Chapter 147
147
The Third Prince's men first went to check around the village. Generally, villages are very xenophobic. If they see strangers, they will collectively confront them, let alone tell him about Cheng Yeran's affairs.
However, after the Third Prince's people went to the village, they found that their village was bustling with people. It turned out that the village had its own tofu shop and a fertilizer factory. There were outsiders in the village every day, and their village became very enthusiastic in order to do business.
As soon as they appeared near the village, they were stopped by enthusiastic villagers and asked if they were sent by some landlord to sell fertilizer.
They deliberately disguised themselves with their clothes, but the material, which seemed very cheap to them, still did not make them look like peasants. The villagers mistook them for the sons of a landlord. The material looked good, so the landlord must be quite rich.
In order to get information about Cheng Yeran, these people also bought a lot of fertilizers. The fertilizers were not expensive, so they could exaggerate the prices when they returned and ask the Third Prince to reimburse them, and still make some extra money.
When buying fertilizer, they pretended to chat with the villagers and asked about Cheng Yeran, "I heard that your village had a top scholar?"
As soon as he started talking, the villagers started talking about Cheng Yeran: "This kid is amazing. It takes several villages in our area a hundred years to produce a top scholar like him. He is the pride of our village."
"Come to think of it, he still calls me uncle. When he was in the village, he was very respectful to me."
"I'm his aunt. He's very polite. He calls me aunt every time he sees me."
These villagers were not nice to Cheng Yeran in the past, and Cheng Yeran had never been enthusiastic towards them. The reason they said this was to raise their own status in front of outsiders and make people think that they were also very awesome.
The Third Prince's people did not want to hear them praising Cheng Yeran. They wanted to hear more private matters. However, the more they praised Cheng Yeran, the more excited they became, and they wanted to say that Cheng Yeran was a god.
In the past, they looked down on Cheng Yeran because he was a lazy man. Later, when he developed his business so well and made so much money, they were jealous and slandered him. But later, when Cheng Yeran became an official, they regarded Cheng Yeran as the pride of the whole village and mentioned him to outsiders. All the villagers felt proud.
The Third Prince's men stayed in the village for two or three days, asking many people, and finally heard some stories about Cheng Yeran's past from an old man.
The old man said, "When the boy from the Cheng family was young, he was very lazy and squandered all his parents' inheritance. Fortunately, he married a man who brought good luck to his wife. His life has been getting better and better. He can make money in business and pass the exam to become a high-ranking official. It's a pity that he can't have children..."
The old man sighed for a long time when talking about this, and said that one must choose the right person when marrying a wife or a husband. If one chooses someone who will bring bad luck to the husband, the whole family will have no peace. He also said that he had never married a good wife in his life and had been poor all his life.
The neighbor next door couldn't help but laugh at him when he heard this, "It's your own fault, why blame others? Your spouse is unlucky to marry you."
"Look at the Shen family's brother, he married a good man and is now a government official's wife. And then look at you, you have been poor all your life and made your spouse suffer as well."
Then the two families started quarreling, and the Third Prince's men quickly retreated, fearing that they would hurt them by mistake.
After several days of searching, I finally found out something useful.
After returning, they explained to the Third Prince all the information they had obtained in Cheng Yeran's hometown.
The third prince was very angry when he heard the villagers praising Cheng Yeran, saying that he built a school for the village, used his family's secret recipe to open a factory in the village, and led the whole village to prosperity. But when he heard the rest, saying that Cheng Yeran had poor sexual function, he burst into laughter.
This kind of private matter could not be discussed in the court, so he asked people to spread it privately, letting the whole capital know that Cheng Yeran was not good in that aspect and was also very lazy. He had squandered all the family's money before becoming an official. He was a prodigal son who had achieved his current position by relying on the family of his husband and father-in-law. He was a gigolo.
After the rumor spread, no one believed that he was lazy. The whole court knew how ambitious he was. Not only did he want to be ambitious himself, he also wanted to reform and make everyone join him. How could he be lazy?
However, Cheng Yeran's husband seemed to be a businessman, and they also believed that the Shen family's spending money on Cheng Yeran was a reasonable investment. Cheng Yeran finally became an official and brought the Shen family to prosper. Otherwise, no matter how big the Shen family's business was, they were just businessmen.
The only thing people laugh at him for is that he's not good at that function.
These words soon reached the emperor's ears.
