Chapter 127 Make False Countercharges
Sure enough, after a few hours, Fang Zijun took advantage of his great-grandfather’s death to murder the concubine of his father and try to frame his official mother, which had been spread all over the city.
Fang Nongyan thought it over and over again. He finally felt that he could marry another favorite concubine, but his only son was important. So he had to clean up Fang Zijun’s biological mother, Hua, in accordance with the crime of instigating Fang Zijun to slander the lady of the house. In order to press things down quickly, he sank Hua into a river overnight.
But what he did not expect was that the day after Hua sunk the river, in the Jing City, there were rumors that Ruan Qingyan was dissatisfied with his demotion for more than a decade and lost all his spirit, and he got a chance to return to the Jing City on his own. He deliberately designed Fang Zijun to slander his official mother in order to take the opportunity to get rid of Hua and Yan, so as to make it convenient for Ruan Ciyi to control the backyard.
“It must be true!” Fang Zijun tugged at Fang Nongyan’s sleeve and shouted reluctantly, “I didn’t hurt mistress Yan. Father, you must believe me.”
He had always been strictly taught by Hua to target his official mother and mistress. His mind was far more mature than that of ordinary children. How could he not understand that his birth mother who gave him advice now was dead, and he was burdened with slander against his official mother? Even if he were instructed by his biological mother, he had a criminal record of directly attacking mistress Yan. He also knew that unless Fang Nongyan had only one son in his life, it would be difficult for him not to fall out of favor in the future.
Now he heard the rumor as if he had caught a lifesaver. Relying on Fang Nongyan’s previous favor and that at present he had only one son, Fang Zijun cried and made a scene, insisting that he had been fooled by the Ruan family, “I’ve been curious about that we are also relatives of the official mother. Why did the Commandery Princess Ningyi keep a straight face when I dropped a Persian cat? Uncle Ruan dotes on me so much. Now it seems that he is just trying to trick me. He pretends to be like that.”
“Father, think about it. The official mother clearly fainted at that time. Why did the maid, Dongran, tell me that the official mother returned home, and the others including the Commandery Princess Ningyi did not refute or remind me.” Fang Zijun cried so much that Fang Nongyan was covered with tears and snot, “They set me up, father! It’s all because I wasn’t born to the official mother. I’m sure my official mother hates that I am usually not respectful to her, so she colludes with her family to hurt me.”
He continued to say, “My official mother can hurt me. How can she not hurt mistress Yan? All the children born to my official mother are dead. I am the eldest son now. Mistress Yan is no more than a concubine. Even if she gave birth to a younger brother, he couldn’t compete with me in terms of status. How could I hurt him?”
When Fang Nongyan listened to her son’s crying and analysis, his mind was also very complicated. Although he was demoted to Hezhou for many years and could not be promoted, his heart was like dead ashes a few years ago. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have spoiled him like this. He looked smart, but he was stupid. But it was impossible for him not to know the character of these people in his family because he had the background of passing Metropolitan Exam.
As a matter of fact, the possibility of Ruan Ciyi plotting to murder mistress Yan was not high. His first wife had had the act of being jealous in the early years. She was very opposed to his marrying a concubine. But since one son and two daughters died one after another, Ruan Ciyi was badly hit. She not only pined away, but also didn’t want to take care of the things in the backyard. After that, when he married someone, Ruan Ciyi just agreed and didn’t even ask him.
On the contrary, Hua and his son caused a lot of trouble in the backyard because a mother had status because of his son, and his son had his mother’s favor. Over the past two years, they had bullied Ruan Ciyi because there was no one in her family, and she had no children. They had long regarded Ruan Ciyi’s rich dowry as their belongings. As for the Fang Family returning to the Jing City, Hua and his son were not only happy to be able to enter the prosperous imperial capital, but also resented that the Ruan Family had an heir son. This time, Yan’s miscarriage framed Ruan Ciyi. In addition to the danger of the second son or eldest daughter falling to the ground to compete with Fang Zijun for favor, it not only allowed the Ruan Family be blamed and gave them a chance to plunder the industry. No matter what he thought, it must be Hua who instigated his son to do it.
