lady, please calm down

‘Bang~bang~’

The unique dull sound of the water and fire sticks hitting the buttocks filled the small courtyard.

At first, Yu Ci, who was lying on the ground being tortured, was still trying to endure it, but after just a few strokes, she could no longer hold on and howled for mercy: "Your Majesty, please forgive me for this time. I know I was wrong. Your Majesty, please forgive me for this time."

The courtyard was very small. Apart from Chen Chu and several personal guards, the only people qualified to stand in the courtyard at this time were Sang Yanting, the prefect of Lin'an who had rushed over after hearing the news, and Master Yuzhen, the abbess of Yuqing Temple.

Seeing that Yuci might be beaten to death on the spot, Yuzhen stepped forward and bowed to Miaoyi, begging, "Master Miaoyi, Yuci has offended you in the past. I apologize to you on her behalf. Please show some mercy."

In Yuzhen's opinion, Yuci was punished because she had recently offended Miaoyi and Emperor Miaoyi was supporting her and venting his anger.

The reason why she didn't ask Chen Chu for mercy directly was, firstly, she didn't dare, and secondly, the benchmark personality of women nowadays is "generous, gentle, and kind", no matter whether you are a concubine in the harem or the emperor's "close friend", in short, in front of the emperor, Yu Zhen guessed that Miaoyi would ask the emperor for mercy even if it was to maintain her personality.

Unexpectedly, Miaoyi calmly replied: "Yuci and I have no grudge. She was punished today because she offended Your Majesty."

The ball was kicked to Chen Chu, who took a sip of tea and called Sang Yanting over, "Master Sang, why was Yuci punished?"

Seeing the ball was kicked to him again, Sang Yanting, who was already prepared, bowed and said: "Your Majesty, Yuci insulted the king and father, and should be executed according to the law! But considering that she is a woman, I will beat her to death to keep her body intact!"

Yu Ci, who was already dying, heard the words "beaten to death" and suddenly gathered up the last bit of strength and screamed, "Your Majesty, please spare my life. I didn't know that Master Miaoyi had a history with Your Majesty. Sister, save me. Ah."

The plea for mercy was interrupted by the cry of pain from being hit by the water and fire sticks.

This Yuci is also ignorant. Now her crime is insulting the emperor and father, but she is shouting and yelling. She doesn't know that Miaoyi has a history with His Majesty.

It is one thing for everyone to know about this matter, but it is another thing to say it in public.

When Yu Zhen heard that Yu Ci was going to be beaten to death on the spot, she dared not say a word. Without her tacit consent, how could Yu Ci dare to blatantly bully Miao Yi.

If you keep on making noise, you might get into trouble.

Within a few dozen breaths, Yu Ci's voice of begging for mercy became smaller and smaller, until it finally disappeared completely.

Seeing Yuci lying motionless on the ground, Sang Yanting took the initiative to step forward and took on the job of the coroner. He personally felt the former's breath, then walked up to Chen Chu and reported: "Your Majesty, Yuci, who was guilty of treason, is dead."

In order to put an end to today's events, Sang Yanting deliberately emphasized the "crime of disobedience."

Chen Chu nodded, and suddenly said, "I remember that when Master Miaoyi was staying at your Yuqing Temple, she sent a thousand strings of cash to support them. How much can the master and servant eat every day? Why is it so simple?"

These words were obviously directed at the host Yu Zhen.

But Mo Rui, who was standing next to her, heard this and quickly ran back into the house, brought out the coarse rice and pickled vegetables that had just been taken away, and placed them on the table as if they were evidence to be presented in court.

Then he stared at Master Yuzhen with a pursed mouth, with an air of a fox taking advantage of the power of a tiger. However, he couldn't help but secretly glance at Chai Yuanyi, who lowered his head slightly, as if it had nothing to do with him.

I couldn't help but admire her: It has to be a princess! Since the emperor came, she has never complained about her difficult situation, nor has she said a word about the fact that everyone in Yuqing Temple bullied her, but the final result is very ideal.

Upon hearing that, Yu Zhen's already tense mood suddenly became even more nervous. When Miaoyi first entered the temple, there was indeed a thousand strings of cash as donations. This amount of money was enough to allow Miaoyi and her servants to eat and drink well for a year, and there would still be 80% left.

But human greed is unsatisfactory. After half a year in the temple, no nobles came to visit Miaoyi. In addition, she was a princess of the previous dynasty. This identity probably meant that she had a large amount of treasures.

If Miaoyi has no backing, she will lose the ability to protect her property. Who wouldn't be tempted?

