Chapter 1304: Chapter 1299: Exposing Xiao Muyan
Chapter 1304: Chapter 1299: Exposing Xiao Muyan
Mo Qi saw himself in the painting and subconsciously walked toward the woman, his expression utterly enchanted. He suddenly shouted out, “Don’t!”
“Seventh brother, what’s wrong with you?” Leng Muling, his face twisted in pain, asked with a hint of panic in his voice.
The image in Mo Qi’s mind disappeared, and he opened his eyes to see Leng Muling worrying over him.
He took a deep breath, “I’m fine, Ling’er.”
He embraced Leng Muling again, and this time, no image of a woman in red appeared in his mind.
But he was certain he knew that woman.
Although her face was blurred in his mind, his feelings toward her were intense, so intense that he found them difficult to suppress.
He couldn’t understand why his body was reacting this way.
He rushed back to Hangzhou to ask Su Yingxue to take his pulse during her free time to see what was wrong with him.
But by the time he returned, Su Yingxue had already left the courtyard where they were staying.
She had returned to the Xiao family with Xiao Yu.
Xiao Family Manor.
Inside the grandiose hall, which was now filled with people, Xiao Muyan and the second manager were glaring angrily at the opposite side, where Xiao Yu, Xiao Qingyu, all the elders of the Xiao family, and the Store Manager, Wu Zhuangjing, were standing.
Wu Zhuangjing’s mother carried the Xiao family’s bloodline. The Wu family was neither governed by the family head nor directed by the elders, but they were the Xiao family’s most loyal servants, generation after generation guarding the family’s fortune at the money house.
Receiving a message from Xiao Yu, Wu Zhuangjing hurried to the Xiao family, along with the Xiao family elders, filled with doubts and shock about Xiao Muyan’s identity. They couldn’t believe that the Xiao family’s Second Young Master, Xiao Muyan, was actually a woman!
According to the ancestral teachings of the Xiao family, women should neither engage in business nor interfere in family affairs but should be secluded in the women’s quarters. If Xiao Muyan, a child born out of wedlock, was also found to be a woman, it would be a severe breach of family taboo. According to the Xiao family’s rules, she should be executed!
Xiao Muyan’s eyes reddened as she yelled at the people in front of her, “What evidence do you have to slander me?”
Pointing at Xiao Yu, she wished she could call him out by name but had to restrain herself, “Brother, by slandering me this way without regard for our sibling relationship, are you jealous of my prominence in the Xiao family and trying to frame me?”
Xiao Yu sat in a wheelchair, and though today he summoned the elders as a junior member of the family, even not seated at the center, his daunting aura still compelled others to submit.
He spared no words with Xiao Muyan, only saying coldly, “Whether it’s slander or not, a strip search will reveal the truth.”
Gender would be the most direct evidence.
Xiao elder, Xiao Changfeng, also said, “Yu’er is right. Whether you are female or not, right here in front of everyone, a strip search will reveal the truth. Remember the family teaching, women must not engage in business but should stay in the women’s quarters. If you are indeed a woman, that’s a breach of the rules, a disgrace for the Xiao family, and you shall be executed!”
When the second manager saw Xiao Yu, his expression was as though he’d seen a ghost, but now that he was in charge of the estate, he had to stand by Xiao Muyan and defend her, “The elder and the Store Manager must have been drugged by the family head. When has our Xiao family ever had a woman masquerading as a man? This is not only a disgrace to the Xiao family but also a slap in the face to our Master! The Master personally raised the Second Young Master—could he possibly not know whether the Second Young Master is male or female!”
He now invoked the authority of Xiao Muyan and Xiao Yu’s father, which seemed to stabilize the situation.
As he said, their father, Xiao Qilin, had personally raised every child, and as a father, he knew best whether his child was male or female.
Xiao Yu, at this moment, arrived with the Store Manager and the family elders to verify Mu Yan’s identity, which was clearly a confrontation with Xiao Qilin.
Mu Yan gained some confidence, glared at Xiao Yu with a fierce look, “The Second Manager made sense, brother disappeared inexplicably from the Xiao family, leaving behind many family affairs. Now, without any reason, he incited the family elders and the Store Manager to come here to humiliate me, what are his intentions? I, as the Second Brother, have never harbored the intention to compete with the legitimate eldest son for the position of family head.”
Mu Yan’s voice was cold and scornful, every word and sentence stabbed at Xiao Yu’s pain, reminding him of how he had been driven to become a homeless dog, and how he had lost his wife and children!
Unfortunately, everyone around him had died!
Even if he wanted to make public the affair of her persecution, he had no evidence, and no one would completely believe him!
Xiao Qingyu, dressed in a teal robe, wished he could swallow Mu Yan alive, “How dare you question my brother? What are your intentions, you…”
Xiao Yu grabbed Xiao Qingyu’s wrist; in comparison to the agitated Xiao Qingyu, he, having lost his wife and children, was calm, almost like an outsider, and simply stated, “Today is about verifying your identity, unrelated to whether you want to compete for the position of family head or not. Just undress for the examination, that’s all.”
Mu Yan gritted his teeth; he hadn’t expected Xiao Yu, even as a cripple, to remain so composed.
She still used the same rhetoric, “In front of the public, if the family head wants to humiliate me like this, I will never agree unless the family head brings an order from father himself. Then, I, Mu Yan, will immediately undress for the examination to prove my innocence.”
She was protecting her own dignity, appearing extremely righteous.
But in the next instant, Xiao Yu took out a letter, “Father’s handwriting, the family elders and the Store Manager recognize it.”
He handed the letter to Wu Zhuangjing who, after opening and reviewing its contents, confirmed, “This is the master’s handwriting, no mistake. The master also agrees, allowing the Second Young Master to undress for the examination.”
Xiao Changfeng also took the letter and examined it; his hair and beard were all white, yet his aura undiminished, “Mu Yan, your father has agreed to what Yu’er said. Just obediently undergo the examination, do not argue anymore! Yu’er, as the legitimate family head holding the Xiao family’s authority, would he falsely accuse you, a son from the concubine? What have you that is worth his false accusation?”
Xiao Changfeng’s words, like a sharp dagger, stabbed into the most painful parts of Mu Yan’s heart.
Concubine! Concubine! Concubine!
Does being born from a concubine make one less of a person?
Was he so much worse than Xiao Yu?
Mu Yan’s face turned crimson, biting his teeth hard, “Today, unless you strip me naked, I will never compromise, this is a baseless slander! I am willing to bet my life to prove my innocence!”
She picked up a dagger close to her body and held it against her neck, the sharp blade reflecting the cold light in her eyes, her attitude resolute.
She coldly stared at Xiao Yu, her eyes challenging!
Xiao Yu, clever as he was, had preserved his life by living as little more than a breath, and now he came to show toughness!
She would only be tougher than Xiao Yu!
Xiao Changfeng was immediately stunned, “Put the knife down first, let’s discuss this!”
A grown man resorting to threats of death!
If indeed she died…that would truly be troublesome!
Wu Zhuangjing was also startled by Mu Yan’s attitude, although not biased toward Xiao Yu, but subjectively, he still believed more in Xiao Yu’s intelligence and strategies, unlike Mu Yan, who always had an unsettling aura around him.