Chapter 32 The Ye Family of the Capital
Chief Minister Cui couldn't understand it, but the Emperor had already urged him to attend court the next day, and he knew without a doubt that many people would be secretly laughing at him.
He had previously ostentatiously flaunted his success with Cui Jianbing, thinking that passing the imperial examination with top honors was a sure thing, but unexpectedly, Ye Jianshan appeared out of nowhere.
Sigh, it's all fate.
When Cui Jianbing woke up, he saw his grandfather sitting by the bed, looking as if all his energy had dissipated and he looked ten years older.
"Grandpa, I'm sorry to have worried you."
Cui Jianbing didn't expect himself to be so angry, but he was just unwilling to accept it.
The most painful thing is the feeling of helplessness and resentment.
Chief Minister Cui slowly raised his head, his neatly combed hair from the morning now loose with a few strands, making him look somewhat disheveled: "Take good care of yourself and focus on preparing for the palace examination. Grandpa has to get back to work now and won't be visiting you for a while. You must be disciplined."
Cui Jianbing was very uneasy upon hearing what the chief minister said. Did this mean that the palace examination was no longer a concern for him?
His grandfather used to take care of and guide his studies every day during the previous provincial examinations, but he never expected that he would abandon him during the palace examination.
But seeing that Chief Minister Cui was not in good condition, Cui Jianbing could not say anything and reluctantly nodded: "Grandson understands and will do his best to prepare for the palace examination."
Chief Minister Cui nodded without saying anything, but he couldn't suppress his disappointment.
He devoted more than a decade to Cui Jianbing, all for the purpose of becoming the future patriarch of the Cui family and his successor as chief minister. Cui Jianbing was not prepared to assist the crown prince, but rather for the young imperial grandson's generation.
I thought it would be the heir apparent of the Prince of Duan, the Prince of Qi, or the low-profile Prince of Zhao. The fathers of these three princes all had good relationships with him, and they were all on the same side, the opposite of the Emperor and the Crown Prince.
The emperor had always hoped that the next heir would be the crown prince's son, so he urged him to remarry.
They had originally agreed to choose one of the children of Prince Duan, Prince Qi, and Prince Zhao, but unexpectedly, Ye Jianshan appeared out of nowhere.
This was a huge blow to Chief Minister Cui; his plans of more than a decade were ruined by the appearance of Ye Jianshan.
It's impossible to avoid a heart attack.
Ye Jianshan was unaware that he had angered the Cui family, including the Grand Secretary, to the point of illness.
As soon as he entered the Ye residence, all the Ye family members were waiting to greet him in the courtyard.
"You're back?"
"I heard it's quite lively over there. Did the Emperor go too? How was it?"
Old Man Ye and Old Woman Ye each came from one side, one speaking as they escorted Ye Jianshan inside.
The two elderly people had been eagerly waiting for most of the day. Although the yard was large, it was impossible for them not to hear the commotion from the side.
Ye Jianshan answered one by one: "It feels great. Everyone is very friendly. The Crown Prince and the Emperor are also very kind. Didn't you all meet them yesterday? They are not the kind of people who are high and mighty. By the way, we're going to have hot pot together tonight."
Grandma Ye said happily, "Then Grandma will go and keep an eye on the kitchen. Your mother said that all the chefs who come here are imperial chefs. No wonder their skills are so good."
Ye Jianshan then noticed that his mother was not there and asked curiously, "Where is my mother?"
"Someone is looking for your mother."
Grandma Ye whispered in Ye Jianshan's ear, "I thought your mother had no family left in the capital, but I didn't expect her father to still be alive and have come looking for her."
Ye Jianshan tensed up instantly: "The Ye family has arrived?"
The Ye family in question naturally refers to the Ye family of Beijing.
Ye Jianshan knew that the Ye family had come to Fourteenth Street to look for him before, but he didn't expect that they would still dare to come even after they had moved next to the Crown Prince's Mansion.
