Eagle-eyed and wolf-watching

Chapter 1649 has tarnished your Majesty’s wisdom!
At first, Ye Mingsheng was a little worried that An Miaoyi and Murong Qingwu would confront each other at the dinner, but facts proved that Ye Mingsheng was overthinking. At the dinner, Murong Qingwu and Murong Xinyun were very low-key, while An Miaoyi seemed to be unable to see the Murong sisters. She kept talking to Ye Cui and didn't even look at the Murong sisters opposite her.

Although the atmosphere at the banquet was a little awkward, Ye Mingsheng was very satisfied that everything could remain peaceful.

Meanwhile, Ye Cui was also trying to keep things balanced at the banquet. She first praised Jingren for his honesty and loyalty, and then praised Kexin for inheriting Murong Qingwu's beauty. Jingren and Kexin both liked their grandmother's praise very much, especially Kexin, who even snuggled into her grandmother's arms and acted coquettishly. Ye Cui was coaxed by her little granddaughter into putting the jade bracelet on Kexin's hand directly!
However, An Miaoyi was not impressed by Ye Cui's praise of Jingren's loyalty and honesty, and just responded with a few perfunctory words out of courtesy.

Finally, Ye Cui seemed to see that An Miaoyi was not in high spirits, so she took out a string of Buddhist beads and gave it to Jingren, and urged Jingren to study hard and read seriously so that he could carry forward the Daqian foundation in the future.

Only then did An Miaoyi show a smile on her face, and the dinner ended in a calm atmosphere.

Ye Mingsheng originally wanted to go back to his bedroom to sleep alone, but after coming out of Furen Palace, he saw the Murong sisters and An Miaoyi going back to their homes. Ye Mingsheng quickly weighed the pros and cons in his mind and decided to follow An Miaoyi back to her yard.

As it was already late, Ye Mingsheng simply took a shower and lay down on the bed. Although Ye Mingsheng wanted to rest, An Miaoyi didn't seem to think so.

"Your Majesty, have you rested?"

Listening to An Miaoyi's whispers, Ye Mingsheng's heart was moved, but thinking of Pei Zhixiu's instructions to him, Ye Mingsheng still restrained his thoughts and slowly said:
"Yeah! I'm a little tired today!"

"Then I won't disturb your Majesty's rest. I'll tell you about it tomorrow!"

Hearing that An Miaoyi had something to discuss with him, Ye Mingsheng pondered for a moment, then opened his eyes and said:

"Miaoyi, what do you want?"

"Actually, it's nothing. It's just that the Queen Mother asked about Jiang Yuyan today!"

Ye Mingsheng frowned and asked:

"Why do you ask this, mother?"

"Jiang Yuyan came to Yijing. She asked Ye Cheng to pass on a message to Your Majesty, and she wanted to see Your Majesty. I don't know how the Queen Mother got to know about this! So the Queen Mother called me over and asked me if the story between Your Majesty and Jiang Yuyan was true!"

"Miaoyi, how did you answer?"

"I told the truth!"

Ye Mingsheng didn't say anything after hearing this, but his brows furrowed even deeper. An Miaoyi observed Ye Mingsheng's expression and continued:
"Your Majesty, the Queen Mother's idea is that since Your Majesty and Jiang Yuyan have had an affair, you should take it seriously. If Jiang Yuyan gets together with another man in the future, where will the royal family's reputation be?"

Ye Mingsheng was a little surprised when he heard this, and couldn't help but look up at An Miaoyi, while An Miaoyi continued;

"Your Majesty, the Queen Mother's idea is that if Your Majesty still likes Jiang Yuyan, you should let her enter the palace as a concubine!"

"But if Your Majesty is tired of Jiang Yuyan, you might as well put an end to her to prevent her from tarnishing Your Majesty's wisdom in the future..."

Ye Mingsheng's heart sank when he heard this. He didn't have any special ideas about ending his relationship with Jiang Yuyan, nor did he think about face or decency. In his opinion, it was over, and even if Jiang Yuyan found another man in the future, it would have nothing to do with him!
But he didn't expect that the old lady Ye Cui would attach so much importance to this!
But if you think about it carefully, this seems to be unexpected but reasonable!
After all, my mother, Ye Cui, is from the Cui family. This kind of big family is the most particular about rules and etiquette, and there are quite a lot of red tape. Therefore, Ye Cui, who grew up in such an environment, also believes in this set of values ​​and attaches more importance to reputation!

