After the morning court, the Emperor returned to the Imperial Study Room. Before he could settle down, he received a memorial submitted by the Princess Qingping Residence.
After reading it, the Emperor chuckled with amusement, "That Qingping, quickly writing to defend the girl, I have never seen her so eager to protect someone apart from her husband and Duanhua. This Su Rong seems to be extraordinary."
The Emperor knew his younger sister Qingping’s character better than anyone. She would not even spare a glance at those she disliked. She would definitely not allow them into her residence, let alone allowing them to stay there for a long period.
Li Quan attempted to probe, "Your Majesty, would you like to summon her to the palace for an audience?"
The Emperor shook his head, "She is just a minor common girl."
Quickly, Li Quan agreed, "Indeed, she isn’t worth your time to meet her specially."
The Emperor put down the memorial from Princess Qingping, planning to deal with it the next day during the early court. If anyone brought up the impeaching of Su Xu again, he would show them Qingping’s memorial.
In the Emperor’s view, such a trivial matter shouldn’t cause someone a lot of trouble. Just as Qingping and her maid had discussed, Yan Li’s lack of magnanimity was an obstacle to his achievement. If he were Yan Li, he would wait for the right opportunity, instead of holding on to this impeachment.
Out of all his sons, the Crown Prince was the most capable. But it also made him feel uneasy. However, with the current balance in court, he did not need Yan Li to be too prominent. His rule wouldn’t be seen as relying solely on the success of his son, would it?
Of course, Prince Zhang Wan would not invite Su Rong to the Wang Residence again. Just as Su Rong thought no one else would dare to invite her, numerous invitations arrived at the Princess Residence. Unlike the invitations from the Crown Princess, which only invited Duanhua and Su Rong, these new invites separately invited Duanhua, Su Rong, and Fen Ling.
There were dozens of invitations, some inviting them for tea, others for banquets, or for fall outings. Various reasons were given for the invitations.
Duanhua went through the invitations one by one, "Hmm, an invitation from Rui’an Wang Residence, from Shen Residence, from the Wei Yuan Residence...Oh? Even from the Duke residence, this one says that Ye Qiuying, the granddaughter of Duke Residence, is having a birthday celebration and they are inviting us."
After she finished, she asked Su Rong, "Is this Ye Qiuying the same niece that Ye Guixue brought to the Capital City?"
"It appears to be so." Su Rong nodded.
"Ah, then we have to accept this invitation." Duanhua said, "My mother should have received their invitation as well. It seems that, the Duke Residence takes a high view of this granddaughter from the Ye Family of Nanchu."
Su Rong laughed, "Of course, they would take her seriously. After all, the Second Young Master Ye is still living in the Duke Residence."
Duanhua blinked, "So, we will be able to see the Second Young Master Ye?"
"Perhaps."
Duanhua turned back to the invitations, "You know Xie Lin. The invitation from the Rui’an Wang Residence is for tomorrow. It’s from the Rui’an Queen, and it says that your brother is also invited, to thank Xie Lin for his help in Jiangning County. Will you attend the banquet tomorrow?"
"Yes."
Duanhua nodded, put the invitation aside, and frowned, "The day after tomorrow, Lady Shen will send someone to pick you and Fen Ling up to stay at the Shen Residence. The invitation says that if I miss you, I can also go with you to stay there, this..."
She hesitated, "Isn’t this inappropriate?"
Su Rong said, "Lady Shen probably fears that you will miss me too much and keep delaying my departure, that’s why she said this."
Duanhua blushed, "What’s wrong with you staying in the Princess Residence?"
Su Rong said, "It’s great, but I can’t just leave my brother alone at the Shen Residence. How about this, the invitation says that they will pick me up the day after tomorrow, then I will go. You can accompany me to the Shen Residence as a guest, but you don’t have to stay there with me. Anyway, I won’t stay there for long. I plan to move to Xie Residence at Dongsi Hutong with my brother. As long as it’s in Capital City, you can find me easily."
Duanhua was not pleased and did not want Su Rong to leave, "Can’t you stay here a few more days?"
Su Rong teased her, "Why don’t you just marry me?"
Duanhua reached out to pinch her, and the two of them immediately burst into laughter.
At the side, Fen Ling was eating melon seeds, looking at the painting and presented a reason, "My Lady, maybe you should not keep us anymore, I’m already tired of the food prepared by the cooks of the Princess Residence."
