed Shen Yingxue and slammed her into the porridge bucket with a splash. White porridge splattered everywhere, and Shen Yingxue's face, hair, and body were covered in sticky porridge, making her look quite disheveled.
But the beggars were still not satisfied. They picked her up and slammed her back in, picked her up and slammed her back in again, repeatedly. Shen Yingxue was covered in white porridge, white particles running down her cheeks, and her clothes slipped down. Her appearance was beyond description.
Even more lecherous beggars, taking advantage of the crowd and chaos, secretly touched Lei Shi and Shen Yingxue's breasts and buttocks. Their soft elasticity made them unable to put them down, touching and touching again. Shen Yingxue's cries and Lei Shi's angry shouts mingled with the beggars' angry shouts, forming a chaotic symphony...
Shen Lixue stood outside the crowd, coldly observing Shen Yingxue. Lei Shi was humiliated, and a cold smile played on her lips: The beggars had stomach aches and did not suspect that there was something wrong with the porridge. Even if they did, they would not dare to cause trouble. But Shen Yingxue pretended to be clever and had someone incite the beggars to come and cause trouble for her. Those beggars who drank the problematic porridge were indirectly emboldened and started to attack in groups.
She brought this situation upon herself. If she hadn't put croton seeds in her porridge, I wouldn't have secretly poured them back into her porridge, and she wouldn't be in such a bad situation now!
Shen Lixue turned around gently, her cool gaze fixed on a window not far away. When Lei Shi rested in the pavilion, she would always glance at that window. Behind that window, there should be one or more people of high status and power...
Shen Lixue stood quietly, her clothes fluttering slightly, a slight smile playing on her lips. The sharp light reflected in her dark eyes seemed to see through everything. Dongfang Zhan, standing by the window, felt a sudden twitch in his eyelids. At this distance, Shen Lixue shouldn't be able to see him, but for some reason, he had a feeling that someone could see right through him…
Gazing at the chaos below, the middle-aged man frowned deeply, his dark eyes unfathomable, and said coldly, "Return to the palace!" What a pointless farce!
The streets were chaotic, and only familiar, heavy footsteps echoed from the corridors. No one spoke, and even breathing was faint. The atmosphere was extremely oppressive. Shen Minghui stood in front of the private room window, his gaze cold and his face ashen. A surge of anger was stuck in his chest, unable to rise or fall, causing a painful tightness in his heart.
He requested that Prince Zhan invite the Emperor to have breakfast here so that they could witness the philanthropy of the Prime Minister's master, Shen Minghui, and prove his loyalty to the Emperor and his patriotism. He believed that in the face of important national affairs, the trivial matters of the Prime Minister's residence were insignificant, and the Emperor would not overlook the fact that he had his daughter take the blame. He would be given more important responsibilities in national affairs.
But what did the emperor see?
The Prime Minister's wife was a hypocrite. She would rather let the beggars go hungry than open the buckets of porridge. When she finally did distribute the porridge, the porridge turned out to be defective. The beggars drank it and got stomach aches, which aroused public anger. The noble lady who distributed the porridge was dragged and beaten. It was so shameful, so incredibly shameful.
This porridge distribution has indeed brought him fame, but it's a bad one, spreading far and wide throughout the capital city of Qingyan. How could his meticulously planned and flawless scheme have turned out like this?
When Shen Minghui's gaze fell upon the woman in green standing against the wind, his eyes turned cold. Li Xue, this matter is definitely related to her!
A surge of blood welled up in Shen Minghui's chest, and he couldn't hold back any longer. He spat out a mouthful of blood and collapsed to the ground. Before losing consciousness, he heard the guards exclaim in alarm, "Prime Minister Shen..."
"Stop! Stop!" The Shuntian Prefecture official, his brow furrowed and face stern, led a large contingent of men rushing from the street corner. The beggars were startled at first, then scattered like birds in flight: "The officials are here! Run!"
The beggars were weak, but they ran incredibly fast. In no time, the entire street was deserted. Maids and nannies rushed forward and helped Lei Shi and Shen Yingxue, who were covered in white porridge, their hair disheveled, their clothes rumpled, and looking utterly wretched, to their feet: "Madam, Miss!"
As the wife of the Prime Minister, Lady Lei always presented herself as dignified and virtuous. It was the first time that the maids, nannies, Shen Caixuan, and Aunt Zhao had ever seen her in such a disheveled state. They wanted to laugh but dared not, and lowered their heads to clean up the dirt, their faces looking very strange.
"How do you protect your master? When you see my wife and I being bullied, don't you step forward to help?" Shen Yingxue felt wronged and was filled with anger, her chest aching. She vented her anger at the maids, nannies, and guards.
The maids and nannies exchanged glances, not daring to utter a sound. The scene was too chaotic; even the strong and robust guards were pushed aside by the beggars. How could these frail women possibly squeeze in to save their master?
