Chapter 2074: Ruan Hai's True Intentions
Chapter 2074: Chapter 2074: Ruan Hai’s True Intentions
According to Ruan Hai, the idea of having Madam Ruan come back to Ruan Family Village to see Old Lady Ruan off on her last journey had never been his intention.
When Shu Yu heard from Mrs. Xiang that the Ruan brothers and Ruan Hai were plotting against her own Mother, she was indeed extremely disgusted with them.
Later, when she heard about Ruan Kewei killing someone and burying the body, she had been a bit puzzled. She wondered, with Ruan Hai’s cautious personality, how could he, when only half a month had passed since the killing, take the initiative to stir up trouble and try to deal with Madam Ruan? Was he not afraid of causing more complications and letting some outsider accidentally uncover the matter?
Yet Ruan Hai said that he had never intended for Madam Ruan to come.
The only ones who truly wanted to gain some benefits from Madam Ruan were the Ruan brothers. Although those brothers only meant to “sell their misery” and didn’t actually dare do anything to Madam Ruan.
But when all was said and done, the outcome was still to make Madam Ruan come to Ruan Family Village.
If it were only Madam Ruan coming, that would be one thing. But what if the Lu family, that whole big clan, didn’t feel at ease about her and all came along? The others were of no great concern, but Lu Shuyu was the county magistrate; when she traveled, there would surely be more than one person at her side.
If such a large group came, any unforeseen change would be far too great.
After all, Ruan Hai had a guilty conscience. Once he learned of the Ruan brothers’ plans, he went to persuade them not to make any more trouble. Since they had already become mortal enemies, why continue to disturb each other?
It would have been better had he not said this. As soon as he did, the Ruan brothers felt that Ruan Hai was acting far too strange. They didn’t claim to know Ruan Hai inside out, but they did know he was a greedy man. With such a great opportunity as Old Lady Ruan’s death, he actually didn’t intend to get a share of the profit from Madam Ruan?
The two brothers were in fact not very bright, but precisely because they were so single-minded, their thinking went askew. They suspected that Ruan Hai must have already gotten some benefit, that he must have long been cooperating with Shu Yu behind their backs.
They were displeased. The more Ruan Hai tried to stop them, the more suspicious they became, and in the end they even started making a big scene.
These past two years, the Ruan brothers had been living a miserable life, and at such a critical juncture, they really were capable of throwing everything aside.
Ruan Hai couldn’t talk them around, and in the end could only use his identity as the village chief, stop explaining, and forcefully order them not to go looking for Madam Ruan.
He had people keep watch over the Ruan brothers’ family. But while he could keep an eye on them, he couldn’t watch everyone in the village. Under Ruan Hai’s explicit prohibition, the Ruan brothers still managed to have that cousin secretly run to the clothing workshop to inform Madam Ruan.
Ruan Hai was so angry he nearly spat blood, but things had already come to this point; even if he beat the Ruan brothers up, it would be useless.
Fortunately Madam Ruan was still in the middle of considering it. His only option was to make her give up the idea of coming.
To prevent the Ruan brothers from stirring up more trouble, the only way was for Ruan Hai to keep the initiative firmly in his own hands.
He summoned the Ruan brothers to his house and directly changed his tone, saying that he didn’t have any deal with the county magistrate. He just felt that the Ruan brothers’ method wasn’t quite appropriate, and that he had a better way—a plan that would satisfy both sides.
That was to wait until Madam Ruan arrived, then subject her to coercion, temptation, and moral blackmail.
And these words, he had deliberately spoken while standing in his own courtyard, for the benefit of the next-door neighbor.
He knew the neighbor next door was friends with Xiang, and that she herself had a grudge against him, so she definitely wouldn’t want his plan to succeed and would surely go and tell Xiang.
If Xiang knew, then Madam Ruan would know.
Based on his understanding of Madam Ruan, even if she had at first still held a trace of feeling for Old Lady Ruan and planned to see her off for the last time, once she learned that coming to Ruan Family Village would bring trouble down on her family, she would absolutely weigh the pros and cons and give up coming.