The queen is sober in the world, and she is winning every step of the palace fight.

"Master, what does the letter say?"

Yu Mansion.

Night has come.

The dinner time in the mansion had passed, and the dishes had been reheated twice in the kitchen, but none of the masters had called for dinner.

The main room was brightly lit and everyone was sitting around Yu Zhong.

After waiting for news from the palace for a long time, the reply finally arrived and everyone looked at Yu Zhong eagerly as he read the letter.

"Dad, what did she write?"

Seeing Yu Zhong holding the letter and being silent for a long time, as if thinking about something, the second young master Yu could not help but urge him.

His fame and future are now gone.

I hated Feiwan so much that I gnashed my teeth.

If he wasn't afraid of being beaten, he would just call her "bitch".

Now at least he addressed her as "her", even though the tone was full of disgust.

"Young Master Zhao..." Yu Zhong pondered, choosing his words carefully, and finally said after a long while, "Young Master, she seems to be very sensible."

Minister Yu was reluctant to use this evaluation of a maid as a sensible person.

So I added "seems".

He handed the letter to his eldest son.

Young Master Yu took the letter and read it from beginning to end, frowning.

"This... is riddled with typos, half-written, half-vernacular, and has no logical reasoning. The handwriting is also ugly. It's really..."

What a shame!

As a concubine in the palace, writing such a letter really brought shame to the palace and the Yu family!

Because Fei Wan was the mistress, he didn't say the word "shameful".

With a look of disgust on his face, he seemed to have forgotten that Fei Wan had never been to school since childhood. When she entered the Yu Mansion, she was nominally the young lady's maid and companion, and could read and write with Yu Tingjin. However, in fact, no one had ever taught her a single word.

She can write letters like this now, and they should amaze, not disgust.

What Mr. Yu didn't know was...

Fei Wan's letter was deliberately filled with typos and crooked handwriting to make it look like she was a beginner and avoid arousing suspicion.

Fei Wan was not afraid of being disliked by the Yu family at all.

Because even if she wrote the letters with beautiful flowers and elegant calligraphy, they would still find other reasons to dislike her.

Being disliked is never because you did something wrong, but because the other person dislikes you.

"Ha! It's ugly! It's incoherent! What kind of writing is this!"

The second son of the Yu family snatched the letter away and was even more ruthless than his elder brother.

Yu Zhong shouted, "Be careful what you say!"

The Second Young Master then calmed down a bit, pinched his nose and read the letter to the end, muttering:

"Jin'er has been sent to the cold palace by her, and she's still pretending to be a good person here, slandering Jin'er and beating her. How can this be called 'reasonable'? It's clearly a deliberate pretense. How on earth did she become a noble lady?"

"Shut up. Now that things have come to this, you are not allowed to discuss it any further. The promotion of Consort Zhao and the demotion of Consort Yu Gengyi were all decisions made by His Majesty. Are you trying to bring disaster upon your family by criticizing them like this?"

Yu Zhong frowned and sternly warned his wife and children that no one was allowed to publicly criticize Concubine Zhao again.

Otherwise, kick you out of the house!

The two young masters fell silent.

Madam Yu wept bitterly, crying:

"My poor Jin'er... How is she supposed to survive in a place like Yanyun Palace? It's not a place for human beings! I'm really worried she'll be upset. If anything happens to her, I won't be able to live anymore..."

"Master, you must find a way to save Jin'er..."

"She's the apple of my eye. I raised her like a treasure and never let her suffer a single injustice. When I think of her living in the cold palace now, I can't even eat..."

Yu Zhong waved his hands impatiently: "Stop crying! Don't I feel bad?"

But he is the head of the family.

In addition to feeling sorry for my daughter, I also have to consider the future of my family.

There are two legitimate sons in the family. The eldest son does not hold a high official position and has great room for promotion. The second son's official title was rejected. If he wants to resume his official career, he needs to find an opportunity to ask for forgiveness from His Majesty.

He himself had a myriad of duties at the Ministry of War, which was very fraught with obstacles. Lately, His Majesty seemed to be showing him great favor, yet this always made him feel distant.

Everything stems from Fei Wan's favor.

To end these days of walking on thin ice and return to the smooth sailing days when Yu Tingjin was initially promoted, it would probably require Fei Wan to be unlucky.

Recently, the censors in the court have been complaining about His Majesty's favor for Concubine Zhao. He knows that someone is instigating this behind the scenes.

For the sake of Yu Tingjin, he went along with it and got involved, secretly instigating and arranging some people to impeach and remonstrate with Fei Wanzhishu and other palace maids about their promotion to power.

Let the fire of criticism burn more and more fiercely.

Who would have thought that before the matter came to a conclusion, Yu Tingjin was actually sent to the cold palace.

Fortunately, the Queen Mother has returned to the palace!

I heard that as soon as she entered the palace, she suppressed Zhao Guiren.

Yu Zhong saw hope.

So he wrote a letter to the palace to show his goodwill to Fei Wan in order to stabilize her and then plan for the follow-up.

"There is another message sent with this letter."

Yu Zhong looked at his wife and children, and slowly told them that the Queen Mother punished Fei Wan by not allowing her to sleep with him and asked her to "recover from her injuries" well.

Upon hearing this, Madam Yu immediately stopped crying: "Really?! The Queen Mother must have a keen eye and saw that the girl is not a good person!"

"To be honest, Master, ever since she came into the mansion, I've always felt something wasn't right with her. I don't feel close to her at all. She doesn't look like a member of our family at all. I said at the beginning that Master Huizhen might have made a mistake... Look, now even the Queen Mother is looking at her with disdain!"

