The Challenge of a Farmhouse Son-in-Law
Chapter 626 - 637 Highway Robbery

Chapter 626: Chapter 637 Highway Robbery

Madam Lin walked ahead while Xie Qinyun made faces at Gu Youyou and Lin Qianqing from behind.

Madam Lin occasionally turned her head to instruct them, teaching them about matters related to the palace. They nodded earnestly in agreement.

Whatever Madam Lin said was accepted as correct anyway.

"Youyou, after the banquet, the Empress will likely speak with you about visiting the Empress Dowager to treat her leg ailment. You’re smarter than your cousin; you should know how to handle this, right?"

Gu Youyou was momentarily stunned, then nodded lightly.

Madam Lin hummed in satisfaction and said, "It might not only be after the banquet; you could be summoned to go before it starts. Just be adaptable to the situation."

No problem at all.

Gu Youyou continued to nod.

...

While the Empress was hosting the banquet, Jin Zijin was also busy with his own matters.

In the woods, two bored, masked men in black were casually conversing.

"I heard that Gu Youyou entered the palace today. Brother, you agreed to this?"

After pulling down the black cloth covering his face and putting a wild grass in his mouth, he said, "Taking this chance to have a look is good. If not today, someday we’ll be summoned."

"Hmm?"

"The Empress Dowager has bad legs, and the more famous she gets, the less she can avoid treatment. Besides, there’s no need to avoid it!"

Yue Rujing laughed and said, "That’s true." Then he became slightly worried, "But healing the Empress Dowager is not like healing others. Gu Youyou’s medical theories are really frightening. She wouldn’t be foolish enough to use some shocking and unorthodox methods to heal, would she?"

"Don’t worry, Youyou knows what she’s doing," Jin Zijin replied, climbing out of a ditch and glancing toward the entrance of a nearby grove.

Yue Rujing said, "As long as she knows what she’s doing, that’s good. The Empress Dowager’s leg problem is a chronic issue; I’ve even examined it myself." He sighed and shook his head, "It’s hopeless. But at her age, the Empress Dowager has attendants, so whether she can walk or not doesn’t really matter. She just needs pain relief. Why trouble ourselves over this? Right?"

Jin Zijin replied indifferently, "Before his ascension to the throne, he and the Empress Dowager relied on each other for many years; she is to him more than a birth mother. Moreover, this Empress Dowager is different from the previous ones. She has no natal family, no relatives involved in politics—her heart is only with the Emperor, so the Emperor also trusts her deeply." With a slight chuckle, as if recalling something, he added, "What a great accomplishment it would be to cure the Empress Dowager! Isn’t it clear that some intend to use this opportunity to gain favor with the Emperor? But that ailment... isn’t so easily cured."

Considering what his brother implied... Yue Rujing pondered, narrowing his eyes.

"Brother, you’re not planning to use this opportunity to have Gu Youyou curry favor with the Empress Dowager, are you? If she cures the ailment, that’s great, but if not... Anyway, it’s already like that; if she doesn’t succeed, it won’t matter much. I’m just worried that in her eagerness to achieve quick results, she might resort to her shocking and unorthodox methods and end up making things worse!"

Jin Zijin looked pensively at Yue Rujing, sizing him up, and asked, "Do you still have doubts about Youyou? You trust her so little?"

Yue Rujing originally wanted to proudly claim it was because he cared about her, but when the words reached his mouth, they weren’t so bold anymore, turning into another sentence.

"Is that woman trustworthy in her actions?"

Jin Zijin: "..."

"Short-sighted!"

Yue Rujing was stunned before he realized that his brother was scolding him.

"Brother, how can you talk about me like that? You’ve changed..."

Startled birds flew up unusually in the grove ahead. Jin Zijin immediately spat out the grass from his mouth and put on his hood.

"Enough, tell everyone to be ready. They’re coming."

The approaching riders galloped into the grove, drawing nearer and nearer until a rope trap in the leaves sprang out, launching three feet off the ground, catching the lead rider unawares and sending both rider and horse tumbling over.