The day Madam Xie returned to Beijing, the Xie family was in an uproar, but of course it wasn't Madam Xie who caused the commotion; she remained as refined and reasonable as ever.

  She just pushed the steward of Xie's house in front of Xie Hong and Xie Yan, and sent someone to invite her father and two brothers to come.

  Outsiders didn't know what was going on in the Xie family, but Lin Qingyuan knew everything clearly from a letter sent by Mrs. Xie.

  The steward of Xie's house refused to confess who had told him to give medicine to Mrs. Xie, and Yang Yi and his two sons looked at the Xie family with cold smiles.

  Xie Hong endured the gaze of the old couple, and instead of continuing to interrogate them, he had the entire family of the steward beaten and sold, as a way to give an account to Mrs. Xie.

  But how could such a handover satisfy the Yang family, Mrs. Xie didn't say specifically, but Lin Qingwen knew that from the moment Mrs. Xie returned to Beijing, the Xie family had lowered its head in front of her and the Yang family.

  They have to keep Mrs. Xie in order to save Big Brother Xie.

  Is Mrs. Ke really so good?

  After Mrs. Xie returned to the capital, things started going downhill for the Xie family.

  Mrs. Xie didn't deliberately target the Xie family, after all, she was the mistress of the Xie family and still very generous and courteous to outsiders, not losing her qualifications as a qualified mistress.

  She didn't make a scene either, seeing her stepson and daughter-in-law smiling at each other, she wouldn't scold or swear, even Xie Yan couldn't find any fault with her.

  But life was not easy for the Xie family.

  Apart from the stir she caused on the day she entered the capital, she hadn't made a big fuss, but the Xie family had been troubling her relentlessly.

  The cause of Er Lang's death was clear to both sides, and on the surface, everything seemed peaceful again. Xie Yan also knew that Mrs. Xie wasn't completely indifferent.

  Before, she was in Jiangnan, they could still get along peacefully in the capital. Now that they've met again and are living under the same roof, if it's not Xie Dalang who is afraid with a guilty conscience, then even Xie Yan fears that one day Madame Xie will lose her temper and poison Xie Dalang.

  So when Mrs. Xie arrived in the capital, they were all on edge, but since Mrs. Xie was neither crazy nor stupid, they couldn't even get away from her.

  The Yang family is in the capital city.

  Xie Yanxian's head had already been beaten by his two uncles who put a sack on him, and he didn't want to try again at all.

  Moreover, Mrs. Xie has a naturally oppressive identity over Da Lang - she is his stepmother!

  Whether she is his biological mother or stepmother, Xie Dalang has to be filial to her and must listen to her on all matters.

  Xie Dalang is still like this, let alone Xie Dalang's wife Li?

  Madam Xie arrived in the capital on the second day and asked Mrs. Li to establish rules, every morning and evening she would pay respects, her mother-in-law's rules were strict, but she didn't scold or beat her, as long as when she got up from bed, Mrs. Li was by her bedside serving her, helping her with towels and picking out clothes.

  When eating, give her a dish, when drinking tea, pour her a cup of tea, and just follow her to serve when going in and out.

  What suffering has Mr. Li endured? He "fell ill" in less than three days.

  When she married into the family, Mrs. Xie was still quite kind to her, and since she was a stepmother-in-law, it wasn't good to be too demanding of her daughter-in-law, so she had never made her follow any rules.

  When Xie Dalang went to the capital to study, she followed him directly into the capital, while Mrs. Xie stayed in Yangzhou to manage the family business, and they lived apart from each other, having nothing to do with each other anymore.

  It can be said that Li had never suffered such a crime.

  Mrs. Xie had someone bring her two children to the front, and didn't even let them return at night, on the grounds that she was afraid the children would catch the illness, which directly scared Li into recovering from her illness that very night.

  Xie Yan personally took the two children back and handed them over to Mr. and Mrs. Xie, fearing that the two grandchildren would be spoiled by Mrs. Xie.

  Mrs. Xie was delighted to see them and seemed to have found a way to torment them, not only requiring the two children to come and pay their respects every day, but also bringing people over from time to time to dine together, and often giving them some snacks and tea.

  Li watched with a frightened heart, especially after seeing Mrs. Xie's meaningful gaze towards her, she always felt a chill in her heart, and lost weight in less than a month.

  Now I'm worn out and don't look like myself anymore.

  At the same time, Xie Dalang was also having a hard time. After Madame Xie arrived in the capital, she only went out a few times before rumors began to circulate secretly that he was disloyal and unfilial, allowed his slaves to harm people, disobeyed his mother, and flirted with commoner women.

  The poems read at the poetry recital were all ghostwritten by others.

  But all these are just rumors, and if he clears up the matter, it will only make things worse. He can't get evidence to prove that Mrs. Xie was behind it, and it's not easy to get to the bottom of it. Just like how Mrs. Xie couldn't openly say that he killed her second son.

  Because of this, some people questioned his character and brought up Xie Erlang's cause of death again.

  It was a matter of three years ago that had already cooled down, and there were not many people who remembered it. Because Mrs. Xie returned to Beijing, everyone brought it up again.

  Everyone looked at him with strange eyes.

  Xie Dalang, who had endured it once before, could not bear the gaze of those who had gathered again, and lost his composure several times, making his reputation outside even worse.

  Xie Yan was also in a bad mood, the atmosphere at home was gloomy and depressing. He had been busy all day outside, and when he returned home, he would be bothered by various household chores, so he didn't even want to go home anymore.

