[The Wei family? Is that the Wei family of Wei Sanchuan?]

Xia Miaoyuan muttered to himself when he heard Debao's report.

When Xia Zhengqi came to the imperial study with his daughter in his arms, Wei Han, Wei Sanchuan and his son, as well as Wei Yuer's son Liu Mingyuan, were standing outside the door waiting.

The three generations of grandparents and grandchildren immediately saluted Xia Zhengqi.

After the ceremony between the monarch and his ministers, Xia Zhengqi asked, "Master Wei, why are you here today..."

Wei Han looked a little embarrassed. He hesitated for a moment before saying, "Your Majesty, I have come to ask for a favor from you today."

"You must agree!" After saying this, he knelt down with a thud.

"Mr. Wei, what are you doing?!" Xia Zhengqi was shocked. Debao tactfully ran over to support Wei Han.

"If you have anything to say, just say it. Don't worry." Xia Zhengqi said in a gentle voice.

"This old minister would like to ask the emperor to please allow Yuan'er to be adopted as Sanchuan's son and become a legitimate descendant of the Wei family for my sake." Wei Han pleaded earnestly.

【Oh, so that's why you came here.】

Xia Miaoyuan suddenly understood.

"There is nothing wrong with a brother adopting his sister's child. Your family should have discussed it immediately. Why do you still come to me to ask for mercy?" Xia Zhengqi asked doubtfully.

Wei Sanchuan looked embarrassed: "Your Majesty, you don't know."

"Ever since Liu Hong was imprisoned, the Wei family has begun to dislike him and ostracize him."

"After Liu Hong was sentenced to death and his property confiscated, the Wei family treated him as the son of a criminal, humiliating and bullying him."

"My father and I wanted to adopt him into the Wei family, but the clan members tried to stop us, saying that it would ruin the family tradition and... bring disgrace to the ancestors of the Wei family." Wei Sanchuan glanced at Liu Mingyuan, his eyes red.

[These clansmen are truly despicable. Liu Mingyuan is Liu Hong's son, but isn't he also a child of the Wei family?]

When Xia Miaoyuan heard this, he felt unfair for Liu Mingyuan and clenched his two chubby hands into fists.

"How could these members of the Wei family be like this?" Xia Zhengqi looked solemn, with some heartache in his tone.

"They also..." Wei Han said with difficulty, "They also kicked Yuaner out of the Wei family's private school and prevented him from studying with the Wei family's descendants!"

"I was not convinced, so they ganged up on me!" Liu Mingyuan, who had been standing obediently aside, couldn't help but speak with tears in his voice.

Xia Zhengqi looked at Liu Mingyuan's little face. There were indeed a few purple scars on that childish face.

Emperor Xia Zhengqi was kind-hearted and always loved children. He hated to see children suffer any injustice.

Upon discovering that Liu Mingyuan, who was only ten years old, had a wound on his face, Xia Zhengqi immediately handed Xia Miaoyuan to Eunuch Debao and walked up to him to check on him with a distressed look.

"These wounds on your face were all caused by them?!" Xia Zhengqi looked at it closely, his tone showing five parts of shock and five parts of anger.

As he spoke, he rolled up Liu Mingyuan's sleeve and saw a bruise on his thin arm.

Two bean-sized tears rolled in Liu Mingyuan's eyes. He tried hard to hold back the tears and nodded.

[Oh my God, they actually attacked a ten-year-old child! ]

Xia Miaoyuan caught a glimpse of Liu Mingyuan's injuries from afar and was so angry that she kicked and kicked wildly, making it difficult for Debao to hold her.

"I, this old minister, really have no choice but to trouble Your Majesty." Tears welled up in Wei Han's eyes.

[This is outrageous! This is bullying!]

[Back when Liu Hong was the Minister of War, even though Liu Mingyuan had a falling out with his scumbag father and went to live with his maternal grandparents, the Wei family still fawned over him for Liu Hong's sake.]

