Ah——

Who wouldn't want to be a marquis? That's a marquis!

At the beginning of the founding of the country, there were so many places to earn military merits, but now there are only 155 meritorious marquises, compared to the 1,188 officials in the capital, barely one in ten.

The gold content is particularly high.

And before that, it was to conquer the world! After the dynasty was stable, it was very difficult to be a marquis, and it was even more difficult to be a king.

And how powerful the kings and marquises can be, these days, Xie Luoshui can also feel it.

At this moment, the old but majestic emperor held her hand and promised word by word: "I heard from the sea merchants that there is a land overseas where three crops grow. As long as you can bring them back, I will make you a marquis. If you want the land of Kuaiji, I will make you Kuaiji Marquis. If you don't want it, I will make you Luoyang County."

Luoyang County is the county where Xie Luoshui raised his parents. Being made a marquis here can be said to be a return home in glory.

There is little rain in winter, but it happened to rain today. The sound of raindrops hitting the glazed tiles, and knocking on the heart with the sound of people, knocking, shaking.

Xie Luoshui looked at the old emperor in a trance, and the light in his eyes lit up little by little during those words.

——That is the light of hope and a bright future.

＊

The old emperor announced on the spot that the Marquis of Kuaiji was stripped of his title and imprisoned with Madam Du, waiting for execution. As for the fake prince, he should have been sentenced for rape, but the old emperor directly determined that he was murderer, and the victim was already dead, so he had to pay with his life.

The fake prince's legs were shaking, and he tried to make his voice sound less scared: "Who did I kill!"

Oh, he was trying to fight to the death.

The old emperor didn't say anything, and the Minister of Justice seemed to "remind" him helplessly: "Wei Min, the fetus is also a human being!"

He sighed long and was particularly sad.

The fake prince was choked by these words, and his face twisted.

He wanted to yell and argue. If abortion can be considered murder, there would be countless murderers in the world. But...

looking at the Great Xia Emperor not far away, the fake prince trembled from his legs to his hands, and his whole body was trembling. Finally, he collapsed and shouted: "I was wrong! I know I was wrong! I really! I really won't dare to do it again!" He

cried bitterly, tears streaming down his face.

The old emperor pointed at him and looked at Xie Luoshui with a meaningful smile in his eyes.

"Xie Qing, look."

From being sentenced to two years of hard labor, it directly became a death sentence -

"This is power."

Xie Luoshui's heart suddenly jumped.

The five fingers of the right hand slowly, slowly tightened, as if to hold something.

*

The old emperor was merciful and only liquidated the family of the Marquis of Kuaiji, and did not attack the nine clans of the Marquis of Kuaiji.

The Marquis of Kuaiji was even more upset. He would rather the old emperor exterminate his entire clan than let his twin brother go.

Moreover, he also hated--

"Xie Luoshui! On what basis! The position of Marquis of Kuaiji was obtained by my father after he fought many battles and won many battles with the emperor. On what basis can you be promised the title of Marquis so easily!"

He shouted very loudly, so loudly that Xu Yanmiao could hear it.

Xu Yanmiao just thought that this person was inexplicable.

[It was your father who fought many battles, not you. What does it have to do with you?]

"Ha--" The Minister of Justice laughed out loud without any sense of boundaries.

The Marquis of Kuaiji didn't know whether to glare at Xu Yanmiao or the Minister of Justice first. He was so angry that he almost lost control.

Xu Yanmo continued to add fuel to the fire without knowing it.

[And speaking of ease, isn't it easier for you to inherit the title by just being the first-born? ]

[But it's no wonder. After all, the title almost fell into the hands of his younger brother, so it's normal for him to be upset because of this. ] [Fortunately,

he didn't know that his father was hesitant about whether to give him the title, and finding out that he couldn't have children was only a small factor - after all, he only needed to give him a child from the Wei family. ]

[If he knew that his father was more because of his incompetence, thought he was frivolous, didn't do practical things, and paid too much attention to reputation, he would only exaggerate. I'm afraid it will break even more...】

"Ah——"

Kuaiji Hou screamed in grief, his eyes rolled back, and he actually fainted.

The imperial physician felt his pulse and reported to the old emperor: "He is so angry that he may faint for a while."

【Ah? No way? Did you make yourself faint? You are so petty.】

Xu Yanmiao was still unconscious.

