"I only said a few harsh words to you, why are you crying?"

Emperor Wende seemed helpless.

He can be hard-hearted to anyone, including his wife and children.

The only thing he couldn't really be hard-hearted towards was his only biological sister, Huyang.

Hu Yang looked up at Emperor Wende and shed silent tears, "I hate you!"

Emperor Wende frowned.

He didn't like hearing Hu Yang say that.

Hu Yang seemed to want to vent his frustrations, and said without hesitation, "I hate the Chen family, I hate Old Dog Chen, I hate Chen Lu. I also hate my father for betrothing me to Old Dog Chen. I hate you, too!"

Emperor Wende had a blank expression on his face, suppressing his anger. "Why do you hate me? I have done nothing wrong to you."

Hu Yang chuckled coldly, "Did my Royal Brother inform me before he killed Chen Lu? Did you ask me what I thought about the Queen Mother's matter beforehand? You never asked for my opinion on anything beforehand. If these matters don't concern me much, it doesn't matter if you didn't ask me.

But one is my mother, the other is my son, they are both my blood relatives, and yet you told me nothing. You waited until it had already happened before you gave me a few perfunctory words. I, my heart is broken. Among the living, I can’t find anyone else to hate, I can only hate you.”

At the end of the story, Hu Yang burst into tears.

Emperor Wende was silent for a long time.

Hu Yang covered her face and cried as she said, "I have no choice. I have to hate someone to make myself feel better. Among the living, I can't find anyone else but my royal brother. I didn't mean to do that, I just have no choice."

Emperor Wende sighed.

He came to Hu Yang, stretched out his hand and patted Hu Yang's shoulder gently.

Huyang burst into tears.

Emperor Wende held Hu Yang in his arms and patted her shoulders gently, "Don't cry! If you want to hate me, then hate me. As long as you don't alienate me, I don't mind your hatred. Now that the Queen Mother is gone, I will pamper you and indulge you on her behalf."

Hu Yang cried so much that her makeup was smudged, and she looked at Emperor Wende with dazed eyes, "Don't you blame me? I have such a bad temper and embarrassed you in public."

Emperor Wende laughed at himself, "Haven't you embarrassed me enough? Tomorrow, I will issue an edict to restore your princess title."

Hu Yang was stunned and couldn't believe it.

Emperor Wende nodded heavily. "My word is my bond. After the Lantern Festival, I will issue an edict to restore your princess title. I will also replace your residence with a larger one, three or four times larger than your current Princess Residence. If you prefer the previous Princess Residence, I will order the Minister of the Imperial Household to clean it up."

Hu Yang shook his head repeatedly. "The current Princess Mansion is very good. I'm used to it. I want to continue living in it."

"You really don't want to move? The Princess Mansion you live in now is a bit small."

"It's enough for me to live alone. Thank you, my royal brother!"

Hu Yang wiped his tears and burst into laughter.

At this moment, she found that she didn't hate her brother that much.

Her hatred for her royal brother was more like anger.

She felt a little embarrassed.

She said guiltily, "Actually, I don't hate my brother that much."

Emperor Wende laughed, "I know."

"Brother Emperor knows?"

"If you really hated me, you wouldn't cry in front of me."

Yes, is that so?

Hu Yang felt more and more guilty.

"Okay, don't think too much. It's New Year's Day, so be happy."

Hu Yang nodded and said, "I will listen to my brother. But I don't want to go back to the palace banquet. It's boring."

"I have ordered the imperial kitchen to prepare a table of wine and food. It has been a long time since my brother and I have sat together to drink and chat. Today, you will accompany me."

Hu Yang smiled happily, "I will listen to my brother."

Emperor Wende called Chang En and ordered him to prepare wine and food.

The banquet that the emperor wanted was naturally prepared and sent to Xingqing Palace as soon as possible.

Emperor Wende and Huyang, the brother and sister, ate and drank, chatted about family matters, and they regained the feeling of being together in the past.

…

Queen Pei, who was at the palace banquet, was not in such a good mood.

Eunuch Wen secretly told her, "Your Majesty has ordered a table of wine and food to be sent to Xingqing Palace."

Empress Pei was stunned for a moment. "Are you saying that His Majesty and Huyang are dining at Xingqing Palace and not attending the palace banquet?"

Eunuch Wen didn't dare to say anything and could only nod slightly.

