Prince Li walked in and Xia Quan hurriedly took him to his seat.
After he sat down, he glanced at Taifu Liang calmly, "You just said that since you have a title, you can mess with your wives and concubines. Is that what you mean?"
Taifu Liang knew that he was a troublemaker. Once he did not agree with something, he would not give up and pester him to the end. With so many people present today, it was not easy to offend him. He said, "Your Majesty, this is not what I meant. It's just that since Miss Ximen has married, as the daughter of the Xia family, it is not against common sense for me to kowtow and offer tea to Madam, right?"
"You compare common sense with the law?" Prince Li seemed very angry. "In front of the law, any etiquette and common sense must retreat. As the Minister of the Central Secretariat, you actually said such nonsense. I am extremely disappointed."
Taifu Liang looked unhappy, "Your Majesty, there is no need to be so serious."
"You want me to stop being so serious about the law? Is that what the Minister of the Central Secretariat said?" Prince Li pointed his gun at Murong Jie. "Prince Regent, are you sitting here just to watch the wind? You didn't even say a word about this unreasonable thing."
Murong Jie spread his hands, made a helpless gesture, and said slowly: "What can I do? Xia Zian is my fiancée. If I speak for her, it would be to protect her. I hate these messed up accusations the most, so it's better for me to keep silent."
Prince Li looked at Murong Jie and said, "Since you are temporarily acting as the emperor's regent, your identity is equivalent to that of the emperor. In your opinion, how should this matter be resolved today?"
Murong Jie adjusted his sitting posture, but he was still very relaxed. He glanced at the people in the room, then at Zi'an, and said, "Isn't it just a matter of who kowtows to whom and offers tea? Why is it taking so long? Since there are laws and regulations, just follow them."
Prime Minister Xia had not said much, but after hearing Murong Jie's words, he had to say, "Your Majesty, I think that family affairs do not need to be dealt with by law."
In other words, he asked Zi'an to kowtow and serve tea to Ximen Xiaoyue.
Prince Li frowned and said, "Family affairs? How can this be considered a family affair? Do you think that what happens at home is a family affair? Do you mean that if you stabbed your mother to death, it is also a family affair and you don't have to be punished? What you said is ridiculous!"
Prime Minister Xia was very displeased with Prince Li's repeated provocations, "Then what do you think should be done? We can't let the first-rank imperial lady of the dynasty pay respect to her, right?"
Prince Li shook his head, "No, since you are involved in the title of First Rank Lady, you have to follow other rules. Since Ximen Xiaoyue entered the mansion as a concubine, there is a hierarchy between legitimate and illegitimate wives, so the principal wife Yuan should also be given the title of First Rank Lady. When Ximen Xiaoyue was given the title of Lady, Prime Minister Xia should have gone to the palace to ask for an imperial decree to confer the title on Yuan. Fortunately, the Regent is here now, so he can confer the title verbally first, and then ask Yuan to come out and have Ximen Xiaoyue kowtow to her and offer her tea. This is in accordance with the rules and the law."
After saying that, he actually gave the order himself, "Come on, ask Madam Xia to come out."
Zi'an replied, "Your Majesty, my mother has avoided the palace because of the conflict between our zodiac signs."
Prince Li was stunned. "Conflict? Conflict with the old lady? That should be avoided." Filial piety comes first. If there is a conflict with the old lady, the daughter-in-law should temporarily avoid it and come back after the conflicting month is over.
"No, it's to offend the new lady. This is what the new lady asked for." Zi'an said.
Prince Li was so angry that he was dazed. He was angry about everything that was against the rules. This was not because he was favoring Zi'an. In fact, he was not favoring Zi'an in the previous matters. If there was anything against the rules, he would not show any mercy even if the emperor came.
"This is the most absurd thing in the world. A concubine actually asks the wife to avoid you. Do you think your butt is your face? You are so shameless and dare to ask the wife to avoid you. Where are the rules?" Prince Li said angrily.
