The old lady glanced at her and thought that this person wasn't too stupid, which improved her mood considerably. She said, "Even a virtuous woman can be persistent in her pursuit of love. Just let the young man pay more attention to her."

With just one sentence, Ruozheng's fate seemed to have been decided.

Women value their reputation most. Once the deed is done, what kind of trouble can a woman possibly cause?

Chen's eyes lit up, and she agreed, getting up to instruct her son.

During the Spring Festival, the Cheng family didn't cause any trouble or bother the Lu family anymore. The Lu family had a few peaceful days, and the whole family gathered together to play cards to pass the time. The children played pitch-pot and set off firecrackers in the yard, making it quite lively.

On the sixth day of the Lunar New Year, the Emperor received a letter from the Lu family containing evidence of the Chengen Marquis's family's years of illegal lending at exorbitant interest rates, which had even resulted in deaths. The letter also detailed their misdeeds of abusing their power and forcing women into prostitution. The letter stated that the Chengen Marquis's family had outmaneuvered the Lu family and that future conflicts were likely to arise. The Emperor was urged to investigate thoroughly.

To put it bluntly, it was to give the emperor a heads-up, so that if things got out of hand, he wouldn't be unsure how to protect the Lu family.

When the emperor received the letter, he was speechless. To have such a troublesome matter at the very beginning of the new year, had the Marquis of Chengen's mansion been cursed by someone? Why did they have to provoke the Lu family instead of behaving properly?

Most importantly, it angered Jiang Jiuniang and her friend Ruozheng.

"What is the Emperor laughing at?"

The Empress was reading a book when she saw the Emperor so happy to read a letter, and she thought something good must have happened.

The emperor handed over the letter: "Take a look for yourself. The people of the Marquis of Cheng'en's mansion are really getting more and more unaware of their own limitations."

How dare a fallen nobleman, living on the glory of his ancestors, scheme against the newly rich Lu family?

Even the emperor couldn't help but feel worried for the Cheng family.

The Empress found it unbelievable after reading it. The two families had no connection whatsoever, so why would they set their sights on the Lu family?

"In my opinion, those two young ladies, Ruozheng and Zhuzhu, are no ordinary people. In addition, with their good sister Jiu Niang protecting them, the Cheng family has really bitten off more than they can chew this time."

The Empress sighed, feeling a pang of sympathy for Jiang Jiuniang, whose troubles kept piling up without any end in sight.

"What is Your Majesty's opinion on this matter?"

She looked at the emperor with some curiosity.

The emperor, too lazy to concern himself with the matter, slyly said, "This is merely a friction between two families, and the Cheng family was at fault first. I will certainly handle it fairly after the incident occurs."

"Pfft!"

The Empress couldn't help but laugh out loud. The Emperor was really getting more and more like a scoundrel!

However, that's exactly what she was thinking too. Since the Cheng family was the one who shamelessly provoked them first, they should be prepared to get burned.

So she flattered the emperor, saying, "Your Majesty is wise."

The emperor snorted arrogantly. Don't think he didn't know that the empress was already overjoyed because he favored Lu Jiale. After all, the empress had a good relationship with Jiang Jiuniang.

Most importantly, he also wanted to use this incident to warn those nobles not to cause any trouble. They should either live peacefully and obediently in the glory of their ancestors, or they should wait to be dealt with.

He had long wanted to clean up the corrupt practices within the elite circles.

The days after the New Year were very relaxed, and the Lu family planned to open a few more shops at the beginning of the year.

While you have the opportunity, build up your family fortune so that your children can enjoy wealth and luxury from birth and suffer less hardship.

Zhuzhu has already gone to the military camp with Lu Baichuan. With Jiang Jiuniang's precedent, Zhuzhu did not suffer any discrimination this time, but everyone still had doubts. After all, Zhuzhu looked like she was easy to bully. Was she really a fighter?

However, this skepticism didn't last long, because Zhuzhu quickly listened to Jiang Jiuniang and defeated them all.

In terms of force, we have won decisively.

But Zhuzhu's dream is to become a female general. To become a general, one cannot only fight battles, but also needs to know how to use people and deploy troops. Therefore, Zhuzhu began a series of training programs.

He usually reads various military books, and if he doesn't understand something, he asks his strategist. When he gets tired of reading, he goes to the training ground and plays a game with the soldiers to vent his frustration, and then continues reading. Time passes very quickly.

However, precisely because time was passing so quickly, the Marquis's residence could no longer delay and had been waiting for Ruozheng to leave.

After Zhuzhu went to the military camp, Ruozheng began to live the life of a homebody, spending her days in the house researching all kinds of equipment that could be used in this era.

Previously, because she gave Princess Jinlan that introductory book, the little guy also became interested in these things and came to see her every day, and the two of them studied them together.

In short, Ruozheng simply didn't go out.

After the Lantern Festival, the weather gradually clears up, and it's the season for flowers to bloom.

Princess Jinlan came to see Ruozheng again, but this time she wasn't there to do research. She wanted to invite Ruozheng to a flower viewing party to thank him for patiently teaching her mechanical research over the past few days and for giving her a mechanical puppy, which she liked very much.

Ruozheng didn't expect the little princess to like him so much. Besides, he hadn't attended any banquets of this era since he arrived here, so he wanted to go along to broaden his horizons and agreed to go out with the princess.

The Cheng family finally got a chance to wait for Ruozheng to leave, and immediately went back to find Cheng Ying, the second young master of the Cheng family.

Cheng Ying himself had his eye on Ruozheng. Even though he knew she was much older than him, he didn't care. In fact, he felt that such a woman was more appealing to him. So when he received his grandmother's instructions, he happily agreed.

Princesses travel in a rather extravagant manner, requiring a great deal of ceremonial procession. Jinlan found this troublesome and instead traveled with Ruozheng in the Lu family's carriage.

Once the carriage reached the most crowded part of the street, Cheng Ying made her move.

He ran out and stopped the Lu family's carriage. Seeing that everyone around was watching him, he then began his performance with satisfaction.

"I know Sister Ruozheng is still angry with me. It was indeed my fault that I hurt you. I will accept whatever punishment you want, I just beg you to stop being angry with me!"

He called her "sister" as soon as he opened his mouth, his tone so nauseating that it was deliberately meant to make people misunderstand that there was something between Ruozheng and him. Otherwise, why would he address her like that?

Everyone around them was watching them with wide-eyed amusement; this was a once-in-a-lifetime juicy story!

This second young master of the Marquis's mansion keeps saying he likes that girl, but he doesn't care about her reputation at all. He's obviously trying to force her to her death. How can he have the nerve to say he likes her?

But this is none of their business. They can just sit back and watch the show. Let's see how Miss Ruozheng handles it.

Meanwhile, Princess Jinlan in the car was clearly disgusted. She never expected that she would encounter such a disgusting thing after finally taking Aunt Ruozheng out for a trip.

She was about to order someone to drag the man away and deal with him, but Ruozheng grabbed her arm and shook his head at her.