Empress Pei gritted her teeth in anger. "No matter how I look at it, I can't see what's good about this woman Hu Yang. The late emperor doted on her, the empress dowager doted on her, and now Your Majesty still dotes on her. Hasn't Hu Yang committed enough taboos? How can Your Majesty indulge her like this?"

"Your Majesty, be careful with your words. Be careful not to be overheard by others."

Empress Pei wiped the corners of her mouth with her handkerchief, then threw it onto the low table. "I can't eat at the palace banquet. Please escort me back to Weiyang Palace."

"Mother?"

Eunuch Wen was so anxious that he wanted to slap himself. "Your Majesty, there are so many people watching. His Majesty specifically asked you to preside over the palace banquet. It's inappropriate for you to leave for Weiyang Palace so early."

Empress Pei chuckled, "There's nothing inappropriate about that. If Your Majesty asks, just say I'm feeling unwell. Perhaps it's the cold wind that gave me a headache."

After saying this, Empress Pei stood up and left without caring about anything else.

Everyone was dumbfounded.

His Majesty left, and the Queen left again.

How can we eat at the palace banquet today?

"Why did the Queen leave?"

"What happened?"

"What happened today? Why is everything so bad?"

"The Empress has a headache and feels a little unwell, so she returned to Weiyang Palace to rest early. You can do as you please." After saying this, Eunuch Wen hurriedly caught up with Empress Pei and left.

Liu Yi was worried and called Liu Zhao, "Brother, let's go visit our mother together."

Liu Zhao nodded and did not refuse.

He told Gu Jiu, "Why don't you take the child out of the palace first. I'll go there."

"Don't you want me to go over there?"

"No need! It's inconvenient for you to take care of the child. Mother understands."

Gu Jiu agreed.

She was also unwilling to go to Weiyang Palace to see Empress Pei's mood.

Seeing that Gu Jiu was not going to Weiyang Palace, Xiao Qin'er didn't go either.

She told Liu Yi, "My eldest sister-in-law and I left the palace together. The children have been having fun all day and are tired."

Liu Yi frowned, dissatisfied.

He pulled Xiao Qin'er to the corner and said, "Sister-in-law is sister-in-law, and you are you. The Queen Mother is unwell, and as her daughter-in-law, you should go to her side and show your filial piety."

Xiao Qin'er didn't buy his tricks. "I'll go to the palace to visit my mother tomorrow morning. I won't miss out on fulfilling my filial duties."

"you……"

"Why can my sister-in-law leave the palace, but I can't?"

"Don't be so unreasonable. My sister-in-law is a broken jar. She knows that she can't please the Queen Mother, so she doesn't bother to show it. You are different. The Queen Mother treats you..."

"The Queen Mother is just as dissatisfied with me." Xiao Qin'er simply pointed out the truth, "The Queen Mother doesn't like my sister-in-law, so does that mean she likes me? Don't be naive. It's impossible for a mother-in-law and a daughter-in-law to truly like each other. I'm tired today, I want to leave the palace."

Liu Yi gritted his teeth and said, "Whatever you want."

After saying that, he turned away.

Xiao Qin'er had a stern face and looked extremely unhappy.

She called Liu Zheng and said, "Go, bring your brothers and sisters with you, and let's leave the palace."

"Leaving the palace now?" Liu Zheng obviously hadn't had enough fun.

Xiao Qin'er glared, "You're not leaving the palace now, do you want to live in the palace?"

Liu Zheng shrank his neck and said, "I'll go call my brothers and sisters."

He ran away quickly after saying that. He was a man with good eyesight, and he knew that his mother was angry, so if he didn't run away now, when would he run away?

When all the children arrived, Xiao Qin'er caught up with Gu Jiu.

"Sister-in-law, wait for me. Will you stay at the palace tonight?"

"Exactly. The new house is still under renovation, so I can only stay in the palace temporarily."

"Then let's go together. I really envy my sister-in-law. She bought a house as soon as she said she would. Did you buy a house worth 100,000 taels?" Xiao Qin'er asked curiously.

Two months ago, Gu Jiu finally bought a house.

She didn't like the layout of the house, so she demolished it all and rebuilt it.

The house could not be built in a short time, as the city gates were closed and the courtyard in the city was too small.

There was no other choice, Gu Jiu could only move into the palace with the children.

No matter how chaotic the palace is now, it is still bearable if you only stay there for one or two nights.

