Marrying a concubine to seduce him and lure him into the game

However, halfway through, he suddenly stopped and looked around vigilantly. After confirming that there was no one around, his eyes gently fell on the slender figure hidden in the corner.

Huo Chengyu, she was fiddling with the flowers and plants in her hands with her head down, an unconscious gentle smile on the corners of her mouth.

Feeling his father's gaze, Huo Chengyu raised his head, and his pair of clear eyes met Huo Yuncong's.

Huo Yuncong waved at her, and Huo Chengyu, who was jogging over, had an innocent joy on his face.

He took out a few brightly colored candies from his pocket and gently placed them in her palm.

The father and daughter smiled at each other, and the air was filled with a simple warmth and happiness.

Afterwards, Huo Yuncong concealed the last trace of warmth on his face, and a cold frost once again gathered between his brows. He walked towards the depths of the mansion with firm and powerful steps.

Huo Chengyu's eyes once again reflected the innocence and ignorance of the world that belonged to a young girl.

"Hey, have you heard about that strange story? Why did the Huo family announce the cancellation of the engagement so abruptly?" Someone whispered, his expression full of curiosity.

"Oh, I haven't heard of this. What's going on?"

Another person followed up with a question, and the whispers around them gradually gathered.

"It is said that Yin Taochen appears to be gentle and talented on the surface, but he is actually a complete hypocrite on the inside."

The speaker lowered his voice, a hint of disdain in his tone.

"That's right. He had an affair with a married woman, got into debt but refused to pay it back, and even quarreled with his classmates. He has no gentlemanly demeanor at all."

Others echoed and exaggerated the description of Yin Taochen's bad deeds.

"Alas, this is simply the tragedy of scholars. They are full of knowledge but do not know how to cultivate themselves and manage their families. It seems that reading the books of sages is a waste of time. No wonder the Huo family would be so cruel as to cancel the wedding and insist on breaking off the engagement. I'm afraid they are worried that their precious daughter will go astray and fall into the endless abyss." Another person sighed.

"Where did you hear these words? Could it be that someone deliberately spread rumors to ruin his reputation?"

On the side, someone raised questions.

"How is that possible? Yin Taochen is a top student of Marquis Su. Marquis Su revealed the news himself. The old man was very sure that he would not only expel Yin Taochen from the sect, but also draw a clear line between him and him."

The other person acted like an insider.

"Since Lord Guohou has said so, it seems that this is most likely true."

The people around nodded when they heard this. Yin Taochen's reputation seemed to have fallen into ruin at this moment.

Yun'er hurried over, polished the information he had collected, and told it all to Su Rao.

Su Rao was filled with anger and resentment. Her father's personality was as gentle as noodles, and it was very likely that he was bewitched by the Huo family's words.

The Huo family's move was undoubtedly an extremely vicious strategy.

First, they publicized the marriage with great fanfare, but then they dramatically cancelled the engagement in the blink of an eye, and they completely shifted all the responsibilities onto the innocent Yin Taochen.

For a scholar, reputation is like life. This series of accusations undoubtedly erected an insurmountable wall on Yin Taochen's path to the imperial examination. It is probably a fantasy for him to enter the official career!

Su Rao's thoughts drifted back to fragments of her previous life.

There, she and Yin Taochen had a subtle interaction.

At that time, she was already the wife of the powerful Prime Minister, and her life seemed glamorous, but in fact it was full of undercurrents.

Shen Jinghong's betrayal was like an invisible knife that stabbed deeply into her heart - he secretly took a concubine and had a son with her, and he hid this scandal so perfectly that she knew nothing about it.

Just because she was unable to give birth to a son or daughter for the Shen family, Shen Jinghong proposed to adopt a child from a branch of the family as an heir. That child was the flesh and blood of him and his concubine.

Su Rao blamed herself for a while, feeling deeply guilty, and even almost acquiesced to this ridiculous proposal, ready to accept and raise the child.

Fortunately, it was Yin Taochen's words at the critical moment.

"Why are you helping me?"

At that time, Su Rao was full of confusion. She always felt that Yin Taochen had an indescribable contempt for Shen Jinghong and even for herself.

Yin Taochen just looked at her quietly without saying a word, with deep and complex emotions hidden in his eyes.

Now, Su Rao finally understood the weight behind that look - it was all because of her unfortunate elder sister, and because of the inseparable sisterly love between them.

Although he was powerless to change his eldest sister's fate, he wanted to do his best to help her in the aftermath and prevent her from making the same mistakes.

If it weren't for Yin Taochen's kind reminder back then, she might still be deceived, living in the lies carefully woven by others, completely unaware of the betrayal and calculations of her partner, let alone raising that illegitimate child for them.

Su Rao stood indifferently in a corner, her cold eyes penetrating the misty morning light, watching every subtle movement of Shen Jinghong as he gently led the woman into the home.

His face was filled with unprecedented tenderness, and that doting almost overflowed from his fingertips, but he didn't know that this infatuation would eventually turn into bondage, binding him tightly in the web carefully woven by the woman until he sinks.

Su Rao's eyes swept over slowly, witnessing how the Shen family gradually fell into decline and there was no return because of the intervention of that woman, and she herself was innocently involved in this unprovoked disaster.

If it weren't for Yin Taochen's help at the critical moment, she would probably have become the laughing stock of the world, drowned in endless ridicule and contempt.

After a moment's silence, Su Rao turned to Yun'er who was standing beside her and ordered without a trace of emotion in her voice: "Prepare a carriage for me, I want to go out of the house."

After saying this, there was a flash of determination in his eyes, and he had made an important decision.

The carriage carrying Su Rao passed through the bustling market and finally stopped in front of a rouge shop with elegant decoration facing the bustling street.

She stepped out of the car lightly, her figure looming in the crowd, and then she skillfully passed through several narrow alleys and came to the end of Liufu Street. The Yu family mansion stood quietly before her.

Su Rao was wearing a dark cloak, looking mysterious and low-key. Her appearance was like an inadvertent breeze, quietly descending in front of the half-open door of the Yu family.

Inside the door, Yin Taochen was busy packing his luggage, looking like he was about to go on a long journey, which made Su Rao feel a little surprised.

The expected depression and negativity did not appear in him. On the contrary, the light flashing in his eyes was brighter than at the Huo Mansion’s wedding banquet. It was a kind of vitality of relief and rebirth.

Noticing Su Rao's arrival, Yin Taochen stepped out of the door, and the two stood facing each other.

"Mr. Yu, what are your plans next?" Su Rao was the first to break the silence.

Yin Taochen smiled lightly and replied, "I have a close friend who is the county magistrate of a county in Jiangnan. He has long ago sent me a letter inviting me to serve as his staff member."