"My Lady Concubine, I was greedy for a moment, so I stole things from the mansion and sold them outside. I am guilty. Please forgive me for the fact that I have served you all my life."
"What a cunning old woman! Serving the master is your duty as an old slave, but you are trying to take credit for it. Mother, such an evil slave must not be forgiven."
The concubine stared at Mrs. Wei for a long time without saying a word.
Prince Jin glanced at her without saying anything and drank the cup of tea.
After a while, the concubine said quietly: "Confiscate all the property of the Wei family, beat Wei Po to death, and sell all the members of the Wei family to Sakhalin Island."
"Please spare my life, Concubine!" Mrs. Wei never expected that the Concubine would punish her family so severely.
Although she had served the Concubine Dowager for her entire life, she had never truly understood her.
The Toffee is easily influenced by others, but she is not soft-hearted and she cares a lot about her reputation.
Prince Jin had been busy outside, and today he suddenly wanted to help her change the furnishings in the house, and even took her to the warehouse to choose personally.
After thinking about it carefully, the concubine came to her senses. She realized that it was her good daughter-in-law who had found out something that led her to stage such a scene.
Mrs. Wei made her lose face in front of her daughter-in-law. She was so angry that she wanted to get mad. How could she let Mrs. Wei off easily
The evil slave's family was dealt with, and the Prince of Jin comforted the Queen Mother, "Mother, don't be angry about her. I will pick some loyal and honest servants for you."
Taking this opportunity, all the servants except a few maids around the concubine were replaced.
After dealing with the matter, Prince Jin returned to Rujingyuan.
Jiang Changning was leisurely teasing the parrot, "Safety is a blessing, and congratulations on your prosperity."
The New Year is coming, and I have to teach the parrot to say auspicious words.
The parrot’s brain capacity was not enough, so the words it learned were: “May peace and prosperity befall you.”
"Safety and prosperity is fine too." Jiang Changning did not force the parrot to say all eight words.
Life in this world is pretty good if it can be safe and prosperous.
Hearing the sound of the curtain being lifted, Jiang Changning looked up and saw that it was Prince Jin who came in. He nodded the parrot's little head and said, "May the prince be blessed with good fortune. May the prince be blessed with long life."
The parrot said in a strange voice: "May the prince be blessed, may the prince live long and happily."
"Thanks to you, this bird has become very smart. I don't have to worry about my children in the future." Prince Jin lifted the hem of his robe and sat down beside her.
Jiang Changning glanced at him and said, "Teaching children is different from teaching birds. Besides, if you don't teach your adopted son, it's the father's fault. Don't try to shirk your responsibility."
"I will teach our children well and will never shirk my responsibilities." King Jin smiled and leaned close to Jiang Changning's ear, "When will Ningning help me give birth to children?"
"Let nature take its course when it comes to having a baby." Jiang Changning stood up and went out carrying the birdcage.
"You're shy again." Prince Jin laughed, picked up the notebook that Jiang Changning had left aside and flipped through it casually.
But I saw a poem in the front: Yun Ke is talented, young and beautiful, and fashionable. I want to marry her, ask the matchmaker to marry her. Sweet words are in vain, in the dark land, arrange the tiger prison. Imprisonment is tormenting, stupid and crazy, sneaking to escape.
"This poem is not bad." King Jin continued reading.
After a while, Jiang Changning came in and said, "Yong Zhou, there will be fresh green vegetables for lunch."
"The city gates are closed and no one is allowed to enter or leave. Where do we get fresh green vegetables?" King Jin asked curiously.
Even if the city gates were open, the snow was so heavy that the vegetables in the hot spring resorts in the suburbs were frozen to death.
"I asked someone to grow them in the greenhouse. I saw that it was snowing too heavily and I was afraid that there would be no vegetables to eat. Anyway, the greenhouse was large, so I asked them to grow some vegetables." Jiang Changning smiled, "Am I very smart?"
"I asked someone to send a small basket to my mother and also give her some extra dishes," Jiang Changning said again.
The Prince of Jin was happy that Jiang Changning was honoring the Concubine Dowager, and said with a smile: "My mother is old, and her words are not pleasant to hear. If you ignore her, tell me and I will go and talk to her."
"My mother is very good to me. It's all those mean servants who are gossiping." Jiang Changning really thinks that the concubine dowager is a pretty good mother-in-law.
The concubine was a bit snobbish, but she was very concerned about her reputation. After being confronted by Jiang Changning several times, she realized that she couldn't win the argument with her daughter-in-law, so she stopped.
With the help of Prince Jin's mediation, the relationship between the mother-in-law and daughter-in-law is still harmonious.
Jiang Changning presented a basket of emerald green vegetables, which pleased the Concubine Dowager, who ordered her maid to bring a dish of steamed fish.
However, steamed fish is what King Jin likes to eat, not what Jiang Changning likes to eat.
Jiang Changning didn't care. They were mother and son, and she was an outsider.
In the afternoon, the couple woke up from a nap and were playing chess when Cao Jiang came in and reported: "Your Majesty, something big has happened."
"Speak." Prince Jin remained calm.
"An hour ago, a group of rioters broke into the Xiong residence and kidnapped all the Xiong family members. Now they are hanging on the Xizhimen city wall."
This was so unexpected that even the King of Jin was shocked. He was stunned for a moment and said, "I need to go to the palace. You stay at home and don't go out."
"I'll help you change your clothes." Jiang Changning said.
The Prince of Jin changed into court robes and hurried away with Cao Jiang.
General Xiong's atrocities brought about the greatest retaliation.
"Although the Xiong family is somewhat innocent, why don't I sympathize with them at all?" Fu Cui said, supporting her chin.
"It's all General Xiong's fault." Xiulan said.
When General Xiong learned that his mother, wives and concubines had been captured by the mob, he was furious and was about to lead his troops to attack Xizhimen, declaring, "I must kill them all!"
"You are such a reckless man! You led your troops forward like this, but before you killed them all, your mother and wives and concubines were killed by them." An official said sarcastically.
General Xiong didn't dare to shout anymore. He was a filial son. He didn't care about his wife and concubines, but he had to rescue his old mother.
The Emperor was also very troubled when he saw that General Xiong had failed to solve the problem of the mob, and that the problem was getting bigger and more serious.
He summoned eight or nine ministers, including the King of Jin, and said, "These rioters are so bold that they actually rushed into the inner city and tied up the officials' families. This is extremely abominable. They must be beheaded to serve as a warning to others."
There was silence in the hall. After a moment, the Minister of War said in a deep voice at the signal from the King of Jin: "Your Majesty, the reason why the victims turned into a mob was because of the Relief Department. General Xiong did not appease the victims, but instead added fuel to the fire, causing things to develop to this point. If you continue to fight violence with violence, I am afraid that it will cause a greater public uproar, and then there will be chaos in the capital. I hope Your Majesty will understand that it is not easy for the people."
"Your Majesty, please understand that it is not easy for the people." Prince Jin and others also said.
General Xiong shouted, "There is no point in reasoning with these rioters. They must be killed."
His opinion alone could not influence the emperor's decision. The emperor knew very well that what the Minister of War said was not alarmist.
"Let Prince Jin take care of the matter of persuading them to surrender." The emperor was helpless. He did not want to rely on Prince Jin, but Prince Jin was more suitable for this task in terms of his status and position, as well as his ability to lead troops.
"I can go and persuade them to surrender, but I need Your Majesty to give me some authority." The King of Jin did not agree immediately.