The clerk of the Ministry of War looked at him hesitantly, just wanting to say: That's enough, Xu Yanmiao, please behave yourself! This man has already fainted, there is no way he can faint a second time.

Soon, the unconscious Kuaiji Hou, his wife and fake son were imprisoned in the prison.

The Crown Prince just glanced twice and yawned: "Another one comes in."

The former Prince Consort calmly looked at the three newcomers for several times - there is no separate room for men and women in the prison. He found that the man was unconscious, the woman was manic, and only the younger one, with lifeless eyes staring at the ceiling, seemed to be able to communicate.

So he raised his enthusiasm slightly and asked who they were and how they got in. When

the fake prince told him about his family situation, he saw the other person went from being stunned to having a crazy smile on his face. The fake prince

was furious: "What are you laughing at!"

The former Prince Consort: "It's okay, it's okay. Your parents are going to be beheaded, and my parents are just demoted to commoners! From this point of view, my family's situation is much better than yours."

The fake prince: "..."

Want to hit someone.

The Crown Prince suddenly spoke up: "Did you hear any rumors before you came in?"

The fake prince was stunned: "What?"

The Crown Prince chose his words: "Has the royal family made any moves... like dealing with the woman who caused trouble in the palace - or has your adoptive father told you something similar?"

The fake prince: "No."

The Crown Prince was delighted: "Then has she been released..."

"No." The fake prince answered based on his own impression: "Nothing happened in the royal family, otherwise my father... my adoptive father, would have told me to prevent me from getting into trouble."

The former son-in-law also said: "I didn't notice anything before I came in."

The eyebrows on the face of the crown prince were almost squeezed into a ball.

After the former Marquis of Kuaiji woke up, he asked again. The former Marquis of Kuaiji understood why he asked this, and said: "The court only knows that your highness has been imprisoned, and also knows why you were imprisoned, but there is no news about the punishment of that nobleman."

After hearing this, the crown prince's face turned pale.

No news... That's right, family shame should not be made public, A Zheng must have been secretly executed by the grandfather!

Grandpa is too unkind...

Inevitably, a resentment subtly rose from the bottom of my heart and lingered for a long time.

*

The court was dismissed.

Xu Yanmiao walked home lazily, completely unaware of the complicated gazes behind him.

Several times, from the emperor to the officials, they wanted to speak up, stop him, and ask him about America, but all kinds of thoughts piled up in their hearts, and they couldn't shout out.

Xu Yanmiao just strolled back home slowly, and then...

"Fuck, what the hell is this?!"

At the door of the house, boxes were placed there, and guards stood vigilantly around them. As soon as they saw Xu Yanmiao, the tense expressions on their faces relaxed: "Xu Lang, you are finally back."

Xu Yanmiao: "What are you..."

"We are the guards of Princess Wanshou. We are here on the orders of the princess to send gifts to thank Xu Lang for his righteous words that day."

Xu Yanmiao was shocked.

"So many boxes of things, just to thank you for a few words?"

The guard leader nodded modestly.

He actually murmured in his heart, but the princess insisted, so he had to obey.

"Please accept them, Xu Lang. The princess said that Xu Lang gave her a second life. These are just small gifts, not even one ten-thousandth of Xu Lang's kindness."

Xu Yanmiao: "Then... put them in the house first."

Boxes were carried in one by one.

"The princess is really generous."

Xu Yanmiao was very happy: "Fortunately, the old emperor pointed at me casually that day!"

He looked around the house and soon there was no place to stay.

Xu Yanmiao scratched his head: "It seems that I have to move to a new house in the next few days." He

looked down and saw: "Why is there a letter hanging on the lock."

...

Outside the window, the clouds were a little dark, and the night was brewing. Xu Yanmiao fumbled to light the candle and opened the envelope in front of it.

"Is Taisun's uncle about to return to Beijing? His uncle is in a high position and has a strong relationship with him?"

The candlelight illuminated Xu Yanmiao's innocent face.

"But what does this have to do with me? I haven't offended Taisun."

He thought for a while.

"I know!" Xu Yanmiao clapped her hands: "After Uncle Taisun returns to the court, he will definitely do something based on Taisun's imprisonment. The court will definitely be in turmoil. The princess is reminding me that I must keep my head down and not get involved in the fight between the bosses!"

The princess is such a good person!

*

On the other side.

Princess Xiangyang's Mansion.

