"What do you mean, tell you?" Song Qingshu had actually already guessed her intentions. He could not help thinking of Lu Guanying and Cheng Yaojia back then. He did not even have a single child of his own, yet people seeking to borrow that sort of thing came one after another. It was truly both absurd and exasperating.
Ruan Xingzhu gave him a somewhat resentful look. "Must you make me spell it out so clearly just to humiliate me, Young Master...?"
An awkward look flashed across Song Qingshu's face. Pretending to be clueless at a time like this was indeed rather ungentlemanly. "Madam, even if you became pregnant as quickly as possible, the timing still would not add up. How long has it been since you and your husband... since you last met? If you became pregnant now, everyone would suspect something. It would only damage your reputation."
"We actually met once a little over a month ago. Although we did not..." Ruan Xingzhu's face flushed slightly. "But how would outsiders know about such things? Is it not entirely up to me what I say?"
Song Qingshu still frowned. "But something like this will inevitably invite gossip and suspicion..."
"How can there be anything in this world that satisfies both sides perfectly?" Ruan Xingzhu sighed. "Being suspected is unavoidable, but as long as I am forceful enough, all they can do is suspect."
"Is it really necessary to take such a great risk over one mad remark from Yang Juyuan?" Song Qingshu tried to dissuade her.
Ruan Xingzhu replied, "There is another reason as well. Although I am the clan head's principal wife, my husband is now dead. As a mere woman, I will encounter countless difficulties if I wish to control the Yang family. As the saying goes, without