In her past life, Gu Jiaojiao was bestowed the title of Crown Prince's concubine, and she would be invited to various family flower parties and tea parties.
Wang Yiniang's daughter, Gu Xuanxuan, wholeheartedly recognized Tu Shi as her only mother. Later, Tu Shi promoted her and she married Pei Shangshu's eldest son by a concubine.
However, Gu Huanhuan, the legitimate daughter of the second wife, Madam Lu, encountered a major incident at the flower viewing party.
Xie Zhaozhao had no recollection of this Chrysanthemum Gathering in her previous life, so she probably didn't attend; it was Tu Shi who took a few girls there instead.
She didn't know the specifics of what happened at the time; she only knew that Gu Huanhuan had accidentally fallen into the water and was rescued by the illegitimate son of the Sun family. She was thus publicly disgraced and had no choice but to marry that illegitimate son.
Unfortunately, that illegitimate son was a good-for-nothing. Not only did he lack talent, but he was also a pervert. Gu Huanhuan died a little over a year after marrying into the family, when she developed a "bloat" and her stomach was swollen like a drum.
The man also claimed she was pregnant, and then used a dagger to cut open her stomach, revealing a belly full of dirty water.
It's probably ascites!
In her previous life, Gu Huanhuan and Xie Zhaozhao had little interaction. In her memory, the child was rather honest and not as shrewish as Madam Lu.
Xie Zhaozhao and Manman walked slowly, thinking about the discord between the Tu family and the Lu family, and how the Tu family was so vicious as to want to ruin the other family's daughter's life.
Her wickedness extends far beyond this one incident!
A few days ago, Xiangxing and Chunshan secretly buried a witchcraft doll under the osmanthus tree. On the surface, it was Xie Xiangxiang who did it, but Xie Zhaozhao knew that Tu Shi must have been behind it.
It is even very likely that Gu Chengyan's guidance was involved.
Xie Xiangxiang is a stupid and vicious gun. She wanted to harm her own elder sister, but she didn't expect that in other people's plans, they had always intended to kill two birds with one stone, both controlling Xie Zhaozhao and clipping Xie Xiangxiang's wings.
In her previous life, the old lady fell into the water a little later.
That time, the old lady was very ill.
Tu summoned Qi Zhenzi, who brought the Five Elements Compass. Under the crabapple tree in Fanghua Garden, they found the witchcraft doll, catching Xie Zhaozhao off guard.
She was speechless and the old lady punished her by making her kneel in the ancestral hall for three days. During this time, Madam Tu threatened to report to the authorities, saying that the Xie family had raised a vicious daughter who was practicing witchcraft in the Marquis's mansion.
His Majesty detests witchcraft, because Consort Yun was banished to the Cold Palace because Empress Wei Yingzi revealed that a cursed witchcraft doll was found in Consort Yun's room.
If the matter is reported to the authorities, Xie Zhaozhao will be severely punished, and her father and elder brother will certainly be implicated as well.
I don't know how Gu Chengyan did things with the maids she gave her, but her dowry maids Hanyan and Qingqiu, the two silly girls, knelt in front of the old lady and Madam Tu and admitted that they were the ones who made the witchcraft dolls.
They begged them to spare their young lady, saying that everything had nothing to do with Xie Zhaozhao.
To distance themselves from her, the two girls both hanged themselves.
These girls, as beautiful as flowers, are only fifteen years old; their lives haven't even truly begun.
...
A few days ago, upon hearing that the old lady had fallen into the water and the whole household was frantically searching for her, she immediately thought of her past life!
I hated it so much I broke my fingernails.
She immediately sent Yuanyuan to the Xie residence to find the family physician and ask for a prescription to treat infertility.
Instruct Mo Yan to immediately return to the mansion and check if anything is buried in the courtyard.
She didn't know how Mo Yan, Bei Chen, and Yuan Yuan came together to discuss the matter, but the result was that powerful counterattack.
