The old woman was considered a senior member within the residence.
She relied on the prestige gained from serving in the courtyard of the Old Master to act arrogantly.
She believed that the Fourth Young Lady had been weak since childhood and wouldn’t dare embarrass her.
Little did she know that such a great fury would be unleashed, with teacups and saucers all shattered.
If the Old Master learned that she angered the Fourth Young Lady, what good could come to her?
So the old woman, seeing the situation, quickly said a few nice words and left in disgrace.
Tang Xun was so angry that her face turned red.
Her lips trembled incessantly, her long, dense eyelashes fiercely quivering, and her shoulders shook violently.
Within moments, she was in tears.
"Too much bullying!"
"Really, too much bullying!"
Xiao Chuan, with reddened eyes, tenderly wiped tears for the young lady.
"Miss, don’t take it to heart!"
"Don’t bear it alone, everything will be fine with your husband around!"
Tang Xun shook her head while crying.
Though she wanted to say something, she couldn’t utter a word and simply threw herself onto the bed, sobbing loudly.
Xiao Chuan was petrified.
Having served the young lady for so many years, she had never seen her so heartbroken, not even when the concubine passed away.
This made it clear how deep the wound in the young lady’s heart was.
Upon careful reflection, it made sense.
It’s rather unfortunate to have such a birth mother, but ultimately, she’s not biological.
Yet that foolish father is her biological father!
Does he really have no conscience at all?
He outwardly agreed to sever ties with Jingfeng but secretly brought in so many maids to monitor her.
Monitoring her is one thing; stating it directly would be forthright. But him? He still uses the guise of familial love.
Ha, he truly doesn’t miss exploiting any semblance of family affection!
In the past, Tang Xun might have held onto a tiny shred of hope, but now she is utterly despondent.
Such a person is a demon, best to stay away as soon as possible.
Tang Xun cried for a while and upon realizing that there was really nothing worth crying over, she sat up, wiped her tears, and restored a calm demeanor.
Xiao Chuan brought in water to wash and tidy her face.
Looking at her red-eyed reflection in the mirror, she felt an overwhelming sense of irony.
What kind of hell is this? She should escape quickly!
...
In the following days, Old Master Tang, still unwilling to give up, ordered several old women to repeatedly bring a bunch of maids for her to choose from.
He even specifically sent someone to convey a message to her.
He insisted that before getting married, she must select a few satisfactory ones to take with her; otherwise, it would bring disgrace to the Tang Family.
Tang Xun’s face showed mockery.
"Disgrace? Does the Tang Family even have any face left?"
He roams around frivolously, often embroiling himself in fights over deflowering an oiran, causing a city-wide uproar—such acts aren’t disgraceful?
He was caught avoiding taxes by Jingfeng and jailed—such acts aren’t disgraceful?
For wealth and glory, he plotted to dismiss his wife of twenty years—such acts aren’t disgraceful?
Even though Lady Zhu deservedly should die, the fact is, Old Master Tang’s actions make him worse than a beast.
If none of these are disgraceful.
Then why would my marrying without maids be disgraceful?
Tang Xun thought coldly, ignoring the matter entirely.
Initially, she opened the door occasionally, but later she didn’t bother, not responding no matter how much Tang’s men knocked.
Upon learning of this news, Xia Jingfeng was so enraged that he trembled all over, his complexion turning ashen.
He hurriedly asked Ni Manxue to find several reliable brokers and purchased several clean-background young girls to send over.
Old Master Tang heard that the perpetually desolate courtyard of the Fourth Young Lady suddenly had numerous little maids, all sent by Xia Jingfeng, and none implanted by him.
He was so furious that he didn’t eat all day.
Randomly searching for an excuse, he had each of those old women beaten with fifty heavy strokes.
The old women were all advanced in age; how could they withstand such beatings?
So, after being beaten, within days, all ended up either dead or disabled.
Old Master Tang, upon hearing that these old nuisances couldn’t serve anymore, immediately ordered them all to be thrown at the Mass Burial Mound outside the city.
The servant boy beside him, feeling some pity, advised softly.
"Old Master, there were six in total; three of them have died, and the other three are still breathing!"
Old Master Tang squinted coldly, smiled sharply.
"What does it matter if they’re breathing? Unless... you want to maintain them?"
The servant boy tightened his expression, no longer daring to utter a single word.
Old Master Tang smiled triumphantly, patted his shoulder, educating him.
"As the saying goes, ’Without venom, one is not a man!’"
"You all, following so many years beside me, remain so soft-hearted!"
The servant boy remained silent with his head down, his heart growing cold.