Yan Zhuxing instantly realized that this was Xie Yining’s excuse for coming to see her.
“I have some impression, but I have a headache right now and can’t recall,” Yan Zhuxing murmured, holding her forehead as she pretended to think.
Xie Yining smiled faintly. “No matter. The young lady can take her time.”
He slightly raised his chin and looked toward the Dingyuan Marquis.
“I will send a maid to the Marquis’s Mansion later. That way, once your daughter remembers the whereabouts of the jade pendant, she can promptly return to inform me. I trust the Marquis has no objection?”
“No objection, of course not,” the Dingyuan Marquis hurriedly shook his head.
This was the son most beloved by the Emperor and Empress. Who in the entire capital would dare refuse his request?
Upon hearing this, Wen Rushuang and her daughter’s expressions changed drastically.
Prince Yong’an wasn’t sending someone to look for a jade pendant at all—he was clearly deliberately sending someone to protect that wild girl.
How on earth did that wretch Yan Zhuxing manage to get involved with Prince Yong’an!?
But none of them dared to ask.
Under Xie Yining’s arrangements, Yan Zhuxing lay back in bed to rest, under the pretext that she would remember once she had rested well.
Wen Rushuang was so angry she gritted her teeth, but there was nothing she could do.
Not long after, a maid named Xianchan was sent from Yong’an Prince’s Mansion.
Knowing she could not make a move against Yan Zhuxing that night, Wen Rushuang had no choice but to leave resentfully with her servants.
The Dingyuan Marquis, looking thoroughly impatient, called Wen Rushuang back to their bedchamber and said coldly, “Tell me the truth. What exactly happened? Didn’t we agree not to reveal her identity?”
“It’s because she committed such a disgraceful act. I was afraid she would tarnish the Marquisate’s reputation, so I had no choice but to reveal that she isn’t our biological daughter.”
Wen Rushuang insisted that this matter was entirely Yan Zhuxing’s doing.
The previous incident had already made the Marquis dissatisfied with Mingyue. If he found out she was the one who caused this trouble, he would surely punish her.
She couldn’t bear to see her own daughter punished.
Anyway, Yan Zhuxing was an ungrateful wretch who couldn’t be tamed. It was better to go all the way and take this opportunity to get rid of her.
Better than letting her bite back in the future.
After hearing this, a flash of ruthlessness crossed the Dingyuan Marquis’s face. “If that’s the case, then handle the matter properly. Don’t let Pei Mingjing find any fault again.”
Last time, Pei Mingjing had submitted a memorial impeaching him. He couldn’t repeat the same mistake this time.
“Yes, this time there will definitely be no problems,” Wen Rushuang nodded emphatically.
She had already arranged her next move.
This time, she was determined to make Yan Zhuxing admit her wrongdoing.
From now on, Yan Zhuxing would have to grovel before her.
“Have you heard about what happened at the Weining Marquis’s Old Madam’s birthday banquet today?”
“What happened?”
“The eldest young lady of the Dingyuan Marquisate gave Lieguo Duke’s Heir that kind of drug. She wanted to seduce the Heir.”
“Heavens, the Heir could be her father, and he’s a fool too. What was she thinking?”
“You don’t know this, but this young lady is a fake. Her family switched her with the real young lady when she was a child. She’s afraid of being driven out to live a life of poverty, so of course she’d desperately try to find a way to stay.”
“That makes sense. Going from a Marquisate’s young lady to an unknown bastard, driven out to fend for herself—better to take a gamble. If she’s lucky, she might even conceive the Heir’s child. From then on, the mother would be honored through the son.”
Such boudoir secrets spread the fastest.
Moreover, with the people Wen Rushuang had arranged fanning the flames, within just one night, almost everyone in the capital had heard about “the fake heiress from the Marquis’s Mansion drugging the heir of the Guogong Fu with aphrodisiacs.”
Even the old man selling baked cakes in the East Market could gossip about it.
His vivid descriptions made it seem as if he had been right there on the scene.
Wen Rushuang was smugly pleased. She refused to believe that after such a scandal had spread, Yan Zhuxing would still have the face to go on living.
Not long after, the news also reached the Lieguo Duke’s Mansion.
The Lieguo Duke and his wife sat facing each other, their expressions grave.
The Weining Marquis Estate had already sent someone to inform them the day before, saying they had made a mistake earlier—the one who had harmed others was not Yan Mingyue, but Yan Zhuxing.
Soon, the Marquess of Dingyuan’s Wife would bring her to their doorstep to apologize.
But now, instead of anyone coming to apologize, such rumors were flying everywhere.
Recalling Yan Zhuxing’s recent lawsuit filed with the Metropolitan Prefecture, they could see through the twists and turns of the situation at a glance.
“My lady, must we really trouble an innocent young girl?” the Lieguo Duke asked, his face darkening.
“What kind of person do you take me for?” Zhao Yurun pursed her lips, somewhat displeased.
She was no fool, blindly trusting her family’s one-sided account.
The day before, she had already interrogated the two servants attending to her son. Both said they had never seen Yan Zhuxing—it was Zhao Yunfei’s maid who had led the person away.
Moreover, Prince Yong’an had also said that the one they should be most grateful to was Yan Zhuxing, as she had preserved the dignity of both families.
How could they repay kindness with enmity?
“Then what does my lady plan to do?” the Lieguo Duke asked, relieved.
Zhao Yurun shared her thoughts: “Why don’t we just go with the flow and arrange a marriage between the two families?”
“Isn’t that inappropriate?” the Lieguo Duke was taken aback. “That girl is about the same age as our daughter. How could you…”
“Let me finish,” Zhao Yurun interrupted him.
“I feel that the Dingyuan Marquis and his wife don’t seem to treat that girl well. Rather than letting her suffer in the Dingyuan Marquisate, it would be better for her to marry into our family. In the future, we can treat her like our own daughter. After a couple of years, we can adopt a child from the clan to be raised under her care, recognizing her as the mother.”
“When we pass away, she and the child can take good care of Dun’er. And if Dun’er is no longer here in the future, there will still be someone to offer incense for him.”
Hearing his wife’s words, the Lieguo Duke was also somewhat moved: “If someone from the Dingyuan Marquisate comes today, we can sound out the girl’s opinion. If she is unwilling, we’ll drop the matter.”
“Agreed,” Zhao Yurun nodded, having reached a consensus with her husband.
Just as the two relaxed, a servant rushed in, sweating profusely and speaking urgently: “Duke, Madam, the heir has woken up and is clamoring for his sister.”
“Why would Dun’er suddenly start calling for his sister again?” Zhao Yurun’s eyes instantly reddened.
After giving birth to their daughter, it had always been their son who stayed by her side, and the siblings had been extremely close.
Their originally dull and dependent son had become much more emotionally stable after having a sister, even speaking more coherently.
Last year, when their daughter suddenly passed away, their son broke down once more.
It had taken her a full six months to make him accept that his sister was gone.
How could it be that after a visit to the Weining Marquis Estate, he had remembered this all over again?