I just kissed him.

I don't know if it's because he's embarrassed or what.

Seeing him defeated, Ruan Xinchen, who had succeeded, jumped away in a hurry and went to the yard to see how her little Yangyangs were growing.

It looks pretty good, but many of its leaves have been eaten by birds.

Really, it looks like she'll have to stand here like a dummy.

"Ah Xin, you've changed."

ah?

Chu Xuanche didn't know when he floated over, without a trace.

Leng's sudden action almost frightened her into the lotus pond.

Ruan Xinchen patted his chest and asked, "How did you change?"

"You were shy and timid when you first came here, but in just a few months, your true colors have already been revealed? Huh?"

Ruan Xinchen: “…”

She is just socially afraid of people she is not familiar with, and socially indifferent to people she is familiar with.

She has always been like this, how come she changed?

"It has always been like this. You are wrong."

"Oh, really?"

Ruan Xinchen said with a smile: "Why? Do you regret it?"

Chu Xuanche snorted and his face turned cold again.

"It's too late to regret. There is no medicine for regret in the world."

Having said that, he squatted down and started thinning the seedlings.

"No." Chu Xuanche said in a low voice.

Ruan Xinchen: “What?” The voice was too soft for her to hear clearly.

Chu Xuanche added: "I have no regrets. You are...very good like this."

Feeling happy is contagious. If you see others smiling a lot, you will also feel happy.

He now calmed down his manic mood, stopped reciting Buddhist scriptures and meditating, and watched her more.

Ruan Xinchen knew that he was always spying on her in the dark.

Watch her laugh because the vegetable seedlings sprouted, watch her laugh while joking with the maids, watch her laugh while listening to the gossips from the outside world that the maids told her...

He had been so afraid that this was all played out for him.

Among those who served him in the past, there were also people like Ruan Xinchen who loved to laugh and would find various ways to make him happy.

He had also been infected by those joys until later, when he learned that the imperial physician had told his father, the king, and his mother to ask the people around them to bring him more joy and find ways to make him happy.

So my mother told those who served him that whoever could make him laugh would be rewarded with a large sum of money.

Only then did he realize that the joy those people had given him was all fake.

Chu Xuanche secretly observed Ruan Xinchen for a while and found that she was the same, she was pretending.

Angry, fear, joy, and lying are all fake.

…

On the second day, Ruan Xinchen and Chu Xuanche rode together to Chu Li's villa in the suburbs.

He had already taken Liu An and Cui Er with him as his grandmother.

To ensure that nothing goes wrong, Chu Li has always sent people to follow Cui Er and Liu An. As early as when they set out for the capital, he sent more people to Xiangzhou to bring back the old woman.

Ruan Xinchen looked at the man with tears in his eyes and was stunned for a long time before his eyes also became red.

"Aunt Cui!"

"Hey, hey...Miss, you've grown so big."

A few years later, Cui Er now looks very much like she remembered.

A few years ago, she was only a few years old, looking young and thin, with a small face and thin body.

Now she is married and has children.

Although my husband's family is high-ranking officials, they are also businessmen who have no worries about food and clothing.

The Jiangnan region was already prosperous, and as the hostess of a wealthy merchant family, she was now plump and rosy-cheeked, with only vague outlines of her past visible on her face, so Ruan Xinchen was stunned for a while.

After they met, they exchanged pleasantries, wiped their tears, and gradually calmed down.

Ruan Xinchen did not ask about her mother immediately, but first asked her how she had been living these years.

Cui Er wiped away her tears and said, "Climbing out of the mass grave was a near-death experience. That year..." Thinking about the countless hardships, she shook her head and said, "Forget it, let's talk about it. No matter what, Liu An and I survived."

Ruan Xinchen nodded, "After a great disaster, there will be good fortune in the future."

"Yes, there is indeed a blessing in the future. Over the years, our family's business has been getting better and better. Although we are not as noble as high-ranking officials, we are much better than ordinary people. I was originally a maid. It is a blessing from God to have such a good fortune now. What else can I ask for? It's just..."

She looked at Ruan Xinchen and said, "Every time I think of you and your mother, I can't sleep or eat well."

As he spoke, tears began to flow again.

Cui Er wiped her tears and said, "I have thought about revenge for your mother and making Mrs. Ruan's deeds public. But I don't have evidence, it's useless... Miss, please be righteous to your mother."

Ruan Xinchen patted her back gently and comforted her: "Aunt Cui, it's not your fault. If my mother were still alive, she would also want to see you take risks for her."

This is the truth. She is just a maid, and her words are not taken seriously. Without evidence, how can she bring down the powerful and noble Madam Ruan?

Which wealthy family has not killed its concubine?

As long as An's title is reasonable, and as long as the wife is not stupid enough to publicize that she killed the concubine, no one will care whether the concubine's death was accidental or man-made.

This is an unspoken secret among the wealthy.

No matter how big the fuss is, she is only getting herself and her husband's family involved.

"But you dare not help your mother to revenge, and you even dare not come to the capital again. It was your father who secretly inquired about your affairs. Miss, will you blame me?"

Ruan Xinchen shook his head, "It's not your fault."

She sniffed and said with a smile: "I've had a good life these years, and now I'm married..."

She raised her head and glanced at Chu Xuanche, smiling shyly, "My husband is a very nice person."

Chu Li, who was sitting in a wheelchair, clenched his fists immediately.

Chu Xuanche glanced at him.

He knew she was lying, he just didn't expose her.

Humph, Chu Li, you dare to covet me.

You provoked me first, so don't blame me for taking our childhood friendship into consideration.

Here, Ruan Xinchen and Cui'er finished reminiscing about the past, and it was time to talk about what happened in the past.

Cui Er lowered her head and recalled for a long time before she opened her mouth.

"That year, your mother got pregnant again. As for wanting that child, she was actually...actually, she was very hesitant."

Um?

Everyone was surprised.

Because all the women in the backyard are fighting to have more children in order to consolidate their status.

How could any child still want it?

Cui Er choked up and said, "She once asked me to secretly go out and buy abortion drugs, but the old lady found out and scolded her. At that time, the old man didn't have any children yet, and every child was very precious. They would not give your mother the opportunity to have an abortion. So later... she still accepted her fate."

In fact, Ruan Xinchen also remembered some of these things.

She was still very young at that time, and they would not discuss these things with her. She only heard half of them occasionally, and did not know them as clearly as Cui Er did.

"I didn't expect that Madam was also pregnant. When your mother was a month old, the old man wanted to take Madam and you back to our hometown. Your mother went to see you off and saw Madam. She was also pregnant. After you left, Madam often came to our courtyard to scold and humiliate us, saying many unpleasant things. Several times, your mother was so angry that her stomach hurt."