Transmigration: The Evil Mother-In-Law Is Actually Innocent!

Chapter 1024: Chapter 1024: The Nephew Resembles His Uncle

Zhou Shuren had arrived, but he did not enter the back courtyard, and instead, he was having tea with Marquis Ning in the hall.

Rongchuan watched Zhou Shuren, whose face showed no expression. Knowing the man was protective, he sipped his tea pondering whether Zhou Shuren, the old fox, genuinely had no suspicion about Rongchuan.

If it had been before, he would not have thought so, but with more interaction, he couldn’t help but overthink. Zhou Shuren lived too wisely, so wisely that it gave Rongchuan an illusion that Zhou Shuren might have discovered something.

Zhou Shuren’s teacup was empty; he put it down, ”Mr. Hou still needs to make some preparations.”

Ning Xu’s heart tightened, ”What are you trying to say?”

Zhou Shuren had not prepared riddles, ”It’s not about what I want to say, but what Rongchuan wants to do.”

After much thought, he was trapped, and the only one who could move freely was Rongchuan. Rongchuan was the best weapon. The Rongchuan of the past was sealed away because he cared for the bigger picture. Even if Rongchuan was schemed against, he did not mind. But today was different; his daughter was the apple of Rongchuan’s eye, and the young man would surely not calculate in the same way.

Ning Xu looked at Zhou Shuren whose eyes seemed much smaller due to his weight gain. The squinting left barely a slit, ”You really understand Rongchuan.”

Zhou Shuren smiled, ”I raised the child; I know him. Rongchuan may seem easy to get along with, but that’s not the case. Not many can enter his heart. Honestly, I’ve never seen the boy angry. This time I will see it; therefore, I warn Mr. Hou to pay more attention to Rongchuan.”

Ning Xu furrowed his brow. Zhou Shuren was right, Rongchuan was indeed angry this time. But Ning Xu looked at Zhou Shuren, could this man really not have noticed something? Why did it feel like Zhou Shuren seemed to know that Rongchuan’s counterattack would not bring upon him any charges?

Zhou Shuren continued to pour tea for himself. By alerting Ning Xu, Ning Xu would better coordinate with Rongchuan. Don’t think that the old tiger Ning Xu, now settled down, had lost his ferocity. A beast remained a beast. Ning Xu taking care of the aftermath for Rongchuan, with him drumming from the sidelines, Rongchuan would have no worries about what was behind him.

The next day, Zhulan did not go to the Hou Residence; she stayed at home writing invitation cards.

Lady Li flipped through the cards, ”Mother, are we hosting a tea banquet?”

Zhulan rubbed her wrists; she had started writing after breakfast and had already written quite a few, ”Yes.”

Lady Li looked at the stack of completed cards somewhat foolishly, ”Mother, aren’t there too many people invited?”

Zhulan looked at the written cards, ”This is only half done, there’s still the other half.”

Lady Li’s eyes widened. They rarely hosted banquets; last year, aside from her parents’ birthdays, there were only two occasions, one for flower viewing and the other for appreciating paintings, but they did not invite many people—mostly only those with whom they had a good relationship.

This time, there were many guests she had never met, ”Mother, why invite so many people this time?”

It wasn’t like her mother’s character.

Zhao Shi placed the neatly arranged blank cards in front of her mother-in-law, ”Mother, is it because of my younger sister?”

Zhulan did not explain and continued to write invitation cards.

Having been with her mother-in-law for so many years, Zhao Shi knew that no explanation meant consent. Indeed, her younger sister had troubled her pregnancy, and both parents were angry. She still remembered her husband telling her last night how frightening his father had been.

Zhao Shi felt somewhat anxious. The display her mother-in-law was putting on was quite large, she didn’t know what would happen, nor what her mother-in-law planned to do.

Lady Li realized, knowing her younger sister had troubled her pregnancy, and her mother-in-law had said the younger sister was fine in the morning. Now it seemed it was not simple. She swallowed, releasing the written invitation card from her grasp.

