Chapter 178 A Small Investment for a Big Return
For some reason, even though the weather was so cold, Shang Ruyi's ears felt hot when she saw his gleaming gaze.
Before her face became too hot, she stood up and said, "I... I need to go back and rest."
"..."
Yuwen Ye glanced at her and said, "Go ahead."
Shang Ruyi nodded, then turned and left the dining hall with Tu She'er and Wo Xue.
Stepping out of the dining hall, a gust of cold wind blew in, instantly calming her slightly throbbing head. Looking back, she found it strange that she had suddenly blushed and felt hot in the ears, and couldn't help but rub her cheeks.
Just then, Tushe'er behind her said, "Miss..."
Shang Ruyi ignored her and only said to Wo Xue, "You should go back and make the bed for me right away."
Wo Xue smiled and said, "This servant understands."
After saying that, he walked quickly forward and soon disappeared into the night.
Shang Ruyi then turned around and saw Tu She'er with a hesitant expression. She smiled faintly and said, "Just ask whatever you want to ask. You look like you can't keep anything to yourself."
Tushe'er quickly moved closer to her and whispered, "Why is Miss getting involved in this matter?"
Shang Ruyi smiled enigmatically: "Shouldn't I interfere?"
Tushe'er lowered her voice even further: "But didn't Miss say before that it's not yet time for you to be the steward?"
"..."
"This was just a theft in the tea room, it has little to do with you, Miss, why are you making such a fuss..."
Shang Ruyi said, "Although it was the tea room that was robbed, it is Changwan who is being framed. Changwan will implicate Jinyun, and Jinyun will directly implicate my mother-in-law. This is the other party using a small amount to gain a large reward. I absolutely cannot sit idly by."
"other side?"
Tushe'er's expression grew even more tense: "Miss means—"
Shang Ruyi didn't say anything more, but walked straight ahead. When she returned to the room, the brazier was already burning hot, and the room was warm and cozy. The bed was also made up. Wo Xue placed a cup of hot tea next to her and then left. Tu She'er closed the door and then walked back to Shang Ruyi's side, looking at her with sparkling eyes.
While drinking tea, Shang Ruyi said, "It seems that Uncle Gui was the one who stole the cup to slander Chang Wan, but look at the result. He didn't even get the cup. Instead, he had to spend money to have Hu Hua clean up the mess. He's willing to do something for no benefit at all. There's only one reason: his goal was to slander Chang Wan."
"..."
"But he had no grudge against Changwan, so there was no need for him to spend money and not please her. Therefore, he was acting under someone else's orders."
"..."
"And the person who ordered him—"
Tusheer lowered her voice: "Aunt Hui?"
Shang Ruyi smiled and said, "Yes, not stupid."
Tushe'er frowned: "What does Aunt Kehui mean by doing this?"
Shang Ruyi said, "Didn't I just say that Changwan is implicated by Jinyun, and Jinyun is implicated by the Madam? During the Madam's funeral, Changwan was caught stealing a cup—and it was the Madam's cup no less! This will definitely be blamed on Jinyun for failing to discipline her properly. With the Madam gone, her backer has fallen. If no one helps her, she certainly won't be able to stay in the Duke's mansion."
"..."
“If she can’t stay, then what chance do the other people around the lady have?”
Tushe'er gasped: "So, that's how Aunt Hui used a small investment to achieve a huge result, using Changwan to completely eliminate all of the official's people!"
Shang Ruyi nodded.
Tushe'er sighed, "How ruthless! She always seems so smiling, but I never imagined she'd be so unscrupulous when it comes to taking action!"
Shang Ruyi smiled faintly, "They're not dead or injured. This is nothing."
"..."
"But it's also clear that her scheming, cunning, and methods are indeed extraordinary."
Tushe'er said with increasing worry, "Then I understand even less why Miss is taking the lead. Didn't you say before that you didn't want to go against her?"
Shang Ruyi said, "I don't want to confront her, but I just don't want to confront her directly. In fact, I was destined to be her opponent from the very beginning, and she was destined to be mine. This was destined when this marriage was arranged."
Tushe'er thought for a moment and said, "Because you refused to marry the eldest young master, Miss?"
Shang Ruyi nodded.
She said in a deep voice, "The conflict between me and Aunt Hui is irreconcilable. As long as I don't provoke her, everything will be fine. But this time I can't stand idly by, because as I said before, I'm only not taking the power of housekeeping now, not because I'll never take it back. But if I do nothing now and let her eliminate all the people I can use in the mansion—especially the group left by Mother—then even if I want to take it back in the future, I'm afraid I won't be able to."
Tushe'er understood and said, "Is Miss preserving her strength for the future?"
She thought for a moment, then said, "Then, does the Duke not understand Miss's good intentions?"
Shang Ruyi looked at her with a smile in her eyes: "What do you think?"
Meanwhile, in the dining hall on the other side, the kitchen staff had already cleared away all the cups, bowls, and plates from the table. Yuwen Cheng had finally finished eating and burped, saying, "I just don't understand why my second sister-in-law went to so much trouble to drag him to the courtyard and give him forty lashes. He confessed everything. Why did we need to keep asking him questions?"
