With a snow-white handkerchief folded neatly, Liu Wenji was waiting outside the tent, holding a golden cup. In the hallway farther away, palace maids were walking slowly towards him, holding medicine.
Liu Wenji winked at them, pointed at the palace suggestively, and shook his head. The maids had just come out of the Shang Pharmacy, holding medicine that the emperor would use soon. The leading maid listened attentively and heard the intermittent crying in the palace, and knew it was Princess Danyang.
No one dared to disturb them, but the palace maid pleaded with Liu Wenzhi in embarrassment, saying that the medicine had cooled and lost its efficacy, and it might not be good.
Liu Wenji thought for a moment and said he would go in to ask His Majesty for instructions. He used this excuse to enter the palace and heard the Princess Danyang's crying more clearly.
The emperor was lying on a recliner, and Mu Wanyao was lying on his lap crying.
Liu Wenzhi went in and saw clearly from the gilded bronze mirror that when Mu Wan raised her face, she was without any makeup, and she did not look as flamboyant and bright as before. Instead, she looked very charming and pitiful.
Mu Wanyao was crying: "Father, my elder brother and I have done many wrong things recently, and I have not dared to come to see you. It is because I am afraid of being away from home, and I am afraid that you will be disappointed in me. Father, will you blame me?"
The emperor was extremely thin, and looked even more haggard than the last time Mu Wanyao saw him. He stretched out his withered hand and patted Mu Wanyao on the shoulder, signaling her not to be like this.
Mu Wan raised her head and saw her father looking down at her under the dim light. She didn't know if it was because the light was too dim, but she could see some pity for her in her father's eyes.
When Mu Wan was stunned, the emperor sighed and said, "You are my little daughter, we are family, what's so strange about that?"
Mu Wan shook her head and bit her lip: "But I was bewildered and took many wrong paths."
The emperor smiled and said, "If you find your way back after losing your way, aren't you still a good kid?"
Mu Wan shook his head uneasily: "Father, are you particularly angry with me? In fact, I didn't do anything bad. Yan Er mentioned the 72 lives of Yizhou. I only found out what happened these two days. As soon as I found out, I felt that this matter was a bit excessive.
"I can't sleep at night and always have nightmares. The Minister of the Ministry of Revenue left my house, and everyone says that everything he did was instructed by me. These two days, the court has been impeaching me and asking my father to send me to Danyang. I know I have done a lot of wrong things, but my father is in poor health, and I want to stay with him and take care of him..."
Danyang is Mu Wanyao's fiefdom, but if she wasn't so unpopular, which princess would be driven to her own fiefdom to live out her life?
She didn't call him "Father" in a half-hearted way, but called him "Father" affectionately like the common people. She called him "Father" again and again, and cried on the emperor's knees with tears in her eyes. In this mood, the emperor seemed to be soaked in her tears and became even more soft-hearted.
The emperor said, "Yaoyao, don't be afraid. No one can drive you back to Danyang. You don't have to worry about the impeachment of those ministers. After all, you are the monarch and they are the ministers. You are the master and they are the stewards. Can the stewards drive the master out of his own home? Don't worry."
Mu Wanyao paused for a moment and said dejectedly, "I thought I had lost the support of the people and that my father would blame me."
The emperor's answer was very interesting: "The people's hearts are easy to lose and easy to gain. As long as the overall situation is under control, that's enough. Yaoyao, you must remember that we are the king and the master."
Mu Wan was startled.
She felt a sense of confusion. It was as if Yan Shang had been telling her every day to be kind to the people, and she was about to waver. But as soon as she turned around and returned to her father's world, she felt that no one cared too much.
The emperor just wanted to maintain stability.
The only thing that really cares about the people is Yan Shang.
Mu Wanyao was in a daze when she heard the emperor coughing behind his handkerchief. She saw Liu Wenji out of the corner of her eye and immediately realized that the emperor needed to take medicine. The emperor coughed violently, so Mu Wanyao quickly stood up to serve him, and Liu Wenji also took two quick steps to come up.
Liu Wenji helped the emperor lie back on the couch, and Mu Wan shook her head and stared at the handkerchief in her hand that the emperor had used to suppress his cough. She saw the blood on the handkerchief, dripping with blood.
