Empress Dowager
The carriage arrived at the Lin Mansion, and the servant outside the door hurriedly brought the two into the mansion. As soon as Zhong Ningning saw Lin Yan, she ran over and told her about the Empress Dowager and the bell tower.
"Empress Dowager" Lin Yan frowned. Why was the Empress Dowager involved in this matter?
Since her daughter had brought her here to see Miss Lin, there must be a way to break this situation. Madam Zhou then told her everything she knew:
"Zhong Lou relied on my father's reputation to make friends with the powerful and influential, and was promoted step by step. It seemed that his career was smooth, but in fact, one year he offended a powerful and influential person and was almost imprisoned. But later he was inexplicably promoted, and his career has been prosperous since then. Until today, he sits in the position of Minister of Rites. All of this was due to the handiwork of the Empress Dowager."
Lin Yi was listening at the side and was also surprised. The Empress Dowager had been away from the court for many years and had only focused on worshiping Buddha, but she was secretly colluding with the bell tower. What did she want to do?
Ten years ago, Prince Jing plotted a rebellion and was in a stalemate with Song Yizhou for three years. In the end, he was defeated. It was the Empress Dowager who revealed Prince Jing's lair, which made it possible to capture Prince Jing. Therefore, Song Yizhou still trusted her over the years and did not pay attention to her.
But in the current situation, the Empress Dowager is really not as the rumors say. She has no desires and is even willing to sell out her own son for the safety of the Song Dynasty.
When Lin Yan thought of Gu Shi, what did he have to do with the bell tower and the Empress Dowager?
The room was so quiet. Mrs. Zhou looked at the two people who were in deep thought and said, "Ningning, this child, dragged me here. It is not easy to divorce Zhonglou. Don't offend the Empress Dowager because of us."
Lin Yan came back to his senses and almost forgot about the important matter. He said to Madam Zhou, "Your brother is already on his way to the capital, and the doctor who treated Mei back then has also been found. This is enough to prove that Zhong Yuxi is the daughter of Zhong Lou and Mei.
If the bell tower doesn't allow it, then we'll see the authorities. The Lin Mansion and the Prince Regent's Mansion will be your backers. Don't worry, the Zhou family, you, and An Ning will be fine. Just wait for the divorce."
Mrs. Zhou didn't react and spoke haltingly, "Why is the Regent's Palace related to the Regent's Palace?"
Seeing her elder sister mentioned the Regent's Palace in front of her mother, Zhong Ningning knew that she could tell her mother about Song Yizhou's direct relationship with them.
Then he explained, "Mother, Regent Song Yizhou is Xie Zhou, who grew up with my elder sister as a child. When I traveled around the world with my elder sister in my early years, he was there too. Regent Song Yizhou is half a brother to me."
Mrs. Zhou was completely stunned and her head was dizzy. It turned out that her daughter had such a powerful backer behind her. What was there to be afraid of the Empress Dowager? Who would dare to touch them?
"Divorce, divorce now." Mrs. Zhou regained her quick temper. There was nothing to be afraid of now. She couldn't help but look at Zhong Ningning again. How come her daughter knew so many powerful people?
In a place where no one was around, Mrs. Zhou secretly asked Zhong Ningning: "My dear daughter, tell me the truth, are you the reincarnation of a koi fish? How come all the good things happen to you?"
"Mom, what are you thinking about?" Zhong Ningning was speechless.
Lin Yan invited the two of them to have breakfast at the Lin Mansion, and then sent someone to accompany them back to the mansion, so that if they encountered any problems, they could pass on the message in time.
In the west courtyard of Zhong Mansion, Zhong Yu fainted last night and was sent back to her own courtyard. She didn't wake up until this morning.
After sending Zhong Yuxi back home, Gu Shi went to look for the bell tower.
When Zhong Lou saw Gu, he immediately bowed politely and said, "Greetings, Prince."
If Lin Yan were here and heard this name, he would be able to guess Gu Shi’s true identity, Prince Jing’s only son, Song Ting.