Bei Chen is a highly skilled bodyguard, and Yuan Yuan also has martial arts skills. It would be easy for them to reverse the framing and deceive the fools like Xie Xiangxiang, Xiang Xing, and Chun Shan.
She had always known that Madam Xu and Xie Xiangxiang were hostile towards her, even when she was very young. Madam Xu and Xie Xiangxiang pushed her into an ice hole in the dead of winter, and Madam Xu punished her by making her kneel in the snow and ice for not learning proper manners.
Even when it came to scheming for her marriage, it was one thing for her to marry down in her previous life, but in this life, Xie Xiangxiang had memories of her past life, so she was determined to scheme against her and marry her off to the "prematurely deceased" Gu Shaoyu.
Fortunately, Gu Shaoyu returned alive.
Even now, Xie Xiangxiang is completely unaware that she has been used by Madam Tu and Gu Chengyan, and continues to target her elder sister at every turn...
Just as she was thinking about these troubling domestic matters, Mo Yan rushed over to find her.
"Madam, Miss Zhang has come to visit you, it seems she has something very important to discuss."
It was already dinnertime, and Zhang Yanyan was extremely polite. For her to visit at this time, it must be something extremely urgent.
She and Manman hurried back to Qingpu Courtyard, where Aunt Cui had already arranged for Zhang Yanyan to wait in the flower hall.
"Zhaozhao, I have no choice but to come to you for help," Zhang Yanyan said, crying. "My brother has gotten into a terrible mess."
"What happened? Tell me slowly."
"It was my fourth brother who caused the trouble..."
The academy organized a debate among the students. During a break, someone brought up a topic for debate: Why is the husband of a county princess called "郡马" (junma), the husband of a county princess called "县马" (xianma), but the husband of a princess called "驸马" (fuma)?
“The Imperial Son-in-Law Commandant,” Zhang Hexuan blurted out. “Or is he called a male horse?”
It was this one sentence, "The princess's husband is named Gongma," that caused a huge disaster.
As the saying goes, walls have ears. The Crown Prince's men overheard this and claimed that they were working for Prince Qi and were slandering the Eldest Princess.
The eldest princess was none other than the crown prince's own aunt, the empress dowager's own daughter, Princess Xiyan, and Emperor Hui's half-sister.
The imperial son-in-law was the top scholar in the imperial examination in the second year of Emperor Hui's reign, and he was from Luocheng.
The Luo family was also a prominent clan. Luo Cheng was not only handsome but also a man of both literary and martial talents. Since marrying the eldest princess, his official career had come to an end.
A once brilliant genius, after a period of depression, started raising horses and keeping prostitutes.
After the couple had two children, one kept a prostitute and the other kept a male concubine; they each did their own thing. However, every now and then, the prince consort Luo would be approached by women demanding money for abortion medication.
Therefore, some people privately called Luo Fuma (Luo Gongma).
Zhang Hexuan made this casual remark, and everyone said he was alluding to Consort Luo.
Ultimately, it escalated to the point of being considered a grave disrespect to the imperial family, and the Censorate impeached Minister Zhang for failing to manage his household properly, thus committing a grave disrespect to the imperial family.
After the court session, Minister Zhang was still kneeling outside the Imperial Study.
Like the Xie family, the Zhang family was a prominent clan. Over the years, they had been living in constant fear. The matriarch of the family, fearing that she would implicate the entire clan, had no choice but to sacrifice her own grandson, Zhang Hexuan, to express her loyalty to the Emperor.
“Zhaozhao, please tell Grand Secretary Gu to save my fourth brother. He was tricked into saying those words. Someone kept talking to him about it, and he just repeated what they said without thinking.”
“He’s an idiot, but he’s my own brother. As long as he can live, it’s better to be expelled from the manor than to be beaten to death.”
Zhang Yanyan cried sadly, and Xie Zhaozhao was also somewhat saddened.
She knew Zhang Yanyan well; she was an extremely proud person and wouldn't normally cry like that.
"Don't worry, the Grand Secretary just went out on business. I'll tell him when he gets back that I'll give you a reply tomorrow, whether it works or not."
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