His words had a calming effect, but Lady Yong'an still couldn't let go of her anger.
Jiang Yuan actually kept a mistress who was a former prostitute a secret from them?!
Or was it obtained through a struggle with Li Gelao's son?
Oh my god!
She almost fainted again.
Jiang Mingyi hurriedly bid farewell to his father and quickly helped his mother back to Fu'an Hall. He immediately asked, "Mother, have you recently made a move against Su Shi and Xiao Youran?"
Lady Yong'an glared with dark circles under her eyes, furious. "I haven't been able to sleep or eat properly for the past month. How could I dare to invite that jinx again? Hasn't the Marquis's mansion suffered enough from her misfortune?"
Jiang Mingyi took a deep breath and emphasized, "Mother, the Su family is currently a guest minister of the court and is favored by the Emperor. You must not provoke them again. We need to proceed slowly and methodically."
Lady Yong'an grabbed her son, "Mingyi, do you know something?"
Jiang Mingyi shook his head, "All I know is that half a month ago, my elder brother was ordered by the Ministry of Revenue to become her and Xiao Youran's disciples, and he suffered all kinds of humiliation. I'm just worried that he won't be able to swallow this and might do something irreversible!"
Lady Yong'an's eyes flickered, and she said in a deep voice, "The Gao family must know something."
Jiang Mingyi immediately thought of the Mid-Autumn Festival gifts that the Earl's Mansion had sent to the Princess's Mansion yesterday, and hurriedly asked the old woman to invite Madam Gao over.
Not only the Gao family members came with them, but also the Earl of Yong'an.
It was clear that the Earl of Yong'an had already sensed that something was wrong.
As soon as he entered the house, he shouted, "What exactly have you two been doing behind my back?"
Lady Yong'an was so frightened that her heart trembled.
Jiang Mingyi glanced at Madam Gao, then stepped forward and helped his father sit down. "Father, don't be anxious. Mother and I are discussing my eldest brother's matter. Since you're here, let's discuss it together."
He then looked at Madam Gao, "Sister-in-law, the household finances were tight last month, but recently they've become more abundant again. Do you have any ways to make money? Or has my brother done something he shouldn't have?"
Madam Gao quickly shook her head, "No, no, no... Lately, I've been pawning a lot of my dowry to keep the Earl's mansion afloat..."
Her lies crumbled under the piercing gazes of Jiang Mingyi and the Marquis of Yong'an. After stammering for a while, she finally confessed, "Yes... Mingli... gave me four thousand taels last month... and a couple of days ago, he gave me another thirty thousand taels... but I don't know where he got this money! Really!"
The Marquis of Yong'an was so angry that he smashed the cup on the table. "Insolence! Insolence! He's only been an official in the capital for a few days, and he's already thinking about embezzlement?! Didn't I tell you to write a letter to Dingzhou and use the family's savings stored in the clan?"
Lady Yong'an was furious. "What? You want to use the family's wealth?!"
The Marquis of Yong'an retorted angrily, "Otherwise what? If most of what you brought to the capital was your former daughter-in-law's dowry, how could the Marquis's mansion be in such a sorry state and being ridiculed today?"
Lady Yong'an was furious. "You blame me for keeping my former daughter-in-law's dowry? Didn't you know that the South China Sea Pearl Curtain was part of Su's dowry? Didn't you know that the Diligence Stele was part of Su's dowry? When you took that landscape painting from the previous dynasty to present to Prince Rong, didn't you know it was part of Su's dowry?"
The Earl of Yong'an was so choked up that he couldn't utter a single word.
Jiang Mingyi sighed, "Father, Mother, let's not talk about this anymore. The most important thing right now is my elder brother's matter. Even if he did such a thing, it shouldn't have been found out so quickly. Let's rule out the possibility that the household has caused trouble for him. Sister-in-law, what has the household been doing lately? Is there anything unusual? Please think back carefully and tell me."
Madam Gao wiped away her tears and said, "Recently, everything has been going wrong at the Earl's mansion... Yuan-ge'er... no, Yong-ge'er was supposed to fill the vacancy for the Imperial Guard, but on the day he met with his superior, he somehow got an upset stomach and went to the outhouse more than a dozen times. His superior directly judged him to be too weak to take the job. The set of glass cups we just bought the day before yesterday was perfectly fine in the storeroom, but a rat knocked it to the ground and shattered it... Yesterday, we started sending Mid-Autumn Festival gifts. I've sent them to the several mansions we usually keep in touch with."
"What were they sent to? Which families were they sent to?" Hearing this, Jiang Mingyi finally grasped the key point.
"It was two boxes of mooncakes and two pots of wine for each family to toast the moon. The Rong Prince's Mansion, the Zhenguo Duke's Mansion, the Princess's Mansion, the Zhongyong Marquis's Mansion... a total of more than a dozen families were given gifts."
Jiang Mingyi sensed something was wrong. "The Princess's residence? You're acquainted with the Princess?"
Madam Gao shook her head. "The Princess's little prince's full moon celebration is in a few days. We have also received an invitation, so we sent some festival gifts over."
Jiang Mingyi thought about it for a while. Since it was a gift sent to every household, there shouldn't be any problems. He also asked about some recent events at the Earl's residence, but still couldn't detect anything unusual.
Finally, he sighed, "We've just arrived in the capital and are unfamiliar with the place. I'll go back and ask the princess for directions." With that, he got up and left.
The Marquis of Yong'an chased after him, shouting, "You brat! I still want to ask you, why did you choose to divorce the Su family?"
Jiang Mingyi had already left the courtyard, and Gao also hurriedly said goodbye and left.
The Earl of Yong'an then muttered to his wife, "If you know, tell me why he divorced and remarried. If he hadn't divorced, how could all these things have happened?"
Lady Yong'an quickly covered herself with the blanket, "Master, my head is so dizzy..."
She dared not speak, she did not want to speak.
The Marquis of Yong'an looked at her for a long time before finally sighing.
He knew that his wife and second son were definitely hiding something from him, and perhaps his eldest son and daughter-in-law also knew about it.
When Jiang Mingyi returned to the Princess's residence, before he could even ask, Princess Qingping took the initiative to tell him, "I have already had someone investigate and found out that there was a five thousand tael silver note stamped with the seal of the Imperial Funds Bureau inside the mooncake box that the Earl's Mansion sent to the Princess's residence."
Jiang Mingyi was taken aback. "It couldn't possibly have been sent by my elder brother."
The princess nodded. "That's what I thought too. But I had someone investigate very thoroughly, and they said that it was indeed the box of mooncakes sent by the Yong'an Marquis's mansion that was delivered to the palace. Then the emperor got angry and ordered the Dali Temple to arrest the person."
Jiang Mingyi took a deep breath and was about to go out again when the princess stopped him. "It's obvious the Emperor has intervened. Even if you know what's going on, what can you do?"
Jiang Mingyi clenched his fist to reassure her, "You watch over Yun'er. I'm going to ask my sister-in-law what's going on with this mooncake box! If it was given by someone else, find that person and ask them!"
Princess Qingping suddenly slammed down her teacup. "Are you going to ask your sister-in-law? Isn't the person you most want to ask right now your ex-wife?!"
Jiang Mingyi also got angry, "Yes, I want to ask Su Shi! After all, the banknotes are stamped with the seal of the Tingmu Department! She oversees the accounts at the Tingmu Department, so if my brother has problems with the money, wouldn't she be the one who knows best?!"
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