These words were too vulgar. Ximen Xiaoyue was so embarrassed that she was so angry that tears welled up in her eyes and her fingertips were shaking.
Prime Minister Xia was also angry. He stood up and glared at Prince Li. "That's enough, Prince Li. I'm very happy that you have honored me with this wedding wine today. However, you have repeatedly lied to my wife and sided with Xia Zian. This has crossed my bottom line. I do not welcome guests who are looking for trouble like this."
Prince Li's face suddenly changed. "Don't rush to chase me away. Why do you say that I am biased towards Xia Zian? Xia Zian is your daughter. As a father, you don't want me to be biased? This statement is illogical. Sort out your thoughts before talking to me. Since I was named Prince Li by the previous emperor and I am in charge of the ritual system of our Great Zhou Dynasty together with the Ministry of Rites, I must not let you put the cart before the horse and confuse the hierarchy. If you want to make trouble with me today, I am not afraid of you."
Murong Jie said coldly: "Royal brother, please be patient. If there is anything wrong, just say it correctly."
He looked like an idler, as if nothing had anything to do with him.
Prince Li nodded to Murong Jie with an expression of agreement, "Yes, you are right. There is no need for me to be angry. I have made sense."
He turned to look at Prime Minister Xia, who was furious, and said seriously, "First of all, I don't understand why you are so angry. It's none of your business whether it's you who kowtows to whom or not. Besides, both of them are your wives, one is your principal wife and the other is your concubine. You know who is superior and who is inferior. Tell me what you said that angered me. What did I say wrong?"
Prime Minister Xia had no way to refute it, because he couldn't say that Prince Li spoke rudely. If he repeated these words again, it would only hurt Ximen Xiaoyue's face.
Seeing this, Zi'an said with a look of great understanding: "Prince, father, forget it, I will kowtow to the new lady."
Prince Li said sternly: "No, rules are rules, they cannot be broken."
Zi'an seemed particularly embarrassed and looked at Ximen Xiaoyue innocently, "New Madam, what do you think we should do?"
Ximen Xiaoyue was so angry that her lungs were about to explode. How could she be willing to pay attention to Zi'an? But with so many people present, if she didn't answer, wouldn't it make her look narrow-minded
So, even though she was extremely unhappy, she could only say, "If that's the case, why don't we invite everyone to sit down and have a drink, and stop dwelling on this matter."
At this point, she would not be so naive as to think that Xia Zian would really kneel down, kowtow to her, serve her tea, and respect her as mother again.
I only ask Prince Li to stop pestering me and get a title for Yuan.
It’s a pity that Prince Li has never known what compromise is. Principles are more important to him than anything else.
He said to Murong Jie, "Please ask for an imperial decree to promote the Yuan family. This request from the Prince of Li is not excessive. Is it reasonable?"
Murong Jie seemed to have no idea either. He looked at the Crown Prince and Taifu Liang, "What do you think, Crown Prince? What do you think, Taifu?"
Liang Taifu had managed to stay out of the matter with great difficulty, but he did not expect that Murong Jie would drag him into it. He could not help but turn his face away and said, "Your Majesty, please make the decision. We, the ministers, cannot interfere in matters concerning the imperial edict."
"Where is the prince?" Murong Jie looked at the prince again and asked, looking embarrassed.
The prince learned his lesson and did not dare to speak nonsense, "Uncle, please do as you see fit."
Murong Jie sighed softly and said in great embarrassment, "What can I do? I hate these tedious matters the most. The wine jar outside has been tempting me. Well, everyone must be hungry, so I won't delay everyone's drinking time. I will issue an edict to confer the title of Princess Danqing on Yuan, and grant her a fief of 300 households, 1,000 taels of gold, and 100 acres of land. The land in the backyard of the Prime Minister's Mansion was illegally occupied before and the compensation was not paid. I intend to take it back and give it to Princess Danqing. I will ask the Ministry of Rites to draft an edict to confer the title, and the Internal Affairs Office will handle the fief matters. The edict must be issued and executed within three days, without any mistakes."
(End of this chapter)