How could this happen? How could this happen? "Father, Father..."
"Perhaps you think that you can hide your tricks in this palace from me?" Emperor Xuanren said indifferently.
Can it be hidden from Emperor Xuanren? Fan Wuguo couldn't find out the truth. If Emperor Xuanren wanted to investigate, he might not even need to interrogate them. He could just call the relevant people and they would surely cry and confess everything.
"Father, I was wrong. Please show mercy." A man of insight is a wise man. Ming Zhixin will not argue with Emperor Xuanren. She can still threaten Prince Cheng with the Ming family, but in front of Emperor Xuanren, she is just an ant who can be crushed to death with just a flick of his finger. She dares not even mention the Ming family as her backer. In his eyes, the identity of a daughter-in-law is nothing.
Emperor Xuanren still showed no emotion, but just standing there gave people tremendous pressure. No matter if it was Prince Heng who rushed over, the people from the Ming family, or the other concubines, none of them dared to breathe. Ming Zhixin buried her head tightly, not daring to move. No matter how vicious she was in Wen Renying's memory, that was only to people of the same level or weaker.
"Ming will be confined to her home for one year. During this period, she must copy the female rules and female precepts once a day. Prince Cheng will be fined three months' salary and confined to his home for one month. Fan Wuguo... will be fined three months' salary. Dismissed." After Emperor Xuanren finished speaking, he walked past them and headed towards the stage.
For Ming Zhixin, it was considered a good escape and she dared not complain at all.
As for Fan Wuguo, being fined in salary was something he was accustomed to. The salary was so little that it would not hurt him even if it was for three or thirty years, let alone three months. To be honest, throwing the princess into the water and beating up the prince was just a punishment, which was probably not as severe as a mosquito bite. He got up leisurely and did not take it seriously at all.
Prince Cheng is really unlucky. The root of the trouble is Ming Zhixin. He was beaten for no reason. Then, not only did my father not support him, but he was also punished by me. Maybe he is not only unlucky, but also very wronged.
Sometimes, Prince Cheng would doubt whether he was his biological son.
However, he forgot that he had chosen the princess himself. If he was not ambitious and wanted to break off relations with the Ming family, he only needed to tell Emperor Xuanren, and I would not ignore him. However, the Ming family humiliated him so much, and he only chose to apologize to the Ming family. Didn't Emperor Xuanren know about these things? His son wanted to make his own decision, but it was just to fulfill his wish, and he would naturally have to bear the corresponding consequences himself.
Look at the Fourth Prince, he always asks his father to make the decision on everything, and Emperor Xuanren doesn't ignore him. The princess he chooses is virtuous and has a good family background. Although he is not favored, he is not a marginalized invisible person. He will always have what he deserves.
Some people just don't understand.
As for the humiliation of the prince and princess, would it damage the reputation of the royal family? Just look at it now and you will know that it is not the case.
Compared with other emperors, Emperor Xuanren's behavior in some aspects can be regarded as eccentric. He seems to have some gentlemanly demeanor of "acting upright and sitting properly". Even if it is a royal scandal, he will suppress it if it has a big impact, and he will never interfere with insignificant things, and will let others know about them. It is precisely because of this that his reputation is even higher. Not to mention affecting the majesty of the royal family, it only adds to Emperor Xuanren's "halo" of wisdom.
If a father controls everything, his children will complain that they have no freedom to do what they want. However, if a father does not control anything and is very open-minded and willing to delegate power, his children will feel that they are not valued and favored, and are pitiful.
Emperor Xuanren naturally did not treat all of them equally. After all, compared to his other sons, he treated Prince Duan differently. Not only did he raise him personally, but he also arranged a marriage for him. Even after he became blind, his love for him did not diminish at all, and he even let him participate in political affairs. This was indeed biased, and he did not treat everyone equally. As the saying goes, "What is worrying is not the lack of wealth but the inequality of wealth." If all people were the same, with the same father, and only the mother was competing, the situation might be different.
But then again, even though the emperor favored Prince Duan, he still felt a little better about the fact that Prince Duan had lost his right to inherit the throne.