Following the princess' orders,

"Move this Huanghuali burl wood cabinet!"

"Move this Huanghuali large screen inlaid with yellow marble!"

"Take all these quilts and satin pillows and burn them. Who knows if he has contracted the same disease as his uncle!"

"This set of blue and white trays and tea bowls has never been touched by the prince consort, right? Okay, leave it."

When Princess Wanshou walked in, she saw the servants here being directed around by Princess Xiangyang, and each item was either moved away or destroyed.

Princess Xiangyang was standing on the swing, swinging back and forth, and under the stone bench next to her, she actually placed a pair of exquisite embroidered shoes lazily.

"Shengxian, what are you doing..."

Princess Xiangyang turned around: "Fifth sister?"

She did not get off, but pulled the rope with one hand, and asked with a smile: "Why did Fifth sister come to me?"

Princess Wanshou told her the purpose of her visit.

It turned out that she wanted to ask this most favored princess to rescue the slaves who were previously imprisoned by the prince consort.

"They have never bullied me, and my indenture is in Liu Yi's hands. They are afraid of being beaten to death or sold. How dare they make a mistake, let alone treat me well."

Princess Wanshou seemed to be in a trance, and spoke slowly: "If you want to blame it, just blame me for not being able to stand up on my own back then, how can you blame them for not helping me?"

"My father was furious and put them in jail, waiting for execution in autumn. I had never thought about this at first. These two days when I went to the Ministry of Revenue, I heard the officials talking about the difficulties of their families in their spare time and how they had to humble themselves for a living. I thought that they were at least officials, and their lives were so hard, not to mention the slaves whose lives and deaths were not decided by others."

But compared with her father, the emperor, who was arbitrary and indifferent to her, and her mother, the empress, who was gentle and generous but had only met her a few times, the first person who came to her mind was her little sister who ran around happily behind her before she got married and called her sister.

The little sister tilted her head and looked at her on the swing.

Princess Xiangyang always knew the temperament of her fifth sister. Kindness is naturally kind, but it is limited to "people", and slaves are naturally not included.

She had only been on duty for a few days? She could already see the suffering of the servants.

Being an official... could it really change a person so much?

Princess Xiangyang suddenly became very interested in being an official.

So, after easily asking her father to release the servants, she naturally said, "Daddy! I want to be an official too!"

The old emperor looked at her in confusion: "Why would a girl like you be an official? Is that something you can do?"

"My fifth sister is also an official. She can do the accounting, and I am not bad at it either."

"It's not bad, but your fifth sister was conscripted temporarily. And she was almost beaten to death by her husband, so she needs to find something to do. Can you do the same as her?"

Princess Xiangyang began to think about the possibility of catching the husband she had just divorced and forcing him to beat her.

Princess Xiangyang said again: "And the one who beats the drum..."

"I need her to go to sea."

Princess Xiangyang was not going to do it: "Daddy! I want to be an official!"

However, this time, no matter how she made a fuss, the old emperor who usually agreed to everything she said just refused to give in.

*

Princess Xiangyang stormed out of the palace: "I don't want to talk to Daddy anymore!"

Five days! She begged Daddy for five days, but he just refused to agree. When he was forced into a corner, he even asked her to copy "Nuji"!

"I'm so angry!"

"I'm so angry!"

Two voices said in unison.

Princess Xiangyang paused, looked up at the other side, and couldn't help but hissing.

What a handsome young man!

The other side also looked at him in amazement.

"What are you angry about?"

"What are you angry about?"

The two said in unison again. After saying that, the two looked at each other and couldn't help laughing.

Princess Xiangyang: "My name is Gao Xiang, what's yours?"

"Gao? It's the royal family's surname." The other party smiled and said: "My surname is Xu, and my name is Xu Yanmiao."

*

The two sat in the hot and noisy teahouse, and Xu Yanmiao's voice was light and lively: "I have been looking for a new house these days, not to buy, but to rent."

"I put forward my requirements, and the real estate agency said it would definitely meet them, but it turned out to be a lie to me!"

"I said I wanted a landlord who was easy to get along with, and they patted their chests and guaranteed that the house they picked for me would be easy to get along with!"

"As a result, I found a landlord who would collect the rent in advance and even take advantage of the situation to raise the rent! Don't think I don't know. His previous tenant's mother came to the capital to visit her. After he knew about it, he deliberately took advantage of the fact that the mother needed a place to stay and raised the rent by 20%. "

When he got excited, his finger joints knocked on the table twice, "dong dong", like drum accompaniment.