"Madam Shen, Miss Shen!" The Shuntianfu official dismounted and quickly walked over, indirectly helping the maids and nannies out of their predicament. Looking at Lei Shi, who was covered in white porridge and looked disheveled, Shen Yingxue's expression was very strange, as if she was trying to suppress her laughter so hard that she was about to suffer internal injuries.
He had come with good intentions to distribute porridge, but things had backfired, and he was chased and lectured by the beggars. Not only had this extraordinary event happened, but he had also witnessed it. The prefect of Shuntian cleared his throat to calm himself and asked softly, "Are you all alright?"
Lei stood quietly, letting the maids and nannies wipe the porridge stains off her body, her dignified bearing undiminished: "Thank you for your concern, sir, we are fine..."
"My lord, you must bring those unruly people to justice! We came here with good intentions to distribute porridge, and they dared to act so lawlessly..." Shen Yingxue complained indignantly and angrily.
"Of course!" The governor of Shuntian Prefecture replied solemnly, but his mind was not very focused, clearly he was just giving a perfunctory answer!
"Shen Lixue, you're the one who ruined me!" Turning her head, Shen Yingxue saw that Shen Lixue was unharmed, and her beautiful eyes were so angry that they seemed to be spitting fire.
"Sister, you must have evidence to accuse others. You can't just make things up and talk nonsense. In front of everyone, you were tortured by a beggar. What does that have to do with me?" Shen Lixue smiled slightly, her gaze was clear and natural, but her pupils were extremely deep and mysterious, with a hint of demonic energy that was captivating.
Shen Yingxue shivered, not daring to look Shen Lixue in the eye, but she didn't want to let her off easily either: "We're both here serving porridge, and my mother and I have been treated so badly by the beggars, while you're completely unharmed, and you still say you didn't do anything wrong..."
"The porridge my sister and madam cooked had a problem; they had stomach aches after drinking it, which is why they're bothering you. My porridge is fine, so of course they won't scold me!" Saying this, Shen Lixue glanced at the unharmed maids and matrons: "Beggars may be barbaric, but they won't harm innocent people..."
So many people came to the Prime Minister's residence, and not only Shen Lixue, Shen Caixuan, Aunt Zhao, and others were all safe and sound.
Shen Lixue! Shen Yingxue gritted her teeth in anger. According to her, she and her mother deserved to be taught a lesson by the beggar...
Taking a sip of tea, Shen Lixue glanced at Lei Shi and Shen Yingxue, and said calmly, "Madam, sister, your attire is truly inappropriate. Why don't you go back to the manor and change? I'll have someone clean up this mess!"
Shen Lixue glanced sideways at the dark window not far away. Everyone inside had already left, and there was no need for the Lei family to continue their act.
Lei glanced furtively at the window, a look of seriousness flashing in her eyes. She frowned deeply and said, "Yingxue, come back to the manor with me!" They were in such a sorry state that they had already lost three points in terms of morale. In addition, they had just gone through a calamity and were in a state of agitation. Shen Lixue, on the other hand, had been calmly recuperating. If they were to confront her now, they would have almost no chance of winning.
Go back to your residence to wash up and get dressed before you teach her a lesson.
Shen Yingxue dared not disobey Lei's orders. She glared at Shen Lixue, suppressed her anger, and left with Lei in a carriage. The maids, nannies, Shen Caixuan, and Aunt Zhao also returned to the mansion. Shuntian Prefecture led the officials to arrest the troublesome beggars. Only Shen Lixue and a few servants remained on the entire Buzhou Street.
After instructing the servants to tidy up the porridge buckets and sweep the streets, Shen Lixue sat in the pavilion, leisurely sipping tea, her usually cool gaze slightly darkening.
It's a fact that there are more and more beggars in the capital, and people's hearts are unsettled. If they are not appeased, they may riot under the instigation of some people. Lei Shi and Shen Minghui's act of distributing porridge is a good deed that can appease the people. Even if that person knows that Shen Minghui's actions are to erase the stain of making his concubine's daughter take the blame for his legitimate daughter and to promote his reputation for doing good and being close to the people, he will not judge him too much, because Shen Minghui has truly relieved the emperor's worries.
Now, Lei's attempt to sow discord has backfired. Not only has he failed to appease the beggars, but he has also enraged them, making them even more difficult to control. If this gets back to the emperor, Shen Minghui will have compounded his mistakes, and things will certainly not end well.
A graceful smile curved her lips as Shen Lixue rose slowly, about to leave the pavilion, when her gaze fell upon a man in black robes sitting in a corner not far away, staring at the porridge buckets that had been put away.
Shen Lixue frowned. When she arrived here in the morning in a sedan chair, the man was sitting in the corner. Because of his unusual clothes, she took a few more glances at him. She didn't expect that he was still sitting there after all the other beggars had left. Could it be that he had a leg ailment and couldn't walk?
A bowl of still-warm porridge sat in the shade. Shen Lixue picked it up casually, strode towards the man in black, and smiled sweetly, like a spring flower in bloom: "This is the last bowl, drink it while it's hot!"