Chapter 530 Learning a Lesson from My Father-in-Law
Upon arriving at the study, Xie Shang also met Jiang Huai.
After Xie Shang ascended the throne and became emperor, his classes were reduced significantly. Therefore, in addition to teaching the emperor, Jiang Huai would also teach at the Imperial Academy in his spare time.
At this time, Jiang Huai was also preparing lessons. He was pleased that the emperor was working hard and studying very well, and that he had lived up to the late emperor's expectations.
Jiang Huai asked, "Why has the Emperor left the palace?"
Xie Shang didn't know whether he should tell them that Jiang Fenghua was no longer in the palace, and that Lin Yu had taken Jiang Fenghua away without telling her parents.
He said, "I was on my way to Huguo Temple to take care of some private matters, and I stopped by Jiang Mansion to visit. Ruan Ruan always thinks of you."
Jiang Huai smiled broadly, and when he talked about his daughter, he was even more doting, saying, "She just needs to live her own life and not worry about us all the time."
Jiang Huai often walked around the palace, and he had heard rumors about the discord between the emperor and empress. Ruan Ruan was the type to only report good news and not bad news, so he dared not tell these things to her mother.
What could he do if his son-in-law was the emperor? Even if his second daughter had married a small merchant instead of the emperor, as her father-in-law, he would still have no right to interfere in their marital affairs.
So Jiang Huai was torn between feeling sorry for his daughter and fearing the emperor.
At this moment, Feng Jingyuan was looking for portraits of the Jiang sisters, but Jiang Huai took out the books and textbooks that Jiang Fenghua had read when she was a child and showed them to Xie Shang. “Ruan Ruan has been serious since she was a child. She reads well and writes well. Heaven probably knew that I was a schoolteacher and gave me a daughter who loves to read.”
Speaking of his daughter, Xie Shang also felt proud: "My daughter also loves to read, and she reads better than my son. It's all thanks to Ruan Ruan's excellent teaching."
These words struck a chord with Jiang Huai, and in a moment of emotion, he spoke from the bottom of his heart, "I have no desires or wants in this life, and I have enjoyed the blessings of my children all my life. I am content, and I will have no regrets if I can die peacefully in my old age."
"I have another wish: to die after my wife, to accompany her through the rest of her life, so that she will never feel lonely or helpless, to share even the hardest times together, never to be separated. If she passes away first, I will then follow her in death."
Xie Shang said, "Your mother-in-law must really like your father-in-law, which is why he loves your wife so much."
He greatly envied the relationship between Jiang's parents. His parents did not love each other and even hated each other. His father told him not to have feelings, but was that wrong? He did not love Jiang Fenghua, and Jiang Fenghua did not love him, so their child would not feel loved.
Jiang Huai knew that the emperor had taken the emperor's words to heart when he heard the emperor change his form of address. "It is I who love her more. I tried every means to keep her by my side. I am a weak scholar who once had nothing. It took a lot of brainpower and effort to win Yuan'er's favor so that she could marry me. She may not like me, but I must like her first, even more than she likes me, so that she can feel happy."
Xie Shang kept pressing Jiang Fenghua about this issue, "How can I make her feel happy? What if she says she's not happy, or even if everyone thinks she's unhappy? I like her very much, but she doesn't like me." He was very bothered by this.
Jiang Huai thought to himself: So his daughter doesn't feel happy.
He's very vengeful and extremely protective of his own.
Jiang Huai said, "All unhappiness stems from not loving enough. If you don't love her enough, you won't learn to be tolerant."
Xie Shang thought: It's clearly because she doesn't love him enough.
Jiang Huai thought: The emperor has learned how to be an emperor and how to navigate the court, but he hasn't learned how to cherish his daughter. It seems he still needs to learn another lesson.
Jiang Huai said in a serious tone, "If a man doesn't have enough patience to cherish his wife and only uses equivalent conditions to calculate his wife's liking, then he doesn't deserve his wife's love and will grow old alone."
