Reborn, the daughter of the Marquisate went crazy

Xie Jingyuan's condescending attitude completely infuriated An Jie. The smile on his face suddenly vanished, and he said in a deep voice, "May I ask, my lord, my sister is just an ordinary woman. She spends her days in the backyard taking care of household chores, being filial to her mother-in-law, and raising children. What kind of unforgivable evil could she have done?!"

Xie Jingyuan's face was stern, and he said loudly: "The An family has committed four crimes."

He pointed at Xie Jingliang's swollen face, then shook the scars on his hand and said coldly, "First, these injuries on me and my second brother were just inflicted by An. 'The husband is the leader of the wife,' and An's actions are extremely rebellious."

"Secondly, the An family was not a good steward of the household and appointed people based on personal connections, which resulted in a large amount of money in the mansion being embezzled by evil slaves."

"Thirdly, An doted on Xuan'er, making him arrogant and lawless. He stopped studying and started fooling around with maids instead. Now he has ended up with a tragic death. How sad!"

An Jie's face changed drastically when he heard this. He looked at Xie Jingyuan in shock and said in a trembling voice, "My Lord, Xuan, what happened to Xuan'er?"

His voice was as sharp as a needle and his hands were trembling slightly. If Xuan'er was gone, how would his sister survive in the Marquis' Mansion?

Xie Jingyuan ignored him and continued to criticize him, "Fourthly, An is a vicious person. Not only did she beat and kill the maids at will, she even killed my second brother's second daughter, Xie Qingman. Now she is nowhere to be found, alive or dead!"

Lying on the ground, An desperately shook her head, tears pouring out like a bursting dam. Xie Jingyuan was so confused that he actually blamed her for everything that happened to Xuan'er and Man'er?!

Anjie felt his head buzzing. Why did so many unbelievable things happen in such a short period of time?

He swallowed hard and said dryly, "The Marquis may have made a mistake about Man'er's matter. My sister has tolerated Man'er for so many years, why would she suddenly hurt her?"

Xie Jingyuan sneered and said, "If you don't believe me, you can report this to the authorities. I believe the Dali Temple will get to the bottom of everything!"

An Jie waved his hands quickly. He couldn't guarantee that his sister hadn't done those things. Moreover, Xie Jingyuan was so sure, he must have solid evidence. If the case was brought to the Dali Temple, it would only ruin the reputation of the An family!

He bowed deeply to Xie Jingyuan and said solemnly, "My Lord, it was Sister An who was at fault in this matter. The An family has agreed to take my sister back. I beg the Marquis' Mansion not to pursue this matter further."

Xie Qingqi had been eavesdropping outside the door for a long time. At this moment, she could no longer bear it and rushed in. She threw herself in front of An Jie and cried bitterly, "Uncle, please don't take mother away."

Anjie looked at his niece who was crying loudly and turned his head away helplessly.

Xie Qingqi quickly knelt down in front of Xie Jingyuan and Xie Jingliang, sobbing, "Uncle, Father, please, please don't divorce mother. Qi'er can't live without her."

Xie Qingqi cried her heart out, and Xie Jingliang couldn't help but feel soft in his heart. Of his three children, only Qi'er was left.

Xie Jingyuan said coldly, "You are a member of the Xie family in life and a ghost of the Xie family in death. You should stand with the Xie family in everything. If you really can't bear to leave the An family, I don't mind removing your name from the family tree and sending you to the An family to be an An family girl."

Xie Qingqi's pupils suddenly shrank and her crying stopped abruptly. She covered her mouth with her hands, shook her head vigorously, and said no more words.

Seeing that things had come to this point and there was no possibility of turning things around, An Jie ordered people to carry An and hurriedly left the Jing'an Marquis Mansion.

But An Jie was extremely uneasy because he had offended the Marquis' Mansion. That night, he gathered everyone in the An Mansion and discussed the matter for half the night. The next day, he brought a young girl to the Marquis' Mansion again.

