The more they belittled Qiao Xuan, the more Madam Fang wanted to elevate her.
Madam Fang was very astute. She saw that her daughter-in-law was capable. After struggling alone for so many years, she finally had a helper. Of course, she wouldn’t let go.
“Yes, mother.” Qiao Xuan nodded with a smile, quickly explaining the situation.
Madam Fang sneered in satisfaction, “Second and third sisters, did you hear that? You should also control Meiling and Xiaozhi. It’s not good for a girl to be so domineering!”
Madam Ma’s face turned ugly, “Madam Qiao is just talking nonsense! Xiaozhi didn’t say that!”
Madam Niu, smarter than Madam Ma, glared at Shao Taotao and snorted, “So it’s Taotao’s fault! Taotao, this is not right. You gave a gift to your sisters, then turned around and said they bullied you. That’s not right! You’re not young anymore, a girl shouldn’t lie. This is unacceptable!”
Shao Taotao was indignant, “I didn’t!”
“Oh, you dare to talk back to your elders! Big sister, you see, you see! You need to teach her a lesson!”
Shao Meiling and Shao Meizhi immediately followed Madam Niu’s words, insisting that the silk flowers were given to them by Shao Taotao first, and that she must have regretted it later, hence the false accusations.
Madam Ma also joined in, and the four of them took turns to vilify Shao Taotao.
Shao Taotao was so anxious that she was about to cry, but she had no way to refute them. Her repeated denials, “I didn’t!” and “No!” were weak and ineffective against them.
Even Madam Fang was so angry that her face turned pale.
Qiao Xuan said, “Second and third aunts, Taotao wouldn’t have given them the flowers. They were a gift from me to Taotao. She would naturally cherish them, and she really liked those silk flowers. How could she give them away in less than half a day?”
Madam Niu scoffed and rolled her eyes, “Are Meiling and Xiaozhi wrong?”
Qiao Xuan replied, “Taotao wouldn’t lie either! You weren’t there, so why are you so sure that Taotao is lying?”
Madam Fang sneered, “Exactly! I trust my daughter!”
Qiao Xuan continued, “Meiling and Xiaozhi are not young anymore, don’t they understand this? The gift I gave to Taotao, even if Taotao said she would give it to them, they shouldn’t have accepted it.”
Shao Meiling said, “Taotao didn’t say it was a gift…”
Qiao Xuan interrupted, “Then couldn’t you have asked?”
Shao Taotao added, “I did say it!”
Shao Meiling was speechless.
Madam Fang sneered, “Second and third sisters, do you have any other objections? If not, please leave. If you delay my cooking, don’t expect to have dinner tonight! You can cook at home!”
Madam Niu and Madam Ma were furious.
This was a matter of he said, she said. Whoever could make a fuss would be the winner.
Clearly, they couldn’t beat Madam Fang.
Even if they didn’t lose, they didn’t win either.
Thinking of getting something back from Madam Fang was impossible.
And this Madam Qiao, Madam Niu was even more furious. She was the daughter of the county magistrate, but she was sharp-tongued and had no manners, tsk!
Oh, it seemed understandable. According to what Liu Lang said, she was just a concubine’s daughter who had lost her mother. How could she be any good?
However, thinking about the twenty-six dowries, Madam Niu still felt very jealous…
✧˚·̩̩̥͙˚̩̥̩̥·̩̩̥͙✧·̩̩̥͙˚̩̥̩̥˚·̩̩̥͙✧ 𝑔𝓇𝒶𝓋𝒾𝓉𝓎𝓃𝑜𝓋𝑒𝓁𝓈 ✧˚·̩̩̥͙˚̩̥̩̥·̩̩̥͙✧·̩̩̥͙˚̩̥̩̥˚·̩̩̥͙✧