"I love my wife unconditionally, cherish her, care for her, and protect her. Only by giving first can you receive something in return, just like crops in the field. Without diligent cultivation and nurturing, will there be a good harvest? Instead of constantly needing others to love you, learn to love others first."
Jiang Huai sighed, "Ruan Ruan doesn't like the Emperor. Has the Emperor ever truly loved her, or is he not that fond of her, and is fickle, which is why he has no tolerance for her? My Ruan Ruan deserves the Emperor's love and care. If she doesn't love the Emperor, the Emperor should go back and reflect on the reasons!"
Because he had never experienced the joy of being loved by both his father and mother, that was why he liked the Jiang family.
He clearly loved her, but he always clung to the fact that she didn't love him, repeatedly speaking coldly to her. Whenever she said she didn't love him, he would try to provoke her and prove that someone else loved him.
Xie Shang desperately longed to be loved.
Jiang Huai's words woke him up. Ruan Ruan didn't love him because he didn't love her enough, so he wouldn't be tolerant. It wasn't her fault that she didn't like him, but his.
She clearly said that in their previous life she had always loved him deeply, but she had accumulated enough disappointment and stopped loving him.
He was eager to find the answer.
Just as Xie Shang was about to leave, Feng Jingyuan brought out a pile of portraits of Jiang Fenghua. She called out to him urgently, "Your Majesty..."
Xie Shang stopped in his tracks. "Mother-in-law."
"These are all portraits of Ruan Ruan when she was little. My Ruan Ruan is very well-behaved." How could Feng Jingyuan not know that her daughter and the emperor did not get along? She just didn't want to show it and make her daughter worry. She was practically saying that my Ruan Ruan is very well-behaved and that the emperor should love her more.
Now, Xie Shang only wants to find Jiang Fenghua. He doesn't care who comforted and encouraged him during his youth; he loves Jiang Fenghua. Even if the little girl he finds isn't Jiang Fenghua, can he really give up on her?
He couldn't abandon Jiang Fenghua for anyone else.
She lied to him about not having entered the palace when she was a child. He thought: Jiang Fenghua must have seen him when she was a child. He already had the answer in his heart: she was that little girl.
"I'll look into it later. I have other matters to attend to now, so I'll be leaving now." He didn't linger for even a moment and left the Jiang residence directly.
Feng Jingyuan's eyes welled up with tears. "Why did he bully my Ruan Ruan? My Ruan Ruan is perfectly fine."
Jiang Huai hugged his wife and comforted her, "Don't worry, Ruan Ruan will be happy."
Since returning from the Emperor's birthday banquet, Feng Jingyuan had been in a daze. Now, she thought of the Emperor asking her about Ruan Ruan's childhood and asked, "Did our Ruan Ruan go to the palace when she was little?"
Jiang Huai said, "I've been there, but only once. I remember it very clearly. She had just lost her front tooth and was all bald. When she grinned, she looked really ugly."
"My husband didn't paint her ugly face, did he?" Feng Jingyuan looked through all the portraits; every single one of them was beautiful.
"No one draws them. Who would bother to draw her front teeth? They're all drawn beautifully. If they're even slightly ugly, she'll tear them up."
Feng Jingyuan continued, "But the Emperor seems to care a lot about this matter. He even knows how old Ruan Ruan was when she started losing her baby teeth. Ruan Ruan entered the palace around that time. Did they meet in the palace when they were little?"
Jiang Huai fell into deep thought. It was a common saying that the emperor at that time was not favored by the late emperor.
"Ruan Ruan was initially fond of the Emperor, which is why she was so happy when the late Emperor bestowed the marriage upon her." Feng Jingyuan thought of her daughter's joyful anticipation of marriage, and now that her marriage was in trouble, she didn't know how to help her daughter.
A sly glint flashed in Jiang Huai's eyes. "We must make the Emperor like Ruan Ruan more, so that Ruan Ruan won't suffer any losses."
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