The emperor was very angry after hearing this. Was he scolding Cheng Yeran? That was clearly an insult to himself, especially the rumors saying that he was lazy and a spendthrift. Although that was true, he was still very angry.
Before he became emperor, he was only impotent and furious. After he became emperor, his temper became worse and worse. If anyone did not go his way, he would punish the other person directly. Only when he saw the other person kneeling on the ground and begging for mercy could he calm down his anger.
He immediately ordered everyone not to spread the rumor anymore, and asked people to find out the source of the rumor immediately and arrest whoever it was.
The emperor's men were very efficient and found out in half a day that it was the third prince's men who did it.
The third prince went to so much trouble, asking around in the village and spreading rumors, but he didn't expect the emperor to find out so quickly.
When he was summoned to the palace, he was wondering whether his father would punish him. Could he really kill his son for the sake of a minister?
When he saw the emperor, he was so frightened by the gloomy face that he immediately knelt down and begged for mercy: "Father, I am innocent."
"Unjust? You dare to do it but not to take responsibility. Is this what I taught you?" The emperor looked at the third prince with disgust. "It seems that you are very idle on weekdays. Is it because there are too few tasks assigned to you that you spend all your time on this? I think you should be sent to a fiefdom like your eldest brother, so that you can be more content."
When the Third Prince heard this, he turned pale with fright. If he was assigned to a fiefdom, all his ideals and plans would be shattered. He was unwilling to accept this.
"Why does father always favor Cheng Yeran? There are people outside saying that Cheng Yeran is your illegitimate child. Is what they said true? We are all your children, why is he so important and I am worthless?" The third prince felt that there was no other possibility except this reason. He had been so overwhelmed by hatred and jealousy that he had lost his mind and could not help but speak out what was in his heart.
The emperor became even angrier after hearing this. "It seems that you still don't understand where you went wrong. Your mind has gone astray and there is no way to save you."
When the third prince heard that the emperor was going to give up on him completely, he panicked and immediately apologized, crying and saying that he was wrong and hoped that the emperor would give him another chance.
The emperor was very fond of this. Besides, the third prince was different from the eldest prince. The eldest prince was sent to his fiefdom by the empress dowager's own order. He still wanted to keep the child by his side so that it would be easier for him to control him. If he went to another place, with such a bad temper, who knows what big trouble he might cause in the future.
He asked the third prince to go back first, dismissed from all his positions, and reflect on his actions at home.
The emperor then called in the third prince's subordinates, put all the blame on them, and punished them. On the surface, it has nothing to do with the third prince.
All the officials thought that when this rumor came out, the first person to get angry would be Cheng Yeran, but they didn't expect that the first person to get angry would be the emperor!
Recently, Cheng Yeran has become very popular in front of the emperor.
Nanshan
There are publicity for the emperor's achievements, and also for solving cases. I heard that since the News Department helped the people solve a case, it has received letters from all over the country every day, all of which are about the grievances of the people.
The News Department's newspaper also needs to be rectified. Previously it was said to be published once a month, but now it is said to be changed to two pages, one for general national affairs and one for redressing grievances for the people.
He can also be regarded as the face of the imperial court. Those rumors are unfavorable to Cheng Yeran and also affect the reputation cultivated by the emperor.
The ministers fully understood the emperor's approach, and those rumors were just hearsay and not necessarily true.
What they said might not be true, but they were thinking in their hearts that Cheng Yeran was already in his twenties and had no children. If it was because he got married late, it would be fine, but he had been married for so many years and still had no children, which aroused suspicion.
If it were someone else, if their husband hadn't given birth to a child for several years, they would definitely take in a few concubines. However, he didn't do that, which showed that he felt guilty. He knew that the problem of not being able to have children was with himself, and he was afraid that even if he had a bunch of concubines, he still wouldn't be able to have a child, which would be even more embarrassing.
Although being unable to have children is a private matter, men will look down on men who are not good at that, and will subconsciously exclude him, saying that he is not a man and separating him from the team of men.
The emperor had used that body before, so he naturally knew whether he was capable of it or not. However, Cheng Yeran had been married for such a long time and had not given birth to a child, which made the emperor very worried.
He remembered that when he was still a lazy man, he often lay still and his limbs were not as flexible as before. Could it be that his ability in that area had also degenerated due to lying still for a long time?
He was very worried that the Cheng family would have no descendants.
He asked the eunuch to call Cheng Yeran and Shen Yuntang into the palace together. He wanted to personally watch the imperial physician take their pulses to see who had the health problem.
