“That’s right, I was indeed clear about the circumstances of Jiulang’s fall from the cliff earlier.” Meng Xiaozhi was not surprised that Li Ruantang knew about this, and just said, “That Wei schemed against my Jiulang first, but then pushed all the blame onto Qi Yun. She’s truly not an upright person.”

“The mad bull rushing out was indeed Qi Yun’s doing. But why my son was standing at the edge of the cliff has everything to do with Wei Yunruo.”

At the mention of this, Meng Xiaozhi’s face darkened, and she gritted her teeth, “This person is meticulous. First, she found a distant relative relationship with a husband-servant in her family, and then repeatedly had ‘chance’ encounters with my Jiulang. She’s accomplished at a young age, with a reputation outside. Jiulang is innocent and naturally easily deceived.”

It’s a pity that she had been traveling for years, and by the time she learned of these things, Wei Yunruo had already succeeded.

“Actually, I bear some responsibility for this matter too.” Li Ruantang sighed inwardly and said softly, “If I hadn’t followed them that day, there wouldn’t have been a mad bull rushing out.”

“This official can still distinguish right from wrong in this matter.” Meng Xiaozhi glanced at her a few times. “Previously, Jiulang was afraid of the lady, crying every time he encountered you. Even if the lady knew the inside story, she couldn’t warn him.”

“Wei Yunruo calculated that the lady wouldn’t ignore this, and would surely provoke Qi Yun’s jealousy and hatred, leading her to try to eliminate my son.”

“Killing three birds with one stone, it shows how meticulous this person’s thinking is.”

“Jiulang naively followed Wei Yunruo to stand in that dangerous place, and the lady followed, nothing more than wanting to protect him from worry. But—”

Her tone changed, with a somewhat disdainful twist of her mouth, “If the lady can’t even avoid Wei Yunruo’s schemes, how can you stand alone in the Golden Elixir case?”

Li Ruantang nodded, “What Madam says is correct.” She didn’t make many excuses about the cliff-falling incident. “However, the Golden Elixir case doesn’t involve Jiulang, and with Madam’s assistance from the side, it’s not a difficult matter.”

“Hearing the lady’s meaning, regarding my Jiulang—”

Li Ruantang’s ears turned red. “To be honest, I have been fond of Young Master Meng for a long time.”

Having gotten the answer she wanted, Meng Xiaozhi raised an eyebrow and looked down at the chess game. The black piece that had just been placed, seemingly without rhyme or reason, had already formed a continuous line before she noticed.

The black and white situation suddenly reversed.

Meng Xiaozhi was inwardly startled, secretly praising it as a good move. After all, she had long felt that Li Ruantang and her Jiulang were a good match, and now the two young people had also recognized their own feelings.

She, as the “villain,” couldn’t keep up the act for too long.

“Let’s do this. I’ll tentatively agree to the lady’s request for now. But there’s a prerequisite: we must wait until the Golden Elixir case is settled. Is the lady willing to accept this?”

“Of course.” Li Ruantang had originally planned it this way, but because of her impropriety last night, she specially came to the Censorate to propose to Meng Xiaozhi.

“In that case, I won’t stand on ceremony with the lady anymore.” Meng Xiaozhi changed her tone, clearly taking on the attitude of Li Ruantang’s future mother-in-law. “The Hu family where the lady previously stayed at Qingshan Academy, I’m afraid you need to be extra careful these days.”

“Has Madam Meng heard some news?” In terms of information, the Censorate was unrivaled in the Great Jin.

Although Li Ruantang had also received some news, it was very vague.

“It will be in these two days that someone will make a move. After all, the Prince of Qing has also returned to the capital, so naturally, some people think they have support and have become active.”

“As for the Empress Consort…”

Meng Xiaozhi glanced out the window and lowered her voice, “Fortunately, you reported the evidence of the Golden Elixir case to the Empress Consort earlier. Otherwise, the Qi family might have joined forces with Wei Yunruo and others due to their marriage ties.”

“Actually, even without that evidence, the Empress Consort wouldn’t have allowed the Qi family to go and save that unquenchable fire.”

Li Ruantang had interacted with the Empress Consort a few times. This person was cautious and would never put the Qi family in danger because of marriage ties.

Moreover, Qi Yun’s marriage was entirely planned by Wei Junshi. Even if the Empress Consort was forced to accept this marriage at the time.

But Wei Junshi’s background and family history had already been written into a small booklet, quietly appearing on her desk.

Thinking of this, Li Ruantang pondered and said, “Although Wei Junshi and Wei Yunruo are stated to have no blood relation in official documents, their ancestral homes are extremely close.”