At that time, Prince Jing was arrested for treason and committed suicide in the dungeon. His daughter Song Xi did not grow up with him since childhood. She grew up with His Majesty Song Jing and was not influenced by him in any way. His son Song Ting died suddenly of a serious illness.
The truth is that Song Ting faked his death and was taken away by the Queen Mother, who lived on under the identity of Gu Shi. The Queen Mother secretly gathered the forces left behind by Prince Jing in various places to pave the way for Gu Shi.
Over the years, Gu Shi has been developing his power just to avenge Prince Jing and seize the throne one day.
Zhong Lou was a capable state official with strategy and courage. The Empress Dowager saw this in him and designed to bring him into her camp.
Old Madam Zhong always thought that she was the one who forcibly separated Zhong Lou and Mei Chun, but the truth was that Zhong Lou had long been eyeing Zhou's identity. Her father was a first-rank imperial physician in the Imperial Medical Bureau and was the object of everyone's flattery.
However, since Zhong Lou wanted Mei to continue loving him and didn't want to be the bad guy, then the bad guy had to be Madam Zhong.
Zhonglou was not aware that Mei was pregnant before she got married, but when he learned that she was pregnant less than a month after her marriage, he became suspicious.
So he found the doctor who treated Mei and learned that Mei was pregnant before she got married.
Zhonglou loved Meichun, but unfortunately this love was not deep enough, nor shallow enough. Zhonglou could have prevented anyone from finding any evidence against him except for the child.
But he didn't. In order to prevent others from finding out, he sent someone to kill the doctor. Unfortunately, he didn't know that the doctor had some skills and faked his death to escape.
After that, Zhong Lou stopped associating with Mei until Mei could no longer bear Zhuang Qiao's beating and went to see Old Lady Zhong.
After that, Zhong Yuxi stayed in the Zhong Mansion. They thought they had kept it a secret from Zhong Lou, but in fact he acquiesced to everything.
Later, Zhong Ningning was found, and Zhou wanted to drive Zhong Yuxi away for the sake of her daughter.
But Zhong Yuxi was still his and Mei's daughter, so Zhong Lou certainly didn't agree.
That was also the first time he lost his composure in front of Zhou, which made Zhou realize something. After that, he simply threatened Zhou, asking her to be more obedient and not to think about divorce.
The bell tower now has the Empress Dowager as its backer. For unknown reasons, Zhou's father resigned from his official position and returned to his hometown in his early years, bringing the Zhou family in the capital back to the Zhou family's place of origin.
No one in the Zhou family has held an official position in these years, and they are no longer the same Zhou family as they used to be.
However, the Empress Dowager told him not to let Zhou leave the Zhong family no matter what the reason.
Although he didn't know the reason why the Empress Dowager did this, he also obeyed the arrangement, so as long as Zhou didn't take the initiative to divorce, he would not touch her.
Now that the fact that Zhong Yuxi is his daughter has been exposed, will Zhong Lou divorce Zhou for his daughter? Of course not. Not to mention that the Empress Dowager would not allow it, in his eyes, Zhong Yuxi is a well-behaved daughter, but that's all.
If this matter were to spread to everyone in the capital, it would be bad for his reputation, so he planned to send Zhong Yuxi away from the capital, the farther the better, and then continue to threaten Zhou to make her give up the idea of divorce.
In this way, people in the capital will only think that this is just a mistake he made when he was young and it is harmless.
But plans cannot keep up with changes. Gu Shi sent Zhong Yuxi back and found him to ask him to keep Zhong Yuxi. Zhong Lou was very excited, thinking that the other party had fallen in love with his daughter. Then Gu Shi's great ambitions would be accomplished in the future, and he would be the future father-in-law of the emperor.
As for Zhou's side, Zhong Lou didn't care much. With Zhong Ningning and the Zhou family as threats, he was sure that Zhou would not dare to divorce.
