Chapter 60 Your Son's Top-Tier Love Brain (Revised Version)
Everyone was stunned by the sudden news, but none of them reacted as strongly as Jiang Heng.
Jiang Liangxu slightly raised his eyelids and glanced at Jiang Heng: "I'm not discussing this with you. If you don't want to listen, then get out. What are you making such a fuss about?"
His tone was indifferent, yet he exuded an unyielding authority.
Jiang Heng didn't dare to say anything more. He was about to sit down when he suddenly stopped and instead lifted his robe to kneel down: "Your son does not agree to annul the engagement."
"You want to drag the Jiang family down with the Lu family."
Jiang Heng's face paled for a moment.
Zhao Xian glanced at Jiang Liangxu, rarely seeing him so grave. She tried to be gentle as she asked, "Why do you suddenly want to call off the marriage of the two children? Has something happened?"
You know, Jiang Heng and Lu Zhaoying are the male and female leads in a sweet romance novel, so how could this engagement be called off?
They even buried them with the dead! That's a bit serious.
While waiting for Jiang Liangxu's reply, Zhao Xian thought about the plot of the book. However, there was really not much plot to think of for the sweet romance novel. The couple were united in their dealings with outsiders, and internally they were writing hate literature. Because the length was not long, apart from the sweetness, there was not much other plot. Only a pseudonym was used to entice readers.
Jiang Liangxu's gaze was not as cold when he looked at Zhao Xian. He said, "The Privy Council concealed the important military intelligence that the border garrison commander had colluded with the enemy, leading to the massacre of civilians. This matter has already been reported to the Emperor."
Zhao Xian glanced at Jiang Liangxu, then looked at everyone present. Was such a big matter just being said so easily? Shouldn't the women avoid any appearance of impropriety?
Jiang Wei frowned, glanced at Jiang Heng, and said, "As the Chief Imperial Censor, all official documents pass through his hands. He bears a heavy responsibility."
No wonder my father came back and immediately told me to go to the Lu family to break off the engagement. Even if Lord Lu didn't deliberately conceal military intelligence, someone took military documents from him, so he was also at fault.
Moreover, it is still unknown whether Lord Lu was involved in this matter; if he was, it would be a capital offense punishable by death.
Zhao Xian leaned slightly towards Jiang Liangxu and asked softly, "Will you be implicated?"
We talked before; he also works in intelligence. With something this big, I hope he won't be implicated too.
Jiang Liangxu whispered to her, "It's nothing, I'm in charge of civil affairs."
Relieved, Zhao Xian looked at Jiang Heng, who seemed to want to say something but couldn't, her face full of pain.
Zhao Xian suddenly remembered a plot point: the Lu family was exiled in the book, but this plot point wasn't in a sweet romance novel, but rather in a tragic one.
Because it wasn't in a sweet romance novel, and it wasn't mentioned much in angst-filled novels, she hadn't thought of it before.
Moreover, this plot point doesn't actually occur at this time; it happens later.
Jiang Liangxu has disappeared in the book.
After the entire Lu family was imprisoned, Jiang Heng, blinded by love, insisted on marrying Lu Zhaoying, but the original owner disagreed and even locked him up.
The Lu family was sentenced to exile, and Jiang Heng escaped from the Jiang family and then went into exile with the Lu family.
The sweet romance novel begins with the two getting married. The author doesn't focus on Lu Zhaoying's suffering, but instead writes about how someone secretly helped her during her time of hardship, becoming her ideal man.
When she returned to Jin'an, she wanted to marry him, but he disappeared. Fulfilling the marriage contract was also an attempt to force him to reappear.
From God's perspective, readers know that the person secretly protecting her is the male lead of the sweet romance novel, but the female lead doesn't know it. It seems heartbreaking, but there are actually no tragic points. The male lead, Jiang Heng, uses a pseudonym to get entangled with the female lead of the sweet romance novel.
Zhao Xian murmured to herself, "So that's how it is."
When she transmigrated, the male lead in the sweet romance novel seemed like a straightforward, naive, love-struck fool, which was completely different from the character in the book who was intelligent, devoted to his wife, and calm and clear-headed in public. At the time, she only thought it was because he was too young.
From this perspective, he still lacks experience and has not yet grown into the person depicted in the book.
Jiang Heng kowtowed three times: "Father, the misfortune should not befall a married daughter. If I marry Yingying in advance, will I be able to save her?"
Zhao Xian's eyes lit up.
But Jiang Liangxu sneered, "Treason and collusion with the enemy, a crime punishable by the extermination of nine generations of your family, you want everyone to be buried with you even in death? Are you afraid the road to the underworld will be too lonely?"
