Chapter 787 Ren Jingqiu, the Eldest Daughter of the Ren Family
However, the momentary daze only lasted a second before Gu Qianhan smiled faintly and said with a touch of pride, "Of course, A-Tang is the best woman in the world. Everyone else thinks she's lucky to have married me, but only I know that it's my good fortune to have married her."
Madam Gu glared at him: "You really take advantage of a few words of praise."
She poked Gu Qianhan's forehead with her finger: "I'm not praising you, I'm praising your wife!"
Gu Qianhan didn't mind being poked: "I thought Mother had bad eyesight and couldn't recognize people, but it turns out she can, and knows that Atang is good. From now on, I hope Mother will treat Atang better and more fairly."
"Do you need to tell me? Didn't you see I already gave her some good nourishing things?"
Just then, a maid rushed in: "Madam, something terrible has happened! Lord Meng has been impeached. I heard that the Emperor is extremely angry and wants to dismiss him from his post!"
Madam Gu's expression changed drastically: "What?!"
A barely perceptible sneer appeared on Gu Qianhan's face. The news had spread quite quickly.
Where is Yunlan?
"The eldest young mistress has already returned to her parents' home!"
"Wasn't Meng Deguang the most incorruptible official among honest officials? Wasn't he the most upright and honest official? How could he be impeached? What was the reason for his impeachment? Embezzlement? Or forming cliques for personal gain?"
"None of that! I heard it's the daughter of a disgraced official who was being kept in the family. That woman is pregnant with Lord Meng's child. This morning, she went to the Ministry of Justice and beat the grievance drum, saying that she was forcibly taken by Lord Meng!"
Madam Gu's mind was buzzing. She couldn't believe it: "Impossible, how could this be? Has Meng Deguang gone mad? How could he dare to do such a thing? Didn't he say that he has never been interested in women? Yunlan also said that her father is devoted to his official duties and doesn't care about romance at all. When he's busy, he doesn't even have time to come home..."
Before she could finish speaking, Madam Gu suddenly realized something.
You can't even go home?
Is it that he's too busy to reply, or that he has someone else outside and therefore doesn't want to go back?
She looked at Gu Qianhan: "You're always well-informed, do you know if this is true or a frame-up by your political enemies?"
Gu Qianhan said indifferently, "Mother, don't you think that if it were fake, would the Emperor be so angry? Would he want to dismiss him from his post?"
“Meng Deguang is an imperial censor of the Censorate. He has offended countless people over the years. So many people have impeached him before the emperor countless times, yet his official position has remained as stable as Mount Tai, all because the emperor protects him.”
"Now that someone has a handle against him, even if the emperor wants to protect him, he probably can't silence public opinion and can only punish him."
Madam Gu's face was extremely grim: "Then what should we do now? No matter what, he is your sister-in-law's father and your elder brother's father-in-law. If something happens to him, wouldn't it implicate your elder brother? Qianhan, you must think of a way to help the Meng family get through this crisis!"
Gu Qianhan certainly couldn't help find a solution, after all, he was the one who exposed this whole thing, and he was the one who had the woman rescued.
He glanced at Madam Gu and said indifferently, "Mother is still thinking of helping the Meng family. Do you know whose daughter the woman Meng Deguang is secretly keeping is?"
Madam Gu's heart tightened: "Whose daughter is she?"
"She is Ren Jingqiu, the eldest daughter of the former Grand Secretary Ren Hongru."
"What?!"
Madam Gu's expression changed drastically: "It's actually Ren Jingqiu?!"
She swayed, but luckily Granny Chang caught her and she didn't fall.
"This Meng Deguang, how dare he be so audacious as to even keep Ren Jingqiu as a pet?"
"Now, Mother, do you still want me to find a way to help the Meng family?"
Madam Gu opened her mouth, but couldn't utter a word.
Who would dare to help the Meng family?
The reason why the Ren family fell from power and was exiled was because the emperor was amazed by Ren Jingqiu's beauty after seeing her and wanted to take her into the harem, but the Ren family from top to bottom was unwilling!
At that time, Ren Jingqiu had just come of age and was only fifteen years old, while the emperor was forty years older than her!
Ren Hongru had risen to the position of Grand Secretary. In Dafeng, he was second only to the emperor, and even in the imperial court, the emperor occasionally had to make concessions to him.
How could he possibly bear to let his most beloved daughter marry a man older than himself? Even if that man were the emperor, he would refuse.
Therefore, he defied the imperial decree for his daughter's sake.
He even said that if he were to become the Grand Secretary and still couldn't protect his daughter, he wouldn't be willing to take the position!
As expected, the emperor ordered his men to gather a bunch of charges, whether true or false, and pin them all on Ren Hongru to force him to submit.
Ren Hongru remained unyielding to the death; the more pressured he was, the less he would agree to let his daughter enter the emperor's harem.
The emperor was furious and wanted to kill Ren Hongru. However, Ren Hongru had served as the chief minister for many years and had a lot of popular support. He also had countless protégés in the court, and when he attended court, a group of officials knelt down to plead for his life.
Therefore, the emperor could only sentence the Ren family to have their property confiscated and to exile them.
At the beginning of the raid on the family's property, Ren Jingqiu, the eldest daughter of the Ren family, mysteriously disappeared.
The emperor also sent people to investigate, but in the end, nothing came of it.
Now, five years later, Ren Jingqiu has reappeared in the capital, and the reason for her disappearance is that she was secretly hidden by Meng Deguang!
Madam Gu had met Ren Jingqiu before. She was indeed a woman of exceptional beauty. Despite her young age, every move she made possessed a captivating charm. Moreover, because she was protected by Ren Hongru, the Grand Secretary, she was quite innocent and naive, unaware of her own beauty.
With her stunning beauty and flawless purity, her fame was once at its peak; otherwise, the emperor wouldn't have fallen for her at first sight and insisted on taking her into his harem.
Even if she is beautiful and Meng Deguang likes her, he shouldn't have had those thoughts!
Seeing that Madam Gu remained silent, Gu Qianhan said calmly, "Father is probably already in the palace, berating Meng Deguang, because he knows that we not only cannot help Meng Deguang, but we must also distance ourselves from him."
Madam Gu closed her eyes: "How dare he? How dare he?!"
Meng Deguang dared to touch a girl that even the emperor hadn't touched?!
He's old enough to be someone's father, yet he has the nerve to force himself on her?
Ren Jingqiu is several years younger than Meng Yunlan!
Gu Qianhan, always eager for drama, added, "Oh, by the way, apart from this incident, Meng Deguang has indeed never done anything else involving corruption or bribery. He is truly an honest official; he never embezzles and never accepts any benefits."
Madam Gu opened her eyes and looked at him suspiciously: "Why are you speaking up for him again? What trick are you playing now? What are you up to?"
"Does Mother believe that the Meng family has ever experienced financial hardship or poverty?"
"No, the Meng family lives a very respectable life. Even before your sister-in-law married into our family, she already had excellent food, clothing, and housing. A single piece of her clothing cost over a hundred taels of silver, and her jewelry was also quite expensive—"
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