Because the current Duke Xu has made the entire Duke's Mansion a mess and has a terrible reputation. Even those families who were originally close to him are eager to draw a clear line between themselves and the Duke Xu's Mansion, not to mention other people.
Of course, it is the Duke's Mansion after all, so normal interactions are still allowed, and face-saving is still required. But there is something deeper...
I really don't know how to comment on what the wife of the Duke of Xu did. After all, most people don't quite understand her way of thinking. There are still a few people in the Duke of Xu's mansion who are in the officialdom, but their positions are not very high, and they have nothing to do with the Ministry of Rites and the Censorate. Instead, a member of the Xu family happens to be in the Censorate. However, this person's mother has a grudge against the wife of the Duke of Xu. After hearing about it, she pretended not to know and walked away without telling the Duke of Xu, at least to let the Duke of Xu's mansion be mentally prepared.
Everyone in the Xu family has this attitude, so naturally they shouldn't expect others to meddle in their affairs.
So, the next day, as luck would have it, was another "first day", a grand court session, and the memorial impeaching Duke Xu and his son was brought out in public. Duke Xu's son, who was qualified to attend court, was completely bewildered until he was called by Emperor Xuanren. He came to his senses and immediately stood up, "Your Majesty, I really don't know about this matter. Is there any misunderstanding?"
Misunderstanding or not, no one argued with him. The things sent to the Wen family yesterday were directly brought to the court and displayed one by one. Although not every official had a good eye, after all, some people did not come from such a good family, but the vast majority, especially those in high positions, even if they did not know when they were young, gradually trained themselves to know that it was not an ordinary item. After seeing it with their own eyes, they could not help but take a deep breath.
Although the people Xiaocao had saved before had also given expensive gifts as a thank you, they were very prudent. Most of them were things for Xiaocao to use. The most expensive ones were actually medicinal herbs. With her status, it was not excessive to give her any more expensive medicinal herbs. After all, there were quite a few of these things in the rewards given by Emperor Xuanren and the Queen Mother. After all, these things might be used to save people later, so they were appropriate no matter how you looked at them. Let alone the rewards, Han dared to accept the others on behalf of Xiaocao, not only because she could accept them, but also because she could afford them.
What the wife of the Prince of Xu prepared was completely different. There were no medicinal herbs, no things specially given to girls, and except for the things bestowed by the emperor, every item was too expensive.
Who would give a thank-you gift like this
Either it's extremely stupid, or it's intentional!
Emperor Xuanren sat quietly on the dragon throne, fiddling with a string of jade beads in his hand. He looked neither happy nor angry, which made it hard to understand. But to be honest, in the eyes of Emperor Xuanren, this was indeed just a trivial matter and was far from enough to make him angry.
Emperor Xuanren stretched out his hand and pointed at something in the air. Eunuch Hong beside him understood and immediately came down, took the thing up and presented it to Emperor Xuanren. Emperor Xuanren took it with one hand, and his movements were very casual. He weighed it twice in his hand casually, "Back then, Fukang liked this thing, but the late emperor didn't give it to him. I thought it might be in the hands of a concubine or princess, but I didn't expect it to be in the hands of Duke Xu's mansion."
Of course, in fact, when Princess Fukang was young, she competed with another princess and naturally lost.
Upon hearing this, Prince Xuguo broke out in cold sweat on his forehead and trembled, not daring to speak.
Emperor Xuanren gave the things to Eunuch Hong, put them back, and continued to fiddle with the jade beads nonchalantly, "My dear Wenren, since these things are gifts from Duke Xu's Mansion to your daughter, you can take them back."
It was not surprising that Emperor Xuanren would do such a thing, and after getting a clear path from this boss, Wenren Taibo accepted it calmly, "Thank you, Your Majesty." It was good that my daughter's private treasury could be enriched. Moreover, these things, after such a transfer, no longer had to be classified as imperial gifts, and could be used however they wanted in the future.
"Xu Qing, please go home for a while. It's time to tidy up your Xu Guogong Mansion. Your Xu family was granted the title of Duke at the beginning of the Qi Dynasty, which shows the ability of your ancestors. Your ancestors laid the foundation and blessed their descendants. The younger generation, although not necessarily having the ability of the ancestors, should at least not bring shame to them. Don't wipe out the remaining light of this red book and iron scroll."