Although I have always known that my father is in poor health, every time I see him, I feel that his life is fading away bit by bit...
Even though she hated him, Mu Wanyao couldn't help feeling sad.
Instead, the emperor turned around and saw his daughter holding the handkerchief in a daze, and he comforted her: "It's just an old problem, don't worry about it."
Mu Wan shook her head, looked at him with tearful eyes, and said, "Father, please take care of your health."
...At least for now, the emperor's health cannot go wrong.
Otherwise, the prince would naturally ascend to the throne.
Maybe she won't be too successful.
-----
Mu Wanyao's cooperation with the prince has always been based on interests, each taking what they need. But she thought that after such a long cooperation, the prince should trust her more. Unexpectedly, the prince would still doubt her when there was a little disturbance.
The prince never considered her as his own.
They usually pretend that everything is fine, but when a real crisis occurs, the gap between them will cause big problems.
Just like this time.
Mu Wanyao went to the palace and cried to the emperor. In fact, she didn't say anything important. She didn't know how much her father knew about the court affairs with his health condition. But at least Mu Wanyao got the emperor's guarantee that the Ministry of Revenue was bankrupt and the emperor had no intention of settling Mu Wanyao.
With this assurance, Mu Wanyao felt much more at ease and was not so panicked. She began to think of more ways to save herself -
In her eyes, her situation was one-sided and her capable ministers were mostly destroyed. She hated Yan Shang to death, but what was more important was to get herself out of this situation.
Mu Wanyao went to the East Palace twice again. After the prince still refused to see her, she ignored him and thought about it herself. She studied the ministers who were now speaking for Yan Shang in the court and found that they were all ministers with shallow foundations, and there were not many families with strong foundations.
Mu Wanyao couldn't help but ponder, wondering if these ministers had no foundation, yet they actually supported Yan Shang. Are there really so many righteous people in the court, or is there someone instructing them to do so?
If someone instructed her...was it her father?
And does the Emperor want to... support the poor?
Mu Wan was stunned. If her father wanted to use this opportunity to allow ministers from humble backgrounds to have more say in the court, then wouldn't Yan Shang's actions be in line with her father's goal? Would her father protect Yan Shang this time?
Mu Wanyao was sitting in the house analyzing the current situation. She saw from the corner of her eyes that the maids were standing in the corridor whispering something outside the pearl curtain. Mu Wanyao was upset and felt that their whispers were particularly noisy. She said angrily, "What are you talking about?!"
The maids who were whispering outside were startled and dared not answer. Xia Rong came in and asked the princess: "We are talking about what happened next door."
Shake it quiet at dusk.
She mocked, "Why, are you planning to rebel against my princess's mansion and go to the prison to see Yan Erlang? How did he trick you into believing in him? Are you still planning to be his 17th or 18th concubine?"
Xia Rong didn't dare to interfere in the relationship between the princess and Yan Erlang, so she smiled and said, "The maids are not talking about that. They are talking about the people from the Dali Temple coming to search the mansion next door."
Mu Wan was stunned.
She murmured, "Did people from the Dali Temple come to search our house?"
She thought: What does it have to do with me? Given Yan Shang’s current situation, it is only natural that his house was searched.
Xia Rong observed Mu Wanyao's expression and said, "But the mansion next door was given to Yan Erlang by His Highness. Isn't it a slap in the face of His Highness that the Dali Temple confiscated the house?"
Mu Wan lowered her eyes and held the book, saying calmly: "They are enforcing the law impartially, I want to avoid suspicion."
Xia Rong didn't know what to say anymore and stepped back.
However, Mu Wanyao only read a book for a while in the room, and Xia Rong came back and asked Mu Wanyao for instructions outside the beaded curtain. Mu Wanyao was angry at her for being annoying, and when she glared at her, she saw that Xia Rong was panicked and confused: "Your Highness, the officials from the Dali Temple have come to our princess's mansion."
Mu Wan was stunned.
Then he became furious: "What do you mean?! I don't care about the things next door and let them raid my house, but they want to raid my princess's house instead? Do you think I'm easy to bully?!"