The problem was that he just knew it. There was a saying that when the water was too clear, there were no fish. Xue Chang who was the Premier even tried to get his beloved concubine to live in harmony with his eldest son, but he failed, not to mention Fang Nongyan.
He knew clearly that his wife was wronged, but he couldn’t dislike Fang Zijun because of this.
In any case, he was a spoiled son like a sweetheart. Especially he had the only one son now.
Sinking Hua into the river, he had been heartbroken….
“Don’t talk about that.” After a long silence, Fang Nongyan felt that now that he had paid the price of his concubine’s death, it was not worthwhile for him if he was estranged from the Ruan Family because of Fang Zijun’s words.
Even if his beloved concubine and son were all cheated by Ruan Qingyan, could he fight with Ruan Qingyan now? Even if both of them were on the same list of level seven, the compilation and revision of the Hanlin Academy, which all scholars in the world yearned for, couldn’t be compared with the unprofitable Yamen like Institute of History.
The former was the only way to be Premier, and the latter? Haha!
So Fang Nongyan told his son, “There are still many places where I need to rely on your uncle Ruan. The identity of your aunt, Ningyi, was also extremely honorable. We have just returned to the Jing City. This is not a small county in Hezhou. The well-off people in the county don’t dare to offend you. I am really nothing, and far less honorable than your uncle Ruan. So in the future, you should treat your official mother like your own mother, which is good for you.”
Before he finished his words, Fang Zijun screamed with resentment on his face, “She killed my own mother! You want me to treat her like my own mother?”
“…” Fang Zijun choked. He was not only pleased that he ordered Hua to sink into the river, but his son didn’t hold a grudge. However, he had a headache that his son hated his wife so much. He would be targeted by the Ruan family sooner or later. He was in a moment of hesitation. The servant came in to announce, “The imperial astronomer sent someone here. That person said that he wants to talk to you alone.”
“Please come in!” When the boss sent someone here, how dare Fang Nongyan to snub? Then he asked someone to take his son away and busily went in and changed his clothes and went out to entertain him.
It was the third day before burial. Almost no one came to mourn the dead.
After all, although Ruan Qingyan had a great future, he had been in Hanlin Academy for less than a year and had a shallow foundation. And because General Ruan died suddenly, he had to escort the dead on the last trip back to Laizhou. There was not enough time to pack up in three days, at least for seven days. In the evening, Qiu Yelan saw that no one would come after the afternoon. No one would come when it was getting dark, so she opened the curtain to persuade Ruan Qingyan not to be too sad and go to lie down behind.
As a result, Ruan Qingyan waved his hand and refused her proposal. Instead, he pulled her to kneel down together and whispered, “I’m leaving in two days. You have to be careful these two years. I have already made a deal with Young Earl Ling about your adoptive mother. It was impossible for Princess Royal Maode to mourn the dead in person, so she would wait a few days before she found a reason to recognize you.”
Qiu Yelan was really not interested in finding an adoptive mother, but she didn’t dare to tell Ruan Qingyan that she was protected by Jiang Yashuang and let him not worry. So she obediently agreed.
She also heard Ruan Qingyan explain, “Fang Nongyan can be rich together, but it is impossible to share adversity together. He is not the best match for the older sister. The death of the three children born to the older sister has something to do with the backyard. He unexpectedly took it out on the older sister when he was implicated by his grandfather. The beloved concubines spoke ill of the older sister to her husband. Not only does he turn a blind eye to her, but he even blamed the older sister for not taking good care of the children. It’s just that the older sister thinks about the love between them and doesn’t want to divorce him. I am originally going to remind Fang Zijun and ask the doctor to recuperate the older sister’s health so that she could have another son to rely on.”Read latest chapters at L istnovel.com
At this point, he sighed, “It’s just that our grandfather is suddenly dead now. I’m leaving Laizhou, but you all need to stay here. There has been no one to take care of you in these two years. Not to mention that you will be wronged, in case something goes wrong when I return to work after the end of my mourning period. I am afraid that the older sister will continue to be snubbed by the Fang family. Now I can only deal with it quickly. Even if the older sister didn’t want to divorce him, I couldn’t let her continue to live with Fang!”
He lowered his eyes and said seriously, “After all, we are the only three blood relatives at this moment. The older sister is so haggard now. I don’t want to mourn her when I return to the Jing City three years later. So even if she didn’t want to do it, I would do it for her.”