So, under Yuzhen's instruction, Yuci began to test the waters gradually, starting with the diet, gradually lowering the quality of Miaoyi's diet. Seeing that she neither resisted nor had any nobles to support her, she became more and more aggressive.

The ultimate goal is to force Miaoyi to hand over her property.

I didn't want to, before I even got to that point, I provoked a big tiger. This Miaoyi doesn't follow the rules! If you had asked someone to visit earlier, even an official like Sang Yanting would have been enough, and Yuqing Temple would naturally not embarrass her to this extent.

How can you be like this, calling the emperor directly!

As his mind raced, Yu Zhen glanced at Yu Ci, who was lying dead on the ground, and quickly decided to put all the blame on Yu Ci. "I am the abbot of Yuqing Temple, and I didn't take good care of Miaoyi Zhenren, so I entrusted Yu Ci to take care of Miaoyi Zhenren. I didn't expect that this person was kind on the outside but had a snake heart. He treated Zhenren harshly in every way. I am the abbot of this temple, but I didn't notice it. I am guilty."

What a good phrase 'failed to notice', which directly turned his identity as an accomplice into a responsibility of negligence.

But Chen Chu did not intend to let her go. He seized on her confession of negligence and asked Sang Yanting, "Sir Sang, Yu Ci insulted me. As the host, what crime should Yu Zhen be punished for?"

Well, the 'negligence' that Yuzhen mentioned refers to the fact that she treated Miaoyi harshly. This alone cannot really convict her of the crime.

But what Chen Chu asked was, Yu Ci's humiliation of the emperor was a serious crime of disobedience, which was of a different nature. As the host, Yu Zhen would be committing a serious crime if he was even slightly involved in it.

"Master Yuzhen failed to discipline her subordinates, causing her fellow junior sister to commit the crime of disobedience. She should be punished according to the law."

Sang Yanting paused for a moment. The Great Chu was established not long ago, and the new "Great Chu Law" is still being compiled. Therefore, the advice of an official like Sang Yanting on how to deal with Yu Zhen is very important.

Sang Yanting quickly pondered the emperor's intention and said, "According to the law, the minimum distance is 3,000 miles."

The word "starting point" added at the end means that if the emperor is not satisfied, there will be more severe punishment.

Fortunately, Chen Chu nodded, "Then let's move to Luzon in Southeast Asia. It just so happens that among the three sects of Confucianism, Buddhism and Taoism, only Taoism is missing."

When Yu Zhen heard the sound, her legs went limp and she fell to the ground.

For a moment she couldn't tell whether she was relieved or desperate. She was relieved because her life and death just depended on the emperor's decision, and now she had finally saved her life.

Speaking of despair, how far is being sent to the malaria-ridden Southeast Asia from 'death'?

Outside the courtyard, the people who had just heard the news and rushed to watch the excitement were not dispersed. Those who were unaware of the situation only thought that the emperor was broad-minded and fair. But everyone had just heard that Yu Ci scolded the emperor as a "bandit and a wild man"!
Since he was unaware of it at the time, it was enough to make the emperor furious and massacre the Yuqing Temple.

But the emperor only beat Yuci to death with a stick, and even the host was only exiled to Southeast Asia. What a rare benevolent monarch!
However, some insiders knew clearly that the emperor was venting his anger for his "lover". Today's incident was enough to prove that the rumors between Miaoyi Zhenren and your majesty were true.

In the crowd, Luo Ruoji, who had just received the news and rushed here with his old servant, found out what happened, but broke out in a sweat in the cold winter.

The old servant beside him whispered, "Master, let's go and ask His Majesty to explain."

Luo Ruji did not answer, but turned around and squeezed out of the crowd. When there were fewer people around the two of them, Luo Ruji said in a low voice: "What's the use of explaining! The more you explain, the more trouble you will have."

As he was speaking, Luo Ruoji had already rushed to the Merit Hall with his old servant. Due to today's sudden incident, most of the Taoist nuns in Yuqing Temple were attracted there. There was only one young Taoist nun in the Merit Hall, which enshrined the ancestral tablets of pilgrims.

Without saying a word, Luo Ruoji walked forward, picked up the tablet of his deceased mother placed in the center position, and turned away.

“Hey~ Hey~”

The little nun called out to him several times, but Luo Ruji didn't even turn his head.

The young nun, who had never experienced such a thing, couldn't help but cry in anxiety, and finally attracted a senior sister nearby to come over.

Seeing the little junior sister sitting on the ground crying, the senior sister couldn't help but ask anxiously: "What's wrong? What happened?"

"Someone is stealing things!" the little nun said breathlessly.

"Robber? What did you rob?" The senior sister looked at the merit box first, and saw that the merit box was still there. She couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief, but she was also more puzzled.

