Tong Guowei left the palace in a daze, which made him a laughing stock for many. When everyone found out why he was so distraught, they were even more astonished and found it unbelievable.
Over the years, the emperor has valued and promoted many capable people, most of whom came from humble backgrounds. The emperor also heavily relied on the Eight Banners, but in the court, it seems that the saying "Manchu and Han are one family" truly applies.
Even so, the emperor would occasionally meddle with the Tong family. Although they looked down on the Tong family for their wealth and power, they really didn't dare to touch them.
Judging from the Emperor's demeanor, he is a man of deep feelings and will certainly not stand idly by and ignore the Tong family.
Therefore, most people's attitude towards the Tong family was not to curry favor, because it was useless; the emperor didn't care about that, but he also wouldn't be afraid of them, nor would he listen to slander.
This is also what makes Tong Guowei feel bad; he wants to be respected, but things don't turn out that way.
Following Ma Qi's order to go home and rest, Tong Guowei was also ordered to go home and rest for a while.
Because the two were punished in similar ways, people started to imagine that Tong Guowei was punished by the emperor in this way and dared not utter a word. What does this mean? It means that he was in the wrong!
If Tong Guowei really had any grievances, he wouldn't have kept them completely hidden.
The day after Tong Guowei was ordered to rest, Ma Qi was released. Although the matter was still shrouded in mystery, it did not prevent Yinzhen from preparing for a personal expedition.
Regardless of whether they are demons or monsters, even if we can't find out who's behind this for now, we'll eventually find out who's behind it all.
After Ma Qi was released, he was not immediately reinstated to his original position, since the former Minister of War had indeed been wronged.
Everyone was waiting for the Emperor to reinstate Minister Chen, the former Minister of War! But Minister Chen was a clever man; he submitted a memorial to the Emperor, saying that he was too old and wanted to resign.
Then Ma Qi smoothly became the Minister of War, leaving everyone speechless.
Everyone could see that the Emperor intended to give Ma Qi an important position, but no one dared to say a word against it. Tong Guowei was still resting at home! As for why everyone understood why all these things were pinned on Tong Guowei, they all knew the answer.
Tong Guowei felt wronged when he found out. He had only done half of it, just going with the flow. Why should he be labeled as the instigator?
He felt wronged!
But he didn't know who to confide in.
Tong Guowei knew that his little trick had been seen through, and he also knew that his daughter would probably never have the chance to enter the harem in her life, so he "sent" the two palace maids who originally came from Yongshou Palace out of the mansion.
The Tong family members reacted differently to this matter. When Hesheli heard about it, she thought that perhaps the master had come to his senses and no longer wanted to send his daughter to the palace.
Although Hesheli's methods were not as good as those of the women in the inner quarters, she truly loved her daughter and did not want her to suffer, so she was quite happy about it.
She was also very worried about Tong Guowei being ordered to go home and rest. She didn't understand politics, but she knew about the uproar in the capital.
He knew perfectly well that Tong Guowei must have done something.
Hesheli sighed and said to the nanny beside her, "Tong'er has been raised by her father to be a bit too proud. She probably can't accept all this. Go to my storeroom and get two bolts of fabric to send to her so she can make some new clothes and two sets of jewelry to cheer her up."
"Yes, Madam."
After learning that she was not the biological daughter of the Fujin, Tong Yuntong soon learned that the path to success her father had chosen for her was blocked. Her heart was in turmoil, more so than if she had been on a roller coaster.
"Princess, the maidservant from the Fujin's side has brought you some things."
Tong Yuntong nodded and said, "I understand. Go and attend to the nanny. I don't want to move."
"Yes, Princess."
Aunt Chun had no idea that Tong Guowei had been stripped of his official post. She was both surprised and confused. How could this have happened?
Tong Guowei was very depressed because of this incident. Aunt Chun wanted to comfort him, but Tong Guowei was nowhere to be found.
As Tong Guowei's elder brother, Tong Guogang knew about the foolish things his younger brother had done. He had heard from his wife that his second brother was a bit arrogant and that he should be careful, but he didn't take it seriously. Unexpectedly, he was given a real "surprise".
The Tong family has now completely lost face. Everyone in the capital with any connections says that the Tong family's attempt to steal a chicken has backfired, and they deserve to be punished by the Emperor.
Tong Guowei was drinking to drown his sorrows in his study when the door was kicked open.
Tong Guowei, drunk, squinted and shouted impatiently, "Who's so bold as to step out of my room? Don't they want to die?"
Tong Guogang's face darkened. He walked up to Tong Guowei, picked up a kettle containing cooled tea, opened the lid, and splashed the tea onto Tong Guowei's face. Tong Guowei, with water and tea leaves dripping from his face, instantly became much more awake.
He was finally able to open his eyes, and then he saw his older brother with an angry, dark face. Tong Guogang immediately felt something was wrong: "Brother, why are you here?"
Tong Guogang was already angry, and seeing his unreliable behavior made him even angrier, so he said irritably, "Come and see if you're dead or not."
Tong Guowei was extremely dejected: "Does my brother really have to be so disparaging?"
Tong Guogang: "I was just teasing you! I was telling the truth. You look like you're dead. Are you sober yet?"
"She's awake, she's awake."
"Tell me what you're thinking. The Emperor has been quite kind to our Tong family these past few years. Why don't you just behave yourself? You've made your actions so obvious that now our Tong family has completely lost its reputation in the capital. Are you satisfied with that?"
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