Chapter 229 Sheng Hong Leaves the Palace
"Oh? Sheng family?"

After hearing what Mother Li said, Yang Wenyuan and Hua Lan immediately looked over.

After looking at each other, Hua Lan asked:
"But home?"

Mother Li nodded affirmatively:
"Yes, young lady, there are many family shops inside, so when the people below saw it, they immediately reported it."

Hua Lan looked unhappy and turned to look at Yang Wenyuan opposite her for advice, but she saw Yang Wenyuan leaning back in the recliner, reading a book leisurely and with great interest.

Seeing this, Hua Lan stood up slightly and leaned over to take a look, just in time to see the gloating expression on Yang Wenyuan's face. Seeing Hua Lan's coquettish face showing on the book, Yang Wenyuan's smile faded, his face slightly straightened, and he pretended to sigh.

Seeing Yang Wenyuan pretending to be serious, Hualan knew that he was indifferent to the matter.

Of course, both of them understood that the private sale of the property was definitely not done by Wang Ruofu, but by someone in the family who was unaware of the news that Hualan had conveyed yesterday and thought that the Sheng family was doomed, so they decided to take away the property and flee in panic.

This is equivalent to a scandal of the Sheng family, and Yang Wenyuan simply doesn't want to get involved.

After a while, someone else came to report.

Mother Li went out to listen, and when she came back she said:

"The two people who came out to trade and Mr. Xu were all arrested. It was Madam Liu who was beside the eldest lady who arrested them. Now they have all returned to the Sheng family."

Since they knew that this incident most likely happened in their wife's maternal family, although the subordinates did not dare to act rashly, it was still necessary to send someone to investigate. Therefore, when Mother Liu took action, someone immediately reported it.

"As for who it was, the people below didn't see clearly."

Hua Lan nodded and asked Mother Li to leave first, thinking secretly in her heart.

There are only a few people who can sell the family assets. Old Madam Sheng and Wang Ruofu have no reason to do so, and Wei Xiaoniang from Mu Cang Zhai is even more inappropriate. In addition, it was Mother Liu who arrested the person, so the result is naturally obvious. It should be someone from Linqi Pavilion.

Hua Lan knew her mother's temper, and was even more aware of the resentment she had accumulated towards Lin Qige over the years. In her impulse, she might even cause the matter to deviate from its original trajectory, instead of having a final say.

Hualan also wanted to accomplish her goal in one go, so that her mother wouldn't feel upset. Even though she was upset, she wanted to stand up immediately. However, as soon as she moved the chair away, her body paused again.

I am now married into the Yang family. In other words, I am a member of the Yang family. If I were to be present, my father might come home at this time and think that "family disgrace should not be made public", which would be bad.

"Let's go to Jiying Lane to pay our respects!"

Yang Wenyuan seemed to see Hua Lan's embarrassment, moved the book in front of his face away, and said:

"We walked in right after my father-in-law, and my mother-in-law was the most sentimental person. I guess she couldn't think of anything else at that time. After dinner, we naturally came back early."

Hua Lan's beautiful eyes sparkled, she looked at Yang Wenyuan with emotion and nodded slightly.

Jiying Lane.

Sheng family.

Wang Ruofu was leading Rulan and Changbai to kneel in the scripture hall which was covered with dust for half a month, praying for God's blessing.

Although Hualan had made it clear that Sheng Hong would return home today at the latest, Wang Ruofu felt uneasy until she saw him.

As for Lin Qinshuang, she had been kept under guard in the woodshed by Wang Ruofu. She was just about to take advantage of the situation and asked Mother Liu to contact someone to come to her house to look after her. She didn't care about the price and just wanted to sell Lin Qinshuang as quickly as possible.

By then, the established fact would have been accomplished, and no matter how much Sheng Hong liked Lin Qinshuang, he would not have gone to the trouble of looking for a concubine to sell off.

Besides, even if I find it back, I will definitely feel uncomfortable and won’t be able to move forward.

At this time, someone outside came to report that Hualan and Yang Wenyuan had arrived.

Yang Wenyuan went to talk to Changbai, and Rulan went to be with Minglan.

Hualan walked up to Wang Ruofu, but she didn't see Mother Liu who usually followed behind her. Thinking of Wang Ruofu's impulsiveness, Hualan's heart skipped a beat and she immediately asked:

"Mother, where is Mother Liu?"

"She...she was sent out by me." Wang Ruofu said vaguely.

"Send them out?"

Hua Lan secretly thanked herself for arriving in time and asked:

"Send out to find whom?"

Wang Ruofu was a person who could not keep secrets. After a few rounds of talking about other things, Hualan caught her loophole. Seeing that Hualan kept asking questions, Wang Ruofu did not have any "family shame" in her mind, so she did not hide it and spoke frankly:
"I sent Madam Liu out to find a human trafficker. When she comes back, I will sell her out!"

