One day, Prime Minister Shen was invited by a good friend to have tea. It happened that the storyteller in the teahouse was telling a story that had been widely circulated in teahouses and taverns recently.
As soon as Prime Minister Shen sat down, he heard the storyteller say, "Mr. Shen, if you pass the exam, will you come back to my hometown to find me?"
Prime Minister Shen's body stiffened and he looked back.
Then the storyteller continued, "Ah Ruan, whether you are in high school or not, I will spend the rest of my life with you."
"If I pass high school, I will take you to the capital to share the glory and wealth. If I fail high school, I will return to my hometown and farm with you and spend the rest of my life together."
Just two sentences made Prime Minister Shen stand still as if struck by lightning, unable to utter a word for a long time.
The storyteller continued, "Shen Lang eventually won the first place in the imperial examination, but he did not go back to Miss Ruan as agreed, but married the daughter of a high-ranking official."
"He returned to his hometown many years later to kill Ruan. He lured Ruan to the suburbs, coaxed her with many sweet words, and then pushed her off the cliff."
Prime Minister Shen just felt that he was having difficulty breathing. He staggered to his feet, and his friend was about to ask him what was wrong.
Prime Minister Shen waved his hands and said, "I feel a little unwell. I will go back to my residence to rest first."
Before his friend could say anything, Prime Minister Shen had already fled. All his actions were seen clearly by the spies placed by Gu Qichuan in the teahouse.
Ali and Gu Qichuan received the news quickly, and the couple exchanged glances.
"Look, if you do something shameful, you will always feel guilty."
Gu Qichuan nodded, "It all depends on how our Prime Minister Shen is going to act."
Ah Li narrowed her eyes slightly, "Let's wait for him to make a move first, then we can continue. If Prime Minister Shen just keeps getting beaten, then we have underestimated him."
Gu Qichuan smiled and said, "It's up to you."
Prime Minister's Mansion.
Prime Minister Shen returned to the Prime Minister's Mansion and went straight into the study.
He called the secret guard, "Go check the book of this story. When did it become popular? Who wrote this story? Who published it? We need to understand all the connections."
The secret guard went out to check and quickly brought the news back to Prime Minister Shen, "It was written by someone from the General's Mansion."
There was a brief blank in Prime Minister Shen's brain. It turned out to be Ah Li. Only Ah Li knew the story between him and Ah Ruan.
Prime Minister Shen stood up angrily. He raised his hand and swept everything on the desk to the ground. The crackling sound did not relieve the depression in his chest at all.
Does Ali really want him to die?
If this matter really spreads, his Prime Minister's Office will definitely lose face, and he will not even be able to sit firmly on the position of Prime Minister.
He originally thought that the combination of civil and military officials would allow him to control the court, and that he would be able to send a child with his Shen family bloodline to that position in the future. But now it seems that he might not live long enough to see that child born.
Prime Minister Shen took two deep breaths. Could it be that he and A-Li were really going to fight to the death? He was her biological father, how could she treat him like this, without caring about the father-daughter relationship at all?
If Ah Li were here, she would definitely ask him with a smile: When have you ever cared about the father-daughter relationship? When you need me, I am your daughter. When you don’t need me, I am just a straw. What a joke. Who cares about your father-daughter relationship?
Prime Minister Shen called his confidants to discuss how to calm the story.
He knew that Ah Li had made the story so popular not just for the sake of selling books, but that she would later reveal that Shen Lang was indeed Prime Minister Shen, and Ah Ruan was his first wife whom he had abandoned in the countryside.
He had to react in advance and discussed the matter with his confidants for a long time. He finally realized that the book was widely circulated and there was no way to take it back completely, nor was it possible to make the people forget the story.
Instead of doing this, it would be better to publish a few more stories in this series. Following the direction of the storybook, publish ten or eight more books. By then, the story in this storybook will be forgotten by the public and will not attract too much attention.
After the discussion was completed, Prime Minister Shen immediately ordered people to write the corresponding story.
Soon, other stories of tragic love began to spread in the capital.
After listening to the feedback from Songbai and others, Ali silently gave Prime Minister Shen a thumbs up. He was worthy of being the Prime Minister. He handled this matter very smartly.
It would be easier to handle if Prime Minister Shen directly used his power to suppress it, or tried to erase the story as much as possible.
It is more difficult to stop the people from talking than to stop the flood. He could not suppress the gossip in the hearts of the people. The more he dealt with it, the more curious they became. However, many similar stories came out, and people no longer had much interest in them after listening to them for a while.
Therefore, Ah Li published her third storybook, "Reborn Before Marrying the Scumbag", which is still the story of Shen Lang and Ah Ruan.
The setting of this story is that A'ruan was reborn. She knew from the beginning that Shen Lang would be an ungrateful Chen Shimei, so she stopped supporting Shen Lang and did not help him to respect his parents, causing him unrest in his backyard.
In the end, Shen Lang failed to graduate from high school and lived in poverty for the rest of his life, while A Ruan, thanks to the memories of her past life, made a lot of money, lived a happy life, and met a true lover.
As soon as this storybook came out, all the tragic love stories in the same series as Shen Lang and A Ruan suddenly became unpopular.
The story of rebirth is fantasy in itself, and with the previous tragic love story as a foundation, this rebirth is a refreshing story. Everyone loves to read it, and the story soon became popular throughout the capital.
At the same time, more and more people were speaking up for Miss A'ruan and scolding Shen Lang for being ungrateful.
Prime Minister Shen had a splitting headache when he received the news. He didn't expect that Ali could directly break his counterattack.
His daughter is really smart. If she can be loyal to him, the Shen family will surely reach the pinnacle of power in the future. But the person Ah Li has to deal with now is him...
In the blink of an eye, more than half a month has passed, and the topic of discussion is still the story of Shen Lang and A Ruan.
Someone revealed that this Shen Lang was their current Prime Minister Shen. As soon as the news came out, it caused a huge sensation.
Many insiders talked about the marriage between Prime Minister Shen and Cui Yuewei, and mentioned various details about Ah Li's life. It was a hot topic and everyone was curious and wanted to take a peek but was too shy to do so.
After all, it is the family affair of the prime minister of the current dynasty, but if the prime minister is really an ungrateful and scheming villain, then how can he be worthy of sitting in the position of prime minister.
Rumors were flying everywhere, and the only thing Prime Minister Shen could do at this time was to keep his mouth shut. He was not prepared to make any further response, as if this matter had nothing to do with him.
No matter what others said, he just thought that someone was trying to frame him. As long as he flatly denied it, no one would be able to accuse him.
After all, it was he who pushed A'ruan off the cliff with his own hands. He was sure that no one saw it, there were no witnesses, and no physical evidence.
All the villagers who knew about his marriage to A'ruan were dealt with by him, and there is no trace of this matter.
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