"They stole the spirit tablet of the deceased mother of the Minister of War, Lord Luo"

"Steal the spirit tablet?"

The senior sister looked at the altar filled with spirit tablets and saw a space that was obviously missing, and fell into deep thought. Could it be that someone's family is missing a mother?

But Luo Ruji, after quickly walking out of Yuqing Temple, still felt something was wrong. Although there was nothing wrong between him and Yuqing Temple, he was the only remaining old official in the central government and had to be careful.

Before returning to the mansion, he had already arranged with the old servant: "Later. No, let's do it tomorrow. Tomorrow you take 5,000 Guan of bills and go to Yuqing Temple to offer incense. Remember, give the money to Miaoyi Zhenren and never give it to anyone else."

"Yes," the old servant responded hurriedly.

But after walking a few steps, Luo Ruji still felt that it was not enough, so he said: "Take another 5,000 strings of cash and give it to Miss Zhao."

"Which Miss Zhao?"

"Of course it's Miss Zhao, the current queen's younger sister who runs a school in Yuhang!"

"Ah? At the beginning of the month, the family donated 5,000 strings of cash to help Miss Zhao run a school? Are you going to pay it back?"

The old servant knew his master's stingy style very well. The fact that he spent ten thousand strings of cash at once this time meant that he had been greedy in the previous dynasty and could not help but spend like this.

Luo Ruji immediately said unhappily: "If I tell you to go, then go! Which is more important, money or life."

The old servant bowed and said nothing more.

Seeing this, Luo Ruji said, "Now, I am the only one left in the court who was born in Jiangnan. The officials in Huaibei are friendly with me on the surface, but they are always thinking of finding a reason to get rid of me. I should learn from Ruan Xianfang and become Your Majesty's 'sole minister' to protect myself. If I offend Your Majesty because of some trivial matter, then I will be really at the end of my rope."

Hearing Luo Ruji's miserable description, the old servant couldn't help but wipe his eyes. Luo Ruji couldn't help but sigh, "I have been walking on thin ice and trembling with fear all my life. I hope I can have a good end."

Back to Yuqing Temple, after all the hassle, by the time the temple had settled down again, it was already the end of the Shen hour.

The days were short in winter, and the sun set early on the western side of the city wall. Sang Yanting took away Yu Zhen and several other managers, and the rest of the Taoists were not implicated.

However, the Yuqing Temple, which used to close at 11:00 p.m. at night, asked pilgrims to leave early today at the end of 3:00 p.m. Afterwards, the Yuqing Temple was closed, with Lin'an government officials guarding outside and imperial troops stationed inside.

The emperor is preparing to spend the night at Yuqing Temple.

At this time, even the ignorant pilgrims understood.

In the private room in the courtyard, Mo Rui found a brand new quilt from the closet and made the bed with Chai Yuanyi. The setting sun shone through the window, and the light reflected by the mandarin duck quilt was so bright that it made people dizzy.

Mo Rui was even more excited and happy than Chai Yuanyi. She knew that after tonight, no one in the world would dare to bully them, the master and servant.

The emperor's attitude today made her have some unrealistic thoughts. But when she looked back and saw that she was the only one in the room, she whispered, "Your Highness, I see that His Majesty is very concerned about you today. Why don't you take the opportunity to ask to go to the palace with His Majesty at night? It's better than wandering outside."

Chai Yuanyi, who was originally smiling, glanced at Mo Rui when she heard the words. She wanted to explain, but because it was a long story, she just said lightly: "It's pretty good now."

She had thought these things through long ago. Even if she entered the palace, her status would not be too high. The concubines in the harem of the Great Chu were either those who had followed the emperor since humble beginnings or the daughters of nobles in Huaibei.

Not only was it extremely difficult for Chai Yuanyi to integrate into the palace, but there was also Concubine Cai who was extremely wary of her. It seemed like she would be more comfortable outside the palace than inside.

Furthermore, the emperor's attitude today was just a result of his man's desire to protect her after seeing what happened to her with his own eyes, and it had little to do with love between men and women.

To put it bluntly, the one night of tenderness she could earn was not enough to make the emperor take her into the palace despite the difficulties.

In this case, it is better to stay outside. First, she will not have to be suppressed by Concubine Cai. Second, perhaps she can win some favor from the emperor because of her status similar to that of a "concubine".

However, she was too lazy to tell Mo Rui these words.

At the end of the You hour, the sky had become completely dark.

In the imperial city of Lin'an, palace lanterns were lit continuously, and candles were lit in every palace, making it as bright as day.

