novelaction Chapter 257 Mother and Daughter Meet for the First Time
Chapter 257 Mother and Daughter Meet for the First Time
Xun Dong stood quietly behind Qin Ruo. As one of the most trusted personal maids of her master, Qin Ruo had never hidden anything about the Shen family from her.
Like Qin Ruo, when she heard the waiter mention Shen Junling, she guessed that the lady who wanted to see the master should be the master's mother.
"Princess Ning'an, you are joking. How can the Shen family be considered a wealthy and powerful family now? It is just a name in vain." Shen Junling replied with a wry smile.
He was not Old Madam Shen, nor was he Shen Junxing. He was not in a hurry to establish a relationship with Qin Ruo, and he did not neglect the necessary etiquette.
Shen Junling is twenty-six years old this year, nearly ten years younger than Shen Ruyi.
When Shen Ruyi disappeared, she was just coming of age. Shen Junling was only five or six years old at that time.
He was originally the son of the old marquis, and was loved by everyone in the Shen family. Shen Ruyi also loved Shen Junling, who was still a child at the time.
After Shen Ruyi disappeared, Shen Junling cried day and night for his sister and was even sick for a while.
Until ten years ago, when Shen Ruyi brought Shen Junxing back, Shen Junling was about fifteen or sixteen years old and was still studying at the Imperial College.
This passionate and righteous young man also fought for Shen Ruyi at that time.
Since Shen Ruyi already has a husband and children, it is not impossible for the huge Wu'an Marquis Mansion to support a few people.
He once tried to persuade Old Madam Shen and his eldest brother Shen Junxing to bring the Qin family to the capital and find some jobs for them.
Old Madam Shen scolded him at the time, saying that he was a traitor and had no sense of the overall situation.
Shen Junxing and Old Madam Shen had the same idea and would never let Shen Ruyi return to the Qin family.
After Tang Qingmei added fuel to the fire, Old Madam Shen placed Shen Ruyi under house arrest.
Shen Junling had long experienced Tang Qingmei's treacherous tactics and knew that she was a cruel and ruthless woman.
At that time, the entire Wu'an Marquis Mansion fell into the hands of Tang Qingmei, who controlled everything in the Wu'an Marquis Mansion. It was difficult for him to even go to Lengyuexuan to see Shen Ruyi.
But he was just a weak scholar, and his father and second brother had been guarding the border for a long time, so he had no way to compete with them.
No matter how carefully Shen Junling tried to hide his abilities, Tang Qingmei never stopped suppressing him.
The mother's distrust, the eldest brother's long-term indiscriminate scolding, and Tang Qingmei's deliberate suppression.
The once smart and studious Shen Junling was turned into a dandy young man avoided by the noble families in Beijing and who only knew how to eat, drink and have fun.
Later, word gradually spread in the capital that the three sons of the Wu'an Marquisate were frequenting the Nanfeng Pavilion, competing with noblemen for prostitutes in the brothel, and oppressing the common people, among other crimes.
He was reported by the censor several times. At that time, the emperor said in front of all the civil and military officials: "The third son of the Shen family has bad conduct and is not fit for important positions. He is banned from taking the imperial examinations for life."
One word from the emperor at that time ruined Shen Junling's future and made the aristocratic families in the capital avoid him like the plague.
After being expelled from the Imperial College, Shen Junling was devastated and had his first direct conflict with Tang Qingmei.
The result is predictable, he lost again.
Old Madam Shen ordered that all sources of income be cut off, and he was worse off than a dog.
After several years of confusion, one day Si Heng quietly ordered someone to bring him here.
Tell the most useless person, and he will just sit there and wait for death. With Si Heng's guidance, Shen Junling finally came to his senses.
He became a member of the Ninth Prince's subordinates. On the surface, he was still the notorious playboy in the capital, but secretly he began to work hard to learn various skills and gradually emerged in the Ninth Prince's power.