[Now that the Liu family has fallen on hard times, they've immediately turned hostile and ruthless.]

[Ahhhhhhhhh! This princess is so pissed off!]

[It's a pity that Liu Mingyuan, a genius with both literary and martial skills, suffered in the book and died miserably. In this life, although he changed his fate of being exploited by the enemy country, he still suffered.]

Xia Miaoyuan recalled Liu Mingyuan's painful experience and the bullying he had suffered recently, and her heart ached.

Xia Zhengqi was also angry and heartbroken at this time.

Liu Hong is greedy for profit, repays kindness with enmity, and abandons the bottom line of being a human being for power and status. He is a villain and a bad person, but his son Liu Mingyuan is not.

Although Liu Mingyuan was young, he was able to distinguish right from wrong. He was willing to file a complaint to the emperor at the cost of his own future, to avenge his mother, and to sacrifice his own relatives for the sake of justice. He was a kind and loyal child.

Such children should not suffer unfair treatment because of their father's sins.

Thinking of this, Xia Zhengqi said in a clear voice: "Old Wei, you three, the grandfather and grandson, don't have to worry."

"Liu Mingyuan is innocent. I will definitely give him justice."

After saying that, Xia Zhengqi unfolded a new stack of imperial edicts and wrote: Liu Mingyuan is young, but he is able to distinguish right from wrong and treats his mother with utmost filial piety. He is truly a model of filial piety in the Great Xia.

In recognition of his filial piety and loyalty, he was granted the privilege of changing his surname to Wei and being adopted by his uncle Wei Sanchuan, officially becoming a descendant of the Wei family.

No one may humiliate him by using his biological father's crime, and anyone who violates the order will be regarded as having no regard for the law.

In addition, he was rewarded with 1,000 taels of silver and given the title of the Loyal and Filial Son of Daxia.

He was also rewarded to study in the main hall with other princes.

Eunuch Debao read the imperial edict aloud.

The three generations of the Wei family, grandparents and grandchildren, all cried with joy. They were so happy that they didn't know what to do. They knelt down and kowtowed to Xia Zhengqi several times. Xia Zhengqi tried to stop them again and again before they stood up.

[Daddy is mighty, Daddy is wise, Daddy is worthy of being the wise ruler of Great Xia!]

Xia Miaoyuan was so happy that his mouth almost stretched from ear to ear, and he racked his brains to come up with all the words to praise him.

Xia Zhengqi felt extremely happy when he heard his daughter's praise.

In order to bring honor to the Wei family's grandparents and grandchildren, Xia Zhengqi thoughtfully asked the prince to personally follow them back to the palace and read the imperial edict.

The group headed straight to the Wei Mansion.

When the two carriages stopped in front of the Wei Mansion, they happened to run into the Wei clan leader and his wife.

The Wei family is a century-old family of officials, and they have been serving as officials since the previous dynasty.

Wei Han's father is from the direct branch of the Wei family. Wei Han has four brothers, and he is the second oldest. His eldest brother Wei Duan is the patriarch of the family.

Back then, the two brothers Wei Han and Wei Duan were both officials in the capital. They bought a piece of land and built two adjacent mansions.

The Wei family members' attitude towards Wei Mingyuan was all based on Wei Duan's instructions.

The reason why they dared to bully Wei Mingyuan was because of Wei Duan and his wife.

"Oh, second brother really went to the palace?" Wei Duan's wife, Wang, said to Wei Han and his grandson in a sarcastic tone.

Wei Duanqiang pretended to be concerned and said, "Second brother, you should listen to my advice. Look at you, you are already an old man, why are you still acting so recklessly?"

"I didn't agree to Yuan'er's adoption because it was for the good of our Wei family. Why did you actually go to the palace?"

"Look, the Emperor is so busy with state affairs. How can he worry about such trivial matters as our Wei family?"

"You went there with all your hard work, but you still came back empty-handed."

After Wei Duan finished speaking, he patted Wei Han's shoulder with concern.