Zhao Xian felt she had been scolded.
Jiang Heng's face was deathly pale, and his kneeling body swayed slightly.
Li Lianniang and Cui Tingyue sat at the end, unable to get a word in edgewise, unsure of what to say.
Zhao Xian felt this was all so sudden, catching her completely off guard: "Husband, come in with me, I have something to tell you."
Before entering the inner room, Zhao Xian glanced at Jiang Wei and said, "Keep an eye on him and don't let him go to the Lu family to inform them."
In the book, he was able to go to exile with the Lu family. Although he wore a mask to protect Lu Zhaoying and prevent his identity from being exposed, his love-struck mind was already at its peak. He was afraid that he would go and inform the Lu family, which would implicate the Jiang family instead.
Jiang Liangxu opened his mouth: This is an order.
-Interior-
Zhao Xian told them that Lord Lu would be exiled and that his son would be exiled with him.
After listening attentively, Jiang Liangxu asked, "Did Madam also dream about these things?"
"You could interpret it that way, or perhaps she once told you about the world of storybooks, like stepping into a book? These are all things that happen in books." Since she had already revealed herself, Zhao Xian didn't need to beat around the bush with him anymore. Besides, she had already discovered that no matter what she said to Jiang Liangxu, he could always pick up on it without being surprised or astonished.
"Did the lady see in her dream who was ultimately executed in this matter?"
Zhao Xian: "You're putting me in a difficult position."
Zhao Xian, recalling that she had memorized the plots of two books, took them out and handed them to Jiang Liangxu, saying, "Take a look for yourself. This is all I've memorized."
Jiang Liangxu took it, and when he opened the first page, he was immediately struck by how ugly the handwriting was, reminding him of her first day of class.
Because of habit, her handwriting is peculiar, incomplete, and ugly, just like it is now.
This made his father consider expelling the student.
The writing in the book is messy, almost a jumble of thoughts, disjointed and incoherent, but the meaning is still guessable.
However, the stories all revolve around the eldest son and his wife, involving misunderstandings, miscarriages, and the extraction of heart blood.
Jiang Liangxu frowned repeatedly as he watched, wondering if it was his eldest son, who had always been the most mature and stern-faced since childhood, who had done it.
How can someone be so stupid and despicable? Was it due to his negligence? His eldest son doesn't seem like that kind of person.
Turning to the last page, a particularly striking sentence made Jiang Liangxu's eyes darken.
Zhao Xian also peeked out, and then she felt incredibly embarrassed.
At the time, I was only focused on remembering the key points, which resulted in every sentence being the most melodramatic and clichéd part. For example: the female supporting character, Cui Tingyue, accused Li Lianniang of having an affair with the villain at the banquet, which led to Li Lianniang being misunderstood and slapped by the scumbag (he hit her again, a domestic abuser). Her child was beaten and she miscarried. (Get a divorce, what's the point of living like this?)
"Ahem... It's a bit messy, but please bear with it. If you don't understand something, ask me and I'll explain it to you."
When I was writing down the plot from memory, I was only thinking about the scenes involving the male and female leads and the villainous supporting characters.
Zhao Xian hadn't expected the Lu family to be exiled at all, because this plot had little to do with the tragic novels.
It seems to be paving the way for sweet romance novels, but the sweet romance novels don't deliberately mention this point. They only keep emphasizing that Lu Zhaoying had a masked man helping her when she was suffering, and the focus is entirely on the romance.
Zhao Xian thought about it carefully and realized that the Lu family's exile seemed to have occurred around the time of the autumn hunt, or maybe before the autumn hunt.
Jiang Wei saved the emperor during the autumn hunt, and later, when the new emperor ascended the throne, he rose to a high position at a young age.
When someone asked why the female protagonist of the tragic novel didn't see her brother-in-law, Jiang Wei came to her rescue, saying that Jiang Heng was ill. He then privately warned the female protagonist not to talk nonsense, which made her sad again, feeling that he didn't trust her at all.
In retrospect, Jiang Heng had already joined the Lu family's exile group at that time.
But the Jiang family kept this a secret.
Jiang Heng only reappeared after the male and female protagonists of the tragic novel divorced, and even helped his brother to pursue his wife.
"Lord Lu was able to return to officialdom after only a few years of exile, so he must be clean. Why don't you help investigate?" Zhao Xian felt there was room for maneuver in this matter. In the book, Lord Lu was suddenly imprisoned and then directly exiled, which happened very suddenly.
By the time they found out, it was too late.
The original owner of this body refused to let her second son marry the daughter of a disgraced official, which created a rift between mother and son.
Zhao Xian didn't understand at first; in the tragic novels, she was the evil mother-in-law, and the ending was miserable, so she understood.
