Chapter 388 I Want to Leave the Palace
The Queen Mother picked up the list of ministers, but couldn't make out much about them.
She had been devoted to worshipping Buddha over the years, and the emperor was a man of arbitrary character. She had never thought of interfering in state affairs, nor did she have the ability to do so. She hardly knew most of the people on the list.
"Several of them are imperial censors."
Listening to the explanation of her subordinates, the Queen Mother was confused: "You said he didn't want to help his sister regain favor, so why is he thinking about impeaching others?
Naturally, his subordinates could not come up with an answer.
The Queen Mother continued, "Forget it. I am too lazy to care about what happens in the court. He can impeach whoever he wants."
The Queen Mother thought that this matter had nothing to do with Shoukang Palace, so she just let it go.
But within two days, news came from the previous dynasty that several imperial censors jointly impeached Gu Mingda.
The reason for the impeachment was that Gu Mingda's earlier articles used careless language and contained implicit criticism of the government.
It was originally just a small matter. These articles were not created in the past two years, but were written decades or twenty years ago. Even when Gu Mingda himself was impeached, he was stunned for a few moments. He even thought it was hard for these people to find articles from many years ago from corners in order to target him.
The emperor didn't take this matter to heart.
But this was just the beginning. Someone soon wrote a letter to impeach Gu Mingda for having close ties with the merchant Luo family, and suspected him of collusion between officials and businessmen.
But this matter is easy to explain. After all, the two families are still in-laws on the surface. In the contract signed with Manager Luo before, only Liu Xiaoru's name was on it.
The shares that Niu Niu and Zhang Yuniang held in the braised food workshop were signed privately by Liu Xiaoru and them, so they were not affected.
Gu Mingda thought that the matter ended there, but soon someone wrote a letter to impeach Gu Mingda for cheating in the Tongsheng Examination. The reason was that Gu Mingda's brother-in-law Zhang Guangzong betrayed and was exiled because of cheating in the imperial examination, and Gu Mingda was most likely involved.
Gu Mingda complained that he and Zhang Guangzong had long since severed all ties.
But the person behind the scenes obviously expected Gu Mingda to do this, because the impeachment that followed turned into an impeachment of Gu Mingda for not educating his wife properly and his wife being unfilial to her mother.
Even Gu Mingda met Mrs. Cai.
Gu Mingda never thought that he would have the chance to meet this "mother-in-law" who had bullied his wife for many years and the "grandmother" who bullied Niu Niu for a long time.
Since Zhang Guangzong was exiled, Zhang Jinbao and Cai Pozi have disappeared, and Gu Mingda thought there would be no chance of seeing her again.
Mrs. Cai cried bitterly in Jingzhao Prefecture. She accused Zhang Yuniang of being unfilial to her and wanted to sue her for disobedience.
Logically speaking, although Mrs. Cai is a stepmother, she is indeed Zhang Yunniang's mother. However, the world is like this, and a stepmother cannot enjoy the same treatment as a mother.
It is really far-fetched for Mrs. Cai to make such a complaint.
Although these were all minor matters, they made Gu Mingda very embarrassed for a while, and he was also criticized by his colleagues in the Hanlin Academy.
"Brother Gu, these people are jealous that you are favored by His Majesty. You must not take it to heart. If you are unhappy about it, it will make these villains proud!" Sun Jiaxing comforted Gu Mingda.
Gu Mingda shook his head. This little thing was not enough to make him anxious or angry. However, he didn't understand which god he had offended that caused him to be in so much trouble.
He wouldn't feel embarrassed if it was just him who was in trouble, as his family members had all been in trouble recently.
Zhang Yunniang was once invited to the home of a minor official to provide postpartum care for the woman in the family. However, the woman died of postpartum hemorrhage within less than half a month of receiving Zhang Yunniang's guidance.
The woman's family members immediately came to the rescue and sent people to the door of the Gu family every day, clamoring and insisting that Zhang Yunniang was the one who murdered for money.
Even Old Lady Gu has had a very bad time recently. The old lady was watching the excitement at the city gate when two groups of people were fighting. No one knew whose stick slipped out of his hand and hit the old lady on the forehead. Now the old lady is lying at home, and it is unknown whether she is alive or dead.
During this period, the Luo family was not only involved in the lawsuit of the Gu family, but their own business was also severely hit. The braised food shop encountered a scammer who carried a dead body and blocked the door of the shop, insisting that it was the Luo family who killed the person.
With so many troubles, even though the Queen Mother had been keeping it a secret, Niuniu in the palace still found out the news.
Gu Mingda didn't come to class for a few days, and the reason he gave was that he had something to do in the previous dynasty. Niu Niu didn't think much about it at first. After she didn't have to go to class, she often went to visit Li Xuan.
Li Xuan and Li Shuo live next door to each other. Li Xuan is not a talkative person, but Li Shuo is different.
Li Shuo was fine at first, but he felt that if Niuniu hadn't bumped into Li Xuan, Li Xuan would not have been able to go to the horse farm to practice riding and archery that day, so he became the unlucky person.
Li Shuo never reflected on why he secretly rode someone else's horse. Instead, he pushed all the responsibility onto these two people, thinking that they were the ones who made him suffer!
Li Shuo was not in a good mood when facing Niuniu. As soon as he received the news, he gloated to Niuniu: "Your father is going to be in big trouble, your grandmother is dying, your mother is going to be in jail, and you will be driven out of the palace soon!"
When the little girl heard this, her face went blank. After she realized what was going on, she loudly retorted, "Impossible! My family is fine. They will be fine! My grandma has always been healthy!"
Li Shuo said, "What an idiot! Your family is in big trouble. Just ask around and you'll find out!"
Tears welled up in the little girl's eyes and she shook her head vigorously: "Impossible! My family will be fine! You must be lying to me!"
The little girl looked at Li Xuan with a pleading look.
Li Xuan avoided the gaze. These two days, Li Xuan's mother came to visit him and told him a little about the Gu family.
When Niu Niu saw Li Xuan's expression, she felt like she was struck by lightning.
Li Shuo at the side continued, "It's all because of the bad things you did that they suffered this retribution! You are a troublemaker!"
The little girl's face was pale.
Li Xuan hurriedly comforted her, "Niuniu, don't think like that. If everyone in this world thinks that suffering is retribution for doing bad things, then look at him. His hands and feet are broken. Is it because he has done too many bad things?"
Li Shuo now hates people mentioning his broken hands and feet the most. Upon hearing this, he picked up something nearby with his intact hand and smashed it at the two men.
But he forgot that he was weak and had no strength, and when he threw the thing, it didn't hit the other two people, but fell on his own foot, causing him to scream in pain.
"You are hurting me! You are hurting me!" Li Shuo shouted.
The palace maids and eunuchs who were in charge of serving rushed in.
Li Xuan looked at the noisy scene and hurriedly pulled Niu Niu, who was in a bad condition, out.
After leaving the prince's residence, Niuniu suddenly came to her senses and cried, "I want to go find the Queen Mother! I want to leave the palace! I want to go home! I want to stay with my family!"
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