An Jie introduced that the girl was An Hui, a concubine from the An family's side branch. She had just turned seventeen this year. The An family planned to give her to Xie Jingliang as a concubine so that someone would take care of Xie Qingqi.

The An family's behavior was disgusting. Xie Jingliang originally planned to refuse, but when he saw An Hui's appearance clearly, his heart was moved and he agreed without hesitation. Since then, the second house has had another beautiful concubine Hui. This is a story for later.

……

Dongling Palace, Imperial Study.

Emperor Yingtian sat upright on the dragon throne, his eyes constantly wandering between Chu Yuncang and Fan Yuan below him, secretly wondering whether the two had colluded with each other, and whether Fan Yuan was still loyal to him?

He took a sip of tea and asked casually, "Lord Fan, how is your investigation into the closure of Xuanjing Temple going?"

Fan Yuan replied respectfully, "Your Majesty, yesterday I received a message from His Royal Highness the Crown Prince, and I led a hundred officials from the Dali Temple to the Xuanjing Temple. We seized fourteen chests of treasure and three chests of gunpowder. We also discovered numerous secret passages beneath the temple, connecting it to various locations. These passages also led to several more leading up and down the mountain."

"Also, His Royal Highness rescued twenty-seven women from the 'Hongyan Tomb,' but the searched list listed one hundred and sixty-seven women."

"But the temple master, Master Xuanyi, said those were only the rosters from the past two years. The rest have long been destroyed, so the exact number is unknown. If we estimate based on the time when the girl disappeared in Shengjing City, a conservative estimate is at least 400 people."

"Xuan Yi confessed that those women were presented to Xuan Jing Temple by Taoist temples from all over the country. I have verified that there are a total of eighteen Taoist temples involved, spread across various prefectures in Dongling."

Emperor Yingtian was so angry that his face turned ashen, his eyes burning with anger. He slammed the imperial desk and shouted angrily, "Xuan Jingguan is so audacious! He's hoarding gunpowder and building a secret passage. What are you trying to do?"

"And those women, four hundred of them, are simply unforgivable. Cutting those Taoists into pieces is not an exaggeration!"

He suddenly stopped talking and asked in a deep voice, "Lord Fan, can you find out where those women are?"

Fan Yuan hurriedly knelt on the ground and reported, "Your Majesty, only the temple master, Taoist Xuanyi, knew the truth about this matter. However, he used sorcery last night and burned himself to death. I interrogated the other Taoists overnight, but none of them knew the truth."

He lowered his head and whispered, "Your Majesty, I heard that the Imperial Preceptor once served as the abbot of Xuanjing Temple. Could you please ask him to cooperate with the investigation? Perhaps he can provide some clues to solve the case..."

Emperor Yingtian's expression was grim. He still needed Lingxuan and didn't want to involve him in these matters, so he said calmly, "It was more than ten years ago that the Imperial Preceptor became the head of Xuanjing Temple. He certainly doesn't know the inside story."

Chu Yuncang's eyes dimmed slightly. With his father protecting him, it would not be easy to deal with Lingxuan openly.

He was worried that Fan Yuan would continue to pester his father, so he said, "Father, I found a mass grave near Xuanjing Temple. There were piles of bones there. I suspect it might be those women."

Emperor Yingtian nodded gently, his face filled with sorrow as he said, "I still remember how devastated Lord Yang was when he lost his beloved daughter. I feel guilty for not being able to help him find his daughter. Now, I can finally give him an explanation."

He looked at Fan Yuan and said in a deep voice, "Lord Fan, I order you to immediately sort out similar missing persons cases and close them within two days. You must also post a notice detailing the entire incident and make it known to the world for the peace of mind of all people."

"I will send people to all prefectures and cities to immediately seal off those eighteen Taoist temples and apprehend the Taoist priests who committed the evil deeds. These Taoist priests have committed heinous crimes and should be severely punished."

"As for the other twenty-seven women, each will be given fifty taels of silver and sent back to their hometowns..."