My stepmother is here, all the rebellious sons and evildoers should kneel down!

"Counting it up, this Princess Hexu is eighteen years old in lunar age, and sixteen in actual age. As I remember, she seemed to be born in winter. After so many years, she has reached the same age as Concubine Ning when she entered the palace."

The Empress Dowager thought of her old friend and said with emotion: "Your Majesty, I really want to meet this gentle princess."

"If the Queen Mother wants to see the Princess, just summon her to the palace."

The emperor said.

The Empress Dowager thought for a moment and said, "I had a bad relationship with Concubine Ning in the past, so it is not appropriate to allow her niece to enter the palace now."

"The Empress is thoughtful."

The emperor paused and said, "In this case, why not wait until some time later when the Thirteenth and Fourteenth Princes return to the capital in triumph? I will hold a banquet to celebrate the two princes' military exploits, and then let the princess enter the palace in place of the princes... By then, when all the ministers are seated, the Empress will naturally be able to see Princess Hexu."

The Emperor knew that the Empress Dowager only wanted to see whether Princess Hexu looked a lot like Concubine Ning, and she did not want to say much to the Princess. As such, it would be awkward if she were to meet him alone.

After hearing what the Emperor said, the Empress Dowager nodded with satisfaction.

Ever since Lady Yu committed suicide, the Empress Dowager has become more nostalgic for old friends and stories. The Emperor is now in his forties and can understand the Empress Dowager's current mood very well.

On the other hand, Lu Shengshi and his mother returned to their hometown in the countryside with the four gold ingots in full confidence. They first exchanged two gold ingots for cash, spent five hundred taels to renovate the house in their hometown, and built two east and west wing rooms!

The relatives who had been avoiding the master bricklayer were very confused when they saw him going in and out of the broken yard. They all came to him with eggs and red cloth, taking the opportunity of giving gifts, to inquire about him.

Lu Shengshi was deliberately vague, saying that after all, she had lived in Kyoto for so many years and had some jewelry assets, so she wouldn't be so miserable if she just sold one or two pieces.

Originally they couldn't even afford rice porridge, but now they could come up with so much silver, which really surprised these country relatives!

"Originally, I just wanted to see if you would take advantage of our Lu family's misfortune! And if you would still consider the kindness my brother and father showed you in the past!"

Madam Lu nodded repeatedly: "Sheng Shi is right. Although our Lu family has been confiscated, it does not mean that there will be no chance of a comeback! My son Lu Zhanyao was framed by Wen Qiqi and temporarily imprisoned in the Heavenly Prison! You all think that we will implicate you, as if you are afraid that you will make us poor!"

Half of these relatives from my hometown are from the Lu family, and the rest are also related to the Lu family.

In order to curry favor with Lu Zhanyao, he once gave his land to the Lu Mansion for management and rental, just to avoid government taxes. In addition, some relatives who went to the capital for business also stayed in Lu Mansion, and they felt that every extra day they stayed was a day of enjoyment.

Old Madam Lu liked to show off in front of her family. At that time, whenever someone came to her hometown, she would entertain them and act like a wealthy old lady in Kyoto...

Unexpectedly, after returning to their hometown in misfortune, these people avoided them one by one. A few days ago, the mother and daughter were so hungry that their faces turned pale. They could only go to the wild to dig food to fill their stomachs. When they wanted to borrow some rice from these relatives, they were turned away.

"Oh, it's a big deal to ignore the mistakes of a small person! Sheng Shi, we are all relatives, how can we ignore you... We just think that a lean camel is bigger than a horse! We don't believe that you and your mother are pretending to be poor!"

A smart relative quickly followed up on what Lu Shengshi said.

The Lu family cares about face, and Old Madam Lu is even more so.

If I had returned from the capital in a mess with some valuable jewelry, I would definitely not have dug wild vegetables to fill my stomach!

Besides, on the day when Aunt Mei and the third and fourth wives took their children away, Old Madam Lu cried loudly and knelt on the ground, almost kowtowing to Aunt Mei to keep her.

Now if I tell you that you can renovate the house and build a wing by selling a few pieces of jewelry, these relatives in the countryside will not believe it no matter how stupid they are.

"That's right! You can just sell a few pieces of jewelry and still live a hundred times better than us! We are just making a living in the dirt, so don't bother with us poor relatives!"

"Yes, yes, yes. The most important thing right now is that you quickly find Aunt Mei and Zhan Yao's third and fourth rooms! Now that the house is built, they will naturally have a place to live. They will definitely wake up laughing in their dreams!"

A relative instantly hit the nail on the head.

Lu Shengshi and Old Madam Lu have been thinking about how to find Aunt Mei and the third and fourth wives these days. After all, the woman with the blue birthmark had instructed them that not a single heir of the Lu family should be left behind.

This request was exactly what Mrs. Lu wanted.

Now that Zhan Yao is in prison, if all his children fall apart and go their separate ways, and if they follow their mother to move to another family in the future, it will be the end of Madam Lu’s life!

In their dynasty, after a woman remarried, her children had to recognize her stepfather as her biological father. Not only did they have to go to the village ancestral hall to hold a ceremony, but the whole village would watch eagerly to see whose child would call someone else "dad"!

Moreover, the stepfather would personally change the child's surname and write the child's name in his family tree.

Therefore, if a woman remarries, it is a great humiliation to her original husband's family.

Of course, women in ancient times rarely divorced, and even if they became widows, most of them lived a hard life with their children.

However, there were some widows and mavericks in the village who chose to ignore the rumors and marry into other families with their children.

It is very difficult for a woman to leave a family and then marry into another. Most men who choose her have gone through half their lives without having a child. Either their wives are infertile or their health is poor and they are unable to pass on the family line.

In short, when Old Lady Lu thought about the day when Lu Zhanyao's children would kneel in the ancestral hall and call some old bachelor "dad" under the gaze of the whole village, she wished she could just bang her head against a wall and die!

But she and Lu Shengshi have been discussing this matter these days and are in a dilemma.

Aunt Mei and the third and fourth wives cruelly took their children back to their parents' home a few days ago. They refused to turn back even after she knelt down to ask them to stay. Now, she and Lu Shengshi are asked to go to their respective parents' homes to invite them back, but Madam Lu definitely cannot open her mouth to do so.

Fortunately, when a relative mentioned this matter today, Mrs. Lu glanced at Lu Shengshi and quickly "coughed".

Lu Shengshi deliberately said loudly: "You can leave when you want to, and come back when you want to? How can it be so easy in this world! This house repair is a small matter, I just want to make my mother live more comfortably, and... wait for my brother to come out of the prison, at worst, I can take a concubine and have children. Without them, can the Lu family still be extinct?"