Chapter 7 Rumors Backfires

Back at Xiaofeng Courtyard, Lu Songli was curious about how the rumors outside had evolved to push Zhao Yutan to such an extreme. She decided to have Mo Bing send someone out to gather information.

In Chang’an, as Lu Songli had anticipated, the incident from the previous night was the talk of the town.

“Have you heard? At the flower viewing banquet at the Prince Gong’s residence, two noblewomen fell into the lake.”

“Who were they?”

“Madam Zhao’s eldest daughter from the Honglu Temple and the youngest daughter of the Imperial Censor Lu.”

“Did they come to any harm?”

“No, they were rescued.”

“That’s good to hear.”

“But you wouldn’t believe it—each of them was rescued by the other’s fiancé.”

“What?”

“I heard that while they were in the water, the two noblewomen clung to the men who came to their rescue, wrapping their bodies around them tightly.” The speaker’s tone grew more suggestive.

“What happened then?”

“Well, you can’t really blame them, can you? They couldn’t swim, and in such a life-and-death situation, they likely didn’t care about anything else.”

“Yeah, I agree. You can’t really blame them. The fiancés didn’t recognize each other while rescuing them. It was their mistake for saving the wrong person.”

“True, but if you were their fiancé, wouldn’t you feel uncomfortable every time you saw the other person, knowing your fiancée had been held so closely by them? Like you, Li Si—what if before your marriage, your wife had been embraced and held by Zhang San, and now you keep seeing Zhang San around? How would you feel?”

“Still, that’s not a reason to break off the engagement, right? It shouldn’t be that serious.”

Someone clicked their tongue and lewdly commented, “I wish I’d encountered something like this. If it were me, I’d definitely dive in to rescue them.”

Others glanced at him with disdain, as if to say, “What are you even thinking?”

One person leaned in and whispered mysteriously, “For these two engagements, the bride and groom might have to be swapped.”

“That’s actually not a bad idea.”

“If that’s the case, the Lu family’s young lady is in real trouble. She ended up losing her fiancé just because of an accident.”

“I heard that there’s more to the story. It seems Zhao’s eldest daughter might have played a part in causing them to fall into the water and be rescued incorrectly. Moreover, she pretended to faint when she was rescued.”

“Really? So Zhao’s eldest daughter was after what, exactly?”

“After the other’s fiancé, of course.”

That night’s incident quickly spread among the common folks of Chang’an, with various speculations swirling around. Such gossip, with a touch of scandalous color, was always the talk of the town. Given that the main characters were prominent figures in Chang’an and with some people secretly fanning the flames, the story only grew more outlandish and salacious. Rumors started to include details like the noblewomen exposing large areas of bare skin in the water, and how the young men responded when the noblewomen clung to them. The tales grew increasingly outrageous, suggesting all sorts of improper behavior masked by the lake’s cover.

Upon hearing the news, Lu Songli realized that the rumors in Chang’an were indeed being stirred up by someone behind the scenes. She didn’t need to guess who was behind it—of course, it was the Zhao family. Additionally, she suspected that Lord Lu had also taken action. With the amount of mud being thrown in Zhao Yutian’s direction, it was clear Lord Lu, being a master of public opinion, had gotten involved. Zhao Yutian was truly suffering, harming her enemies while damaging herself even more. She was probably crying her eyes out right now.

As Lu Songli guessed, Zhao Yutian was indeed sobbing uncontrollably, with a cloth wrapped around the bruise on her neck. Her room was in chaos, with her maidservants sent outside, leaving only Zhao Yutian and her mother, Madam Luo, inside.

Madam Luo said, “Stop crying. Be careful not to hurt your health.”

Zhao Yutian buried her face in the pillow, crying, “Mother, how could this happen?” She was so angry—she had only wanted to use the accident to hasten her marriage to Shen Zhan through public opinion. She never expected the rumors to paint her in such a dreadful light.

Madam Luo sighed, “We underestimated things. Your father says another force has taken advantage of the situation to create trouble, which is why the rumors are so overwhelmingly against you…”

Zhao Yutian looked up, tears hanging on her eyelashes, her eyes red and swollen. “Is it the Lu family?”

“Yes, the Lu family reacted too quickly; they must have been prepared.” Madam Luo was distressed and furious. Lord Lu was indeed experienced in handling such matters. It wasn’t just the Lu family; other old rivals of the Zhao family who had grievances also took action.

