Union

Chapter 170: Anger turns beauty into beauty
Once some things are discussed openly, the atmosphere between the two people really changes.

With Yunying's identity issue now resolved, she is no longer subject to Lin Shuqing's control and manipulation, which can be considered a double blessing.

Overjoyed, Yunying held Chen Yanzhou's hand, feeling utterly delighted. She couldn't help but think, "How can Chen Yanzhou be so wonderful?"

Not only is he good-looking, but he also has good character, is capable, and treats her exceptionally well.

With Chen Yanzhou being such a good man, has her bad luck from the first half of her life finally come to an end? Is her luck about to change for the better?

Thinking of the phrase "good fortune comes," Yunying couldn't help but smile.

But as she laughed, she remembered Qiu Ning again.

Qiu Ning's indenture is still in Lin Shuqing's hands. She's afraid that Lin Shuqing will be angry because of the Second Master's crazy actions. She can't do anything to her, so she'll send someone to Lingnan Prefecture to bring Qiu Ning over.

"What are you thinking about, going from happy to sad in one minute? Didn't I tell you not to be overly excited or sad these days, and not to overthink things? You bumped your head, you need to rest and recuperate properly. If you keep thinking about all sorts of things, when will your injury heal?"

Chen Yanzhou touched Yunying's hand, then touched her face.

Before, if he wanted to make a move, he had to worry about her rejection and losing face. Now it's different. Now he can act openly and legitimately, exercising his rights.

Yunying didn't dodge or avoid him, letting him rub her hands and pinch her cheeks.

She thought Qiu Ning was still very worried, so she told Chen Yanzhou about her worries.

Upon hearing this, Chen Yanzhou looked at her and said, "You must have too much free time to think about all this."

"How is it because I'm too free? I'm just being thoughtful, okay? I can't stop thinking about Qiu Ning just because I'm free now. You know, I'm only close to Qiu Ning."

"But Qiu Ning is currently in Lingnan Prefecture, thousands of miles away. Even if Lin Shuqing really has evil intentions towards her, so what? As long as Qiu Ning doesn't go to the capital, can Lin Shuqing harm her in the territory that Qiu Ning is familiar with? Not to mention that Lin Shuqing has Qiu Ning's indenture, that thing is just a piece of waste paper in Lingnan."

Second Master remained nonchalant, not taking the matter seriously at all.

Yunying thought about it carefully, and realized that was exactly right.

In the capital, Lin Shuqing could act with impunity, but in Lingnan Prefecture, Lin Shuqing was nothing.

However, there is a problem: Qiu Ning may not be able to go to Beijing in the future.

"It's just that we can't go to the capital for the time being. As for the future, who can say for sure? Maybe in three to five years, things will be completely different. Alright, don't think about it so much. Quickly close your eyes and get some rest. You don't look well; are you running a fever again?"

As he said this, Chen Yanzhou leaned down and pressed himself against him.

When his forehead touched Yunying's forehead, he immediately felt a burning heat.

Chen Yanzhou immediately looked up, frowning as he looked at Yun Ying, "She has a fever again."

Yunying also felt extremely uncomfortable, but her overwhelming sense of pleasure made her feel that the discomfort was not unbearable.

She loved the feeling of him being close to her.

The two were so close, their breaths mingling, their eyes meeting, that she felt her body floating.

It was only at this time that Yunying realized she enjoyed being close to the Second Master.

But she is, after all, a young woman, and she has just confessed her feelings to the Second Master and even agreed to marry him... If she were to say at this moment that she wants to get closer to the Second Master, would he think that she has always harbored impure thoughts about him?
Yunying held back, not uttering her thoughts.

Second Master was so worried about her recurring high fever that he didn't notice this situation.

However, Chen Yanzhou is Chen Yanzhou after all; his observation skills and intuition are superior to those of ordinary people.

He fed Yunying a bowl of medicine, and saw that she was still staring at him expectantly. Even when he got up to put the bowl of medicine on the round table outside, she kept her eyes fixed on him without blinking.

She looked as if she was worried he might disappear at any moment.

The thought crossed Chen Yanzhou's mind, and his heart immediately softened.

He sat back on the edge of the bed and pressed Yunying onto the pillow. Feeling that just looking at her still left him with a deep emptiness, Chen Yanzhou took off his boots, lay down on the outside of Yunying, and held her in his arms through the blanket.

His chin brushed against the crown of her head, his breath warm against Yunying's cheeks and behind her ears. "Go to sleep, get some rest, and take good care of yourself so I can rest easy."

He patted and coaxed her, when he suddenly felt Yunying's hand, which was wrapped in the quilt, forcefully lifting the quilt.

