The maid's road to success

That night, the emperor stayed in Baohua Palace and ordered six rounds of water. The Empress summoned the imperial physician that same day.

When the Huaiyuan Marquis' Mansion learned the news, all the masters in the mansion stayed awake all night.

The two sisters were favored before they had settled down in the palace and their status had not been reported to the queen.

I heard that Doctor Mo has been guarding the gate of Baohua Palace. This is not good news.

"Boss, what do you think?"

It was already Chou hour and the old ancestor couldn't sleep at all, so Chen Yuanzhi and Chen Yuanxiang stayed in Fushou Hall to keep him company.

"Doctor Mo is good at conditioning the body, but it is said that the Mo family has a family recipe that can be made into pills to improve a person's spirit and stabilize the blood. I'm afraid that he has long been powerless and relies entirely on himself. He also refuses to give up women."

Chen Yuanzhi pointed to the top of his head, and the old ancestor sighed. Even to use the medicine, he had to soak in the harem. The emperor has become nothing like the emperor he used to be in recent years.

"The northwest has been suppressed for many years, and now the Hu people are starting to test it again. If this continues, the tigers and wolves outside will rush in first, regardless of the court."

The old ancestor closed her eyes and the rosary in her hand stopped. Wen Niang took out a fox fur blanket and covered her legs, stuffed a warm woman in it, and carefully looked at the sky outside. It was snowing again. It wasn't even the New Year yet, but it was snowing.

The Huaiyuan Marquis's Mansion reduced a lot of banquets, saying that they were preparing for the third young lady's wedding, so Wen Niang had more opportunities to go out.

Today, the ancestor gave her a small pomegranate flower-patterned waistcoat as a reward and told her to wear it.

Yulan also had one, and Bihe's eyes turned red with envy. Wen Niang and Sister Yulan looked at each other without saying a word, and went home with their respective rewards.

After returning home, Madam Su took her daughter to rest. Then Wen Niang dared to light the oil lamp. She picked up the scissors and slowly cut the thread on the chest of her waistcoat. She took out a piece of paper from inside. It was a Datong silver note with a face value of five hundred taels.

Ever since the precious reward was summoned to the palace, the old ancestor sent everyone away, leaving behind Wen Niang and Yu Lan, and gave them some words of advice.

Now Princess Fu'an supports the Fourth Prince, the Empress supports the Second Prince, and the Empress Dowager supports the Sixth Prince. Everyone is eyeing the military power of the Huaiyuan Marquis' Mansion, but the Huaiyuan Marquis' Mansion has been neutral from the beginning until now and has not taken sides.

This would not be too bad, but the Queen is too cruel. She tries to seize the military power of the Huaiyuan Marquis' Mansion and have Duke Cheng'en take over, and she uses all sorts of means to do so.

The Emperor was bewitched by Duke Cheng'en and refused to listen to Marquis Huaiyuan's advice. He was afraid that they would really think as the old marquis said, that they would not live beyond three generations.

There are too many people outside who are watching the Huaiyuan Marquis Mansion, and any move will be noticed, so the ancestor can start with the maids best, often rewarding them with items and taking out money and hiding it well, so that if something unexpected happens in the future, he will have an extra way out for himself.

Yulan cannot rashly escape from her slavery. The emperor is in poor health, and the empress is naturally aware of it. She must be keeping a close eye on every move of the Huaiyuan Marquis's mansion, and even the servants will not be spared. When Wen Niang returned home today, she saw someone following her.

If Yulan released the slave contract, she would become the focus of Cheng'en Palace, which would be bad, so the ancestor wanted to use Yulan's brother, Wu Shi, who was freed from slavery four years ago and sent to Linjiang County to study.

She was rewarded with a clean virginity because she saved the eighth young lady.

Wen Niang hid the banknotes under the stone lion at the back door, and went back to rest when she saw that they could not be seen.

During the New Year holidays, the Huaiyuan Marquis Mansion was very dull. Suddenly, there were many impeachments in the court against the Huaiyuan Marquis Mansion for embezzling military pay, oppressing civilians, and abusing power for personal gain.

All the old families in the capital would use their power to arrange unimportant official positions for their disciples and relatives.

But for some reason, he was dug up and impeached. The accusation of embezzling military pay was also nonsense. Ten years ago, Chen Yuanzhi led his troops to the northern border to expel the Bi tribe, and the military pay was delayed. The Ministry of Revenue was controlled by Princess Fu'an at that time. In order to force him to support the fourth prince, she deliberately blocked his way and made him bow his head.