  Mrs. Xie kindly sent him two beautiful women.

  Xie Yan suspected that Mrs. Xie was up to no good and didn't dare use the people she sent, but those two girls were really beautiful, and he couldn't help but have some thoughts about them.

  So Xie's household recently added two more maids who became concubines, and there are also expectations for development towards the maternal aunt.

  Mrs. Xie was not angry, but instead happily promoted them and turned around to continue bothering Mr. and Mrs. Xie.

  Apart from these, she was also very enthusiastic about taking Li out to socialize, but after just a few times, the connections and reputation that Xie Dalang and Li had built up over many years in the capital city began to disintegrate, not to mention their prestige, even their character was called into question.

  Mrs. Xie would certainly not speak ill of her daughter-in-law, but she only needed to hint at a few sentences to make people imagine.

  Xie Hong can't just sit back and watch, this is no longer just a family struggle, it has already involved the future of the Xie family.

  So he personally found Mrs. Xie to talk, Mrs. Xie was humble and polite in front of this public husband, he agreed with whatever he said, turned around and did what he should do.

  Xie Hong had no choice, knowing that she still had a grudge in her heart, so he could only go to find Yang Yi. Unexpectedly, Yang Yi didn't even see him, and directly ordered the servants to close the gate tightly. When they met face-to-face in court, they pretended not to see each other. The letter sent to the Yang family was also thrown out directly.

  Xie Hong furrowed his brow, previously the Yang family's attitude had already softened, how did it change again at this time?

  Thinking of Mrs. Xie's trip to Beijing, Mr. Xie let out a faint sigh and felt somewhat disappointed with his grandson.

  Mrs. Xie has already lost her only son, why bother doing this? Doesn't he know that a mother who loses her child can easily go mad?

  He didn't drive people crazy, but rather drove them mad with excitement.

  Xie Hong furrowed his brow, thinking of finding an excuse to send Mrs. Xie back to Yangzhou, after all, she couldn't keep causing trouble like this.

  Although it doesn't matter much, the family is in a mess. Xie Yan has no interest in government affairs and Xie Yiyang also has no interest in studying. How can this go on?

  Xie Hong directly asked her, "Old lady, what will it take for you to give up?"

  Mrs. Xie's face twisted for a moment, then suppressed the anger that was about to erupt, looked up at her father-in-law and smiled: "I also want to know, how can my son be resurrected? Father-in-law, you are a great scholar, you say, how can there be such a ruthless and unfeeling person in this world, how can he bear to lay hands on his own brother?"

  Xie Hong remained silent for a moment before speaking: "It was his fault, but Erlang is already gone. We can't let Dalang give his life to avenge you..."

  "Why must you ask me?"

  Xie Hong furrowed his brow and said, "Old lady, you know that's impossible. I'm considering the friendship between our two families, so I can turn a blind eye to what happened before. But don't forget, this is the Xie family, and I absolutely won't allow anyone to tarnish the Xie family's reputation or jeopardize their future."

  Mrs. Xie snorted and said, "Let Father have them send one of the children to me, either the eldest or the second child, I want to raise it myself."

  She raised an eyebrow and smiled at him, "Have Xie Yiyang and Li bring it to me personally."

  Xie Hong frowned heavily and looked at her with displeasure.

  Mrs. Xie stood up and said, "Father can also refuse, I like my current life very much. Don't threaten me either, nowadays the Yang family is not as good as your Xie family, but my father and brother are not weaklings, let alone I have five nephews."

  Xie Hong thought of Mrs. Xie's five nephews and his back arched, he nodded silently after a moment.

  He looked at Mrs. Xie's back in silence, originally the marriage between the two families was a good relationship between the two surnames, but now it has become enemies.

  Xie Hong thought of this and suddenly felt a surge of anger towards his eldest son. It was all because of him that the good son had become like this, if he couldn't even teach a child properly, what else could he do?

  Xie Dalang and Madame Li personally handed over their second son to Madame Xie's hands.

  Mrs. Xie laughed all night and the next day, she took the child who couldn't stop crying back to the Yang's house. In front of the child, she smiled through tears at her two sisters-in-law, "You say the Xie family is stupid, they actually sent the child to me!"

  The two sisters-in-law of the Yang family looked at each other in dismay, gazing at the child who had shrunk to one side, unsure whether they should be indignant or sympathetic.

  Seeing the person appearing at the door, the two immediately stood up and shouted: "Grandpa!"

  Mrs. Xie also turned around, got up and lazily paid her respects, saying: "Father."

  Yang Yi frowned and looked at the child who was shrinking aside, saying to the servant: "Take him down."

  "Don't hug!" Mrs. Xie said sternly: "I have nothing to hide from others, why should I be hugged?"

  "What nonsense!" Yang Yi angrily said: "The mistakes adults make, why take revenge on children?"

  "Who said I want revenge on the child?" Mrs. Xie smiled and stepped forward, stroking the child's face, saying: "Father, I will take good care of this child, just like teaching Er Lang, but he must know that his parents gave up their lives to save their reputation."

  Mrs. Xie sneered, "Isn't the Xie family fond of trouble brewing within their own walls? I'll just cultivate another one for them to let them have a good taste of this trouble."

  Yang Yi slapped her in anger and said sorrowfully and indignantly: "I've taught you for so many years, and you've learned this?"