On the sixteenth day of the first lunar month, behind the gilded screen in the main hall of the Lu Mansion, Old Madam Lu leaned against soft pillows, her gaze sweeping over Lu Jingyuan standing below. Lu Jinghuan stood on the left, his fingertips turning a jade thumb ring, glancing toward the door from time to time as if waiting for someone.
"Speak, Jingyuan," Old Madam Lu said, her voice laced with fatigue. "Are the things your cousin mentioned true or false?"
Lu Jingyuan took a half-step forward, his voice steady: "Reporting to Grandmother, Jiang Wan has never plotted against her stepsister, nor has she colluded with the Prince of Zhennan's Mansion. Everything is a rumor fabricated out of jealousy by my cousin."
Chapter 140