Chapter 698 There's More to the Story
Jiang Fenghua said, "Could it be that I have misunderstood? No, Hongxiu, what exactly happened? Tell me, and I will stand up for you."
Hongxiu said, "Nothing happened..."
Lianye was also very anxious: "Your Majesty, Your Highness, please don't ask Hongxiu. If you want to ask, ask how Chief Eunuch Cheng and his cousin Chunfang put on a show of being close cousins in the Imperial Household Department. The Cheng family is now prosperous, so our Hongxiu will not try to climb up to them."
"Lianye, stop talking." Hongxiu kowtowed to the two of them, then got up and left.
The group was left looking at each other in bewilderment. Cheng Feng was also very angry, not understanding why she was still unwilling to marry him. He could sense that Hongxiu liked him, and he had liked Hongxiu for many years. On the day the Emperor summoned him to the palace, he was so excited that he couldn't sleep.
Seeing Cheng Feng standing there dumbfounded, Xie Shang quickly said, "A man is one who can bend and stretch. Where did you get this cousin from that Hongxiu has misunderstood? Go and explain yourself."
"Your subject takes his leave." Cheng Feng bowed to the two men and then chased after them.
After Cheng Feng left, Jiang Fenghua frowned and asked Lianye, "What exactly happened?"
Lianye said, "Your Majesty, Your Highness, the matter is as follows..."
Hongxiu went to find Lianye and told her what Chunfang had deliberately said in front of her. She added, "What's most infuriating is that Steward Cheng and Chunfang even acted intimately in the storeroom. Even cousins should have a proper distinction between men and women!"
"I used to think Cheng Feng really liked Hongxiu, but I didn't expect him to reveal his true colors so quickly. It's a good thing the Empress didn't marry Hongxiu to him. He said on the surface how much he liked Hongxiu, but behind her back he was having an affair with his cousin." Lianye was very angry.
Xie Shang was speechless. Cheng Feng shouldn't be such a fickle person. Cheng Feng was a few years younger than him, and because of Steward Cheng, they had grown up together. Cheng Feng was very skilled in business and worked as a junior manager by Xie Shang's side, making him a capable assistant.
Jiang Fenghua hadn't expected this turn of events. She wanted to arrange marriages for the two maids, hoping they would get married together and have double happiness. How could this situation suddenly occur?
Xie Shang said, "Ruan Ruan, don't worry. Let them talk things out. I believe Cheng Feng is not that kind of person."
"Can you men be trusted?" she asked.
"Why can't I be trusted? I am someone Ruan Ruan can trust."
Jiang Fenghua remained noncommittal.
"I've been busy in Kunning Palace all morning, so I should go to the Imperial Study to handle official business." Before leaving, Xie Shang said to Jiang Fenghua, "I await good news from the Empress. Please take care of Lin Feng's marriage. I've wanted to find him a wife for a long time."
After saying that, Xie Shang left in high spirits. Jiang Fenghua stared at his back and felt that he was smug. Lin Feng and Lian Ye were getting married, what was he happy about?
Lianye said, "Your Highness is going to marry off this servant and Hongxiu!"
"If you don't get married, you'll become an old maid. I don't want you to stay single your whole lives."
“We once said we would not marry and would stay by Your Majesty’s side to serve you for life. But things are unpredictable. I have broken my promise. I feel very guilty. I shouldn’t have liked Lin Feng, but I couldn’t control my heart. Your Majesty, I’m sorry.”
"Silly girl, it's a good thing to have someone you like. I also hope that you can all be happy. You are all trying to make me happy, so how can I be so selfish as to not let you be happy? Besides, you can come to Kunning Palace to keep me and the children company after you get married. The two things don't affect each other."
Lianye's eyes reddened. "Your Majesty, Lianye can't bear to part with you."
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Over here, Cheng Feng caught up with Hongxiu, "Hongxiu, I'm sorry, now I know why you hit Chunfang."
Hongxiu's eyes were clear. "You feel sorry for me."
"No, I want to tell you that she is just my cousin, and it was only my mother and aunt who made me marry her. I don't like her at all. The person I like is you."
Hongxiu said in a deep voice: "You don't like her, yet you hold her and teach her to write, and use your power to bring her into the palace. Chief Eunuch Cheng abused his power and went to the Imperial Household Department, yet you still say you don't like her."
Cheng Feng then remembered that he had taught Chunfang to write a character in the storeroom. It turned out that she had gone to the storeroom and seen it. He quickly explained, "I didn't, I really didn't, and I didn't hug her. You must have seen wrong, you must have seen wrong. If you don't believe me, come with me to the storeroom. She was sitting on a stool, and I stood next to her and helped her write a character. I only sent her to the palace to suffer because my mother was annoyed with me, hoping to make her give up."
“But she’s making a mountain out of a molehill. With your cousin, Chief Steward Cheng, around, you can do whatever you want in the Imperial Household Department and no one will see it.” Hongxiu added coldly, “I didn’t expect you to blur the lines between public and private matters because of your mother.”
Cheng Feng was stunned, "I..."
Hongxiu said calmly, "Does Steward Cheng have great respect for your mother and aunt?"
Cheng Feng paused for a moment, then said, "Their feelings don't conflict with my liking for you. The person I like is you, and the person I want to marry is you. It has nothing to do with my mother."
"If your mother insists on stopping you from marrying me, will you listen to her and not marry me?"
"No," Cheng Feng replied firmly, "I will definitely marry you."
"If your aunt and mother come to you crying, making a scene, and threatening suicide to force you not to marry me, but to make you marry your cousin instead, what would you do?"
Cheng Feng said, "They won't."
"Isn't this how they forced you to enter the palace, and you still gave in? Later, when they force you to marry your cousin, you'll feel it's only natural. What are you going to do then?"
“These are different and cannot be confused. They are forcing me to marry Fang’er, which I certainly do not want to do. I only regard her as a younger sister.”
“Cheng Feng, after all these years, I don’t deny my feelings for you, and I’m very grateful that you’ve always liked me, but I can’t marry you.” Hongxiu had thought it through clearly. “The daughter-in-law your mother wanted was only your aunt’s daughter. I wouldn’t be welcomed if I married into the Cheng family. Back then, your father wanted me to marry you because he valued my abilities and thought I was suitable to be the matriarch of the Cheng family. I refused that year, and your father developed a rift in his heart. I’ve thought it over and over, and I know that marrying into the Cheng family won’t be an easy thing. Forget it.”
Cheng Feng said, "You like me, I like you, and we're together. Nothing else matters. Hongxiu, there's no point in thinking so much. As long as it's someone I want to marry, my parents won't stop me."
"I don't want to clean up the mess left by the Cheng family. I have more important things to do than deal with the Cheng family," she said in a deep voice.
Cheng Feng's heart suddenly sank. "A mess? Does that include me?"
She closed the door directly. Cheng Feng knew his mother's intentions, yet he still sent Chunfang to the palace to be alone with him for her sake. She didn't want to guess what he was thinking. She only knew that he compromised because of his mother's crying and fussing, and that he might give up on her for his mother's sake in the future.
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