Thinking of this, Ye Mingsheng also had a headache. He knew that although Ye Cui seemed to have given him two options, one was to let Jiang Yuyan enter the palace, and the other was to kill Jiang Yuyan, but in fact these two choices could be said to lead to the same result!
First of all, Ye Mingsheng would never let Jiang Yuyan enter the palace. Jiang Yuyan was a member of the royal family of the previous dynasty, and she was also a widow, and a relatively famous widow. She had even been awarded a chastity arch in Ji and Yu before!
Although the relationship between Ye Mingsheng and Jiang Yuyan is an open secret, it is only open to the top leaders, such as An Miaoyi, Cui Shao, and Murong Yuliang. Ordinary people or low-level G members don't know it at all...

In the eyes of ordinary people, Jiang Yuyan is still the heroine who has been awarded the chastity arch!

Therefore, if Ye Mingsheng wanted to bring Jiang Yuyan into the palace, it would be a practice that went against traditional concepts. This would cause a lot of controversy among the people and even in the court, and the group of upright people would definitely give advice.

Ye Mingsheng himself had offended the gentry group because of his reforms, so he had a bad reputation among the people. If Ye Mingsheng did this, it would undoubtedly give those who had ulterior motives some negative information, making them attack him even more.

If it were in the past, Ye Mingsheng could say that he was not afraid of bites because he had too many lice. You can curse me if you want. As long as I don’t know, I won’t bother to pay attention to you. But after becoming the emperor, Ye Mingsheng’s concept is slowly changing. Now Ye Mingsheng feels that he should take care of his reputation.

Therefore, Ye Mingsheng would definitely not bring Jiang Yuyan into the palace. Secondly, even if Ye Mingsheng risked the world's condemnation and let Jiang Yuyan enter the palace, Jiang Yuyan would not live long in the palace. She might die silently in her sleep one day. An Miaoyi is very good at this kind of thing.

As for killing Jiang Yuyan, Ye Mingsheng was even more unwilling to do it, but it was not because Ye Mingsheng was reluctant, but because it was not in line with Ye Mingsheng's values ​​and morals!

Ye Mingsheng and Ye Cuishi, An Miaoyi are different practitioners and defenders of traditional concepts. Ye Mingsheng thinks Jiang Yuyan is just a mistress of his. When he has ideas, he will be passionate about her. When he has no ideas, he will say goodbye. Everyone will go their separate ways and live their own lives without disturbing each other...

According to the reports from the special agents of the Coordination Office who were monitoring Jiang Yuyan, Jiang Yuyan had focused her main energy in recent years on expanding the business of Rishengchang and Yuchuntang. She led a relatively regular life on weekdays and had not done anything to let herself down. She had not fooled around with other men, and had not cheated on her cheap lover.

Secondly, when the two of them were together, Jiang Yuyan was also very dedicated when serving him, fully satisfying some of his ideas and needs, allowing him to have a good experience and keep himself in a good mood.

Third, Jiang Yuyan led Rishengchang Bank to fully serve Ye Mingsheng's bank strategy and made positive contributions to providing loans to farmers.

Combining these three points, Ye Mingsheng felt that there was absolutely no need for him to kill Jiang Yuyan!

Ye Mingsheng has killed more than ten people personally, and the number of people who died because of Ye Mingsheng's decisions is even tens of thousands. These numbers are far more exaggerated than the number of people killed by many murderers, but Ye Mingsheng never thinks that he is bloodthirsty. This is because Ye Mingsheng believes that those he kills are those who deserve to be killed, and Ye Mingsheng will not take action against innocent people unless he has no other choice!

Killing Jiang Yuyan, an innocent woman who had served him, contributed to his career, and posed no threat to him, was a serious violation of Ye Mingsheng's values ​​and morals!
Thinking of this, Ye Mingsheng continued to ask An Miaoyi:
"Miaoyi, you are the queen, what do you think about this matter?"

An Miaoyi said without hesitation:
"Your Majesty, you are now the ruler of a country, the emperor, the Son of Heaven, so you must pay special attention to your dignity. Jiang Yuyan is a remnant of the previous dynasty, and a beauty who brings disaster. She is also a dissolute person by nature. In the early years when she was in Jiyu, she had some rumors with Zhang Zhiwen!"

"If a woman like this were allowed to enter the palace, she would probably be laughed at by the whole world..."

Although An Miaoyi didn't say it directly, it was basically the same as saying it directly!

Seeing this, Ye Mingsheng couldn't help but sigh. Although he wanted to say something, he swallowed his words back in order not to irritate An Miaoyi. However, even if Ye Mingsheng didn't say anything, as a couple for more than ten years, An Miaoyi could see what Ye Mingsheng was thinking, and she said directly:
"Your Majesty, since you became emperor, your heart has become softer!"

