Chapter 97 The Wedding Day

The old lady Hou stared in astonishment at the sudden burst of light.

Her lips trembled, as if she wanted to say something, but in the end she said nothing, only clenching her hands and watching the blood-stained notes burn to ashes.

After a long while, she looked at the pile of ashes and let out a long sigh.

"It was burned."

"Burn it...good."

She closed her eyes briefly, but quickly realized, "And Nan Zhu! Nan Zhu ran away!"

“If only I had known…” Old Madam Huo gritted her teeth, “I should have pretended to believe him and used the excuse of keeping him here to help me investigate the truth to keep him here.”

"Now he knows I have no intention of exposing Yun Zhan's conspiracy or avenging Yun Ting. And he even got away..."

"In the end, it is still a scourge."

"No, we have to find him by any means necessary."

As she spoke, she staggered to her feet again.

Granny Wang quickly helped her up: "I think we can completely ignore him."

"Now that the Marquis is still alive, all we need to do is insist that Nan Zhu is dead and that someone is impersonating him."

“We’ve already burned this note, so he probably doesn’t have any more evidence left.”

"And judging from Nan Zhu's appearance, he seems to be quite badly injured. I'm afraid there are still... still people chasing him. He may not live much longer."

"If the old lady is really worried, she can arrange for someone to search for her secretly."

"But I think it's unnecessary to look for it."

A glint of shrewdness flashed in Granny Wang's eyes: "If we are to search, no matter how discreetly we do it, it will be easy for those who are watching us to find out. If we insist that the bamboo is fake, but secretly send people to search for it, it will easily arouse suspicion."

Old Madam Hou's eyelashes trembled: "Yes, you're right."

"Then let's pretend nothing ever happened and go back to our rooms."

Granny Wang responded, quickly picked up the stick used for striking the wooden fish, crushed the burnt ashes, poured a cup of water, and then got up to help the old lady of the Marquis leave.

After they left, a soft snicker rang out from behind the Buddhist hall.

It was Shen Qingci.

Shen Qingci's eyes were dark and gloomy, filled with mockery: "This is really... interesting."

"I originally thought that if our fake Nan Zhu was left behind, people would definitely find out, so I arranged for people to pretend to chase him so that he could find a chance to escape."

"Unexpectedly, none of the people we arranged to hunt us down were needed; it was Old Madam Hou who called for help first."

Fortunately, the people they arranged reacted very quickly and took advantage of the situation to escape immediately.

Shen Qingci lowered her eyes. She had originally thought that by using the fake Nan Zhu's mouth, she could let the old lady of the Marquis know that her beloved eldest son was killed by Huo Yunzhan in order to seize the title of Marquis. In this way, the old lady would definitely be furious and would definitely be dissatisfied with Huo Yunzhan.

Unexpectedly, the old lady of the Hou family directly allowed Wang Mama to burn the note, and even wanted to pretend that she knew nothing and that nothing had happened.

"Didn't they just say that the only thing they did wrong in handling things tonight was letting Nanzhu go?"

Chu Jichen casually stroked the armrest of his wheelchair: "Although that Nan Zhu is fake, we can continue... to create some evidence to make the fake seem real."

"Moreover, even if we do nothing, at least we'll let Old Madam Hou know that Huo Yunting died at the hands of Huo Yunzhan."

"Judging from her reaction, she simply couldn't accept it, but didn't doubt the truth of the matter. This suggests that... she actually knew something in her heart, or perhaps she had already suspected it."

"Now that the suspicion has come true, even if she tries her best to cover it up, it has certainly left a deep mark on her heart and become a permanent knot in her heart."

"Sooner or later, she will bring this up again."

"At that time, this matter will become a knife, which Old Madam Huo will personally stab at Huo Yunzhan."

Shen Qingci pondered for a moment, then nodded. Considering her understanding of Old Madam Huo during her time married into the Huo family, she felt that the knife should be aimed at Liu Ruolan first.

Shen Qingci curled the corners of her lips. Old Madam Huo couldn't deal with Huo Yunzhan, but she would definitely blame Liu Ruolan.

