Ties of Love, Ruan Wan

Ruan Xiuzhu threw down his pen and looked at Su Ying in disbelief, as if Su Ying's words had brought him such a great shock.

"Do you want to hear what you're saying? They haven't even convicted you yet, and you're already pleading guilty."

Seeing Ruan Xiuzhu laugh out loud in anger, Su Ying also looked aggrieved, "Then what can we do? We can't just sit here and wait to die."

Ruan Xiuzhu looked at Su Ying helplessly, wondering how her mother could be so stupid and foolish as to how she framed and killed Mo Ruolan.

With a sigh, Ruan Xiuzhu calmed herself and said, "Now that everyone is dead, it only proves that Aunt Hua did not commit adultery. The death of that adulterer cannot be linked to us. It's just that Father's charge of accidentally killing someone is hard to deny right now."

Su Ying seemed to have forgotten that Ruan Zhengqing had just tried to kill her, and said with a worried expression, "You can write a letter to your sister and ask her to find an opportunity to plead with the emperor on her behalf."

Ruan Xiuzhu waved his hand, "Don't panic, Father has a solution."

In fact, Ruan Xiuzhu did not know whether Ruan Zhengqing had a way to resolve this matter. He wanted to see how Ruan Zhengqing would handle it.

Seeing Su Ying's relieved expression, Ruan Xiuzhu laughed, "You were so angry just now that you smashed everything to pieces, and now you're worried about your father."

Caught off guard by her own son, Su Ying's face flushed red and then paled, her voice stammering, "I was just thinking of you and Yuan Yan, afraid that if something happened to your father, it would implicate you."

Ruan Xiuzhu smiled without saying a word. He had no interest in his parents' messy affairs; he was too busy taking care of his own.

All the reputation he had built up in the capital over the years, and the fame he had earned through hard work in Qingzhou over the past two years, were wasted.

His path to a key position in the Ministry of Revenue will likely not be so smooth in the future.

While Ruan Xiuzhu was in a daze, Su Ying took out a pile of paintings from somewhere and placed them in front of Ruan Xiuzhu.

By the time Ruan Xiuzhu realized what was happening, the scroll had completely blocked her view.

"What is this?"

Su Ying smiled and unfolded a scroll. "These are suitable women I found for you while you were away. Take a look and see if there's anyone you like."

Ruan Xiuzhu pushed away the scroll Su Ying handed him, not even glancing at the beauty in the painting. "The mourning period is still a year away. Do you want me to be shamed and cursed by the world?"

"You choose first, and we can settle on a date now. Once your mourning period is over, we can get married. If we wait another year to discuss marriage, who knows how long that will take?"

Ruan Xiuzhu turned and walked out, saying, "I don't have time to think about these things right now. Let's get through this first."

Su Ying wanted to say something more, but Ruan Xiuzhu had already disappeared.

Taking this opportunity, Su Ying unfurled the scrolls one by one, looked at the carefully selected young ladies from prominent families, and sighed, "Some of the good girls have already been chosen."

As Su Ying picked out the paintings of the married girls, she complained inwardly.

When Ruan Xiuzhu was seventeen or eighteen years old, and they were preparing to arrange a marriage for him, he insisted that he did not have any official rank and would wait until he passed the imperial examination to arrange a marriage.

He finally passed the exam, but then his grandmother passed away, and he had to observe a three-year mourning period. With this delay, he was almost twenty-five years old and would become an old man.

Ruan Danping's two children will be able to get married in a few years, by which time Ruan Xiuzhu's child may not even be born yet.

Thinking of this, Su Ying couldn't help but sigh again, wondering when she would be able to hold her own grandson.

Within two days, the Ruan family's affairs had become common knowledge, and almost every teahouse and tavern was discussing it.

People in the capital love to talk about the secrets of the families of high-ranking officials, especially scandals involving illicit affairs.

This matter is extremely strange. A concubine in the Ruan family died because Lord Ruan accidentally killed her in a fit of anger. However, the concubine did not have an affair. The man she had an affair with was a eunuch. However, everyone in the Ruan family can testify that Hu Qiang came out of the concubine's room with disheveled clothes.

However, both of them are now dead. The aunt was accidentally killed, while Hu Qiang died from poisoning.

The Prefect of Jingzhao Prefecture remained silent, seemingly intending to let the matter drop.

"Your Majesty, the Prefect of Jingzhao Prefecture has been slow to report this matter, probably because he dares not offend the Ruan family and wants to suppress it."

Aqing looked at Ruan Wan, who smiled and said, "Let Han continue to plead her innocence, and send people to protect Han's safety in secret."

Aqing ran out of the mansion with a smile, while Ruan Wan lowered her head and continued to prepare the medicine. She would be meeting Meng Cilan in a couple of days, so she had to leave this to her.

Little Yuanyuan stood obediently on the chair, her big, round eyes watching Ruan Wan fiddling with the medicine bottle, her face full of curiosity.

