Chapter 148
148
The emperor was as happy as they were. Cheng Yeran having a child was equivalent to him having a child, and their Cheng family had an heir.
Although he lost the opportunity to contact Shen Yuntang, if he really touched Shen Yuntang, with Cheng Yeran's personality, he would definitely fight to the death with him.
Previously, Cheng Yeran spoke in public about upholding male ethics in order to reject other high-ranking officials' attempts to win him over for marriage. Even if he contacted Shen Yuntang under the pretext of lending Cheng Yeran sperm, and pushed Cheng Yeran into a corner and made the matter public, he still needed Cheng Yeran to run a newspaper, and he didn't want Cheng Yeran to die. Now that Shen Yuntang was pregnant, it was the best outcome.
The emperor put those thoughts aside and asked the imperial physician to prescribe some pregnancy-maintaining medicine and supplements for Shen Yuntang. He also instructed the imperial physician to go to Cheng Yeran's house every day to check Shen Yuntang's pulse, and to make sure that the child was born healthy.
He asked Cheng Yeran to take Shen Yuntang back home as soon as possible. Now that she had a child, she should stop focusing on work and go home more often to take care of her husband.
Cheng Yeran always felt that the emperor was strange. No matter how much the emperor valued a minister, there was no need to do this.
If the emperor's personality wasn't so different from his future father's, he would have suspected that his father had also traveled through time to ancient times and happened to become an emperor.
However, he didn't have the time to care about the emperor's thoughts now. What was more important to him was Shen Yuntang.
Pregnancy is extremely exhausting for a person. I heard that the fetus will absorb nutrients from the mother and squeeze the internal organs and bones.
He carefully protected Shen Yuntang. They had previously discussed how to raise the child after it was born. At that time, he was looking forward to the arrival of the child, but now that he heard that Shen Yuntang was pregnant, he was afraid that he would suffer physical pain or even lose his life because of the child.
Shen Yuntang looked at his cautious look and said embarrassedly: "Don't be so nervous, it's too weird, everyone is looking at you."
When they leave the palace, they have to take a palace road. On the way, they will meet palace maids, eunuchs, and guards. They all look at Cheng Yeran with strange eyes.
Cheng Yeran leaned close to Shen Yuntang, holding Shen Yuntang's waist with one hand and protecting Shen Yuntang's belly with the other hand, as if he was afraid that an assassin would suddenly rush out and stab his husband in the belly.
But then, they saw an even more exaggerated scene. The emperor actually sent a sedan chair for Shen Yuntang to sit in.
Officials who entered the palace from this road had never received such treatment, but now it was given to Lord Cheng’s husband.
Mr. Cheng was walking outside the sedan chair, but his husband was sitting inside. Who was his husband?
The news of Shen Yuntang's pregnancy has not yet been announced.
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Some even speculated that Mr. Shen was the emperor’s long-lost child?
After hearing the rumor, the emperor felt helpless. When he was nice to Cheng Yeran before, others thought Cheng Yeran was his child. Now they think Shen Yuntang is their child. He is busy with official business in the palace every day. How can he have the time to flirt with others outside?
However, after seeing Shen Yuntang's beauty today, the emperor could not calm down for a long time, and specially ordered to add a boy to this year's selection.
There was no precedent of boys entering the palace in previous selections. After all, boys could make women pregnant, so it would be inconvenient for them to enter the harem.
Many people opposed this, even the Empress Dowager and the Grand Empress Dowager opposed it. They said that he could pick a few handsome guys to put in the palace and visit them occasionally, but he should not break the rules of his ancestors.
The Queen Mother did not lie to him and really found a handsome boy. The Emperor was very satisfied and often kept him by his side.
After Cheng Yeran returned home, he specially called all the servants over, announced the news, and told the kitchen to be more careful when cooking in the future and not to cook things that pregnant women cannot eat.
He specifically asked the imperial physician for a list of dietary restrictions, gave the paper to the kitchen, and asked them to follow it.
He went back to the room and wrapped every corner of the table and chairs.
Shen Yuntang watched him busying himself, "The baby is still several months away from being born, and it will take some time for him to walk after he is born. You are afraid that he will hit his head, so you are bandaging the edges and corners. Isn't it too early?"
