Chapter 550 Xue Ru: Sister, they wouldn’t be so shameless, would they?
Prince Huan sneered, "You don't have to pretend. If you had no other ulterior motives, why did you bother to curry favor with Xiao Yan at the palace banquet?"
"Don't think that just because you're acting so loyal now, the Emperor will forget what you said that night. You stood up for Xiao Yan and spoke up for the He family. He'll definitely hold a grudge against you. When he suppresses the Crown Prince and regains power, and remembers what happened today, you won't have an easy time!"
Prince Ji: "Ninth brother..."
"Alright, this is my kind reminder. If you don't listen, then leave it to me. It won't be me who will settle the accounts in the future anyway."
King Huan flicked his sleeves and turned to leave.
Prince Ji looked at his back and his expression darkened little by little.
"Your Majesty..."
The eunuch of Prince Ji's mansion stepped forward and whispered: "Prince Huan..."
"Ignore him."
Prince Huan has been restless in recent years. He seems to be carefree and unconcerned with external affairs while guarding the Hengting Pavilion. He is as unruly and rude as a piece of meat on a chopping block, which makes Emperor An completely unsuspecting of him. However, Prince Ji is well aware of his secret tricks, and he does not care whether Prince Huan rekindles his ambition or not.
But Emperor An...
Prince Ji's eyes were dark. He really had no desire to ascend to the throne. The resentment he felt back then had long been worn away by time. However, he had to be on guard against what Prince Huan had just said.
Xie Tianyong was narrow-minded, suspicious and intolerant, and he had never been at ease with Prince Ji's Mansion.
That night, he saw that the situation was not right, and because the idiot in his family had caused trouble and offended Xiao Yan, he thought of showing goodwill to him. He wanted to protect Emperor An and the Xie royal family, as well as the Ji Palace. But who could have thought that under such circumstances, Xiao Yan would actually stop in the end.
When Emperor An woke up, Xiao Yan was willing to step down and become his minister.
With the Crown Prince at the forefront, Emperor An naturally had no time to care for them. He even needed the help of the royal family to suppress the Crown Prince and Xiao Yan. But what about afterward? Once the Crown Prince was suppressed, Emperor An would inevitably turn around and settle accounts with the court officials who had "defected" that night.
And he was the first one!
"Your Highness, what's wrong with you?" The attendant saw Prince Ji's grim expression and couldn't help but speak out in worry.
Prince Ji said in a deep voice, "The princess said a few days ago that she was not feeling well?"
The man nodded: "Yes, he said he caught a cold."
"Where's Yuyan?"
"The girl has been out for a banquet these days..."
"Damn it!"
Prince Ji had an ugly expression on his face. Emperor An was ill and the capital was in chaos. He wished he could follow the rules and not be caught in any wrongdoing. But Xie Yuyan actually wanted to go out for a banquet. Did she think Prince Ji's mansion was not a good place for gossip?
He thought of his trouble-making daughter and his foolish wife who was intent on protecting her without knowing the important things.
The little hesitation that Prince Ji had left in his heart instantly dissipated: "Since the princess is ill, let her take good care of herself. All matters in the palace will be handed over to Concubine An to take care of."
The attendant was stunned by Prince Ji's words. Is the prince going to take away the princess's right to be the housekeeper?
But before he could be shocked, he heard the cold voice of King Ji:
"Xie Yuyan has a domineering personality and repeatedly stirs up trouble. Not only does she refuse to repent, she even neglected her mother's presence when she was seriously ill, preferring to go out and have fun instead. This unfilial daughter should be severely punished. Send her to Lingxin Monastery for quiet reflection and contemplation, and have her guarded. She is not allowed to leave without my order."
"As for the princess, have the palace physician treat her well. She won't have to leave the palace until the beginning of next spring."
The prince is planning to imprison the princess and abandon the princess.
The attendant was utterly shocked, then Prince Ji continued, "Tell Consort An to prepare a generous gift. Pick out all the rare books and ancient paintings from my collection. Send them to Jiyun Lane later to congratulate Duke Dingguo and Princess Xiangning."
"Yes, Your Majesty."
Prince Ji walked out while rubbing his fingertips.
He had to leave a way out for Prince Ji's Mansion...
…
After the aristocratic family agreed to "donate books", Tang Ning naturally didn't need to worry about the books sent to the academy.
With the Lu family's previous experience as a lesson, several major families were afraid that Tang Ning would invite all the ministers into his mansion and a swarm of locusts would appear in their own mansions. They did not dare to delay at all and selected the books to be "gifted" early, packed them in boxes, loaded them on the car, and had them delivered.
As for whether it is really 30%...
"Sister, do you think they will make false reports?"
In the Cui family's library, Xue Ru flipped through the books in her hand while watching the boxes carried out by the Cui family outside and whispered, "Only they know how many books they have in their house. The books they give us may not be complete. They said they would take 30%, but who knows if it will be less?"
Tang Ning took notes with a pen in her hand. Seeing the two young women from the Cui family staring at them intently, she chuckled softly, "There's nothing we can do if there are fewer books. We can't really go through every household to find out how many books they have. Even if we do count, they've hidden them in advance, so who would know?"
"But..." Xue Ru pouted, "Then we're at a loss, aren't we?"
"Suffering losses is inevitable."
Tang Ning kept working as he explained softly, "Brother, it's not easy to force them to give up. These books are the foundation of their existence. It's good enough to get them to give up some. Besides, although we don't know the exact number of books in each family's collection, we can at least give them a rough estimate. Even if they really do make a move, they won't dare to go too far."
"I'll compromise with my brother and ask for only 30% of the collection. Even if they are shameless, they can only hide about half of it at most. If a century-old family's 30% collection of books is only 18,000 volumes, which can't even fill a few boxes, then I think my brother will be happy to have a good chat with them."
Tang Ning spoke in a low voice, but did not avoid others.
"Except for the Liang family, the Lu family, and the Fan family, which originated from Confucianism, the book collections of the other families should not be much different. They wouldn't be so shameless as to discuss how much they would each collect and then compare them later to see who is the most shameless."
The two little girls from the Cui family thought of the half-empty box they had carried out earlier, and their faces turned pale. One of them turned around and hurried out.
Tang Ning laughed when he saw this and patted Xue Ru on the head: "Okay, don't you want to read a book? Go ahead and read it."
Xue Ru saw the Cui family members who had stopped outside hurried in again, and in a moment they carried out several new boxes full of things. She pursed her lips and smiled secretly at Tang Ning, then collected her thoughts, lowered her head and quickly flipped through the book in her hand.
Tang Ning and Xue Ru stayed in Cui's house for more than two hours. When they came out of the place where the books were stored, they saw that the boxes of books in the yard outside had been sent away.
The Cui family's eldest young lady came out to greet him: "Have you finished reading, Princess?"
Tang Ning smiled lightly: "It's getting late today, I shouldn't bother you any further."
"What's the point of bothering me? Since I've agreed to let you two into my house, it's up to you to do as you please."
The Cui family's eldest young master's wife smiled amiably, as if she didn't care at all about her father-in-law's imprisonment because of Xiao Yan. She said with a smile, "My princess must be tired after reading for so long. I've had some tea and snacks prepared. Would you like to share some with Madam Xue?"
Xue Ru blinked in surprise.
They had a big fight with the Cui family before, and Cui Lin suffered a lot of torture after being imprisoned.
When they came before, the other members of the Cui family looked at them with disgust. Although the eldest lady was quite friendly, it was just a superficial social gesture. But why did she suddenly seem so enthusiastic at this time?
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