For the people in Duke Zhao's Mansion and the emperor, Zhu Tingfang's return marked the end of a phase of the previous northern expedition.
For a large number of officials in the capital who had once clamored that the father and son of the Duke of Zhao had lost the war and humiliated the country, the fact that the heir of the Duke of Zhao's mansion, who had been missing for a while, had returned intact and looked a little thinner but with no other serious problems was enough to make them restless. Even though it was the New Year when the government offices were sealed, they had no choice but to connect with each other.
So on the eve of the 30th day of the twelfth lunar month, a piece of news came out that, while the Shuntian government office had not put up the notice board and had put away the drumstick for beating the complaint drum, an old woman hit the drum with her white head, suing the Chief Censor of the Metropolitan Censorate, who had once been a touring censor, for fabricating charges and forcing the Fang family, a local prominent family who was kind and generous, to the point of being ruined.
After the incident, Shuntian Prefecture Governor Wang Jie personally took the person to the Shuntian Prefecture Yamen for resettlement.
This was just the beginning. By the evening, the Daxing County Office, Wanping County Office, the Censorate and the Criminal Department had even had their drums knocked once, and a total of four censors had been reported. These four people were the most vicious people who had jumped up and down to slander the Zhu family father and son.
With endless news coming one after another, Zhang Shou didn't have a good meal at the Zhaoguogong Mansion. After he took Wu back, after the ancestor worship, three more complaints came, and the Zhu family didn't have a good meal at the New Year's Eve dinner. Zhu Ying even smashed her chopsticks in anger and said angrily: "What do these messed up things have to do with my family?"
As she spoke, she slammed the table and stood up: "If our Zhu family had ordered someone to do this, how could they mobilize the victims to complain everywhere, and let such an old man with white hair risk his life to complain? This is simply taking human life lightly! I think someone just wants to confuse the waters, and they want to speak for those censors who are so good at talking! Using such means is really despicable!"
Zhu Er hadn't figured it out at first, but when Zhu Ying said that, he suddenly understood, and he also slammed the table and said, "As long as we can prove that these charges are false, then all these censors who slandered others will be cleared of all charges!"
But as soon as he stood up, he was glared at by the Taifu, Jiu Niang and Zhu Tingfang, and he hurriedly sat back in fear. Just when he thought he would be scolded, Jiu Niang suddenly looked at Zhu Ying and asked directly: "Yingying, why are you so smart today? Did you figure out these mysteries by yourself?"
"Of course not!" Zhu Ying took back the chopsticks with confidence, and then said calmly, "It was Ah Shou who said that. Ah Shou told me before he went back at noon that if there are two or three, there must be three. If there are more after the third or fourth, then there is no doubt that they want to stir up this mess and make our Zhu family the target of public criticism!"
Zhu Tingfang sighed at Zhu Ying's tone of mindlessness and just listening to what others said. However, what Zhang Shou told Zhu Ying was exactly what he and his grandmother had decided after discussing it in the afternoon. Therefore, he couldn't help but criticize and asked, "Did your Ah Shou tell us what the Zhu family should do?"
"Brother, Ah Shou hasn't married me yet, he's not mine yet!" Zhu Ying glared at Zhu Tingfang, then shrugged and said, "Ah Shou said that it's most likely our Zhu family's enemies, or those imperial censors. And Dad went on this expedition and won a victory, which hindered many people's way. Plus, they're afraid that we'll retaliate against them and make false accusations, so of course they'll take the initiative to muddy the waters."