Chapter 47: The Princess Consort only likes open schemes……

"How is it? Is your face pale?" Jiang Yunchu looked at Zi Su.

Zi Su held back a laugh and quickly nodded.

"Let's go."

Jiang Yunchu waved her hand, leading a group of people straight toward the Main Gate.

Just as she was about to reach the Gate, her body went limp and she leaned against Bai Zhi, who quickly blinked twice and immediately understood the Princess Consort's meaning.

She had to cooperate so much, with a Princess Consort who loved acting beside her—what could she do?

She was forced to perform.

"Wuu wuu wuu~"

"What are you guys trying to do?"

"You ate our Wang Fu's grain, wore our Wang Fu's clothes, and took our Wang Fu's rouge and powder recipe—you Cao Manor took it all."

"No matter what, your Cao family is also the natal family of the Imperial Consort."

"What should be yielded, we have yielded."

"You Cao family are trying to force us orphans and widows to death!"

"Everyone look—Cao Manor has caused a ruckus right outside the Wang Fu gate, how are we orphans and widows supposed to live? They've forced our mother-in-law to go to the Imperial Ancestral Temple to accompany the Former Emperor."

"A ruckus?"

"A shrew?"

"Hey!"

"Turn heads, turn heads!"

The Cao family old lady over there, before she could even start crying, was preempted by Jiang Yunchu; as soon as they met, without a word, she began to wail.

Moreover, everything she said was reasonable, each sentence carrying a pointed meaning.

"You're spouting nonsense, you lowly woman—by marrying into the Wang Fu, you've severed the ties between the Wang Fu and the Cao family."

"But……"

Her words had just fallen.

"I call you, the Cao family's maternal grandmother—you are Ning Chengyan's maternal grandmother, and also my maternal grandmother."

"If you say that about me, I won't live."

Jiang Yunchu rushed out, her target unexpectedly being the nearby pillar.

But her robe was too big; she stepped on its hem, flew out, yet the landing point was quite mysterious.

She directly pressed the Cao family old lady underneath.

"Ouch! How did this happen? Zi Su, quickly help the Princess Consort up, and hurry check if the maternal grandmother is alright."

Jiang Yunchu cried, unable to catch her breath; Zi Su reached out, but the Princess Consort rose only to fall again, struggling to rise once more.

"Help me up quickly—has the maternal grandmother been uninjured?"

In an instant the scene fell into chaos; the Cao family people were stunned—what had happened?

"Wasn't it supposed to come to the Wang Fu to cause trouble?"

"What exactly is going on now?"

"What are you all looking at? Pull the two apart." The Cao family eldest, originally seated in the sedan, upon seeing his old mother suffering, immediately leapt out of the carriage.

He no longer had time to heed the bystanders' pointing and gossiping.

As Cao Manor had just taken a step forward, Bai Zhi led her people out, forming a line and blocking the Cao Manor folk outside.

"Cao Eldest, you've probably forgotten the separation of men and women—the Princess Consort of the Regent Prince's Manor is not someone these people can touch!"

Bai Zhi coldly smiled, clutching the long sword in her arms.

The row of people behind her were all dressed in black, unarmed, yet just standing there emanated a solemn, lethal aura.

Jiang Yunchu struggled for a full ten minutes before Zi Su finally pulled her up.

But the Cao family old lady beneath her had already rolled her eyes; to keep her from breathing her last, Jiang Yunchu kindly gave her a needle—silver needle

"Eh, she immediately woke up; the needle removes the ailment."

"Cao's maternal grandmother, how are you? Are you alright?"

"You say, you— not juniors speaking of you— at this age, the Cao family isn't lacking silver; wouldn't enjoying blessings at home be better?"

"I just can't go on living, I don't want to live, I just want to seek death—why stand there, of all places, right here?"

"You say, if I died and dragged you along, my heart would feel terribly guilty."

"Besides, if you're not wanting to live because you raised a good-for-nothing son, you can't die in my Wang Fu either—heard that if you don't breathe your last at home, your soul can't return."

"……"

"That little mouth goes pap-pap, slapping people pah-pah."

"Cao Eldest didn't say a thing, the old lady hadn't caught her breath either—how could she just be dying?"

"Good-for-nothing son?"

"Need we even say who it is?"

"A plot, sorry!"

"The Princess Consort only likes open schemes……"

"You, you, you……" the old lady's hand hadn't even stretched out before she started rolling her eyes.

Jiang Yunchu grew anxious, waving her hands at the crowd.

"Who have I provoked, coming to the Wang Fu this early morning to press us?"

"Now I haven't lifted a hand—everyone's watching, I haven't done anything!"

She looked helplessly around, dressed in white, a beauty shedding tears.

Moreover...

The earlier lawsuit paper matter caused a stir in Jingdu—everyone knows, everyone understands.

We're watching; it's the Cao Fu that came to cause trouble.

Exactly, the Princess Consort didn't lift a hand; our people's eyes are sharp, we saw it clearly.

We all saw it; the Cao Fu is trying to force the Princess Consort to death.

Even going to the government office, we common folk also want to seek justice.

Has our Da Ning become so poor that officials go begging at others' homes?

Pah, that's just insatiable greed.

People from all directions look at the Cao Fu with contempt and coldness.

Shearing wool from a sheep—this is really not right.

In a short time, the lawsuit paper matter, the complaint drum matter, and today's Cao Fu forcing the gate matter have again spread throughout Jingdu in an uproar.

Originally, the eldest son of the Cao family had the old mother come over to force Jiang Yunchu to release the person.

I never expected the end result to be like this…

As the old saying goes, misfortunes never come singly.

Just as the eldest son of the Cao family brought the old lady back to the Cao residence, he saw Xi Gonggong already waiting there.

Xi Gonggong, however, is a red‑hot favorite in front of the Emperor; these officials all rely on him to speak good words.

"Xi Gonggong has come; why not go inside for tea?"

"The miscellaneous families have seen Cao Da Ren; they won't enter the house, as Your Majesty is still waiting for the miscellaneous families to return and report." Xi Gonggong's smile didn't reach his eyes—his whole body radiated refusal.

Even the reward silver quietly slipped over by the eldest son of the Cao family was pushed back by him without a change in expression.

"Cao Da Ren, receive the edict." Xi Gonggong stood at the main gate of the Cao Fu, and many people from the Wang Fu had come to watch the spectacle; now the Cao family is the liveliest spot in all of Jingdu.

Even the day's rotting vegetables have a place to be thrown away.

"Get ready, receive the edict." The eldest son of the Cao family felt a chill in his heart; Xi Gonggong's attitude already said a lot.

This imperial edict is certainly not something good.

These eunuchs are the sort who flatter the high and trample on the low.

Everything ready, the eldest son of the Cao family led the Cao household in kneeling on the ground.

"Proclaim the edict!" Xi Gonggong shouted loudly, then opened the imperial edict.

"By the mandate of heaven, the emperor decrees: Cao Hai, who filially serves his widowed mother, is a paragon of filial piety in Da Ning, a model for the people of Da Ning. I cannot bear to go against the filial heart of my beloved official Cao Hai; I therefore grant Cao Hai one year to return home to attend to his widowed mother."

So ordered!

After Xi Gonggong finished reading, he looked at Cao Hai's ashen face and couldn't help but smile.