Huaiyuan Houfu refused and spent all his private property. After ten days of holding out, the military pay was finally delivered, and he took away the money he had paid in advance.

Is this also called embezzling military pay and oppressing civilians? The pharmacy owner deliberately bought inferior medicinal materials for corruption and sold them as good ones. Hasn't he been dealt with?

The memorial was written in great detail, but some contents were hidden and the facts were distorted. Marquis Huaiyuan looked at Duke Cheng'en and Princess Fu'an and had no idea which of them was responsible.

"Chen Yuanzhi? Do you recognize him?"

Chen Yuanzhi knelt on the ground. He already knew that there was a traitor next to him, but he didn't know who it was. He was impeached for helping one of his disciples to get a certain official position, and he had to admit it based on the confession of the manager of the pharmacy in his mansion and the testimony of a deputy commander of his personal guards.

"I failed to discipline my children properly, and a treacherous person has emerged in the palace. I am guilty of my duty. I am wronged in the matter of military pay. Your Majesty, please investigate."

The emperor was silent for a while, then spoke slowly.

"You explained the military pay issue to me at the time. I cannot blame you for this, but oppressing civilians and abusing your power for personal gain is also wrong. I will dismiss you from your position as the general, put you under house arrest for three months, and fine you for one year. Do you agree?"

Chen Yuanzhi raised his head and looked at the emperor. He was shocked. He was even dismissed from his position as the general of the army? The emperor dismissed him for a few unimportant crimes?

When Chen Yuanzhi returned home, he immediately began to investigate who had betrayed him, only to find that someone from Princess Fu'an's mansion had delivered a letter.

After reading it, Chen Yuanzhi angrily took the letter to Fushou Hall to discuss it with his ancestor.

"It turned out to be Aunt Lu. She is really a hidden talent."

The letter only said one sentence: "His achievements are greater than his master's". Attached below was a record of his identity and origin. It turned out that Aunt Lu was a spy of the Cheng'en Mansion. She was bought and trained by the Cheng'en Mansion thirty years ago, and was deliberately designed to be brought back by Chen Yuanxiang to save the beauty.

There are many such people sent out by the Cheng'en Mansion, and many families have them.

The old man slapped the armrest, his chest heaving with anger.

"Go, chop off her head and throw it to Lord Cheng'en. How dare you plot against our family?"

Bai was busy trying to appease the old ancestor.

"Absolutely not. Duke Cheng'en is trusted by the emperor now. If we confront him openly, we will be classified as the Princess Fu'an or the Queen Mother's faction. The emperor has been wary of our family in recent years. Today he dismissed the general, and tomorrow he will strip the marquis of his title, saying that he is guilty. But Duke Cheng'en is just following the emperor's wishes to trample on the marquis."

The old ancestor regained his senses and looked at her. As expected, the old marquis had good vision and Bai was a person he could rely on.

"So what do you think can help us get out of this predicament?"

Bai shook her head, she didn't know. The emperor was afraid of the military achievements of Huaiyuan Marquis's mansion, but he didn't dare to punish them openly, for fear that people would say that he had chilled the hearts of his loyal ministers.

"There is no other way. We can only manage Huaiyuan Marquis Mansion well and not cause any trouble. Wait, in the future, if anyone other than the Second Master goes up, we won't be in such danger."

Bai was afraid that there might be ears on the other side of the wall, so she didn't dare to say it out loud. In fact, everyone knew that the second prince was not a wise ruler, and might even be more absurd than the current emperor. However, because he was the legitimate son of the Empress Dowager and Duke Cheng'en was insidious and treacherous, the emperor valued him. The other two princes were better than him in character.

There was grief and resentment in the old ancestor's eyes. How many people in Huaiyuan Marquis' Mansion risked their lives to protect the country, but once the world was at peace, they immediately became thorns in the eyes and bones in the flesh. It was really sad.

"Go, control the people in the mansion. We are like meat on the chopping block now. There are too many people watching us. People in the mansion should not go out unless necessary."

After all, he has grown old and has forgotten how treacherous people are. A concubine named Lu has suddenly become the one who betrayed the Marquis's mansion. Who can predict whether other servants will be bribed?

Originally, they thought that they would win over those slaves who had been stripped of their official positions and transfer their money out to keep a way out for the future. However, they forgot that those who were eyeing the Huaiyuan Marquis Mansion were all jackals, tigers and leopards. What could a maid do?

