C21

When he finally saw Master Zheng looking at him, Madame Zheng immediately pounced and knelt in front of him. He no longer cared about his own image and tightly hugged onto Master Zheng's legs.

"Old master, please forgive me. You know me best what sort of person I am. I have served you diligently for so many years, so how could I be so heartless when I have not done all my work in the palace?"

Madame Zheng cried even more miserably than Mo Li, but her crying was extremely beautiful. If it were a normal day, Master Zheng would have already gone over to comfort him with such a tender and tender look. However, at this time, his emotions were a bit complicated.

She didn't want to follow her mother's wishes, whether it be dressing, eating, or drinking, or even finding a teacher. In short, as long as it was her mother who brought it up, Qingluo would always oppose it.

In order to embarrass her, he wanted others to see how harsh her mother was towards the previous Madam's daughter. Although it wasn't a big deal, these things were always taken into account, and people would get annoyed if they listened to it themselves.

In the first three years after arriving at Weir Prefecture, he still had the mood to look at this girl, but he only saw her once every few months. In the following six years, he really didn't see her at all.

Now that he thought about it, a child of a few years of age, what big mistake could he make, he had to lock her up in the courtyard. Also, did he ever hear this girl's explanation before?

After thinking about it, Master Zheng's heart turned cold. He actually didn't even speak a single word to this child during the nine years he had been in Weir Prefecture, giving QingJiao and Qingyan his only bit of fatherly love.

His mother was right. He was such a heartless person. He was also his daughter. How much did he give to Qingluo, and how much did he give to Qingjiao and Qingyan?

It was no wonder that when Qingluo looked at him, she only felt respect and not close to him. For such a man, if he wasn't her nominal father, she probably wouldn't even want to look at him.

But how could he know that Qingluo was always wrong, always causing trouble, and always disobedient? He had been too fond of Qiu Guifang. No matter what she said to him, he believed her.

If she had said that it was someone else's fault, then it must have been someone else. His colleagues at the yamen had teased him before, saying that his backyard was just a word, even as a man, he didn't have the right to speak.

He remembered that at that time, he had retorted and thought that he was in Zheng Mansion, but he kept his promise because even though the manor was under his control, the Madame Zheng was his. He would report everything to him, and he would never act on his own initiative.

But now that he thought about it, he had been in charge of everything in the mansion. He had heard it from Gui Fang. Furthermore, she had already solved it when she said it. It was just to tell him the result.

That's right, Gui Fang had been by his side since she was ten and had made a room at the age of fifteen. At that time, he had thought that he must treat this kind of woman well and not let her down.

He had persisted in this belief until today, and had not failed her. However, because of her, he had betrayed someone else, that beautiful and graceful elegant girl, and that thin and shrivelled little girl.

Was he really as loyal as he thought? Mother was indeed right. I am only a hypocritical person. I used my true feelings to conceal my hypocrisy, and even my vanity.

"Master, you have to believe in me. I am not such a person, you have only seen for so many years, and I have always been ruthless to people, even to servants. I am not sad about that, is she even inferior to Qingluo?"

The Master Zheng began to sway again. That's right, Gui Fang was very lenient to his servants in the mansion. He had never heard of her punishing anyone severely before.

It's just that the people she looks down upon have all disappeared, that's all. If you don't believe me, take a look, who was the last person standing by Wan Ning's side that year?

Old Madam Zheng had long seen that there was only Mothers left by Zheng Qingluo's side. She had been with Jiang Wan Ning before, but everyone else had already disappeared.

Old Madam Zheng's words once again disrupted Master Zheng's heart. He didn't even know how to make his own judgement, to the point where he was no longer able to determine whether he was right or wrong.

"Forget it, let me settle this matter." Looking at her son swaying left and right, hesitating to make a decision, Madam Zheng was deeply disappointed.

In Old Madam Zheng's heart, this son was very outstanding. No matter what he did, he was diligent, dedicated, and did things with great results. He was as smart and wise as his name made him out to be.

However, from the looks of it, Zheng Mingrui did not look like what he had imagined, he was indecisive and did not seem like a politician at all. He was just an inner chamber.

As an official, what was the most important thing? The principle of being a human being, and his own son was the one that had the least principle. He didn't know where his principle was, and he had lost his bottom line as a human being.

He had been very diligent and hardworking since he was young, so he didn't need to worry about his studies at all. He passed all the tests until he obtained a good ranking during the Hall Competition.

He was first placed in Han Lin Academy for two years to write a book, and during this time, he was selected by Jiang Jie and married to his daughter — Jiang Wan Ning. After that, through his contacts, Jiang Zhan Yuan arranged for Ming Rui to be placed in Han Lin Academy's study area.

Everything was fine in the first place, it could not be said that he had a smooth sailing life, until Wan Ning gave birth to a child and when the child was three years old, he fell into depression. In the blink of an eye, Ming Rui helped Qiu's Gui Fang become his legal wife.

The next year, Ming Rui was released, and it was a rather remote Weir Prefecture. He thought that it would be a normal transfer, but in the end, he stayed in Weir Prefecture for nine years, and his performance was always good, so he couldn't return to the capital.

But she thought that with her son's character, His Majesty would definitely be able to see the truth. Lu Yao knew his horse well, and he'd seen the people of the world over time. No matter who obstructed his son, His Majesty would always be able to see the truth.

But the truth was, a hypocrite who doted on his concubine and killed his wife and abandoned his son. No matter how outstanding his accomplishments were, his character meant that he was destined to never go any further. His Majesty might be even more disappointed than he was.

"You can decide for yourself in your backyard, I'm old, you won't listen to me, and I don't have the ability to worry about you. From today on, let Qingluo follow me, I still have the ability to take care of a child."

"You no longer need to worry about her in the future. In a while, ask your matriarch to hand over the silver that she has saved for Qingluo and also hand over the dowry that Qingluo's mother left for her."

"Remember, I have Wan Ning's dowry list here, I will check it. Don't think about it, in the future, each of us will take care of our own business, we don't want to do it ourselves."

Madam Zheng had really cooled down. She had been looking forward to her son's return to the capital. She had wanted to enjoy the joy of losing him for a long time. Who knew that her son was no longer that son of before?

That son at least knew what was right and wrong; no, he already didn't know what was right or wrong. Otherwise, how could he have married Wan Ning into a family and then pampered them with all his might?

Furthermore, when he first mentioned Qiu's Gui Fang's name, it was because she took care of Ming Rui with care and concern. Thinking about it now, it wasn't just Ming Rui who was at fault, but himself as well.