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

Chu Jin nodded teasingly, "Mhm!"

Wan Yi's face was filled with "They really are a couple," her eyes shining: "Mmm!"

Jiang Ruining was speechless: "..." What are these two? Are they shipping a couple in front of the main characters?

He waved his hand.

Turned around and left.

As I approached my tent, I saw a tall figure standing in front of the tent flap. The purple ribbon behind him was rusted with silver thread patterns. It was hanging down in the wind, trying to rise, but because it was tangled with the palace sash, it could not rise no matter what it did, like a falcon with broken wings, left only to struggle.

He was carrying something in both hands: a food box in his left hand and a fruit basket in his right, containing several large, red pomegranates.

Hearing footsteps behind her, Shao Yunting turned around and met a pair of beautiful eyes.

But there was no smile, no welcome in his eyes, only cold indifference, as if he were an uninvited guest who shouldn't have appeared.

A heavy weight settled in his heart. He never liked to force things, and he could turn away from relationships that were not meant to be, whether they were family or friends. But she... he was rejected and driven away every time he saw her, yet he just couldn't let her go!

He could only pretend not to see the impatience in her eyes, and smiled as he handed the fruit basket to July, saying, "I saw that Ningning really likes to eat, so I specially found the biggest and reddest ones right now. There are also some local delicacies, which are your favorites."

Without a girl's nod in July, naturally, the money wouldn't be accepted.

Jiang Ruining refused without hesitation: "You're too kind, Duke Shao, but there's no need. I have plenty of food and drink here."

She walked past him, intending to leave.

Shao Yunting almost pleaded, "Wait a minute!"

Jiang Ruining took a deep breath, feeling annoyed, but she knew that if she didn't let him finish speaking, he would keep coming back: "I'm tired. You'd better have something important to say!"

Shao Yunting turned back to her: "You and him..."

Jiang Ruining realized that he had seen her kissing Xiao Che intimately behind the big tree that afternoon!

"Following me, spying on me, is that interesting?"

Shao Yunting denied it: "No..."

Jiang Ruining's eyes flashed sharply: "What happens between him and me is none of your business, and it's not your place to judge!"

Shao Yunting never imagined that she would be looked at like that by the person she liked: "I didn't mean to criticize you, nor was I spying on you. I just happened to be on my way to find you at the time."

Jiang Ruining's impatient tone was rapid and aggressive: "Now that you've seen it, you should know that what I said wasn't meant to be coy. I don't like you, I just don't like you!"

"If you don't accept my apology for the past harassment, and insist on letting me experience how disgusting it is to be harassed by someone I don't like, then congratulations, you've achieved your goal."

"Indeed, it's extremely annoying!"

A crack appeared on Shao Yunting's handsome face, which was usually composed and dignified: "I have no aversion to this."

Jiang Ruining: "I'm not blind!"

Although she didn't experience it firsthand, she has the original owner's memories!

Every time the original owner went to him, offering him good things with both hands, all she received was a distant and cold gaze. The disgust was just hidden behind his mask of good manners, but it wasn't that it didn't exist!

"Since we have different paths, please, Duke Shao, do not seek me out privately again; it will only lead to misunderstandings!"

A hurt expression crossed Shao Yunting's eyes: "You hate me that much?"

Jiang Ruining's past refusals were still somewhat considerate of the relationship between the two families, and contained a hint of feigned politeness. But today, only coldness and disgust remained: "You know perfectly well what you've done. Don't pretend to be innocent in front of me!"

The two were less than a foot apart, and it was still dark. Shao Yunting had excellent eyesight and clearly saw the disgust in her eyes. His mind went blank for a moment: "Ningning, I just like you. Although I have been looking for opportunities to see you, I don't think I have ever overstepped my bounds."

"You said I don't know how to respect people, and I've taken it to heart. I'm reflecting on it. If I've unintentionally upset you in any way, please tell me. If it's truly my fault, I'll change. If it's a misunderstanding, it'll be easier to clear things up, right?"

Tell me, why do you hate me so much?

Jiang Ruining looked at the person in front of her. He was a character she particularly liked from the novel's derivative comic series. She had even been excited about being able to transmigrate into the female lead who loved him. But after getting to know him, she only felt endless disappointment creeping in...

The male protagonist who repeatedly treats women like fools is, frankly speaking, extremely arrogant. What is there to be attracted to him?

"Shao Yunting, although our two families have different stances, we've never been enemies. I thought we were both smart enough that some things didn't need to be said so explicitly!"

Shao Yunting immediately guessed: "You suspect that the matter between Prince Zheng and Xiao Zheng is related to me?"

Jiang Ruining spoke each word with conviction, not doubt or speculation: "You were also involved in the assassination attempt at Wenjiazhuang."