With one side of the blanket pressed down by Chen Yanzhou, he got up and took the blanket out.

Yun Ying picked out the quilt and looked at him. Chen Yanzhou understood her invitation, and meeting her watery gaze, his heart was pounding.

Unable to refuse her invitation, Chen Yanzhou crawled into the blankets and hugged Yun Ying even tighter.

Perhaps it was the comfort of his embrace, or perhaps it was the effects of the Chinese medicine she had drunk, but Yunying quickly fell asleep.

Even when she was asleep, she still clutched Chen Yanzhou's clothes tightly in her hand, unwilling to let go.

Chen Yanzhou lay beside Yun Ying for a long, long time until she fell into a deep sleep. Only then did he slowly move his body, slightly lift the blanket, and get up.

After tidying up his clothes and confirming that Yunying was sweating and her fever was gradually subsiding, Chen Yanzhou finally felt relieved. He stayed in the room for a while longer, but reluctantly left.

Outside the room, Sui Yu, Mo Xue, and Lei Ting were all present.

The three of them were just muttering to themselves: "Second Master is still the best."

The Second Master only went to the palace once, but he obtained an imperial edict that not only removed Yunying's status as a slave, but also granted her the title of a sixth-rank lady.

A sixth-rank official! From now on, Lin Shuqing will have to bow to Yunying when she sees her!
Even if you broke Lin Shuqing's head, she never expected that the Second Master would come up with such a way to break the deadlock.

Just imagining how frustrated, crazy, and devastated Lin Shuqing would be after receiving the letter, I suddenly felt so relieved and happy.

Sigh, although it seemed beneath them, as grown men, to be so petty with a woman, the thought of Lin Shuqing's shamelessness and malice suddenly made their gloating seem less shameless.

Suiyu was the most outgoing of them all; he never kept anything to himself. Overjoyed, he said he would write to his elder brother later.

My elder brother was far away at Wutou Mountain looking after the gold mine and knew nothing about what was happening in the capital. I couldn't let him miss out on some fun, so I told him the whole story with its twists and turns.

As Sui Yu was still pondering how to begin writing, Mo Xue and Lei Ting both looked at him with speechless expressions.

Silly boy, you're still thinking about Yunying's exoneration and Lin Shuqing's breakdown. Both of those things are outdated now.

If Sui Yu had just listened carefully to what was happening inside, he would have known that the important matter at hand was the Second Master and Yun Ying confessing their feelings to each other. The two were deeply in love, and Yun Ying might soon become their new mistress! Poor Sui Yu was still clinging to the past. When he found out that Yun Ying and his master had already discussed marriage, he would probably be utterly shocked.

That brat missed a piece of gossip right under his nose; he'll definitely regret it later.

Just as Mo Xue and Lei Ting were looking at Sui Yu with loving eyes, the door creaked open, and the Second Master walked out of the room and came to the three of them.

"master!"

"Second Master, why are you out here? Has Yunying's fever subsided?"

"Second Master!"

Chen Yanzhou responded and beckoned the three of them to talk at a distance.

After walking a bit further away, Chen Yanzhou asked Mo Xue, "Have you found any evidence to support your previous investigation into the matter of the Marquis of Chang'an forming cliques and colluding with candidates going to the capital for the imperial examinations?"

Upon hearing that this was serious business, Mo Xue's expression immediately turned serious. "It has been verified, and the evidence is all on file."

Second Master nodded, "Send three copies of this evidence to the Censorate, the Ministry of Justice, and the Court of Judicial Review."

Mo Xue agreed, then cupped her hands in greeting and immediately went to carry out her mission.

The Second Master then looked at Lei Ting, "Have you investigated thoroughly the matter of the Chang'an Marquis's family members oppressing their neighbors, forcing women into prostitution, seizing fertile land, and abusing their power?"

Lei Ting quickly replied, "We've investigated thoroughly. Not only that, all the evidence and witnesses have been brought to the villa. Everything is under control."

The second master said, "Very good."

He then instructed Lei Ting, "Go to the Prefect of the Capital and beat the drum to expose all these matters."

Thunder responded with "Yes," and quickly left with a tense expression.

Only Sui Yu remained unassigned. He looked at the Second Master with great interest, almost as if he wanted to ask him directly, "What about me? What task will you assign me, Second Master?"

The Second Master looked at Sui Yu and said, "There is a booklet in a secret compartment of my study containing evidence of the Marquis of Chang'an's bribery and his manipulation of officials' buying and selling."

Sui Yu asked excitedly, "Should we send it to the Ministry of Justice, the Censorate, or the Court of Judicial Review? Or should we send it to all three places?"

The second master said, "I won't send any of them. You should send this evidence to Censor Cai of the Censorate."