-----
Mu Wanyao was extremely angry, so he strode out to greet the officials from the Dali Temple.
The officials from the Dali Temple were blocked at the alley outside the princess's mansion. Fang Tong and other guards from the princess's mansion stopped them in a box and prevented them from entering the mansion.
The leading official was negotiating with Fang Tong, saying that he was enforcing the law impartially, but he heard an angry female voice approaching from afar: "I don't know what crime I have committed that the Dali Temple dares to search my princess's mansion? Am I a criminal? You are disobeying me!"
The Dali Temple official looked up and saw Princess Danyang in a red gauze dress coming down the stairs, followed by her maids. Mu Wan looked over, her eyes still showing a smile, but seven points of them were filled with cold anger.
Seeing that the princess had misunderstood, the Dali Temple official hurriedly explained: "Your Highness has misunderstood. I dare not search the princess's mansion. I came to search Yan's mansion, but I found some things in Yan's mansion that I can't explain. Yan Erlang's behavior is improper, so we naturally have to investigate. We just came to ask Your Highness some questions."
Mu Wanyao thought to himself: It turned out that the fire was started by Yan Shang.
But Yan Shang was almost tortured to death by them, what else could he do?
Thinking of Yan Shang whom he saw in prison that day, Mu Wanyao felt uneasy and said perfunctorily, "What do you want to ask?"
The Dali Temple official said, "In the room of Chunniang in the brothel, a portrait of Her Royal Highness the Princess was found. We naturally know that it is impossible for Her Royal Highness, who is so noble, to have any dealings with a brothel girl. This was certainly done intentionally by Yan Erlang. We have received an order to search Yan Erlang's residence."
Mu Wanyao stared at them for a long while and said, "They found my portrait in a brothel girl's possession. They thought Yan Shang and I had an affair and suspected that I had instructed Yan Shang to investigate the Ministry of Revenue. I had a hidden agenda. So you came to search Yan Shang's mansion to see if he had anything that he had secretly given to Her Highness the Princess, so as to prove that he and I had an affair."
The Dali Temple officials were suddenly embarrassed.
Mu Wan shook his head coldly: "Have you found any evidence that he and I have an affair?"
The Dali Temple official said in a friendly tone: "Your Highness is pure and innocent. There is naturally no such thing in Yan Erlang's mansion."
Mu Wanyao said nothing.
She had never given Yan Shang anything of her own, and Yan Shang never accepted it. So no matter how the ministers openly speculated that she and Yan Shang had an unusual relationship, they had no physical evidence. Mu Wanyao had known Yan Shang for only a month, and she had given him an ugly embroidered purse.
I guess no one would care about such an ugly wallet.
Even if they saw it, they would not think that it was a gift from the princess to a minister.
Thinking of this, Mu Wanyao couldn't help feeling a little sad.
The Dali Temple official continued: "I found some things that don't conform to regulations in Yan Erlang's residence."
Mu Wanyao suddenly raised his eyes and looked.
The official smiled and said, "With his rank, there are some things that he could never afford. I just heard that Your Highness once had a relationship with him as a vassal and monarch, so I want to know if it was Your Highness who gave it to him."
Mu Wanyao listened and immediately thought that the other party was deceiving her. But when she opened her mouth to angrily scold the other party for talking nonsense, she was suddenly stunned and her eyes shrank -
Yan Shang was such a self-reflective person that he would never use anything that was beyond the scope of his official position. In the past, he would find a way to return whatever Mu Wanyao gave him. But there was one time when he did not return it, or rather, he never had the time to return it.
There was one time when she forced Yan Shang to make trouble in the carriage, and Yan Shang couldn't help but do as she wished, but the two of them ran into Yang Si coming to find Mu Wanyao.
Yan Shang was so ashamed and angry that he turned away. Mu Wanyao then sent many treasures to the next door to apologize to him.
But then they quarreled over the issue of offspring, and Mu Wanyao left Chang'an for Jinling, while Yan Shang went to Yizhou. When they came back, they quarreled again over the issue of Yizhou.
The precious items that Mu Wanyao gave him as an apology were never returned.