Zhao Yutian was deeply distressed. From the moment she decided to drag Lu Songli into the water, she thought everything would go smoothly, that all issues would be resolved quickly, and she would be able to marry Shen Zhan without any problems.

She was quite confident about this plan.

First, she had two prophetic dreams. In the first dream, after marrying into the Qin family, the Qin family would be found guilty and exiled not long afterward. In the second dream, she did marry Shen Zhan, but in the dream, they were both quite old.

In the dream, she didn’t know how the Qin family and she were able to return to Chang’an. But she believed it was likely due to the Emperor’s grace, and the Qin family was pardoned.

These two prophetic dreams were the reason she decided to act. Knowing the difficulties ahead, she didn’t want to endure unnecessary suffering. Additionally, through the second prophetic dream, she was very confident that she was Shen Zhan’s true destined partner.

She was confident about her plan because, from the dreams, she learned that Lu Songli had a cold and weak constitution, which was detrimental to bearing children. Lu Songli’s health was always poor, and the Lu family only mentioned a mild heart condition to outsiders while concealing her extreme coldness. In reality, her body found it very difficult to conceive, and the Xie Family was well aware of this.

She didn’t think the Xie Family would be satisfied with such a daughter-in-law. The Xie Family only lacked a legitimate reason to break off the engagement. Merely tainting Lu Songli’s reputation wasn’t enough; they needed a way to end the marriage with Lu family without any dirt sticking to themselves. If such an opportunity arose, she believed the Xie Family would be willing to take it.

In the dream, she saw Shen Zhan in his forties, still childless. Can you imagine that? The influential Xie Family’s head had no descendants. She felt sorry for this man.

What she aimed to do was create an opportunity for the Xie Family.

By manipulating the public opinion regarding the incident where they both fell into the water but were rescued by each other’s fiancés, she smeared their reputations. With some self-sacrifice, she planned to make the Xie Family responsible, ensuring that everything would go as she wished.

She was not afraid of her reputation being temporarily tarnished, especially with Lu Songli by her side.

However, she never expected that the Lu family had already prepared and redirected most of the mudslinging towards her, leaving Lu Songli less affected. Her reputation was now much worse than Lu Songli’s. How would the Xie Family view her now?

Moreover, why didn’t Lu Songli faint last night? If she had fainted, the subsequent actions and words wouldn’t have been so damaging, and the public opinion wouldn’t have turned so harsh against her. Also, last night, Lu Songli immediately suspected her. It seemed she had never considered her as a sister or a friend. She had been deceived!

“Don’t cry, dear. We will all support you. You have to believe that all the difficulties now are only temporary, and the outcome will surely be favorable.” Madam Luo patted her daughter’s head, comforting her. Her husband had said that he had consulted a famous diviner recently, who predicted that their daughter was exceptionally favored and had a great destiny. With such a prediction, Madam Luo believed her daughter would overcome this adversity and turn misfortune into fortune.

Zhao Yutan sniffed and forced a smile. She knew that her family would definitely support her.

Some time ago, she had already informed her father about her unusual experiences. When she first had the premonitory dream, there were only three or four months left until the wedding, and she was very anxious, unable to think of a solution. She wanted to annul the engagement with the Qin family and marry Xie Zhan, but these were not easy to achieve.

With time running out and the stakes high, she needed her family’s assistance to fulfill her wishes. Her father, Zhao Wenkuan, was the Minister of Rites and also the head of the Zhao clan, holding significant influence.

Zhao Yutan sought her father’s support by revealing the first premonitory dream to him. Initially, her father was skeptical; believing it seemed a bit absurd, but disbelieving it raised concerns about Zhao’s family being implicated by the Qin family.

To gain her father’s trust, she disclosed two crucial secrets—one from the Xie family and one from the Qin family. These were highly confidential, known only to the core members of their respective families, and were currently under investigation by the Zhao family. Her plan to use the falling-into-water scheme was a last-minute decision, catching everyone off guard. Her father agreed that while the plan was good, it was executed too hastily.

Zhao Yutan bit her lip and made a decision. “Mother, I need to see A Li.”

“Alright, I will arrange it.”

“As soon as possible.”

“Okay.”

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