Thinking about what Jiang Zhengming had said, Yang's heart skipped a beat, and a bad premonition welled up in her heart.
Oh no, have my fears come true?!
Granny Qu was shocked. "Madam, could it be that the officials have discovered that the Second Miss ran away and come looking for her?"
"I don't know! What should we do if the authorities investigate?"
Yang was good at things inside the house, but her mind went completely blank when faced with important matters.
"Madam, wait a moment. The main gate is too conspicuous. Let's go in through the side gate."
They say old ginger is spicier, and Granny Qu's eyes darted around, and she quickly came up with an idea.
The two bypassed the crowd and arrived at one side of the backyard of the Minister's mansion. After knocking for a while, the maid guarding the side gate finally opened it.
"Why did it take you so long to open the door? You can't even keep to your posts during the day. Are you even more lax at night?" Madam Yang reprimanded coldly.
On weekdays, maids and servants would enter and exit through this side gate when going out to shop. Those on duty during the day were never allowed to leave without permission. The servants would occasionally gather together to drink a little wine when they were on duty at night, and when Madam Yang was in charge, she would turn a blind eye.
"Madam Yang... it's not that this old servant is not doing her duty properly, but something terrible has happened in the manor." The maid originally wanted to call her Aunt Yang, but when she saw Granny Qu glare at her, she understood and immediately changed her address.
"Let's go inside and talk."
Seeing the servant woman's terrified expression, Yang quickly strode inside.
After Granny Qu went inside, she turned around and locked the door, then asked impatiently, "Why are there so many people gathered at the front gate? What major event has happened in the mansion?"
"Have any officials come looking for someone? Has the master returned?" Madam Yang asked anxiously as she took off her veil.
The maid glanced at Granny Qu, then bowed to Madam Yang and replied, "Master is receiving the decree in the front hall. The person who came wasn't an official; it seems to be a palace eunuch delivering the decree."
"This old servant just overheard the old woman in the tea room talking about it. As for the details, Madam, you'll know once you go and see for yourself." The maid dared not go to the front hall unless she had to go to the tea room to get water, and she only learned about the incident at the front gate.
Yang handed the veiled hat in her hand to Granny Qu and hurried towards the front hall.
As she walked out of the hanging flower gate leading to the backyard, she vaguely heard the high-pitched voice unique to eunuchs.
She walked down the corridor to the window at the back of the hall, where she heard a eunuch say, "Master Jiang, thank the Emperor! The Emperor, considering your honesty, has not stripped you of your official rank and has kept you as a Master in the Ministry of Revenue. This is a great act of imperial grace."
In charge!
Yang's legs buckled and she squatted down.
The head of the Ministry of Revenue was merely a minor official of the sixth rank, mainly responsible for assisting the officials of the Ministry of Revenue with some miscellaneous tasks.
The work is heavy, but the salary is low. Some people spend their whole lives in that position and never get promoted to the position of Minister.
The powerful minister was dismissed just like that.
"Thank you for your great favor, Your Majesty. Long live the Emperor!"
In the hall, Jiang Zhengming knelt down to receive the imperial decree.
Just as he received the bright yellow imperial edict with both hands, the eunuch delivering the edict said again: "His Majesty is merciful and grants you ten days to move out of the Minister's residence."
Jiang Zhengming was unable to get up from the ground until the eunuch delivering the imperial decree left.
As the footsteps in the hall faded into the distance, Madam Yang braced herself with one hand and used all her strength to stand up.
Then he stumbled into the hall.
"My lord, the Emperor..."
"Shut up! Thunder and rain are all imperial favors." Jiang Zhengming was afraid that Yang would say something disrespectful and be overheard, so he angrily rebuked her.
No matter how unwilling Jiang Zhengming was, he couldn't change the fact that he had been demoted.
"We were living in this house so well, and now they want us to move in ten days. What are we going to do?" Madam Yang said, covering her face and crying.
The steward and servant stepped forward to help Jiang Zhengming, who was kneeling on the ground, to his feet.
After getting up, Jiang Zhengming slumped down at the octagonal table and sighed, "Officials below the third rank have to buy their own houses. What's the use of crying?"
He said to the steward, "Go to the accounting office and check the ledgers to see how much silver is left in the treasury. Once you have a tally, go and buy a house as soon as possible, regardless of size, but preferably in the east."
“My husband, we don’t necessarily have to live in the east; the north is fine too.”
When Yang heard that she wanted to buy a house on the east side, she was so frightened that cold sweat broke out on her back.
Jiang Zhengming never inquired about the public funds. Madam Yang knew the exact amount. Her daughter and she were provided with the same food, clothing, and daily necessities as legitimate daughters. She would occasionally secretly help her maternal family. The public funds were only enough to purchase a small two-courtyard house in the north.
Jiang Zhengming knew that the person in charge was not qualified to attend the morning court session; he had gotten used to living in the east for many years.
He ignored Yang's suggestion and insisted, "Do as I say, look to the east."
"This old servant will go and investigate immediately, and try to see the house tomorrow." The steward accepted the order and left.
Seeing the steward leave, Madam Yang wiped away her tears and mustered her courage to say, "Husband, in all these years as an official, in order to maintain the dignity of the Minister's mansion, there are many servants and maids, as well as concubines in your backyard. Everywhere requires money, and I am afraid that the money is not enough to purchase a house."
Jiang Zhengming was taken aback; he was surprised that he didn't have enough money.
He figured he could at least buy a two-courtyard house.
"Let's wait for the steward to check the accounts. If the discrepancy isn't too big, we can sell the estate outside the city."
“Husband, that estate doesn’t produce much and won’t fetch much money. It’s not appropriate for Jiao’er to show her face in the capital right now, so let her stay there.”
Madam Yang was shocked. If Jiang Zhengming sold the estate, her beloved child would have nowhere to go.
Jiang Zhengming was devastated when he was promoted from the third rank to the sixth rank.
He waved his hand, "Never mind, let's take it one step at a time."
He got up, mustered his strength, and ordered the servant, "Send someone to take down and destroy the plaque outside the gate."
For Jiang Zhengming, keeping that plaque was not an honor, but a disgrace.
The servant bowed and said, "I'll go right away."
Outside the gate, some people knew that Jiang Jiaojiao had been carried into the Wei family in a sedan chair.
When the eunuch came out to deliver the imperial edict, everyone was curious about what the edict was, so they all craned their necks to look but no one dared to ask.
Just as the crowd began to disperse in twos and threes, the gate opened again, and several servants carrying bamboo ladders came out.
The crowd stopped to watch, and saw the servant take down the plaque and close the gate again.
Then everyone started discussing it.
"Has Minister Jiang been stripped of his official rank?" a young servant boy asked.
"His illegitimate daughter became the concubine of the prime minister's son, so she must have been implicated." A woman carrying a bamboo basket and followed by a young girl dressed as a maid was clearly a shopkeeper from a household.
Someone said, "What a jinx! What a terrible fate!"
"That's right. I heard that Miss Jiang and that illegitimate son of the Wei family were doing something in the teahouse in Pear Blossom Lane. Later, that teahouse closed down."
Before the woman could finish speaking, the onlookers immediately perked up.
Someone leaned closer and asked, "What does 'that' mean?"
"What else could it be? It's just that kind of thing. I heard it from the waiter at the teahouse. The two of them were having a great time in the private room." The woman said, covering her mouth and chuckling.
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