Before Duanhua could retaliate, he continued: "Moreover, we can’t always stay at the Princess Residence, you should consider the Princess and her son. We are now two burdens."
Duanhua huffed, "My parents aren’t afraid of trouble."
"Even if you are the Emperor’s niece, you are not as close as his own son. The Princess is the Emperor’s sister, but not as close as his own son." Fen Ling said: "The Crown Prince has his eyes on the Su Family, whoever they are, he either wants to use them or dispose them. If we continue to live in the Princess Residence, we might put the Princess Residence in trouble."
Duanhua frowned, "It won’t be that bad, the Princess Residence isn’t a paper tiger, afraid of you two dragging it down?"
"You are wrong." Fen Ling said: "My point is, if we do not stay at the Princess Residence, it will be able to keep itself out of trouble and if we are in trouble, we can seek your help. The Princess has already stood up for my elder sister today, we should repay the favor by leaving as soon as possible."
Duanhua grumbled grudgingly, "Alright, off you all go." 𝓯𝙧𝙚𝒆𝙬𝙚𝒃𝙣𝙤𝒗𝓮𝓵.𝙘𝙤𝙢
It wasn’t that she didn’t understand. She was just engrossed in the fact that she had someone to play with in the Princess Residence, besides her parents, she always was surrounded by servants. It was only when Su Rong and Fen Ling came, she realized the Residence was not as boring as she thought. But she acknowledged what Su Rong and Fen Ling were saying, they could be anywhere in the Capital City, and she could visit them.
The next morning in court, as expected that official brought up the old issue, criticizing Su Xu for not teaching her daughter properly. The Emperor snorted, as if he had already expected this man to harp on the issue. He simply threw Princess Qingping’s memorial on the minister’s head, "Read it yourself!"
That minister was hit on the head by the memorial. He could not complain, instead opened Princess Qingping’s memorial. When he finished reading, his face had turned color, cold sweat trickling down.
"What a phrase, incapable family management, inability to educate a daughter. Liu Aiqing, what about you? Are the incidents stated in this memorial true? Was your family management strict?" The Emperor interrogated.
This man was speechless. He thought the incident involving his daughter from two months ago was over, who knew it would be brought up by Princess Qingping. Who could imagine that he was criticizing Su Xu, yet Princess Qingping stood up to protect her. Speechless, he fell to his knees: "Your... Your Highness..."
"If you cannot counter a single sentence, do as Qingping suggested, remove your own mandarin square cap, return home to reflect and only then return to hold office!" The Emperor waved his hand.
Someone came in and swiftly stripped the official’s court attire off him and led him out. Despite his crying and begging, it was useless.
The Crown Prince’s faction was stunned, so was the Second Prince’s party.
Before anyone could plead on the official’s behalf, the Emperor coldly cast a glance at the Crown Prince and ordered, "End the court."
The courtiers were silent before kneeling down and shouting in unison, "Long live Your Majesty!"
The Crown Prince Yan Li, shaken by his father’s gaze, suddenly realized that the emperor felt he was stirring up trouble to save his face by making a mountain out of a molehill, fussing over menial mistakes, and lacking in grace and manners.
His face paled, despite the dismissal of Minister Liu, it was also a warning to him.
Second Prince Yan Lin also understood. He thought to himself, the Emperor would not reprimand Jiangzhou’s Inspector Su Xu for not teaching her daughter properly, but he dismissed a fourth rank official Liu because of Princess Qingping’s memorial. Is it because the Emperor greatly dotes on Princess Qingping? On the surface it seems so, but it is actually a stern warning to Yan Li.
Yan Lin looked at the always calm and composed Yan Huisheng. He did not let the Crown Prince’s faction act yesterday, which made the Emperor very satisfied. If he had acted yesterday, the Emperor might reprimand Su Xu. He didn’t act, because he guessed that Princess Qingping would submit a memorial? Yan Huisheng was most accurate in guessing the Emperor’s mind.
With heavy eyes, Yan Lin remained silent and left Jinluan Hall with the other courtiers.
The news from the morning court session quickly spread to each Residence. Duanhua, upon hearing was overjoyed, she said to Su Rong: "Isn’t my mother formidable? She rarely submits memorials. When someone offended her in the past, she would always seek her brother, the Emperor. Only a few times, did she submit a memorial, but every time she did, the Emperor would always stand by her side. Whomever she criticizes gets into trouble."
Su Rong also didn’t expect this outcome, quickly nodded and remarked, "Mmm, the Princess really is formidable."
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