Princess Xiangyang widened her eyes: "How hateful! You can't live in such a person's house!"

"Yes, yes, I think so too!"

"Then there was another time, I said I didn't want to live close to a ditch. When it rains, sewage will come out of the ditch and flood into the courtyard. Even if there is no sewage, I don't like a wet house. They also agreed to take me to see a house. There were indeed no ditches nearby, but it was a thatched cottage in a remote area, and they swore to me that the roof would not leak!"

"How could it not leak! I saw... I know everything. Every previous resident had to take out all the pots and pans in their homes when it rained!"

"And more..."

Xu Yanmiao talked a lot, which amazed Princess Xiangyang. She wanted to know where this person got his information from - even more well-informed than the beggars in the storybooks!

This made Princess Xiangyang want to complain.

So after Xu Yanmiao finished complaining about the experience of finding a rental house in the past few days, she also started to complain: "My father is just a stubborn old man. I said I wanted to do some work in the restaurant at home, but he refused, saying it was not good for a daughter to show up in public."

"He also said that I am coquettish and reserved, and I can't do anything if I go. If I can't run a restaurant, can I stand at the gate to greet people? And I'm not bad at accounting. As long as he wants, he can obviously find a seat for me, and I can climb up by myself!"

"He just doesn't want to agree!"

After Xu Yanmiao thought for a few seconds, her head "ding——" and she had an idea.

"I've thought of a way, but it might be a little immoral."

"It doesn't matter! Tell me!"

"Does your father have anything he loves or someone he cares about?"

"My mother."

"That's easy! I tell you, hit the snake at its most vulnerable part..."

Xu Yanmiao muttered in a low voice, and the more Princess Xiangyang listened, the brighter her eyes became.

That night.

In the Pepper Room, the old emperor excitedly picked up the spoon: "Sister, you love this chicken soup the most, I'll feed you, ah..."

Empress Dou's ears blushed: "How old are you!"

The old emperor: "No matter how old you are, you are still my sister, come, ah..."

Empress Dou was embarrassed, but was about to open her mouth very sweetly.

Princess Xiangyang: "Ah——"

The old emperor: "..."

Empress Dou: "..."

The old emperor was shocked: "Gao Shengxian! Why are you here!"

Princess Xiangyang held her face: "I came to visit my mother." Empress

Dou stood up suddenly, her neck red: "You eat, I haven't finished my palace affairs today!"

The old emperor silently stretched out his hand, but the queen walked very fast, as if something was chasing her from behind.

...

The old emperor and the queen strolled in the garden.

When going up the stone steps, the old emperor directly pushed the palace maids aside: "Sister, I'll help you!"

Empress Dou stretched out her hand.

The two were very close.

Empress Dou said softly: "Wulang, do you remember that year..."

The old emperor was about to respond tacitly, but suddenly he felt his hair stand on end. He was the emperor, and he had experienced countless crises, big and small. He shouted: "Who's there!" There was

a rustling sound in the bushes.

The old emperor almost raised his foot and kicked over.

Princess Xiangyang came out: "Dad! Mom! What a coincidence!"

The old emperor: "..."

Empress Dou: "..."

Princess Xiangyang: "By the way, Mom, you and Dad were..."

Empress Dou coughed lightly and quickly recounted what happened in those years. There was no trace of the charming atmosphere at all.

The old emperor::(

After three or five times like this, the old emperor could no longer bear it and gave Princess Xiangyang an official position: "It's the New Year now, and I'm quite busy. You can take up the position after the New Year!"

"Okay! Daddy, you're the best! I'll live out of the palace for a few days!"

The old emperor: "..."

The next day, the old emperor went to court.

Hearing Xu Yanmiao's happy voice.

[Finally found a house with a nice landlord, a good location, no water leaks, and neighbors who are friendly to get along with!]

[Sure enough, good people are rewarded!]

[This must be a reward from God after I gave Gao Xiang advice!]

[I heard from Gao Xiang that her father asked her to go back to work after the Chinese New Year, and she didn't know what kind of job it was. Gao Xiang also said that her father was stingy and wanted to try her out for three months without paying her... Tsk tsk, his stinginess is comparable to that of the old emperor. t]

On the golden stage, the old emperor clenched his fists expressionlessly.