FSC [QT] Chapter 123.2

Mrs. Xiao Wu was very excited.

She couldn’t wait to see Ling Zhuo fall into despair and honestly hand over the private property given to her by the late Marquis.

Old Mrs. Wu didn’t say anything. To some extent, Ling Wei was worthy of being her granddaughter.

The other party didn’t dare to frame Ah Wu in the palace. Similarly, Old Mrs. Wu would not spread rumors that were unfavorable to Ling Zhuo. She borrowed the hand of her niece, Mrs. Xiao Wu.

In this way, even if the truth came out, she would still be the innocent old madam of the Marquis of Changping Mansion.

Even if everyone knew that she was involved in this matter, where was the evidence?

Her position was still stable, and with the late Marquis’s last words, did Ling Yaodong dare to bully her at the risk of being labeled as unfilial?

Old Mrs. Wu was calm and composed, calling the maid to make another cup of tea, with a strange look in her eyes.

***

As early as after becoming the Marquis of Changping, Ling Yaodong had not relaxed his monitoring of Old Mrs. Wu, the second branch, and the third branch.

Therefore, Ling Yaodong knew about this matter as early as when Mrs. Xiao Wu decided to take action.

He locked himself in the study room for a whole night to figure out the emperor’s thoughts.

All along, he knew clearly that Old Mrs. Wu and the second branch were ambitious, but he did not attack them because of the late Marquis’s last words.

The other reason was also related to Emperor Qian.

The current emperor is the adopted son of the deceased Empress Dowager Shengyuan.

At that time, Empress Dowager Shengyuan, who was still the successor empress, had no biological children.

She supported Emperor Qian, who lost his mother at a young age, to compete with the legitimate prince born to the previous empress and the prince born to the concubine most favored by the late emperor.

It could be said that in addition to Emperor Qian’s own ability, Empress Dowager Shengyuan also had an indelible contribution to his ascension to the throne.

Unfortunately, the once harmonious mother and son began to have conflicts after Emperor Qian ascended the throne.

Empress Dowager Shengyuan was unwilling to resign herself from the harem and was worried that Emperor Qian, her adopted son, would not be devoted to her natal family.

She tried every possible means to force Emperor Qian to give the First Prince to be raised by her niece who had been named empress at the time but had no biological children.

Therefore, in the first ten years after Emperor Qian ascended the throne, the mother and son were in intrigues and irreconcilable conflicts broke out.

Finally, Empress Dowager Shengyuan passed away due to infection with the epidemic. It was also at that time that Emperor Qian was truly in power.

Many people had speculated too much about the fact that the empress dowager, who lived in the deep palace and was well-versed in food, clothing, housing, and transportation, was infected with the epidemic.

Perhaps because he was worried that this would be recorded in history books, Emperor Qian showed great filial piety to his deceased adoptive mother.

Not only did he confer the title of Empress Dowager Shengyuan’s natal family, but he also observed a hundred days of mourning as an emperor.

Before the death anniversary of Empress Dowager Shengyuan, he would personally go to the mausoleum of Empress Shengyuan to pay homage.

Since then, the Li Dynasty has been particularly harsh on filial piety.

Once an official failed to fulfill his filial piety, he would be easily criticized. In recent years, there have been many officials who have had their careers cut off due to unfilial piety.

It was filial piety for the concubine’s children to respect their stepmothers, and it was also filial piety for the original wife’s children to respect their father’s second wife.

Moreover, Old Mrs. Wu was the one that the late Marquis asked Ling Yaodong to treat well in front of so many people before he died.

Those last words were like a mountain that weighed down Ling Yaodong so that he never punished Old Mrs. Wu and the second branch.

But things are different now.

Ling Yaodong pondered over every major move made by Emperor Qian since he became obsessed with the way of immortality, especially the recent marriage arrangement for the princes and the children of the rich and powerful by means of the selection of study companions by the Third Princess.

He suddenly realized that perhaps being too perfect was not a good thing for a minister, especially a minister of high position and power.

In this way, Ling Yaodong sat in the study all night until the candles burned out. Finally, he made a decision.

He decided to let Old Mrs. Wu and others do what they wanted this time.

Unfortunately, the two children, Ah Wu and Ah Zhou, had to be wronged, especially Ah Zhou.

If this matter got out, the impact on her would probably be the greatest.

After all, she was his daughter whom he had doted on for eleven years, so Ling Yaodong couldn’t help feeling a little distressed.

 

 

 

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