Chapter 486 - 488 Within the Horse Carriage, Hair Entwined
In Meng Residence, Lady Meng had put aside her arrogant demeanor and sobbed in front of Meng Liangshen, pleading, "My husband, after all these years of marriage, can’t you consider our children and stop pressuring me like this?"
Meng Liangshen snorted coldly, "I can stop pressuring you, but the only alternative is for me to serve you with divorce papers and then go and apologize to Bai Ruozhu, personally explaining everything to the whole city."
"What?" Wang Miaoshuang exclaimed, shocked by either the mention of "divorce papers" or Meng Liangshen’s talk of "apologizing".
"Is it necessary to go so far? She’s only a country woman, even if she has some connections above, isn’t it going overboard for her?" Wang Miaoshuang asked incredulously.
Meng Liangshen cast a look of disgust at her, saying, "There are some things you shouldn’t ask about, things you shouldn’t know. I have said what I needed to say. You can choose not to admit your mistakes, but once you’re divorced and I publicly apologize, you still won’t be able to save face."
How could he not see that Wang Miaoshuang was afraid of losing face? Over the years, Wang Miaoshuang’s personality had become more and more domineering, more and more face-conscious, always acting like an aloft county princess, making her appear even more arrogant than a legitimate princess. This was one of the reasons why he had never gotten along well with her.
Another reason was that their marriage had been arranged by the late Empress Dowager because he had been a favorite of the crown prince. The late Empress Dowager’s faction had arranged for Wang Miaoshuang to marry him in order to ensure their faction’s influence. However, Wang Miaoshuang’s true purpose was more to keep an eye on him. Even in the early years, before the late empress dowager had passed away, Wang Miaoshuang had used her power to show him disdain.
Even...he didn’t dare to acknowledge his own son...
Wang Miaoshuang burst into tears again, sobbing, "Master, can’t you consider our children? Hong Ge’er will be betrothed next year, and Jinse will be of marrying age in less than two years. If I publicly apologize to a village woman, where will their reputations end up? Will they be able to find good marriages?"
Meng Liangshen snorted coldly again. "You condoned your subordinates to spread rumors, ruining my reputation. Are you not afraid that people will say our Meng Family has questionable morals, making it hard to arrange marriages for our children? When you were causing a scene, did you think about our children’s reputation?"
Meng Jinse, who was hidden in the yard, quietly wiped her tears. On the day in question, she had indeed followed her mother’s orders to detain Bai Ruozhu. She even thought that Bai Ruozhu was shamelessly seducing her father, but now it seems her mother had been fabricating lies while causing an uproar that shook the whole city. Today, she was ridiculed by acquaintance noble ladies when she went out, indicating the trouble she’ll face when getting betrothed in the future.
Perhaps if her mother came out to apologize and clarify the matter, it would be better? At least people won’t say that the Lord Meng has questionable practices and that there are untoward incidents happening in the Meng Residence.
However, her mother would have to swallow a huge amount of pride. Being such an arrogant person, would she agree to it?
Thinking of this, Meng Jinse’s tears fell even more fiercely. If her mother persisted in her stubbornness and ended up being divorced, she, being the legitimate eldest daughter of a woman who had been divorced, will face an even tougher road ahead.
"Can’t there be another way? We can give Bai Ruozhu money. If one thousand taels aren’t enough, then give her two thousand. She can name her own price, as long as this matter can be settled. I am willing to pay any amount!" Losing face was something Wang Miaoshuang couldn’t bear to do, so she exclaimed emotionally.
Meng Liangshen angrily shook off her hand, looked at her with contempt and said, "In the end, you only care about your own reputation, disregarding mine. You’ve ruined my reputation and how am I to face my career beyond this point? What about the reputation of the Meng Family? How will our children cope with the impact of these rumors? Wang Miaoshuang, you are too selfish!"
"I will write the divorce papers now. Take your money and get out of the capital city. Do you think you can buy everything with money? If you don’t belief me, try offering Bai Ruozhu a fortune like ten thousand taels, I can assure you she won’t accept it!"
With that said, Meng Liangshen stormed out. As soon as he stepped out, he saw his eldest daughter, who was now a crying mess, his heart ached for her. He patted Meng Jinse on the shoulder and said, "Go talk some sense into your mother." And then, he left the yard directly.
...
Over at Bai Ruozhu’s, she had gotten the four doctors under control and left very satisfied. Jiang Yichun instructed the four doctors to practice well and then also followed out.
He hopped onto the horse carriage with Bai Ruozhu, Sui Xing, the bodyguard, revealed a look of confusion. However, considering that Bai Ruozhu had been assigned by the Minister of Political Affairs, he thought there might be some business to discuss with Bai Ruozhu. Hence, he didn’t dare ask further questions, he just ordered the coachman to start heading to the Bai Family.
"You’re not actually just going to come to my home like this, right?" Bai Ruozhu looked at Jiang Yichun, who was sitting opposite her, and asked with some resignation.
Jiang Yichun made a hushing gesture, took one of her hands, opened her palm, and wrote on it: I’m going to Meng Residence for something and happened to meet you, so I thought I’d stop by your home for a meal. Your parents wouldn’t mind, would they?
Bai Ruozhu wrinkled her nose, pulled his hand, and mimicked him writing: Don’t you think this explanation is a bit far-fetched? I thought you would have a more clever excuse.
Jiang Yichun started laughing, grabbed her hand and wrote: This will do, don’t forget who stood up for you earlier. You wouldn’t deny me a meal, would you?
Bai Ruozhu didn’t know whether to laugh or cry, she simply nodded at him. His performance earlier was great, it completely won her over. Let’s see if those four doctors still dare to look down on people.
Just then, the carriage ran over a small stone. The carriage jolted and Bai Ruozhu, not having a stable seat, fell onto Jiang Yichun’s lap.
She was startled and hastily tried to get up, but in her panic, the hairpin on her head scrapped against his hair. Upon hearing Jiang Yichun suck in a breath of cold air, her hairpin fell off and her whole hairdo came undone.
Looking at Jiang Yichun whose hair she had messed up and her hairpin still hanging on his head, her face turned red instantly. Why was she so panicky? What if she fell onto his lap? What were the chances of being seen by the coachman or the bodyguard outside?
Now that they were both in this awkward situation, wouldn’t people have wild imageries if seen?
Jiang Yichun glared at her, pointed at the hairpin still hanging on his head, and signaled her to take it down.
Bai Ruozhu giggled and removed her hairpin from his hair. However, due to the rocking of the carriage and her hurried and guilty movements, a few strands of his hair were pulled along when she took the hairpin off.
Jiang Yichun’s face darkened, he mouthed at Bai Ruozhu: you fix my hair now!
Bai Ruozhu wrinkled her nose, I’ll just comb your hair, why are you looking so fierce?
She removed his hairpin and started to fix his hair, but soon Jiang Yichun’s face turned green. He really doubted whether Bai Ruozhu was doing it on purpose. Was combing hair supposed to be this painful?
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