Chapter 78 Chapter 78 Article 8 of the Xie Family Rules.
"Xie didn't get divorced, only widowed?"
Sheng Puzhu murmured and repeated, covering his chest with his hands in grief, greatly shocked.
"Yes." Princess Duanyang blinked and asked with a half-smile, "Why, you've already married Sanlang, but you're still thinking about divorce?"
Sheng Puzhu felt weak all over, barely supporting his head with his hands. He snorted and said as a matter of course, "That's right. According to the Xie family rules, even one lash, let alone twenty, would kill me."
"Twenty lashes, and I'll see the ancestors of the Sheng family eight hundred times."
Princess Duanyang raised her eyebrows and asked suspiciously, "What are you afraid of? It's not you who's being beaten."
"Why not me?"
Sheng Puzhu was like an eggplant hit by frost; even the lunch she had just eaten seemed less palatable. She said in distress, "Your Highness, the Xie clan rules call for at least twenty lashes. How could a delicate person like me possibly withstand that?"
Princess Duanyang was speechless for a while, then seeing Sheng Puzhu's pitiful appearance, she couldn't help asking, "Don't you know Article 8 of the Xie family rules? The husband is the head of the wife, and both sides share the blame. The wife's mistakes are the husband's fault."
"What?"
"Can the husband be used like this as the guide for his wife?"
Sheng Puzhu was stunned after hearing this.
She stood up quickly, raised her hand uncertainly, pointed at herself, and asked very uncalmly, "Aunt, are you saying that if I make a mistake, no matter what it is, my husband will be punished for me?"
"Ah, yes, yes, that child is teachable."
"So what is my little Puzhu afraid of? Xie Sanlang is so tall and strong, so giving him 200 lashes is no problem at all, let alone 200."
Princess Duanyang laughed so hard her body shook with laughter. Her slender jade fingers, painted with bright red nail polish, slowly touched her chin. She gave Sheng Puzhu a charming look: "Look, the Xie family is indeed a century-old family. Looking at the five surnames and seven noble families in the whole of Dayan, apart from the Xie family, there is no other aristocratic family that is willing to take responsibility for their wives."
At this point, Princess Duanyang sighed lightly, "Tsk tsk, but I wonder which infatuated ancestor of the Xie family set these rules a hundred years ago."
Sheng Puzhu was incredulous after hearing this and felt relieved, but he also asked in confusion, "How do you know so much?"
Princess Duanyang hummed, her chin raised proudly, and said, "Didn't Xie Juyuan want to marry me back then? So I just wanted to find out."
"You call this a by-the-way thing?"
"Uh." Princess Duanyang was stunned by the question. She stood up, leaned close to Sheng Puzhu's ear, and whispered, "Didn't my sister have a miscarriage before Sanlang?"
Sheng Puzhu nodded, she had heard this from her elders.
Princess Duanyang continued, "It was during that time that Sanlang's father was taken to the ancestral hall by the old Duke and beaten nearly to death. It's said that the cane, which was as thick as his wrist, broke in two places. He was told to take this as a warning."
"I thought at the time, with my temper, if I really married Xie Juyuan, he would be beaten to death every day."
Sheng Puzhu was astonished again when he heard this and said admiringly, "The ancestor of the Xie family a hundred years ago was truly far-sighted."
"Of course not."
As the two were talking, the pheasant slave guarding the dining hall bowed and said, "My Lord, the gatekeeper at the front said that Aunt Wei wants to see you."
Upon hearing this, Princess Duanyang stood up with a smile.
"Please invite them to the side hall first. I will be there later."
Aunt Wei didn't have to wait long, and soon she heard the lively voice of Princess Duanyang.
"Tsk, what brings you to my house?"
"I think your coming here is fake, you came to see Bodhizhu for real, right?"
Aunt Wei quickly stood up and bowed to the two of them with a smile: "My Lord, how are you? How are you, Madam Crown Prince?"
"Okay, no need to be so polite."
"sit."
Aunt Wei sat down and said softly, "My Lord, you are joking. I am here to pay my respects to you and to express my gratitude to the Crown Prince's wife."
"As for the blueprints sent this morning, I have already arranged for them to be made. Once the first batch of samples are ready, I will bring them to you two masters for your review."
Princess Duanyang took Sheng Puzhu's hand, squinted her eyes and glanced at Aunt Wei, smiling in a very unconventional way: "You are still so eloquent."
"Is there anything I don't understand about the drawings? Is there enough time?"
Aunt Wei nodded. "Don't worry about what the two masters have entrusted to me. Although time is tight, a group of apprentices have already been able to make it independently. They are just a little slower, but otherwise it's not a big deal."
"Alright, make your own arrangements. If you need anything, just come and find me. As for the Duke Jingguo's Mansion, if there is nothing urgent, please don't bother Puzhu for now."
Aunt Wei lowered her eyes and responded, her lips moving for a long time. She stood up and bowed a little embarrassedly: "Madam, it is all thanks to you that my servant Dalang Liangxiao can participate in this year's imperial examination."
