In the afternoon, the official banquet was still going on. Chen Qing was a little too drunk, so he left the banquet and went home first.
The carriage gradually approached the gate of the mansion, but unexpectedly saw several oxcarts parked in front of the side door. Each oxcart was filled with luggage, which made Chen Qing slightly different. At this time, he saw several young women coming out of the mansion crying, holding hands in their hands.
Carrying the baggage.
The person at the front, Chen Qing, knew Chunxi, the princess's personal maid, and the few behind were also personal maids. They all carried baggage and wiped away tears as they walked.
Chen Qing was really surprised. At this time, Butler Tian saw Chen Qing's carriage and ran over quickly.
"The prince is back!"
The carriage stopped. Chen Qing pointed to the ox cart by the side door at the back and asked, "What's going on over there?"
Butler Tian sighed and said, "They committed a crime. The princess held a court hearing and ordered them to be sent home and the contract be terminated in advance."
This surprised Chen Qing even more. The interrogation hall in their mansion had never been used before, but it was actually used today. This was the first time!
"What did they do?"
"I don't know for sure, maybe it has something to do with Miss Yao Mei. The prince should ask the princess!"
'Is it related to Yao Mei?'
Chen Qing was secretly surprised. Since his wife had ordered the expulsion, of course he would not stop it casually. He had to give this face to his wife.
Chen Qing went into the mansion full of doubts, and happened to meet his second wife Zhao Qiaoyun in the middle hall. Zhao Qiaoyun was followed by her other maid Xiao Wu. Her personal maid Xia Huan seemed to have been kicked out of the mansion just now.
When Zhao Qiaoyun saw her husband coming back, she quickly stepped forward to salute. When Chen Qing saw that both she and the maid were holding ultimatums, he smiled and took them over, "Are there any ultimatums during the New Year?"
During the holidays, some urgent documents were sent directly to the government, and Zhao Qiaoyun compiled them into key points for Chen Qing, and then handed them over to Chen Qing for review. Normally, Zhao Qiaoyun did not care, and Chao Qing and Wei Ji were responsible for sorting them out.
Zhao Qiaoyun smiled and said: "Not many, just a dozen books."
The two got into the carriage, with the maid Xiao Wu sitting in front. Chen Qing asked, "What's going on with Xia Huan?"
Zhao Qiaoyun looked gloomy and sighed: "Don't mention it, she disappoints me so much."
"Tell me!"
Zhao Qiaoyun briefly explained what happened today, and finally said: "One of them was a sentry, and the other was stealing things to frame them. They thought they were unnoticed, but they didn't know that the female guard hiding on the roof could see clearly.
It really made my eldest sister very angry."
"But I saw there seemed to be five people who were driven out of the house. It must be more than just the two of them!"
Zhao Qiaoyun shook his head and said: "If it was just a frame-up, with the tolerance of the eldest sister, she would not be so ruthless. The key is that the five of them formed a small gang, cut out five little people, wrote Yao Mei's name on them, and posted them on the five
Then, they were pricked with needles according to the body parts of metal, wood, water, fire, and earth, and hid them in a box. As a result, the princess found all five puppets."
Chen Qing was immediately furious, "How could they be so vicious?"
"I'm jealous! The eldest sister is very kind to Amei. She lets her study, practice calligraphy and play with Xue'er and Bing'er. Other maids don't have this treatment. Especially on New Year's Eve when the annual reward was given, the princess gave Amei a hundred strings.
The money was five times more than that of Chunxi and the others, so this incident became the cause of their frame-up. The five of them discussed it together, and then Chunxi came up with the solution."
"Don't they know there are guards watching over their heads?"
"Of course they know. It was just by some mistake that Amei left the eldest sister's bedroom in the middle of the night and never went back. The female guard said that the only person who entered the bedroom was Chunxi."
Chen Qing immediately understood that it was really a strange combination of circumstances. If Wang Hao hadn't asked to see him last night, he wouldn't have gone to the study, and Yao Mei wouldn't have come to the study to serve him in the middle of the night. She had left the princess's bedroom early. What a coincidence.
Wrong, they didn't expect it.