Wen Niang and the others received the order and focused on guarding Fu Shou Tang, and did not even dare to wander around Huaiyuan Marquis' Mansion.

"Mrs. Wen."

Bihe sat in the tea room with a pale face, staring at the small tea stove in front of her, and called Wen Niang's name softly.

"Ok!"

Seeing that she looked very bad, Wen Niang put down the tea can in her hand, sat beside her and looked at her.

"Just now I went to give honey tea to the eldest young lady, and saw the second master put Madam Lu into a sack and dragged her to the farm."

Wen Niang didn't understand why Bihe brought up this matter. Aunt Lu betrayed the Marquis' Mansion and contacted Cheng'en Mansion to sell out the Marquis. She was destined to have no good ending. Isn't this inevitable?

"Mrs. Lu was already dead when she was put into the sack. Her hands were broken and she had no tongue. I..."

Wen Niang was also shocked. She didn't expect that the second master didn't even have the patience to take the person outside and kill him, but instead used lynching in the mansion.

"Don't be afraid. She's going to die anyway. You're just scared. Just take a rest for the next two days."

Wen Niang took a leave of absence for Bihe and stayed in the tea room to serve tea to Bihe.

The people in Huaiyuan Marquis' Mansion were in a panic, as they originally thought that the marquis' dismissal from office was the most severe punishment.

Who would have thought that on the last day of the first lunar month, the emperor rested in Baohua Palace and made such a fuss that he vomited blood and fainted. The empress invited the imperial physician to see him overnight, and the physician said that the emperor had taken an excessive amount of deer blood to enhance his essence and energy, which had injured his body.

The Empress Dowager invited the Empress Dowager, Princess Fu'an, Prince Li and others to immediately conduct a thorough search of the palace. They found all kinds of pills in Baohua Palace and in the homes of several favored concubines.

Among them were the sisters sent by the Huaiyuan Marquis Mansion. The Imperial Guards sent people to surround the Huaiyuan Marquis Mansion, the Zhou family and several aristocratic families.

"How is it, eldest wife, how is the Marquis?"

Bai's face was a little pale. She was supported by Yuxiu and sat in Fushou Hall. She didn't expect that the Queen and Cheng'en Mansion had already set a trap for them, waiting for them to fall into it.

"The Queen's decree: Huaiyuan Marquis's Mansion plotted to murder His Majesty and colluded with the concubines in the palace to poison the Emperor. All the men in the Marquis' Mansion were thrown into prison."

The old ancestor slammed the table with his hand holding the Buddhist beads, and fainted due to lack of breath.

"Ancestor, Ancestor."

Wen Niang saw the old ancestor fainted and his whole body was stiff in place. Yulan, who was behind him, supported the old ancestor. She saw Wen Niang's figure in the chaos and nodded at her. Wen Niang wiped away her tears fiercely.

While everyone was in chaos, he ran to his room, rolled up all his valuables, and slipped to the backyard, where there was a dry well leading to a laundry shop in the west city.

Wen Niang smeared her face, secretly walked around the crowd and returned to her small courtyard in the north city. Without waking up Su Niang, she climbed over the wall, found all the banknotes and stuffed them in her arms, left a letter to Su Niang, and went out again.

He took the silver bills out of the city gate that night and hid them separately beside a willow tree far away from the City God Temple and in the Land God Temple near the charity hall. Then he went back into the city and guarded near the Huaiyuan Marquis Mansion.

Wen Niang didn't dare to go home or return to the mansion. She disguised herself as a little beggar and hid near the main gate of Huaiyuan Marquis's mansion. A few little beggars around her gave her a few copper coins and made room for her.

"Little guy, where are you from? Why are you back in our territory?"

Wen Niang shook her head, pointed at her throat and waved her hands. The two beggars immediately realized that this man was a mute, thin and small, and was probably turned into a beggar because of suffering.

"Hey, you've come to the wrong place. This Huaiyuan Marquis Mansion used to be a very kind family. They always give us some money and food when we pass by. I'm afraid we'll have to find another place to make a living in the future."

Wen Niang had a puzzled look on her face. The two beggars looked around and whispered.

"I heard that it might not work. The Queen controls the harem and is working with Cheng Enli to clean up the Huaiyuan Marquis Mansion and General Lin's Mansion first and take back the tiger talisman."