She mistakenly got into the bridal sedan chair and married a sickly but powerful minister, becoming

The guests, who were engrossed in watching the play, were startled by the sudden commotion and all looked over.

Lady Yongyi was furious, her eyes fixed on the stage, as if she wanted to drag the people off and beat them to death.

Lady Yongyi angrily ordered her maid, "Go, call the troupe leader over here!"

The maid immediately went to fetch the troupe leader.

Everyone was stunned, having no idea what had happened. They suspected that a performance by the opera troupe had inadvertently offended Lady Yongyi.

Shen Mingzhu, in particular, was completely baffled as to what went wrong. She had clearly commissioned someone to write a play about Shen Qingtan's background and then bribed the troupe leader to perform it at the birthday banquet today.

The script was very targeted. After listening to the whole play, everyone would be able to guess that the protagonist in the play was Shen Qingtan based on the events that had happened in the Marquis's mansion and the Duke's mansion during this period.

While everyone in the capital was speculating about Shen Qingtan's background, she invited a rural couple to come and acknowledge her as a relative.

After having this plan in mind, Shen Mingzhu bribed a village woman and even fabricated a cheesy story for her.

She made the village woman claim that she had deliberately stolen her so that her own daughter could enjoy wealth and luxury, and then sent her daughter to the Marquis's mansion to replace her and enjoy wealth and luxury.

Shen Qingtan stole her life, becoming the daughter of a marquis and enjoying happiness for over a decade. On the contrary, she suffered greatly for Shen Qingtan. Who wouldn't feel sorry for her after hearing that?

Although some people will still look down on her, there will definitely be people who pity her and are willing to accept her into the circle of wealthy women.

As for what will happen to Shen Qingtan?

With such terrible parents, not only would all the officials' wives in the capital despise her, but even the Duke's mansion would no longer recognize her as their granddaughter-in-law.

Shen Mingzhu had arranged every step perfectly, and she thought everything would go smoothly.

Who knew that the opera sung by the female lead was clearly not the script she had prepared for the opera troupe!

Shen Mingzhu looked at the angry Lady Yongyi, then subconsciously glanced at Shen Qingtan, who was leisurely sipping her tea, as if nothing had happened.

Shen Mingzhu felt a chill in her heart, always feeling that this matter was inextricably linked to Shen Qingtan.

But she had no evidence...

The next moment, Shen Mingzhu saw the maid bring the troupe leader to Lady Yongyi, and guessed that this scene had angered Lady Yongyi.

Is it singing about the secrets of the Marquis of Yongyi's mansion?

Sure enough, she heard the Lady of Yongyi question her: "Where did you get this script?"

The troupe leader was over fifty years old, with gray hair and beard, a hunched back, and looked extremely thin. He wore a drab gray jacket, which made him appear even more shifty-eyed and rat-like.

He limped over, his heart pounding in his throat.

Just now, he saw the important person behind the scenes throw a huge tantrum, and he knew in his heart that he had done something wrong. He regretted being greedy for money and being bribed to sing this play.

He hadn't originally planned to accept it, but the offer was just too much.

He still held onto a sliver of hope, thinking that even if he offended a powerful person, at most he would suffer some physical pain and then simply find another place to live.

But now that the moment has arrived, he's feeling timid.

The troupe leader, sweating profusely, said, "My lord, the common people love to watch this kind of play, so our troupe just wrote the scripts according to the audience's preferences."

Lady Yongyi sneered repeatedly; she didn't believe a single word her troupe leader said.

The title of the Marquis of Yongyi is not hereditary, but rather a title inherited in a lower rank. Each generation inherits the title one rank lower than the previous generation.

Originally, the title her father-in-law inherited was to be downgraded to viscount.

My father-in-law is quite capable, and also very ambitious. He doesn't want the family business to decline little by little.

At that time, there were continuous wars, the national treasury was empty, and there was no way to support the border war.

The father-in-law then married the mother-in-law, who held a large fortune, and squandered it all. He donated all of the mother-in-law's property to the imperial court and obtained a hereditary earldom.

Because of his father-in-law's righteous act, the late emperor valued him highly, not only keeping his title but also promoting him.

The more successful he became in officialdom, the less he wanted others to say that he had achieved all of this through women.

From then on, the father-in-law neglected the mother-in-law, and even his legitimate son and daughter were not favored by him. He began to favor the concubines in the backyard and valued the illegitimate sons born to the concubines.

How absurd was it at one point?

The illegitimate son made a mistake and offended the prince, and his father-in-law actually made the legitimate son born to his legal wife, who is now the Earl of Yongyi, take the blame.

If the elders above are so unreliable, no matter how talented or capable they are, they will not be able to raise successful children and grandchildren.