In the Palace, Rongchuan entered the inner court. His father had already shown him the findings this morning. Although the information pointed to Prince Liang, it was actually a frame-up. The real perpetrator was still at large, but it gave him a direction to pursue. Prince Zhang Yang was exceedingly odd, and both Prince Qi and Prince Liang had fallen victim to him, with Prince Liang even coming to blows with Zhang Yang in court.

Rongchuan vividly remembered the Crown Prince’s subtle warning to stay as far away from Zhang Yang as possible.

Sitting in front of the Emperor, Rongchuan was silent and merely stared at the Emperor.

The Emperor couldn’t take it any longer, ”Do you have something to say to Us?”

Rongchuan felt wronged. He remembered his father and grandfather saying that a child who cries is endearing to others, ”Your subject simply had a nightmare last night and was momentarily dazed.”

Who was the Emperor, if not someone who would play along, ”What kind of nightmare?”

His own son, of course, must be indulged.

Rongchuan looked terrified, ”Your subject dreamt of a little girl calling me ’daddy,’ but the child was covered in blood. I awoke in shock. Emperor, you know how much I cherish my lady.”

The Emperor felt a toothache but endured it; he certainly knew that his youngest son was a son-in-law living with his wife’s family, ”Hmm.”

”So your subject was scared afterwards. My lady is my lifeblood.”

The Emperor understood that the boy was laying the psychological groundwork, suggesting that anyone who touched his lifeblood was threatening his life. He took several pieces of paper from beneath the desk and handed them to Rongchuan, then continued to read his reports.

Rongchuan opened the paper with a puzzled expression, his pupils shrinking as he quickly looked up at the Emperor. This was a report for the Emperor, and now he had given it to him; it was far more detailed than what his father had shown him. Rongchuan’s mind raced as he wondered why the Emperor was treating him this way.

Without thinking, Rongchuan blurted out, ”Like nephew, like uncle.”

Before he could finish the last word, Rongchuan came back to his senses. The phrase ’like nephew, like uncle’ was always in his heart, and the Emperor’s papers were about Prince Zhang Yang’s people, whom his father had marked for him earlier that day.

His visit today was simply to show weakness and not to ask for anything; he intended to come and cry after making his move. Yet the Emperor straightforwardly gave him the information, throwing his thoughts into chaos.

The Emperor looked up, his doubts after his youngest son’s marriage were naturally noticeable. The child was not just suspicious. Before he had been oblivious due to the chaotic situation, but now things were becoming increasingly clear. And another power, he was almost certain who it was.

He thought left and right, letting things take their course, but yesterday’s events had accelerated the process.

The Crown Prince, who had been close by, slightly curled his lips, then bowed his head again.

Rongchuan came out of the government hall in a daze, slapped his own face, and spat, ”I must be overthinking.” And then it struck him—he found Zhang Yang odd, so the Emperor must have too. He suddenly thought that it must be something the Emperor had discovered about Zhang Yang. His pupils narrowed—yes, that must be it. The Emperor was giving him the information, not for the reason he had presumed.

With this thought, Rongchuan immediately felt much lighter. Thus, he no longer had any reservations.

At the Ministry of Revenue, Zhou Shuren had gone to the Ning Duke Residence. Zhou Shuren seldom interacted with the Ning family, but this time, straight after leaving the government office, he went to their residence, drawing attention.

Qiu Yan even asked about it, and Zhou Shuren, who was not full of himself, mentioned that his daughter had pregnancy issues, and he went to see her.

Last night, Qiu Yan had heard from his wife about an incident at the Crown Prince’s residence. Considering the exclusivity of the invitation from the Crown Prince’s residence, where invitations from the Crown Princess Consort were hard to come by, the act of Zhou Shuren’s daughter marrying into the Ning Duke Residence represented the women of the Ning Duke Residence attending the event. His caution told him that the situation was not simple.

In the following days, Zhang Yang was at his wit’s end, and not just him but also Yao Wenqi. Yao Wenqi had been reprimanded for three consecutive days in the palace and was even made to kneel in the cold spring breeze for over an hour.

Meanwhile, the Zhou family’s tea banquet had begun, with many carriages parked at the entrance of their house.