She accidentally flirted with the villain and was fiercely criticized as the regent for forcibly mar

Her last words made Xiao Che raise an eyebrow.

The smooth-talking little liar can spout a whole set of plausible arguments, and every single one of them makes sense.

Without tempering, how could his hatred have sustained him to this day?

The ship docked.

When Jiang Ruining came out of the cabin, she was still wearing a cape. The light apricot-colored veil made her face look as if it were shrouded in a thick fog, making it impossible to see her features or who she was looking at. However, she could tell whether others were looking at her.

Her adoptive father had been watching her the whole time and clearly guessed who she was.

He took two steps toward her, clearly wanting to acknowledge her.

Jiang Ruining ignored him and followed Xiao Che's footsteps, turning around and getting off the boat.

Jiang Huai quickly took two steps to catch up.

Xiao Che's men stopped him: "Lord Jiang, that is the Prince's distinguished guest. No one is allowed to approach without the Prince's permission!"

Jiang Huai never imagined that Ningning would be involved with the Regent.

The regent, who once ruthlessly wielded a bloody hand in the court, actually took good care of Ningning, always going in and out with her. The experts around him even treated Ningning with the respect and protection of a master.

He was certain that Ningning's fall off the cliff was planned, and that the Regent's men were waiting to catch her at the bottom.

She faked her death because she had had enough of being bullied and schemed against, yet always feeling isolated and helpless!

Wait for him to disembark.

Jiang Ruining had already changed to a carriage and drove away.

Jiang Huai couldn't follow them personally; if someone saw him, it would cause misunderstandings.

He then ordered his trusted confidant to secretly follow her and see where she would settle down.

A trusted subordinate official said, "My lord, I'm afraid everyone now believes that you have already sided with the Regent."

Jiang Huai stood with his hands behind his back, watching his daughter's carriage gradually disappear into the crowd before turning around and boarding the carriage prepared for him by the Regent's Palace to take him home.

"We've been sitting in that wealthy and powerful place of Jiangnan for so many years, witnessing the corruption of the Regent's officials, but have we ever seen them do things like breaching dikes, destroying farmland, or wiping out entire families for the sake of greed?"

The confidant shook his head: "That's certainly not true."

Jiang Huai leaned back against the carriage wall, closed his eyes, and said, "Since I'm in the imperial court, there's no way I can remain untainted. But Cui Shengan's faction is a piece of rotten flesh that will be torn apart sooner or later. I have absolutely no way of working with them!"

"If it weren't for the Regent's rescue, we would probably have perished at the foot of the mountain long ago, and it would have been impossible for us to return to the capital unscathed."

Most importantly, Ningning is so close to the Regent that a marriage between them in the future is not out of the question.

By then, even if it's not a single party, it will become one!

His trusted aide's eyes flickered slightly, and he lowered his voice to almost a whisper: "And that one too!"

Jiang Huai recalled that in recent years, several people had tried their best to get close to him. They didn't say it directly, but they all mentioned, openly or secretly, how the person sitting in the Golden Palace was so insightful and how he managed to use the power of Cui Sheng'an and the Regent to his advantage and seek the well-being of the people, despite the Empress Dowager's surveillance and suppression.

During his purge of the corrupt officials in Gangnam Province, these people provided him with a great deal of useful information and assistance.

There is only one goal to achieve: to win him over.

Seeing that he remained silent, his eyes, though closed, were subtly shifting, the confidant continued to persuade him: "Right now, there is probably no official with a higher rank or better ability than you by his side. If you serve him, you will share in the credit for his rise to power, and you will be ennobled and appointed as prime minister, second only to the emperor."

"On the other hand, the Regent has a Grand Tutor who has served three emperors and a Grand Protector who has made outstanding contributions. Your addition can only be considered icing on the cake."

Jiang Huai did not respond immediately.

There was a moment of silence.

She slowly opened her eyes and looked at him.

Your eyes, which have witnessed twenty years of ups and downs in officialdom, are like the sunlight in the main room during the height of summer—sharp and meticulous, able to penetrate deep into the depths of a person's eyes and see through everything!

"What benefits did they promise you? If I'm not mistaken, it was you who leaked the news of my early return to the capital, wasn't it?"

The confidant knew that his advice, given the superior's wisdom, would soon be noticed.

But being suspected still startled him: "My lord! I have followed you for many years, and I have never forgotten your kindness in recognizing my talent. I have never had any intention of harming you."

Jiang Huai's expression relaxed: "What I mean is that you told His Majesty's people that I was returning to the capital ahead of schedule. You guessed that we would be intercepted by Grand Tutor Cui's men on our return to the capital, and you revealed my route back to the capital in the hopes that His Majesty would intervene and save us, in order to gain my gratitude."

The confidant nodded: "You can't hide it from the master."

Jiang Huai gently tapped his knee with his finger.

Just now, when he boarded the car, he caught a glimpse of two young men he knew who had disembarked from the boat behind him, and their eyes were both on him.

There seemed to be a hint of regret.

He guessed that these two must be secretly working for the young emperor.

It takes some skill to win over those two talented young men.

However, he had never spent time with the young emperor, and their every move may have been discovered by the spies planted by the regent.

If the plot is met with violence, given the young emperor's current strength, the Empress Dowager could completely annihilate him without even the Regent's intervention, and the officials who served him would likely also be purged.

The entire clan was wiped out.

No matter how you look at it, secretly siding with the young emperor is not a wise move.

"I will make my own judgment on my stance; I do not need any persuasion or guidance."

"If you wish to stay by my side, then serve as my advisor. If you wish to work for the people behind you, I will let you leave without any trouble. The decision is yours; give me your answer within three days."

……

There were countless eyes on the dock.

Seeing Jiang Huai and the Regent returning on the same boat naturally drew many surprised glances.

Shao Yunting and Xie Lanheng, who landed around the same time as them, also saw it.

After receiving news that Cui Shengan had sent men to intercept and kill Jiang Huai, the two hurriedly left the capital to rescue him.

Because Jiang Huaitai was adept at evading pursuit, it took them a great deal of effort to ascertain his route, but they were still a step too late and only found corpses scattered all over the ground.

Judging from the assassin's wounds, it was highly likely that the Regent's men had gotten there first, since no one else had that kind of strength besides him.

Unexpectedly, the two groups arrived in Beijing one after the other.

"Just one step away!" Xie Lanheng punched his own palm, speechless with regret.

"The Regent had previously purged the patrol battalion, making us all think we had suspected the wrong person and that he was not injured at all. The whole scheme was just to lure the patrol battalion into making a mistake so that he could seize control of the patrol battalion."

"But in reality, he was injured and had been hiding in the Jiang residence?"

When Shao Yunting considered this possibility, his eyes instantly darkened.

Could the Regent be hiding in Ningning's residence?

How could a man be so lacking in manners!

Xie Lanheng was furious and guessed, "The Jiang family and the Regent have long been in cahoots. Lord Jiang must have told the Regent about his route back to the capital, otherwise he wouldn't have been able to rescue the person so easily!"

"For the past few years, Miss Jiang has been feigning madness and stupidity in order to get close to the children of officials from the Cui faction on behalf of the Regent, so as to uncover secrets! The two of them even pretended not to know each other. Such a young woman, yet she has kept such a deep secret!"