Chapter 171: Declaring War for Qin Huai's Reputation
Su Luo was distracted for a while by Li Rusong's words, and then he realized that this might be a strategy of Li Rusong. He deliberately said something ambiguous to make others think that they were close. He was not too aggressive in order to show off.
Su Luo smiled gently, "Those things are in the past. Didn't I forgive you a long time ago?"
"Really?" There were too many emotions that needed to be confirmed in Li Rusong's eyes, so Su Luo didn't know how to respond for a moment.
He asked "really" just to match what I said, or was he really asking if I had forgiven him? Forgive him? Probably not... No, rather than saying no forgiveness, it would be more appropriate to say that Su Luo couldn't tell Li Rusong's sincerity. She was afraid that she couldn't tell which of Li Rusong's words were true and which were false, afraid that she would take a joke seriously, afraid that she would once again experience the pain brought by the warmth in her heart fading away and the warmth in her hands disappearing. It was over, and it wasn't really painful, but she was really afraid.
Su Luo's silence made Li Rusong feel disappointed, but he immediately smiled and said, "That's good. You don't know, I've been feeling heartbroken..."
Li Rusong's words were definitely a slight tease, and everyone's astonishment was exactly the effect Li Rusong wanted to achieve. The empress dowager looked at Su Luo in confusion, and Su Luo lowered his head and held his breath at the right time, trying to make his face blush and look more shy.
The empress dowager suddenly felt that she had done something unnecessary. The two people in front of her were obviously a pair of little enemies who were quarreling with each other because of something unknown. Then Huairou came to the palace and mentioned the blind date. No wonder Su Luo was not interested at all. It seemed that her mind was not on this at all!
The Queen Mother was once again proud of her keen insight, but at the same time she was calculating which daughter was still single, as the already confirmed list could not be wasted.
The Queen Mother was thinking about something, and Liu Chengxuan was a little restless. He smiled and nodded at Li Rusong, "I thought Miss Su and Brother Qin were close friends, but I didn't expect Lord Li was also a young and romantic man." As he said that, he unfolded the fan with a "swish". The fan was not the same one as before, but it still had a fan pendant made of pearls, which made Su Luo jealous and wanted to find an opportunity to snatch it from him.
The Queen Mother asked, who is this person surnamed Qin?
Wan Yangui stood up at the right time and answered: "Qin Huai is a merchant from Jiangnan, and my brother-in-law."
"Brother-in-law?" The Queen Mother had already entered the maze.
Wan Yangui sighed, "Yes, my sister was originally betrothed to Qin Huai's eldest brother, but who would have thought that Qin Huai died young. My Wan family didn't know about it until my sister got married and found out about it. But it was too late. She had no choice but to marry Qin Huai to preserve her reputation. Otherwise, if a married woman returns to the capital, my sister and my Wan family will be ashamed."
One has to admire Wan Yangui's ability in narrating stories. He retold such a sad, helpless and complicated story in just a few sentences and achieved a very good topic effect.
The Queen Mother's brows furrowed more and more tightly, "Sister-in-law marries husband's brother... Then how is your sister now?"
Su Luo and Li Rusong looked at each other, and both of them thought that something bad had happened. They had never expected that Wan Yangui would lead the topic to that place, which would undoubtedly be extremely detrimental to Qin Huai's future development.
"My sister has passed away for several years." Wan Yangui looked sad. "My father refused to take my sister back home because of his pride, which made my sister regret it for the rest of her life. He always felt guilty and died of illness not long after my sister passed away."
The Queen Mother sighed and tapped the armrest of the chair, with an annoyed look on her face, "How can you blame your father for this? It was obviously the Qin family who concealed it first. Since the fiancé had passed away, why didn't they inform him earlier?"
Wan Yangui sighed again. Su Luo thought it was not good and said quickly, "That Qin Huai is really hateful . The Qin and Wan families have been separated for more than ten years and have not communicated with each other. After the death of the eldest brother of the Qin family, the wife of the Qin family was heartbroken and she didn't remember this matter. When the two families were engaged, Qin Huai was still young and naturally had no deep impression of this matter. It was not until the Wan family sent someone to ask about the engagement that Qin Huai remembered that the eldest brother still had a wife. It has been some time since the death of the eldest brother Qin. No matter how you look at it, it has delayed Miss Wan's chance to change her engagement. The Queen Mother knows that our youth as women is limited. Like me, if I don't have the love of the Emperor and the Queen Mother, it will be difficult to find a good husband in the future, not to mention the daughter of a merchant? So Qin Huai decided to take his place and marry his sister-in-law home. It is simply against the five ethics!"
The Queen Mother's expression relaxed, and she thought carefully about Su Luo's words. Su Luo's words were already ambiguous and could not stand up to scrutiny, so she quickly added: "Qin Huai and Miss Wan have a son, Qin Qi. Not long after Qin Qi was born, Miss Wan died of depression. Qin Huai was too guilty to face Qin Qi, which led to the awkward relationship between father and son. Although Xiao Qi longed for fatherly love, Qin Huai repeatedly avoided it. Although he often paid silent attention to him, he did not fulfill his fatherly responsibilities in front of Xiao Qi at all!"
The Queen Mother sighed after hearing this, "So, Qin Huai had good intentions, but the two sides failed to communicate, which led to this tragedy."
"It's because of the lack of communication." Su Luo spoke more and more smoothly, "If Master Wan had made it clear when he sent someone to inquire about the intention of canceling the engagement, Qin Huai would never have come up with this farce of using someone else as a substitute."
"What? Broken engagement?" The Queen Mother showed extraordinary curiosity about the story at this time. Except for Concubine Zheng's cousin who didn't even raise his head during the meal, the several blind date contestants who were invited could not help but react curiously, especially Liu Chengxuan, whose gossipy face was comparable to that of a professional paparazzi. It was unexpected that he didn't know the details.
Wan Yangui had been staring at Su Luo since she opened her mouth, with a look of sadness and mockery in her eyes. Su Luo suddenly felt that she was very cruel. Just as she was stunned, the Queen Mother said, "The Wan family didn't know that the eldest son of the Qin family had passed away at that time, right? Why did you cancel the engagement?"
Su Luo unconsciously avoided Wan Yangui's eyes and laughed dryly, "I don't know the reason either. Qin Huai never told me."
Wan Yangui raised his eyebrows in surprise. The Queen Mother had already aimed at him. "Why?"
"Because..." Wan Yangui paused, "Because my father hasn't seen anyone from the Qin family for more than ten years, he didn't know the Qin family's children were well behaved, and he also heard in the business world that the Qin family often broke contracts and lost trust, so he doubted the character of the eldest son of the Qin family, so he sent someone to investigate. If it was true as the rumors said, he wanted to cancel the engagement with the Qin family. He never expected that the Qin family would send a betrothal gift as soon as the person he sent arrived at the Qin family."
If Qin Huai wasn't lying, then Wan Yangui's words were completely nonsense. Li Rusong said nonchalantly, "It seems that this is not the case."
Wan Yangui's eyes twitched, and Su Luo no longer had the intention of being aggressive, and almost stood up in a hurry. The Queen Mother had shifted her gaze again and looked at Li Rusong, "What is the truth?"
