Chapter 560: Chapter 232 My Son is a Treacherous Minister (Part 8)_2
At most, they were simply driven out or sold to a buyer.
And what’s more, Ms. Hetian has repeatedly emphasized that the slaves who offended Princess An Kang were "people by the elders’ side."
Ms. Hetian had the right to stand on high moral ground and sternly push out those responsible to be severely punished, but as the daughter-in-law, An Kang could not just stand by idly.
She had clearly been wronged and humiliated by troublesome slaves, and despite Ms. Hetian turning the incident into such a spectacle, An Kang still had to against her will plead for mercy for a few scapegoats.
As for Ms. Hetian, she took the opportunity to let things slide, gracefully shifting the burden and then proclaiming everywhere how good a daughter-in-law she had found.
When outsiders heard the He Family’s gossips, many elderly noblewomen had their doubts about Princess An Kang.
Coming from a noble family, one should still be respectful to the elders.
Being close to the elders, even if it were just a cat or a dog, couldn’t be said to be more revered than the young masters and mistresses, but as the younger generation, they should show some lenience in the face of their elders’ reputation.
How could it be like on Princess An Kang’s end, causing such a big fuss?!
Fortunately, though Ms. Hetian came from a humble origin, she was someone who understood the big picture and looked after the overall situation.
Although it was her own trusted aide, she put the harmony of the family and the mother-in-law and daughter-in-law relationship first by bearing the pain and taking action.
Ah, how difficult it must be for the elders.
The older generation of women understood best; for them, as women confined within the inner chambers, it’s not rude to say: very often, husbands and children are not as close to their hearts as old servants who had been with them for decades!
When some noblewomen heard about the affairs of the He Family, they even began to apply it to themselves.
Thinking if their own trusted aide, for offending the daughter-in-law, had to be subjected to punishment, to be sold...
Oh dear, they couldn’t bear to think about it; just dwelling on it briefly made their hearts unavoidably feel stifled, uncomfortable!
And then considering the status gap between Princess An Kang and Ms. Hetian, some began to wonder if An Kang was abusing her power, thinking that being a girl from the Imperial Family, she didn’t even put her mother-in-law in her eyes?
Thus, after a few such instances, Ms. Hetian’s reputation improved, while Princess An Kang, always gentle and low-profile, was unexpectedly tagged with the label of being "pretentious"!
In the future, even if An Kang were truly at her limit and wanted to expose the He Family’s matters, Ms. Hetian had an escape route—it was all the doing of troublesome slaves!
After all, there was precedent.
When the time came, just push out one or two slightly important slaves, and Ms. Hetian could again emerge unscathed.
Princess An Kang: ...I’m used to it. Who asked me to be saddled with such a talented evil mother-in-law.
This morning, He Xi went to attend the court as usual.
An Kang, as always, came to Shouan Hall to pay respects to her mother-in-law, and unsurprisingly saw Granny Qin with a tragic face, coming to cry and complain.
Hmm, why "unsurprisingly"?
Simply because these kinds of incidents were not happening for the first time.
The only difference was perhaps that Granny Qin had previously been acting, while this time, Granny Qin had genuinely suffered a punishment from He Xi!
Princess An Kang stood to one side with her hands lowered, her head down, not looking at the master-servant pair, silently waiting for her mother-in-law to seize the opportunity to lash out.
But—
An Kang had waited for a long while and had not heard any scolding directed at herself from her mother-in-law.
An Kang couldn’t help but slightly raise her head and steal a glance with the corner of her eye toward the mother-in-law sitting atop the hall.
She heard the mother-in-law coldly say, "Of course it wasn’t me! I treat An Kang as my own biological daughter!"
"And An Kang has always been well-behaved and filial; she has never defied me. How could I intentionally force her to kneel in punishment?"
Granny Qin:...
Even though she came from a family with a lineage of hereditary servants and had seen all sorts of posturing and adept dissemblers, in that moment, upon hearing He Tiantian’s words, she couldn’t help but feel speechless.
Grand Madam, there are no outsiders here, who doesn’t know everyone’s true colors?
Everyone knows you dislike An Kang as a daughter-in-law, and you’ve not sparingly plotted behind the scenes.
To control people, you’ve even gone so far as to use your grandsons and granddaughters as pawns.
Her conflict with An Kang has long been a well-known secret among the He Family.
Everyone just slightly conceals it in front of He Xi, the head of the family.
Now that He Xi is not here, and with only the Grand Madam, Princess An Kang, and their own trusted aides present, why the need for Grand Madam to still put on a show?
Haven’t you seen how the two little vixens, Bai Zhi and Bai Wei, are showing expressions of contempt and disgust?
"It wasn’t me who forced An Kang. Being such a filial person, she wouldn’t intentionally kneel and put me, her elder, in a ’heartless’ position. So, the question is, who is really playing the ghost?"