Emperor Jingqing waved his sleeve and said, "Other methods? Hmph! I've raised a bunch of useless trash! It's been so long, and you can't even handle Lu Yanzheng. What other methods are you talking about?"

If Liu Ruyi hadn't sent the message back, they wouldn't have been able to touch a single hair on Lu Yanzheng's head!

But Lu Yanzheng was truly amazing. Despite such a massive commotion, he was not harmed in the slightest. Moreover, the people on the border were even showing signs of siding with Lu Yanzheng. Just thinking about it made him want to vomit blood.

"Your Majesty, have you forgotten Prince Yong?" The person who answered stepped forward and lowered his voice, "It was agreed that he would deal with Lu Yanzheng. Now we're just asking him to move up the time. Does he think he can disobey the imperial decree?"

Emperor Jingqing's eyes flashed, and after a moment of contemplation, he nodded, "Your words are reasonable. Convey my decree and summon Prince Yong to the palace!"

Prince Yong was summoned to the palace that day and stayed in the Emperor's Hall of Diligent Governance until evening before leaving.

When Prince Yong returned home, many people sent by the government were already waiting for him.

"Please return, everyone. I have important matters to attend to, so I will not entertain you any longer." Upon seeing this, Prince Yong was truly furious.

These people usually avoid associating with him for fear of the emperor's suspicion, but now that they know he has been given an important position by the emperor, they are rushing to send people to find out more. Is there such a cheap thing in the world?

"Your Highness, you can't say that! My Marquis is just concerned about you and sent me to ask if you need anything. If there is anything, our Marquis's Mansion will definitely do its best to help."

"Yes, Your Highness, our Duke's Mansion is the same..."

"And our Vice Minister's residence..."

Prince Yong was both angry and troubled by these opportunists. The top nobles of Dayue were truly ruined! They were opportunists in ordinary times, but when it mattered, they wanted to follow suit and reap the benefits. They were completely unlike the people Lu Yanzheng led who were self-reliant.

Sigh! I'm afraid this great Yue can't hold out for much longer. Maybe he should find another way out for himself?

When Prince Yong was feeling restless, all the people sent out by Dingshui Village returned to the village.

Village Chief Li summoned all the returning villagers for questioning and was very satisfied with the feedback from the border residents.

"Good, good! My niece's sincerity towards them has not been in vain." Village Chief Li said with satisfaction.

Thinking about it, he felt a little sad. These days, it's so difficult to do a good deed. If we were to go back to the days when we couldn't even get enough to eat, what would become of them?

At Lu Yancai's house, Madam Ma was throwing things around, making a lot of noise.

"She's a monster to begin with, and the villagers are acting like they're possessed, insisting on clearing her name. Is there no justice in this world?" Ma muttered resentfully.

Lu Tianbao came out of the house, frowned and walked to her side. "Mother, you shouldn't say such things anymore. Aunt is not a monster. She is a good person. She is the one who leads us to a good life. It's no exaggeration to say that she is a goddess."

He's getting more and more of a headache with his own mother. It's fine on ordinary days, but now, at such a sensitive time, she still has to shout at home that his aunt is a monster. Isn't she just asking everyone in the village to hate their family?

Originally, when Grandpa, Grandma, and Aunt moved to the city, they didn't invite their family. This led many people in the village to gossip about their family behind their backs, thinking that Aunt wasn't close to them. Some brainless people even tried to trip them up in the fields.

His mother, instead of trying to maintain the relationship between the two families, slandered his aunt like this. If his uncle's family found out, he and his father would be too ashamed to stay in the village.

"What? She's a goddess? Then I'm the Queen Mother of the West!" Madam Ma threw down the gourd ladle in her hand, put her hands on her hips, and said, "What kind of bewitching potion has she given you, boy? Not only do you not speak up for your mother, but you're also siding with outsiders to talk about me?"

Lu Tianbao's brows furrowed even more, which was unusual for someone his nine years old. "Mother, Master Qin said that we should help those who are reasonable, not those who are related. Aunt has done so many good things for everyone, so we shouldn't have slandered or defamed her!"

The more he read, the more he understood how severely the aristocratic families exploited the common people. Those poor scholars who originally shouted that they wanted to stand up for the common people would also join the aristocratic families in exploiting the common people once they crossed the social class.

People like my uncle and aunt, who, after gaining power and wealth, did not forget to help the people become rich and prosperous, enabling everyone to live a good life, and protecting them from foreign invasion and exploitation by the imperial court, are rare in history.

In his heart, his uncle and aunt are his role models. If one day he can break through the constraints of his identity, he will also work for the well-being of the people like them!

"That's hilarious," Mrs. Ma chuckled. "Anyone could have done the same things she did."

"Heh, then why don't you give it a try?" Lu Yancai walked in from outside the courtyard, looking coldly at Madam Ma. "If you can do what my sister-in-law does, I, Lu Yancai, will take your surname!"

Mrs. Ma choked, "I...I just didn't have that luck..."

Lu Yancai sneered, "Are you unlucky enough to find sweet potatoes, or unlucky enough to know how to make coal briquettes? Are you unlucky enough to buy high-yield rice and wheat seeds, or unlucky enough to lead everyone to the mountains to hunt and earn money?"

Given Ma's limited perspective, even if she encountered sweet potatoes, she wouldn't recognize them, let alone lead everyone to plant them together, nor would she later present them to the government for promotion.

Not to mention the others, Ma didn't even know how to make coal briquettes, she didn't even know what coal was!

And yet she dares to say that anyone else could do it? I really don't know what's going on in her head all day.

Madam Ma was speechless after Lu Yancai's words, but she just couldn't stand seeing Jiang Qinyu doing well. She stubbornly retorted, "So what if she's good? She didn't invite you when she went to the city, did she? You and your father are just stupid, still helping her like that!"

Lu Tianbao couldn't stand it anymore and shouted, "If it weren't for you always going against my aunt and uncle, would our family's relationship with them be so bad? Even if they wanted to kidnap our family, they would know as soon as they found out that kidnapping the three of us wouldn't do any good!"

He already knew why Jiang Qinyu and the others hadn't called their family when they left.

Given their relationship with Jiang Qinyu's family, any kidnapper with a brain would know that kidnapping them would be a complete waste of time and effort.

Ma was stunned by what Lu Tianbao said and couldn't come to her senses for a moment.

Lu Yan glared at her fiercely and said, "If you cause any more trouble, go back to your parents' home!"

His son, Tianbao, is studying hard now, as he plans to take the imperial examinations in the future. Therefore, he cannot divorce his wife unless absolutely necessary. Otherwise, he would have already become fed up with Madam Ma long ago.

Upon hearing this, Ma immediately dared not say anything more and carried the bucket into the kitchen.

But she was still unconvinced. Why was it that the person who had always been overshadowed by her back then had now risen to prominence and gained everyone's respect, with even her husband and son standing on her side?

Ma racked her brains trying to make things difficult for Jiang Qinyu, but at that moment Jiang Qinyu and Lu Yanzheng were talking about another important matter.

"You want to declare war on the imperial court?" Jiang Qinyu looked at Lu Yanzheng in shock.