Cheng Yeran hadn't thought of that at all. He hurriedly helped Shen Yuntang sit down, "I was worried that you would bump your stomach. When I watched TV dramas before, I often saw scenes where a woman's stomach bumped against the corner of a table and she had a miscarriage."
Cheng Yeran slapped his mouth again after he finished speaking, "Can't say that word, it's unlucky."
Shen Yuntang knew without asking that the unlucky word he said was miscarriage.
"Aren't you an atheist? Why are you superstitious?" Shen Yuntang asked him.
"Now is a special period." Cheng Yeran turned his gaze to the gravel road in the yard again. He thought it was beautiful before, but now those shiny pebbles are an eyesore. He immediately asked someone to come and dig up the road and replace it with anti-slip stone slabs, and also to carve anti-slip grooves on the stone slabs.
All the roads in the house were replaced with non-slip ones, and he didn't care whether they looked good or not. He bought many books about pregnant women on the Internet. If possible, he would like to buy a time-travel package for the obstetrician and invite the future doctor to his home to help Shen Yuntang with prenatal checkups and deliver babies.
Cheng Yeran also prepared a lot of wedding candies and cakes and distributed them to his colleagues. His colleagues thought he was going to marry a concubine. They didn't know which rich family's daughter she was. If she married Cheng Yeran, a potential stock, the whole family would benefit from it in the future.
Some people also said that Cheng Yeran had pretended to love her husband so much before, but now that her husband couldn't have children, she wanted to marry a new person.
Then they heard Cheng Yeran say that this was to celebrate their child’s full moon and let everyone share in the joy.
"Full moon? When was the baby born?" asked an adult.
"She's been pregnant for a month and the baby is still in my belly." Cheng Yeran was so happy that he acted like a fool, which made other ministers believe that he had mental problems.
Some people kindly reminded us that the full moon is only called the full moon after the baby is born, not when the baby is pregnant. And we don’t even know whether the child is a boy or a girl. If he is so ostentatious, what if he gives birth to a girl or a boy in the future? All the trouble will be in vain.
Cheng Yeran said that was the custom in other families. In their family, they started celebrating from the moment the baby was conceived, and no matter whether it was a boy, a girl, or a boy, the baby would be their treasure.
He also teased the minister: "Your daughter is so pitiful."
The minister was so angry that he almost had a fight with him, and he listed one by one how much he loved his daughter.
Later, Cheng Yeran discovered that the minister only favored other people's children over girls, but was very fond of his own daughter, which was very hypocritical.
Although Cheng Yeran was too ostentatious, and no one had ever celebrated the full moon of a pregnancy before, Cheng Yeran had that kind of rumor around, and he was being so ostentatious now was also to dispel the rumor. They could understand Cheng Yeran's approach.
Many people congratulated him, some sincerely and some just to curry favor.
In addition to Cheng Yeran who was so happy, the ministers discovered that the emperor was almost as happy as Cheng Yeran. The emperor had not been so happy even when the fourth prince was born.
Someone else heard that the emperor had asked Cheng Yeran and Shen Yuntang to come to the palace to take Shen Yuntang's pulse, and only then did he find out that Shen Yuntang was pregnant. The emperor loved Cheng very much. Not only did he personally ask the imperial physician to go to their house every day to take Shen Yuntang's pulse, he also rewarded her with a lot of supplements and pregnancy-preserving drugs. Even the families of those princes had never received such treatment from the emperor.
Soon, the rumor changed its meaning and it became known that Shen Yuntang became pregnant after she came out of the palace.
Later on, it became that the child was the emperor's, and that was why the emperor was so good to Cheng Yeran.
Many people actually believed this rumor and cursed Cheng Yeran behind his back, saying that he actually sold out his husband for fame and fortune.
Some people also wonder why their husbands and wives are not as good-looking as Shen Yuntang. If their wives and husbands are also good-looking, they can also offer them to the emperor in exchange for a better future.
The rumor was so widespread that it even reached Cheng Yeran's ears, and the emperor also heard about it.
Cheng Yeran was very angry. He used to think that the villagers were uneducated and loved to gossip, but he didn't expect that it was the same in the officialdom. There was no difference between a person's badness and his or her education level. Some people were kind-hearted even though they had never been to school, while others were powerful and evil.
