Chapter 317 The Story
Jiang Yu had been thinking about the cannons the whole way, and only came back to her senses when Xia He reminded her that they had arrived.
Xia He lifted the sedan curtain for her, and Jiang Yu stepped down and turned to look, only to see Prince Rui also alighting from his sedan. Her appearance instantly attracted a lot of attention. However, the street was sparsely populated, and Tingfeng Pavilion was discreetly located, so it didn't cause a stir.
However, her presence here with Prince Rui today can no longer be concealed. But this is for the best; it alerts the enemy. It's just a matter of whether the person behind it will give themselves away as a result.
Prince Rui walked towards her, and the two went inside together. The quick-witted waiter immediately came forward to lead the way, and because they had already made arrangements, the waiter led them directly to the second floor.
As soon as they went up, three people greeted them with smiles and bows; it was Ding Shaojie and his grandfather and father. They were shocked; they had thought they were only meeting with the Duke of Chu, but they hadn't expected Prince Rui to come along. The memorial Ding Shaojie had written was clearly hostile towards Prince Rui.
How could these two people be so familiar with each other?
The three members of the Ding family were inwardly churning with thoughts, but outwardly remained respectful. Prince Rui, seeing their bow, showed no expression and offered no response. Jiang Yu, noticing this, told them to dispense with the formalities, then strode towards the private room, Prince Rui following beside her.
The three members of the Ding family exchanged bewildered glances as they watched the two figures disappear. The Duke of Chu and Prince Rui had come together, with the Duke of Chu seemingly in charge—what did this mean?
But they had no time to think about it now. With a sigh, they immediately followed them into the private room. Ding Shaojie's father, Ding Yuxi, bowed and smiled as he invited Jiang Yu and Prince Rui to sit down.
Jiang Yu and Prince Rui sat down in the main seats. Ding Yuxi and his seventy-year-old father, Ding Taiming, stood to one side, while Ding Shaojie knelt down with a thud. "This humble official is guilty, please forgive me, Your Highness."
Prince Rui looked at the person kneeling before him, said nothing, but glanced at Jiang Yu before picking up his cup and taking a sip of tea. His meaning was clear: Jiang Yu was in charge of handling today's affairs.
Jiang Yu was already familiar with his way of doing things. After glancing back at him for a moment, she looked at Ding Shaojie, who was kneeling on the ground, and asked, "I am very curious, when did you become enemies with His Highness Prince Rui?"
"No, no," Ding Shaojie immediately replied. "I have no grudge against His Highness Prince Rui. How could I possibly have a grudge against His Highness?"
"Ha!" Jiang Yu sneered, "Then why did you want to harm Prince Rui?"
"This...this..." Ding Shaojie's face flushed red, unsure how to begin. He knew that what he had done was something he couldn't easily talk about in front of outsiders.
“Your Highness, Duke of Chu.” An aged voice rang out, and Ding Shaojie’s grandfather, Ding Taiming, stepped forward and bowed, saying, “This wretched child has done something against human ethics and was coerced into doing something harmful to Your Highness.”
Jiang Yu turned her gaze to him. The old man's hair and beard were all white, and his back was hunched, making him look both shameful and humiliated. Considering that this man was also a great scholar, she couldn't really refuse to give him any face at all, so she said, "Please sit down, sir."
"Thank you, Your Highness, thank you, Duke of Chu." Ding Taiming, supported by his son Ding Yuxi, walked to the lower seat and sat down, while Ding Yuxi stood respectfully to the side.
"It is my fault for failing to properly educate this wicked child. He committed an act that violated human ethics, and then someone seized on his weakness, coercing him into writing that memorial." Ding Taiming bowed to Jiang Yu and Prince Rui. "But my Ding family and this wicked child truly had no intention of harming Your Highness!"
Prince Rui seemed not to hear him, sitting there as if lost in thought. But then Jiang Yu snorted heavily and said, "You didn't intend to harm His Highness, yet you did things that harmed His Highness."
"I am guilty, please forgive me, Your Highness and Duke of Chu." Ding Shaojie immediately kowtowed again.
Upon seeing this, Jiang Yu said calmly, "Alright, tell me what happened."
"Yes, yes." Although Ding Shaojie found it difficult to talk about what he had done, he had no choice but to tell the whole story.
It turned out that half a year ago, Ding Shaojie accompanied his wife to a temple to offer incense. While his wife offered incense in the front yard, he went to the back mountain to enjoy the scenery. When he arrived at a secluded spot, he saw a beautiful woman holding a white silk ribbon and swinging it at a tree branch, looking as if she was about to commit suicide.
He stood not far away and watched as the woman tied a knot in the white silk, then placed a stone on top of it, preparing to hang herself. He quickly called out to stop her, "Wait!"
The woman turned around when she heard the voice, and Ding Shaojie saw her whole face. He couldn't help but recite a line of poetry in his mind: "Pear blossoms, wet with rain, tremble in the spring breeze; willows, swaying in the wind, reflect the red sun."
Originally, it was out of kindness—saving a life is considered a great act of merit. But now, upon seeing the woman's face, Ding Shaojie felt a protective instinct; such a beautiful life shouldn't end like this.
"Even ants try to survive, let alone a young lady with such beauty? Why don't you tell me about it? Perhaps it can ease some of your worries," Ding Shaojie said in as gentle a voice as possible.
Upon hearing his words, the woman's tears fell like beads from a broken string. Ding Shaojie felt even more pity for her, so he went forward, tore off the white silk ribbon, and helped the woman to sit down by a large rock. He then handed her a handkerchief.
The woman took the handkerchief to wipe her tears, but cried even harder. Ding Shaojie was in his thirties, and while he didn't have a huge number of wives and concubines, he certainly had the ability to coax a young girl. He patiently offered a few words of comfort, and the woman stopped crying and began to tell him her story.
"My family has fallen on hard times. My father, seeing that I have some beauty, wants to marry me off to a man in his sixties as his second wife. That family has a bad reputation for promiscuity, and I don't want to marry into such a family. My father says I was raised by the family and am unwilling to contribute to it, that I'm an ingrate. He even said that if I don't agree, I should die..."
The woman started crying again after she finished speaking. Ding Shaojie felt even more sorry for her and reached out to pat her head to comfort her. The woman leaned into his arms and burst into tears. Ding Shaojie wasn't exactly a gentleman, and without hesitation, he hugged her and gently comforted her, promising to take care of her.
The next thing Ding Shaojie did was settle the woman in a separate courtyard and assign people to serve her. However, having been in officialdom for many years, Ding Shaojie was not likely to be bewitched by a young woman.
He sent people to investigate the woman's background, and they discovered that she was Zhu Weiyu, the legitimate daughter of the Marquis of Qiyang, a notorious troublemaker in the capital. Upon learning this, Ding Shaojie hesitated. He had heard of the Marquis of Qiyang's reputation and feared getting entangled with him.
After pondering for two days, he went to the place where Zhu Weiyu was being settled, intending to send her back to the Marquis of Qiyang's residence. However, upon meeting her and explaining his purpose, Zhu Weiyu burst into tears again, and the two of them ended up in bed...
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