Sui Yu first searched her mind for who this Censor Cai was. After a while, she finally remembered him. Along with that, Sui Yu also thought of Cai's life story, hometown, family and other information.

As soon as this information entered his mind, Sui Yu shuddered, deeply realizing how clever his second master's tactic of using someone else to do his dirty work was.

The censors of the Censorate are responsible for supervising all officials and investigating their mistakes. Furthermore, this Lord Cai and the Marquis of Chang'an have a personal feud!
What specific grudge did they hold?
That was ten years ago.

At that time, Imperial Censor Cai of the Censorate had just been transferred to the capital.

Being an official in the capital is difficult. Cai, the Imperial Censor, was poor and couldn't even afford a house, so he rented a courtyard in a back alley, where his family lived a hard life.

Imperial Censor Cai had a younger sister, twenty years his junior, who was the youngest daughter of his parents.

This young woman was exceptionally beautiful, but because she was born late in life to the mother of Imperial Censor Cai, she had been in poor health since childhood. She was always sickly and appeared listless. However, given her outstanding appearance, her temperament, and her figure, calling her a sickly beauty would not be an exaggeration.

On her way to a temple to worship Buddha, the sickly beauty, Miss Cai, had to take a ride on the Marquis of Chang'an's carriage back home because the carriage wheel broke down and it was getting late.

As a result, the scoundrel from Chang'an, seeing that the girl was dressed plainly, timid, sickly, and beautiful, possessed a certain allure, used drastic means to rape her.

It was only later that I learned that the girl was the younger sister of Imperial Censor Cai.

At that time, the Marquis of Chang'an was already married, and his children were even engaged and about to get married.

However, the younger sister of Imperial Censor Cai was from a good family, and even more so, a daughter of an official family, so naturally she could not become a concubine in the Chang'an Marquis's mansion.

The matter was dropped by both parties, the Marquis of Chang'an gave a large sum of compensation, and the girl married far away.

Because it involved the young woman's reputation, the matter was suppressed. If Chen Yanzhou hadn't ordered a thorough investigation into the Marquis of Chang'an's actions, this matter would never have come to light.

The Cai family had no choice but to swallow their anger, but their daughter was forced to marry far away and soon died of depression.

This feud is dead.

Now that he has the opportunity for revenge, there is no need for Chen Yanzhou to instigate anything; Imperial Censor Cai can suppress the Marquis of Chang'an to death.

Sui Yu felt very excited when she thought of this scheme of using someone else to do the dirty work.

With the addition of Imperial Censor Cai, the chances of bringing down the Marquis of Chang'an have increased even further.

That's right. We should act as decisively as Second Master, taking revenge for every wrong done to us.

However, Lin Shuqing is, after all, a woman, and it would be unbecoming to deliberately target her. If word got out, people would inevitably speculate whether the Second Master was driven by love to hatred... It would be just right to bring down the Marquis of Chang'an. Without this illustrious family, let's see how Lin Shuqing will behave!
Because of her, the Second Master sought all sorts of revenge, and afterwards, it was difficult for the Marquis of Chang'an's men not to vent their resentment on her.

So what if Lin Shuqing is pregnant with the Second Prince's illegitimate child? Without her maternal family's support, even if she does enter the Second Prince's residence, what rank will she have?
Without her status and the support of her maternal family, can the child in her womb truly be saved?
Thinking about the series of reactions that would follow, Sui Yu was overjoyed. He immediately accepted the task and went out to carry it out.

Just after the three of them left, Chen Yanzhou was about to go to the small study to write a letter when suddenly, a man dressed in gray clothes jumped out from the shadows.

"Second Master, the Duke has ordered you to leave the palace and return to your residence."

This should have been said long ago, but since the Second Master was with the eunuchs, it wasn't convenient for them to show themselves. Then, an imperial decree was issued, and with the Second Master surrounded by people, it was even more inconvenient for them to appear.

Now that the time was right, the man in gray quickly explained the situation. "The Duke has been waiting for you for a long time; please return to your residence immediately."

The Second Master narrowed his eyes, looking at the gray-clad man before him. "Father gave you to me, so you are my people."

The man in gray understood the implication and immediately knelt down, saying, "This subordinate is willing to die for Second Master."

"You don't need to die for me, you just need to figure out who your master really is."

The man in gray immediately clasped his hands in a fist salute, saying, "Your subordinate will obey Second Master's orders."

The Second Master chuckled softly, not dwelling on the matter. He simply instructed the man in gray, "Something has come up here, and I can't leave for a while. Go back to the Duke's mansion and tell Father that I know what I'm doing. I'll go back to see him after I've finished what I need to do."

"Yes."