Shang Mingjie returned home, and the Shang Mansion was once again thrown into chaos. Seeing the three of them in such a sorry state, Old Madam and Second Madam hugged him and wept bitterly. Even though they were worried sick, they couldn't help but scold him, saying: "You reckless child, how could you run out at a time like this? Don't you value your life?"

  Shang Mingjie bowed his head and admitted his mistake, "I was wrong, grandmother, please punish me."

  "You know you're wrong, so go to the temple and kneel down," seeing that his hand was bandaged, he twisted it again and said: "Wait until your injury heals before going, I didn't tell you not to get up."

  The old lady pitied her grandson, but wouldn't pity others. After scolding Shang Mingjie, she closed her eyes and looked at the inkstone and inkstick holder.

  The second lady hated these two little servants even more, thinking that they had corrupted Shang Mingjie and put their master in danger without realizing it. If the old lady were not still around, she would have had them dragged out and beaten to death long ago.

  The inkstone and inkstick holder trembled involuntarily and fell to their knees.

  The old lady stared at them for a while, then gave a faint order: "Let the master make trouble, not to mention pushing the waves and helping the tide. What's the point of keeping such a slave? Take him away..."

  The inkstone and the servant's waist bent down to the ground, although they didn't look up, they knew that the second master would definitely protect them.

  Shang Mingjie indeed turned around and blocked their way, but instead of pleading, he puckered his lips and looked at the old lady, saying: "Grandma, don't you ask where I went last night?"

  "I'll ask you about this later." The old lady said with hidden anger: "First, let's deal with these two disobedient slaves now."

  "Grandma, I am their master, they should listen to me. Do you think the slaves around my son should listen to someone else?"

  The old lady widened her eyes and looked at Shang Mingjie in disbelief.

  The three sisters of Shang Danzhu were also shocked and looked at Shang Mingjie in astonishment, never expecting him to say such a thing.

  Shang Dan bamboo suddenly took two steps forward, grabbed him and said: "Second brother, how can you speak to grandmother like that? Don't you quickly admit your mistake."

  Shang Mingjie however stood firmly, looking at Old Lady Shang, blocking the way in front of Xi'an and Shi Mo, saying: "Grandmother, it was I who did wrong, you punish me if you must, what's the point of punishing them?"

  "Give me two new servants, next time I make a mistake, I will still make it, the difference is that they will report to you, but such people who do not know their master, I dare not want them, even if they have to be driven out."

  Shang Mingjie sighed sorrowfully: "The people around me are not my own, I can't even do this right, what else can I do well?"

  The old lady was startled and hastily pulled him, asking, "How can you think like this? You are a noble young master of a wealthy family, with great things to do. How can you be judged by such trivial matters in the back house?"

  "I can't even do small things right, let alone big things." Shang Mingjie's chest surged with a wave of anger, and he asked, "Is it still in the eyes of my grandmother and mother that I just need to listen well and obey what they say?"

  "What have you learned outside?" Old Lady Shang couldn't help but bang her cane heavily on the ground, "A child who used to be so filial and polite, how did you become like this now?"

  "Grandma!" Shang Mingjie knelt before her, looking up at her and saying: "I just hope I can do something for myself, so that when things happen, I can take charge of them myself and not be completely controlled by others."

  The old lady was taken aback, then turned her head and glared at Mrs. Shang Er.

  "Second Master, are you blaming your mother for not supporting the Lin family's other courtyard last night?"

  "But you should know our family's situation, we don't have many servants in the house, and it's not safe in the city either. If we send someone out, what about your grandmother and siblings at home?" The second lady wiped away her tears and said: "Besides, the city gate was closed last night, how can we possibly ask Governor Zhou to open the gate for us?"

  "We didn't abandon our home, and we sent someone to take care of it early this morning. You probably don't know yet, but your Aunt Lin and Cousin Lin are both fine, nothing happened to them..."

  Shang Mingjie straightened his back and didn't say a word, but his attitude was very tough, in short, he refused to give him the washing basin and inkstone.

  Mrs. Shang saw that he was resolute in his silence, and this unyielding attitude only infuriated her more, but with her mother-in-law present, she could not erupt in anger and had to secretly endure it.

  The old lady, however, saw something in her grandson's attitude and narrowed her eyes, waving her hand: "Whether or not to punish them is another matter, come on, lock them up first, Second Son, you follow me."

  The old lady's gaze swept over Shang Ertao, a faintly discernible cold smile escaped her lips. Shang Ertao was startled and hastily lowered her head, even though she had previously thought of secretly getting rid of the person first, now she didn't dare to make any moves.

  Shang Mingjie got up and supported Shang Lao Furen together towards the small ancestral hall.

  The old lady offered a stick of incense to the ancestors, then turned around to look at Shang Mingjie kneeling on the ground and asked: "Now, where did you go last night?"

  Shang Mingjie lowered his head and said, "I just wanted to go out and see if Lin Auntie and my cousin were safe. I forced Xizhen and Shimu to help me. But after going out, we ran into the yamen runners and could only run wildly. As a result, we bumped into several beggars who saw that we were well-dressed and wanted to rob us. It was Xizhen and Shimu who protected me, so I didn't get seriously injured."

