Taking away my family's luck? I won't stand it!

After hearing this, Xiao Ci had to admit that Yue Yuan was right. Even if he rushed back now, it would be too late and he would be more likely to expose himself.

Yue Yuan is the national teacher. If he says the Yuan family is fine, then it is fine.

"Do you know something?" Xiao Ci suddenly looked up at Yue Yuan.

His eyes were dark and his expression was serious.

"Cough cough...I don't know." Yue Yuan was startled by his words and started coughing because of choking on his saliva.

As expected of the future emperor, his mind is as sharp as ever.

"The recent investigation has made some progress. I'm afraid there are many officials involved in this matter, so I'm afraid it will be difficult to handle."

Lu Jiu smiled gently, and a coldness flashed in his eyes.

Yue Yuan's face turned a little red due to coughing, "Ahem... We were ambushed as soon as we appeared here. General Lin and those people in the capital may have already known that the prince is not dead.

When the Emperor realized something was amiss, he sent the Crown Prince out of the palace under the pretext of investigating the drought in the north. However, he was ambushed on the way and nearly died. Now that he's recovered and appeared in the north, those people are naturally worried."

"The Sixth Prince's maternal family is becoming increasingly powerful, and the Emperor is showing signs of being unable to suppress it. Furthermore, the Prime Minister is openly and covertly urging the Emperor to depose the Crown Prince and install the Sixth Prince as Crown Prince. Naturally, the officials in the capital, led by the Prime Minister, are supporting the Sixth Prince."

Lu Jiu spoke slowly with a gentle voice and a calm expression, "Ever since my eldest sister passed away, various factions in the capital have been fighting for their own interests, all wanting the position of empress. Now, Noble Concubine Chen is the most prestigious and favored in the harem, and has the best chance of becoming empress. It's no wonder they are anxious to confront the Crown Prince."

"After all, if the crown prince falls, the Lu family will have nothing to fear."

Xiao Ci thought of his mother, his eyes dimmed, and he looked guilty when he saw Lu Jiu.

"Ci'er, this is none of your business." Lu Jiu looked at Xiao Ci tenderly.

Xiao Ci raised his head and looked at Lu Jiu hesitantly, "But..."

Before he could finish his words, he was interrupted by Lu Jiu.

"No buts, you were still young at that time, and many things were not your fault."

Lu Jiu touched Xiao Ci's head with a gentle smile on his face, soothing Xiao Ci's emotions.

Xiao Ci subconsciously reached out to stroke the jade pendant hanging around his waist, and his restless heart gradually calmed down.

.........

Lihua Village——

The atmosphere in the Yuan family was depressing. Although things had returned to normal, no one dared to speak loudly. Guoping and Guowang sat on the doorstep every day, staring blankly in the direction their father left.

"Guoping, Guowang, it's time to eat."

Ye Wan was carrying the food, with obvious dark circles under his eyes. He looked very tired and had lost a lot of weight.

Recently, because of her husband's departure, Ye Wan was worried and couldn't sleep all night.

I finally fell asleep, but I had nightmares again. I felt nervous and depressed, and was often saddened by the sight of the past.

Ye Wan felt guilty towards the two children.

Shen Chulan wiped the water stains on the apron around her waist with her hands, and smiled gently when she saw the two children Guoping and Guowang.

"Guoping, Guowang, auntie has made your favorite sweet and sour spareribs and braised pork. If you don't wash your hands before eating, Guoxing and Guoan will eat them all."

When Guoping and Guowang heard this, their eyes lit up and they ran to the well to shake water to wash their hands.

Shen Chulan hasn't been to Qingshuilou recently because she wants to stay at home to help.

She knew that such a big thing had happened recently, and her sister-in-law and mother-in-law must be in a bad mood, so she specially asked Yuan Laosi to go to Qingshui Building to manage it for a few days on her behalf, and she would stay at home to take care of it.

Fortunately, Yuan Laosi is smart and is better at managing Qingshui Building than she is.