As she spoke, her eyes turned red and she was about to kneel down.
Fortunately, Sheng Puzhu had anticipated this and gave Madam Du a wink to help the man up. "Aunt, there's no need to be so cruel. Zhao Liangxiao is where he is today because of his own hard work."
Aunt Wei shook her head with tears in her eyes: "If it weren't for your help, my wife, I would have been imprisoned long ago."
Sheng Puzhu couldn't help but sigh when he thought of what happened three years ago.
Aunt Wei's husband is a butcher. He has some spare money and although he doesn't gamble, he loves to drink. Whenever he gets drunk, he beats and kicks Aunt Wei and her son. When the second son is seriously ill, the man has money to buy alcohol but can't afford medicine. After the second son died, he set his sights on the youngest daughter, who was less than eight years old, and wanted to sell her to a brothel in Pingkangfang.
How could Aunt Wei, who had just experienced the pain of losing her son, watch her youngest daughter being sold to that kind of place? It was no different from digging her heart out alive.
While Aunt Wei was planning how to resist, the eldest son had already sharpened the butcher knife at home, ready to kill his biological father while he was drunk.
Patricide was a serious crime of filial piety in Dayan. Fortunately, Sheng Puzhu happened to pass by Pingkangfang that day, and she rescued the youngest daughter of Aunt Wei. She also managed to send the butcher to a remote village outside Chang'an and got him a job guarding the mountain.
Although the butcher was sent far away, he was still restless. As a result, within a few months, he got drunk at night and accidentally froze to death on the official road to Chang'an.
At this point, Aunt Wei's family finally settled down completely.
As for Zhao Liangxiao going to Guangwenguan to study, it was only after the elders of the Sheng family knew about this matter and saw that Zhao Liangxiao was motivated and had indeed done well in his studies that they asked Sheng Yanzhang to write a letter of recommendation to Guangwenguan.
When it comes to credit, Sheng Puzhu doesn't think he has put in much effort.
"It won't be too late for you to thank me when Zhao Liangxiao passes the imperial examination." Sheng Puzhu lowered her head and drank tea with a faint smile in her eyes.
Aunt Wei wiped her eyes with a handkerchief and said, "Liang Xiao is only seventeen this year. This is his first time competing. I don't expect him to get a high ranking, but at least... at least I know that he has hope in this life."
Seventeen years old is actually not young for a young man from a prominent family. A truly talented person who is good at studying can pass the imperial examination at the age of seventeen.
But Zhao Liangxiao started studying late, and his enlightenment teacher was just a private school teacher. Compared with most ordinary people, in the eyes of ordinary people, being able to take part in the imperial examination at the age of seventeen was already considered a very remarkable man.
It is actually very simple for people to survive, as long as they have hope, but the word "hope" is not easy to come by.
On the contrary, all Sheng Puzhu can give is "hope".
"You're doing well. Stop crying." Princess Duanyang straightened her expression for once. She stopped teasing and asked the nanny to pack some snacks for Aunt Wei. "The kitchen just made some flower cakes today. Bring them back for your young lady to try."
"Thank you, my lord, for always remembering the greedy young lady in my family." Aunt Wei took it with both hands, nodded, and bowed to express her gratitude.
Princess Duanyang smiled indifferently: "I have no children, so it's inevitable that I will show some favor to the young ladies. Don't take it to heart."
Princess Duanyang was a widow. Although her mansion was bustling and not as chaotic as rumored outside, Aunt Wei knew her status and cautiously lowered her eyes, not daring to speak.
The side hall suddenly became quiet, with only the lingering aroma of tea, which made people feel uneasy.
Seeing Aunt Wei's expression become reserved, Sheng Puzhu thought for a moment and asked, "Aunt Wei, have you gone to Daxingshan Temple to ask for a lucky charm for your eldest son to pass the imperial examination?"
Aunt Wei became less reserved when Zhao Liangxiao was mentioned. She smiled a little and said, "It's not Daxingshan Temple, but a Taoist temple at the foot of Cuihua Mountain. The ladies in Chang'an City all say it's efficacious."
"I went there more than ten days ago. The weather was fine that day. When I was going down the mountain, I saw your carriage overturned on the road. It was said that someone had fallen off the cliff."
Wasn’t it more than ten days ago that the wife of Marquis Changxing broke her leg? What a coincidence.
Sheng Puzhu smiled and said, "Since it works, I'll remember to fulfill my wish after the exam results are announced."
Aunt Wei smiled brightly: "Then I will borrow your auspicious words from the Crown Prince's wife."
"Oh right." Aunt Wei slapped her head, "Your Excellency and the Crown Prince's wife may not know that when I passed by the Imperial Examination Hall just now, there was a commotion in front of the gate. It seemed like someone was caught cheating."
Sheng Puzhu was stunned and exchanged glances with Princess Duanyang.
Cheating in the Spring Examination was a major event in the laws of Dayan.