Gu Jiu smiled and said, "Fourth brother's wife must have saved quite a bit of money over the years. If you want to buy some property, you should act quickly while the housing prices are still reasonable."

Xiao Qin'er invested a lot of money in Sihai, and the annual dividends were a considerable amount.

Over the years, as long as you don't spend it recklessly, you must have saved a lot of cash.

Xiao Qin'er became interested. "From what my sister-in-law said, will the housing prices in Beijing continue to rise?"

Gu Jiu nodded. "Once the cement roads connecting Beijing to the northwest, Hexi, and Jiangnan are built, more and more people will come to Beijing. Rich people from all over the country will flock to Beijing, and their favorite thing to do is buy real estate and land. They are all wealthy people, and when they make a move, it will definitely drive up Beijing's housing prices."

Xiao Qin'er became anxious when she heard this.

"To be honest, sister-in-law, I've saved a little money over the years and I'm thinking of buying some real estate. Look at us, with so many people crammed into the palace, it's really not looking good. I want to follow your example and buy a big house for the whole family to move out. Sister-in-law, please give me some advice on where I should buy a house."

"Of course, the closer to the Imperial Palace, the better. But houses in the Imperial City are hard to come by. I waited for nearly a year, and I only managed to snag one after offering a high enough price."

Xiao Qin'er was very curious and asked quietly, "Sister-in-law, can you tell me the truth? Did you spend a hundred thousand taels on the house you bought?"

Gu Jiu pursed his lips and smiled, "More than 100,000 taels."

Xiao Qin'er exclaimed, "I haven't paid attention to housing prices for a long time. I didn't expect them to rise so much now. One hundred thousand taels can't even buy a house."

Gu Jiu suggested: "If Fourth Sister-in-law doesn't mind, you can buy a house a little further away from the palace. The price will be cheaper."

"Even if it's a little cheaper, I estimate it's no less than 70,000 or 80,000 taels."

"You have four families, and a house worth seventy or eighty thousand taels might not be enough to live in. You need to prepare at least one hundred thousand taels."

Xiao Qin'er's face turned pale. "Sister-in-law, tell me the truth. How much did you buy this house for? Just give me a rough estimate."

Gu Jiu smiled and said, "I won't hide it from my fourth sister-in-law. The house I bought, including the title deed and the land deed, cost a total of 180,000 taels. Adding the house reconstruction and subsequent decoration, it will cost at least 100,000 taels more."

When Xiao Qin'er heard the 180,000 taels, she almost fainted.

Then he heard that the reconstruction and decoration would cost more than 100,000 taels, so he decided to pretend to be dead.

She complained, "No wonder His Majesty is unwilling to grant titles and mansions to the princes. One mansion for each prince would empty the Ministry of Revenue."

This is very true.

Gu Jiu smiled and said, "If I can't count on His Majesty to grant me a mansion, I can only count on saving money to buy a house myself. After all, if I buy a house myself, the property rights belong to me, not the Shaofu."

Xiao Qiner smiled bitterly, "I'm not as wealthy as my sister-in-law, so I can't afford that much. A house that costs 70,000 or 80,000 yuan is my bottom line."

Gu Jiu smiled and said, "The house we bought isn't for Fourth Brother's wife to live in alone. It's reasonable for His Highness the Fourth Prince to pay for it. You two can still buy a big house if you chip in."

Xiao Qin'er frowned, "Will he pay?"

Gu Jiu smiled and said, "Give it a try! Things like buying a house are something men should worry about. But my prince is a pauper, so I can't rely on him. I can only buy the house with my own money. The good thing is that I pay for the house, and the house will be considered my dowry. Men don't get any share, and it will be left to the children in the future."

When Xiao Qin'er heard that the man had no share and everything was left to the child, she was obviously moved.

There were many women in the backyard of the fourth room, and even more illegitimate sons and daughters.

Of course, Xiao Qin'er didn't want her dowry and private property to be embezzled by illegitimate sons and daughters.

Her private property and dowry will only be left to her own children.

She smiled and said, "Thank you for the reminder, sister-in-law. You have many connections, could you help me keep an eye out for large mansions in the capital? I'm trying to scrape together some more money so I can buy a house as soon as possible."

Gu Jiu readily agreed. "After the first lunar month, I'll have someone send you information about properties for sale in Beijing. Take a good look and if you find one you like, buy it as soon as possible. If nothing unexpected happens, housing prices in Beijing will only go up."

"Thank you for the reminder, sister-in-law."