The prince of Duke Xu's legs went limp and he fell to his knees on the ground, sweating profusely. He was really frightened.
Emperor Xuanren dealt with this matter lightly, and did not even bother to find out what the wife of Duke Xu was trying to do. He felt that the matter was just a trivial matter and did not take it seriously at all.
However, it was different for Duke Xu’s Mansion. It was like a magnitude 10 earthquake.
The Prince of Duke Xu was like an angry lion. When he returned to the Mansion of Duke Xu, he went straight to find the wife of the Prince of Duke Xu. Everyone was shocked along the way. What happened
Because of the special circumstances of Duke Xu's Mansion, the family of Duke Xu's son was always the focus of others, so naturally everyone's attention was focused on them first.
When the wife of the Prince of Duke Xu saw her husband and just stood up, she was slapped hard in the face with such force that she fell to the ground and hit the chair. That was not enough, as she was kicked again.
This sudden change scared everyone and they rushed forward to pull them apart.
Faced with her furious husband, the wife of the Prince of Duke Xu did not dare to fight back. She just endured the pain and asked in a low voice what she had done wrong to make him so angry.
"What did you do wrong? You still dare to say that? I asked you to give a thank-you gift to the Wen family. What did you give? Huh?"
The wife of Duke Xu's son's pupils suddenly shrank and her heart began to beat wildly.
"Speak up, why don't you speak? It seems that you know very well what you did!" The prince of Duke Xu was so angry that he wanted to hit him again, "What do you want to do? What on earth do you want to do? You dare to touch all the treasures, not to mention the things given by the emperor. The things were delivered yesterday, and today, they all appeared in the court, in the court, under the noses of the emperor and all the civil and military officials!"
The wife of the Crown Prince of Duke Xu seemed to have lost all ability to speak.
Regarding this matter, she couldn't even say the three words "I don't know". She was the mistress of the house. Apart from the private property of each room, those things that could not be moved, the keys to the warehouse were all in her hands. Knowing what each thing was and what its use was was the most basic thing. If she didn't know, she could have rolled away long ago.
"Wen Renjia, how dare they, how dare they do this, they..."
The prince of Duke Xu listened to her murmurs. In fact, he had similar thoughts. However, he was still sober and not possessed by demons. He knew the situation of Duke Xu's Mansion better than anyone else. In terms of real power, he was not as good as Wenren Taibo. Moreover, the Wenren family was originally on good terms with the Dingbei County Prince's Mansion. Later, because of the girl in their family, they also established relationships with several other families. The Queen Mother and the Emperor both appreciated them. Now, they saved the girl from Duke Xu's Mansion. "You had bad intentions first, so why don't others dare to expose the matter? Do you think people are like dough, and you can manipulate them as you like?"
The more I think about it, the angrier I get. When I get angry, I want to hit someone. It’s been more than 20 years, and everything was fine. Why...
The wife of the Duke of Xu's son looked pale. This was not the most important thing right now. "Then Your Majesty..."
The prince of Duke Xu sneered, "You wanted to send those things, and the emperor said that people should just accept them. When you asked your daughter-in-law to send the things yesterday, didn't you insist that the Wen family accept them? Have you got what you wanted now? The emperor told me not to go to court anymore, and to go home to tidy up the house. Are you happier? And..."
With every word, the wife of Duke Xu's son turned paler.
"Anything else?" An angry and old voice came from the door.
The people in the room were startled. When they turned around, they saw that standing at the door was not only Duke Xu, but also the brothers of Duke Xu's son, those who were born out of wedlock, and even younger generations, all waiting to laugh at the joke.
The wife of the prince of Duke Xu knew that she had caused a big disaster this time, and she couldn't help but shrink back when she saw Duke Xu.
"If you have anything else, tell me now!" Duke Xu's eyes were as wide as those of his peers.
The Prince of Xu, who was in his forties, lowered his head unconsciously and repeated Emperor Xuanren's words.
The "Red Book and Iron Scroll" almost made Duke Xu faint.
The people who were originally watching the joke couldn't laugh anymore. They even felt a strong panic in their hearts. They had never thought about this problem before, but now that the emperor had said it, maybe he really had such an idea. If the Xu family didn't have the title of Duke, what would happen to them? Think about the fate of the Duke of Xiangguo's Mansion. Although they didn't reach that point, the things they were given in the early years would inevitably be taken back. Without those, how could they live? They were immediately terrified.