Besides, Emperor Xuanren was wise and powerful, and he kept his sons under strict control. Even if they tried to make a move, they would be like small fish and shrimps, and they dared not act rashly. Therefore, even if they had resentment in their hearts, they could only suppress it and dared not show it at all.
As for the "outsider" Fan Wuguo, he looked down at Prince Cheng with a mocking arc at the corner of his covered mouth. In fact, if it weren't for what happened at the banquet, he would not have used such a rough method to punish Princess Cheng. Did everyone really think he was stupid
Even if his uncle the emperor is more tolerant towards someone for some reasons, he does not necessarily like him, and this tolerance will run out one day. How could he be able to jump around lawless until now without being despised? Apart from the impression that he has a straightforward temper in the heart of his uncle the emperor, he acts obediently when he should and acts coquettishly when he should. He is commonly known as shameless and has no bottom line. To be more literary, even if he does not understand some things, he can rely on his feeling to never do anything that really crosses the bottom line.
To put it bluntly, even if God has given him the capital to jump around, if he doesn't jump around, he would be ungrateful for this gift from God.
King Cheng endured the pain and stood up, looking at Fan Wuguo, that look...
"Wuguo, come here and listen to the opera with me."
The young Master Fan, who had been so arrogant, immediately became listless and responded with a gloomy "Oh".
It’s no wonder that Young Master Fan changed his face so quickly, he was not pretending, it was simply because his uncle, the emperor, had not yet finished “punishing” him.
Fan Wuguo was never a quiet person. He didn't like anything that required quietness. But, did he dare to say no when his uncle the emperor asked him to accompany him? Obviously, he couldn't. Whenever he made some mistakes, in addition to being fined, he was probably asked to "temper his temper" and listen to operas, which was just a small matter. When Emperor Xuanren was reviewing memorials, he asked him to copy books on the side, and there were also requirements on quantity and quality. Young Master Fan thought that his good calligraphy was all copied from books.
He knew that every time this happened, his cousins would be jealous and envious, wishing they could take his place. He actually hoped they could, but it was a pity...
As the saying goes, one man's honey may be another man's poison. It is really like this!
Young Master Fan sighed inwardly, knowing that he could not escape, and quickly quickened his pace to catch up.
The crowd watching looked at this and that, but in the end said nothing and went on doing what they were supposed to do.
Although the emperor doesn't care, they are still members of the royal family. He can ignore them and scold them, but that doesn't mean others can ridicule and mock them at will, especially in the palace. Only a fool would step forward and add insult to injury.
Prince Cheng said nothing, didn't even look at Ming Zhixin, and left straight away. Even though he bumped into Prince Heng head-on, he just turned his body to the side and bumped Prince Heng's arm.
Prince Heng frowned, a little annoyed, but he didn't call him back, because he knew it would be useless. He was still "unable to protect himself", so he was worried that his father would "hold him accountable". This would not be a verbal reprimand, because that was not his father's style. If he could be reprimanded directly, that would be a good thing, but he was afraid that his father would suppress him.
No matter how powerful he is now or how many ministers have surrendered to him, if Emperor Xuanren really takes action, he could become nothing at any time.
On the other side, it was Ming Zhixin's mother who hurried forward, threw a piece of clothing on Ming Zhixin, and burst into tears, but she couldn't say anything, because it was her daughter who did something wrong, and it was the emperor who spoke, so could it be that the emperor was still to blame
"Xin'er, let's leave the palace first, let's leave the palace first."
Ming Zhixin looked expressionless. Leaving the palace? Prince Cheng had suffered an unexpected disaster, and she had really implicated him. He had never taken her seriously before. If she went back now, she would be at least half dead. However, outside the palace, she had nowhere to go except Prince Cheng's mansion. Royal wives could not easily go back to their parents' home. If she went back now, the Ming family would definitely not let her in.
But what if she didn't leave the palace in her current state? There was no place for her to stay in the palace either.
But what she couldn't figure out was why things had developed to this point? She had considered the consequences of being exposed before. Even if she confronted Fan Wuguo, with her current status, the worst that could happen was that she apologized to him. But that little bully actually acted so unpredictably and made such a big fuss. And the emperor didn't focus on what Fan Wuguo had done to them, but on what happened to Wen Renxuan in the beginning, and what was the relationship between her and the banquet later
Ming Zhixin was supported by her mother, and she just moved along as if she had lost her soul.
