The old madam of the Marquis of Jingwu had come out to testify, but the madam of the Marquis of Wu an could not quibble. She could only kowtow and beg for mercy from Lady Qiao. “Your Majesty, your servant has realized her mistake. I beg for mercy.”
Lady Qiao ignored her and asked princess qi, “Sister-in-law, how is the ceremony record that His Majesty punished you to copy yesterday coming along?”
Consort Qi immediately took out the ceremony record that she had copied. Naturally, she did not stay up all night to copy the ceremony record alone. Instead, she instructed the maidservants in the Prince Qi’s residence to copy it together.
Qiao Jinniang flipped through it a few times and threw the ceremony record on the ground. “The handwriting is clearly not the same person. Is His Majesty’s punishment for you to use perfunctorily?”
Consort Qi immediately knelt down and said, “I know I’m wrong.”
Qiao Jinniang said, “Hong Qifeng was the first female official in the previous dynasty of Great Tang. She was also the first female scholar. His Majesty valued her highly and praised her highly because she was talented. However, he did not expect the outside world to be full of rumors!
“As a prince consort, you are also involved in rumors with those people. Yesterday, His Majesty only punished you to copy the notes three times. It seems that it is not enough. Now, go to Hong Qifeng and apologize properly.”
Imperial consort Qi felt extremely wronged. As the imperial consort of the prince, she apologized to a little girl, but she didn’t dare to disobey Qiao Jinniang’s orders.
Qiao Jinniang swept her gaze toward the Marquise of Jingwu and said, “Also, Old Madam Sun has also misunderstood Miss Hong. Please also apologize to Miss Hong, Madam Sun. Otherwise, in the future, any female official will tell the emperor to invite her into the palace. What does this mean to the emperor? What does this mean to be a female official?”
Madam Sun repeatedly went to Hong Qifeng to apologize. Consort Qi did not dare to feel wronged anymore and repeatedly apologized.
Qiao Jinniang then said to the marquise of Wuan, “In Chang ‘an city, most of the rumors about Hong Qifeng came from the Ye family and the Marquis of Wuan’s mansion. They took away your imperial decree because they told ye suxin to falsely accuse me. You must not let the matter of the imperial court officials off lightly!”!
“Your Majesty, What kind of crime do you think she should be charged with?”
Lu Chen said, “She will be imprisoned for three years to serve as a warning to others. Father once said that the mouth of the people is better than the mouth of the river. Therefore, when the rumors in Chang ‘an were outrageous, the palace did not punish her.
“But if it is a rumor about her innocence, she will definitely be severely punished in the future!”
When the Marquis’wife heard that she would be imprisoned for three years, she felt that it was over.
Madam Jing Wu was extremely regretful. She had already offended Marquis an yuan in order to get married to the Marquis Mansion. Now that Madam Wu Anhou was going to go to jail, how could her daughter be worthy of her own grandson?
Madam Wu Anhou and ye suxin were both pulled down by someone. The palace banquet continued.
Hong Qifeng glared fiercely at Madam Hong and said, “Mother, now that you are satisfied, I will say that His Majesty and Madam are in love. It is our Hong family’s fortune that His Majesty did not punish us today. Don’t do such a ridiculous and generous thing in the future.”
Hong Yang also felt quite embarrassed, but in the end, it was not the time to quarrel with Madam.
Qiao Jin poured a glass of wine for Lu Chen and said softly, “I will ignore you. Return that portrait to me.”
She did not want the portrait of her missing teeth when she was young to be held in Lu Chen’s hands.
Lu Chen took her wine and returned the portrait in his sleeve to Qiao Jin. Qiao Jin conveniently tore the portrait and put it in her sleeve.
Madam Hong looked up and saw the emperor looking at the Empress with a smile in his eyes. She felt extremely regretful. She should not have listened to ye suxin and caused this matter. She should have listened to Hong Qifeng just now.
Hong Qifeng drank a cup of wine and looked at the Emperor and the Empress. She felt extremely guilty. The Empress had even asked Consort Qi to apologize to her for her sake.