He also thought of the theme of the next issue of the newspaper. He told Chu Wenqing to look for the letters sent by the people to see if there were any letters about people whose families were broken up due to rumors.
After searching for a while, he actually found two letters. He sent people to contact the messenger and investigate the cause and effect. Then he sent a few people to the city or nearby villages to do interviews. They wanted to publish a newspaper about rumors that killed people.
When the emperor learned about this, he was very angry. He had indeed had such thoughts, and now it seemed like someone had seen through his mind.
He did not take any actual action. He believed that everyone has dark thoughts in their hearts, but he could not tolerate others exposing his thoughts.
He arrested a group of officials who spread rumors. Those with lower-ranking positions were simply cut out of their tongues or exiled. There were two officials who held more important positions, and they could not have their tongues cut out or be exiled as they had done before. The emperor only fined them their salaries, beat them with a few sticks to humiliate them, and then let them go.
There were also two veterans who had served in three dynasties. He let them go because of their old age and said a few words to them in private.
He issued another decree that if the child was a girl from Cheng Yeran's family, she would be engaged to the Fourth Prince, and if it was a boy, he would be engaged to Concubine Wen's child.
Concubine Wen was his new favorite concubine and she was pregnant. The Empress Dowager said that judging from the shape of her belly, it looked like a girl.
After the emperor issued this decree, the rumors were self-defeating. If the child in Shen Yuntang's belly was really the emperor's, how could the emperor allow brothers and sisters to marry?
Just at this time, Cheng Yeran's newspaper was also published, which recorded many cases of people losing their lives due to rumors. Some family members hanged themselves because of rumors, and some were killed because of rumors. In the end, he concluded that rumors can kill people, but there is no law to control the murderer, so should such a law be added?
He also criticized the ministers who spread rumors about him, and even wrote down their names, showing no mercy to them.
After he finished writing it, he asked the people to vote. Before issuing it, he showed it to the emperor. Amending the law was a very big matter. Previous laws never allowed the people to participate. Naturally, the emperor did not make the decision himself. He brought up the matter during the morning court and let everyone discuss it. Many officials also expressed their opposition, thinking that the people should not be allowed to express their opinions.
It is difficult to convict someone of a crime when it comes to rumors. I am afraid that people may think that it is too strict to arrest someone just for making a joke.
Cheng Yeran said: "That's why we ask the people to vote. Even if someone says the regulations are too strict in the future, we can't blame the court."
"No, we can't let the people participate in revising the laws. What do a group of ignorant people know?" The two ministers seriously accused Cheng Yeran of fooling around.
Cheng Yeran said to the two ministers, "Since we are all scholars, why would we be like the ignorant people you are talking about, believing in rumors and spreading them? Are you afraid that if this law is really enacted, you will be the first to suffer?"
The two of them did spread rumors about Cheng Yeran, but they were veterans of three dynasties, and even the emperor let them off. They didn't expect that Cheng Yeran would say it out loud, which made them very angry.
The emperor did not expect Cheng Yeran to say it, so he could only
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Let's adjourn the court first and discuss it later.
The two elders who were offended by Cheng Yeran were very angry and wanted to take revenge on Cheng Yeran.
The two of them got together and thought of a solution. Didn't the third prince go to the countryside to look for Cheng Yeran's dark history before, but he found a bunch of messed up and harmless things. Not only did he fail to hurt Cheng Yeran, but he also got himself involved. They thought that the third prince's approach was a bit stupid, and he should go find his classmates or his former enemies to ask.
After several twists and turns, they finally found Xia Xiaowu. Xia Xiaowu had often seen Cheng Yeran in the newspapers recently, and he was so angry that his teeth were itching, but the gap between them was too big, and he had no other choice but to be angry alone at home.
Now the high-ranking officials in Beijing asked him to help deal with Cheng Yeran and also wanted to give him benefits, which made him very happy.
But Cheng Yeran didn't have any dark history. He racked his brains for a long time and finally came up with an idea. He told the two officials that Cheng Yeran had spread rumors about an old man in the village, saying that the old man stole things, which caused the old man to drown and die. The old man's family went to him for compensation, and he beat up the old man's family.
When the two officials heard about it, they felt it was exactly what they wanted. Cheng Yeran even said that he would convict the rumormongers and mocked them for spreading rumors. Didn't Cheng Yeran do the same thing himself?
