Translator: Henyee Translations Editor: Henyee Translations
After Qiao Jinniang was seated, she whispered into Lu Chen’s ear, “After all, she is your sister-in-law and a prince’s consort. It is not appropriate for her to kneel to me, right?”
Lu Chen said, “You are the crown princess. Even if she is your sister-in-law, there is nothing inappropriate for her to kneel to you.”
Li Lingling looked extremely embarrassed. She never imagined that His Majesty would ignore his own face and issue two imperial decrees in a row.
If it weren’t for the wrong imperial decree, she wouldn’t have come to the Qiao Mansion to laugh at Qiao Jinniang.
At this moment, Li Lingling could only kneel in front of Qiao Jinniang, bow her head and kowtow, “Your Royal Highness, Your Highness.”
After a long time, Li Lingling heard Qiao Jinniang say, “Arise.”
Li Lingling was almost suffocated with the rage that suddenly burst out of her heart.
Qiao Jinniang didn’t ask her to arise until she kowtowed to her!
Li Lingling got up and stared at Qiao Jinniang, and there seemed to be countless sharp knives in her eyes.
But Qiao Jinniang didn’t care.
After Li Lingling, the other consorts came to salute her one after another.
Qiao Jinniang didn’t have any grievances against them. Although she had a quarrel with Consort Qi, the latter had apologized to her.
Qiao Jinniang asked them to arise before they kowtowed.
As for Fulu and others, Qiao Jinniang didn’t even let them salute her.
Old Madam Qiao held her breath. At her age, if she knelt down to salute Qiao Jinniang, it would be a disgrace.
When Old Madam Qin stepped forward to salute, she only saluted towards Lu Chen.
Qiao Jinniang took the tea handed over by a maid and said slowly, “Old Madam Qiao, are you too old to see clearly where I am?
Mrs. Qin gnashed her teeth. She was an elder after all. Even the Queen would not let her kowtow to her. How dare Qiao Jinniang?
Duchess Qin tugged at Qiao Ruoyun’s clothes, signaling her to plead for Old Madam Qin.
Qiao Ruoyun understood what Duchess Qin meant, and just when she wanted to speak.
She caught Qiao Jinniang’s gaze. Then Qiao Ruoyun simply lowered her head, pretending not to understand her mother-in-law.
Old Madam Qiao could only kowtow to Qiao Jinniang.
‘Your Royal Highness, Your Highness.”
But Qiao Jinniang didn’t ask her to get up for a long time. Old Madam Qiao’s knee hurt badly, and her heart was full of anger!
Qiao Jinniang put the tea cup aside and said, “Old Madam Qin, you have the first-class honorary title conferred by His Majesty and you are also an elder, so I, as a junior, shouldn’t have judged you.
“But you should set an example for the other noble ladies in Da Tang.
‘With the first-class honorary title, you behave like an ignorant village gossipmonger.
‘You made your family a mess, and even indulged a concubine maid into almost murdering your granddaughter-in-law.
‘Your Royal Highness, the evidence on this matter is conclusive. For the sake of the two families’ relationship, I didn’t hold you responsible.
“But Old Madam Qin insulted my mother and me over and over again. I can’t just ignore it. ”
Lu Chen said, “If this is true, after returning to the imperial palace, I will report it to my father and cancel the honorary title for Old Madam Qin.”
Old Madam Qin closed her eyes and almost fainted, and everyone in the Qin family knelt down and pleaded for mercy.
But Qin Miaomiao said, “Your Royal Highness, Your Highness, this is a wise decision.
After that, Qiao Jinniang spared almost everyone from kowtowing to her.
Mrs. Thong and Thong Wu’er thought they would be spared from kowtowing too.
But after they knelt down and saluted, Qiao Jinniang didn’t say a word.
Qiao Jinniang rubbed her temples. “Your Royal Highness, Miss Thong is so daring. She kept saying that you were vulgar just now!”
This was the first time Thong Wu’er saw the Crown Prince. At the last imperial palace banquet, she was too far away from Lu Chen to see his face clearly.
Seeing his appearance clearly now, she instantly fell head over heels for him.
She had never seen such a handsome man, but seeing that he was so protective of Qiao Jinniang, her heart was sore.
