The abstinent and powerful minister is cold and aloof during the day, but he adores her in his dream

Chapter 25 So Attractive
When Lady Wei heard that Zhiwan had encountered danger in the peach grove, her heart clenched. She guessed that it must be something terrible, because her son usually didn't care about the women's affairs, but today he had interfered.

She simply asked, "Has the young master returned to the manor?"

"I just got back," Granny Fang replied.

Upon hearing this, Madam Wei immediately got up and went to Qingyun Residence to find Lu Zhan.

When she entered Lu Zhan's study, he was writing a memorial to the throne.

"Why are you at the Fu family's villa today?" Madam Wei asked directly as soon as she entered.

Seeing his mother's pale face, Lu Zhan knew that she must have learned about Zhiwan's danger. He said indifferently, "Duan Ling said that the scenery of the Fu family's villa is nice and invited me to go and enjoy the flowers."

"What danger did Wan'er encounter?" Madam Fu asked anxiously.

Lu Zhan didn't even look up, continuing to write his memorial. "When she was playing with Ouyang Pearl, she got separated from the servants and ran into Wang Zeren, who almost assaulted her."

"What?" Madam Wei was shocked.

Seeing that she was frightened, Lu Zhan said gently, "She didn't succeed. I happened to be passing by and saw it, so I rescued her."

Wei patted her chest, still feeling lingering fear.

Fortunately, Wan'er is alright. Otherwise, how would she explain this to Wan'er's mother when she goes to the afterlife?

After regaining her composure, she gritted her teeth and said, "How dare Wang Zeren? Did you teach him a lesson?"

“Yes, Wang Zeren also tried to assassinate me and has now been imprisoned to await his fate. In addition, his father, Wang Qingde, allowed his son to commit murder and also accepted bribes, engaging in corruption and perverting the law. I am preparing to submit a memorial to the Emperor.” Lu Zhan had already finished writing the memorial when he said this.

Wei was stunned. "Wang Qingde really embezzled and broke the law?"

"Do you think I would falsely accuse someone out of thin air?" Lu Zhan asked rhetorically.

Wei said sullenly, "That's not what I meant..."

Lu Zhan said calmly, "Wang Qingde did indeed accept bribes. The Emperor had intended to deal with him anyway, and I'm just going with the flow."

Lady Wei also believed that her son would not take revenge for personal reasons. If Wang Qingde hadn't had problems of his own, why would the emperor have dealt with him?
“You did a good job. I treat Wan’er like my own daughter. If you hadn’t punished Wang Zeren for what happened to her today, I would have sent someone to teach him a lesson and avenge Wan’er.”

Lu Zhan paused, recalling the pitiful sight of the little girl in the peach grove, her eyes filled with tears after her fright, and reminded her, "She was quite frightened today, Mother, please comfort her."

Upon hearing this, Madam Wei looked at him in surprise.

I never expected that my son, who was indifferent to everyone, would actually know how to care for people.

Thinking about how young Zhiwan was, yet she encountered such a thing, how helpless and scared she must have felt at that time?
Feeling both guilty and heartbroken, Madam Wei couldn't sit still any longer and hurriedly went to Yaoguang Pavilion.

Yaoguang Pavilion.

Zhiwan personally applied the medicine to Shuang'er and was coming out of Shuang'er's room when she saw Wei Shi arrive.

"Aunt?" Zhiwan asked, surprised and puzzled.

My aunt only left not long ago, why is she back again?
Without saying anything, Wei took her hand and led her into her room.

After closing the door, Madam Wei held Zhiwan in her arms and scolded her, "You silly girl, after something like that happened, you still dared to hide it from me."

Upon hearing this, Zhiwan realized that she knew about Wang Zeren's affairs.

She pursed her lips. Was it her cousin who told her aunt?
She quickly explained, "I didn't mean to hide it from you, Aunt. I was just afraid you'd worry. Besides, it involves my cousin, and I didn't know if I should tell you..."

Madam Wei sighed, "I know you didn't mean to hide it, but you mustn't hide anything from me again in the future."

