Chapter 491
After the imperial edict was read, Zeng Kang felt as if he had escaped a calamity. He had thought that his title would be completely wiped out, but he did not expect that he would only be demoted instead of being stripped of his title, and he would not be reduced to a penniless person. Zeng Kang knelt down to thank the emperor for his grace.
The eunuch asked him to count the property belonging to Zeng Yuanjing as soon as possible, as the emperor was watching it personally. Zeng Kang dared not say "no" and held the imperial edict, saying that he would do it immediately.
As soon as the eunuch left, the Yongyi Marquis, no, now it's the third-rank Yongyi Earl's Mansion immediately got busy. They had to count the dowry left by the eldest sister-in-law. Moreover, as Zeng Yuanjing was the blood of the first wife, the Earl's Mansion should also have his share of the property. Now Zeng Kang just wanted to get through these crises safely, so how could he dare to withhold even a penny.
When counting the property, there was chaos in the Bo's house. Zeng Kang only took care of the affairs outside and left the house to his mother and wife. But when he counted his eldest sister-in-law's dowry, he found that there was not much left. He was so angry that he cursed and said he had married a vicious woman. But Song also had something on him and the old lady, so she would not let him beat and scold her and go against him.
Song Shi had no news about her son, and she was almost desperate. She just wanted her daughter to marry a good family and get more dowry for her daughter. What else could she ask for in the Bo's Mansion? So she simply broke off relations with Zeng Kang.
The old lady could only lie on the bed, crying and listening to the farce outside. She had never liked her grandson Zeng Yuanjing before, but now she found out that this grandson had really become estranged from the Earl's Mansion. She felt extremely sad. Even the Marquis' Mansion had now become the Earl's Mansion. How did it come to this?
She asked the nanny to sort out some of her belongings and give them to her grandson Yuan Jing. This was the last thing she could do for her grandson as a grandmother, and it could be regarded as making up for the guilt she felt for her eldest son and this grandson.
There was chaos in the mansion of the Marquis of Yongyi, and the capital was also bustling with activity. The news that Zeng Yuanjing had fainted from poisoning at a palace banquet had spread throughout the capital. There were so many officials and nobles present that day, as well as those female relatives, that this matter could not be covered up. Besides, there were many people who disliked Zeng Kang, and there were also some military officers who were concerned about the friendship with the old Marquis of Yongyi. They found that Zeng Kang dared to treat Zeng Yuanjing so badly. It was not easy for them to interfere in the affairs of the Marquis' mansion, but they could publicize what Zeng Kang had done for him.
Zeng Yuanjing had a very bad reputation in the past, but now that the truth has been revealed, he has gained so much sympathy that even ordinary people can't help but sigh.
"I was saying that the father is a hero and the son cannot be a coward. It turns out that he was spoiled by his own uncle and aunt. This family is so cruel that they can even poison their own nephew. Fortunately, God has eyes and the poison was released in front of the emperor, so the emperor can make a decision for the fourth young master Zeng."
"Yes, if it were any other time, I'm afraid that this Fourth Young Master Zeng would not only die quietly, but also bear a bad reputation for the rest of his life, with no chance to clear it."
"In the past, I thought the prince of that mansion was such a good person, but now it seems hard to describe. The fourth young master Zeng is his cousin. Could it be that he can't see the situation of his cousin at all?"
"So now he's getting his comeuppance. He disappeared before he even started fighting at the border. It shows that his good reputation was false. His true abilities are revealed on the battlefield."
"Even though Fourth Young Master Zeng was deliberately spoiled by his relatives, he is still kind-hearted. He said that his uncle and aunt raised him, so he didn't want the title and only wanted to move out of the Earl's Mansion. However, Fourth Young Master Zeng rejected the title in front of His Majesty. How many people can do that?"
"Yes, now that you mentioned it, I also remembered that the four young masters Zeng and Li were all spoiled brats. How could they have done anything evil like bullying men and women? At most, they were a little uneducated, but with their family background, couldn't they afford to eat, drink and have fun for the rest of their lives? Why should we worry about that?"
"Yes, yes, there is a group of beggars in the north of the city. I have seen the Fourth Young Master and his men often send some food to them, saying that it would be a waste if they could not finish it. But if they were not kind-hearted, why would they do such things?"
…
Li Yan, Zhao Yu and Xia Zhou took advantage of Yuan Jing's influence and quickly cleaned up their reputations. For these three people, they probably never thought that things would develop in this way. However, they didn't care about their reputation in the first place, so it didn't matter whether they cleaned up their reputations or not.
Li Yan and the other three were all focused on Yuan Jing in the palace. Zhao Yu and Xia Zhou only found out about what happened in the palace last night after daybreak. They were terrified. After learning the details from Li Yan, they cursed Yuan Jing's uncle and aunt together.
"Why should the title be given to Zeng Kang? The title originally belonged to Yuan Jing's father and elder brother, so it is most appropriate for him to inherit it."
"I think Fourth Brother has his reasons for doing this. I took a look around outside and now people are speaking well of Fourth Brother." Xia Zhou thought more about it and estimated that if it weren't for this incident, there wouldn't be as many people speaking well of Fourth Brother as there are now.
Compared to them, Jing Lie was not anxious. Instead, he comforted the three of them: "Don't worry, Yuan Jing will come out today. He doesn't like to stay in the palace."
