Chapter 98 Someone Must Be Acting
The Crown Princess and others came to the garden. Pei Chong did not see Ruan Xiaoyue, and his eyes darkened. When he came, he had repeatedly urged her to resolve the past grievances with Ruan Qinghuan, but it seemed that she failed to do so.
Pei Chong didn't have to side with the prince, but given the current situation, he certainly couldn't go against the prince, so he wanted to find out the prince's attitude through Ruan Qinghuan so that he could have an idea.
When he came here, he ran into He An and wanted to take the opportunity to chat with him, but he ran into Ji Lingchuan and they went to the inner courtyard together. This was the prince's mansion, so he couldn't follow them, so he came to the garden and waited to see what was going on with Ruan Xiaoyue.
Now that he had failed on both ends, Pei Chong was feeling depressed.
Pei Chong felt frustrated after a series of failed attempts to answer the calls. Liu Yueru was dead and Ruan Xiaoyue could not be relied on.
I went to visit Jiang Jie a few days ago. Although he met him, he didn't mention anything about Lu Cheng. Even when he pretended to ask a few questions casually, he still avoided the topic and was obviously unwilling to talk about it.
After spending two thousand taels of silver, he didn't get any useful information. He could only swallow the bitter pill.
When the Crown Princess arrived, the nobles and ladies in the garden came to greet her. The Crown Princess smiled and said, "Today is just a normal garden party. You don't have to be so formal. Some of the flowers and plants in this garden are taken care of by me personally. Now they are blooming so beautifully. I don't want to be alone, so I held this garden party and invite everyone to enjoy it together."
"Thank you, Crown Princess, for your consideration." Everyone said in unison.
After walking through the corridor on the lake and arriving at the pavilion, a few people sat down and looked at the officials and their wives who were gathered in twos and threes and talking in the distance. They looked relaxed and at ease, but some of them had a hint of worry in their eyes.
Everyone was vying to attend the Prince's garden party, just to get some information out of it.
The Crown Princess and a few others were drinking tea and chatting when they suddenly heard a quarrel not far away. They were the wives of two officials from the Ministry of Revenue.
The two of them had been together for a while. When they first came to the garden, Ruan Qinghuan saw them talking and laughing. But after just a while, they started fighting?
There is a big age difference between the two. The older one is thinner, while the younger lady is very strong.
The young woman was furious and grabbed the other woman's collar and said, "How dare you, a shrew, gossip about me? My husband has always behaved in a proper manner. How can I allow you to slander him?"
"Who is slandering you? Your man usually follows Lord Qi around like a dog. Now that Lord Qi is under suspicion, he can't escape." The older woman was not afraid. She tried to pull the younger woman's hands away while speaking.
After hearing this, the young woman completely lost her mind and started fighting with him. After all, the old woman was thinner and could not take advantage of him, so she just had to deal with it reluctantly.
There were many people watching the excitement around, but after hearing what they were arguing, no one dared to move too close and only spoke a few words to persuade them symbolically.
The content of their quarrel was too sensitive and could easily lead to trouble.
The two of them fought and the curses became more and more unpleasant. The young woman was obviously not shrewd enough and slapped him in anger...
With a crisp "pop" sound, the thin official's wife turned twice and fell into the lake.
As soon as this happened, there was chaos in the garden. The Crown Princess winked at Nanny Xu, who quickly called the servants and went down to the river to rescue the people.
The young lady who beat the man was also dumbfounded at this moment. She just wanted to teach this old woman a lesson and didn't really want to kill her. Now that the man has fallen into the lake, what if something goes wrong...
Ruan Qinghuan saw her panic, but what came to his mind was the words said by the other woman before she fell into the river. She cursed the husband of this lady as a dog serving the Minister of the Ministry of Revenue.
"Are these two wives of officials crazy? How dare they act wildly in the Prince's Mansion?" Chu Li couldn't believe his eyes.
Ruan Qinghuan shook his head: "If it weren't in the Prince's Mansion, maybe the fight wouldn't have happened."
Chu Li was confused: "What do you mean?"
Amidst such a huge uproar, the Crown Princess' expression remained unchanged: "One of these two must be acting."
After saying that, he and Ruan Qinghuan looked at each other in tacit understanding. Only Chu Li was confused and a little upset: "Humph, you are just playing tricks on me and pretending that I can't understand these twists and turns."
These words made both Ruan Qinghuan and the Crown Princess laugh.
The man was quickly rescued. Although he swallowed some water, he was not in danger of death. He half-knelt on the shore and gasped for breath. After catching his breath, he pointed at the young woman and said, "You vicious woman, you dared to murder the official's family. You must be guilty of being a thief."
"I didn't. It was you who was slandering me. I was so angry that I did it."
Everyone looked at the Crown Princess walking out of the pavilion and stepped aside tactfully. The young woman was obviously frightened and knelt down in front of the Crown Princess: "I lost my composure today and ruined the Crown Princess's pleasure in the garden. I am willing to be punished."
The Crown Princess first had someone take the lady who fell into the lake down to change her clothes. After they left, she said calmly, "How could they fight while visiting a garden? As a wife of an official, it is really inappropriate to behave like this."
The young woman prostrated herself on the ground and said, "I know I am wrong and I am willing to be punished."
"Tell me, what are you two arguing about?"
The young woman lost her anger and remorse. She said, "Madam Chen said that my husband was in cahoots with Lord Qi and that my husband might have helped cover up Lord Qi's corruption."
Such words would normally make one tremble with fear. The young woman burst into tears, but she had to continue, "She is clearly slandering me. I am willing to guarantee it with my life. My husband is just a fifth-rank official who does menial tasks. He would never do such a shameless thing as embezzling money."
"You don't understand the affairs of the court, so why are you so sure?"
The young woman raised her head, her eyes were extremely firm, "I dare not lie to the Crown Princess. I am originally from Lucheng. When my hometown was hit by a disaster, I once donated money. Although it was not much, it was also a sign of my concern and care."
It was somewhat unexpected that she was from Lucheng.
At this time, the woman who had changed her clothes came back quickly and stepped forward to apologize: "I deserve to die for ruining the Crown Princess's garden party."
The servant brought a chair and the Crown Princess sat down. She did not try to persuade the young woman as she had just done, but said coldly, "Mrs. Chen is at least a fourth-rank official's wife. If I am not mistaken, you have been married into the Chen family for more than ten years."
"To reply to the Crown Princess, I have been married to the Chen family for seventeen years."
"Yes." The Crown Princess said in a calm tone: "If that's the case, as someone who has experienced this, you should set a better example. You made a scene in front of everyone, but are you dissatisfied with me in your heart?"
As soon as these words were spoken, the atmosphere around them suddenly became much more solemn, and the gentlemen and ladies surrounding them did not dare to say anything.
Behind the crowd, a young girl was watching this scene with anxiety in her eyes. After hesitating for a while, she finally walked through the crowd and knelt down in front of him: "My mother was reckless today. Please forgive me, Crown Princess."