Cypress Boat Floating

Chapter 262 See Yourself Clearly

After Lu Ci Qiu left the Prince of Qin's Mansion, he hurriedly walked towards his own residence. Before leaving, he specifically told Lu Zhixing to investigate Zhou Hao's situation. He knew that Lu Zhixing's power was far more far-reaching than he had imagined. There were some things that he might not be able to find out, but that didn't mean that Lu Zhixing couldn't do it. Therefore, Lu Ci Qiu felt very relieved to leave this matter to him.

When he returned to Prince Xian's Mansion, he saw Ye Jianqing with a sad face, sitting in the yard as if he had lost his soul.

"What happened?" Lu Ci Qiu walked to her side and asked softly. The voice was not loud, but it frightened Ye Jianqing so much that her whole body trembled, and the soul that had long flown away to the sky also returned to its place instantly.

Ye Jianqing complained: "You scared me to death!"

Lu Ci Qiu said jokingly, "I didn't expect you to be scared. It's really rare. Tell me, what happened?"

Ye Jianqing sighed, her face still looking quite worried, she murmured: "It's okay, I was just thinking about Lin Fanmao."

"Lin Fanmao?" Lu Ci Qiu frowned slightly and asked, "Why do you miss him? What's wrong with him?" There was a hint of bitterness in his tone, but neither Lu Ci Qiu nor Ye Jianqing noticed it.

Ye Jianqing's brows were still tightly furrowed, as if they had turned into a deep "川" character, but she herself was unaware of it. After pondering for a moment, she said, "The news from Wan Zhibo and others said that Lin Fanmao brought someone to Shenwu again today. I am considering whether to check Lin Fanmao myself to see what is going on with the Lin family. If Lin Fanmao really becomes the agent of Shenwu and leads those rich and idle people to send money to Shenwu every day, it will be extremely disadvantageous to us. Shenwu's power in the capital will inevitably continue to expand. By then, if we want to fight against it, I am afraid that other forces will come forward to protect them."

After hearing this, Lu Ci Qiu showed a look of disbelief and questioned, "How could Lin Fanmao be so capable?"

Ye Jianqing calmly analyzed: "Regardless of whether he has such ability or not, since it has already happened, we must investigate it thoroughly to prevent any unexpected situations."

Lu Ci Qiu asked, "So how do you plan to conduct the investigation?"

"That's what I was thinking." Ye Jianqing curled his lips, "After you went to court today, I actually went to the Lin family's neighborhood and got some information."

While pulling leaves in the yard, Lu Ci Qiu asked nonchalantly, "What's the news?"

Ye Jianqing frowned and said in a serious tone, "Lin Fanmao's current wife is a later marriage. His first wife passed away after giving birth to their second daughter. Just after the seventh day of his first wife's death, Lin Fanmao invited this woman into his home the next day, along with a son who was a few years younger than his eldest daughter. I heard that since this woman entered the backyard, the two daughters of his first wife have had an extremely difficult life. The eldest daughter is better off, but the youngest daughter is even more pitiful. She lost her breast milk when she was born, and could only grow up relying on the eldest daughter's care."

Hearing this, Lu Ci Qiu couldn't help but raise his eyebrows, with a trace of contempt on his face: "Humph! It seems that Lin Fanmao is not a good guy. Such a heartless person is really despicable! He treats his own flesh and blood like this, which is simply inhumane."

Ye Jianqing snorted coldly, "That's not true. The stepmother and her son have been bullying her biological daughter, but she has always turned a blind eye. I heard that in order to prevent the two daughters from fighting over the family property, the stepmother is now planning to arrange a marriage for the older daughter."

Lu Ciqiu asked: "Which company?"

Ye Jianqing thought about it and said, "It seems to be the Li family of Tongyin Money House in the east of the city."

Lu Ciqiu frowned: "Does the Li family have a son?"

Ye Jianqing laughed and looked at him, but there was no smile in his eyes: "The Li family has no son, but the Li family has a patriarch."

Lu Ci Qiu couldn't believe it: "Isn't the old man from the Li family already fifty years old?"