Ruan Wan smiled, dipped her finger in the medicine, and then held it in front of Yuan Yuan. "Little Yuan Yuan, taste it and remember the taste of this poison."

Little Yuanyuan obediently licked Ruan Wan's fingers, her two grape-like eyes darting around in their sockets, which was quite amusing.

Ruan Wan smiled and said, "This poison has no effect when used alone; it needs to be mixed with another poison to be effective. Ordinary people can't taste anything in this poison, but our little Yuan Yuan can taste what herbs are in it, right?"

Little Yuanyuan giggled and nodded at Ruan Wan.

Early the next morning, Han was still dressed in mourning clothes, kneeling at the gate of the Jingzhao Prefecture, wailing, "You officials protect each other, you have no conscience! The Ruan family killed my son, and you say you will give my son justice, but you won't go to the Ruan family to arrest them!"

Han cried from morning until noon, but the gates of the Jingzhao Prefecture remained tightly closed, and they dared not open them.

A crowd of onlookers gathered one after another. At first, everyone was curious whether the Prefect of Jingzhao was afraid to deal with the Ruan family.

Even when the sun was high in the sky, the Jingzhao Prefecture did not dare to open its gates. Everyone was talking about it, thinking that the Jingzhao Prefecture must have something to hide, which was why it dared not open the gates.

"Three days have passed, and the Jingzhao Prefecture still hasn't dared to send anyone to the Ruan residence to arrest him."

Immediately, someone countered, "Hu Qiang only said he died of poisoning, but someone saw him lively and energetic when he left the Ruan residence. Maybe it wasn't someone from the Ruan family who poisoned him."

"Even if it wasn't Hu Qiang's fault, Lord Ruan still owes an explanation for accidentally killing his concubine."

Just then, a young boy burst in, laughing, and said, "You don't understand. This Lord Ruan is a second-rank official. If it's really a matter of interrogation, it's the Dali Temple's business. The Jingzhao Prefecture has no say in it."

"We haven't seen the Dali Temple make any moves."

The child continued, "The Dali Temple naturally needs His Majesty's decree to summon people."

Several men laughed and grabbed the child, saying, "You're not even fully grown yet, how did you learn these rules?"

The boy laughed and broke free from the man's embrace, disappearing into the crowd like an eel in the blink of an eye.

Ruan Xiuzhu stopped dealing with the matter, but Ruan Zhengqing did nothing either, continuing to sit in his study reading every day.

It seems that this incident had no effect on him whatsoever.

Meanwhile, Ruan Xiuzhu was on his way to the Third Prince's residence. He had sent out an invitation yesterday and was going to pay a visit today.

Xia Ziru declined the audience with all the officials, but swaggered over to meet Ruan Xiuzhu, who was in the eye of the storm at that time.

The officials in the capital were all bewildered, unable to understand what the Third Prince meant.

Inside the flower hall, Xia Ziru lay on his side, his head resting on his concubine's lap, leisurely watching the song and dance.

Ruan Xiuzhu sat on a small stool to the side, frowning and sitting upright. He was tense all over, as if he hated the environment.

After watching the song and dance for a while, Xia Ziru slowly spoke, "It's not appropriate for me to interfere in the Ministry of Revenue's affairs right now. My father is angry with me because of Zhang Qi."

Ruan Xiuzhu looked troubled and said, "Originally, Your Highness wouldn't have needed to intervene, but I didn't expect something like this to happen so suddenly."

"Why did you have to act at this crucial moment? Once you've secured your position in the Ministry of Revenue, you can act whenever you want."

My father wants to send Yulang to the Imperial Academy.

Xia Ziru looked up at Ruan Xiuzhu, then smiled and said, "That's not a place only the eldest son can go. Did your father sense something?"

Ruan Xiuzhu shook his head. "That's why I had to act ahead of time. If I really used my connections to get Yulang into the Imperial Academy, Father would never give up on him."

"The Ruan family isn't particularly wealthy. Whether you inherit the family business or not won't affect your future, so why bother?"

Ruan Xiuzhu smiled and said, "I wanted to cut off Father's escape route so that Father could stand on His Highness's side."

Xia Ziru laughed out loud, "Your father would never take sides."

"Didn't he side with the Seventh Prince back then, intending to marry Ruan Wan to him?"

Mentioning Ruan Wan reminded Xia Ziru of the Miao holy maiden who was currently at the Seventh Prince's residence, and his face darkened.

Xia Ziru sat up, and the concubines and singers in the flower hall immediately sensed that something was wrong and left one after another.

Xia Ziru looked at Ruan Xiuzhu and said, "Be careful of that Miao holy maiden who looks a lot like your sister; she's very strange."

Ruan Xiuzhu also heard Xia Ziru mention in the letter, "Is it really that frightening?"

"We've been setting up this scheme for so long, and we could have taken down Changfeng in one fell swoop, but she easily foiled it. Most importantly, my men can't track her down at all, and they can't find any information about her."