Officials caught in bribery, regardless of severity, would be stripped of their official position and demoted to commoner status. Candidates who cheated or had someone take the exam for them would be disqualified at best, exiled to a remote frontier, or even worse, their entire family would be implicated and never again be allowed to serve in the imperial court.
I wonder who has the guts to enact such harsh laws.
"Go check." Princess Duanyang waved her hand behind her.
Soon, the nanny came forward and whispered something. The eldest princess raised her eyebrows and said, "Guess who it is."
Sheng Puzhu was extremely curious: "Auntie, just tell me. I'm not a god, how can I guess?"
Princess Duanyang beckoned her and whispered, "The eldest son of the Marquis of Changxing, Xue Hanwen."
Sheng Puzhu had never expected this person to be the one. He was a little surprised, but then he analyzed rationally, "He's not very good at studying, and his family has inherited a title. Cheating wouldn't be worth it for him, right?"
Princess Duanyang curled her lips. "Xue Hanwen also used this excuse, but the Imperial Examination Hall officials found many cheating notes on him. Whether it was him or not is no longer important. My brother, the emperor, just needs someone to make an example of him."
"The identity of Prince Xue is the best."
"When you had the carriage trouble at Daxingshan Temple, I suspected he was responsible. This is retribution."
Sheng Puzhu couldn't believe that such a coincidence could happen.
After the three gangsters were taken away by Lu Siqing, they disappeared without a trace. However, after the spring, accidents happened one after another in Changxing Marquis's mansion. First, Liu broke her leg, and Changxing Marquis was impeached by the censors in the court. Now Xue Hanwen was accused of cheating in the imperial examination.
This is not just a matter of the Marquis of Changxing not managing his family properly. To put it more seriously, if the saint really took action against the Marquis of Changxing's mansion, he would probably strip him of his title and dismiss him from office, and expel the entire family from Chang'an.
Such a big chess game is obviously played by someone with ulterior motives.
Sheng Puju curled up the tips of her fingers that were pinching the brocade handkerchief. She thought of Xie Zhiyan and Lu Siqing.
Lu Siqing looked taciturn and as cold as ice, not the kind of person who would do such a thing. As for her husband Xie Zhiyan, he was a gentleman who appeared to be noble and upright, but it was unlikely that he would uproot his entire family because of the shock she had in Daxingshan Temple.
At night.
Sheng Puju fell asleep with such uncertain doubts, and the result was that she thought about Xie Zhiyan too many times during the day, and all she dreamed about at night was him. Not only did a pair of cold arms tightly hold her, but he was also so mean that he used the hottest part of his body to warm her hands.
After a night of battling wits and courage with dreams, Sheng Puzhu woke up the next day.
The palms of her hands were still red, and the ointment she applied yesterday seemed to have no effect at all. While washing up, Nanny Du frowned as she applied the ointment, and even said a few words that it was not right.
"Could it be that someone really has entered the house?" Sheng Puzhu felt like the sky was falling.
Aunt Du was shocked: "My dear, please don't talk nonsense. Maybe it was just a mark you accidentally pressed while sleeping at night."
Sheng Puzhu was about to retort, but his eyes glanced at the bronze mirror.
Good job!
On her snow-white neck, there was a red mark the size of a fingernail. She pointed at it and said, "Look, Mammy, there's one here too."
Madam Du deftly applied the ointment to her neck as well: "Madam, your skin is delicate, so a little mark from pressure is nothing to be alarmed about."
Sheng Puzhu was in tears but had no way to defend herself. Considering how much Madam Du cared for her, it was unlikely that someone would enter the room. Could it be that the person climbing onto the bed in the middle of the night was a ghost?
Sheng Puzhu shuddered, his face pale. “What if it’s not a human, but a ghost?”
"Hush, you are talking nonsense, my lady, please don't talk nonsense."
"Mammy, I didn't say anything nonsense."
As for the handsome and handsome man mentioned by Sheng Puzhu, who climbed into bed in the middle of the night, he happened to be sitting leisurely in the Dali Temple Prison.
"Does Xue Hanwen still need to be tried?" Lu Siqing asked coldly.
Xie Zhiyan looked up, his bony hands holding a cup of tea. A thin mist of tea smoke drifted in the dim candlelight. He sneered, his eyes like ice: "No need to interrogate."
"Just confess and be detained. As for the one who talks too much, just make him shut up forever."
Lu Zhoudu pursed his lips gloomily. "That's exactly what I was thinking, but what are you going to do about the Marquis of Changxing?"
Xie Zhiyan lowered his head, his eyes suddenly darkening. "In the previous battle with the Turks, we suffered heavy losses due to 'fire bombs'. The Turks purchased fire bombs from Hu merchants in the Western Regions. The Marquis of Changxing has received many benefits from the Ministry of Revenue over the years, and has secretly maintained close ties with the Hu merchants."
Lu Zhoudu slowly raised his head, his skin pale, a drop of cinnabar-like blood splashed between his eyebrows. He slowly uttered four words: "Treason, collaborating with the enemy."
Xie Zhiyan smiled, a sinister look in the corners of his eyes, and said nonchalantly, "It's not that I wronged him."
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