Ye Lei and Ye Yan immediately tensed up: "Where is my sister?"
They didn't take the person away, did they?
"We're talking in the lobby, but Xiaoyun won't let us listen."
Old Man Ye and Old Woman Ye also wanted to know what had happened, but Ye Yun had sent them away, so they didn't know what had actually happened.
Ye Yu is Ye Yun's older brother. He is currently a sixth-rank official in the Ministry of Rites, but he has been marginalized in recent years. Although his sister Ye Yun is the Crown Princess, Ye Yun does not have a good relationship with the Ye family.
Ye Yun and Ye Yu were not born to the same mother.
Ye Yun's mother was the legal wife of Old Master Ye, but she only gave birth to Ye Yun. When Ye Yun was five years old, Ye Yun's mother became pregnant again, hoping for a son, but she did not give birth to him, and both she and her unborn child died.
Five-year-old Ye Yun lost her mother and thought that she could only rely on her father. Who knew that half a month later, Old Master Ye brought back two children. The boy was Ye Yu, who was three years older than Ye Yun, and the girl was Ye Yu's younger sister. She had a bad falling out with the Crown Princess over the marriage and was married off to a distant place. She hadn't been allowed to come back for more than ten years.
Although everyone says that Ye Yu is the adopted son of Old Master Ye, it is obvious to everyone that Ye Yu is the biological child of Old Master Ye's extramarital affair.
This caused quite a stir at the time, but in the end, Old Master Ye still married Ye Yu's mother as his legal wife, and from then on, the Ye family's fortunes plummeted.
She thought she could rise to power by having her two daughters chosen as prince consorts, but who would have thought that Ye Yun would be chosen as the prince consort?
No one hated the Ye family more than she did.
Ye Yun's journey to becoming a prince's consort was also full of twists and turns. At that time, the crown prince, who was still a prince, loved no one but Ye Yun, and even secretly came to Ye's family to threaten them several times.
For the crown prince, he did not need to rely on his wife's family background to provide for him.
Moreover, the Ye family had a scandal in the capital and could not be considered Ye Yun's backer at all. Therefore, after Ye Yun was promoted from the princess to the crown princess, the Ye family not only did not gain power, but became even more withdrawn.
Ye Rong, who had previously fought tooth and nail with Ye Yun over the selection of concubines, was also forced to marry far away from home.
After the Crown Princess got into trouble, the Crown Prince vented his anger directly on the Ye family, so the Ye family became even more low-key.
No promising successors have emerged in recent years, and they are about to fade into obscurity, disappearing from the capital city.
But unexpectedly, things took a turn for the better. If Ye Jianshan became the Crown Prince, things would be different.
No matter what, they wouldn't dare to bully the Ye family so easily. After all, they were related to the Crown Prince's maternal relatives. To slap them in the face was to slap the young Crown Prince in the face.
Ye Yu was so excited that he didn't sleep for several days. He sent his butler to Fourteenth Street to deliver a message, but he still couldn't find Ye Jianshan. This made the Ye family uneasy again.
Could Ye Yun really be planning to wipe out the Ye family?
But there was also good news: the Emperor was treating Ye Jianshan as the Crown Prince.
Moreover, Ye Jianshan himself is also very outstanding.
According to blood relations, Ye Jianshan should call him uncle.
Yesterday was supposed to be the day the results of the imperial examinations were posted. Ye Yu sent people out early to inquire about the results, but there were so many people that his men couldn't even get in.
But even without squeezing in, everyone knows by word of mouth that Xin Huiyuan is Ye Jianshan.
Ye Yu was overjoyed when he found out and planned to come and congratulate him today. However, Ye Jianshan had moved and he also learned that Ye Yun had come to the capital.
Ye Yu immediately sensed something was wrong.
They hadn't even met their nephew Ye Jianshan yet, and Ye Yun had already gone to the capital?
Things are probably getting a little complicated.
Sure enough, when he visited today, although he didn't see Ye Jianshan's two fake uncles, he did see Ye Jianshan's two fake maternal grandparents. Ye Yun treated them like his own parents.
