Just then, Meng Ruyan came over.
When Madam Fan saw Meng Ruyan, she was extremely excited, as if she had seen the God of Wealth.
"Miss Meng, you've arrived. Please have a seat."
"Mother, I'm a little hungry. Could you buy me something to eat?" Lin Shikang deliberately sent Fan Shi away.
Madam Fan wasn't particularly clever, but she wasn't stupid either. Knowing that her son wanted to be alone with Meng Ruyan, she laughed and replied, "Okay, then I'll go buy you some food. You two can chat slowly, have a good chat."
As soon as Madam Fan left, Meng Ruyan could no longer hold back and rushed over, sobbing softly, "Lin Lang..."
"I'm fine, what are you doing here?"
"Deng Hongjie is dead, I'm free now, so I packed my things and came to find you, Lin Lang. Let's never be apart again, okay?"
Lin Shikang sighed softly and said, "Ruyan, you know that I'm barely able to protect myself now."
"In the end, it's all because Yang Cui is too ungrateful."
Lin Shikang nodded: "To be honest, we can't blame Yang entirely. If my mother and clansmen hadn't forced and harmed Yang back then, things wouldn't have turned out this way. Now, it's still uncertain whether I can keep my academic achievements. Ruyan, if I have nothing, what can I use to treat you well? What can I use to support you?"
Meng Ruyan wept as follows.
"Ruyan, Deng Hongjie is dead now. You can find an honest man to marry and live out the rest of your life in peace."
"No! Lin Lang, I only want to be with you."
"But I..."
"Let's work together to find a solution and solve the problem!" Meng Ruyan's eyes were very firm. "Money! I have money! We can bribe the Yang family."
Lin Shikang shook his head: "It's no use. The Yang family is not the same as before. She doesn't even care about a few dozen taels of silver anymore."
Lin Shikang recalled that he had given Yang Cui fifty taels of silver that day. An ordinary family would have been jumping for joy upon seeing so much money, but Yang Cui remained completely calm!
This shows that money cannot sway Yang Cui; at least a hundred or so taels won't do. If it weren't for the fact that the current Yang Cui looks exactly like the former Yang Cui, Lin Shikang would have suspected that this Yang Cui was not the same Yang Cui as before.
"What should we do? We can't just sit here and wait to die!" Meng Ruyan was really anxious. "Then let's give her more money. If one hundred taels isn't enough, how about five hundred taels, or a thousand taels?"
Deng Hongjie was very generous to Meng Ruyan during his lifetime. In the two years she followed Deng Hongjie, Meng Ruyan had accumulated a lot of jewelry and silver. In addition, as one of the Nine Beauties of the South Huai River, her private treasury was already quite rich. Several thousand taels of silver were easily within Meng Ruyan's reach.
She was willing to go bankrupt for Lin Shikang.
"Giving the money to the Yang family may not completely solve the problem."
Lin Shikang knew very well that he needed to win over Yang Cui and also appease the imperial envoy. Otherwise, if Chen Shaoyun were to speak even slightly off-topic after returning to the capital, the outcome would be very different.
“We must take a three-pronged approach: Yang Cui is one, the child is another, and finally, there’s the imperial envoy Chen Shaoyun. As long as he’s on my side when we meet the emperor…”
Speaking is an art. Lin Shikang didn't expect Chen Shaoyun to commit the crime of deceiving the emperor for a nobody like him, but he should be careful when speaking. He could shift the blame to Chen Shaoyun's family, praise Lin Shikang, and with the Wang family mediating, he would have a better chance of preserving his official rank and continuing his career.
Lin Shikang added, "Chen Shaoyun is the direct descendant of the Chen family, a prominent family in the capital. If we can maintain a good relationship with him, it will be entirely beneficial to us."
Upon hearing Lin Shikang's words, Meng Ruyan immediately understood his meaning.
"How much money would it cost to bribe Chen Shaoyun?"
"Chen Shaoyun is the eldest son of the Chen family. He is neither short of money nor greedy for it."
"What do you want?"
Lin Shikang looked at Meng Ruyan with a troubled expression, remaining silent as if he wanted to say something but hesitated.
Meng Ruyan already had a guess in her mind.
Men's loves are nothing more than three things: money, power, and sex.
As the legitimate son of a prominent family and deeply trusted by the emperor, Chen Shaoyun was rich and powerful, and his only desire was lust.
Lin Shikang sighed: "Ruyan, I appreciate your kindness. Just take good care of yourself from now on."
Meng Ruyan felt that Lin Shikang was really too good to her, and even at this moment he was thinking of her. She couldn't help but tear up.
"Lin Lang, I'm willing to do anything for you. I want to face the storms with you. If you can't be well, how can Ru Yan be happy? Lin Lang..."
"Are you really willing to do anything for me?"
Meng Ruyan nodded vigorously.
"But Ruyan, the position of the principal wife can only belong to Mengyun."
"I don't care. Ruyan is just a courtesan, already a withered flower and a fallen willow. She dares not even dream of such things."
Lin Shikang held Meng Ruyan's hand and said affectionately, "I'm sorry you had to go through this. If I can get through this, I will never let you down in the future."
"With Lin Lang's words, I would do anything with joy," Meng Ruyan said. "Lin Lang, tell me, what do you want me to do?"
Lin Shikang hesitated for a moment, then said, "I want you to do two things for me. Chen Shaoyun is one of them, and the second..."
...
After Meng Ruyan left, Lin Shikang, despite his injuries, arranged to meet with Yin Zhihua, Sun Dewen and his son, Xu Chong, the dean of Nanshan Academy, and Li Minqing, Lin Shikang's mentor.
Yin Zhihua declined, citing illness, because he dared not get too involved with Lin Shikang due to Dao Ba's attitude.
Lin Shih-kang felt that Yin Chih-hua's change in attitude was due to the Star Gazing Tower, so he didn't connect it to anyone else.
Li Minqing originally did not want to meet him. Because of Lin Shikang's previous scandal, Li Minqing, as his mentor, was also affected and harbored resentment. It was only after Sun Dewen persuaded him that Li Minqing agreed to the meeting.
"When did you call us here to discuss this?" Li Minqing asked.
Lin Shikang didn't say anything, but directly took out two hundred taels of silver notes and placed them in front of them.
Li Minqing's expression was displeased: "What do you mean by this?"
"Teacher, Dean, Master Sun, I am preparing to establish a student aid group at Nanshan Academy."
“Student aid? What does that mean?” Li Minqing asked.
“There must be quite a few students from poor families like me in Wan’an County. I established the scholarship program to help students who are academically excellent but short of money.”
Everyone was shocked upon hearing this.
Master Sun was the first to react. He secretly admired Lin Shikang for coming up with this trick to turn the tide!
Lin Shih-kang's previous public apology and even his request for caning have presented him with a responsible image and salvaged his reputation. If the student aid program is managed well, Lin Shih-kang will definitely earn the respect of scholars worldwide!
What an honor!
His future status in the political arena will definitely be extraordinary!
By then, the negative impact of Lin Shih-kang's clansmen on him would not affect his career at all.
But where would a poor scholar who topped the imperial examinations get so much money?
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