  "To avoid the yamen runners, we ran quite far and got a bit lost, so we didn't leave the city. Afraid of being bothered by beggars again, the three of us found a quiet place to rest and only found our way back home after dawn."

  The old lady pounded the floor heavily and said sternly, "You're lying! If you had encountered a beggar, do you think you three could have escaped? Xianyan and Shimu's clothes were all stripped off, how come yours are still intact? And where did you get your injured hand bandaged?"

  Shang Mingjie subconsciously put his hand behind him and pursed his lips, saying nothing.

  The old lady took two steps forward and patted him on the back twice, saying: "You dare not tell the truth in front of your ancestors, this is unfilial, are you going to anger me to death?"

  Shang Mingjie lowered his head and remained silent, but his back was straight as a pen.

  Seeing Sunzi like this, Shang Lao's wife was both angry and heartbroken. She finally sat down beside him on the cushion, looking at him and saying: "Child, you were raised by your grandmother with her own hands, what is there that you can't tell your grandmother?"

  Shang Mingjie's eyes were red-rimmed, and tears almost burst out of his eyes. He lowered his head to look at the ground without saying a word.

  Seeing that her grandson had not confessed, Old Lady Shang knew he must have encountered something big.

  She couldn't help but reach out and rub his head, asking, "Did you tell your grandmother that you resent your mother for not sending someone to save your cousin?"

  Shang Mingjie bit his lip and didn't say a word.

  The old lady sighed and said, "Your mother did do something wrong, but it's not entirely her fault. Our family is indeed a bit short-handed, and recently the city has been in chaos. She was just trying to be prepared for any situation. Otherwise, if refugees were to break in, our household staff would all be gone, who would protect you and your sisters?"

  Although the old lady was furious with the second wife for not helping her granddaughter, she didn't dare to let the mother and son become estranged, otherwise the family would definitely fall apart in the future.

  So she could only try her best to speak well of Second Mistress, this feeling really made her want to vomit.

  Shang Mingjie was no longer as easy to coax as before. He hung his head and didn't speak, but in his heart, he was thinking back and gradually came to a realization.

  At home, let alone the servants in the backyard, just talking about the household staff, there are over a hundred, how can't they spare some manpower?

  Moreover, the Shang family is not like the Lin family in the wealthy area of Chengxi. They are in Chengbei, where there are residences of various officials from Suzhou, as well as the mansions of families like Lu's, and even the Steward's Office is not too far away.

  What's wrong with these refugees that they dare to come here?

  Even if they really dare to come, those families will also send people to support them, this is almost a default rule.

  No matter if there were grudges between them before, when encountering such a disaster, they would help if possible and seek aid if not. This is not only a moral requirement but also an unspoken agreement reached by each family after experiencing several generations of turmoil.

  You helped someone else's family this time, next time when your own family is in trouble, someone else's family will lend a hand.

  Shang Mingjie suddenly understood, thinking: What can't get out of the city gate is all fake. The governor's mansion is just nearby, would the Shang family go to the door to request the opening of the city gate and the governor would oppose it?

  Not to mention the power of the Shang family, just Lin's aunt's identity would be enough for the governor's mansion to open its gates.

  But the fact is that Prefect Zhou did not dare to neglect the Lin family, and if they had really been concerned, how could they have known that Prefect Zhou opened the city gate last night to go out and rescue them?

  Shang Mingjie's eyes were a bit hot, and he looked up at his grandmother, "Grandma, do you know how many people Aunt Lin and her family killed last night?"

  The old lady was taken aback.

  "Four hundred and twenty-eight people, when Zhou Xie and his men arrived, all of them were killed except for the refugees who retreated halfway. Zhou Xie and his men didn't even draw their swords and collected over 400 heads. They borrowed some medicine from the warehouse to give to Lin's wife. The Lu family also sent people to support them early the next morning, and after knowing that everyone was annihilated, they sent someone to deliver some medicine... Sun Er ran into several families' carts on the road, all of which were delivering medicine to Lin's wife..."

  The old lady was shocked and lost her color, and for a while she couldn't even pursue the matter of Shang Mingjie running to the Lin family's other courtyard.

  This morning, after discovering that Shang Mingjie had gone missing, they were all preoccupied with finding him and didn't even have time to ask about the situation in Lin's other courtyard, let alone send condolences.

  If other families also sent medicine, how would the Shang family be viewed if they did nothing but ask a question?

  What's most important is how Lin Qingyan will think of Shang's family and what Lin Yuheng will think.

  The old lady scolded her grandson with a twist of "hate iron for not becoming steel", "You silly child, why didn't you say it earlier?"

  Shang Mingjie however stiffened his neck and said: "At home I'm not in the mood, even if I did say something it would just be superficial."

  "You," Old Lady Gu poked his forehead and said: "Why did we forget? Wasn't it to find you?"

  "Was it also for me last night?" Shang Mingjie asked with a piercing gaze, "Grandma, Mother deceived you, and you were really deceived?"