The maid's road to success

Within two days, Shou Yuanbo was impeached in the court for his poor personal ethics, for allowing his second wife to persecute his first wife and eldest son, for abusing his concubine's daughter, for sending her to the backyard of an official to seek personal gain for him, and for his brother from his natal family to participate in lending and harm the people.

When Shou Yuanbo returned home the day before yesterday, he heard from his wife that he was bullied by the third daughter of the Duke of Huguo and Princess Hejia.

I had originally been thinking about finding an opportunity to reprimand these two people someday. After all, I am also an earl of the older generation in Kyoto.

But before he could scold his wife, disaster befell him. The people from the Censorate collected some evidence of his wife's crimes from somewhere and reported them to the court.

"Sir Wang, you have been an official in the Censorate for so many years. When have you only focused on the things happening in my inner house? If you don't know, you might think my wife has provoked you."

Censor Wang did not expect Shou Yuanbo to be such a scoundrel. Although these evidences of guilt could not harm anyone, if this matter were brought to the attention of the emperor, everyone would quickly show weakness and promise to correct themselves and restrain their family members.

He even argued with the censor.

"Lord Shouyuan, we are officials of the Imperial Censorate, and our job is to supervise officials. However, the emperor respects you for having guarded the border for many years for Chen State, so we also want to save some face for your mansion. It would be bad for you to know that your children and grandchildren have done such immoral things and are not safe in the underworld. Who knows that Lord Shouyuan does not understand, so don't blame me for disregarding your face."

Lord Wang saw that the emperor's expression had relaxed a lot, so he walked to the front and handed over the memorial he had brought with him.

Lao Shouyuanbo used to be under the command of Prince Li, and he and Prince Li were familiar with each other's supervision. The two of them worked together to prevent the barbarians from invading.

But ever since Prince Li was squeezed out of the battle for the throne by his own brother, Shou Yuanbo was forced to keep his distance from him.

But in private, the two had a good relationship. However, after the old uncle passed away, the current Lord Shouyuan was too snobbish and immediately changed sides, distancing himself from Prince Li's Mansion.

It also alienated Prince Li from him. Now that Prince Li has become the emperor, it has been useless for Earl Shouyuan to show his goodwill several times, so he tried to plot against Princess Hejia the day before yesterday.

What a pity, he is too stupid. Even if he had betrayed Prince Li, thanks to the friendship of old Earl Shou Yuan, at least the emperor is still on the throne and will not make things difficult for them.

He had to jump up and down, which displeased the Emperor and also provoked the Duke of Protectorate.

"I have accused Shou Yuanbo of occupying 300 mu of good farmland outside the capital and annexing it to his wife's dowry farm. In order to occupy the good farmland, he oppressed the people. He falsely accused seven people and sent them to prison. Three of them died and four were disabled."

"Shou Yuanbo's second son passed the provincial examination last year. Shou Yuanbo asked the steward to bribe the examiner so that his second son could get the title of Juren."

"In order to please Shou Yuanbo, the wife of the Marquis of Shou Yuan forced a pair of fifteen-year-old sisters to come to the mansion to serve the nearly sixty-year-old Marquis of Shou Yuan. The sisters were unwilling, so the wife of the Marquis of Shou Yuan threatened them with their family members. After serving the Marquis of Shou Yuan, the sisters jumped into the lake and committed suicide."

"There are more than ten similar pieces of evidence. Your Majesty, please examine them carefully."

Shou Yuanbo obviously didn't expect that the evidence of his wife and brother-in-law mentioned by Censor Wang earlier were just appetizers, and the main event was actually here.

"Lord Protector of the Country, you are the Inspector General, what do you think about this matter?"

Seeing that the emperor was still trying to tease her, Chen Luoxi sighed and walked to the middle.

"I cannot interfere in this matter. The wife of the Marquis of Shouyuan brought her own women who were already having affairs with men, hoping to trick Princess Hejia into agreeing to let them marry into the Duke of Huguo's mansion as concubines. If I interfere, I'm afraid I'll be suspected of favoritism, so I'll ask the Dali Temple to handle this matter."

Shou Yuanbo looked at the high-sounding words of Duke Protector of the Country Chen Luoxi, and no matter how confused he was, he now understood what was going on.

