Chapter 257 Greed knows no bounds; a snake tries to swallow an elephant.
Jiang Fenghua stroked her belly, her eyes full of affection, and smiled as she said, "Your Majesty, I really can't take over all the arrangements right now, but I can't just not do them either. After all, it's His Highness's first birthday since becoming Crown Prince. As the Crown Princess, if I'm not proactive in such matters, people will gossip."
Xie Shang offered his suggestion, "Let's leave it to Butler Cheng. We trust him to get things done. Let him draft an invitation list, a small one, nothing too ostentatious."
"Your Majesty, I understand." Jiang Fenghua added, "If General Su's mansion invites us, won't it look bad since Consort Su is still imprisoned?" The Su family will definitely be invited.
After so much time has passed, Xie Shang's anger has subsided considerably. If they move into the palace, Su Tingwan will definitely have to go to the palace as well. Otherwise, if they leave her there and she continues to be confined to the palace, Xie Shang probably won't be able to find a reason to do so.
Xie Shang frowned, but his mind calmed down considerably. He didn't care; she was just a woman. It made no difference whether he kept her or locked her up. "Tell her to dress decently that day, so she doesn't embarrass the Crown Prince's residence."
Jiang Fenghua paused, "Your Majesty, I will instruct Consort Ye and Consort Su." Then, I'll see what you're up to. As long as the Su family doesn't fall, Consort Su won't fall either. However, she has completely lost Xie Shang's heart. Since she's going to enter the palace, she should be prepared to be alone for the rest of her life.
Xie Shang continued, “I only realized how difficult it was for my father after I got involved in politics. It’s even more difficult when the national treasury is empty. Last year’s tax revenue was quite considerable, but the reconstruction of Jiangnan after the floods and the war with the Hu tribes also cost a lot of military funds. In addition to the fixed expenditures, now all the regions are asking for money. The ministers have things to report every day, and they talk a lot of nonsense. But there is one thing that everyone is in agreement on: they want money.”
Jiang Fenghua also knew that in addition to expenditures, the imperial court's income was actually quite considerable. Besides taxes, land rent, house rent, commercial trade, and mining income such as gold, silver, iron, and salt, the imperial relatives and nobles also had their own private properties, such as imperial estates. If managed well, their annual income would be quite substantial.
Jiang Fenghua knew that Xie Shang would handle all of these matters without any difficulty.
In his previous life, after becoming the crown prince, he was always learning to be a good emperor. In the first year of his reign, he did something that his father had not been able to finish seriously in decades: he began to purge corrupt officials from the bureaucracy. Indeed, you don't know until you investigate, and what you find is shocking.
The fact that a corrupt family like the Su family wasn't purged doesn't mean they weren't investigated; rather, it's because Su Tingwan intervened in the palace, allowing the Su family to escape unscathed. Xie Shang was actually quite incompetent, listening to Su Tingwan's influence, which made the Su clan increasingly arrogant. After Su Dehai stepped down, Su Xuan took over his position.
It's a pity that Jiang Fenghua died at the age of thirty-five in her previous life. She didn't know what happened to the Su family afterward. Xie Shang was only forty-five years old at that time. If he had lived a little longer, he could have lived for several more decades. Who would have passed the Great Zhou Dynasty to then?
In Jiang Fenghua's mind, Xie Shang's favoritism towards Su Tingwan was a sign of his incompetence. He could treat other women equally, but he forgot about his original wife.
At that moment, she really wanted to delve into Xie Shang's heart to see what it was made of.
Su Tingwan gave birth to two daughters but no sons; perhaps it was destined that women in the Su family could not bear sons.
After Jiang Fenghua died, her two children also did not survive.
At that time, she was already terminally ill and could not even struggle in her death throes. She did not know that the Su family would launch a rebellion to seize the throne the year after her death. Su Tingwan and Xie Shang had long since lost their love, and Su Tingwan had also become entangled with Ji Chen.
Xie Shang was no pushover either. Having ruled for nearly twenty years, he had a solid foundation. He personally led his troops to defeat the Su family and killed Su Xuan with his own hands. Thus, the Su family, which had a history of nearly a hundred years, was wiped out. Jiang Fenghua was unaware of all this.
For the next few decades, Xie Shang searched for a woman, wasting his life on the throne in a daze, but never found her again.
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Xie Shang's birthday banquet was held at the Crown Prince's residence. The guest list was drafted by Steward Cheng and confirmed by Jiang Fenghua. When she saw the names of Su Dehai and Su Xuan, a subtle smile appeared on her lips.
Lianye managed to extract a lot of information from Lin Feng. She never expected that Su Xuan had plotted against Ye Susu, even having soldiers try to take advantage of her. After all that, she still got involved with the Su family. Was she out of her mind?
If Ye Susu is smart, she should behave herself. If she tries to do something that is greedy and insatiable, her good days will be over.
On the day he brought her back to the manor, Xie Shang personally served her a contraceptive soup and watched her drink it. After that, she did not do anything to seduce Xie Shang. She was very smart and knew to first establish herself in the manor. She always maintained a noble and indifferent attitude. If Xie Shang had kept such a woman for a long time, he would not have thought of leaving her unused.
However, if Ye Susu suddenly conspires with the Su family to harm her or the child in her womb, then things will get complicated.
Jiang Fenghua thought about it for several days, but she couldn't figure out why Ye Susu would get involved with the Su family. Ye Susu's hometown was in Jiangnan, and there was no one left in her family. Did Su Xuan have some leverage over her?
If she couldn't figure it out, she stopped thinking about it and decided to take it one step at a time.
On the day of the Crown Prince's birthday banquet, Ye Susu appeared before Jiang Fenghua in a pure white long dress. Her hair was simply styled, and her makeup was carefully applied, making her look elegant and refined. "This concubine greets the Crown Princess."
"No need for formalities!" Jiang Fenghua remembered that she hadn't asked the embroidery workshop to make such a flowing, ethereal dress for Ye Susu, so where did she get it from?
At this moment, Su Tingwan also appeared in a gorgeous long dress. She had lost weight since we last saw her. "This concubine greets the Crown Princess."
Jiang Fenghua's smile remained unchanged as she said gently, "Consort Su, you may rise."
Su Tingwan took Ye Susu's hand and said with a smile, "Ye Liangfei looks so beautiful in this dress. Aunt Liu has such good taste. This kind of dress is perfect for Ye Liangfei's temperament. His Highness the Crown Prince will definitely like it."
Ye Susu explained, "That day, when Aunt Liu visited Consort Su at the Crown Prince's residence, she insisted on giving it to me, saying that she was thanking me for treating her illness, which was just a minor cold. So I wrote down a prescription for her. Who knew Aunt Liu would be so polite?"
Jiang Fenghua didn't expect Ye Susu to take the initiative to confess that she had met with Su Tingwan that day. The more she explained, the more she would try to cover it up.
Su Tingwan also said, "I, the Crown Princess, Ye Liang, and I are all His Highness the Crown Prince's women. Rather than fighting to the death, it would be better for us to coexist peacefully. Therefore, I have thought it through and am willing to seek peace with Ye Liang and the Crown Princess."
Ye Liangqie, with an innocent and naive expression, smiled and said, "I have long heard that Consort Su has a cheerful personality and is a person of true feelings. I have no grudges with Consort Su. In the future, I hope that the Crown Princess and Consort Su will give me more guidance while I am in the manor."
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