Yu Zhong frowned: "Don't mention this matter again!"

Second Master Yu said, "Didn't she say in her letter that she felt she had recognized the wrong person? We naturally won't mention something that even she doesn't believe."

"Not only are you not allowed to mention it again, you are not allowed to tell any of it to the close servants around you. Your wife and children are not allowed to know either." Yu Zhong especially instructed his eldest son.

Young Master Yu quickly agreed.

In fact, his wife and children all knew about Fei Wan's identity. After all, the mansion had not kept this matter secret before, it was just kept secret.

But now is different from the past, it is always right to be cautious.

"Father, we can't give up on Sister Jin'er." Young Master Yu advised, "Noble Lady Zhao's rise to power is too fast, and she may not be stable. After all, Sister Jin'er was once a noble concubine. Even if she offended His Majesty, there must be old feelings."

Even if we don't talk about family affection and just weigh the pros and cons, helping Jin'er will be more beneficial to the family.

Blood ties don’t count.

The affection that Jin'er has developed with her family since childhood is real and reliable.

Yu Zhong nodded.

I am satisfied with my eldest son's thoughtfulness.

In comparison, the second son was too impulsive.

"Tomorrow there will be a banquet for the Queen Mother's birthday. You should go to the palace early and stay with the Queen Mother for a while."

After thinking it over, Yu Zhong made a decision and instructed his wife.

Madam Yu understood and immediately wiped her tears and nodded, "I'll go there early tomorrow morning! Even if Jin'er has to stay in Yanyun Palace for a while before coming out, I have to ask the Queen Mother to take good care of her and not let her suffer."

"Are both father and mother in there? Are the eldest and second brothers there too? Why haven't they had dinner yet? I just passed by the eldest brother's yard and heard the child crying, saying he was hungry. My sister-in-law was holding the child and comforting him around the yard."

Outside the main hall of Yu Zhong's study, concubine Yu Sujin came slowly with a lantern in her hand and asked the old woman standing in the yard with a smile.

The old woman whispered, "Second Miss, please wait a moment. They are discussing something inside. I'm afraid you will have to wait a while."

Yu Sujin was surprised: "What's the important matter? Is it about the Queen Mother's birthday banquet tomorrow?"

"How would I know?" the old woman smiled apologetically.

Behind her back, Yu Sujin stuffed a piece of silver into the maid's pocket and said, "If the masters don't eat, you servants will also go hungry. Go back to the kitchen and get some food to replenish your body."

The old woman put the silver into her sleeves, her smile more sincere, and whispered, "It seems that there was a letter sent from the palace, and the master and the mistress are reading it."

"A letter from Noble Lady Zhao?"

Yu Sujin knew something about the fact that her father had sent a letter to the palace to apologize to Fei Wan.

The old woman shook her head: "I don't know who it belongs to."

Seeing that the servants standing guard in the courtyard were all quite a distance from the main hall, Yu Sujin knew they couldn't possibly know the details. After a few pleasantries, she left.

"If the meeting is late, go to the kitchen and bring some soup over so that Father, Mother, and my brothers can fill their stomachs and not starve. I've already asked the kitchen to prepare the soup, and I'll bring a bowl over to my sister-in-law now."

The old woman agreed repeatedly and watched the second young lady leave.

He thought that although the second young lady was born out of wedlock, her aunt was favored, and the second young lady had a say in the mansion and had face in front of the master and the mistress.

She is so considerate and thoughtful, she will definitely marry into a good family in the future.

Maybe she lives a better life than the eldest lady.

The eldest lady is a royal concubine today and sent to the cold palace tomorrow. It is too unstable. It would be better for her to marry into an official family and live a stable life.

Little did they know that after Yu Sujin left the study courtyard, she stood on the cobblestone path outside, looking at the lights in the main room through the lattice windows on the wall, and was stunned for a while.

Her parents went to discuss matters and brought her elder and second brothers with them, but not her.

She is a daughter and a concubine's daughter.

It is not her turn to make decisions on important matters at home.

but……

When the eldest sister Yu Tingjin was in her prime, any message she brought home would be carried out as if it were an imperial decree.

And there is the maid Feiwan.

Now my father has to write a respectful letter to the palace to curry favor with them.

They are all their father's daughters, and all the respect they receive is given by the court.

If they can do it, why can't she?

Tomorrow the Queen Mother will have a birthday banquet, and the ladies of honor will come to the palace to celebrate...

No matter what, my aunt must persuade my father to let my stepmother take her into the palace!

I really want to see what a palace that gives women status and glory looks like!

*

"Empress Dowager, before the palace gates were locked, the wife of Minister Yu from the Ministry of War hurried in with a greeting card. She wants to come to the palace early tomorrow morning to celebrate your birthday."

Ciyun Palace.

After hearing the report, the Queen Mother immediately understood.

Madam Yu had something private to tell her.

Nanny Shixiang laughed and said, "Madam Yu is so reckless. Tomorrow is the Empress Dowager's birthday. If she has something to say, she can't wait until after the birthday. Why does she have to disturb your peace so early in the morning?"

I wanted to persuade the Queen Mother not to pay any attention to it.

The Queen Mother pondered for a moment, then agreed, "If she wants to come early, then she can come. I'll see what gift she brings."

Of the two concubines from the Yu Mansion, one was banished to the cold palace by the emperor, and the other was forbidden by her order to sleep with him.

The Queen Mother really wanted to know what Madam Yu would say tomorrow.

Which one will you plead for?

In other words, which side will the Yu family stand on?