You Yuecheng raised his hand and said to the outside, “Somebody, give her 10 taels of silver.”
“Yes.” The manservant rushed in, took out 10 taels of silver from his pocket, and gave them to Maid Li. Then he tugged at her clothes and motioned her away.
As she looked at the glistening money, Maid Li’s eyes immediately lit up. Without wiping the tears from her face, she took them hastily, thanked the manservant, and was taken out by him.
To publicize the matter of the King Jin’s Manor was to make the Emperor suspicious of Mo Xuetong. If she really was King Jin’s child, even if the Emperor didn’t want to pursue this matter, he would be forced to pursue the reality. In any case, the descendants of King Jin were the remnants of the rebellion, which was determined by the Emperor before the former Emperor and could not be changed by the current Emperor.
As soon as the news got out, the Emperor had to send someone to investigate. You Yuecheng was 100% sure that Mo Xuetong’s mother was not the legitimate daughter of the General Manor, but the daughter of King Jin. When it came to the truth, Mo Xuetong could not even save her life, let alone be Consort Xuan.
And there was the matter about the Fu General Manor. If it was true, the Fu General Manor would also be implicated. The Fu General Manor and King Jin’s remnant were in collusion with each other. The Fu General Manor’s failure was an inevitable trend.
In addition, when such a big event happened, the matter about the King Jin’s Manor was mentioned again, and there was a child of the King Jin’s Manor living in the world, which would attract the attention of the people to Mo Xuetong and the Fu General Manor. The dispute between wife and concubines in King Yan’s Manor was not a big deal. No one would ever look at You Yue’e again. It was kind of saving King Yan from a side way.
“Mo Xuetong wants to put it on Yue’e. Now Yue’e’s situation is also very dangerous, I must not let her be framed by Mo Xuetong. His Highness King Yan has his hands full now, and I’ll have to think about it again.”
You Yuecheng in the study was still worried. Facing Mo Xuetong, he didn’t take it lightly. This woman was nothing to sneeze at. She had never lost a fight with him, so to speak. In any case, to win, he had to be prepared to lose. Preparing oneself for both eventualities was better than one.
Sitting silently at his desk, You Yuecheng suddenly asked someone to prepare some stationery. The servant had prepared everything and arranged the stationery on the desk.
He picked up a writing brush and began to write. After a while, a letter was finished. He sealed the envelope, stuffed it in, and called in his manservant. He gave a few orders, and the manservant ran out with the letter.
Maid Li secretly left from the back door of the Mingguo Manor, especially to look around. She was relieved to make sure that no one was around. You Yuecheng’s apparent murderous intent made her realize that she had walked around the Death’s door. She was relieved to find that no one was following her.
Touching the money in her pocket, she felt a little more daring. She gave a long breath and put on a greedy smile. Anyway, she made 10 taels of silver. If she spread the word, they said they would give her another 10 taels of silver. Then she could escape to a place where no one lived. Who would know about her?
With that in mind, she brushed her hair. The 10 taels of silver in her pocket calmed her. With a smirk, she turned and strode out. Ahead was a busy section of the road, where it was not difficult to find a few garrulous old women. Once she got the news out, her task was finished!
Suddenly her steps froze. She was startled to see a woman coming over with a smile, her head suddenly breaking into a cold sweat. She was so shocked that she almost shivered. She held the wall but her body became limp…
The next day, the matter about King Yan’s Manor was exposed!
All over the capital, rumors spread that Consort Yan was a jealous, malevolent woman. She tried to kill King Yan’s second consort. Whether it was a blood avalanche or an affair with someone, she deliberately let people rumor in order to get rid of these second consorts.
Moreover, she didn’t even spare the pregnant concubines, and maidservant. No one could safely give birth to King Yan’s baby. It had been said that someone was pregnant in the King Yan’s Manor, but none of the women ever actually gave birth to an heir for King Yan. That was because Consort Yan was a malicious, jealous woman.
In King Yan’s Manor, Feng Yulei and You Yue’e knew things went wrong. They were in a hurry at home, but there was no way out. They couldn’t do anything to meet You Yuecheng. The imperial guards stood at the door and did not allow anyone to go out. You Yue’e once asked people to pretend to be ill in order to get out, but was still stopped back at the gate.
Getting the news, the Emperor in the Tianfeng Palace acted quickly. She hurried to the Emperor’s Qianqing Palace, in order to report it to the Emperor before he learned it. At least she could suppress the Emperor’s anger in the controllable scope. Unexpectedly, as soon as he went out of the Tianfeng Palace, she met a eunuch sent by the Emperor to send a message asking her to deal with the matter about Consort Yan in King Yan’s mansion.
“Your Majesty…” When the eunuch who delivered the message from the Qianqing Palace left, the heart of Yan Miao, the Empress’ personal maid, sank. The Emperor’s action was clearly to put the Empress on the spot. If she didn’t handle it properly, the Empress would become estranged from King Yan and the Mingguo Manor. But it was against the Emperor’s will if she did not do as he asked.
What should the Empress do to satisfy both claims?
“Let’s go back to the palace and send someone to bring Consort Yan to the Tianfeng Palace.” The Empress lifted her chin, keeping her dignity as an Empress, and walked back with her head held high, but she could not hide the bitterness tugging at the corner of her mouth.