Old Madam Huo's anger tonight, knowing that Huo Yunzhan killed Huo Yunting, needed to be directed at someone else to vent.

And that person could only be Liu Ruolan.

Liu Ruolan was Huo Yunting's wife, but after Huo Yunting's death, she seemed to be completely unaware of it. She spent her days having sex with Huo Yunzhan, who was impersonating Huo Yunting, without realizing that the person beside her had changed.

Madam Huo will definitely feel dissatisfied with Liu Ruolan because of this.

If that's the case, then things must be quite interesting.

"Let's go back."

"Tonight was quite a show..."

Shen Qingci's guess was extremely accurate.

The following afternoon, Shen Qingci heard Wanqing report: "Our informants in the Marquis's residence have sent word that today, for some unknown reason, the old Marquis's wife inexplicably lost her temper with Liu Ruolan."

Shen Qingci raised an eyebrow, not surprised: "Why?"

"It seems there was no particular reason, which is why it's called inexplicable. I heard that Liu Ruolan got up early to pay her respects to the old lady of the Marquis, and the old lady of the Marquis stared at Liu Ruolan for a long time without calling her to get up."

"Later, we asked her again, since she had been married into the Marquis's household for two years and had not conceived. Were there any problems with her health?"

"It is also said that she led the Marquis to indulge in lust, which caused the Marquis to have health problems. This is now common knowledge in the capital."

"But even under these circumstances, she still hasn't gotten pregnant. Shouldn't we have the imperial physician give her a proper diagnosis?"

Shen Qingci's eyes were full of sarcasm, but there was nothing wrong with Liu Ruolan's body.

After all, in her previous life, she quickly became pregnant with Huo Yunzhan's child.

"The old lady also mentioned you, Miss, saying that you became pregnant about half a year after you married into the Marquis's mansion."

"It was supposed to be a boy, but he's gone..."

Shen Qingci's eyes suddenly turned cold: "With Liu Ruolan's temperament, do you think she'll just obediently listen to her scolding?"

"Of course not."

Wanqing chuckled: "Liu Ruolan went straight to the old lady and asked if it was possible that their ancestral graves were not properly buried, which meant they were destined to have no descendants?"

"It was also said that if the old lady was dissatisfied with her, she could simply divorce her on behalf of the Marquis of Yongning."

"Anyway, she's had enough."

"He also said, 'Perfect, after divorcing her, Marquis Yongning can forget about ever coming back!'"

Wanqing chuckled: "That really infuriated Old Madam Hou."

"But she probably still had Huo Yunzhan's best interests at heart, so she dared not speak out against him, only clutching her chest and pretending to be uncomfortable, muttering, 'Are you trying to make me angry to death?' In the end, she still managed to let Liu Ruolan leave."

Shen Qingci's eyes were full of sarcasm: "She thinks Liu Ruolan is like me, without parents and without anyone to rely on."

"Liu Ruolan is the daughter of the Prime Minister. How could we let her manipulate us?"

"Let them make a fuss. The more they make a fuss, the happier I am."

Shen Qingci tapped her fingers lightly on the table: "Keep an eye on it. If there's anything like this, you can tell me so I can have some fun."

But now that Huo Yunzhan is imprisoned, she can no longer focus her main energy on this.

She needs to make some serious preparations for her wedding.

Chu Jichen cared about this marriage.

She hasn't fully established her own power yet. If she wants to deal with the Huo family and the Liu family and avenge her parents, she can only rely on Chu Jichen and borrow his power.

Then she naturally had to coax Chu Jichen and show that she cared about the marriage and about Chu Jichen.

She had to prepare for the wedding properly, waiting for her to marry Chu Jichen and become the Regent's Consort.

Then, on the one hand, she needed to use Chu Jichen's power to deal with the Huo and Liu families, and on the other hand... she also needed to use the old subordinates of the Shen family to establish a complete force of her own.

Once she is fully capable, she will have more options.

...

A few days passed in the blink of an eye.

Soon, the day arrived for Shen Qingci and Chu Jichen to get married.