Chapter 857 You continue!
Lady Helan hugged her tightly, saying, "Where are you going? If you leave, it will be the death of your mother. You are my flesh and blood. They don't want you, but your mother does."
The grievances that Helan Yanran had been holding in for the past few months were suddenly brought to light by Madam Helan. She hugged her mother and cried, "Mother."
"Mother is going to file a complaint with the Emperor. She will accuse Shang Hong of bullying my daughter. He is not human..." Madam Helan was willing to do anything for her daughter.
"No, Mother, it's all my fault. It's my fault, it has nothing to do with him."
"Even now, you're still defending him. Silly daughter, do you know that Shang Hong has been married and had children? He's been engaged to several girls in Shengjing. He was shameless enough to do such a shameful thing with that illegitimate daughter of the Zhu family in the palace. I never thought he would lay his hands on you. He's lying to you!" Madam Helan was both heartbroken and saddened. If she didn't love her own daughter, who would?
He Lan Yanran said, "We are truly in love. Later, the merchants pressured him to get married, and my status was indeed awkward. It's understandable that he couldn't marry me as his legal wife. I don't blame him..."
Jiang Fenghua wanted to slap her to death.
The next moment, Marquis Changping slapped Helan Yanran across the face, "You wicked girl."
When her daughter was beaten, Lady Helan was furious and wanted to fight with her husband. "Why are you hitting her? What does she know? It's all because you men coaxed and lied to her that she fell for it. If you have the guts, go and beat Shang Hong up. Then I'll respect you as a man."
Marquis Changping's face turned ashen. "A doting mother spoils her son. It's all your fault for indulging him."
He then bowed to Jiang Fenghua and said, "I'm sorry to have made a fool of myself in front of Your Majesty. It's all because I failed to properly educate my daughter that she made such a mistake."
Jiang Fenghua said calmly, "What's done is done. Even if the Marquis beats her to death, it won't change anything."
Marquis Changping suddenly knelt before Jiang Fenghua, pleading, "Your Majesty, please help the Helan family."
"I can't help you, Marquis. I regret helping Helan Yanran escape from the palace back then. If I had stopped it from happening, none of this would have happened."
Lady Helan stopped crying and knelt down in front of Jiang Fenghua, kowtowing and begging for forgiveness. "It was all my ignorance that led me to wrongly blame Your Majesty. Please forgive me, Your Majesty, for my longing for my daughter."
She knew that if her daughter's shameful affair were to reach the Emperor's ears, not only would her daughter be ruined, but the Helan family would also be finished.
"Your Majesty, please save Yanran! She cannot die. If my daughter cannot live, I will not live either." Lady Helan was now resorting to shameless tactics.
Jiang Fenghua recalled the face of Madam Helan when she was confronted with demands for her daughter's life. Indeed, human nature is selfish, and people will always consider things from their own perspective.
Now that her daughter is back, she is also pleading with her to save her daughter from a selfish perspective.
Whether you live or die is none of my business.
Jiang Fenghua came simply because she didn't want her life to have a stain or a handle that others could use against her.
Helan Yanran brought this upon herself, so let her die.
Xiao Yu suddenly spoke up, "Madam, please calm down. I have heard the whole story in a short while. This matter is indeed unrelated to Consort Lan, and also unrelated to Commander Shang."
The group was stunned, and even Jiang Fenghua stared at Xiao Yu with great interest.
Jiang Fenghua asked, "Does Lord Xiao have a solution?"
"I cannot guarantee it either, but compared to the crime of the guard and the Empress having an affair, the two were either drunk and acted recklessly, or they were framed and had no choice but to do something out of line. The Empress was also forced to come up with a way to send Consort Lan out of the palace that day," Xiao Yu said.
Jiang Fenghua thought for a while, then said, "Continue."
Xiao Yu stopped wasting words. The Helan family had already dismissed all the other servants, and there were no outsiders present. He said directly, "If I remember correctly, when Lord Shang and the concubine's daughter of Imperial Censor Zhu were together, someone drugged them, and in the end, Commander Shang was not punished."
Jiang Fenghua said in a deep voice, "Lord Xiao means that they were framed for committing illicit acts, and that they had to flee the palace only after discovering they were pregnant. However, Zhu Yiyi's identity is different from Helan Yanran's."
Jiang Fenghua's mind worked quickly. If the two of them had been drugged and then got together, and had taken the initiative to be together, the Emperor would have reluctantly accepted the cuckoldry out of consideration for the merchants and the Marquis of Changping's family.
"But who exactly is the person who wants to frame them?" Jiang Fenghua wondered.
Xiao Yu said, "We'll have to find them. Who's the most suitable depends on who Consort Lan has a grudge against, or who most wants to disrupt the harem."
Xiao Yu reminded Helan Yanran, "The premise is that Consort Lan and Commander Shang cannot have feelings for each other. They were forced. Your Majesty released Consort Lan out of the palace out of kindness and did not think so much. You did not expect that Commander Shang would also be threatened in the end."
Xiao Yu also learned about Shang Hong's help in getting the assassin into the palace from Jiang Jinyan.
Jiang Fenghua said in a deep voice, "I understand what you mean, my lord, but it is also dangerous to say it like this. The Emperor is not so easily fooled."
"Therefore, I suggest that Consort Lan put away her insignificant affection and change her mindset when she sees Your Majesty," Xiao Yu said calmly.
He Lan Yanran did indeed have feelings for Shang Hong. She felt that Shang Hong loved her too, and that he couldn't marry her simply because her identity was something that couldn't be made public.
Upon hearing this, Jiang Fenghua smiled faintly. In her opinion, He Lan Yanran and Shang Hong's relationship was insignificant. The only reason they were together was because of loneliness.
Now, Shang Hong's family wants to arrange a marriage for him with a beautiful bride, and he readily agrees, even instilling bad ideas in Helan Yanran.
Helan Yanran is pregnant with another man's child, and her power has already weakened.
Jiang Fenghua then asked Hongxiu, "When you and Shang Hong went to pick up Consort Lan, why was it only you who escorted her back? Did she go to the palace to see the Emperor?"
Hongxiu also scoffed, "When this servant and Lord Shang arrived at the villa, the Shang family had just arrived as well. They said that Madam Shang wanted to see Miss Yanran. Because I had to go back to the palace to report to Her Majesty, I didn't let Consort Lan go with the Shang family. Lord Shang should have gone home by now!"
Jiang Fenghua was deeply disturbed by the thought, "Madam Shang wants to see Helan Yanran alone, not that Madam Shang comes to see Helan Yanran. There is actually a difference between the two."
At this moment, Madam Helan's mind also started working. "The Shang family wants to marry the Shen family's daughter, and in order to cover up her son's disgrace, they took Yanran away. They must be trying to harm her. What a vicious heart they have!"
"Since they are so heartless, we don't need to reason with the merchants. We'll just take it to the Emperor and say that Shang Hong was tempted by Yanran's beauty and forced her into this situation," Lady Helan said in a deep voice.
The group was at a loss after hearing Lady Helan's impulsive remarks.
Lin Yu interjected, "According to what you're saying, Madam, things are back to square one. When the Shang family turns around and says your daughter deliberately seduced someone and used her pregnancy to blackmail them into leaving the palace, how will your Helan family be able to explain themselves? If things escalate, it will only be detrimental to Consort Lan."
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