Hua Lan thought to herself, "As expected," and immediately dissuaded him:

"Mother, father will be home soon. You don't have to rush to deal with Miss Lin. It's best to let father do this. Otherwise, even if it succeeds, it will leave an irreparable knot in father's heart. It's a bad strategy of killing one thousand enemies and hurting eight hundred of your own!"

Wang Ruofu didn't care:
"I don't care what your father thinks. As long as I can sell Miss Lin, I'd be willing to sacrifice even a bump all over my body!"

At this time, not far away, Mother Liu, who had been forced to go find the human traffickers under pressure from Wang Ruofu, came out. In fact, she had returned a long time ago, but she dawdled on the way. When she saw Hualan coming, she finally quickened her pace.

"Madam, sister! We have found the human trafficker and he is waiting at the back door."

Wang Ruofu's face lit up with joy, and she immediately asked Mama Liu to bring the person in. She wanted to go to the woodshed herself, but as soon as she took a step, she was stopped by Hualan.

Hua Lan frowned and said to Mama Liu:
"Please ask Madam Liu to go to the back door and give the trafficker some hard-earned money. As for this business, we'd better not do it anymore."

Wang Ruofu widened her eyes:

"This... How can this be possible? I finally found this opportunity! Mother Liu, just..."

But before Wang Ruofu could finish her words, Mother Liu understood Hualan's words and quickly went to the back door to pass on the message.

"This won't work!"

Having said that, Wang Ruofu was about to go to the back door to say it in person, but her wrist was still held by Hualan and she couldn't break free. Wang Ruofu was about to put on her motherly attitude, but in the blink of an eye, she met Hualan's stern eyes.

As the saying goes, wealth nourishes a person, and nobility nourishes temperament. Hualan has been the mistress of Pingyang Marquis' Mansion for such a long time, and is in charge of the entire mansion. She usually talks and converses with the mistress of a noble family. Yesterday, she even spoke to the queen, the mother of a country. Naturally, her temperament is not that of an ordinary person.

When they looked at each other at such a close distance, and Hualan was slightly angry, Wang Ruofu's anger was immediately extinguished, and she involuntarily shrank her shoulders.

Seeing that Wang Ruofu was no longer being tough, Hua Lan also felt that it was inappropriate to keep pulling the elders like this, and her brows softened immediately, and she advised:
"Mother, you really don't need to sell Miss Lin yourself. After the incident with my third brother, my father will definitely be furious. Even if he doesn't sell Miss Lin out because of their old friendship, he will definitely not consider her a close friend anymore. It will be very difficult for him to make a comeback."

Wang Ruofu was shocked to find that she was actually frightened by the daughter she had raised. Although she was not discovered, she was still a little embarrassed. In order to cover it up, she could not chase Liu's mother anymore.

At this time, Sheng Hong finally arrived home.

When she heard that they went to Shou'an Hall, Wang Ruofu no longer cared about Lin Qinshuang and immediately ran towards Shou'an Hall with tears in her eyes.

Yang Wenyuan was talking to Changbai at the moment. When he heard that Sheng Hong had returned, he followed him to Shou'an Hall. However, before he even entered the door, he heard people crying and shouting inside, "Master, you are finally back!", "Master! I am not dreaming!", "..."

Yang Wenyuan: …

"Mother is a woman of temperament." Changbai said embarrassedly.

Finally, the crying stopped and Yang Wenyuan came in. Inside, Wang Ruofu was thanking Hualan for her hard work.

"Sir, you were left in the palace all night without returning, which frightened me. I asked Hualan to go to the palace to ask early in the morning..."

At this time, seeing Yang Wenyuan coming in, Sheng Hong comforted Wang Ruofu who was crying on his chest.

"The younger generations are here. Why are you crying so much? Pay attention."

Wang Ruofu was crying, and then she noticed that Yang Wenyuan and Changbai had also arrived. She nodded and wiped the tears from her cheeks with a handkerchief.

Sheng Hong looked at Yang Wenyuan and Hua Lan and said:

"Wenyuan, Huaer, thank you for your hard work."

When Sheng Hong left the palace, he met several other officials who were detained in the palace.

It was like enemies meeting, and they were extremely jealous of each other.

They all thought that their own sons were well-behaved and polite, and that they must have been bewitched by other people's sons to cause such a thing, so they were all sniffing and glaring.

If they had not just been released and were exhausted from being trapped for two days, they would probably have started a fight on the spot.

Of course, Sheng Hong also realized that the government had no other intentions and that they were just killing the chicken to scare the monkeys.

However, Sheng Hong was comforted by the fact that Yang Wenyuan and Hualan had done their best for him this time. He secretly felt fortunate that it was a good idea to let Hualan marry Yang Wenyuan.