Now, these people from the Dali Temple are probably going to use these things to tie her and Yan Shang together.
Mu Wan shook her head and asked, "What did Yan Shang say?"
The Dali Temple official laughed: "The evidence is all there, what can he say? If there was no evidence, why would we come to question His Highness?"
Mu Wanyao: "You mean, Yan Shang said that I gave this to him?"
The Dali Temple official replied: "The evidence is all here."
Mu Wanyao revealed a sarcastic smile.
She said, "Yan Shang didn't say that, right? Did he admit his relationship with me? He said with his own mouth that he and I had a special relationship, and that everything he did was related to me? Did you torture him to make him speak?"
The Dali Temple official evaded the point and said, "Your Highness is well aware of our torture methods."
Mu Wan shook his head coldly: "You still don't dare to answer my question directly."
She raised her chin slightly and looked at the officials in the alley indifferently. She said, "When you get solid evidence from Yan Shang and he signs his name, you can come and question me again."
Dali Temple official: "Then Your Highness doesn't admit it?"
Mu Wanyao said, "I am waiting for Yan Shang's testimony. Fang Tong, show him away!"
She turned and entered the princess's mansion. When she turned her back, her face was pale and her palms that were supporting Xia Rong were sweating. Xia Rong looked up at the princess and saw that her expression was a little blank.
Xia Rong worriedly said, "If Yan Erlang tells about the princess..."
Mu Wanyao said softly: "He won't tell.
“He’s not that kind of guy.
"The Dali Temple must not be able to pry open Yan Shang's mouth and prove that Yan Shang and I are in the same group. The prince put pressure on the Dali Temple, and the Dali Temple came to deceive me. But Yan Shang will not admit it... He is not that kind of person."
There seemed to be tears and star mist in her eyes.
Even though it had come to this, she insisted that he was not that kind of person.
-----
She said, "Let Yan Shang say it himself."
The officials from the Dali Temple, who were politely asked to leave, interrogated Yan Shang, but Yan Shang said nothing.
Chunniang was tortured and couldn't bear it anymore. She cried and said Yan Erlang said the girl in the painting was his wife. But everyone knew that this was Princess Danyang. The prince finally found a breakthrough. He wanted to prove that this was a conspiracy between Yan Shang and Mu Wanyao. He wanted to put all the blame on Mu Wanyao...
Even though Chunniang pointed it out, Yan Shang didn't say anything.
The people from the Dali Temple and the Ministry of Justice were really at a loss, so they went to the Princess's Mansion.
Mu Wan Yao was like this again.
-----
Upon learning this, the prince sneered: "Yaoyao is a stubborn person, I know that. I didn't expect Yan Er to deny his affair with Yaoyao? Are we all blind?"
"Someone has to take the blame for this."
-----
The difficult part is that words are not spoken yet.
Because as long as he spoke, whether he denied or confirmed it, the Dali Temple would find a way to convict him.
If he said that he and Mu Wanyao had no private relationship, and that he only collected the princess's portrait because he admired her, then the things found in Yan Shang's house that did not match his rank and position would be enough to prove that he was not innocent. If he himself was not innocent, how could he accuse the Ministry of Revenue of corruption?
If he admitted that he and Mu Wanyao had an affair, then all this would become even more intriguing. This meant that there was a rift between the princess and the prince, and the princess deliberately used this matter to harm the prince. Most of the things in the Ministry of Revenue were done secretly by the princess behind the prince's back, and the prince was unaware of it. It was all the princess's fault.
As long as Yan Shang opens his mouth... he can be convicted!
This was exactly what the prince came up with after realizing he could no longer blame the Ministry of Revenue.
This means that the prince has no other choice but to use someone as a scapegoat...
The best scapegoat was Mu Wanyao, who was close to the prince.
-----
Mu Wanyao sat in the dark room, in a daze.
After the officials from the Dali Temple left, she thought and planned.
Yan Shang left a portrait for Chunniang, but he refused to speak... He said in prison that he had left a way out for her, but he didn't know whether she was willing.
