Chapter 2822 The Substitute Was Forcibly Taken by the Bandit's Wife 27
Ruan Shutong's face turned pale.
He slowly stood up, his posture straight. On his face, which was so similar to Jin Chen's, there was only incomprehension and heartache, the kind of grievance and stubbornness that only a proud person would feel when slandered.
“Brother Gu, I really… know nothing about it.”
“I, Ruan Shutong, met you in Black Mountain Village three years ago. I respect you as a person and admire your integrity. I have never looked down on you in the slightest. I have come to repay your kindness, to reminisce about the past, and even more so to remind you of the dangers in the court.”
He paused, his gaze sweeping over everyone before finally settling back on Gu Fanghe's face, his frankness chilling.
“I don’t know why Chu Yi and Chu Ming would do such a thing. Perhaps they were misled, or perhaps they had no other choice. But I swear on the century-old reputation of the Ruan family, I knew nothing about this matter, and I never instructed them to harm anyone!”
Ruan Shutong suddenly turned to Jin Chen, bowed deeply to him, her posture extremely humble and her tone extremely sincere.
“Young Master Jin, whatever the reason, Chu Yi and Chu Ming are members of my Ruan family. Their offense against you is due to my, Ruan Shutong’s, failure to properly discipline them. I hereby sincerely apologize to you.”
"How you want to punish me, how you want me to compensate you, as long as I, Ruan Shutong, can do it, I will not say a word."
Jin Chen watched his performance while holding the hot water bottle. Upon hearing this, she gave a soft "hmm," as if she was genuinely thinking.
Then, he looked up at Ruan Shutong without the slightest hesitation, "Five thousand taels of silver."
Ruan Shutong: "..."
Jin Chen certainly dared to speak up.
Ruan Shutong forced an even more apologetic smile and nodded in agreement, "Alright, five thousand taels of silver, as a token of my apology."
Her first attack failed, and she was instead outmaneuvered. Ruan Shutong took a deep breath, suppressing the surging hatred in her heart, and raised her head again to look at Jin Chen.
"I heard that Young Master Jin was looking for a snake just now?"
Jin Chen raised an eyebrow, neither confirming nor denying, and hummed in agreement.
Ruan Shutong took a slight breath, raised her hand and lifted the sleeve of her left arm, revealing several layers of clean white cloth wrapped around her forearm.
"It's quite a coincidence. This very morning, a venomous snake got into the yard and almost bit me. I've been afraid of snakes since I was a child, and in my panic, I tried to block it with my hand, which is how it bit my arm... Fortunately, the snake didn't seem to be the most venomous, and I treated it in time, so I'm fine."
Ruan Shutong's eyes were slightly red. "Young Master Jin's pet snake mysteriously went missing, and coincidentally, a venomous snake slipped into the side courtyard where I live..."
Is this really just a coincidence?
The people in the hall looked at each other, glancing at the injury on Ruan Shutong's arm and then at Jin Chen.
Jin Chen suddenly laughed, a mocking laugh, and retorted, "Otherwise what?"
He tilted his head, as if he were genuinely curious, "Or do you think the snakes I keep can understand human speech, know who I hate, and then specifically go and bite those people?"
"Or perhaps you've done something that incurs the wrath of both heaven and man, something that makes me determined to kill you, so that I have to resort to this roundabout method?"
This question was extremely sharp and merciless.
Ruan Shutong was speechless for a moment, not expecting him to be so shameless.
Jin Chen turned to Gu Fanghe, his tone returning to its usual languidness, "You be the judge, snakes aren't people, they don't have brains. They can crawl wherever they want, whether they bite or not is none of my business."
"Does that mean if I get bitten by two dogs, I should blame the dog owner for not leashing them properly?"
Gu Fanghe glanced at Ruan Shutong's pale face. "The venomous snake acts entirely on instinct. Where it goes has nothing to do with Xiao Chen."
“Xiao Chen is kind-hearted and even wild beasts in the mountains are willing to be close to him. How could he do such a treacherous thing? Young Master Ruan is probably just too frightened and is overthinking it.”
Ruan Shutong: "..."
He squeezed his eyes shut and suddenly realized that things were completely out of control.
Jin Chen was far more difficult to deal with than he had imagined; he was cunning and unpredictable.
His carefully laid plan, which he had meticulously orchestrated for three years, crumbled little by little as Gu Fanghe sided with him.
We must do something as soon as possible; we can't wait any longer, we can't delay any longer.
-
Inside the warm pavilion, the charcoal fire burned brightly, dispelling the damp chill after the rain and making the room warm as spring.
Gu Fanghe bolted the door shut with his backhand, then turned to look at Jin Chen, who was untying the sash of her cloak. Her dark hair was draped down, making her neck appear long and her collarbones delicate.
"You today..." Gu Fanghe began, clearly still shaken, "If you wanted to find the snake, you could have sent your men, or told me and I would have gone with you. Why did you have to risk your life alone?"
He walked over, took the cloak that Jin Chen had taken off, and casually draped it over the screen. His gaze never left Jin Chen's face, filled with lingering fear and worry.
Jin Chen turned her head to look at him, but did not answer Gu Fanghe's question. Instead, she chuckled softly and extended her hand to Gu Fanghe, palm up, fingertips slightly curled.
Gu Fanghe frowned slightly, letting Jin Chen pull him to sit on the edge of the bed and hug him.
Jin Chen raised his hand and began to untie the ties of Gu Fanghe's outer robe, doing so calmly and naturally.
Gu Fanghe lowered his eyes, watching the nimble, well-defined fingers moving nimbly within his robes. His outer garment was unbuttoned and removed, revealing a dark inner garment of the same material.