Ye Jianqing raised his eyebrows with a sneer. Only this stepmother could think of marrying a young girl in her prime to a fifty-year-old man as a concubine.

Lu Ci Qiu chuckled twice and asked again: "How...how did you know this?"

"I overheard it from my stepmother's corner!" Ye Jianqing said confidently, with a look of peace of mind. She was originally just curious and wanted to find out what was going on in the Lin family, but she didn't expect to accidentally learn such explosive gossip. This big news made her stunned.

Lu Ci Qiu couldn't help swallowing his saliva and cautiously asked, "Will Lin Fanmao agree? And will Miss Lin agree?"

"The betrothal gift offered by the Li family is quite a lot. If Lin Fanmao can establish a relationship with the bank, he will definitely agree without hesitation! As for the eldest daughter of the Lin family..." Ye Jianqing paused for a moment, then continued, "How can she refuse?"

"What's the difference between this and selling my daughter?" Lu Ci Qiu murmured to himself. At this moment, he suddenly felt that the education he had received over the years seemed to have been hit by an unprecedented impact. The teacher taught him the Confucian classics "Four Books and Five Classics", teaching him to abide by the Three Bonds and Five Constant Virtues and pursue fairness and justice; while his brother taught him to love the country, care for the people, cultivate good moral character and moral concepts, and pursue all good things. However, the reality he faces today is so unfair and biased.

The capital city was extremely prosperous, with towering pavilions and towers, magnificent and dazzling. However, behind this superficial prosperity, there were countless filth and dirt. As the prince's brother-in-law, he knew that he had a powerful force behind him and could do whatever he wanted. Therefore, he brought those beautiful women into his secret room without any scruples and abused them wantonly.

The powerful and dissolute young men, relying on their noble status, oppress and insult others at will, and trample on the dignity of ordinary people. They treat others as worthless, trample on them at will, and completely disregard the feelings and rights of others.

Giving a child the blood of life, they think they can manipulate the child's life at will, treating it as a tool to trade, and ignoring the child's true inner thoughts. Can people with power really control the fate of others so easily?

Da'an shouldn't be like this. Whether it's the country that my father or my second brother expected, it would never be like this. If this continues, this country will only gradually decay and decline, and completely rot from the root, right?

Because is this the reason why my second brother said those words to me today? Does he hope that I can also shoulder my due responsibilities and rewrite the fate of Da'an together?

Ye Jianqing stared at Lu Ciqiu's silent figure, trying to guess what Lu Ciqiu felt when he heard this. After all, he was born into a noble family and had been pampered since childhood. He probably had never experienced such a thing where he was unable to control his own destiny, so he might not be able to empathize with ordinary people.

However, Ye Jianqing was completely different from him. She was born in the modern world and was influenced by modern education. She hated such things, so when she heard about this, she was determined to save the eldest daughter of the Lin family from the water and fire. At least she should give the eldest daughter of the Lin family a choice to see if she was willing to obey her parents' orders and marry an old man as a concubine.

But now she and Lu Ci Qiu are in the same boat. If Lu Ci Qiu agrees, that would be the best. But if Lu Ci Qiu objects to it, then even if she takes action, it will be useless. Lu Ci Qiu will stop her. Without support, she does not have enough ability to support this young lady. Of course, if Lu Ci Qiu really objects, she will not say a word about it. It's just that after their rebirth is resolved, their cooperation should also come to an end. She disdains to associate with such people.

No matter what she felt for Lu Ci Qiu in the past or now, she would take decisive action to stop any entanglement with him. This was not only a test for Lu Ci Qiu, but also a great opportunity for her to examine and confirm her true feelings.

Recently, she found that her feelings towards Lu Ci Qiu became increasingly strange and elusive. This feeling was both familiar and strange, as if it was between liking and hating, which made her fall into deep confusion. She tried to capture the essence of this emotion, but she could never grasp it accurately.

Perhaps, this incident could help her solve this mystery. If she could see her inner world more clearly and figure out what this feeling was, then no matter what the final result was, it would undoubtedly be a beneficial thing.

I hope Lu Ci Qiu won’t let her down.