Qiu Yelan had long disliked Fang Nongyan because of Fang Zijun. At this time, he heard that Fang Nongyan was so angry with Ruan Ciyi that he didn’t investigate responsibility even if his son and daughter died. She thought he was insane, “I don’t know this kind of thing before, otherwise even if my grandfather didn’t die, I wouldn’t like to see my eldest sister continue to be bullied by their family.”
She continued to say, “I don’t think my older sister is really reluctant to leave Fang Nongyan. She may have been bullied like ashes over the years. She has just returned to the Jing City and is not familiar with us yet. She is afraid of causing you trouble.”
Anyway, they had already started. Wasn’t it easy to find a reason to feel at ease?
“I will try my best to let the older sister break the relationship with Fang Family before leaving the Jing City. In this way, I can take her away from the Jing City to observe mourning. In the current situation of the older sister, let her go to live in Laizhou with me for two years so that I can rest assured.” Ruan Qingyan sighed and said solemnly, “From now on, you will be alone in the Jing City, you must…”
“Cousin, you don’t know how many times you’ve said that.” Qiu Yelan said in a coquettish manner, “I know. I know. Your cousin is not your older sister. Am I such a bully?”
Ruan Qingyan frowned and said, “What’s more, you are not allowed to have anything to do with Jiang Yashuang, which is also important.”
Qiu Yelan shrank her neck guiltily.
Ruan Qingyan immediately noticed it. His face suddenly changed, “Don’t tell me you are still in touch with him?”
“No!” Qiu Yelan said hurriedly, “I haven’t seen him since that night.”
Then Ruan Qingyan calmed down and thought about it, “I have to figure out a way to settle your engagement to Deng Yi after I leave. In addition, your marriage. I don’t know if you can find a good partner in the past two years. Fortunately, you are only thirteen. Three years later you will only be sixteen, so it is not too late to talk about your marriage.”
Qiu Yelan fooled him, wiped the cold sweat secretly, and thought to herself, “Cousin, I didn’t lie to you. I don’t go to see Jiang Yashuang, but he came to see me… I just didn’t say anything!”
Then, Ruan Qingyan explained a lot of things at great length. His central idea was that he really didn’t rest assured that she was alone in the Jing City, and what should she do if she was wronged and set up by others? In the face of this cousin, whose heart was almost broken, Qiu Yelan used 18 kinds of martial arts to promise him, act coquettish, and act cute, which kept him from asking questions.
Following Ruan Qingyan, it was getting late. He waved her to have dinner and rest, “No one will come here today. It is estimated that no one will come in the next four days. You are still young. You are also a granddaughter. You can go to rest when you are tired. Grandpa always loves you. He won’t blame you.”
Qiu Yelan thought the same way, “Cousin, have a rest, too.”
“Nope.” Ruan Qingyan smiled at her tiredly. His eyes were very sad, “I feel guilty. I need to kneel a little longer to make myself feel better.”
Qiu Yelan thought about what he said, but she still didn’t dare to ask him, thinking secretly, “Do these words admit that he is the blood of the Ruan Family? Does he feel guilty because he didn’t come back earlier to fulfill his filial piety? And why is that? Is it just for him to go to the Jing City after taking the Juren exam in the south? That’s not possible, is it? With the talent of my cousin, he does not need to rely on imperial examination and immigrants to increase his chances of being on the list.”
Early the next morning, people from Governor’s office came, “Ruan Qingyan, your brother-in-law, Fang Jucheng, sued you for murdering the child of his beloved concubine and framing his eldest son. Of course, now that your grandfather has passed away, there is no one to take care of him except you. The dead are the most honorable. You can stay here and take care of him. However, your family must send two informed servants to come with me, right?”
Listening to the polite and tough words of the government officer through the curtain, Qiu Yelan breathed a sigh of relief, “Everything is in my cousin’s plan. It seems that sister Ruan’s freedom is just around the corner.”
However, after the government officer left with Dongran and Ruan An, in the face of Qiu Yelan’s inquiry, Ruan Qingyan’s face was as heavy as water, “I didn’t arrange to go to the Yamen!”
Qiu Yelan was shocked, “Who is that? How could this be?”….