Yuwen Ye frowned slightly as he looked at him.
After a long pause, he said somewhat helplessly, "Yan Jie, you can't just rely on your strength. You have to use your brain when necessary."
Yuwen Cheng said, "Hmph, I just don't like it."
"..."
"I just think that fists and swords are more useful than brains. Otherwise, if I had gone and beaten up that Hu something-hua, I guarantee he would have confessed faster than he could vomit."
Yuwen Ye shook his head.
Yuwen Cheng probably felt that he couldn't see eye to eye with him, so he got off the table and left.
Inside the dining hall, he was the only one left sitting, watching the night deepen outside the window. After an unknown amount of time, he finally saw Mu Xian hurriedly walk in from the darkness, carrying a brocade box in his hands. Upon opening it, he found the stolen Yue kiln cup.
Mu Xian smiled and said, "Young master, the jade has been returned to its rightful owner."
Yuwen Ye looked down at the cup's warm luster and smooth lines, like the aura surrounding his mother when she was alive, always giving him a sense of peace. And tonight, someone had preserved that peace of mind, which made him even more at ease.
He said, "Send it to the tea room and tell them to keep it safe and not let it get into any trouble."
"yes."
Mu Xian picked up the box and was about to leave when he heard Yuwen Ye call him again. He quickly stopped and asked, "Is there anything else you need, young master?"
Yuwen Ye asked, "How did you know we were going to the Dengfeng to retrieve something?"
"It was the young mistress's order."
"She gave the order? She's been working at home these past few days, how could she possibly have connections to know it must be the Dengfeng? At the very least, she should have sent you out to search the whole city."
"I also find this matter strange. However, when I went to Dengfeng before, I specifically asked the owner if anyone had inquired about this cup before. The owner said that a young man did come to ask about it."
Who is it?
"The person didn't leave a name, but from the shopkeeper's description, he was in his twenties, about my height, and spoke with a southern accent. He seemed to be—the guard who escorted the young mistress of the Shen family to her wedding."
Yuwen Ye frowned: "Gao Feng?"
Mu Xian said, "It's him."
"..."
"Speaking of which... the young mistress came to me that day and asked us to do something, which must have been this."
Did you go?
"..."
Mu Xian immediately lowered his head, speechless with shame.
Yuwen Ye frowned as he looked at him, a hint of anger on his face. But after thinking for a while, he couldn't bring himself to lash out. After a long silence, he said, "You, listen carefully to me, and pass this message down to everyone—from now on, you must listen to every single word she says, and you must do exactly what she says!"
"..."
"No matter what our situation is, no matter what."
Mu Xian immediately understood and hurriedly said, "Young master, rest assured, we will do our best to serve the young mistress."
Yuwen Ye then waved his hand, and Mu Xian immediately left.
When the last candle in the dining hall went out and he got up to leave, it was already very late at night.
The wind was cold, but when Yuwen Ye pushed open the door and stepped into the warm room, he didn't feel much hotter. Instead, when he saw the familiar, slender figure on the bed, the sweat on his palms became even stickier.
He closed the door behind him, walked over quietly, and stopped by the bedside.
Shang Ruyi lay peacefully on the bed, sleeping with her eyes closed. The soft quilt only covered her shoulders, and her neck was supposed to be exposed. However, her jet-black hair, whether because she had turned over earlier or because it was not properly arranged when she lay down, was half-covering and half-wrapped around her neck, which actually protected her.
Looking at her fair face, where she was completely unconscious from sleeping, Yuwen Ye felt a surge of anger for some reason.
He hated her obliviousness the most.
Every time she appears completely unaware, it's when she's most self-righteous. Every word she says seems harmless, yet it pierces the heart, making her even more detestable than her scheming nature.
Just thinking this made Yuwen Ye grit his teeth.
Whether it was from a dream or from an innate sensitivity to sight, even Shang Ruyi, who was fast asleep, seemed to feel a little uneasy because of his clenched teeth. She frowned slightly and her body unconsciously twisted.
With this movement, the hair around her neck became tightly wrapped around it.
The sleeping person immediately felt a shortness of breath. Although it wasn't suffocation, she couldn't help but open her mouth and let out two low gasps.
"snort!"
Yuwen Ye sneered, as if watching a joke. But after watching for a while, seeing that she was really uncomfortable, he leaned down for some reason and gently picked up a strand of black hair from her neck. He then discovered that her hair was thick and heavy in his hand.
When her black hair was swept back, a section of her snow-white neck was revealed.
Yuwen Ye's breath hitched.
Actually, I've seen her neck before when she's wearing light clothing in the summer, but I've never seen it like this before. It's so slender and snow-white, and the black hair on her hands makes it look even more lustrous and white, as if it were made of jade, and it even exudes a faint fragrance...
At this moment, perhaps sensing something, Shang Ruyi murmured and moved again. The blanket slipped down, revealing her slender shoulders and a sharp collarbone.
Yuwen Ye's breathing gradually became heavy and hot.
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