Inside Ciming Palace, Hu Tou held up her skirt and ran through the long corridor towards her sister's bedroom. The palace maids she met along the way quickly stepped aside to make way for her.
Inside the bedroom, Mao'er was sitting behind the desk, reading a letter carefully. The letter was written by Ji'er. In his childish handwriting, he told about the recent situation at home, how his younger brothers and sisters were all very obedient, and what lessons Concubine De had taught him recently.

Until the end, he asked carefully, "When will father and mother come home? I miss you."

Mao'er, who had been smiling all the time, felt a pang of sadness when he saw this. He slowly put down the letter, ground the ink with his own hands, and prepared to write back to Ji'er.

"Sister~Sister~"

Until two shouts of joy broke the silence of the bedroom, and the next moment, Hu Tou, who was running and sweating, appeared at the door of the bedroom.

He took a few steps forward, bowed hastily, and before Tiger Head could speak, Cat gently reprimanded him, "You are already an adult, but you are still running like a grown-up, sweating all over your forehead!"

Although he was scolding, Mao'er had already pulled out a handkerchief from his sleeve and started to wipe the sweat off Tiger Head's forehead.

Hu Tou chuckled, then saw the letter on the desk. After seeing the signature, he reached out and picked it up and read it carefully. The handwriting was immature but neat. In addition to the love between the lines, there were three or two idioms.
Hu Tou couldn't help but sigh: "Ji Er has really grown up. When I was six or seven years old, I couldn't read a single word, but now Ji Er can use allusions."

Hearing Aunt Hutou praising Jier for growing up, Maoer's eyes couldn't help but fall on Hutou's face that looked like his own. After looking at these words for a long time, Maoer also sighed several times because Hutou had grown up unnoticed.

However, although growing up is good, it also has its troubles. For example, the two sisters now know what is on Hu Tou's mind, but they deliberately avoid mentioning it.

Sisters are connected in heart. Hu Tou raised her head inadvertently, and the two sisters looked at each other for a moment and understood what each other was thinking.

Hu Tou felt a little uncomfortable and took the initiative to help his sister grind the ink. Mao Er also used other topics to break the momentary embarrassment, "Why are you rushing here? Aren't you going to stay at Concubine Yi's place tonight?"

Speaking of this, Hu Tou smiled again with his peach blossom eyes, "Sister! Just now, the housekeeper of Lord Luo's family came to the imperial city in person and added another 5,000 strings of cash to the scholarship! Yan Ge'er and Grandpa both said that traitors are unreliable. Although Lord Luo's character is a bit bad, he is a warm-hearted person!"

Mao'er couldn't help but wonder, Luo Ruoji was not a generous person, why was he so concerned about Hutou's school this time?
I think there must be some inside story that I don't know. I can ask her when she returns to the palace. After all, it concerns Hu Tou, so as to prevent her from being used by those old foxes.

Just as this thought came to mind, Han Lu came to report, "Eunuch Huang wants to see you."

"Huang Doudou has returned to the palace?"

Maoer said in surprise, Huang Doudou went out with the master, and now he is back, but the master is not back?

Not long after, Huang Doudou entered the palace and reported carefully, "Your Majesty, His Majesty will not be back tonight. I asked you to let me know so that you will not worry."

Mao'er was slightly startled. During lunch, she already knew that her husband had gone to Yuqing Temple. He would not return to the palace tonight, so she knew where he would stay.

But then, Maoer smiled gently, "I understand. Eunuch Huang, please go and serve His Majesty."

"Yes"

Huang Doudou bowed and left the bedroom. When he came here just now, he was worried that the Queen Mother would take her anger out on him after finding out about this.

Now it seems that I was worrying too much.

Hu Tou, who was standing aside grinding ink, had already frowned unhappily, but she saw her elder sister sitting back at the desk with a calm expression and starting to write a reply. Since her elder sister was not in a hurry, she had no right to be in a hurry, so she held her breath and said nothing.

That night, knowing that Chen Chu would not come back, Hu Tou simply lived in Ajie's bedroom.

Ever since Hu Tou could remember, she had always slept in the same bed with her elder sister, and rarely slept with her mother.

Later, when I escaped from Shuanghe Village, the same thing remained.

It was not until they moved into the Cai family's house in Luliuwei that Hutou started to sleep alone. At first, the little girl was not used to it and cried a lot. She also had nightmares in the middle of the night and was awakened by them. She ran to her sister's room crying and squeezed between her sister and brother-in-law.

When she was young, her understanding of security was that her sister and brother-in-law protected her on both sides, and she slept most soundly that way.

