Chapter 446 Lord Ruan's Secret
Miss Ruan's health improved day by day, and soon she was no different from an ordinary person.
Du Wanchun did not tell Aunt Zhou and the others about the curse that Miss Ruan had mentioned.
They simply assumed that the doctor was skilled and had cured Miss Ruan's sudden illness.
However, the Ruan family residence in the capital was also in chaos.
Miss Ruan's condition worsened. Initially, she only experienced pain all over her body, but gradually her personality began to change drastically.
She locked herself in her room and refused to see anyone, having nightmares every day.
Her dreams are filled with nightmares she's had over the years.
When she was young, Miss Ruan had raised a stray cat. Miss Ruan the Second became jealous and skinned the stray cat, hanging it at the door of Miss Ruan's house.
This frightened Miss Ruan so much that she fell ill for three or four days.
From then on, Miss Ruan became increasingly unscrupulous, snatching away anything that Miss Ruan liked.
Even though her food, clothing, and daily necessities were better than Miss Ruan's, she insisted on having everything the same as her.
That's why what happened later occurred.
Now, Miss Ruan dreams about that cat every night.
She saw the cat on her bed, scratching her skin with its sharp claws, causing her unbearable pain.
Every night, the cries of the Second Miss Ruan could be heard from the Ruan residence.
Lord Ruan couldn't bear to see his daughter like this, so he went to Zeng Yuan again, "Can you even do this? It's been so long, and you still haven't cured my daughter's illness!"
Zeng Yuan panicked. He had tried everything, but still couldn't cure Miss Ruan's illness.
"Sir, please give me a few more days, and I will look for other solutions."
Lord Ruan shouted at him, "I think you're just a charlatan pretending to be a sage!"
Zeng Yuan was taken aback upon hearing this, and his face darkened as he said, "Lord Ruan, you can't say such things lightly. If I were truly a fraudster pretending to be a god, then you would be guilty of deceiving the emperor! It was you who introduced me to the emperor to bestow a talisman upon him!"
Lord Ruan's face turned pale, and he staggered back a few steps. Zeng Yuan was right; even if he was a fraud, Lord Ruan couldn't let anyone know that he was a fraud.
Otherwise, none of the Ruan family members, young or old, would survive.
Zeng Yuan then continued, "Lord Ruan, I believe Miss Ruan's illness has nothing to do with the talismans I used before; it's her own karma! If she hadn't done so many evil deeds in the past, how could so many evil spirits be haunting her!"
Lord Ruan realized he was in the wrong after hearing this, as he had spoiled his daughter since she was a child.
He would help his daughter kill a cat, a dog, or even a maid.
Ultimately, it was his own doing that harmed his daughter.
Seeing that the two had already broken off relations, Zeng Yuan continued, "Lord Ruan, we are now in the same boat. Don't even think about kicking me out, or sooner or later everyone will know about what you've done in the past."
Lord Ruan's eyes turned cold. "What is it?"
Zeng Yuan sneered, "Lord Ruan, you don't need to play dumb. Haven't you done enough heinous things?"
Lord Ruan's face darkened, his voice turning cold, "What exactly do you know?"
Zeng Yuan said slowly, "Have you forgotten how you got your official position? And how your elder brother died?"
Lord Ruan clenched his fists tightly, his body trembling slightly.
Lord Ruan's elder brother, who was also Miss Ruan's biological father, actually died young because of a conspiracy to murder him.
The person who murdered him was his own brother.
Back then, the twin brothers of the Ruan family were both students of Grand Tutor Lu. Although they looked alike, their personalities were completely different. The elder brother of the Ruan family was gentle, diligent and eager to learn.
Besides his prized student Lord Zheng, Grand Tutor Lu also had another student, the eldest son of the Ruan family.
Although Lord Ruan was a younger brother and quite learned, he was always a step below his older brother.
During the imperial examinations, Lord Ruan used some tricks to force his brother to switch identities with him.
When the eldest son of the Ruan family took the exam, he wrote the second son's name, while the second son wrote the eldest son's name.
Thus, Lord Ruan successfully entered the palace examination thanks to his brother. Later, he received the lowest grade in the palace examination. Although he did not make it into the top three, he was still considered to have entered officialdom.
However, his brother failed the imperial examination because of this. Fortunately, he was a man who refused to admit defeat. Three years later, he took the examination again and became the third-ranked scholar, and was appointed as a fifth-rank official.
At that time, Lord Ruan was only a fifth-rank official.
Therefore, Lord Ruan felt resentful again. He worked hard to climb the ranks in the court with a smile, and it took him three years to reach his current position, while his brother entered officialdom as a fifth-rank official.
Later, he conspired with Lord Wu and several other officials in the court to murder Grand Tutor Lu.
With the death of Grand Tutor Lu, the eldest son of the Ruan family lost his backing and found it difficult to move forward in the court.
Lord Ruan had his men ambush his brother on his way to his post, killing his brother and sister-in-law who had always been kind to him, seizing his brother's money, and even pretending to take in his brother's daughter.
Nominally, he raised his niece as his own daughter, but in reality, he was raising a tool for himself to climb the social ladder, and a plaything for his own daughter to bully since childhood.
Zeng Yuan wasn't entirely a fraud; when he was with Miss Ruan, he had already calculated everything clearly.
He was a man who knew how to take shortcuts. Rather than marrying an unloved orphan, he preferred to marry Lord Ruan's most beloved daughter. That's why he abandoned Miss Ruan and hooked up with the second Miss Ruan.
Now this secret has become a tool he uses to blackmail Lord Ruan.
After a long silence, Lord Ruan gradually concealed his anger. "Fine, I won't expose you, and I won't kick you out, but you must find a way to save my daughter."
Zeng Yuan raised his eyes, a cold smile playing on his lips. "Now that Lord Ruan has reminded me, I do have a solution."
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