“Yes, I’ll send someone to do it right now.” Yan Miao knew it wasn’t the place to talk. She nodded and followed.
Through a path, they suddenly saw Imperial Noble Consort Wen who wore blue gauze clothes, with a gentle smile on her face. She and her servants were standing at the mouth of the path, watching curiously. When she saw the Empress, she came up to her at once and said with a smile, “Greetings, Your Majesty, you look anxious. Are you in a hurry to do something?”
Although the Empress was in a bad mood, she patiently kept her dignity and answered lightly, “I have received an order from His Majesty, and I’m going back to the palace to deal with some matters, so I will not talk to you anymore.”
“Since you are engaged, I will not disturb you. All the way over here, I heard people talking about Consort Yan. Why did what had just happened spread throughout the palace? It looks as if it is planned,” said Imperial Noble Consort Wen with a smile, covering her mouth with a handkerchief.
Throughout the palace?
The Empress’ heart sank. Then she paused and asked, “You mean everyone in this palace knows the matter about Consort Yan?”
“Yes, when I came, I heard some beauties talking about it. They said, ‘Consort Yan looks so gentle, how could she do such a thing? Maybe it’s because of Consort Xuan. What’s wrong with the two princes? They got their wives involved.’”
Imperial Noble Consort Wen still chuckled, as if not aware of a trace of sharpness in the Empress’ eyes.
If the investigation really came up, this matter was indeed because of the dispute between the people of the King Yan’s Manor and Consort Xuan in the Puguang Temple, which led to the closure of both manors. But the final result clearly indicated that the Emperor preferred the King Xuan’s Manor, because a few days later, King Xuan’s Manor was unsealed.
However, a few days later, this matter happened. Consort Yan seemed to be losing her reputation. The royal family could not tolerate such a daughter-in-law, and would certainly show their attitude. The most likely outcome of Consort Yan’s jealousy was to ask her to divorce. A woman who was divorced by the royal family could only be accompanied by the oil lamp before the statue of Buddha, without the end of bitter days.
Of course, the King Yan’s Manor would also lose a strong backing of the Mingguo Manor, and they would be more likely to be enemies. Also, the relationship between the Empress and King Yan would be influenced.
The Empress absolutely did not believe that this matter had nothing to do with Consort Xuan, Mo Xuetong.
After a few words with Imperial Noble Consort Wen, the Empress left in a hurry. When Imperial Noble Consort Wen walked away, she told Yan Miao to send someone to the King Xuan’s Manor and asked her to come to the palace, saying that the Empress asked her to do a witness. She didn’t believe she couldn’t handle a young girl!
Mo Xuetong was preparing dinner at that time. Once Feng Yuran was released, he went to prepare for greeting the crown prince and princess of Southern Barbarian. Therefore, he came back very late these two days. It was said that the crown prince and princess of Southern Barbarian had set out on their way, but they did not expect to be assassinated as soon as they entered the Qin Kingdom. They fled under guard and were now missing.
What Feng Yuran needed to do was to find the crown prince and protect him. He must not let the enemy succeed, lest the two countries should become enemies. Although the Southern Barbarian Lands was not vast, its people were a little weird, because they had poisonous snakes and miasma. It was completely different from the Qin Kingdom, and it was not a suitable country to fight with.
But similarly, they could not afford to offend the powerful Qin Kingdom. If there was a real war between the two countries, both sides would lose. Therefore, no one dared to stir up trouble easily.
Because the investigation into the whereabouts of crown prince from the Southern Barbarian Lands was a big deal, which would be mainly handled by Feng Yuran. It had been confirmed that the crown prince and princess would live in the King Xuan’s Manor, and Feng Yuran would receive them all the way. Now it was inevitable that Feng Yuran would have to deal with their disappearance. If the crown prince had an accident in the territory of the Qin Kingdom, Feng Yuran would take full responsibility.
If there was a war between the two countries because of this matter, Feng Yuran would be the biggest culprit. This was also the reason why Feng Yuxuan deliberately recommended Feng Yuran.
Therefore, Feng Yuran was now leading the dark guards of the Qin Kingdom everywhere to look for the crown prince of Southern Barbarian Lands.
“My Lady, a man sent by the Empress came and said Her Majesty wants you to go to the Tianfeng Palace to be a witness.” Mo Lan lifted the curtain, came in, and reported.
The matter about King Yan’s Manor and King Xuan’s Manor? Mo Xuetong sneered in the heart. The Empress wanted to lead the matter to government affairs, so that people thought it was a struggle between the manors and a matter of the Emperor’s sons taking the crown prince’s place. She wanted to draw attention to King Yan’s Manor’s persecution of King Xuan’s Manor.
As long as the Empress brought people’s eyes to this aspect, King Yan’s Manor won!
The Empress heated up the atmosphere of the event, which was a good idea!
Feng Yulei, You Yue’e would get everyone’s sympathy, while she and Feng Yuran would be spat at by everyone. The Empress’ trick was really sinister. But since she wanted to see her, she had to go. She thought about it, with a sneer on her lips, and asked, “Where’s Mo Ye?”
“I saw her just now. She’s supposed to be cleaning outside the yard. I’ll go and get her.” Mo Lan knew the situation was serious, so she immediately turned to go out and brought in Mo Ye.
