Zhi Wan: "..."

She didn’t know how to explain it to her aunt.

After all, the matter of sharing dreams was simply too incomprehensible.

If she said she and her cousin had never been intimate, it wouldn’t be the whole truth. In their dreams, they had indeed done everything a close couple would do.

Besides, during this trip to Jiangning, her cousin had indeed kissed her—and more than once.

Of course, in the dreams, she had also teased her cousin in all sorts of ways and done many shameless things.

But just now, her cousin had taken all the blame upon himself.

He told his aunt that he was the one who had taken advantage of her, completely absolving her of any fault.

If she were to tell her aunt now that nothing had happened between them, her aunt wouldn’t believe her anyway.

She sighed inwardly.

’Fine. Marrying my cousin isn’t a bad thing for me. And since Aunt dotes on me so much, there shouldn’t be any conflicts between mother-in-law and daughter-in-law in the future. Plus, my first child can take my surname, Zhi.’

’In that case, it doesn’t really matter whether I find a live-in husband or not.’

Having come to this conclusion, Zhi Wan said with a sincere expression, "I don’t blame my cousin. I was willing."

Lady Wei didn’t believe her, assuming she had been forced by her son.

"You silly girl. It’s clearly your cousin who did wrong, yet you’re still making excuses for him. If he ever dares to treat you poorly in the future, I certainly won’t forgive him!"

Zhi Wan quickly said, "My cousin really didn’t—"

Lady Wei cut her off with a helpless sigh. "Don’t speak for him. His conduct has been improper, and he needs to be taught a lesson. Besides, it’s just kneeling. It won’t kill him."

Zhi Wan furrowed her brow, but seeing the exhaustion on her aunt’s face, she ultimately said no more. Instead, she said, "Aunt, you must be tired from your long journey. Please go get some rest."

Lady Wei nodded. "These old bones of mine really can’t take much turmoil. I’ll go rest for a bit then."

"Alright." Zhi Wan agreed, helping her lie down on the bed.

After giving Nanny Fang a few instructions, Zhi Wan excused herself and returned to her own room.

Shuang’er had been waiting for a long time.

Seeing her lady return, she hurried forward and asked nervously, "Miss, why is the Madam here?"

She still didn’t know what had happened in Lu Zhan’s room.

She was worried that the Madam’s sudden arrival meant she had caught her Miss and the Princely Heir in the same room, and that her Miss would be reprimanded.

"My aunt was worried about me, so she rushed here specifically to see me," Zhi Wan said. After a moment’s thought, she told her about her aunt’s decision.

When Shuang’er heard, she was ecstatic. "Miss, this is wonderful! Your suffering is finally coming to an end."

Zhi Wan frowned at her words. "Don’t say things like that again. If outsiders hear you, they might think I’m not being treated well in the Lu Family, when Aunt and the others are clearly so good to me."

Shuang’er lightly slapped her own mouth. "It was this servant’s slip of the tongue. The Madam treats you so well, I truly shouldn’t have said that."

Although there were always some tactless or snobbish servants in the Duke Dingguo Mansion who would speak ill of her Miss, for the most part, her Miss had lived quite well these past five years.

At the very least, after the Zhi family’s fall, her Miss didn’t have to live a life of wandering, never having enough to eat or warm clothes to wear. On the contrary, she had been very well cared for.

"Miss, about your marriage to the Princely Heir, do you think the Duke and the Old Madam will object when they find out?" Shuang’er changed the subject, her expression growing worried as she thought of Old Madam Lu’s dislike for her Miss.

"My uncle listens to my aunt, so I’m not worried about him. But getting past the Old Madam will indeed be difficult," Zhi Wan said lightly.

However, she wasn’t too concerned. Since her cousin was so eager to marry her, he would naturally find a way to deal with the Old Madam.

Besides, her aunt was the one managing the household. In the Lu Family, her aunt’s word carried a lot of weight.

The most the Old Madam could do was give her a few nasty looks and make some cutting remarks.

And since she didn’t care about the Old Madam, a few barbs from her wouldn’t bother her in the slightest.

"Then what should we do?" Shuang’er was very worried; she had witnessed the Old Madam’s cruelty before.

"What’s there to worry about? My cousin is the one insisting on marrying me, not the other way around. If the Old Madam wants to scold someone, she can’t scold me," Zhi Wan said dismissively.

Seeing she wasn’t worried at all, Shuang’er also relaxed.

「In the adjacent courtyard.」

Duan Ling came over with a file for Lu Zhan to review. But as soon as he entered, he was surprised to see him kneeling on the floor, using a small table to handle official business.

Seeing this, Duan Ling clucked his tongue in amazement. He walked a circle around Lu Zhan and teased, "Is this some new skill you learned on your trip back to the Capital City? Handling official business while kneeling?"

Lu Zhan ignored him and asked flatly, "What is it?"

"Of course there’s something. This is the list of officials involved in the private salt trade. Their crimes are all listed here, and it even implicates several high-ranking officials at Court. How do you think we should handle it?" Duan Ling asked seriously.

At his words, Lu Zhan took the file, flipped through it, and said, "Duan Ling, let’s set this matter aside for now."

"I went to great lengths to get the evidence on these people. Why set it aside?" Duan Ling frowned, confused.

Lu Zhan said coolly, "It’s the Emperor’s will."

Duan Ling froze, then said indignantly, "But they’re smuggling private salt in the holds of their ships! If we don’t deal with them, won’t it just make them bolder? Today it’s smuggling salt; soon they’ll be brazenly using their authority to transport salt for their own profit."

"How could I not know that? But the Emperor says, ’If the water is too clear, there will be no fish.’ The local officials need a little grease on their palms to be willing to work for the Court. He told us to turn a blind eye and not be too fussy about it." As Lu Zhan said this, a trace of mockery flickered in his eyes.

Duan Ling let out a bitter laugh. "Those men are all fat and sleek. How is that ’a little grease on their palms’? I think the Emperor clearly wants to protect those officials at Court. After all, one of them is Consort Zhang’s older brother. If it were anyone else daring to mess with the salt trade, their heads would have rolled long ago."

"Duan Ling, watch your words!" Lu Zhan warned in a low voice.

Duan Ling faltered, then complained in a low voice, "Here we are, holed up and working our asses off to root out the corruption for the Court, and what does the Emperor do? With just a few casual words, he dismisses all our hard work.

"Last year, the Emperor was in a thundering rage over officials embezzling the disaster silver. Why the complete change of tune today? Is it just because Consort Zhang’s brother is among those involved?"

Lu Zhan said, "The Emperor’s wish is for us to focus on finding the descendant of King Jin first. Everything else can be put aside."

Duan Ling sighed. "Who knows what forgotten corner that descendant of King Jin is hiding in? It’s not going to be that easy to find them."

"Have those two pirates talked yet?" Lu Zhan asked, changing the subject.

"Not yet, they’re tight-lipped..." Duan Ling trailed off, then suddenly thought of someone, his eyes lighting up. "Isn’t Chen Jiu here? We can have him use his charms again." With that, he was about to go find Chen Jiu, but then he remembered something and backed up. "Old Lu, what on earth did you do to piss off your mother? How long are you planning to kneel? Do you need me to go plead your case with her?"

How could Lu Zhan not hear the gloating tone in his voice? He shot him a cool glance and said unhurriedly, "No need. This is what I deserve."

Hearing that, Duan Ling grew even more curious. "What did you do?"

Lu Zhan flicked a speck of dust from his sleeve, the corner of his lip curling up slightly. "I was just fighting for my marriage, that’s all."