Lüdou heard the voice of the eldest Song brother.
She hurried forward a few steps and stopped just outside the gate next door.
Lüdou rubbed her eyes hard until the rims turned red.
“My lord, I’m only a servant. Why must you make things difficult for me?”
Lüdou turned around and looked at the eldest Song brother through tear-filled eyes.
The eldest Song brother was utterly baffled by her words.
“You can’t leave!”
“The Prince of Pingyang’s residence has already received the money. Come with me so we can exchange you for Duoduo.”
Lüdou let out a sharp scream.
“No!”
“You sold your own daughter in the first place. Now that you’ve discovered she’s useful, you want to buy her back.”
“And in the end, you couldn’t even recognize your own daughter and brought back a mere servant like me instead!”
“Don’t you have any shame? Are you planning to kill me to silence me, too?”
As she spoke, Lüdou ran forward.
“Help!”
“Someone save me!”
“The Song family is trying to kill me to silence me!”
The eldest Song brother was completely dumbfounded by Lüdou’s performance.
Just then, the neighboring gate suddenly swung open.
A plump woman rushed out, carrying a broom over her shoulder.
“Who dares commit murder in broad daylight?”
“Come quickly! Someone’s trying to kill someone!”
“Go report this to the authorities!”
Lüdou stopped and hid behind the woman, shooting the eldest Song brother a smug little grimace.
The eldest Song brother finally realized what was going on.
Lüdou had done it on purpose.
After all, the eldest Song brother had once been a county magistrate. He cared deeply about his reputation, so he turned around and went back into the Song residence.
When the woman saw that the eldest Song brother had not reacted at all, she was rather disappointed.
The neighbors who had heard her cries also gathered around.
“Miss, what happened?”
“That’s right. I heard someone shouting about murder just now!”
“Who was trying to kill whom? Hurry and report it to the authorities!”
…
Everyone began talking over one another.
Lüdou vigorously rubbed her eyes with her handkerchief.
“My young lady was sold by her own parents…”
Crying, Lüdou told the neighbors everything that had happened to Duoduo.
At first, she had been putting on an act.
But as she spoke, she remembered the days she and Duoduo had spent together, and tears finally began rolling down her cheeks for real.
“I thought that, no matter what, the Song family were my young lady’s relatives, so I wanted to help her fulfill her filial duty.”
“But they said that if my young lady weren’t useful, they wouldn’t have bothered redeeming her.”
“Tell me, are parents like that really parents at all?”
“I couldn’t stand it, so I argued with them a little.”
“And then the Song family immediately tried to hit me.”
“I ran outside, but they chased after me and tried to kill me to silence me!”
“Luckily, this auntie came out and saved me. Otherwise…”
Lüdou covered her face and sobbed miserably.
The onlookers immediately exploded into an uproar.
“How can there be parents who are more heartless than beasts?”
“No wonder! I always wondered why the Song family had no daughters, only sons!”
“So they sold all their daughters!”
“They used the money from selling their daughters. They’ll surely die a horrible death!”
…
Because the second branch of the Song family had attached itself to the Crown Prince, they had naturally begun distancing themselves from everyone around them.
Song Jiang had even been considering buying a new residence so that it would better suit his status.
The only problem was that land in the capital was worth its weight in gold. A good residence wasn’t something one could simply buy whenever one felt like it.
Besides, he was somewhat reluctant to purchase a large estate only to have his elder brother’s family follow him there.
His wife had been whispering in his ear every day, and although Song Jiang looked down on such nagging, he had still taken some of it to heart.
Song Jiang had also been busy recently, so he had put the matter aside for the time being.
However, the change in their attitude was quickly noticed by the surrounding neighbors.
That was simply how people were.
No one wanted others to live better than they did!
Thus, when the neighbors learned that the Song family had attached themselves to the Crown Prince, they were all consumed by jealousy.
Now that they had finally found an opportunity to trample the Song family into the dirt, they naturally weren’t going to let it go.
Before long, news of what had happened at the Song residence spread from one person to ten, and from ten to a hundred.
At that moment, Lüdou had no idea how powerful the masses could be.
After finishing her tearful account, she bowed to the people around her.
“Thank you all for standing up for me. I have to go now.”
“The people backing the Song family are the Crown Prince.”
“Everyone should disperse, or you may be implicated later.”
Wiping away her tears, Lüdou hurried off.
After she left, the rumor that “the Crown Prince encouraged his subordinate to buy and sell his daughter, and then tried to kill someone to cover it up” quickly spread through every street and alley.
The news soon reached Prince Ling’s ears.
In his fury, he grabbed the cup beside him and smashed it against Song Jiang’s head.
With a loud crack, a large lump rose on Song Jiang’s head.
Scalding tea splashed across his face.
Song Jiang did not dare dodge. He knelt on the floor, trembling.
“Crown Prince, this has nothing to do with me!”
“Get out!” Prince Ling roared.
Song Jiang crawled away in retreat.
The other advisers hurriedly lowered their heads, hiding the schadenfreude in their eyes.
Song Jiang returned to the Song residence in a rage.
He had a vicious quarrel with the eldest Song brother. When he learned that his elder brother had secretly pocketed one hundred taels of silver, Song Jiang completely lost his temper.
“Get out!”
“All of you are to leave the Song residence! Go back to Xianyang!”
Old Madam Song had originally wanted to speak up for the eldest Song brother, but Song Jiang immediately cut her off.
“Mother, do you want to leave with them, too?”
Old Madam Song fell silent at once.
She felt sorry for her two grandsons, but she also did not want to end up homeless.
In the end, the eldest Song brother’s entire family was driven out of the Song residence.
The surrounding neighbors witnessed the entire scene clearly.
Before long, another rumor began spreading: the two Song brothers had failed to compete for the Crown Prince’s favor and had turned against each other.
“Pfft!”
Prince Ling spat out a mouthful of blood onto the floor.
His vision went black.
“Crown Prince!” His personal guards were so frightened that they hurriedly caught him.
Someone immediately went to summon the imperial physician, and Prince Ling’s residence descended into chaos.
Meanwhile, the Prince of Pingyang’s residence was filled with laughter and cheer.
“Gigglegiggle! Lüdou, you’re amazing!”
Duoduo gave Lüdou a thumbs-up.
Lüdou’s face was also radiant with smiles. “It’s all because Princess taught me so well!”
“However, Princess, now that they’ve been driven out of the Song residence, what will we do if they come looking for you again?”
Lüdou was quite worried.
“They won’t dare!” Duoduo said with absolute certainty.
“Before, they still had the Crown Prince as their backer.”
“Now that they’ve lost their support, they’ll be even less daring.”
“Besides, my father is the Prince of Pingyang!”
“The Song family are nothing more than ordinary commoners. They wouldn’t dare challenge Father!”
Lüdou nodded.
“You’re right, Princess.”
“But please be careful. I’m worried they might try something underhanded. That would be troublesome!”
Duoduo winked at Lüdou.
“They couldn’t even recognize me. How could they possibly scheme against me?”
