Li Lao Er lowered his voice and said, "Even if the Emperor is particularly protective of our Li family, he wouldn't punish the Wu family so severely without considering the Empress's reputation."
"In fact, the Emperor didn't even investigate; he convicted the Wu family based solely on a few words from us!"
Jiayin nodded, shrugged, and said helplessly, "Yes, Second Uncle, I prepared a lot of things to say, but before I could say more than a few words, the Wu family was imprisoned!"
Li Lao Er frowned, thought for a long time, and asked in a low voice, "Fu Niu'er, do you remember, when the Emperor heard that the Wu family had assassins, his face was particularly bad?"
"It's more than just bad; you could say his face was ashen." Jiayin's thoughts wandered, and she began to speculate, "Could it be that the Emperor underestimated his father-in-law, and suddenly heard that the Wu family was hiding so much, and felt that he had been deceived for so many years, so he was furious and took such drastic measures?"
Li Lao Er shook his head, "It's not that serious. Almost all the powerful and wealthy families in the new capital have some secret agents. Logically speaking, the Emperor shouldn't be so surprised and angry..."
The father and son sat in the carriage, talking back and forth, trying to figure it out the whole way, but they still couldn't come up with a solution.
Leaving aside their situation, let's just talk about Kunning Palace, where the Empress is "seriously ill" and is resting in bed after taking medicine.
She couldn't help but complain, "I summoned the imperial physician last night, why hasn't the Third Princess come to visit me yet?"
"Is this child becoming less and less likable?"
The palace maid who was massaging her legs had no choice but to bite the bullet and whisper, "Your Highness, the princess has more and more lessons to learn these days, and she hasn't finished class yet."
"I'll come right away as soon as class is over."
The Empress snorted coldly and said nothing more.
Before the palace maids could even catch their breath, someone outside shouted and rushed in.
"Your Majesty, Your Majesty, something terrible has happened!"
A young palace maid ran so fast her braids were almost undone, and she knelt down on the ground with a thud as soon as she entered the room.
The Empress was startled and sat up abruptly in bed. The head maid rushed over and slapped the junior maid, scolding, "How dare you! Her Majesty is resting. Who gave you the audacity to run around shouting like that!"
The young palace maid covered her face and said aggrievedly, "This servant is guilty, but... the Marquis's mansion has been imprisoned!"
The Marquis's family has been imprisoned?!
The Empress was stunned for a moment, then suddenly stood up and shouted sharply, "What did you say?!"
The head palace maid was so shocked that her legs went weak, and she quickly pulled the younger palace maid along.
Before the young palace maid could speak, another eunuch rushed in, shouting, "Your Majesty, Eunuch Feng and his men have sealed off the gates of Kunning Palace!"
The Empress could no longer contain herself and ran outside, with everyone following her.
Eunuch Feng and his men were slowly closing the gate when the Empress finally arrived, and he greeted her with a smile.
The Empress's face turned deathly pale. She had a vague idea of what was going on, but she still asked, "Eunuch Feng, what exactly happened? Why are the palace gates sealed off?!"
Eunuch Feng's expression was very respectful, leaving no room for outsiders to find fault with his manners, but his words were as sharp as knives.
"Your Majesty, the Emperor has decreed that the Marquis of Jiangning's family has failed to live up to the Emperor's favor and is guilty of heinous crimes. The entire family has been demoted to commoners and imprisoned to await investigation."
"His Majesty cares for Your Highness and, knowing that Your Highness is ill, fears that you might worry. Therefore, he instructed me to seal off Kunning Palace so that Your Highness can rest and recuperate in peace."
"No, impossible!" The Empress was truly anxious and was about to rush out, but Eunuch Feng waved his hand, and the little eunuch quickly closed the palace gate.
The empress was so angry that she no longer cared about her image and pounded on the palace gates like a madwoman.
"How dare you! Open the door! Let me out! I need to see the Emperor!"
Standing outside the door, Eunuch Feng picked his ear and said indifferently, "Your Majesty, please calm down. We servants are just following orders!"
