Abandoned Woman Busy Farming

Chapter 1808: Chapter 1808: Visiting to Apologize

”But they say that in the Capital, King Rui gave the Empress Dowager a grand funeral, and the body has already been placed in the coffin. How can that be false?” Concubine Le hesitated.

Bai Ruozhu continued, ”King Rui wants to ascend the throne with proper justification. He used the burial of the Empress Dowager to show his filial piety; with such a theatrical grand funeral, people of the nation can’t say anything bad about him. The coffin lid has long been closed, who can tell if it’s true or false?”

Concubine Le finally relaxed, her face not as unpleasant as before, ”I knew you wouldn’t lie to me; those people are ignorant and surely wouldn’t know about such important matters.”

Bai Ruozhu quickly nodded, ”What the officer said is true, Your Majesty must not believe their reckless words.”

After leaving Concubine Le’s room, Bai Ruozhu discreetly wiped the cold sweat off her forehead. Her mind had been racing to perfectly cover the lie, but upon hearing Concubine Le’s words, ”I knew you wouldn’t lie to me,” a layer of sweat broke out on her back. Those words made her feel very ashamed.

”Why do you only now realize that lying is wrong?” Gao Zhou leaned over and remarked sarcastically, ”But you are quite skilled at covering lies.”

Bai Ruozhu glared at him, ”This is a white lie, for the sake of saving someone!”

Gao Zhou flicked his sleeves, ”I don’t care what kind of lie it is; this matter should be reported to His Majesty.”

Bai Ruozhu nodded, yes, clearly someone wants Concubine Le not to recover, also trying to sabotage their treatment results.

After the two reported to His Majesty, His Majesty showed no apparent reaction but later immediately instructed someone to investigate. It was rumored that the next day, Wang Meiren, who hadn’t been in the Palace for long, was sent to the Leng Palace. The reason was disrespecting the Empress Dowager during mourning, wearing bright red, and attempting to deceive His Majesty into drinking.

Bai Ruozhu didn’t need to inquire to know it was the mischief of that cunning Wang Meiren. Such competition for favor in the Palace was all too common; unfortunately, she hadn’t weighed her worth correctly. In comparison, Ling Xue was much smarter, as she at least carried the royal heir in her belly and couldn’t be harmed.

In the past couple of days, Bai Ruozhu invited Gao Zhou to visit Ji Ziyan together. The two discussed and finally determined the treatment plan, which required both to simultaneously use needles to stimulate Ji Ziyan’s spinal nerve; the process would be exceedingly painful. But only in this way, Ji Ziyan might have the chance to stand up again.

Bai Ruozhu explained this method to Ji Ziyan, also worrying that as a scholar, he couldn’t endure such pain. Ji Ziyan, however, said indifferently, ”It’s alright, after enduring such humiliation, what’s this?”

Bai Ruozhu wanted to say, it was Zhou Jue who pushed you down, not yourself; you didn’t suffer any humiliation! However, ancient people had conservative thoughts, letting Ji Ziyan put this down might be quite difficult.

Pulling back her wandering thoughts, Bai Ruozhu and Ji Ziyan set a time to implement the treatment the next day, the process might take half a month to a month. The sooner it started, the better, otherwise Bai Ruozhu’s body might get too heavy later, making it inconvenient to perform the needle treatment.

”Alright, I have no objection.” Ji Ziyan still was indifferent, seemed not very lively, yet held hopes for standing up again, making it hard to understand what he’s thinking.

Not long after Bai Ruozhu returned home, a servant came to announce, saying General Cai Yucheng of the Jinwu Guard requested to see her.

Bai Ruozhu thought of what she investigated before and wondered if Cai Yucheng wouldn’t let it go. Did the Jinwu Guard want to intervene in this matter?

Jiang Yichun also had a position in the Jinwu Guard, but lower than Cai Yucheng, and Bai Ruozhu’s official rank wasn’t higher than Cai Yucheng’s either, so according to the rules, she must personally go to greet him.

”Min Ju, prepare my official uniform.” Bai Ruozhu said.

When Bai Ruozhu changed into her official uniform and went to greet, she found Cai Yucheng wasn’t in uniform, surprisingly dressed casually, making her attire seem very formal.

Behind Cai Yucheng, someone followed, head slightly lowered, seemingly very afraid of Cai Yucheng.

”Officer Bai, sorry to disturb you. I heard you were very busy these days; I shouldn’t have come without a post but my relative acted recklessly. I’m here to bring her to apologize to you.” Cai Yucheng said openly; being from a warrior background, his voice was loud, his laughter very hearty.

Bai Ruozhu understood Cai Yucheng’s meaning and felt a bit embarrassed, realizing she had complicated the matter.

Speaking, Cai Yucheng lifted his foot and kicked Song Ke beside him. Song Ke almost fell over but steadied himself by holding on to a nearby table. From Cai Yucheng’s posture, it was clear he hadn’t used much force.

However, those who understood could tell Cai Yucheng had great strength, so even without much effort, he could make someone stagger with a kick.

”Why are you still standing there? Hurry and tell Officer Bai what you did and apologize!” Cai Yucheng shouted at Song Ke.

Song Ke timidly said, ”Officer Bai, I was bewitched and tried to compete for business with Yingkelai. But couldn’t compete, so upon hearing Yingkelai had an incident, I wanted to use the opportunity to exploit it. Thus, I bribed the guest involved at the time to report Yingkelai to the Government Office.”

Bai Ruozhu knew about this but could only pretend ignorance, acting surprised, ”So this happened! But there’s progress through competition; everyone opened for business, you should compete fairly with Yingkelai.”

Cai Yucheng praised, ”Officer Bai is right; if you want to improve your Restaurant, enhance the quality of the food or offer something new, don’t play those sneaky tricks.”

”Yes, yes, I already realized my mistake and won’t dare again.” Song Ke said, wiping sweat from his forehead with his sleeve, then bowing to Bai Ruozhu, ”I ask for Officer Bai’s forgiveness; I was blinded by lard, won’t use those illegal tricks anymore.”

Cai Yucheng also clasped his fists, ”Officer Bai, following His Majesty all the way isn’t easy for any of us. It was my fault for not managing my relative well, causing trouble for you.”

Bai Ruozhu hurriedly stood up and gestured to support him, ”Cai Daren, you’re too polite. Yingkelai should be investigated for the incident; this is nothing, let’s not harm our harmony over small matters.”

”Right, right, we mustn’t harm harmony.” Cai Yucheng said with a smile.

At this moment, Bai Zepei returned from the Guest Palace and greeted Cai Yucheng in a friendly manner. He warmly invited Cai Yucheng to have a meal together, saying the two families got to know each other through a little misunderstanding. Cai Yucheng heard him and couldn’t refuse the invitation.

The male guests were mainly entertained by the second brother; Bai Ruozhu naturally didn’t need to accompany them. She instructed the Kitchen to add some dishes; suspecting Cai Yucheng was a warrior and liked meat with strong flavors, she added two heavy-flavored meat dishes before retiring to rest.

The dinner party was joyful for hosts and guests alike. Cai Yucheng praised Bai Family’s dishes immensely and said to Song Ke, ”No wonder Yingkelai’s business is better than yours; look at how their family meals outshine your Restaurant; you need to work harder.”

Song Ke also enjoyed the meal heartily, now with no choice but to respect Bai Family, nodding vigorously, saying he would return to work hard and stop looking for shortcuts.