“What exactly did my eldest sister-in-law send out? How did it get to the emperor? Although our family... the emperor has never asked about it.” Duke Xu’s mansion was not favored by the emperor to begin with, but as long as they didn’t go too far and stayed behind closed doors, they could do whatever they wanted and it didn’t affect others, and no one would bother to pay attention. But they just felt uncomfortable and had to make a fuss outside and in front of the emperor.
Those gazes were like knives stabbing into her body. In the past, the wife of Duke Xu's son could have fought back neither softly nor harshly, but today was different. She did not have the confidence and felt very insecure.
However, sometimes they can't just choose not to speak if they want to, especially now that Duke Xu is in charge. The people below can never get past him, and if he asks you to speak, there is no way those present can remain silent.
In the end, it was the Prince of Xu who spoke.
This time, Duke Xu was so angry that his blood pressure soared. "Okay, okay, it's really good. I asked you to prepare a thank-you gift, and this is how you prepared it? Do you have a problem with me, or with the entire Duke's Mansion?"
"Dad, no..."
"Our temple is small and cannot support a big Buddha like you. Get out of here as soon as possible."
The face of the wife of the Duke of Xu's son suddenly lost all color, and her eyes widened...
On the other hand, the young master of Duke Xu, who was standing next to him, had an ugly expression on his face, but he calmed down now. In fact, he felt that this was a good opportunity, an opportunity to make these brothers who were eyeing him covetously give up their ideas and let his father completely hand over the right to speak in Duke Xu's Mansion to him. "Dad, although Yu Shi did something wrong this time, she has been managing the Duke's Mansion and raising children for so many years. She has made great contributions, but she has also worked hard. If we divorce her because of this incident, the emperor will only think that we are shirking our responsibilities and have not reflected on ourselves. After all, this incident is nothing compared to the problems in our Duke Xu's Mansion. The emperor asked Yu Shi to be rectified, right? It's the entire Duke Xu's Mansion!"
Duke Xu looked at him sharply for a long time, "I underestimated you."
The prince of Xuguo was not afraid, "Did my son say something wrong? The emperor's meaning is very clear."
"Wrong? Of course you are not wrong. Well, since you want it, I will give it to you. I want to see how far you can go."
As soon as these words came out, the others were shocked and angry. "Father—" They had been teasing for so many years, but for what reason, now all of them were given to the eldest house? Were they just like those Xu clan members in the back street, living in such a miserable state
"Okay, that's it. You should put away your thoughts as soon as possible. Some things are not what you should be thinking about." At this moment, Duke Xu's anger seemed to have disappeared. He turned around and was about to leave, but he took a deep look at the two ladies in the room. "You did a great job!"
The rest of the people had faces as red as the bottom of a pot, saying that they shouldn't even think about it, and that he was the one who fueled their ambitions. Those illegitimate children didn't dare to think about the title of Duke, but if they joined forces with the other legitimate children to depose their prince and replace him with someone else, they would naturally get a lot of benefits as assistants.
—To put it bluntly, the turmoil in Duke Xu's Mansion is just like the fight for succession to the throne in the royal family.
However, the last words left by Duke Xu made their eyes look like knives, wishing to stab Duke Xu and his wife to death. "Brother, in order to gain power, you and your sister-in-law staged this scene together and deliberately brought it to the emperor. You have already planned the current situation, right? Aren't you afraid that you will go too far and the emperor will really punish our Duke's Mansion?"
"It's really cruel that even his own daughter is involved."
…
The Prince of Duke Xu remained silent, because he knew very well that it would be useless even if he explained himself now. They had already determined that it was all planned by the couple and would not listen to anything they said.
They all left in anger.
At this point, the nature of the matter seems to have completely changed.
The wife of the Duke of Xu was still a little stunned by the change of the situation. She slowly came to her senses. Did they get what they wanted just like that? Her originally cold blood became even hotter, and her eyes brightened several degrees. "Master..."
The prince of Xu looked at her, his expression becoming colder and colder, "Do you think you have become a hero by accident?"
The wife of the Crown Prince of Duke Xu looked a little unnatural, and it was obvious that she really thought so.