As Jing Lie said, the old emperor hoped that Yuan Jing would stay for a while longer to clear the toxins from his body and recuperate for a while. There were all kinds of good medicinal herbs in the palace, but Yuan Jing resolutely resigned, saying that it was against the rules for him, an outsider, to stay in the palace. Staying for one night was already an exception, so how could he stay any longer? He would take good care of his body after leaving the palace.
The old emperor had no choice but to arrange for someone to send him out of the palace. He also gave him a bunch of things and arranged for an imperial physician to take care of his health.
So in the afternoon, the carriage coming out of the palace stopped outside Jinlie Cloth Shop. Li Yan and others who got the news ran out quickly. They didn't expect that Yuan Jing would come to Jinglie's territory openly instead of returning to the Yongyi Earl's Mansion. Li Yan secretly gave Yuan Jing a thumbs up.
The play had to go on. Jing Lie carried the weak-looking Yuan Jing down from the carriage and carried him back to the room in the back yard. He then moved all the items in the carriage into the back, thanked the eunuchs and guards who had brought Yuan Jing back again and again, and stuffed a few purses filled with silver bills into his pockets. The eunuch who was responsible for bringing Yuan Jing back could only twitch his lips, and then went back to the palace to report the truth.
Of course, Jing Lie told the truth. He said that he was only living here temporarily. After the division of the family property at the Bo's Mansion was completed, there would be a house under Yuan Jing's name. He could move in after cleaning it up. This sounded reasonable.
As a result, the property of the Bo's Mansion had not been counted yet, and the eunuch who had returned to the palace came out again and brought Yuan Jing the title deed of a house. This was the house bestowed by His Majesty to the Fourth Young Master Zeng. Yuan Jing leaned on the bed to express his gratitude.
The three-story house was ready for move-in. The next day after they went to see it, Jing Lie moved in with Yuan Jing. Li Yan and the other two also found a new place to meet up. Of course, no one was in the mood to have fun now, because their good brother Yuan Jing was recuperating from an illness.
When the old lady learned that Zeng Yuanjing had left the palace but did not return to the Marquis' Mansion, but lived outside, and that the emperor had also granted him a house, she lay in bed in silence for a long time, and finally could only sigh. She had long expected that her grandson would become estranged from the Marquis' Mansion and her, his grandmother, so there was no way he would move back.
"Please deliver these things for me. Oh, and ask the servants in his yard to deliver them as well, so that he won't be left without anyone to serve him." The old lady gave the instructions in a vague voice, not speaking clearly.
"Okay, old lady, I will go there myself."
Nanny Lin brought people and a carriage to Yuan Jing's new house. A plaque with the words "Zeng's House" was hung on the house, which showed that it was completely separated from the Yongyi Marquis's Mansion. Song Shi and Song Shan knew that they would be sent to the young master, so they packed their bags and followed without saying a word. Chunxiang and several maids were hesitant, but they dared not disobey their master's order.
Yuan Jing was still lying on the bed, pretending to be weak the whole time. Nanny Lin didn't say much, but she took Chunxiang and the others away when she left. Yuan Jing said that their family was all in the Bo's Mansion and there was no need to separate them. Nanny Lin actually knew in her heart why these older girls were arranged to be with the Fourth Young Master. It seemed that the Fourth Young Master knew it clearly, so he took them back without any more persuasion.
Seeing that Chunxiang and several other maids were very happy to go back with her, Nanny Lin thought to herself that perhaps in their eyes, even if the Marquis's Mansion was downgraded in title, it was still a Earl's Mansion, and had more prospects than the Fourth Young Master being a commoner. But Nanny Lin knew that these maids, after being sent back by the Fourth Young Master, would no longer be reused by the Old Lady.
Who was the one who poisoned the mansion? Although no evidence was found, who didn't know? There was no one else except Song. Who did Song use to do it? It was these maids controlled by Song. The old lady couldn't do anything to Song, but these maids would have a hard time. If they were willing to stay with the fourth young master, they could have escaped.
With Songshi and Songshan, Jing Lie brought back a few maids and a housekeeper, and the new Zeng residence was up and running. Yuan Jing didn't need to worry about the affairs of the residence, and everyone going in and out was very well organized, which made Li Yan and the others secretly applaud, thinking that Jing Lie, this gigolo who lived off his wife, was still quite useful.
Fortunately, Jing Lie did not hear their inner comments, otherwise he would have used his fists to tell them who the gigolo was.
Two days later, several carts of things arrived from the Yongyi Marquis's mansion, including Yuan Jing's mother's dowry and the family property allocated to his family. The mansion's steward personally escorted the things over and handed them over one by one.
Nanny Lin came with the housekeeper. The housekeeper used to not take the Fourth Young Master seriously, but who would have thought that everything in the Earl's Mansion would be torn apart, giving the whole capital a good time. Especially since it was done in front of His Majesty, he didn't dare to be perfunctory at all.
Yuan Jing's mother's dowry was almost gone, so she exchanged it for other things, such as silver or farms and shops. Yuan Jing didn't mind at all. Without the emperor's order, he couldn't get these things. Of course, he would have done something else at that time, such as sneaking into the warehouses of a few masters when it was dark and windy at night and seizing the warehouses in one fell swoop.
Now that they had all completed the repayments for him and the share of the family property they had been given was also very practical, Yuan Jing did not bother with them about it and waved his hand for the butler to put down his things and leave.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