But why do even sweet romance novels not have a happy ending?
Now it seems that the root of the problem lies here.
As she spoke, Zhao Xian reminded him again, "Your second son is a hopeless romantic. He dared to go to exile with someone and then protect them for several years. You'd better find out the truth and avoid those things, so that your second son won't hold a grudge against you later."
An official couple, it's not easy to break them up.
Zhao Xian knew clearly that she was going back, and Jiang Liangxu had not disappeared as described in the book.
Being in officialdom, he knew far more than she did, such as knowing about this matter in advance.
Since he didn't disappear, as the head of the family, he became the one making decisions, and Zhao Xian had nothing to do with it.
Could the story's ending shift from her to him?
“Holding a grudge? No problem. If he’s not thinking straight, just send him to exile. He’ll calm down after suffering.”
Jiang Liangxu gripped the edge of the book tightly with his fingers, which turned white from the force.
No wonder she tried so hard to stop him from going to Changzhou.
What Jiang Liangxu didn't tell Zhao Xian was that he had encountered many assassination attempts in Changzhou. Jiang Heng even told him privately that on his way to Xing'an Village, someone tried to assassinate him and poison him, doing everything they could to prevent him from going to Xing'an Village.
They didn't tell her any of this, afraid she would worry.
Seeing that she repeatedly emphasized her ending in the book, Jiang Liangxu wished he could call for family discipline for his two unfilial sons.
When he said he was sending his son to exile, Zhao Xian gave him a thumbs up, "Ruthless as you may be, I suggest you don't break up their marriage."
That's the official couple.
When she transmigrated, she disliked Jiang Wei, the male lead in the angst novel. Although she thought that the female lead in the angst novel should get a divorce and get away from the scumbag, Li Lianniang was really useless at that time. She felt that she couldn't handle the divorce.
Although she changed other plot points, she never broke up the official couple, mainly because the tragic story was going to end in divorce, and she wasn't in a hurry.
But sweet romance novels are different; there aren't as many troublesome things here.
Jiang Liangxu closed the book and handed it back to Zhao Xian. "Madam, go and fetch the betrothal letters and gift lists from both families. We still need to go to the Lu family tomorrow."
Zhao Xian was furious: "No, I said so much, but you didn't listen to a single word?"
Everyone says not to break up couples, so why are you still bringing up things like engagement letters?
Seeing that she was anxious, Jiang Liangxu pulled her into his arms and whispered, "The border city's garrison commander has tacitly allowed the enemy to massacre the people of Jin more than once or twice. Moreover, he has reached an agreement with the other side that after they massacre the people of Jin, the garrison commander will report it and then send troops back to fight. The court will reward those who win the war. This is how they fabricate things every year. Even a mere Privy Council cannot provide a perfect cover-up."
Zhao Xian was full of questions.
Jiang Liangxu rested his chin on her head and said, "Let me tell you the truth, Madam. His Majesty sent me and Imperial Censor Tao to investigate the matter in the border town. He is in the open, while I am in the dark."
Zhao Xian was even more confused: "Then what does this have to do with breaking off the engagement?"
Jiang Liangxu: "If I hadn't gone to annul the engagement, how could I have been so angered by my unfilial son that I fell off my horse, broke my leg, and stayed home to recover?"
Zhao Xian thought he was joking: "Don't you think this reason is absurd? Can't there be another way?"
Jiang Liangxu patiently explained, "As the chief imperial envoy, Lord Lu has all the documents in his hands. If this matter is investigated, he will be the first to be arrested. The annulment of the engagement is also to alert the enemy."
Zhao Xian: "But if you take the lead in this matter, won't you become a target?"
Because he was also involved in intelligence work, others would assume that he had reported what he found to the emperor.
Jiang Liangxu shook his head: "No, it was Imperial Censor Tao who took charge of this matter; I heard about it from him."
“Imperial Censor Tao…” Zhao Xian felt the name sounded familiar.
Jiang Liangxu explained to her, "It's the same censor who caught the Crown Prince of Yu and Princess Rongyang in their scandal last time."
Zhao Xian gasped, "What I'm hearing sounds like the Emperor is killing people..."
Jiang Liangxu covered her mouth and laughed, "If Madam thinks like this, then others will also think that Imperial Censor Tao was sent to his death. If he goes to investigate, the possibility of him being turned against him will be much greater."
Zhao Xian felt like her brain wasn't working properly.
She turned around and got him the copies of the betrothal letter and gift certificate. These were just backups; the official ones had already been sent to the Lu family. "Hey, I'm not going tomorrow."
She wouldn't be the bad guy.
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