Hearing Qiao Jinniang’s words, she raised her head pitifully and looked at the Crown Prince, saymg,
“Your Royal Highness, I have never said that!”
Qiao Jinniang said, “You said that merchants were vulgar, but His Royal Highness had been a merchant for three years.”
Thong Wu’er quickly said, “Your Royal Highness, don’t listen to Qiao Jinniang’s nonsense!”
Lu Chen said in a cold voice, “How dare you call the Crown Princess by name? Governor Thong’s performance has been the poorest in annual assessment for three years, and obviously he also fails in properly educating his daughter. I think he shouldn’t be a governor anymore.
“In the South, there are merchants everywhere. Governor Thong is the governor of the South, but his daughter despises merchants so much. He should quit the job!”
Mrs. Thong collapsed on the ground. She really regretted it. She came to fawn on Qiao Jinniang, but why did things end up like this?
Qiu Su kept kowtowing to Qiao Jinniang. “Jinniang, we had been classmates for ten years! For the sake of our old friendship, please plead for us!”
Qiao Jinniang felt a bit uncomfortable to see Qiu Su like this, and said, “Qiu Su, it’s the time of peace now and the people’s lives are getting better and better, and the merchants play a very important role in people’s life.
“If merchants pay taxes and don’t violate the law, they should not be considered vulgar.
“If I don’t punish the Thong family, I can’t explain to all the merchants in the world.’
In the previous dynasties, aristocratic families looked down on merchants who were just as wealthy as they were.
And in times of war, if everyone was engaged in business, no one would do farming, which was not good for the development of the country.
So business was relegated to an abject profession.
But since the late emperor, the government had been encouraging the people to do business to mobilize the circulation of money in the country.
Although in the eyes of some high-ranking officials and nobles, merchants were still menial, their status was much higher than that of the previous dynasties.
The imperial court needed merchants to pay taxes and mobilize consumptions of the common people.
Qiao Jinniang understood this truth when she was a child, so she never felt that doing business was menial.
Governor Thong was the governor of the South, but his daughter despised merchants to this point. He was not wronged at all to be demoted.
Seeing that Qiao Jinniang was so cold-hearted, Qiu Su said hatefully,
‘Your Royal Highness, do you know why none of Qiao Jinniang’s classmates attended your wedding banquet?
“Because Qiao Jinniang seduced the son of the prefect of Lin’an when she was in school.
“The son of the prefect of Lin’an always wanted to take Qiao Jinniang as his concubine!
‘We were afraid to offend the son of the prefect, so we didn’t dare to go to her wedding banquet, which was why she blamed us. ”
When the crowd heard this, there was an uproar, and they couldn’t help but secretly exclaim that Qiu Su was really bold.
Lu Chen said coldly, “If Qiao Jinniang really seduced the son of the prefect, then why did she need to find a man to marry into her family?
“If she became the concubine of the son of the prefect, would those Qiao clansmen dare to snatch Myriad Taste?
“It is true that you didn’t want to offend the son of the prefect, but Jinniang never seduced the son of the prefect. You slandered the Crown Princess out of malicious intent. You must be punished.
“Come on, take her to the governor of Chang’an!’
Qiao Jinniang looked at Qiu Su and said, “Susu, you kept saying that we had been classmates for ten years. Yes, ten years, what have I done to you?
‘Why do you hate me so much that you would even risk your own life to slander me?!”
Qiu Su suddenly lunged to her feet and shouted crazily out loud, “Qiao Jinniang, do you know what I hate most about you?
‘You are the one who told me that merchants are not humble!
“But when I left school and returned home, every time I attended a banquet, everyone, including my parents, looked down on me as a businesswoman!
‘Your family was poorer than mine, but why were you always dressed better than me in school ?!
‘You were the most mischievous student in school, but why did every teacher like you the most?!
‘When I heard the son of the prefect wanted to marry you, did you know how jealous I was?!
“1 tried so hard but still couldn’t marry an official’s son, but you rejected the son of the prefect just because he had too many concubines!
“Afterwards, I tried my best to marry a governor’s son although he was born by the governor’s concubine, trying to get rid of my identity as a businesswoman.
“But you didn’t need to do anything but still became a duke’s daughter. And you continue to do business and even become the crown princess.. Why, why is your life always better than mine?!”