“Ancestral homes?!” Meng Xiaozhi was puzzled. “I remember Wei Yunruo seems to be from Zhouzhang in Jiangnan, while Wei Junshi is born in the capital.”

As soon as she finished speaking, she immediately frowned in thought, “No, since the Empress Consort is secretly helping, this matter is probably not as simple as their ancestral homes being close. Perhaps they are actually blood siblings.”

Meng Xiaozhi had investigated cases for many years and was very sensitive to such clues. Her eyes brightened, and she suddenly stood up, “Now the evidence in our hands, piece by piece, all points to the Prince of Qing. If we start from here, we might be able to find the true relationship between the two of them.”

Li Ruantang nodded, “Perhaps it’s related to the Crown Princess competition back then.”

“You had already guessed it.” Meng Xiaozhi was surprised by her acuteness, and immediately felt more admiration. Even for her, these matters could only be known through the Censorate, to understand the twists and turns, and then deduce and calculate.

Li Ruantang was young, and her power in the capital was not yet stable, yet she could think of this. It showed intelligence bordering on the supernatural.

Meng Xiaozhi felt reassured. It seemed that collaborating on the Golden Elixir case would certainly be much easier. A smile appeared on her face, and as she rose to see her guest out, she added, “My lady, there’s one more thing this official doesn’t understand.”

“Jiulang was afraid of you, so why did he, before falling off the cliff, bypass Wei Yunruo and instead grab onto you?”

“That…” Li Ruantang, who had just walked out the door, paused, turned back with a faint smile, “Perhaps it was just the will of heaven.”

The will of heaven?!

Meng Xiaozhi stared blankly at the figure descending the steps, and after a long while, finally curved her lips into a smile.

*

Qingshan Academy.

A carriage moved slowly forward, and just as it reached the academy gates, a servant came forward to present a pass.

The young gentleman had only been here a few times before, and previously he had been focused on looking at people, but this time he was interested in taking a good look at the place where Li Ruantang had studied.

Inside the academy, there were carved railings and winding corridors, with elegant rock formations. The sound of studying could be heard everywhere, and on the training ground, arrows constantly hit their targets.

Meng Jun looked around for a while, feeling some regret in his heart.

In earlier years when Li Ruantang was studying at Qingshan Academy, there had been familiar young men who invited him to come along, but at that time he was still angry with Li Ruantang and refused to come to the academy to encounter this bad luck.

Now he wanted to see it, but he had already missed the opportunity.

The young gentleman sighed softly, looking towards Sang Shen beside him, who had specially dressed up. He was extremely nervous, fidgeting with the sachet in his hand, afraid that something might be wrong with him, taking out a small mirror to check himself every so often.

However, they were both wearing veiled hats, so even if that Fang Zhi he spoke of, who was skilled in both literary and martial arts, had extremely good eyesight, she still wouldn’t be able to see Sang Shen’s true face through the veil.

“Jiulang, what do you think I should say when I pretend to encounter Miss Fang to sound more natural?”

“Well, since you’ve already met two or three times, why not just straightforwardly say you’ve come to deliver—”

“…Miss, Miss Fang!”

Sang Shen suddenly spoke softly. He stared blankly at the shadow behind the rockery. The sachet that had fallen to the ground rolled pathetically in the mud, like a broken heart.

Meng Jun was startled. Following his gaze, he looked up and immediately saw Hu Youning sitting in that lady’s arms. He was half-resisting, half-willing, clinging to the lady’s shoulders, their lips and teeth intertwined. The two were lost in passion, completely unaware of the footsteps outside.

Both sides were acquaintances.

The young gentleman’s face showed embarrassment. He was about to make some noise when Sang Shen tightly gripped his sleeve. “Jiulang, didn’t you say Hu Youning already had someone in his heart?”

His voice trembled, yet was unwilling to give up. “Tell me, how am I inferior to him? Just yesterday at Yuqing Pavilion, Miss Fang accepted my love poem. She even praised my writing. How could she be entangled with this rural bumpkin in the blink of an eye!”

Tears of grievance welled up in his sour eyes.

This was the first time Meng Jun had encountered such a scene. He helped the dispirited Sang Shen sit on a large rock by the lake. After hesitating for a while, he finally said softly, “Is it possible that Miss Sang was also affected by a strange poison, and Ah Ning was just helping her detoxify with a kiss?”

“Detoxify with a kiss?” The heartbroken Sang Shen was dumbfounded. “Jiulang, you can’t possibly not know what a kiss is?!”