Chapter 123 Holding an Umbrella for Others

"Oh, that's not true. Don't listen to this girl's nonsense."

Lu Qiniang didn't want to worry Mr. Li.

"Girl, come here and talk to me." said Master Li.

Erya immediately spilled the beans, saying that she was being asked for money by the people from the Banknote Inspection Office and that she could no longer do business.

She said, "My mother is stubborn and won't tell anyone. If it were you, wouldn't it be enough for the Duke to just say hello?"

"Nonsense." Lu Qiniang said, "This is not a big deal. It's not targeting us specifically, and they are about to replace us. We can just bear with it. If they can get by, we can get by too. Don't bother the Duke for such a small matter."

"Mom, that's our business. We have to make a living. I also want to buy a big house. It's not a small matter."

"We are now able to speak to the Duke thanks to Yun Ting and your father," Lu Qiniang said. "Yes, for the Duke, this is a small matter. But he knows a lot of people and has many poor relatives. It's not everyone's small matter, so he has to take care of it. He can't handle it all. Besides-"

She paused, lowering her voice. "Good steel should be used on the blade. Only use this favor when you encounter a major problem in the future. It's not worth it for this trivial matter right now."

Erya stopped talking then.

Master Li smiled and said, "Abandoned Mother, you are quite resourceful."

Lu Qiniang laughed “hehe”.

No one knew what the father and son were talking about inside, and they came out after a while.

"Is that all?" Lu Qiniang asked.

Yun Ting nodded and said, "That's it. I'm not going home."

Lu Qiniang: "...Why are you still in a bad mood?"

"He said he can support himself. I'll wait and see." Duke Yun said, "I'm sorry to bother you these days. The Duke's Mansion will definitely reward you handsomely in the future."

"Okay, then stay for a few more days. We are all relatives." Lu Qiniang said with a smile, "Hurry up and sit down to eat."

She has prepared the dishes and chopsticks.

Master Li said, "Please sit down. We are not outside. Listen to Qi Niang."

Duke Yun then sat down.

Lu Qiniang diligently served rice and soup to Duke Yun and placed him in front of Master Li.

Duke Yun: "..."

Are we going to send him away after this meal?

If I had known this, I wouldn’t have come today.

He was really worried that the bastard would be stripped of his clothes and left with an indelible psychological trauma, so he couldn't hold back.

After all, he only has this one son, and he won't have any other sons in the future.

He is indeed his enemy. Who would have thought that he would meet the emperor who is on a secret visit?

"My Lord, please try the melon. It's so sweet."

Duke Yun watched helplessly as Lu Qiniang moved the melon from in front of the emperor to in front of him.

Oh my God, is he going to die here today?

Looking at the emperor again, he still had a smile on his face. "Abandoned Mother, it's not good for you to be so partial to one and to the other. Why do I never see you? Why are you so attentive to everyone else? Do you have something to ask of the Duke?"

When Duke Yun heard the call "Duke", he almost rolled off the stone bench.

It was Yun Ting who helped him.

"It's true that I have something to ask for help, Your Majesty." Lu Qiniang felt a little embarrassed.

Mr. Li thought to himself, has he changed his mind?

From what Erya said, it was indeed a big deal for this family.

"You tell me, you tell me, as long as I can do it, I will definitely do my best." Duke Yun said hurriedly.

Please, just stay away from me.

"Duke, you and the Emperor are familiar with each other, right?" Lu Qiniang said, "Xiao Yan once told me that the Emperor is your dear brother-in-law."

Duke Yun: "Thanks to the Emperor for not abandoning me and arranging a marriage between me and the princess..."

"Well, isn't that enough?" Lu Qiniang said, "The Duke is a high-ranking official, right?"

"He's quite powerful. There aren't many people higher up than him." Yun Ting said in a muffled voice, "It depends on whether he wants to take care of your business. If he wants to, he'll definitely do it."

Duke Yun was inexplicably framed by his own son, and he was heartbroken and even wanted to give this traitor a good beating.

"That's amazing, even more amazing than I imagined. Look, you're a high-ranking official, and you're related to the Emperor. Could you please mention it to the Emperor—"

Duke Yun: You should propose it yourself, the emperor is waiting eagerly!

Oh, it’s terrible.

Seeing that Lu Qiniang hesitated to speak, he said, "Go ahead, I'm listening!"

"That's right. Although men are superior to women, everyone must crawl out of their mother's belly. Without women, there would be no men, right?"

The men looked at each other.

"What I want to talk about is the issue of forcing widows to commit suicide for love," Lu Qiniang said. "I think that if you want to be a widow, then you can do it. You can't force someone to be widowed if they don't want to. Especially, you can't force someone to die. If everyone does that, how many women will die, and how much less people will there be in the future?"

When Xiao Yan heard this, he understood what she wanted to say.

Her heart is always so kind.

She said that the business on which her family depended for survival was not worth bothering the Duke.

But then she turned around and spoke for those innocent widows who died in vain.

Because she had been caught in the rain, she wanted to hold an umbrella for all the sisters who had the same fate.

She had no choice. When she saw Duke Yun, she thought of him as a royal relative and a close minister to the emperor, so she asked him to speak up for those poor women.

"Doesn't the Emperor encourage childbearing? Is that right? And these past few years, now that they've had enough to eat, I see some people are starting to overdo it, doing these nasty things that force widows to death. Aren't they born from women's bellies? The people they force to death could have been someone else's mother! How can they be so cruel?"

"My Lord, I don't understand any profound principles, but the widow has done nothing wrong, so why should she be buried with the emperor? Can't she live a good life, marry again, and have children? Why, won't the children she gives birth to be the emperor's subjects? The emperor must speak for them!"

"It's tragic enough that a man died, don't make it harder for them."

"Everyone talks about the afterlife, but who has seen it? Everyone lives in this life. You said forcing the widow to death might gain something, but in the end, it's the cruel people who get the good reputation. Isn't that right?"

Duke Yun said nothing and looked at the person beside him.

"That's not right," Master Li said. "Widows shouldn't be forced to commit suicide. Emperor Gaozu had already issued an order strictly prohibiting this. I never thought it would be revived now."

"Duke, could you please mention this to the Emperor? Whether it works or not, I want to thank you for your kindness on their behalf."

"Okay." The Duke nodded.

Yun Ting snorted.

Haha, it’s a good reputation for nothing, right?

You still have the nerve to say that you are thick-skinned!

"They should thank you more." Master Li said to Lu Qiniang, "Qiniang, I have an unfilial son in my family. I think I'll send him to live with you for a few days and learn these principles from you."

Xiao Yan: “!”

No, he refused!

Yun Ting: Reject!

Lu Qiniang: "Okay, okay! It's okay to learn moral principles, but we are all relatives. You can come whenever you want. Don't be polite."