Yaoyao nestled in Old Lady Liu's arms, and smiled sweetly when she saw Ye Wan. Two white millet grains were revealed on her tender pink gums. She had two small hair buns on her head, wore a red thick coat and skirt, and a snow-white furry rabbit towel around her neck. She looked so soft that it made people's hearts melt just by looking at her.

The chubby little hands stretched out towards Ye Wan, babbling at her.

Ye Wan's mood improved when he saw Yaoyao. He smiled and hugged Yaoyao in his arms, accepting the baptism of Yaoyao's saliva.

"Yeah yeah yeah!"

Auntie, don’t be sad!

Yaoyao looked at Ye Wan's haggard and thin face, feeling extremely worried.

She now doesn't know whether her original decision was right or wrong.

Seeing her grandma, grandpa and aunt gradually becoming thinner, she felt particularly sad.

She had to find a way to cheer them up.

County Magistrate's Residence——

At this time, the county magistrate's mansion was no longer called a mansion, but a ruin.

County Magistrate Huang investigated for several days but could not find out who set the fire in the mansion. Moreover, the fire could not be extinguished. There was only a very foul smell at the scene, which was extremely irritating to the eyes.

Fortunately, the court was not burned down. Magistrate Huang and his family crowded into the court at night and packed up their things during the day to redress grievances for the people. However, due to Magistrate Huang's inaction, no matter what conflicts or grievances the common people had, they would not run to the county government office to make a sound.

Not only did the whole family have to squeeze into the court, but every morning when they woke up, they could smell a very foul odor of feces and urine. There were piles of feces and urine on the clean ground, which made the concubines so disgusted that they vomited. They all cried to Magistrate Huang and begged him not to live in the court.

County Magistrate Huang had no choice but to let them stay in the inn, but this did not solve any problem.

Every day when I wake up, I can still smell the stinky and smelly smell of feces and urine and a pile of feces on the ground.

When this matter spread, the people speculated that County Magistrate Huang had done too many evil things and was punished by the gods.

Helpless, County Magistrate Huang had to post a notice to recruit workers to rebuild the mansion.

After much difficulty recruiting workers to rebuild the structure, they encountered obstacles at every level. A wall that was just built one day would collapse the next day. The structure could not be completed properly, and the workers were so scared that they ran away overnight.

County Magistrate Huang was so anxious that his hair fell out.

Master Zhao suggested burning incense and kneeling down to ask for forgiveness from the immortals.

"Will this work?" County Magistrate Huang was skeptical.

Master Zhao, who had blisters on his lips recently, said, "Master, we must have offended the immortals. Otherwise, why can't we build our mansion and why is it covered in feces and urine every day?"

"It must be that the immortals are dissatisfied with our forced conscription."

Speaking of County Magistrate Huang, he has a lot of grievances to share.

General Lin is a higher official than him, and if he doesn't do as he is told, he will die.

Besides, you can earn a hundred taels of silver by recruiting one person, which is too tempting.

But he didn't expect that this would come at a huge price.

Even the mansion is gone.

"Then do as you say." County Magistrate Huang nodded.

That day, Master Zhao called a Taoist priest over.

When the Taoist priest came over and saw County Magistrate Huang's face, he exclaimed that he was possessed by a ghost.

The ghost followed County Magistrate Huang, scaring him so much that his face turned pale and the concubines stayed away from him.

After a lot of trouble with dog blood, red beans, glutinous rice, yellow paper, and even kowtows, the Taoist priest left with a hundred taels of silver.

Late at night, the Taoist priest ran away with a hundred taels of silver.

The Taoist priest was a fake one. He happened to see Master Zhao looking worried that day, so he stopped him and quoted a classic quote, which he actually guessed correctly.

Master Zhao looked at him as if he saw Guanyin Bodhisattva, and called the Taoist priest a living immortal from heaven.

He was taken to the county magistrate's residence that day, and he saw that this was a fat sheep!

After all the operations, one hundred taels of silver were in his pocket, but he also knew that the county magistrate was not easy to mess with, so he packed up and ran away overnight.

The next day, County Magistrate Huang looked at the...