Everyone else left, only a few stayed.
Among them is Ming Zeyue. Unlike her previous pride and arrogance, she now exudes a more sinister coldness. Staring at Ming Zhixin, she feels that she was stupid for wanting to fight to the death with King Cheng. To be honest, living a life of seclusion and worshipping Buddha is better than marrying King Cheng. It's good, really very good for Ming Zhixin to marry on her behalf. Birds of a feather flock together. It's a pity that they don't get together.
Compared to Ming Zhixin, she knew a little more. Although she was arrogant and unreasonable, even if she would not deliberately make friends with the person who saved her, she would not be ungrateful. In fact, with her excellent medical skills, even though the fourth Miss Wenren was a "female doctor", no one dared to underestimate her now. At least this would no longer be a stain for criticism.
Ming Zeyue stood there for a moment, then left in a huff. Their family had long been at odds with Ming Zhixin's family and were incompatible with each other. However, their family members were all in the imperial city, and Ming Zhixin only had her mother in the Ming family, so she couldn't cause any trouble. Moreover, Ming Zhixin was under house arrest for a year, so she couldn't see this person, so naturally they had nothing to do with each other.
Ming Zeyue is in trouble now, but it is still unknown what will happen to her in the future.
Of course, the evening's program was not just the continuous good shows in the theater, there were other things in many places in the palace.
Xiaocao stayed with the old people the whole time. After making sure that their conditions had stabilized and there was no problem with the people from the Imperial Hospital taking over, she went to see the remaining old people. Nearly half of them had been to the palace for various places. For them, this place was probably like a fairyland on earth. Perhaps they could only see it once. As for the rest, they really didn't have the energy. Although it might not be that there was something wrong with their bodies, at their age, it was very exhausting to sit down for such a long time at a banquet.
Xiaocao took a look at those who were not in good condition, prescribed medicine for those who needed it, and told them some recuperation methods for those who already had some health problems. He was extremely patient and considerate, and had a very good temper, which made those people from the Imperial Hospital who had followed him here shamelessly a little surprised. He was like a completely different person now when he had initially treated them coldly.
To be sure that the elderly who are chosen to attend the Banquet of Thousand Elders and Thousand Elder Women in the Imperial City must have good moral character, especially the local officials. No one can guarantee whether there will be a next time, so the selection process is extremely serious. Even if someone wants to "show favoritism", it also depends on whether the object of favoritism will cause trouble. Therefore, they really try to choose the best ones.
Such people, facing Xiaocao, would find it difficult to feel bad about her, even if they had an issue with a woman "showing up in public", so, when they looked at her, it was as if they were looking at their own granddaughter, and accordingly, more and more people came to her for "medical treatment".
Later, because it was really late, they needed to rest early, otherwise Xiaocao didn't know how long he would be busy.
Xiaocao sent the last old man to rest, stretched his muscles, and asked casually, "What time is it?"
"It's almost midnight."
Xiaocao didn't expect that it was almost twelve o'clock in the evening. No wonder she felt a little tired.
It was also because she could accurately understand the conditions of the elderly as soon as she started to diagnose and treat them, so those who came after her were very tempted, especially those who did have health problems, who insisted on waiting and could not be persuaded to leave.
"You should go back and rest early. You have worked hard today."
"It's not us who are having a hard time, it's the girl who is having a hard time. I also want to thank her for her teaching."
"It's not teaching, it's learning from each other."
Learn from each other? They dared not agree to this. After all, it was the girl from the Wen family who answered their questions from the beginning to the end.
"Okay, it's really late, let's go." Xiaocao's daily routine has always been relatively stable. Now that he is free, the feeling of fatigue seems to have completely come up. Now he just wants to go home early and rest.
The others also noticed something about her situation, so they stopped talking and left.
When Xiaocao was led out by the palace maids with lanterns, she wondered if she could just leave the palace. She didn't quite understand the rules.
There was just a light on nearby. I looked towards the light. I was tired and my reaction was a little slow. But the people around me hurriedly greeted me...