Su felt like she had turned into a little girl again. "I...I'm afraid that you're not actually happy to marry me. After all, you were still unconscious when I came in. I'm even more afraid that you'll think that I caused my sister's death..."
"Is there anyone in this world who understands your kindness better than me?" Yun Yue chuckled softly, his chest trembling. "Remember, I am happy, I am overjoyed. I was just thinking that letting you enter the family under the guise of a marriage to bring good luck is really too unfair to you. I want to have another wedding and formally marry you."
Madam Su shook her head. "No, no, no, it's not necessary. I'm a divorced woman, and you're a widower. We're already married, so why hold another wedding? It would be a laughingstock."
“In that case…” Yun Yue pondered, then suddenly released her, picked her up horizontally, and strode toward the bed.
"Ah!" Madam Su exclaimed softly, "What are you doing?"
“You said there was no need for another wedding. So let’s…” He placed the little girl on the bed, leaned down and kissed her, and after a long while he released her, he said in a low, husky voice, “Let’s have our wedding night together.”
Su was stunned. When did her usually cold and serious cousin become so reckless?
She shook her head. "No, no, we still have to go to the palace later, don't we?"
“It’s not like the Emperor summoned you. You can come to the palace this afternoon.” With that, he kissed her again.
Neither of them were naive teenagers, and both had once been young and infatuated. Now that their inner conflicts had been resolved, they quickly became intimately entwined in each other's arms.
...
Half an hour later, Su, with half her face covered, said coquettishly, "Mother called me to the main courtyard to handle important matters. Now I'm too ashamed to face anyone."
Yun Yue laughed heartily, "Don't you know that the important matter Mother asked you to handle is none other than me?"
"Stop talking nonsense!" Madam Su's cheeks turned even redder.
Yun Yue carried him, blanket and all, to the private room for a bath. "To enter the palace and meet the Emperor, one must burn incense and bathe to show respect. Isn't this the proper thing to do?"
Su exclaimed, "You rascal!"
"Hahaha--"
After the two frolicked in the water for a while, Yun Yue asked seriously, "What's going on with the Jiang family? How did you end up divorcing Jiang Mingyi?"
Madam Su was taken aback for a moment before she chuckled and said, "You look like you're trying to stand up for me? What, if the Jiang family hadn't been such scoundrels, I wouldn't have been able to marry you."
Yun Yue pulled her into his arms and said domineeringly, "Of course I am grateful to the Jiang family for their despicable behavior, but I will definitely seek justice for you, Xiao Youran, and Chen Ge'er for the wicked things they did to you!"
Madam Su was deeply moved. "Well, the story begins two years ago when the Lady of Yong'an celebrated her forty-fifth birthday..."
She recounted how she was almost framed at the Earl's mansion, how she saw through the schemes of Madam Gao and Madam Earl, and how she angrily divorced Jiang Mingyi.
"After returning to the capital last year, I realized that Jiang Mingyi and Princess Qingping had been having an affair for some time. I suspect that the princess was already pregnant when they got married. Later, he repeatedly tried to harm me and Xiao Youran. Xiao Youran suspects that I might have discovered some secret about their household, a secret that could potentially affect the lives of hundreds of people in the entire household." Madam Su said regretfully, "Unfortunately, I just can't figure out what kind of secret it could be that could be related to us and hundreds of people in the household?"
Yun Yue's expression turned serious. "Last time you wrote to remind me to secretly investigate the treason case and its connection to the Northern Di people, and sure enough, you found a traitor within the Dingzhou army. But we still can't find any connection between Jiang Mingxin and this case. If there really is a connection, then all of this makes sense."
Jiang Mingxin was the third son of the Yong'an Marquis's family. After Yun Yue was dismissed and exiled, Jiang Mingxin took over his military power.
"How so?"
"The Jiang family clearly colluded with Prince Rong's mansion long ago, forced you and your children out of the Earl's mansion, and then used the opportunity to seize my military power. They've made up their minds to rebel with Prince Rong's mansion! They're afraid that if you find out, they'll leak the information to the Yun family. That's why they've distanced themselves from you. In the end, you're implicated because of me!"
"What?!" Madam Su exclaimed in shock. "Is the Prince Rong's Mansion going to rebel?"
Yun Yue sneered, "If not for that, how could that incompetent Jiang Mingli have become the Minister of Revenue in one fell swoop? Of the six ministries in the cabinet, four—Revenue, Justice, War, and Personnel—were already under the control of Prince Rong. After Cao Ming of the Ministry of Revenue was imprisoned, Jiang Mingli was quickly recommended by Prince Rong to take power. Prince Rong thought that the Ministry of Revenue was still under his control, but unexpectedly..."
He suddenly lifted Su's chin and pecked her lips, chuckling, "Unexpectedly, Madam is so clever, coming up with a method of court recruitment that allowed Ye An to make a great contribution. It's like the Emperor was just getting a pillow for him when he was sleepy. He simply placed both Ye An and you in the Ministry of Revenue. That's how a crack was opened in the Ministry of Revenue!"
While dodging his kisses, Madam Su suddenly realized, "Old Master Ye said I brought him good fortune in his official career, but actually, he brought it to me. If it weren't for him, I wouldn't even be a fifth-rank lady..."
Yun Yue pressed her against the bathtub and kissed her. "Why bring up this old man?!"
Su: ...
After a long pause, she asked breathlessly, "But that doesn't make sense! If they want to force me to leave, I will leave. I even took my children away from the Jiang family, so why did he target us three? He seemed determined to kill us?"
Yun Yue paused for a moment before saying, "By Jiang Mingyi's side, there is a peerless master bodyguard named Feng Ying. Even the five bodyguards around the princess couldn't last ten moves against him."
Mr. Su was shocked: ...
So, Jiang Mingyi was still soft-hearted and couldn't bear to kill them with one blow.
Yun Yue suddenly pulled her down again, "However, it's true that he wanted to harm you, and I will never let him get away with it!"
...
In the afternoon, Yun Yue indeed went to the palace to meet the emperor.
However, he left alone, without waking up the exhausted and sleeping Su.
When Madam Yun learned of the commotion in the main courtyard, she beamed with joy.
She even specially called Xiao Youran to stay by her side so that she wouldn't disturb her mother's rest.
Xiao Youran then specially invited the opera troupe that specialized in training young actors to the mansion, and gave Old Madam Yun a performance of a young version of "The Case of Chen Shimei".
This made Old Madam Yun even happier.
Xiao You Ran then called the troupe leader aside and handed him a script for "Little Nezha".
The troupe leader was overjoyed. As he took the new script, he took out a stack of silver notes and said, "This is the profit sharing from 'Farewell My Concubine' and 'The Case of Chen Shimei' over the past few months."
Xiao Youran took it, didn't even count it, and stuffed it into her sleeve. She chuckled and said, "Master, I heard that some people with rather abnormal hobbies have come to you?"
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