In the study, Lu Xiu told her husband the results of today's interrogation in detail. Chen Qing only heard a rough summary from Zhao Qiaoyun on the carriage, and now he knows many details.
The little paper figurine was not cut out, but a ghost charm bought from the Taoist Priest Qingyun of Shuiyue Temple. The Taoist Priest ran away within a month for a five-string coin.
The little paper figurine not only has Yao Mei's name on it, but also her birth date, and curses her to go to the eighteenth level of hell and never recover, which is very vicious.
On the first day Yao Mei came to the house, the five maids formed a gang with a ridiculous name, the Princess Bao Party. Chunxi pretended to be friends with Yao Mei and looked for clues about her, but failed to find any. Then they started to use witchcraft and witchcraft.
On the second day after the operation, Yao Mei fell ill. They thought it was effective and continued to buy talismans. They bought four times, totaling 20 talismans.
Lu Xiu sighed: "If it weren't for the theft incident, I would have been kept in the dark. I thought the relationship in the house was so harmonious and peaceful, but the result was shocking."
"How do you deal with them?" Chen Qing asked.
"I saved them face and didn't beat them with a stick. Then I paid them all their wages according to the remaining years of their respective contracts. For example, Chunxi was due at the end of the year and there were still twelve months left. Her monthly wages were five guan.
I gave her sixty guan of money, and the others did the same. After the employment contract ended, I sent them home, and I believe their families will not find anything wrong with them."
“It’s a good job, and it’s really the most benevolent thing.”
Chen Qing was greatly applauded. He pondered for a moment and then asked: "A-Lian is not involved in this matter, right?"
What Chen Qing is most worried about is that this matter involves Yu Lian. Yu Lian has teased him more than once, belittling Yao Mei, saying that she is too young, ignorant, and cannot serve men. Chen Qing only thinks that she is jealous.
, and didn’t take it to heart.
When he heard about witchcraft today, he immediately thought of Yu Lian. She should not do anything stupid and get involved.
Lu Xiu shook his head and said: "Alian's personal maid Dong Xin is also one of the five, but Alian is not involved. Alian just complains a lot. If you ask her to do witchcraft, she is not that vicious. The key is that Alian
Mei does not threaten her status, and she is a good lady, a fifth-grade woman. Isn't it embarrassing for her to be jealous of a maid?"
"Where is Jiubao? Is she among the five?" Chen Qing asked again.
Jiubao is Zhou Tong's great-granddaughter. After Zhou Tong became a monk in Guanluishan Mountain, the only thing he couldn't let go of was his great-granddaughter. This was Zhou Tong's only living descendant. She was raised in a farmer's family at the foot of Guanluishan Mountain. Chen
Qing asked Yu Ying to take her in as a personal maid, and when she grew up, she would marry the personal guard she liked, which also relieved Zhou Tong's worries.
"Jiubao doesn't. Among the five personal maids among us, she and Qiu Yue are the only ones who are not involved. I think Ah Ying has a good education. Ah Ying is a generous and kind-hearted person. Her maids are all good and they don't fight for anything."
Chen Qing nodded and said with a smile: "Call Amei! I'll comfort her with a few words."
Lu Xiu rolled her eyes at her husband and said, "It's broad daylight, don't comfort me in your way!"
Chen Qing was a little embarrassed and quickly explained: "I will go to Qujiang for inspection in the afternoon. I will come back at noon to have a cup of tea and take a rest."
Lu Xiu snorted, "It's weird if I believe you!"
She got up and left. Not long after, Yao Mei ran into the room with red eyes, threw herself into Chen Qing's arms and started crying.
She only found out today that someone actually cursed her with a paper figurine. She was so angry that she was shaking all over and felt extremely aggrieved.
Chen Qing comforted her for a moment. Although he wanted to comfort her in his own way, his wife had already told her so, so he was a little embarrassed to do anything.
After a moment of tenderness, Yao Mei stood up and said, "I'm going to make tea for the prince!"
She took two steps, then turned back and rolled her eyes at Chen Qing. Her eyes were filled with charm, and Chen Qing could no longer suppress the fire in his chest and pulled her into the back room.