Yang Wenyuan chuckled, looked at Hua Lan and said:
"It was Madam who was busy. She went to Duke Qi's mansion to find Princess Pingning, and then went to the Imperial Palace to ask the Queen for mercy. I was just sitting at home."

Do good things, that's what needs to be said!
Hualan didn't want to say it out loud, but as Yang Wenyuan's husband, he naturally had to help.

Hualan just felt that these were what she should do as a daughter. After listening to Yang Wenyuan talking about them like a treasure trove, she lowered her head in embarrassment.

Sheng Hong nodded, turned to look at Hua Lan, and nodded:
"Hua'er, thank you for running around for your father."

"Father, this is what a daughter should do."

After the father's loving heart and the daughter's filial piety, Mrs. Sheng saw that Sheng Hong looked exhausted and immediately said:

"You have been kept in the palace for such a long time, you must be tired, go take a shower, change clothes and rest for a while."

Then he looked at Wang Ruofu and continued:
"Madam, you go and take care of them. As for Hua'er and Wenyuan, they can have their meals here with me."

When Old Lady Sheng spoke, everyone present agreed.

Wei Ruixuan.

During the past few nights in the palace, Sheng Hong grabbed the spot next to the vase in the corridor and slept on the table. It can be said that he did not sleep well that night and his back and waist were sore.

After returning to the room, he simply washed up with the help of Wang Ruofu, and fell into a deep sleep on the bed.

Dusk sunset.

Sheng Hong finally woke up.

Wang Ruofu had been watching over him. When she saw Sheng Hong wake up, she immediately helped him get dressed, saying:

"Sir, are you hungry?"

Sheng Hong nodded.

Wang Ruofu immediately gave orders outside:
"Mother Liu, go get the warmed food and a cup of wine."

After saying that, he looked at Sheng Hong and asked:
"What else would you like to add, sir?"

Sheng Hong shook his head, but his eyes were filled with tenderness:
"Okay, okay, everything is fine."

After this experience, Sheng Hong felt for the first time that Wang Ruofu’s nagging was not annoying, but rather very pleasant to the ears, like the sound of nature.

After Wang Ruofu finished giving his instructions, Sheng Hong asked:

"Have Hua'er and Wenyuan returned?"

"I'm going back. I'm having lunch at my mother's house."

Sheng Hong nodded.

Not long after, Sheng Hong finally breathed a sigh of relief after having enough food and drink.

Wang Ruofu had been silently pouring wine beside him. Seeing that Sheng Hong had finished eating, she asked:

"Sir, why did the emperor detain you in the palace this time?"

Wang Ruofu naturally knew the reason, but she also had some plans in mind and knew how to add fuel to the fire.

Sheng Hong sighed lightly, and without hiding anything, he revealed the whole story.

Wang Ruofu listened quietly, and at the same time winked at Mother Liu outside the house, asking her to bring Lin Qinshuang over.

After a while, there was a noise outside.

Sheng Hong immediately frowned and shouted outside:

"What's the noise?"

As he said this, he was about to get up and take a look.

At this time, Mother Liu just came in, but before she could explain the reason, she saw Changfeng and Molan following behind her, supporting Lin Qinshuang, whose hair was in a mess, into the house, and a group of old women surrounded her outside.

"What's going on?" Sheng Hong was furious when he saw Chang Feng, but when he saw Lin Qinshuang's pitiful appearance, he could only suppress his anger for the time being and asked in a deep voice.

Chang Feng was unaware of the disaster that was about to happen, so he was the first to stand up and shouted loudly:
"Father, my mother has not been seen all day. My sister and I searched the whole yard anxiously and finally found her in the woodshed. Before we could ask her why, we saw that my eldest wife had sent people to bring her here."

Sheng Hong turned to look at Wang Ruofu, frowning:

"Lady?"

Wang Ruofu was not afraid at all. He waved his handkerchief and sneered:
"I arrested her, but didn't the lord know that I arrested her for no reason? Why did you arrest her?"

Without waiting for Sheng Hong to come up with a joke, Wang Ruofu slammed the table, stood up, took out a stack of land deeds from her sleeve pocket, threw them on the table, and said coldly:
"You took the land and shop worth 1,000 taels of silver without asking any questions and went out to meet someone secretly. Do you dare to say that you didn't take away all the valuables and elope with someone?"

As Sheng Hong listened, his expression became more and more incredulous. He hurriedly took the deed on the table and flipped through it. He saw a lot of familiar contracts in it. These were the ones that Sheng Hong had given to Lin Qinshuang privately.

Seeing Sheng Hong's increasingly gloomy expression, Lin Qinshuang knew that the most serious crimes were "secret meeting" and "elopement", so she immediately cried and said:

"It was broad daylight, in the open air, and I just signed my name and sealed my name with someone. How can that be considered eloping with someone?"

(End of this chapter)