The people from the Dali Temple and the Ministry of Justice interrogated him about the portrait, but he didn't know what she would choose, so he wouldn't speak no matter what. He was just that kind of person... The Dali Temple actually used Yan Shang to deceive Mu Wanyao, but how could Mu Wanyao believe that Yan Shang would bite her?
There is only one person like Yan Shang in this world. Even if he dies under torture, he will never say a word against her.
Such a hateful husband.
Mu Wan closed her eyes, her eyelashes trembling, and her fingers on the table trembling slightly. She suppressed her confusion when she thought of Yan Shang, and she calmed herself down and thought about how to save herself.
The prince has already made a move on her and is about to abandon her. She wants to get ahead of the prince and do the same thing as him. She wants to race against time with the prince!
When Mu Wanyao walked out of the house, Xia Rong and other maids were startled for a moment. Because the princess's hair was a little disheveled and her clothes were in disarray, she told them, "Prepare the carriage to go to the palace."
Xia Rong: "The princess's appearance..."
Mu Wan shook her head: "I will go and cry in front of my father like this."
-----
Make yourself appear pitiful.
Say you are innocent.
To say that I was framed and forced.
She had to show her fragility as a woman, to let her father know that she was just an ignorant princess... She had to make her father love her, believe in her, and be willing to help her!
Support the poor!
She wanted her father to save her with this answer himself!
-----
The scheming Mu Wanyao once again went to the palace to meet the emperor.
This time, her clothes were disheveled and she cried as she walked. She seemed to have fallen on the road, and her gorgeous clothes were stained with mud. Her face was also covered with dust, and the hairpins on her hair were loose and swaying. She cried all the way to find the emperor, and half of her long black hair was loose.
As soon as the emperor finished drinking the medicine, his little daughter knelt down beside him and began to cry about the humiliation that the Dali Temple had inflicted on her when they came to the princess's mansion today.
"Father, can you please save Yan Shang? I dare not admit it in the Dali Temple, but father knows it. Yan Shang and I are still unclear. If the Dali Temple investigates again, they will definitely say that I instructed Yan Shang to do the Ministry of Revenue. They want to kill Yan Shang and bully your daughter!
"What did I do wrong? I just like Yan Shang and I can't bear to see him die. I secretly went to the prison to see Yan Shang. They wanted to prove Yan Shang's innocence and beat him so hard. I couldn't stand it... I felt so miserable."
They are all fake.
It was just to make the emperor think that she was a silly princess who only had love in her heart, so she cried like this on purpose. The emperor thought she was silly and that she only liked a man, so he loved her and helped her.
But as she cried, Mu Wan thought of Yan Shang, and her tears really condensed. She really cried so hard that she couldn't breathe. She felt uncomfortable with the truth and falsehood, and this kind of disguise was the most perfect.
As she continued crying, the emperor asked her to sit up and held a handkerchief for her. The emperor asked, "Does the woman in the brothel have your portrait?"
Mu Wanyao choked with sobs, and raised her snow-white face blankly, tears streaming down her face: "Big brother wants to use this to harm me. He wants me to take the blame for him. Now they want Yan Shang to be unclean, and they also want me to be unclean. Big brother wants to give up on me, but I didn't do anything.
"I just want to save Yan Shang. I don't know how..."
She didn't want to save Yan Shang.
She wanted to protect herself.
He wanted to draw a clear line between himself and the prince.
He wanted to clear himself from this matter, even if it meant breaking his own wings, and he couldn't be made a scapegoat.
Mu Wanyao: "I also want to help my father clean up the government. I don't want to be used and discarded by them. Father, is there any way I can save Yan Shang? Father, is there anything I can do for you?"
The daughter cried so hard that the emperor felt soft in his heart. For many years, no girl had been like this in front of him. The sound of the evening raindrops was like rain, which reminded him of A Nuan who was far away.
The emperor was in a daze, looking at Mu Wanyao, half of it was reality, half of it was fantasy. He couldn't tell if the girl in front of him was his daughter or his dead wife. Just watching this girl sobbing and crying, his heart started to throb.
Don’t cry, don’t cry…it’s nothing.
The emperor gave the answer that Mu Wanyao had been waiting for: "…support the poor."
