Zou Si Yan's eyes widened in disbelief, her small face drained of all color. She had always assumed Ji Zi Zhao wouldn't dare to speak to her, but… did Ji Zi Zhao simply not consider her worth acknowledging?
Following orders, Qing Zhu hoisted Zou Si Yan onto her shoulder without a word.
"Let me go! Ji Zi Zhao, how can you be so ungrateful! It's your good fortune for lifetimes to be noticed by my Zou family, you discarded wife!" Zou Si Yan screamed.
Gu Pei Lan, terrified, hurried over. "Sister Zhao, what are you trying to do? I kindly wanted to find you a good match, how can you be so foolish? You truly break my heart!"
Even now, Gu Pei Lan was still trying to blame Ji Zi Zhao.
Ji Zi Zhao looked at Gu Pei Lan coldly. "As the new Madam, you speak incorrectly. As a daughter of the Ji family, I did not resist the match you arranged. But as the one in charge of the Ji family, I will never permit anyone to run rampant in my household! Even if you insist on being snobbish, my Ji family has no time to be shamed along with you!"
She had never refused this marriage. It was Madam Zou herself who couldn't accept her dowry. Now, shouting here was useless; it depended on whether Madam Zou could still give her consent.
Gu Pei Lan's face turned ashen with anger. The woman was unconscious, how could she possibly consent?
The two Zou family nannies, eavesdropping outside the door and feeling smug moments before, were now unable to smile. They had thought the eldest daughter of the Ji family was nothing special, soon to become a concubine of their Zou family, beholden to them. But hearing their young lady's screams from inside, they panicked.
One nanny immediately shouted, "There's no law anymore! The Ji family is killing someone!"
Mother He, hearing this, was incensed. Rolling up her sleeves, she charged at the nanny. In the imperial capital, under the Emperor's watch, how dare they slander the Ji family with baseless accusations?
The nanny who was shouting frantically felt her collar tighten. Suddenly, her feet left the ground. By the time she regained her senses, Mother He had thrown her a meter away. Lying on the ground, stars dancing in her eyes, the nanny groaned in pain.
Mother He's barehanded throw of a person stunned the other nanny and even surprised Jian Qiu. Such strength! How many bowls of rice did she eat?
"You, your Ji family is utterly bullying us!" the other nanny growled, glaring.
Jian Qiu… If you're going to talk about that, then I'm wide awake. "The betrothal gifts were sent by your Zou family of your own accord. Our young lady, not wanting to offend the new Madam's good intentions, reluctantly agreed to the marriage. Even when your Madam spoke maliciously and made things difficult at every turn, our young lady patiently endured it. Now, is it bullying to merely want to bring some dowry along?"
The nanny's heart pounded at Jian Qiu's words. The courtyard was in chaos, and even the nannies were flustered. Yet Jian Qiu remained clear-headed, recounting the events with perfect clarity.
"If the Zou family feels the Ji family has wronged them, why not report it to the authorities for a judgment?" Jian Qiu was not afraid of the nanny. Her young lady had handled this matter so impeccably that even if it were brought before the Emperor, the Ji family would be in the right.
The nanny panicked at the mention of reporting to the authorities and couldn't even meet Jian Qiu's gaze. She couldn't understand it. Everything seemed to benefit the Zou family, so why, after all this fuss, was the Zou family being suppressed by the Ji family, unable to escape their grasp?
"Ah—!" With a piercing scream, Qing Zhu kicked open the tightly shut door. Simultaneously, Zou Si Yan was indeed thrown out. As Zou Si Yan landed heavily on the ground, the courtyard descended into utter pandemonium.
The two Zou family nannies couldn't afford to offend Mother He and Jian Qiu, but they were quite emboldened in front of Gu Pei Lan. This marriage was arranged by you, the new Madam, with our Madam. But the result? Our Madam is unconscious. Our second young lady is being tossed around like a ball. If you don't give us an explanation today, our Zou family will not let this go!
Gu Pei Lan… Her head was about to explode.
The courtyard was abuzz, and even Ji Ren Ran, wanting to feign ignorance, couldn't anymore. Ji Zi Zhao walked down the steps and saw Ji Ren Ran hurrying over. "Eldest Sister, what happened?"
Ji Zi Zhao looked at the seemingly anxious Ji Ren Ran. "What happened? Can't you see for yourself, Sister Ren Ran?" Gu Pei Lan's courtyard was small, and the mother and her two children lived crammed together. Unless Ji Ren Ran was deaf, she would truly know what was going on. She had just sent Mother Song to call her, and now that things had come to light, she wanted to wash her hands of it? Such a habit of yours.
"I heard Mother say she found a good match for you, Eldest Sister. But even if you strongly disagreed, you shouldn't have hurt Mother like this. Now that things have escalated with the Zou family, if this gets out, not only will Mother be in a difficult position, but your reputation will also likely suffer." Ji Ren Ran was Ji Ren Ran; even when exposed, she could continue her act.
However, Ji Zi Zhao had no time for her pretense and simply led her people out of the courtyard. Ji Ren Ran never expected Ji Zi Zhao to disregard her so completely and was momentarily stunned.
Gu Pei Lan knew that Ji Zi Zhao had brought those two boxes with the intention of frightening Madam Zou. But what use was knowing now? Seeing that Madam Zou couldn't be woken and Zou Si Yan was crying and screaming in terror, she had no choice but to brace herself, gather her people, and personally escort the Zou family back home.
When the Zou family heard that Madam had been carried back, they were startled. Zou Han Sheng and Zou Li rushed over, one attending to his sister, the other checking his wife's pulse. Gu Pei Lan, already terrified, saw the Zou family's commotion and didn't even dare to alight from the carriage, simply ordering the driver to leave.
The unconscious Madam Zou twitched even in her sleep. Zou Si Yan, though not unconscious, was in a daze, crying incoherently and offering fragmented answers no matter how Zou Han Sheng questioned her.
The Zou family was busy until dawn before things finally settled down. Early the next morning, Zou Li left with dark circles under his eyes.