Chapter 1985: Slapped Again (Patreon)

Chapter 1985: Slapped Again

Cheng Jiatong widened her eyes and exclaimed, "You... You're making baseless accusations. Don't falsely accuse me."

"I'm not accusing you without reason. I have a brother who is a cousin of one of your maidservant. Everyone can testify to this."

At this point, Cheng Jiatong's defense appeared feeble.

Faced with Cheng Xian's stern expression, she panicked and said, "I really didn't know about this. Bixian, what happened here? Why did you keep it from me?"

Bixian, the maid implicated, shivered with fear. Internally, she felt a sense of despair. She had anticipated that her mistress would use her as a scapegoat.

However, she had no choice but to shoulder the blame herself.

Bixian timidly stepped forward, knelt on the ground, and tearfully confessed, "Miss, I'm sorry. It was my wrongdoing. I acted on my own. I couldn't bear to see you being slapped, so I secretly followed the county princess and found out where she was staying. Then, I contacted my cousin, wanting to teach the county princess a lesson. It's all my fault."

Seeing Bixian's compliance, Cheng Jiatong, although she appeared angry, secretly breathed a sigh of relief. She then angrily kicked Bixian and said, "Who allowed you to do this? I was slapped, so naturally, I would ask my brother to intervene. Look at what you've done. If you had succeeded, you'd be the one to suffer. Your life wouldn't be worth much."

She was about to kick Bixian again when Ying Xi interjected, "Miss Cheng, there's no need to get so worked up, right? This rascal just mentioned that after the matter was done, he would be given sixty taels of silver. Adding the twenty taels he already had, that's a total of eighty taels. Does a maid really carry so much money? Impossible."

As she continued, Ying X shook her head and corrected herself, "No, I was too hasty in my judgment. I do have that much money on me. The county princess occasionally rewards me with bonuses, and I've saved quite a bit."

Shu Yu remained silent, observing the situation.

Bixian widened her eyes in disbelief. How could a mere maid like her have such a substantial amount of money? Was the county princess really that generous?

Ying Xi continued, "Even if she has money, would she be willing to spend it to bribe this rascal? Miss Cheng, please don't think we're all fools."

Cheng Jiatong's face turned pale, but she persevered, saying, "Bixian has money; I've always been generous with her. She might have more than eighty taels. Besides, she has always been loyal to me. She could have taken out all her money for my sake. It's not impossible."

"Alright then. Since she has so much money, why don't we see it? Where is the money? Let's go to her room and look for it."

Bixian couldn't speak up. She hoped that Cheng Jiatong would instruct someone to hide the silver in her room beforehand, but at this moment, all eyes were on her, and Cheng Jiatong couldn't make any secret moves. She couldn't even signal with her eyes.

Just as Cheng Jiatong was hesitating to admit defeat, a stern voice came from behind, "Enough! Isn't this embarrassing enough?"

Cheng Jiatong's body stiffened, and she quickly turned around to see her father, Master Cheng, walking over with an icy expression.

She spoke in a trembling voice, "Father."

Master Cheng walked up to her, stared at her coldly, and said, "Look up."

Cheng Jiatong raised her head in fear, and Master Cheng narrowed his eyes. With a loud "smack," he delivered a heavy slap to her face.

"Ah..." Cheng Jiatong screamed, feeling as if she were seeing stars, and she fell to the ground.