Shao Yunting's heart skipped a beat: "Did the Regent tell you that?"

Jiang Ruining's cold laugh was full of sarcasm: "You haven't changed at all. You still look down on women and are still keen on insulting my intelligence."

Shao Yun's breath hitched.

After their last conversation, he realized that she was much smarter and more capable than he had thought, but those things couldn't be explained simply by being smart!

Jiang Ruining questioned him in a very soft tone.

Even if someone were to pass by and not hear clearly, the man pressed on aggressively: "Why is a high-ranking official like you, instead of serving properly in the capital, being sent to Chengde to oversee the defense of the hunting grounds? Do you dare say that you have no idea who the mastermind behind Wen Yunliang's assassination attempt that nearly cost me my life?"

"Why were there Gu worms in the antidote that Wen Yunliang handed over? Were you truly completely unaware of the entire process of your people trying to torture, manipulate, and coerce my father and Xiao Che?"

Shao Yunting denied it: "You know, I wasn't in the capital at all during that time. As soon as I got back, I took this job. It was the Cui family who felt that they had tried to win me over many times, but I hadn't responded, so they deliberately sent me here, saying it was because I had worked hard to solve cases outside the capital, but actually it was to frame me!"

Jiang Ruining sneered: "You weren't in Beijing, but your accomplices have been secretly plotting. Your departure and your being sent here were part of the plan! Your mission was to get close to Xiao Che and kill him in the chaos!"

"Don't try to act all innocent! Do you dare say that on the day of the assassination, you didn't have a sword or crossbow strapped to your sleeve?"

In the chaos that day, he hugged her, and she could clearly feel metal poking her!

I didn't think much of it at the time.

It wasn't until one night later that I suddenly realized it, and I broke out in a cold sweat.

If she hadn't been afraid of dying and hadn't grabbed the two men, making them protect her from both sides, Shao Yunting probably would have hidden in a corner and attacked her!

"I didn't expose you, which was already out of consideration for the relationship between our two families, giving you face and shielding you from retaliation! You're ungrateful, taking advantage of my politeness and treating me like a fool!"

Shao Yunting could have easily said "no" without any guilt, but when faced with those cold eyes that seemed to see through everything, he couldn't bring himself to tell a lie. Instead, he chose to change the subject: "I really don't know anything about the Gu worms. If I..."

He didn't deny the suspicions in the first half, so Jiang Ruining already understood everything!

Cut off his excuses: "So what if you knew? Would you have stopped it, or could you have stopped it? And why should I believe you that you really didn't know? Or perhaps in your heart, that person did nothing wrong!"

"As long as you achieve your goals, what's a few deaths, what's a little suffering for innocent civilians? You're just climbing to power over the corpses of the people—it's perfectly justified!"

Shao Yunting felt a sharp pain in his heart at being misunderstood: "I didn't mean that. How could I harm ordinary people? I never intended to hurt you! I didn't know he would have someone cast a spell on you; perhaps even he was unaware..."

Jiang Ruining's sneer escaped his chest: "Shao Yunting, do you know how ridiculous it is when you say that? Someone as shrewd as you, wouldn't even know the nature of the person you serve, or their ruthless methods over the past ten years?"

Shao Yunting: "I know him, he doesn't..."

Jiang Ruining approached him, her snow-white face as cold as winter snow: "Is that so! So you watched the entire Wen family, whom you used, be executed, you watched the Jiangzhou dike, which you deliberately breached, destroy three counties, and the countless corpses floating on the water, and you watched the Jiangzhou governor being framed and imprisoned by you."

"Watching the Vice Minister of Revenue successfully embezzle 50% of the military funds allocated to the Northwest for you, watching me linger on the brink of death from the remaining poison, watching my father and Xiao Che worry day and night about how to cure me... you are all so smug!"

The more Shao Yunting listened to what she said, the more astonished he became.

Wasn't the breach of the dike in Jiangzhou in March a consequence of the Jiangzhou Provincial Governor embezzling funds for dike repairs and cutting corners?

The Vice Minister of Revenue embezzled 50% of the military funds.

That's impossible!

"Ningning, there's no evidence..."

Jiang Ruining chuckled: "You know, it's useless to talk without evidence! Do you think I'm just going to waste my time having a lying contest with you?"

Shao Yun's heartbeat became erratic.

How could this be...!

How could he possibly believe that the young emperor he served, who was devoted to the well-being of the people and the nation and endured humiliation, was actually a ruthless character who was vicious and disregarded the lives of the common people?

Jiang Ruining's question was sharp as a blade: "Do you still dare to say you understand him? Do you still dare to vouch for him? Wasn't it him who tried to poison me, torture me, and use me?"