They even collected evidence and went to the court to confront Cheng Yeran.
The two ministers said that Cheng Yeran was hypocritical. He spread rumors about others privately and wanted to punish other rumor mongers. He was not worthy of it.
The emperor did not expect that Cheng Yeran had done such a thing before and someone had evidence to prove it.
Cheng Yeran said to the two officials, "It was he who spread rumors first and killed Widow Chen's daughter. Widow Chen pushed him into the river and burned his son to death. That was his retribution. I said he stole things because he spread rumors that my husband had an affair with another man and wanted to kill him. I just wanted him to have a taste of the pain of being spread rumors, to let him know his mistakes and sincerely repent. Then I clarified it to everyone, mainly for educational purposes. Who would have thought that he would die before I could clarify it."
Cheng Yeran said to the emperor, "I ask the emperor to punish me. I am willing to be imprisoned for spreading rumors, but my crime is relatively minor. They spread rumors about the court officials and even about you, the emperor. The crime is serious. It doesn't matter if they don't take me seriously, but they don't take you seriously and the imperial power seriously. Their crime is unforgivable. If you don't punish them severely, someone will follow their example in the future. Everyone can ignore you and make up lies at will."
The whole audience was in an uproar when these words were spoken. They thought that after Cheng Yeran was exposed for such a thing, he would give up the idea of spreading rumors and convicting him, and then ask the emperor for forgiveness. They didn't expect him to be so cruel! I would rather go to jail myself than drag them both down with me. My main point is that if I die, you guys won't be able to survive.
When the two ministers heard Cheng Yeran's words becoming more and more serious, they put big hats on their heads, as if they were going to be put to death.
The two of them immediately knelt down and begged for mercy. Seeing this, the other officials sighed in their hearts and thought, why bother provoking him when you could just provocate anyone else? He is mentally ill, have you forgotten?
The emperor had previously given them a verbal warning and did not impose any punishment because they were veteran ministers of three dynasties. He did not expect that the two of them would continue to pester him and even go to Cheng Yeran's hometown to investigate his past. The emperor wanted Cheng Yeran to bring honor to his family, but now he has lost so much face and brought discredit to the Cheng family. How could he tolerate these two officials?
Moreover, he had long been fed up with these two old ministers. Whenever he wanted to do something, these two people would say that these were the rules set by his father and his grandfather, and they always stopped him. Now that he had gotten rid of these two people, he would be able to do things more freely in the future.
The emperor also took this opportunity to add a law that those who spread rumors and caused trouble would be imprisoned for fifteen days for minor offenses and up to three years for serious offenses, and would be fined between one hundred and one thousand taels of silver.
A separate punishment rule was set up for those who spread rumors about the royal family. Serious offenders would be beheaded. However, considering that the two old ministers were old and had made many contributions to the court, they were dismissed from their positions and allowed to return to their hometown to retire.
They have been in the capital for so many years and have settled down here. Their son has also become an official in the court. But now the emperor wants them to return to their hometown. Their son has no particular ability and has relied on them. Now their son cannot be promoted and may be excluded by other officials. At first they wanted to bring down Cheng Yeran, but Cheng Yeran was put in jail for only fifteen days. The emperor said that he would be reinstated after he was released from prison. There was almost no impact on them. They are in a miserable state. They have really shot themselves in the foot.
The emperor told Cheng Yeran to just pretend and not go to jail, but Cheng Yeran insisted on going. The emperor was a little angry at his stubbornness, "Don't forget that your husband is pregnant."
"He will understand me." The only thing Cheng Yeran asked of the emperor was that he go home and explain himself before going to prison.
The emperor waved his hand and said, "It's not a life-and-death separation. Don't make such an expression. Just say you are out of town on business and will be back in half a month. Don't make him worry and get pregnant again."
Cheng Yeran was afraid that someone might have done something bad while he was away from home, so he exaggerated the situation and told Shen Yuntang about it, which would make Shen Yuntang even more worried. It would be better for him to tell Shen Yuntang in person.
Ever since Shen Yuntang became pregnant, Cheng Yeran had been worried about him and told him to go out less and work at home as much as possible to avoid being bumped into by the mess outside.
Their house is big, and if you feel bored you can just walk around in the yard, the scenery is better than outside.
