Chapter 448 Xie Shang was moved
Xie Shang was stunned. He was overwhelmed with emotion, thinking of how Ruan Ruan had always supported him and planned for him. He had gone from being the Prince of Heng to the Crown Prince, and Ruan Ruan had always been there to support him.
Ruan Ruan was betrothed to him by her father, the emperor; this marriage was not what she wanted.
Before he could speak, Lin Yu continued, “I’ll tell the Emperor why we’re pretending not to know her. It’s because I’m a songstress, and my godmother is a songstress. To put it nicely, she’s a songstress; to put it bluntly, she’s a prostitute. Do you think my godmother’s adopted daughter still has a pure body?”
But Jiang Fenghua comes from a scholarly family. Her father was a teacher who educated people, and she was a well-read young lady from a prominent family. She was as dazzling as the bright moon.
People like us are only despised. We are no longer clean. If people knew that Jiang Fenghua was friends with people like us, what kind of criticism would the Emperor think she would face? Public opinion and rumors would plunge her into an abyss of no return. Having friends like us is a disgrace to those noble ladies. She has been kind to us, and we would not be ungrateful and harm her.
When the imperial decree of marriage was sent to the Jiang family, the royal family must have investigated her background and found her innocent before agreeing to marry her! After marrying her, the emperor condoned people harming her. Who decided that her protecting herself from being hurt meant she was vicious and had ulterior motives? Does she have to stand there and wait to die without being able to resist in order to prove that she is a kind woman in the emperor's heart?
"Ha! How laughable! Doesn't the Emperor still love another woman? Now you've taken her away, locked her in the palace, and you expect her to be kind and innocent? Can the Emperor protect the kind and innocent Jiang Fenghua?"
Lin Yu was in tears. He wanted to say that the kind and innocent Jiang Fenghua had been killed by his own hands, and the only one who survived was Jiang Fenghua who only wanted to live.
Xie Shang was shocked; he had never thought of these things before.
So that's what Jiang Jinyan meant when he said Lin Yu had always protected Jiang Fenghua. He said, "So she's determined to eliminate the Su family for your sake..."
"That's right. She wanted to seek justice for women like me, Tan Wanqing, and Lin Shuangniang. She only wanted to uphold justice and eliminate evil, but she inexplicably interfered in the relationship between the Emperor and Su Tingwan, causing the Su family to want to exterminate her and her family. She is His Majesty's first wife, but has the Emperor ever cared about these things?" Wasn't the Jiang family wiped out by the Su family in the previous life?
Xie Shang's face turned ashen, his eyes cold and hard as steel. The Su family had indeed been plotting against Su Tingwan all along.
“She is my benefactor. She saved me from dire straits and saved my life. So when I learned that Su Xuan had not left Shengjing, I secretly rushed back. Ever since the bombing, I have been worried every moment that someone would hurt her again. Sure enough, I encountered an assassination attempt again when I came to Hengyang. If she is killed because of my negligence, I will never forgive myself for the rest of my life.”
Lin Yu, tears streaming down her face, respectfully kowtowed to him, saying, "Because Lin Yu's words today offended the Emperor, Lin Yu is willing to accept punishment, even death."
Some of the things she said were meant for Xie Shang. He didn't know how he would react if Jiang Fenghua was really murdered. He must have loved Jiang Fenghua very much!
Xie Shang felt only relief, relieved that Lin Yu had always protected her. He then asked, "Does Jiang Jinyan know about your relationship?"
“He doesn’t know much.” Jiang Jinyan indeed didn’t know much. Even she didn’t know why Jiang Fenghua insisted on marrying Xie Shang, even though she clearly didn’t like him. Later, she finally found out that it was to avenge the grudge from her past life and to become empress.
If Lin Yu hadn't overheard Su Tingwan and Ji Chen's conversation by chance, she might never have known this in her entire life.
Xie Shang was unable to calm down for a long time. After an unknown amount of time, he said, "You may leave now! From now on, continue to stay by Ruan Ruan's side and protect her."
Lin Yu was taken aback, then cupped her hands in a respectful bow, "Yes."
Lin Yu came out of the private room and saw Jiang Jinyan standing guard by the door. She raised her eyebrows at Jiang Jinyan and immediately put on a faint smile.
Jiang Jinyan stared at Lin Yu in disbelief. Had this cleared up Xie Shang's doubts? It has to be said that Lin Yu's mouth was truly amazing; she could even make the dead seem alive.
However, Jiang Jinyan always felt that Lin Yu had changed; she had become more protective of Ruan Ruan.
Lin Yu lied to Xie Shang. She meant that she had also escaped from the Su family's lavish lifestyle, but she had infiltrated the Su family to investigate them. Luckily, all those people were dead, otherwise, she wouldn't have been able to cover it up.
Although Consort Su was alive, she had always lived in Shengjing and was unaware of the affairs on the frontier.
Ruan Ruan and Lin Yu must still be hiding something; it's just a matter of whether the Emperor will truly believe Ruan Ruan this time.
Jiang Jinyan slowly entered the private room and bowed. "Please forgive Lin Yu's disrespect, Your Majesty. She didn't have any bad intentions; she was just too protective of Ruan Ruan."
Xie Shang didn't care about Lin Yu's attitude. He said in a deep voice, "How much do you know about your sister?"
Jiang Jinyan was taken aback for a moment, then quickly said, "Most likely! It's very hard for men to guess what girls are thinking."
Xie Shang said, "I only now realize that I don't understand her at all."
Jiang Jinyan's heart was pounding. Could it be that the Emperor still didn't believe Ruan Ruan?
"Do I truly love her?"
Jiang Jinyan was terrified; what could he do if he didn't love her?
"Compared to Jiang Fenghua, I am indeed quite a failure. I only now understand why she repeatedly said she wanted to establish a girls' school so that women could study like men and that women could also hold up half the sky. I thought her idea was too far-fetched, but it turns out that these ideas of hers did not come recently, but rather she had them long ago."
Jiang Jinyan was stunned, but remained expressionless for the time being.
“No wonder Ruan Ruan was so attentive when I was the Prefect of Jingzhao. She wanted to urge me back then to do practical things for the people and be a good official.” Xie Shang’s eyes suddenly reddened: “Jin Yan is right. Ruan Ruan is showing her affection for me in her own way.”
Jiang Jinyan said in a deep voice, "Ruan Ruan also hopes that your humble servant will be a good official."
In an instant, the two found common ground.
Xie Shang suddenly said, "I want to visit your maternal grandfather's house. I want to get to know Ruan Ruan better, to know how she grew up, and I want to love her properly."
Jiang Jinyan wondered to himself: Is the Emperor going to Yu County?
"Now I understand. Su Tingwan had a dream that she became the empress. She was delusional and shameless. Even the Su family wanted her to be empress so badly that they fabricated stories about a virtuous consort to deliberately plot against me. Fortunately, I did not believe Su Xuan's nonsense and did not do anything to harm Ruan Ruan."
He clenched his fingers. "Su Qingqing dared to fabricate a story about Ruan Ruan bewitching the monarch. Su Xuan can also fabricate a story about Ruan Ruan not being Jiang Fenghua to deliberately sow discord between me and Ruan Ruan. Have people thoroughly investigate Su Qingqing's whereabouts and make sure to catch the remnants of the Su family."
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