When the female supporting role has a beauty system

Chapter 1445 Jin Yue 46
The doctor packed his medicine box: "Let's keep Lin's funeral simple. You're just a seventh-rank scholar, your salary is only so-so, and you still have to raise children."

Pei Yun understood: "I understand, Uncle, don't worry."

Does Pei Yun not understand? With Lin Jinzhu interfering, he's become less useful to the family. The family won't favor him much in the future, unless… unless Pei Yuan rises to prominence.

That's where the family's investment in itself ends.

Thinking of this, Pei Yun gritted his teeth in hatred. He had never loved money, beauty, or fame in his life; the only thing he loved was power. But his ladder to the top was cut off by Lin Jinzhu, whom he despised the most.

However, in order to prevent his secret from being leaked in the future, Pei Yun had to pretend to be deeply in love with his wife.

Pei Yun immediately wiped his eyes, his face filled with sorrow.

Pei Yuan knelt beside the coffin, burning paper money, his small face blank. In three days, Lin Jinzhu had told him everything she could, and Pei Yuan had also made up his mind about how to get along with Pei Yun in the future.

Seeing Pei Yun weeping while supporting the coffin, Pei Yuan couldn't help but smirk. The father and son appeared harmonious on the surface, but secretly they both knew what kind of person the other truly was.

Pei Yuan was reluctant to admit it, but he was indeed exactly like Pei Yun.

For example, seeing Pei Yun in pain right now, Pei Yuan immediately understood Pei Yun's intention. Knowing that he had no hope for the future, he might as well take advantage of the present to establish an image of being deeply devoted to his deceased wife.

Even if he doesn't remarry, he'll have a ready-made excuse, which will also help cover up his secret. Otherwise, if a capable and energetic official doesn't remarry, there will always be various speculations from the outside world.

After figuring all this out, Pei Yuan felt so nauseous he almost vomited. He suddenly felt fortunate, fortunate that Lin Jinzhu had acted decisively against Pei Yun. If Pei Yun had escaped unscathed, what would his own fate have been?

Lin Jinzhu was eventually buried in the Pei family's ancestral cemetery. Even though the Pei family disagreed, Pei Yun was already crippled, so the Pei family had no choice but to reluctantly agree to it.

Especially since Pei Yun has two sons. Pei Yun is clearly failing, but the two children are still of the Pei family bloodline, so they will be raised for now. Only if Pei Yuan and his younger brother prove useless will the family completely abandon them.

On the day of Lin Jinzhu's burial, Cheng Qian happened to return to the capital. The two groups met at the city gate, and Cheng Qian, looking at Pei Yun and Pei Yuan at the forefront, was completely dumbfounded.

He stepped forward and bowed: "Lord Pei, this is..."

Pei Yun recognized Cheng Qian. Although the wind and sand of the northern frontier were strong and made Cheng Qian look a bit weathered, his eyebrows and eyes were still the same.

He smirked, "My wife's health has been poor since giving birth a few years ago, and she finally couldn't hold on any longer and passed away a few days ago."

"The two children are so pitiful."

Cheng Qian thought to himself, "Could this be Tan You's doing? Besides, the little monster isn't the kind of person who goes to extremes. Lin Jinzhu is a young lady, and even if she and Lin Jinyue have conflicts, it's just a girl's quarrel."

It doesn't rise to the level of life and death, does it?
He offered a brief condolence, not wanting to further delay the Pei family's plans, and the two groups parted ways. The journey back was much quicker, however, as Cheng Qian was eager to see Tan You and resolve his doubts.

Tan You had already witnessed the interaction outside the city gate. She glanced at Lin Jinyue, who was doing embroidery, and asked, "Cheng Qian is back. Are you nervous?"

Lin Jinyue, holding the embroidery hoop, didn't even look up: "I'm not nervous. I have no feelings for Cheng Qian. To me, he's a stranger. Just like you said, who would have any feelings for a stranger?"

Cheng Sui said in a serious tone, "My mother is now Niohuru Jin Yue!" Tan You smiled and said, "Now that Cheng Qian is back, it's time to settle the score between you and Madam Wei. We can't just let her live a leisurely life in the mansion forever."

Lin Jinyue: "I have no objection, I'll listen to the young lady."

When Cheng Qian arrived at the Duke's mansion, he was taken aback by the grandeur of the main hall before he could even sit down and have a sip of tea.

Wei Shi and Lin Jinyue sat in two separate seats, facing each other. In the center of the main hall sat a young girl dressed in a white moon palace dress, with a large jade-white snake coiled on the chair she was sitting on, its head affectionately nuzzling against her hand.

Cheng Qian squinted at Tan You's ambiguous smile and immediately recognized her: "Miss?"

"You have a good eye." Tan You chuckled and put down the teacup she had conjured. "I came to the Duke of Zhenguo's mansion when Cheng Sui was three years old. Six years have passed in the blink of an eye. It's time to settle some scores."

Cheng Qian glanced at Lin Jinyue, who was sipping tea with her eyes down, showing no reaction to Tan You's words. Clearly, she had relinquished all authority to Tan You, and a chill ran down Cheng Qian's spine.

He tried to remain calm: "For years, the Duke's mansion has been under the young lady's control, my mother..."

He hesitated for a moment and said, "My mother has been practicing vegetarianism and chanting Buddhist scriptures to cultivate her character and has reformed herself over the years. Even if she had a lot of debts in the past, she should have paid them off by now."

"The Wei family... also provided a considerable amount of compensation."

Tan You snapped her fingers: "What you said makes some sense, but what if it leads to a murder case?"

Cheng Qian was startled; his worst fears had come true. He forced a smile and said, "How did it turn into a murder case? Everyone's perfectly fine."

Tan You: "This is only what you see as being perfectly fine. If I were truly fine, I wouldn't be here."

As she spoke, she pulled back the light screen, and a completely different scene quickly appeared in the main hall. In the scene, Lin Jinyue was framed by Wei Ruoyu, and Wei Ruoyu drove Lin Jinyue and Cheng Sui to a manor in the suburbs.

Cheng Sui was frail, and by the third month at the estate, he had become even thinner. Lin Jinyue was overwhelmed with grief, and coupled with the harsh treatment of the servants, she passed away not long after. As for Cheng Sui's future, he didn't see it, but he guessed it wasn't good.

Gu Yu, Lin Jin Yue's former dowry maid, was also sold off by Wei Shi, and the consequences are unknown.

Tan You closed the light screen and looked at Wei Shi: "You have two lives on your hands. You owe Lin Jinyue a life in return for your life."

"Why don't you and your son tell me how you plan to repay these debts?"

Wei slumped in her chair, wondering why Tan You always seemed to be targeting her, both openly and secretly. It turned out it was because she had done something wrong first.

She was good at finding excuses for herself: "Girl, I'm not convinced. That was clearly something that happened in the previous life, but now she and Cheng Sui are both fine. Why should I pay the price for something that happened in the previous life?"

"In this life, apart from being harsh to them in the past few years and losing money, I haven't done anything else."

“That’s because you haven’t had time to do it yet,” Tan You said, seizing Wei’s Achilles’ heel. “If I hadn’t arrived in time that day, do you dare say you wouldn’t have listened to Wei Ruoyu and driven her and her child to the manor?”

"You've lived several years longer than them and enjoyed several years more, so you need to learn to be content."