Rebirth of Poisoned Empress, by 颜若优雅

Chapter 110

"You two foolish wrenches!" their reactions were sufficient to explain everything. The old madame was immediately angered as her vision darkened. She pointed at Liu Shuhan and Zhao Lan with a trembling finger and looked as though she might faint any moment. Fortunately Shen Ruijiang and his wife hurried forward to help stabilize her.

"No, that wasn't the case. At that time, Xiao'er only said he was short on money. It was almost time for the civil service exams and I thought he wanted to use the money to buy books or discuss literature with friends. Only then did I give him the silver taels on two separate occasions. I only gave him money two times, each time, it was 5000 taels of silver. He never said he would be using that money to bribe the chief examiner..." As she was met with the reproachful gazes of everyone present, Liu Shuhan shook her head and waved her hands in panic. Tears stained her face.

Had she known her son would use the money to bribe the examiner, no matter what he said, she would have never given him that money. With their family and background, even if he couldn't place well, as long as he could get into second or third tier, it wouldn't pose a problem to earn himself a position in the Imperial Court. In the future, their promotions would ultimately depend on the support of their family members. What need did they have to bribe the examiners for? A good placement was only for show anyways.

"In just four short months, 10,000 taels of silver just to buy books and discuss literature? Liu Shuhan, there should be a limit to your foolishness. Which store's books would be so expensive? And you even have the audacity to suggest discussing literature? Were they even discussing literature? How could their group of three to five youths running over to the brothels to flaunt, and drink be considered discussing literature? A failure of a son is often owed to a mother who excessively dotes and spoils on her children. For Xiao'er to end up like this today, it's all because you spoiled him too much!"

It would've been better had she not spoken, but the moment she did, the anger and fury Shen Ruiting accumulated was immediately vented out on her.

"I..." Liu Shuhan burst into tears and opened her mouth but couldn't say a word to refute him. Shen Ruiting suddenly turned his head to give Zhao Lan, who also looked like she had suffered from a hard blow, a chilling glare. It was evident that the remaining 10,000 taels of silver came from her.

"Eldest brother-in-law, I didn't know. I truly didn't know," When she received his stern and severe accusation, Zhao Lan refuted immediately with tears in her eyes. 

"Enough. Now isn't the time to pursue responsibility. We should think about how to save them instead." The old madame who finally recovered from her fainting spell stated with a deep tone. Only then did the accusatory gazes of everyone move away from the two madames. 

Shen Ruiting passed Liu Shuhan another furious glare before angrily heading over to a chair and sitting down. Shen Ruiqing followed suit and also left behind his wife who was crying miserably with annoyance. Shen Ruijiang and his wife helped and accompanied the old madame by her side. They didn't have a son of their own and naturally lacked the need or involvement in the matter. It truly wasn't suitable for them to interfere in this matter at this stage.

In the entire courtyard, perhaps the only person who revealed not even the slightest fluctuation in his expression was Shen Liang. When Shen Ruiting returned, he didn't gather around the group of distressed members of the Shen Family either. When Shen Ruijiang finished explaining the matter, he also responded with nothing more than indifference. Even when Liu Shuhan was being reprimanded, he didn't reveal any emotions. The entire time, he drank his tea leisurely as though he wasn't a part of this family at all. 

"Marquis, Marquis, you must save Xiao'er. He must have been only temporarily confused. I'm begging you, please save him." After recovering from her trance, Liu Shuhan couldn't bother about saving her own face and rushed over to kneel before Shen Ruiting. Now that her maiden family couldn't provide her any support anymore, the only person who could save Shen Xiao was Shen Ruiting.