He indulged his own wife and sent his daughter, who was no longer a virgin, to Princess Hejia, hoping to take advantage of the princess's youth and incomprehension and trick her into agreeing to enter the mansion with his daughter.

Afterwards, he would find a way to let his daughter replace her as the legal wife to ensure the stability of Shouyuanbo's mansion.

He has already provoked this evil star. What happened today was clearly directed at him by Censor Wang at the instigation of Chen Luoxi.

The emperor didn't ask for his opinion, but he pointed out the fact that his daughter had a relationship with a man. This not only made the Shouyuan Marquis's family pay a price, but also prevented his daughter from having a good marriage.

Sure enough, at this moment everyone looked at Shou Yuanbo with contempt, disgust and shock. He knelt on the ground and kept shaking.

It's all over, everything is over. When that bitch urged him to marry his daughter to the Duke of Huguo's mansion as a concubine, he should have beaten those two people to death. Not only did he fail to accomplish his goal, but he also implicated the family.

"Lord Shouyuan, the Duke of the Guard is a noble person. He is the grandson of the Queen, and naturally my grandson as well. You are so bold, a daughter of a fallen woman, and you dare to covet the Duke of the Guard mansion."

"You dare to plot against the princess I personally appointed, and even want to murder her and replace her with your daughter. If you succeed in such a scheme, what will become of my empire and my officials?"

"Minister of the Dali Temple, start the investigation immediately. No one is allowed to show favoritism."

The emperor looked at Shou Yuanbo, who was shaking like a sieve, and added another sentence.

"If it is confirmed, for the sake of the old uncle, the title of the Earl's Mansion will be reserved for the eldest son of the Earl's Mansion, but the hereditary succession will be deprived and the title will be demoted from generation to generation. The Shouyuan Earl and his wife will be exiled to the northwest. Take a good look at the hard life that the old uncle went through in the northwest to earn a prosperous life for you."

When the emperor thought of his friend, the old uncle, his heart was filled with sadness. He didn't have many good friends. Old Marquis Huaiyuan was his best friend who was as close as a brother, and the old uncle was his most loyal subordinate.

Although he was framed by his brother, the children taught by the old Marquis Huaiyuan still supported him, but not long after the old uncle passed away, the entire marquis's mansion turned against him.

Or Chen Luoxi said that the eldest son of the Earl's Mansion actually knew the cause of death of Lady Yuanshou, but he was not powerful enough and had been enduring humiliation and living in seclusion.

Knowing that the wife of the Marquis of Shouyuan was flattering him, he kept a low profile and practiced martial arts well, with some of the demeanor of an old uncle.

Seeing Shou Yuanbo being so timid and cowardly, everyone couldn't help but think of how brave and upright the old man used to be, and felt sorry for him.

Such an outstanding old uncle had a cowardly and vicious son, and he found an even more vicious woman.

At the same time, they also watched the Duke of Protectorate leave in a leisurely manner, and hurried home.

The Duke of Protectorate is very popular nowadays. In his early twenties, he led the Chen family to overturn the case and supported the emperor to ascend the throne. Now he is the number one person in front of the emperor.

Except for those old-established aristocratic families who have no worries about favor, who wouldn't want to marry into the Duke of Protectorate's Mansion?

The population is simple and kind, and they would never abuse their daughter-in-law or granddaughter-in-law.

There are no brothers or side branches yet, and everyone who enters is the head of the family.

Unfortunately, the Emperor has granted them a marriage, so they have no chance. However, they can send their concubine's daughter to be a concubine. If she is capable, she can be a favored concubine or a noble concubine, which also has many benefits.

But they all wanted a legitimate way, not the same as Lord Shou Yuan, who was planning to make Princess Hejia disappear.

He even wants to stuff his virgin daughter in there, which is a humiliation to the family.

But now it seems that the Duke of Protectorate is very protective of Princess Hejia, so it is better to give up these bad ideas for the time being.

Before Chen Luoxi had taken a few steps, he was summoned to the inner palace by the Queen Mother.

"I heard that you disciplined Lord Shou Yuan in the court this morning?"

Chen Luoxi had no intention of hiding anything and nodded.

"He plotted against Wen Niang and used Third Sister's sad story to bully her. I can't stand it."