If there is a problem with Shen Yuntang, then let Cheng Yeran marry another one. If Cheng Yeran can't bear to part with Shen Yuntang, then he can take a concubine. In short, as long as the child is born with the surname Cheng, it doesn't matter whether it is born from the mistress's belly or not.
If Cheng Yeran had health problems, he would lend him his sperm. After all, they were all his offspring. As long as the child was born in Cheng Yeran's husband's belly, it would be written in the Cheng family tree. Having royal bloodline would also be a matter of honor for the Cheng family.
…
When Cheng Yeran and Shen Yuntang heard the eunuch ordering them to enter the palace, they felt a little panicked.
It would be fine to ask Cheng Yeran to enter the palace alone on a normal day, as one would know it was an official business. However, when Shen Yuntang was summoned into the palace as well, one had to think more.
They had also heard the rumors in the past few days. They didn't expect that even though they had arrived in the capital and became an official, there were still the same rumors as in the village. They said that he was a gigolo, but he didn't care. But he got annoyed when he heard that he couldn't have children. Whether he could have children or not, that was his own business. It was not for outsiders to interfere. Why did everyone focus on his sexual function? Even if his sexual function is really poor, will it affect his work?
After this rumor came out, some people actually sent him some folk remedies and asked him to try them. They were really worried about Cheng Yeran and said that as long as the child was born, no one would say anything.
Cheng Yeran was helpless. How could he explain this kind of thing? You can't perform on the spot.
This time the emperor called him and Shen Yuntang into the palace, and he felt that it was also related to this matter.
He was afraid that Shen Yuntang would be nervous, so he held her hand and said, "Don't be afraid. I'm here. No matter what happens, I will protect you."
Shen Yuntang also held his hand: "No matter what happens, I will face it with you."
Seeing how nervous they were and moved by their affectionate appearance, the eunuch kindly revealed to them the reason why the emperor had called them into the palace.
"His Majesty is just worried about your health and asked the imperial physician to check your pulse. There is no other reason. Lord Cheng and Madam Cheng do not need to worry."
Cheng Yeran had guessed before that the emperor might do this, but he often couldn't guess the emperor's thoughts. Now that he heard the eunuch say this, he felt relieved.
Shen Yuntang was also afraid that Cheng Yeran’s health was really not good. If the diagnosis turned out to be bad, would the emperor dislike Cheng Yeran?
Seeing that the emperor brought them into the palace in such a hurry, we know that he cares very much about the fertility of his ministers.
Before entering the palace, Cheng Yeran told Shen Yuntang some taboos about entering the palace to meet the emperor, such as how to perform the ceremony, and that it was best not to speak when the emperor did not tell them to, and they should not look up and look directly at the emperor.
After entering the palace, Shen Yuntang was very obedient and did not look up at the emperor, but the emperor noticed his appearance and recalled his time in the village. At that time, he was a lazy man looked down upon by everyone, and Shen Yuntang was the most handsome boy in the village. All unmarried men wanted to marry Shen Yuntang home, but at that time Shen Yuntang was already engaged to Xia Xiaowu, and many people were jealous of Xia Xiaowu.
Later, the accident caused him to marry Shen Yuntang. Behind his back, many men scolded him for being unlucky and not worthy of Shen Yuntang.
At that time, he was unwilling to accept the result and even turned his resentment towards Shen Yuntang, thinking that the more others said he was unworthy, the more he wanted to possess Shen Yuntang and make others jealous.
Now seeing Shen Yuntang again, he found that even after becoming an emperor and meeting so many beauties, Shen Yuntang was still the most handsome man he had ever seen.
If it is found out that Cheng Yeran is infertile, even if she does not accept a married man, she can try Shen Yuntang.
When the imperial physician took Cheng Yeran's pulse, he was actually somewhat expecting that Cheng Yeran would really be as the rumors said.
After the imperial physician finished diagnosing Cheng Yeran, he said, "Master Cheng is in good health."
After he finished speaking, he checked Shen Yuntang's pulse again. The emperor felt it was a pity, but he felt even more sorry when he thought that such a handsome boy like Shen Yuntang was unable to have children.
The imperial physician immediately knew Shen Yuntang's condition after taking her pulse, and congratulated Cheng Yeran with a happy face: "Master Cheng, congratulations, your husband has been pregnant for a month."
Cheng Yeran was completely stunned. After a long while, he held Shen Yuntang's hand tightly and said, "We have a child?"
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