Until now, I finally have my own power.
When he had the ability and wanted to rescue Shen Ruyi, Shen Ruyi was unwilling to leave.
Later, he realized that his elder brother had been threatening his sister with the lives of the Qin family.
The eldest brother warned his sister that if she continued to get involved with the Qin family, he would never show mercy to the Qin family.
My sister might be really scared. As a girl raised in seclusion, the years she spent in Taihe County had already worn away her will.
When she heard that it concerned her own child, she didn't dare to take that risk at all.
Shen Junling himself also had his own difficulties that he could not express clearly. He chose to surrender to the Ninth Prince, which was equivalent to lining up in the prince's fight for the throne.
He was walking on an extremely difficult road, and if he was not careful he could be crushed to pieces. He didn't want Shen Ruyi to worry about him.
When Shen Ruyi was poisoned, he was still in Jiangnan. In name, he was traveling, but in reality, he was working for the Ninth Prince.
There were some things that Si Heng did not hide from him.
It was then that he realized how powerful this niece, whom he had never met, was.
She even saved her sister's life.
During the years since my father and second brother left Beijing, the once prosperous Wu'an Marquis Mansion has long been in ruins and in jeopardy.
And his short-sighted mother and self-righteous elder brother both ridiculously thought that the Qin family needed to borrow the power of the Shen family and that the Qin family would try to curry favor with the Wu'an Marquis Mansion.
After Tang Qingmei sent people to deal with the Qin family, he was the one who dug out all the secret businesses of this vicious woman Tang Qingmei and put the evidence in front of Shen Junxing.
When the Qin family was about to enter Beijing, he told Shen Ruyi about this.
At the end of last month, Shen Ruyi left Guanghong Temple, quietly returned to the city, and lived in a house privately purchased by Shen Junling.
On the day Qin Ruo entered the palace, he received a notice from Si Heng. It is possible that Emperor Jing Zhao would use the relationship between the Qin and Shen families as a pretext to set a trap for the Shen family at the palace banquet, in order to harm Qin Ruo and make him wait at home for news to bring Shen Ruyi into the palace.
Based on his understanding of his mother and elder brother, Shen Junling would definitely fall into the trap and implicate the Qin family.
Shen Ruyi learned that the palace banquet might be a trap and was worried about the safety of her children. She wanted to go to the palace immediately to directly explain her relationship with the Qin family to Emperor Jing Zhao to avoid any trouble later.
But Shen Junling persuaded her and told her that now was not the right time and he had already made plans for dealing with the situation.
Fortunately, because of the incident with Concubine Shu, the palace banquet ended hastily that day and Qin Ruo escaped unscathed.
Although Shen Junling did not enter the palace, he found out everything that happened that night. He wished he could find a hole in the ground to crawl into.
After hearing about Old Lady Shen and Shen Junxing's ridiculous behavior towards Qin Ruo at the palace banquet, he didn't want to delay any longer, so he hurriedly arranged for Shen Ruyi and Qin Ruo to meet.
Qin Ruo is a person that the Ninth Prince values, and he does not want to cling to the princess's power.
He just didn't want the relationship between the Qin family and his elder sister to become irreparable in the future because of his mother and elder brother's repeated behavior.
"Mr. Shen, you are too modest." Qin Ruo looked at Shen Junling meaningfully.
Her attitude towards Shen Junling was relatively mild, but when she mentioned Wu'an Marquis Mansion, her eyes unconsciously revealed a hint of disgust.
Shen Ruyi's eyes were almost reluctant to leave Qin Ruo's face.
She also learned a little about the Qin family's life over the years from Shen Junling.
Although she was only picking out the good things to say, she knew full well that the Qin family had gone through countless unknown hardships to get to where they are today.
She understood that her daughter was resentful and didn't want to recognize him.
I was an incompetent mother. I was too weak back then, and for the sake of my mother's meager maternal love, I made one wrong step after another.