If Shen Yuntang felt bored, Lin Yu, Liu Ya and the others would take turns to come and talk to him.
Seeing how worried he was, Shen Yuntang felt very happy, but he felt that his stomach was still flat and couldn't be seen, so he didn't need to worry too much.
But pregnancy is really exhausting. He always feels very tired and has to stay in bed every day. He has not had a single day of rest since arriving in the capital. He feels that even if he is not pregnant, he will have to rest for a while, so he might as well take advantage of the pregnancy to give himself a vacation.
It's a good opportunity for him to watch some design videos, continue learning how to draw and make cakes, and read more books to improve his knowledge.
That day he was reading a book when he saw Cheng Yeran coming back. He was still wondering why Cheng Yeran came back so early when he heard Cheng Yeran tell him the news.
He quickly asked someone to pack his things for him to use when he went in. "It's a lie to say I'm not worried about you, but I believe you know what you're doing."
"It's only fifteen days. I'll be back soon. Don't go to see me. That kind of place is not suitable for you to go to." Cheng Yeran assured him, "Also, my approach was indeed immature at the beginning. I shouldn't have wasted my time talking to that old man. I should have just torn his mouth open for spreading rumors. Today, I used this to drag those two elders into the water. I have already made enemies with them. These fifteen days were worth it. Not only did I get rid of two enemies, but I also accomplished what I wanted to do. I made a lot of money."
"Don't do this next time. This time it took half a month, but I don't know how many days it will take next time." Shen Yuntang was afraid that his adventurous spirit would cost him his life.
"Got it. I'm sorry for making you worry about me." Cheng Yeran hugged him, put his face on his belly, and said to the baby inside: "You have to take good care of daddy at home and don't throw tantrums. Do you hear me?"
Shen Yuntang rubbed his head vigorously. "You are still joking at this time. He is not even born yet. Can he understand what you are saying to him?"
"This is called prenatal education. I started teaching him to love and respect you before he was born. He will definitely get used to doing this after he is born." Cheng Yeran said.
"We adults should take care of him and love him. We shouldn't ask so much of a child like him." Shen Yuntang thought that he would be leaving soon, so he didn't ask too much of him. "Let's go after dinner."
Cheng Yeran was imprisoned in a cell in the Dali Temple. The officials of the Dali Temple had been interviewed by the News Department before, and the two departments had a good relationship. When they saw Cheng Yeran coming in, they took special care of him and allowed him to work in the cell every day.
The officials of the Imperial Guard also told him that ministers were often imprisoned, and some were carried out lying down, while others were reinstated on foot and had a smooth career in the future. They also wished Cheng Yeran a higher position in the future.
People from the News Department came to see him in the cell, and he instructed them to make his own story an example and write it up in the news. His subordinates all advised him not to do so as it would damage his reputation. He said that it would be spread out sooner or later, and who knows how many people might already be saying that he was in prison. Instead of letting others speculate, it would be better for him to tell the truth himself.
Chu Wenqing wrote the article himself, listing all the bad deeds of the old man who spread rumors, saying how he had caused unrest among all the women and children in the village, and had caused orphans and widows to hang themselves. Later, he wanted to spread rumors about Mr. Cheng's husband and kill Mr. Shen. Mr. Cheng couldn't stand it and wanted to punish him, so he used the same method to educate him and make him realize his mistakes.
Later, he suffered retribution and was pushed into the river and died by the widow.
Chu Wenqing said that Lord Cheng was so great that he wanted to enforce this law even if he went to jail for the sake of the victims who were harmed by the rumors.
He used a lot of space to praise Cheng Yeran and wrote about the deeds of the victims. Each story was enough to make people so angry that they bleed. In the end, because Lord Cheng persuaded the emperor to promulgate new laws, the rumormongers received the punishment they deserved and justice was done to the victims.
After the newspaper was distributed, everyone said that Lord Cheng was so great and wanted to plead with the emperor. Lord Cheng treated the bad guy like that in order to save the women and brothers of the entire village. He was willing to go to jail for the sake of everyone. He was really a good official.
Many people also spontaneously gave
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Ye Ran wrote a petition asking the emperor to release Cheng Ye Ran.
The emperor didn't expect that Cheng Yeran's reputation would become even better after being imprisoned this time. This really brought honor to the family.
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