As I grew older, I haven't slept in the same bed with my elder sister for many years. Now that my brother-in-law, Ji'er and Rao'er are all gone, it's like my elder sister has been returned to her.

Hutou still held his sister's arms and rested his head on her shoulder, just like he did in the early years.

The candlelight flickered. Hutou didn't speak, and Mao'er didn't speak either. It seemed that the two sisters were immersed in some memories. After a while, Hutou suddenly laughed and said to herself, "Ah, when I was a child, my sister thought I was in the way, so in order to get rid of me, she often tricked me into going to Aunt Yao's house to borrow coriander."

"."

Even though it had been many years, Mao'er couldn't help but feel hot on his cheeks when his sister exposed him. He threw the blame on Chen Chu who was not present, "How could I lie to you? It was His Majesty who drove you away."

"Eh! Sister, you don't recognize me? You asked me to borrow coriander more times than my brother asked me to go!"

Tiger head turned over and stared at the cat with a wicked smile.

Seeing that she couldn't win the argument, the cat reached out and scratched the tiger's armpits, and the two sisters laughed and made a fuss.

It attracted all the cold dew that was guarding outside.

The two of them stopped playing and, after catching their breath, Tiger Head, whose face was red from laughing at the play, propped himself up on his elbows and looked at Cat'er seriously and said, "Sister, when you heard that brother was staying at Yuqing Temple, weren't you angry?"

Mao Er was silent for two breaths after hearing this question, and then smiled faintly, "Why should I be angry? Ever since the fire at Caiwei Pavilion, I knew that the master could not be mine alone."

After that, Mao'er reached out to help Hu Tou tuck the strands of black hair that had stuck to his face from the fight back behind his ears, and said gently, "Master is destined to do great things. If it weren't for the help of Duke Han and Duke Ying in his early years, Master wouldn't have been able to build this foundation so quickly in the troubled times."

This seems to be talking about the necessity of Cai Hua and A Yu entering the Chen family.

Indeed, in the early years, from a utilitarian perspective, Mao'er, who had no support from her mother's family, was far inferior to Cai Hua. Whether compared to Shangguan in terms of personal ability or the help that her family could provide, she was no match for him.

Hu Tou was a little unconvinced, "Sister, don't underestimate yourself. In the early years, I helped my brother manage the farm, the backyard, and the workshop. How is that worse than others?"

Maoer smiled and said, "With His Majesty's support, can't Concubine Cai and Concubine De do it?"

This really stumped Hutou. Since she was a child, her elder sister had been known as a virtuous lady. Therefore, Hutou naturally believed that her elder sister was special.

But after listening to Mao'er's words, Hu Tou thought about it carefully and had to admit that if it was Cai Huan or A Yu who did those things back then, they would probably be able to do them brilliantly. Many of A Jie's contributions were actually just a projection of some of her brother's abilities.

Seeing that Hu Tou was silent, Mao Er smiled and said, "You don't have to worry about me. In that situation, perhaps half of the men in the world would choose to divorce their wives and remarry. My sister was also worried about this in her early years, but your brother-in-law never wavered, so my sister's status as the eldest lady was stable. Even now, she has become the queen."

Maoer smiled self-deprecatingly, but sighed: "Your brother-in-law treated me like this back then, so what does it matter if he finds a woman now?"

In the past ten years of Hutou's life, she has always been surrounded by old ideas about women. However, the new things she learned in school are incompatible with many of the things she is accustomed to in her daily life, so that she feels that there is nothing wrong with her sister, but subconsciously wants to refute her.

Finally, Hu Tou was able to organize his words and only muttered: "Brother is good in everything, but there are too many women."

But it triggered Mao'er's subconscious defense, "How can it be too much? There are less than a dozen concubines in the palace now. Look through the history books, how many emperors in the past dynasties could do this?"

This was indeed impossible to refute, so Hu Tou leaned on his arm and looked at Mao Er and said, "Sister, have you ever regretted it? If brother had not become the emperor, perhaps he would not have messed with so many women. Maybe you would have stayed in Tongshan and lived in harmony for the rest of your lives."

Mao'er looked at the curtains above the bed, her thoughts instantly flew back to more than ten years ago, she only heard her say: "I have never regretted it. When I decided to marry you, I said that if he became a thief, I would be a thief's wife; if he became a beggar, I would be a beggar's daughter. Compared to those, I still want to see you become an emperor, hehe."

This laughter contains both the pride of accompanying her husband all the way and finally becoming the mother of a country, as well as the feeling that time has passed in the blink of an eye, that ten years have passed.

Then, the cat sighed softly and added: "If I have to say what I regret, there is one thing. I should have married you earlier. I wasted a year in vain." (End of this chapter)