This puzzled Ye Yu greatly.
The Ye family in the capital felt guilty towards Ye Yun, but they had been trying to make amends over the years. If we're talking about being ruthless, it wasn't the Ye family, but Ye Yun who had been gone for sixteen years.
Ye Yu knew Ye Yun was ruthless, but he didn't expect him to be this ruthless.
She gave up the position of Crown Princess and lived in a rural area for so long, where she was supposedly a pig butcher.
When Ye Jianshan heard that the Ye family from the capital had come to his door, he became worried about his mother's condition. Without saying a word, he went straight to the hall and saw his mother calmly drinking tea. On the other hand, another middle-aged man with a child of the same age as him had a distressed look on his face.
"What exactly do you want the Ye family to do? Aunt Song's death has nothing to do with Father. He has been in poor health these past few years, and you've been gone for over ten years. He can't even see you when he wants to. He used to talk about your name all the time, but now you won't even go to see him."
Ye Yu even brought up the old man, but Ye Yun still ignored him.
“You and Ye Rong had a conflict, but it’s all in the past few years. She hasn’t come back since she married into Luocheng. Who knew you would leave too? Now it’s just me and Dad at home…”
Ye Yu poured out his grievances until his mouth was dry, but he still couldn't understand why Ye Yun hated him so much.
Ye Yun blew on the tea, which had long since gone lukewarm, and was getting a little bored listening to the conversation. He looked up and saw Ye Jianshan rushing in, and then he said, "Ye Yu, don't play dumb. You're almost forty years old, and you're still pretending to be innocent. You know I don't fall for that."
Ye Yun responded to Ye Yu with a word, then smiled and said to Ye Jianshan, "Dashan is back. Is the banquet over? How was it?"
"Yes, Mother, who are these two?"
Ye Jianshan pretended not to know the inside story and asked curiously.
Only then did Ye Yang look up and glance at Ye Jianshan. Was this the older brother his father had been talking about for days?
Ye Yang is two years younger than Ye Jianshan. He hadn't planned to come, but his father insisted on bringing him. As a result, he was treated coldly when he arrived, and his nominal aunt was not enthusiastic towards him at all.
Ye Yang knew nothing about the previous generation, but he always knew that he had an aunt who was the Crown Princess. When he knew that Ye Yun was still alive, he even fantasized that the Ye family's life would get better.
He was incredibly disappointed when he found out that his aunt didn't like the Ye family at all.
In particular, his father kept telling him how outstanding his aunt, the Crown Princess's son, was, and that he had become the top scholar in the provincial examination at the age of sixteen. Yesterday, he even received the good news that he had become the top scholar in the metropolitan examination and started pressuring him to study, hoping that he could be as outstanding as his aunt's son.
Don't think he doesn't know; his aunt's son is the crown prince's son.
The chief examiner this time is the Crown Prince; perhaps he'll pull some strings.
Having endured countless cold stares since arriving, he was filled with resentment and couldn't feel happy seeing Ye Jianshan now.
He's just average-looking.
He had never seen what the Crown Prince looked like, so his reaction to Ye Jianshan's appearance was rather indifferent.
The reactions of those people were not exaggerated.
Ye Yun kept her mouth shut and hadn't told Ye Jianshan about the Ye family in the capital. But now that they had come to her door, she couldn't refuse to introduce them. However, she didn't want Ye Jianshan to get involved with the Ye family in the capital, so she said, "They have nothing to do with you. This is my stepbrother and his son. We are not related by blood."
Ye Yu's expression changed. He never expected Ye Yun to say such a thing. This was to completely sever the connection between the future Crown Prince and the Ye family.
"Ye Yun! You..."
"What's wrong with me? You dare say it's not true?"
That's right, Ye Yu has been recorded as a stepson in the family genealogy all these years.
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Author's Note: Only one update today! I went out for dinner and got back too late to write. [Sprinkling flowers]
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