"Xiao Jing, you three go play for a while. Mother will tell you stories and tuck you in when she returns," Yun Shu said to Yun Xiao Jing and the others.
After speaking, she pulled at the corner of her lips with a hint of helplessness.
How unlucky were Aunt Xiao and Yun Ying to have run into Ruan Xi?
She cast a reluctant glance at Zhan Xiao Li and Gu Xiao Feng.
This was the first time she was coaxing them to sleep, and someone had come to disturb her.
The two of them looked at her with pleading eyes.
Yun Shu petted their heads and said softly, "Wait for Mother to come back, okay?"
Then she walked out.
In front of the manor gates.
It was bustling with activity.
Even though it was already night and people should be returning home, the surrounding neighbors and common folk had all gathered in front of the General's Manor.
There, lying at the entrance of the General's Manor, were Aunt Xiao and Yun Ying, mother and daughter, seemingly still unconscious and on the verge of death.
They were loosely covered with straw mats, serving as a meager shroud for their disgrace.
It was fortunate that it was night; even with the moonlight, people couldn't see too clearly.
Even so, everyone understood what had happened.
Yun Yue Yin saw Yun Shu and Yun Chang Feng emerge.
She immediately exchanged a look with Madam Yun and Yang Shi beside her.
Madam Yun quickly stepped forward and, before Yun Chang Feng could react, grabbed his sleeve.
She wailed, "Chang Feng! Look! You shut us out, refusing to let us return to the General's Manor, and now your women and daughter have... have been defiled by villains! You are the Great General, how can you be so heartless!"
"That's right, second brother. Look at Aunt Xiao and Ying'er. They have been tormented to the point where life is worse than death! Why were they treated like this? Isn't it because everyone in the capital knows that you also drove them out? No matter what, second brother should not be so cold and heartless, completely disregarding their lives! Although you only have that girl Yun Shu in your eyes, you shouldn't be so callous!" Yang Shi quickly joined in, also accusing Yun Chang Feng.
Madam Yun cried breathlessly, "Look, Chang Feng, look at them! There isn't a good spot on their entire bodies!"
With these words, all the blame was shifted onto Yun Chang Feng.
"Alas! We are family, why must we endure all this? Today it's Aunt Xiao and Yun Ying, tomorrow will it be our turn?" Yun Yue Yin sighed, feigning extreme helplessness.
She presented herself as the victim, holding her head high.
The surrounding crowd murmured in disbelief.
"Regardless, you must seek justice for them! Find the people who bullied them, and absolutely do not let them be wronged like this!" Madam Yun pleaded.
Yun Chang Feng's face was as cold as frost. Looking at Madam Yun before him, he was utterly disappointed. "You have no further connection with this general or the General's Manor."
"I am your mother! I am your flesh and blood! Are you denying even this? And Aunt Xiao, she served you wholeheartedly, and Ying'er, she is also your daughter!" Madam Yun's heart ached from Yun Chang Feng's coldness, but she did not forget Yun Yue Yin's instructions.
Yun Yue Yin, relying on the broad-brimmed hat she wore, concealed her face, making it impossible to discern her expression.
She kept her eyes fixed on Yun Shu.
In the moonlight of the night, Yun Shu was breathtakingly beautiful.
Her flawless skin made Yun Yue Yin incredibly jealous.
It must be fake... that face must be fake! She would go through Meng Jia Tong to meet Old Master Meng and have him temporarily provide a fake skin for her, so she could fool Zhan Ming. Then, she would try to have Old Master Meng announce to the world that Yun Shu's face was fake!
The onlookers waited to see a good show.
However, some were curious. "No matter what, they are still his women and daughter. How can General Yun seem completely indifferent when they have been so insulted?"
"It's truly strange!"
"If you ask me, when the General's Manor was in trouble, they were the fastest to flee. Now that they see the General's Manor is safe, they've tried to return multiple times. Isn't that a bit much?"
"The General's Manor is so grand, it must be comfortable to live in! If it were me, I'd want to live there too! They've been staying in inns lately, and when they were kicked out of the inn, they went to live in the outskirts of the city. So, they came back again today!"
"Even so, the two lying on the ground are, after all, the Great General's woman and daughter. He can't completely abandon them, can he?"
"..."
The murmurs reached Yun Shu's ears.
She saw that Yun Chang Feng was losing his patience.
So, she said softly to Yun Chang Feng, "Father, you are the Great General. I will handle this matter."
Yun Chang Feng didn't want Yun Shu to get involved in such messy affairs. But before he could refuse, Yun Shu spoke first.
"They have nothing to do with my father. Yun Ying's father is not my father, and my father has never touched Aunt Xiao," Yun Shu's clear and cold voice rang out.
This statement shocked everyone.
At the same time, Yun Shu looked in the distance.
Two people pushed forward a man who was tightly bound and made him kneel before Yun Shu and Yun Chang Feng.
Yun Yue Yin was shocked beyond measure.
"Tell us everything about you and Aunt Xiao," Yun Shu said to the middle-aged man kneeling on the ground.
If one looked closely at the middle-aged man, they could see that he was handsome and distinguished. If he were ten years younger, he would have been adored by many women. Although he looked dishevelled now,
He carried an air of nobility befitting a scion of a prominent family.
"Xiao Ke'er was once my woman. I redeemed her from a brothel. For some reason, one day she left me, already pregnant. I searched for her for a long time, but unexpectedly, she secretly entered the General's Manor and deceived the Great General!" the middle-aged man said, trembling under Yun Shu's gaze.
This revelation once again stunned everyone.
"Wh-what?" Madam Yun was so shocked that she almost lost her footing and stumbled back several steps.
Yun Yue Yin's face drastically changed. She had never expected Aunt Xiao to have deceived them all!
Yun Chang Feng looked at Yun Shu with some surprise.
She had actually found the person in secret!
She was one step ahead of him!
No wonder she said they couldn't harm her.
Yun Shu lowered her gaze to the still unconscious Aunt Xiao and said to the man, "Take your person and leave. Do not appear before us again!"
"Ah, yes, yes, yes!" The man hurriedly prepared to take Aunt Xiao away.
Suddenly.
Aunt Xiao opened her eyes.
She looked around somewhat dazed, then looked at the middle-aged man in panic. "Who are you? What are you doing? I am the Great General's woman, don't touch me!"
The middle-aged man froze for a moment.
Yun Shu's expression also darkened slightly. She had woken up?