Chapter 14：Bite Back

Pan Yueqing turned her gaze to Pan Yingqian, who was three steps away. "In my elder sister's house, there are actually people who want to harm me like this. Since elder sister is in charge of the Earl's Mansion, you should help your younger sister find out the mastermind behind this."

Pan Yingqian's smile could no longer hold. Her chief maid Mudan stepped forward and kicked Changcao three steps away. Changcao happened to fall at Pan Yueqing's feet. Mudan pressed Changcao's head down hard and made her kowtow on the ground. "Haven't you apologized to Miss Yue yet?!" But when no one else could see, she whispered in Changcao's ear, signaling her to take all the blame.

"Mudan, why are you in such a hurry?" Zaoyun's eyes narrowed slightly. She turned to look at the Old Madam. With the Old Madam's tacit permission, she randomly pointed at one of the servants kneeling on the ground. "Tell me, why were you chasing Miss Yue?"

"Sister Mudan said that we should keep watch and stop anyone who came out," the servant said timidly. He looked up and met Mudan's fierce gaze, shivering in fear. He pushed the person beside him. "If Sister Zaoyun doesn't believe me, you can ask the others."

After Zaoyun asked around, everyone pointed the finger at Mudan.

"It seems that someone around Madam Pingnan wanted to harm you," Li Shuran said in a timely manner. Her eyes were slightly cold, and her tone was not friendly. "I never expected that there would be a stab in the back. Fortunately, you're smart, Ayue, and you weren't hurt. Otherwise, your whole life would be ruined."

Pan Yueqing nodded. There was not the slightest smile on her face. She looked up at Pan Yingqian and Yao Zhen. "That's exactly the case."

Old Madam Yao snorted and said to Pan Yingqian, "Look at the maid by your side! You're still young and can't tell the good from the bad. That's why this disgraceful incident happened." After saying that, she called someone to take Mudan away.

Pan Yingqian sincerely admitted her mistake, knowing that she could only distance herself from Mudan now. She had originally instructed Mudan to shift all the blame to Changcao, but she didn't expect that Pan Yueqing wasn't so easy to deceive. And her mother-in-law had always disliked her. Today, she was afraid that she would suffer losses!

"It's all this damned girl Mudan. My cousin was already drunk, and this seductive woman lured him here to harm my second sister! Now that the truth is out, even if Mother doesn't say it, I definitely won't tolerate her. I'll call the human trafficker right away and sell her far away! That Changcao also talked nonsense. Since she's so immoral, she can't stay in this courtyard either. We should call the servants immediately and drown her in the pond! Otherwise, she might go out and ruin the reputation of our mansion!" Pan Yingqian followed Old Madam Yao's words and took Pan Yueqing's hand. Her brows furrowed. "Dear sister, you've been wronged today. It's my fault. I'll invite you to a banquet another day to apologize."

Pan Yueqing let her hold her hand and nodded. She said, "I understand your character, elder sister. But in my opinion, Mudan deserves to die, but Changcao doesn't. We usually donate money to worship Buddha and support monks and nuns, and we always talk about compassion. How can we just want to kill a living person for such a small matter? Since Young Master Liu was drunk and caused this trouble, he should take responsibility for Miss Changcao."

Those people in the Pan Mansion wanted to use Pan Yueqing's lifelong marriage to benefit the Liu family? Don't even think about it! Today, she would definitely make Liu Yang bear the reputation of taking a concubine before getting married. Let's see which family in the capital would dare to marry their daughter to Liu Yang in the future!

Liu Yang saw that everyone's attention was turned to him. He thought he had a bright future and was definitely unwilling to marry a maid. He pointed at his own nose and met Pan Yingqian's eyes. "Cousin! How could I marry a maid!"

"What? You dare to do it but not admit it?" Li Shuran was immediately angry when she heard this. She thought Liu Yang was too irresponsible for not saying a word from beginning to end. She put her hands on her hips and pointed at Liu Yang, sarcastically saying, "You're a scholar, but you have no sense of responsibility. How can you be a minister of the country in the future?! In my opinion, His Highness the First Prince might as well submit a memorial to the Emperor. If there's a person named Liu Yang in the future, he shouldn't be recruited!"

"You're right. A real man should be able to take responsibility for what he does. It seems that reading the books of the sages is of no use to such a person." Qi Simeng, who had been standing aside in silence, smiled and took over the conversation when he heard Li Shuran speak. He nodded seriously.

This was forcing Liu Yang to take Changcao home. Pan Yingqian looked at the Old Madam beside Pan Yueqing. Although she didn't say anything, she also had that intention. So she had to smile and say, "Brother Yang, you've been working hard studying outside. It's a good thing to have someone in your house."

Liu Yang saw that Li Shuran and Qi Simeng were talking so persuasively. His heart skipped a beat. Besides, he had really drunk too much. When he sobered up a bit and looked at Changcao, who couldn't speak, after hearing Pan Yingqian's words, he finally reacted. He forced a smile and said, "I will naturally take responsibility for Miss Changcao. But I'm still young, so I need to go back and report to my parents. I'll come to pick up Changcao right away."

Pan Yueqing sneered inwardly. This was just empty talk. If Changcao wasn't sent away today, Pan Yingqian would deal with her as soon as she turned around. She raised her eyes and turned to Old Madam Yao. "Madam, since that's the case, why not let them be together? It can also be considered a good deed."

"That's exactly right," Old Madam Zhou's serious face suddenly showed a smile. She nodded slightly. Zaoyun stepped forward and pinched Changcao, whose chin had been dislocated and couldn't speak. With a click, Changcao's chin was put back in place.

Old Madam Zhou waved her hand, signaling to take Changcao away, so as not to be an eyesore. Then she looked at Pan Yingqian, who was standing there trying to look calm. "Daughter-in-law, Mudan and Changcao have been dealt with. Now it's time to talk about you, right?"

Pan Yingqian glanced at Yao Zhen, who didn't dare to say a word, gritted her teeth, and gently knelt down in front of Old Madam Zhou. When she raised her eyes again, there were tears in her eyes. "Mother is right. I misjudged people and almost hurt my second sister. I won't do it again next time."

"Zaoyun, bring the person here." Old Madam Zhou didn't give Pan Yingqian any face. She turned her face and gave an order to Zaoyun.

It turned out that the person who came was Liu Ya. She was in a sorry state and knelt on the ground trembling. The first thing she said to Old Madam Zhou was, "Don't send me to the authorities. This idea was all Pan Yingqian's. She wanted to harm Pan Yueqing, but she was so vicious that she even harmed her own cousin from her maternal family! I just didn't report what I knew..."

"Cousin! What are you talking about?!" Pan Yingqian heard that Liu Ya had revealed everything and could no longer pretend. She turned around in a hurry and angrily said, "Even if you want to climb up the social ladder, you can't slander me like this!"

"Who are you pretending to be a good person?!" Liu Ya suddenly changed her expression and pointed at Pan Yingqian, scolding, "You've always been jealous of Pan Yueqing's status as a legitimate daughter and wanted to smear her chastity! Don't think I don't know. You've already shifted all the blame onto others!"