After talking with Gu Shi, Gu Shi said he wanted to go see Zhong Yuxi. Zhong Lou smiled from ear to ear and was very happy to take him to Zhong Yuxi's yard.
When Zhong Yuxi woke up, she opened her eyes and saw her father asking her kindly if she was well. She shuddered, not knowing if it was an illusion, but she felt that her father was a little different today.
Looking at Zhong Yuxi's actions, Zhong Lou was a little surprised, but he hid it and said, "Yuxi, Dad knows. You are Dad's daughter. Today I come to tell you that from now on, you will be the second lady of the Zhong family."
"Really?" Zhong Yuxi couldn't believe it. Zhong Lou, who knew his identity, would not send him away. After all, Zhong Lou in the book was a selfish person.
"Of course, you are Chun'er and my only daughter. If I had known this earlier, I would have loved you deeply." Zhong Lou said this sincerely.
After hearing what Zhong Lou said, Zhong Yuxi let down her guard. Maybe this stepfather really loved Meichun so much that he cared about her so much.
With a quick glance, Zhong Yuxi saw someone standing not far away with his back to them, and asked, "Who is that?"
Gu Shi turned around and looked at Zhong Yuxi with a smile, "Miss Zhong, nice to meet you again."
After Zhong Yuxi fainted, she kept having a dream. In the dream, she killed Zhuang Qiao, and a man kept hugging her and comforting her. This man was Gu Shi.
She looked at Gu Shi and found that he was as handsome as Song Jing. She thought it was a pity. It would be great if he was the male lead. Unfortunately, he was not.
Zhong Lou coordinated the confession with Gu Shi in advance and said to Zhong Yuxi: "Gu Shi is my student. I was the one who asked him to save you last night. You should thank him well."
Gu Shi did not appear many times in the book. A person who was useless to her was not worthy of Zhong Yuxi's attention. But when she thought of what happened last night, her heart beat unconsciously when Gu Shi approached.
"How is Miss Zhong Er? Are you feeling unwell? Don't worry about what happened last night."
Listening to Gu Shi's gentle voice, Zhong Yuxi tried hard to restrain herself from being moved, but her face still turned red unconsciously, and she stammered and dared not speak.
Seeing that his goal had been achieved and Zhong Yuxi was really attracted to him, Gu Shi took a step back and said, "Miss Zhong, please have a good rest. I will not disturb you any more."
Before leaving, Gu Shi exchanged glances with Zhong Lou. Zhong Lou nodded, sat down in front of Zhong Yuxi's bed, and said to her:
"Gu Shi is an excellent child and will surely be extraordinary in the future. Besides, he is the youngest son of the Gu family, and the Gu family is the maternal family of the Empress Dowager. This child will surely have a smooth career in the future. Yuxi, what do you think of him?"
Seeing that Zhong Yuxi didn't say anything, Zhong Lou called her several times: "Yuxi, Yuxi"
Zhong Yuxi came back to his senses, shook his head and said hurriedly: "It's nothing, it's nothing."
Zhong Lou could see that Zhong Yuxi looked down on Gu Shi, and cursed inwardly: "How stupid! You really think that your identity as a child born out of wedlock is something you can show off. You are lucky that the prince likes you."
But he did not show it on his face. Gu Shi asked him not to reveal his identity. Zhong Lou could only slowly persuade Zhong Yuxi not to be impatient for quick success, and said: "Yuxi, have a good rest. Dad is gone."
Zhong Yuxi watched Zhong Lou leave. She was moved for a moment by Gu Shi, but this man was just an ordinary person in the book and was not worthy of her. She should be the heroine and many people of higher status should fall in love with her. It was impossible for her to be with Gu Shi.
Gu Shi didn't tell Zhong Yuxi his identity, of course, because Zhong Yuxi knew Song Ting and had a deal with them. No matter how stupid Zhong Yuxi was, he could guess his purpose.
By then, it would be difficult to achieve his goal, and now he could only slowly gain Zhong Yuxi's trust.
If you want to get what you want from a woman, the best way is to make her fall in love with you.
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