"Yes." Zhiwan nodded obediently.

Madam Wei was heartbroken and reached out to pat her head.

I can't imagine what this girl would have gone through if her son hadn't happened to be there at the time.
Thinking of this, she really wished she could chop Wang Zeren up and feed him to the dogs!

What a vile creature, daring to lay a hand on my Wan'er! She clutched her chest, calming her anger, and took Zhi Wan's hand, blaming herself, "This time it's my fault too. I should have arranged for more people to protect you."

She originally thought nothing would happen at the Fu family's villa, but she was far too complacent.

It was her oversight.

Wan'er is so attractive that she naturally attracts unwanted attention.

"It's not Aunt's fault. What happened today was just an accident," Zhiwan comforted her.

Wei couldn't help but feel a bit angry and said, "It's also the fault of the Fu family, who dared to invite someone with such a bad reputation as Wang Zeren."

Upon hearing this, Zhiwan paused for a moment, then softly reminded her, "Aunt, have you forgotten? Last time at our manor's flower-viewing banquet, Wang Zeren also came. At that time, Lu Xin insisted that I pushed Wang Zeren into the water."

Madam Wei remembered, and frowned, saying, "But I didn't have anyone invite him that time..." She paused, her face extremely grim, "Was it Lu Xin who invited him? And what happened today, is it also related to Lu Xin?"

Last time, she assumed that Wang Zeren had come with other scions of prominent families, so she didn't investigate further.

Looking back now, however, there are many things that don't seem right.

For example, why would Lu Xin attribute Wang Zeren's drowning to Wan'er?

Did Lu Xin conspire with Wang Zeren to frame Wan'er?
Also, how did Wang Zeren happen to encounter Wan'er, who was alone, at the Fu family villa today?

Seeing that she had already connected the dots to Lu Xin, Zhi Wan was somewhat pleased, but not wanting to tell the truth, she shook her head and said, "I don't know."

Regardless of whether Lu Xin had anything to do with her near-fatal incident today, if Lu Xin hadn't instigated Wang Zeren to harass her last time, she wouldn't have been targeted by Wang Zeren, and without being targeted by him, she might not have suffered what she has today.

However, she was a little unsure whether Lu Zhan had heard what she and Wang Zeren said in the peach grove.

However, it seems he didn't hear it.

She had run for a while before Lu Zhan appeared.

Thinking of this, she felt a little more at ease.

If Lu Zhan heard this, he would definitely mention it to his aunt, and then her previous strong denial of pushing Wang Zeren at the flower viewing banquet would likely be exposed.

Although it was a temporary measure, she didn't want her aunt to know, so she lied and deliberately acted pitiful.

Wei was already convinced that Wang Zeren's matter was related to Lu Xin.

After leaving Yaoguang Pavilion, she instructed Granny Fang, "If Lu Xinruo returns, tell her to come see me."

"Yes."

Lu Xin returned in the evening, looking extremely gloomy. Lu Lan, who was following behind her, didn't dare to utter a sound.

The eldest sister thought that with Zhiwan gone, she could attract the attention of Prince Fu, but she didn't expect that there was another Wang Yanran.

Wang Yanran was exceptionally talented and renowned, and everyone fawned over her, making her elder sister seem like a clown in comparison.

Unfortunately, the elder sister couldn't see the situation clearly and tried to get close to Prince Fu several times, only to be ridiculed by Wang Yanran until she lost face.

"Third Miss, the Duchess requests that you visit the Orchid Courtyard upon your return," a servant said, stepping forward.

Lu Xin was in a bad mood and was stopped by the servants. She was about to get angry, but when she heard that it was Madam Wei who was looking for her, she calmed down and went to Lan Courtyard.

"Auntie," Lu Xin greeted Madam Wei.

Madam Wei glanced at her and, seeing that she looked somewhat disheveled, did not ask anything, but simply threw a guest list in front of her.

"I didn't invite Wang Zeren to the flower-viewing banquet at the manor last time. How did he get into the manor?"

(End of this chapter)