"Just focus on recovering. The day the Emperor stops being angry, he will release you."
Having said that, he ignored the noise inside and left with his men in a leisurely manner.
What Lord Li and Princess Kangle came to the palace for today is unknown to others, but it cannot be hidden from those who serve the Emperor closely.
Princess Kang Le is such a good girl, yet the Wu family still dares to bully her. They are truly heartless.
His actions just now were a small way of venting his anger for the princess, and it made up for the fruits he had eaten when he visited the Li family!
The Jiangning Marquis's residence was in complete chaos, with chickens and dogs running amok and ghosts howling.
Both Master Wu and Madam Wu had considered the consequences of their failure, but the Empress was their greatest source of confidence.
To put it bluntly, they were the emperor's father-in-law and mother-in-law; if you remove the "father-in-law," they were his parents!
If parents are wrong, what child could bring themselves to kill them?
Besides, so what if they schemed against that girl from the Li family?
They were after the Empress, and the royal bloodline!
Moreover, the girl from the Li family didn't die, not even a hair on her head. If their family paid a little more money, the matter would be easily forgotten...
Unfortunately, good dreams are destined to be shattered.
Chief Steward Yi personally brought the imperial edict and led a troop of soldiers through the gate, leaving them dumbfounded!
The old Marquis was already hanging on by a thread. When he heard that his whole family had been reduced to commoners and imprisoned for their crimes, he used his last breath to escape and went to meet the King of Hell with his eyes rolled back.
The old lady was not in good health either, and she couldn't withstand the shock, so she also lay down at that time.
Master Wu and Madam Wu were struck dumb, their faces turning ashen.
Previously, they were suddenly denounced by the censor, and the eldest brother and sister-in-law were punished by being confined to their homes to reflect on their mistakes. They were implicated by the eldest son's family and could not hold their heads up when they went out.
They didn't even bother with it, and now they're going to go to jail with them?!
What terrible things have they done?!
You'll never get a single good thing, but you'll definitely be plagued by bad things!
Madam Wu was crying bitterly, "Waaah, let's go see the Emperor! The Emperor can't be so heartless!"
“We are his parents-in-law! Even if we are wrong, it is for the Empress and for the royal offspring…”
Before she could finish speaking, Madam Wu Er couldn't hold back any longer. She rushed over, raised her hand, and slapped her twice while cursing wildly.
"I'll beat you to death, you old slut! I knew it was your stupidity that dragged the family down with you! I never expected it to actually be you!"
"Tell me, what exactly did you do? All the good things go to your eldest son's family, but when things go wrong, you drag us down with you!"
"Tell me, hurry up and tell me!"
Madam Wu was stunned by the beating. She turned her head and spat out a mouthful of blood. When she came to her senses, she let out a loud "Aww!" and cursed, "You bitch, how dare you hit me!"
She lunged forward to fight back, but unfortunately, she was at a disadvantage in terms of physical size, and was quickly pinned to the ground by Madam Wu.
Madam Wu didn't want to ask the reason anymore; she could finally vent all the resentment that had been building up for so many years.
She straddled Madam Wu and began slapping her repeatedly with both hands!
"I told you not to keep talking about the Empress's daughter, but she's a hen that doesn't lay eggs. What's there to be proud of!"
"I'll teach you to act like you're the eldest sister-in-law every day, like someone owes you eighty thousand taels of silver!"
"I'll teach you a lesson you won't learn! All you do all day is talk badly about our second wife!"
"I'll let you..."
Madam Wu was completely overwhelmed, and in the blink of an eye, she was bruised and swollen.
Even in her rage, Madam Wu the Second remembered to change her tactics.
Tired of the Eighteen Subduing Dragon Palms, he switched to the Nine Yin White Bone Claw and scratched a layer of red stripes all over his sister-in-law's face!
Master Wu was holding his parents and crying his heart out when he finally had a moment to spare. He saw his wife struggling in her death throes and was about to rush forward to rescue her when his second brother grabbed him again...
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