-----
The situation in the court changed drastically again after the water turned around in the evening.
Mu Wanyao led her few ministers who firmly supported her and openly sang a different tune from the prince. She began to stand on the side of justice, supporting some ministers without foundation to take office, and let these people fight against the prince.
The King of Qin is stirring up trouble again.
The Ministry of Revenue was on the verge of collapse and it was irreversible. The biggest blow to the prince was Mu Wanyao's sudden betrayal. Mu Wanyao took a group of ministers away and turned against him. Mu Wanyao had traces of evidence of her past deeds in her hands, which she used to threaten him. Mu Wanyao suddenly stood on the side of the people and sought justice for them.
In the dead of winter, one day after the morning court session ended, the prince was leaving the palace with a cold face when he unexpectedly saw Mu Wanyao sitting on the sedan chair, leisurely preparing to pay respects to the emperor again.
Mu Wan smiled at the prince, coldly and indifferently, and the prince had a blank expression on his face.
When the prince was about to pass by, Mu Wanyao stopped the chariot and said, "Brother, if you don't admit defeat, the Ministry of Revenue will be completely lost from your hands. It is better to admit your mistakes early, clear the injustice on Yan Shang, and admit that the Ministry of Revenue did make mistakes before."
The prince said calmly: "Is this all taught to you by your father?"
Mu Wanyao smiled at him, the golden powder at the corners of her eyes fluttering, "I am thinking about big brother. If big brother is still stubborn and loses the Ministry of Revenue, it is winter now, and the soldiers at the border are in need of military pay, right? If big brother loses the Ministry of Revenue, and the Ministry of Revenue completely disobeys big brother, then Yang Sanlang will have a hard time at the border this year.
"After all, who else would care so much about military pay besides Big Brother?"
The prince stared at her and suddenly laughed: "Are you threatening me with Yang San?"
Mu Wan shook her head: "Just a reminder."
The prince said: "You are really amazing. It's a waste that Yang San spoke well of you in front of me many times in the past. Today you use him as a tool and a chess piece to make me admit defeat. Mu Wanyao, you are completely different today. It's a waste of his protection in the past."
The evening was silent for a while.
She smiled. "I don't care."
-----
As long as you have power.
As long as you make a comeback.
It doesn't matter.
-----
At least she wouldn't be thrown out as a scapegoat.
At least she found her place in the court again.
At least she knew what the emperor was thinking.
At least... Yan Shang can survive.
-----
At the end of the twelfth lunar month, the court situation was developing in a positive direction. The voices in the court supporting Yan Shang increased, and when the crown prince went to the palace to take off his crown and plead guilty to the crime, this major case at the end of the year was basically over.
The emperor detained the prince in the East Palace and asked him to learn how to be a king again.
Afterwards, the emperor met Yan Shang.
Two months in prison ended on this day.
The emperor was drowsy when Liu Wenji reminded him that Yan Erlang had arrived. The emperor perked up and asked Yan Erlang to come into the cabinet. Yan Shang was paying his respects to the emperor, and the emperor looked up at him.
I felt that this person seemed to have lost a lot of weight, but she was still fair, beautiful, gentle and calm.
Jail time.
The emperor said calmly: "In this case, the prince has admitted his fault and has temporarily handed over the Ministry of Revenue. Your grievances have been cleared. I think it won't be long before Yan Erlang's reputation as a 'famous minister in the country' who would rather break than bend' spreads throughout the court and the country."
Yan Shang bowed his hands and lowered his sleeves.
The emperor asked: "If something like this happens again next time, will you dare to do it again?"
Yan Shang said softly: "It's just what I should do."
The emperor stared at him for a while, then suddenly smiled teasingly.
He said, "It's a pity that you can't stay in Chang'an. If you stay any longer in Chang'an, your life will be in danger, and Yaoyao will come to me to cry again."
He remained silent, or almost numb.
The emperor said: "Go to Nanyang and be a county magistrate."
Yan Shang raised his head and looked at the emperor.
There is nothing special about Nanyang. What is special is that Nanyang is the base of the maternal family power behind the King of Qin.
The emperor wants to use Yan Shang as a tool... until he can no longer use it.
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