Chapter 327 The Emperor is seriously ill and misses the Empress
Madam Yuan was taken aback. "I didn't know that."
Du Wanchun continued, "That sum of money is no small amount. If it is found out, your entire family will be executed."
Madam Yuan's face turned deathly pale with fright.
Du Wanchun continued, "Now, the only one who can save you is yourself."
“Madam Yuan, I heard that you have always wanted to divorce him, but he is unwilling. Why not take advantage of this opportunity?”
Madam Yuan was taken aback, and asked with trembling lips, "Manager Du, what do you mean by that?"
Du Wanchun looked up at the back of the mansion and said, "If you find evidence of his embezzlement, take it to the capital, bring him to justice, and you can naturally get a divorce from him."
"But won't I also be implicated?" Madam Yuan asked doubtfully.
Du Wanchun continued with a smile, "You have done a good job reporting to the Emperor and recovering so much silver. How could the Emperor blame you? He might even reward you and let you find a good husband."
Madam Yuan listened, gritting her teeth and hesitating.
Du Wanchun lowered her voice and said earnestly, "Madam Yuan, if you hadn't exposed this matter, someone else would have. If someone else had exposed it, you wouldn't have been able to escape, and your parents would have been implicated as well."
After hearing this, Madam Yuan raised her eyes slightly and suddenly realized.
Du Wanchun said nothing more and turned to leave the Yuan residence.
Madam Yuan even specially sent someone to escort her back to Cheng'an County.
After Du Wanchun returned, the former prefect never contacted her again, as he was too preoccupied with family troubles to care about money and gold.
Du Wanchun didn't tell anyone about what happened at the Yuan residence, but after being detained for a night, Zhou Ruiyuan found out.
Zhou Ruiyuan was furious and immediately sent people to find incriminating evidence against the former prefect. However, before they could find any evidence, news came from the capital.
It is said that Madam Yan, the wife of the deceased, accused her husband, the former prefect, of embezzling funds allocated by the imperial court for disaster relief.
Being sued by one's own wife is something that has never happened before.
The emperor himself was stunned. He dragged his weak body to the court and saw Madam Yuan presenting all the evidence and speaking eloquently. He was very impressed with this woman.
Later, after discussion among the ministers, the Yuan family's property was confiscated and the former prefect was exiled to the northern prefecture.
The original wife, Madam Yan, was found guilty of reporting the crime and was granted a divorce.
The emperor was muddle-headed his whole life, but this was the only thing he handled quickly and properly.
Zhou Ruiyuan soon received the news, which conveniently saved him the trouble of doing it himself.
After the emperor finished dealing with the matter, he allocated the disaster relief funds to Prefect Li.
This was the first time Prefect Li had been given such a great responsibility, and he devoted himself to it wholeheartedly, spending every day on disaster relief, which gradually gave the disaster victims a way to survive.
When the emperor learned of this in the capital, he grew to admire Prefect Li more and more, and planned to promote him as well as Zhou Ruiyuan several months later.
Perhaps because he had done a good deed, the emperor's health improved a little, and now that he was feeling better, he wanted to do something else.
For example, sending Zhou Ruiyuan a few concubines.
He originally intended to send these concubines to Zhou Feng, but when he thought of General Han, he became afraid and decided to give them to Zhou Ruiyuan instead.
These concubines were all left over from the last selection of consorts. Although their appearances were not top-notch, they were still quite pretty and charming.
Strangely enough, ever since the list of concubines was finalized, these women either fell ill or stubbornly refused to submit, and in the end, none of them were able to go to Cheng'an County.
The emperor had no choice but to give up, but afterwards he fell ill.
He was so ill that he was dizzy and confused. When he went to sleep at night, he would always see the Empress and a man going in and out together, eating and sleeping together.
He awoke from his dream with a start, shouting, "Help! Help!"
The old eunuch bowed and approached, "Your Majesty, what's wrong?"
The emperor, pale-faced, grabbed the old eunuch and demanded sternly, "Have you found the person?"
The old eunuch trembled with fear and asked in a trembling voice, "Your Majesty... what did you say?"
The emperor grabbed his collar and flung him away forcefully. "I'm asking you, Empress, have you found her?"
The old eunuch immediately knelt down and said, "Your Majesty, don't worry, it'll be quick. Guard Liu and the others heard that the Empress is in the north, so they went there to look for her!"
After hearing this, the emperor calmed down and slowly got off the couch as if in a daze.
"Quickly, help me find her."
He has recently felt his health deteriorating and is somewhat afraid that he will not be able to see her before he dies.
The thought that she might marry another man made his chest feel as if it were blocked by a stone.
The old eunuch sighed helplessly.
If only I had known this would happen, why did I do it in the first place?
It would be better to just pretend that the Empress is dead.
In Changliu Village, Aunt Zhou was sewing clothes for the baby in Nan Fengling's belly. Perhaps because she was too happy, she accidentally pricked her hand with the needle.
"oops!"
She let out a soft "ouch," then prepared to put her finger in her mouth.
The Third Prince, who was sweeping the courtyard inside, heard the faint sound and immediately rushed in. "Zhou'er, Zhou'er, what's wrong? What happened to you just now?"
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