"As the saying goes, history books are iron. Even if you abolish all torture in the world, the historians will not remember you as a kind and benevolent monarch!"

"How dare you!" Facing Ye Mingsheng's rebuke, An Miaoyi met Ye Mingsheng's gaze and looked at him. However, after a few seconds, An Miaoyi lowered her head and said to Ye Mingsheng:
"Your Majesty, I spoke out of turn!"

Upon hearing this, Ye Mingsheng looked at An Miaoyi coldly, then turned around and continued to sleep without saying anything else.

Seeing this, An Miaoyi also turned over and went to sleep, and the couple slept back to back.

After a dreamless night, Ye Mingsheng got up early the next morning. However, just as he was washing up, a palace maid came over and reported to him:

"Your Majesty, Zhang Yufeng from the Attendant Department said he wants to see Your Majesty for something important!"

As soon as Ye Mingsheng heard this, he immediately had a bad feeling in his heart. He was now in An Miaoyi's courtyard, and Zhang Yufeng had chased him here to ask to see him, instead of waiting until he went to the imperial study to report the matter to him. This meant that the matter was absolutely urgent and could not tolerate any delay...
Thinking of this, Ye Mingsheng also instructed:

"Let Zhang Yufeng in!"

"Yes!"

At Ye Mingsheng's instruction, Zhang Yufeng quickly came to Ye Mingsheng, took out a secret letter with a little blood from his arms and handed it to Ye Mingsheng:
"A personal letter from General Xun Ke!"

Although he had not seen the contents of the letter, but looking at the bloodstains on it, Ye Mingsheng realized that the situation he was most worried about was likely to happen.

Thinking of this, Ye Mingsheng did not take the secret letter immediately, but took a deep breath silently, prepared himself mentally, and then took the letter and read it. Although he was mentally prepared, when he really saw the content above, Ye Mingsheng's heart was filled with anger, and his body couldn't help but shake.

'Your Majesty! Are you alright?'

Ye Mingsheng waved his hand and asked:
"Does the General Staff know about the situation?"

'I don't know yet. I will report immediately after receiving the letter!'

Ye Mingsheng nodded slightly and then instructed:

"Prepare carriages and horses to go to the General Staff Headquarters!"

"Yes!"

After saying that, Ye Mingsheng took Zhang Yufeng and quickly left An Miaoyi's yard. As soon as Ye Mingsheng left, Qiqige entered An Miaoyi's bedroom.

An Miaoyi had already woken up at this time, and when she saw Qiqige, she asked:
"Your Majesty, is he gone?"

"Yeah! Just left!"

"There was a commotion outside just now. Did something happen?"

"Zhang Yufeng came to see Your Majesty and said that there was something extremely urgent..."

"It's an urgent matter? Did you tell me what it is?"

"I don't know about that!"

After thinking for a while, An Miaoyi asked:
"How does your Majesty look?"

"Your Majesty's expression is very ugly! Especially the look in his eyes, it's as if he wants to eat someone. I haven't seen His Majesty's eyes like this for a long time. The last time I saw His Majesty like this was during the first Guanzhong Campaign, when He Jingyun beat the Second and Third Armies badly!"

Hearing this answer, An Miaoyi was a little surprised and confirmed:

"Are you sure your majesty looks so bad?"

“It’s really like that!”

After getting Qiqige's affirmative answer, An Miaoyi sighed. Seeing this, Qiqige asked curiously:
"My lady, do you know what's going on?"

"What else could have made His Majesty so angry except the war on the grassland?"

"You mean to say that General Xun Ke was defeated?"

"Oh! Don't mention it! If your majesty doesn't say anything, we will just pretend we don't know!"

"Yes!"

After pondering for a while, An Miaoyi changed the subject and asked:
"What's going on with Jiang Yuyan?"

"Jiang Yuyan is waiting for Your Majesty in her house in Yijing!"

An Miaoyi couldn't help but curse when she heard this:
"What a bitch! What a shameless thing!"

Hearing An Miaoyi scolding, Qiqige also suggested:

"My lady, there are many trees near Jiang Yuyan's house. It is midsummer now and the weather is dry. If something unexpected happens, it is inevitable!"

An Miaoyi was also somewhat moved when she heard this, but after careful consideration, she shook her head and said:
"Your Majesty still has some feelings for Jiang Yuyan, and is reluctant to kill this bitch. Let's wait and see how Your Majesty handles the situation..."