But in reality, Hong Qifeng could not lie to herself. She liked the emperor.
Ever since she became an official four months ago, she had lived with the Emperor Day and night. When she saw the majesty of the Emperor when he was on the dragon throne, and when she saw his tenderness toward the empress, as a young girl, it was difficult for her to suppress her feelings.
When she was young, she could not understand why Zhou Sisi was so stupid as to sacrifice the martial Duke’s public house for the emperor. Now, she understood.
If she were Zhou Sisi, she would not be willing to have such a good cousin.
However, she was Hong Qifeng, so she could only be willing. The empress was so good to her, and she was always thinking of her. Qiao Ruoyi was her benefactor who was able to enter the imperial court and become an official..
She would always keep her thoughts of the emperor in the bottom of her heart. She would work hard to repay the Emperor and the Empress for her kindness. She would not even think about entering the palace and becoming a concubine.
The Empress was so loving, why should she interfere? If that was the case, she would look down on herself.
After the sacrificial moon, the banquet ended.
Lady Qiao Jin gave Princess Qi the fresh meat mooncake that Prince Bao Jun liked to eat tomorrow to show her comfort.
In the Changle Palace, Lady Qiao saw Lu Chen looking at the full moon in the sky. She went over and asked, “Do you miss father and mother?”
Lu Chen nodded, “Yes, I wonder when they will be willing to go back to Chang ‘an?”
Qiao jinniang smiled and said, “Mother Doesn’t know. Father probably doesn’t want to go back to Chang ‘an now, for fear of being hugged by those old officials and crying.”
Lu Chen also smiled and said, “They are quite carefree. Some time ago when they went to Lingnan, father actually wanted to build a boat and go to Japan to play.”
Qiao jinniang said, “Lingnan can’t go to Japan. Now that there is no hurricane, if they want to go to the sea and find a reliable fisherman, they can also go to the island to play. I’m a bit looking forward to it.”
She had only been to the seaside of Yinzhou and had never taken a boat out to sea, so she didn’t know if the sea had an end.
Lu Chen said, “When Xi’er grows up in the future, we can also go to play.”
..
After the palace banquet, the Qiao family also had their own mid-autumn Festival banquet.
When Zheng Xiao returned to the Qiao family, she said to old madam Qiao, “Mother, you didn’t see Old Madam Sun’s expression just now. It was really too satisfying. There’s also the Marquis’wife. She can’t be considered the Marquis’wife anymore. I heard that when Marquis Wu an went out, he gave that woman a letter of divorce.”
Old madam Qiao said, “Fortunately, there was no marriage with the Marquis Jingwu Manor that day. However, ruoyi, for the sake of the child in your stomach, you should also think about finding a husband to marry.
“Whether you want to use it or if you really want to marry, you have to find one to the left and right. Don’t let the child have the reputation of having an illegitimate child.”
Qiao ruoyi said, “Yes, the marriage is solely based on mother and grandmother’s instructions.”
Marquis an Yuan said, “That Xie Yun is really harming people. He even made a portrait of the Empress. It’s a good thing that his majesty trusts the Jin Niang. Otherwise, the Jin Niang and our Qiao family will be finished today. In the future, everyone in the Qiao family will beat Xie Yun up every time they see him. There’s no need to be lenient!”
Zheng Xiao rarely agreed with marquis an Yuan’s opinion. Even Old Madam Qiao did not stop him.
Qiao ruoyi said in a low voice, “Actually, I was wrong about the portrait this time.”
Qiao ruoyi told the whole story of the portrait. “Xie Yun originally wanted to destroy the portrait and destroy the evidence. It was my fault… Fortunately, His Majesty trusts sister.”
Zheng Xiao did not blame her. Instead, he said, “In the end, it’s still Xie Yun’s fault!”
Fu Lu nodded. “That’s right. If he doesn’t draw this picture, then nothing will happen. Qiao ruoyi, you’re speaking up for Xie Yun, not because you like him, right? You have to wake up. He wants you to be his concubine!”
