After the whole family was swept away, I lay down flat

Chapter 1035 Measurement
Haijiao understood what his younger sister meant and couldn't help but take a deep breath.

"It's a good idea, but..." He paused, "Little sister, you have to know that in the previous life, after the secret of Queen Mother Xu's second marriage was made public, the late emperor once rewarded her in the name of justice and cleared her name. But the whole court did not agree with it. After the new emperor ascended the throne, the cabinet also refused to let her interfere in government affairs on the grounds that she had lost her chastity. Your idea failed in the previous life. Can it succeed in this life?"

"Empress Dowager Xu doesn't know that she had failed in this matter in her previous life. Before she had experienced it, she might have thought that she could succeed." Haitang sneered, "What's more, the situations in the two lives are different. In the previous life, Elder Sun was the chief minister of the cabinet and had great power in the court. The throne was passed, and the new emperor was not on good terms with him. He was busy trying to undermine the new emperor, so how could he allow Empress Dowager Xu, who was hostile to him, to interfere in government affairs? Naturally, he would try his best to trap her in the harem. When faced with such a handle, he would only try his best to humiliate Empress Dowager Xu and would never say a good word about her.

"But now that the Sun family has fallen, the cabinet's chief minister, Tao, is a loyal minister who is dedicated to the public and has a very good relationship with the new emperor. He has never intended to offend Empress Dowager Xu. In addition, the Grand Empress Dowager is still in the harem, and Empress Dowager Xu doesn't care much about government affairs. The cabinet has no reason to make trouble with such a thing. Even if they know the truth, they will not make a big fuss and damage the reputation of the late emperor. And if the Grand Empress Dowager knows the truth, she can come forward and say a word when it is really necessary, and the storm will be calmed down."

Even if the truth about Empress Dowager Xu's second marriage is exposed in the future, it will have limited impact. The Empress Dowager Zhou will defend her, the new emperor will calm down the criticism for her, and the cabinet will have no reason to talk about such a thing. Empress Dowager Xu no longer needs to worry about experiencing the same predicament as in her previous life.

Of course, even if she was trapped in the harem again and could not inquire about government affairs, it would not be a big deal. The current cabinet is doing its job, and the palace has the Empress Dowager in charge. Empress Dowager Xu has neither a powerful family nor has she been involved in government affairs. Her little black history will not affect the overall situation at all. Apart from adding some gossip to the female relatives of the powerful circle in the capital, it will not stir up any waves.

Under the premise that it would not cause a major crisis, if Queen Mother Xu was concerned about her personal reputation and wanted to make some public opinion preparations in advance, just in case, it would not affect the overall situation. Anyway, she was just rewarding one or two remarried women who had done righteous deeds, and there was no need for her to publicize it and attract widespread attention from the world. As long as the remarried women she found as examples did have real righteous deeds and could make the court officials recognize the political correctness of the matter, no one would jump up and criticize her actions.

At the moment, the court officials are busy calming down the disturbance caused by the change of power. The new nobles want to grasp the new power as soon as possible, the followers of the Sun faction want to find ways to whitewash themselves and find opportunities, and the other officials also want to show themselves to win the favor of the new emperor... Who has time to mess with the new emperor's biological mother for a small matter at this time? Once the emperor is angry, the new emperor will demote someone, and there is a ready-made reason - just say that the person is a remnant of the Sun family. Anyway, when Sun Ge Lao was in power, few civil and military officials dared to oppose him, and most people wanted to curry favor with him. It is not necessarily wrong to say that one of them is his follower.

Upon hearing this, Hai Jiao pondered for a moment and said, "That's fine. With Queen Mother Xu's temper...she might really have such an idea. Even if the secret of her second marriage will never be revealed, she is willing to reward other women who have made contributions in their second marriage."

He had heard of this kind of thing in his previous life. There was a wife of a small military officer. Her husband died in the battlefield. Her parents-in-law were devastated and bedridden. She spent all her family money to treat her parents-in-law. In order to save her family from starvation, she remarried to her husband's comrade, who was also willing to support her parents-in-law and their children. She gave birth to two more children for her second husband and raised the eldest son born to her second husband's first wife. After her second husband died of illness, she continued to support his parents and children. Her stepson and biological son successively made meritorious service in the army. After they got official positions, they asked for imperial edicts for her and reported her deeds to the court. At that time, the court officials were very dissatisfied when they learned that the woman was a widow who remarried. It was Queen Mother Xu who heard her story and praised her filial piety at the palace banquet and persuaded the new emperor to issue an edict to commend her. The woman finally got the imperial edict and the reward from the palace.

Of course, many people knew that Empress Dowager Xu was a second marriage, and they privately said that she wanted to use this woman's story to brag about herself, and they didn't say anything good about it. However, the woman did get a reward for this. The criticism from both the court and the public was directed at Empress Dowager Xu, and she was not implicated, which was also a benefit.

Haijiao could draw the conclusion from this incident that if there was a good example of a woman who remarried for the sake of justice, Queen Mother Xu would still be willing to reward her. Even if she had never revealed the secret of remarrying in her life, she would still be very likely to speak up for the woman who remarried.

With her brother's assurance, Haitang felt more confident: "Very good, then I want to give it a try. Even if it fails, we won't lose much. The worst that can happen is that we can comfort our cousin. As long as those Hai clan members who speak harshly don't appear in front of her, and Sister Baozhu and Cousin Qiao can live a stable and happy life after marriage, her mood will gradually improve."

As for the gossip of the neighbors... you can explain the whole story first. If the neighbors can't understand, then just move away. Even if Qiao Fu and Hai Baozhu's wedding date is still early, and the latter and Fang's mother and daughter cannot move into the Qiao family's house, they can rent a new house to avoid the neighbors' criticism.

Haijiao had no objection to this. He only asked Haitang one question: "Do you plan to let Xiaojin go to Queen Mother Xu to make suggestions? Isn't this a bit risky? You know, Xiaojin never mentioned in front of us that he and Queen Mother Xu are mother and son. He only said that Queen Mother Xu is his aunt. If you say something inappropriate and make him suspect that you know his life experience..."

Haitang was not too worried about this: "I don't need to make it too clear. I just need to complain to him about the unfair treatment my cousin received in the Hai family. I will especially emphasize the contributions my cousin has made to the Hai family and the grievances she has suffered over the years. With Brother Jin's intelligence, he should be able to think of Queen Mother Xu. As long as he mentions this matter in front of Queen Mother Xu, Queen Mother Xu might want to speak up for my cousin."

Haijiao weighed it over and over again, and nodded slowly: "Okay, I can also whisper in Xiaojin's ear later. Anyway, my cousin's incident happened to our family, and it is normal for us to feel touched by it. Even if Xiaojin didn't think of Queen Mother Xu, or didn't speak up in front of Queen Mother Xu, we won't suffer any loss. At most, when Baozhu gets married, we will send Xiaojin an invitation, invite him to the wedding, and then mention my cousin's experience when sending the invitation..."

When Haijiao was in Chang'an, he had used various methods to influence Jin Jiashu's thoughts, and he was very skilled at it. Jin Jiashu had never doubted him. Now, he just needed to try it again. As long as he was good enough and had his younger sister Haitang to cooperate, the result would be fine.