When her father-in-law was still alive, her mother-in-law and uncle lived a very difficult life. They finally obtained a title and were considered to have made it through. These past events became taboo for them.

Now, this opera troupe is performing this play at her birthday banquet, which is clearly a slap in the face to their family.

Lady Yongyi was so angry that she lost her mind. She pointed at the troupe leader and said, "If you don't tell the truth, once I find out, you'll be in big trouble!"

"My lord, I'm innocent! This script was indeed written by our troupe ourselves, and it's been performed elsewhere." The troupe leader was so frightened that his legs went weak, and he knelt on the ground, kowtowing and begging for mercy: "I'm just an ordinary citizen, how dare I offend you? Please, my lord, have mercy and forgive me this time!"

When Lady Yongyi saw that he refused to admit it, she was about to scold him angrily when she heard a series of noisy footsteps behind her, and there seemed to be the sound of sword sheaths clashing.

She subconsciously turned her head and saw the female official beside the princess, walking towards her with a group of guards, her face cold and stern.

Lady Yongyi's expression changed, and she opened her mouth: "Aunt..."

The lady-in-waiting ignored Lady Yongyi and instead ordered, "Arrest all the members of the opera troupe and take them away!"

The guards immediately sprang into action.

The members of the opera troupe were all pale with fright, screaming and crying out for justice.

The troupe leader had never seen such a scene before, and was so frightened that he collapsed to the ground like a lump of mud, shouting that he was wronged.

The guards simply gagged him and, without giving any reason, took everyone away.

The lady-in-waiting then bowed to Lady Yongyi, left without saying a word, and turned to leave.

It was so sudden that Lady Yongyi was caught off guard.

The guests were stunned and discussed among themselves, "What happened? Why would a guard take the opera troupe away out of the blue?"

Lady Yongyi, upon hearing what everyone was saying, finally realized that the opera troupe was in big trouble.

She instinctively looked at Madam Shen, wanting to ask what was going on. But she saw Madam Shen staring at the troupe leader with an inscrutable expression, a look that sent chills down her spine.

Lady Yongyi, however, did not think much of it and mistakenly assumed that Lady Shen was angry because of the opera troupe's performance.

In fact, Madam Shen was staring at the troupe leader's hands. His hands were different from ordinary people's because he had an extra finger; he had six fingers on one hand.

The first time she saw a person with six fingers was in Nanling Prefecture.

At that time, there was a happy occasion in the family of the young lady in the mansion. Madam Shen was not in good health, so she asked her to take people to Nanling Prefecture to offer her congratulations.

Just then, someone brought news that a traveling opera troupe had arrived in Nanling Prefecture, and that this troupe had a lot of problems.

The actors in the opera troupe were all captured from childhood and trained gradually.

After they finish a case in one place, they will move on to another.

When Shen Mingzhu went missing, the opera troupe happened to be in the capital.

At this time, Madam Shen sent people to investigate the opera troupe, but they found no trace of Shen Mingzhu.

She was very disappointed, so she took Wei's mother to the place where the opera troupe was performing, and there she met Shen Qingtan.

Shen Qingtan sat on the young boy's neck, her bright, round, dark eyes fixed on the stage. A small cloth bag, resembling a treasure chest, was draped over the boy's shoulder.

He could pull out whatever the little girl wanted from his bag, which showed how much he doted on her.

Madam Shen watched her for a while and could easily tell that she would grow up to be a very outstanding beauty.

A girl with outstanding looks, and even more outstanding character and talent, can clearly bring enormous benefits to her family.

Just then, halfway through the performance on the stage, the female lead threw coins at the audience. The audience scrambled for the coins, creating a chaotic scene. Taking advantage of the chaos, the troupe kidnapped the person they had chosen.

On a whim, she had an idea.

Afterwards, he instructed Wei's mother to bribe the opera troupe, negotiate a price, and specifically request Shen Qingtan.

Four or five days later, the troupe leader sent a message asking her to go to a certain place to meet him.

She rode over in a carriage, and the troupe leader had just arrived. He hurriedly stuffed the child into her carriage as if he were throwing away a hot potato, took the payment, and ran off.

At that time, she noticed that the troupe leader's hand, which reached into the carriage to take the silver notes, happened to have six fingers.

Unexpectedly, after so many years, she would meet this troupe leader in the capital.

When Madam Shen realized that the troupe leader had been taken away by the princess's men, her heart leaped into her throat.

After a short while, she slowly relaxed her stiff body.

The person who handed over the duties to the troupe leader was Mama Wei. Mama Wei is already dead, so there's no fear that the troupe leader will recognize her.

Although she personally went to pick up the child, she deliberately dressed plainly and wore a veiled hat so that the troupe leader could not see her face.