The queen was sitting there, looking at him so frankly, and rolled her eyes at him.

"You monkey, aren't you afraid that your uncle will not cooperate with you for the sake of the old uncle?"

Chen Luoxi chuckled.

"Don't worry, my uncle is more vindictive than me. He has his eyes on the old uncle, but Shouyuan is not. He did a lot of things to take advantage of others. If I don't take action, my uncle won't watch him jump around."

As soon as the emperor came to the queen's palace after court, he waited to have dinner with her and was changing into his casual clothes in the inner room.

As soon as he changed, he heard Chen Luoxi slandering him to the Queen.

"You just take advantage of your aunt's pampering and dare to do anything. You are not afraid of getting into trouble."

When Chen Luoxi saw the emperor coming, he quickly stood up and greeted him. He no longer dared to look as nonchalant as before as he leaned on the chair, and sat upright.

"How dare I do that if my aunt doesn't protect me? But this Shouyuanbo is getting worse and worse as he gets older. His eldest son is the heir that the old uncle has carefully taught. But he suppressed him just because of a few words from that woman. The old uncle's original energy is almost ruined by him."

The emperor sat on the upper hand and nodded.

"You are right. He is not worthy of enjoying the favors of the old Lord Shou Yuan. Only by letting the eldest son succeed to the throne can he be regarded as inheriting the old Lord Shou Yuan's will."

The Queen hated it most when they came back and talked about court matters, so she quickly changed the subject.

"But Luo Lan can't stay in the Duke of Protectorate's Mansion forever without getting married. She's so young."

When the emperor saw that she had changed the subject, he knew that she was annoyed that he had brought up government affairs again, and he touched his nose in embarrassment.

"It's okay. Wen Niang and Third Sister have a good relationship. When Wen Niang marries over, I'll take a closer look at her. If Third Sister is willing, the Protector of the Country will marry her off in style. I don't have to worry about her being wronged."

The queen nodded. This Wen Niang was a great person. Although she had never met her, she had heard a lot from her sister. Wen Niang had made the greatest contribution to the present situation of the Chen family. She protected Chen Luoxi, gave him an identity, allowed him to take the imperial examinations, and stayed with him until now.

Everyone in the Chen family likes her, so she must be a very good girl.

"But I noticed that many people in Kyoto have been adding makeup to her recently. Is that also you who is behind this?"

Chen Luoxi glanced at the emperor and spoke in a low voice.

"I asked the Bai family's grandmother for help. Wen Niang has no family background, and I'm afraid she'll be bullied."

When the Queen and the Emperor saw his look, they were both angry and amused.

"Forget it. You youngsters always make us worry all the time. I have some good materials to use on her."

When Chen Luoxi heard this, he stood up happily and bowed deeply to the Queen.

"Thank you, Auntie. I will ask my mother Wen to make a sutra embroidered screen to honor you."

The queen pointed at Chen Luoxi and complained to the emperor.

"Look at this monkey. My sister has told me many times that Wen Niang is good at sewing, but he never wants to let her make anything for me. He won't let her honor me unless I bleed."

Chen Luoxi muttered embarrassedly.

"It's not that I don't want to leave. In the first two years after we escaped, Wen Niang kept embroidering things to sell for money to support the two of us. She got sick over the years."

When the emperor saw him like this, he laughed out loud and took the queen's hand and said.

"She's already protecting me like this before she even gets in the door. I'm afraid I'll have to hold her in my hands from now on. Never mind. Ask a few of your wives to come and talk to her and give her some face!"

Chen Luoxi grumbled unconvinced.

"I learned this from you and grandfather."

The emperor threw a string of beads at him. Chen Luoxi didn't dare to say anything and ran away quickly.

The current emperor and the old Marquis Huaiyuan are close friends, and they have similar temperaments.

At first sight, he took a liking to the two sisters of his ancestor and only kept one of them, not even taking a concubine.

Chen Luoxi's third uncle was born out of wedlock, but that was the result of someone's plot. Now that he already has a child, the ancestor cannot do such a thing as killing his son. So raising him well is considered filial piety to the ancestor.

Prince Li was born into a royal family, so it was impossible for him to stay with his aunt alone. The old empress dowager insisted on sending a concubine into the palace, and Prince Li was just kept in the palace and hardly touched.