Seeing his various calculations, Madam Su had no choice but to interrupt him, "Lord Lu, we have come here today to request that my children be given their mother's surname."
The rhythm jumped too fast, and Lu Ning couldn't keep up for a moment. He was dazed for a second and asked, "What?"
Little Youran said in a clear voice, "Mother said that my brother and I are going to change our surname to Su!"
Lu Ning was taken aback at first, but then immediately thought of the Yong'an Earl's family, whose reputation had recently become infamous throughout the capital, and understood. "Haha, I happened to be consulting the laws of the Great Zhou a few days ago and came across a clause that female officials may give their children their mother's surname. I have already copied it here and originally intended to have it sent to Lady Su. However, the registrar advised me that this is a family matter and should not be mentioned by outsiders, so I had to give up on that idea. I was just thinking about when I could mention it to Lady Su, but I didn't expect that Lady Su would be so familiar with the law and bring it up first."
As he spoke, he instructed the registrar to fetch the household registration book.
Madam Su smiled and said, "This method was taught by the Crown Prince of Xuan, and is not my own achievement."
...
Meanwhile, on the other side, when Madam Gao learned that Second Master Jiang Mingyi had gone out of the mansion on business, she immediately ordered her men to grab weapons and rush to the backyard of the second branch of the family to capture Yun Ni.
Without the Second Master guarding the mansion, the two remaining old women obediently restrained Yun Ni and escorted her out the door.
Yun Ni panicked and kept giving her personal maid a meaningful look. She watched as the maid ran out the door and was taken away crying.
The maid then went to the front of the Su residence and found the Second Master's carriage.
Jiang Mingyi arrived at the gate of the Princess's mansion with a gloomy face and had his servant carry him to knock on the door.
To everyone's surprise, the gatekeeper of the princess's mansion slammed the door shut as soon as he saw that it was the prince consort returning.
Jiang Mingyi was furious, "You damned lackey!"
But no matter how much the servant knocked on the door, there was no sound.
Jiang Mingyi angrily ordered the servant to enter through the side door.
As soon as I turned the corner, I saw Gao Shi coming out of the side door, looking very pleased with himself.
Madam Gao and Jiang Mingyi met face to face, showing no remorse for having detained and sent the second concubine here. Madam Gao spoke earnestly, "Second Uncle, the Earl's mansion still relies on your eldest brother to uphold its reputation. He can't possibly spend the New Year in the Dali Temple, can he? Your return is timely. Please, Second Uncle, appease your second sister-in-law and bring your eldest brother back to the mansion as soon as possible. How can we disregard your eldest brother's life for the sake of an actress who isn't even a concubine? Isn't that right?"
Jiang Mingyi gave her a deep look before having his servant carry him through the side door.
Madam Gao snorted and returned to her residence with an air of arrogance.
She firmly believed that the current difficulties of the Earl's family were temporary, and that as long as her husband returned home and secured his position as Minister of Revenue, the Earl's family would have a bright future.
What she didn't know was that Princess Qingping in the backyard, although she saw Yunni being whipped right in front of her, felt no pleasure whatsoever.
Jiang Mingyi was carried into the mansion by a servant, and screams could be heard from the backyard from afar.
Jiang Mingyi's heart tightened.
Upon arriving at the main courtyard gate, he immediately saw Yun Ni curled up on the ground, her whip lashing against her body.
"Stop!" he shouted.
Princess Qingping turned her head and sneered, "Oh ho, you haven't been back for a month? You came back just for this wretched maid? You feel sorry for this wretched maid?"
She raised the whip in her hand and brought it down heavily. "You feel sorry for her, fine. Let me, this princess, see if you can even take a whip for her."
Jiang Mingyi suppressed his anger, "What happened that day was my fault. If you want to hit or scold me, come at me."
Yun Ni suddenly raised her red, tear-filled eyes and said, "Master, it's Yun Ni's fault. As long as the child isn't hurt, if the mistress wants to hit or scold me, it's Yun Ni's fault."
The mention of the child filled the princess with hatred, and she went to kick Yunni in the stomach, but Yunni turned around and took the kick hard on her back.
Princess Qingping roared, "Pull her up! I want to see if her child survives!"
Jiang Mingyi already felt guilty towards Yun Ni, who had suddenly been brought into his life. Seeing her protecting the child so fiercely, especially since the child might be his only son, he shouted, "Stop! Who dares to touch her?!"
Jiang Mingyi called out softly to the side, "Feng Ying!"
A man in black appeared out of nowhere and stood in front of Jiang Mingyi to protect him.
Jiang Mingyi whispered, "Protect Madam Yunni."
"yes."
The man in black was about to step forward when Princess Qingping roared, "Guards, seize him for me!"
A group of guards immediately drew their swords and stepped forward.
The man in black was highly skilled in martial arts, and he defeated all the guards in the mansion in just a few rounds.
Princess Qingping was even more furious, "Dark One to Dark Five, attack them for me!"
Five guards suddenly jumped out from the side and attacked Feng Ying.
Feng Ying was indeed formidable, effortlessly taking on five opponents at once and quickly defeating them all.
Princess Qingping gritted her teeth, "I never expected this, Jiang Mingyi, that you would have such a master by your side!"
Jiang Mingyi ignored her and said to Yun Ni, "Yun Ni, get up and come back to the manor with me."
Yunni, clutching her stomach, got up and followed closely behind Jiang Mingyi.
Princess Qingping said resentfully, "Jiang Mingyi, you're something else!"
Not only did she get cuckolded, but now she's actually protecting that bitch like this!
She only regretted that she had only focused on venting her anger and hadn't kicked that bitch out of her belly!
After Jiang Mingyi brought Yun Ni back to the Earl's Mansion, he whispered an instruction to Feng Ying.
Fengying immediately flew away.
Feng Ying was a swordsman whom Jiang Mingyi saved in Dingzhou. When he was awakened, Feng Ying had lost his memory. To repay the life-saving grace, Feng Ying became Jiang Mingyi's bodyguard.
Because Feng Ying's martial arts skills were extremely high, Jiang Mingyi had carefully kept him hidden as a trump card, preventing others from discovering him. Unexpectedly, today, because of Yun Ni, Feng Ying's skills were exposed.
At this moment, Jiang Mingyi was thinking that since Fengying had already been exposed and his relationship with the princess had already soured, he should let Fengying do something more important.
...
Meanwhile, Su Youran and her mother returned to the Su residence in high spirits, holding the brand-new household registration documents.
Xiao Youran naturally forgot about the letter her senior brother had written to her.
Wen Yuanbai heard that when Ye An, the acting Minister of Revenue and Vice Minister of the Left, was presiding over a land reclamation ceremony in the suburbs of the capital, a large group of snakes suddenly appeared, almost scaring away the disaster victims who were reclaiming the land.
Ye An almost got bitten by the snake.
At the same time, news came from the Dali Temple that the vice minister who originally wanted to exonerate Jiang Mingli had taken advantage of the jailer's inattention to lure the former Minister of Revenue, Cao Ming, from the next cell over to talk, and then strangled him to death through the cell door. Afterwards, he hung his belt from the beam and committed suicide.
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