Chapter 469 Imperial Decree

Yu Mingzhu's reputation began to spread throughout the capital.

It is said that she is a beautiful and kind-hearted person. She is the daughter of a noble duke, and yet she braved the severe cold to provide porridge to the disaster victims. She has noble moral character and is a role model for the ladies in the capital.

Even the emperor heard about it and issued an imperial decree to commend him.

Yu Mingzhu became famous in the capital.

The Duke's Mansion seemed to have been evacuated because of the shadow cast by the eldest young lady's little cage. Yu Mingzhu's mother, the Crown Prince's wife Jiao, walked with a breeze, and the smile on her face never faded.

However, at this time, when Princess Ying took her beloved daughter Princess Qing'an to the charity hall to do charity work, she accidentally looked through the charity hall's income and expenditure account book, and she was shocked to find that Yu Xingxing from the Zhenxi General's Mansion took 12,000 taels of silver to donate cotton clothes to the charity hall.

Although Princess Qing'an had never dealt with Xingxing, she knew that she was the sister of General Zhenxi. In addition, Princess Qing'an was also in front of the guest house on the night of the Lantern Festival and saw with her own eyes that Yu Yongliu won the Phoenix Pearl Lantern for her sister, so she had an impression of Xingxing.

When Princess Ying and Princess Qing'an returned home, they mentioned this to Prince Ying with some admiration. They said that the Yu family was truly remarkable, that the family had both military and literary talents, and that even the younger sister was so righteous that she donated 10,000 taels without making a fuss. If they hadn't accidentally looked through the account book, they wouldn't have known about this at all.

Prince Ying believed this. Later, when he entered the palace, he casually mentioned to the current emperor that there were not only the daughters of the Duke's Mansion who provided porridge to the people in the capital, but also the general's sister who did good deeds quietly without seeking fame or wealth.

The current emperor was originally worried about the people because of the snow disaster. He previously issued an edict to praise Yu Mingzhu, and also wanted to use him as an example to encourage the powerful and wealthy to do more good deeds for the people.

Now I heard that there was a rich lady who donated 12,000 taels of silver privately and never publicized it. I was delighted, but then I heard again, wait, the sister of General Zhenxi?

At this moment, His Majesty sat up straight.

Isn’t this the Yu family that his Ah Yan specifically asked him to take care of in the letter?

He was already very satisfied with Yu Yonghuai, but due to his age, he couldn't promote him too much, so he gave him the title of General Zhenxi and waited until he had more experience before giving him an important position.

I never thought that his sister was so knowledgeable about righteousness.

The current emperor was overjoyed. He quickly sent Prince Ying away, returned to the harem, and went straight to the Queen's palace.

In the hall, amidst the faint incense, Empress Nie was reading something on a piece of paper. When she saw Emperor Jiazheng coming in, she smiled, "How did your majesty know so well? Did you know it was Ayan's letter? Aqing had just brought it to me, and your majesty came right after."

Emperor Jiazheng was in high spirits and came over: "Did Ah Yan send a letter? Come, come, let me take a look too."

Empress Nie handed the letter over. Emperor Jiazheng muttered, "Ayan only writes to his elder brother again." As he took the letter, he pulled Empress Nie to sit down on the Luohan couch and read the letter carefully.

Wei Shiyan's letters were always short, consisting of only a few sentences.

Emperor Jiazheng was sharp-eyed, however, and noticed that, although the boy's letter seemed to be about reporting safety, it actually only mentioned him in one sentence, and the rest of the sentences focused on asking about the recent situation of his eldest brother, the only daughter of the Yu family.

Emperor Jiazheng sat up straight at once, not caring about his second son's jealousy and only writing to his eldest brother: "This..."

Queen Nie's eyes were filled with joy, and her face, which was even more charming than Furong's, was dotted with smiles, so beautiful that it was breathtaking: "A Yan asked his elder brother to take care of the Yu family before. Could it be that he has other intentions, but this girl from the Yu family?"

Queen Nie frowned again, and was confused, "...wait, that's not right, I remember that the Yu family had only one precious daughter, who was only eleven or twelve years old after the Chinese New Year. This age is too young..."

But Empress Nie smiled again, "That's OK. Ah Yan will be back in Beijing in two years anyway. We'll talk about it then."

Emperor Jiazheng couldn't help but laugh out loud, feeling very happy: "In the past, I was worried that Ah Yan would practice Taoism for so many years, and then he would not follow Qin Gongsheng to practice Taoism... It's good that he has a connection in this world."

This supreme couple looked at each other, with joy in their eyes.

Emperor Jiazheng suddenly remembered the purpose of his visit, clapped his hands and laughed, "Oh, I forgot to tell the Queen. I was just chatting with Prince Ying and found out that the daughter of the Yu family is actually a good girl who does not seek fame or wealth, but quietly does good things for the people."

Emperor Jiazheng told Empress Nie that Xingxing had donated 10,000 taels to the charity privately without making it public. Empress Nie became even happier and raised her head slightly, with a sense of pride: "I was saying that the girl that Ah Yan wrote to ask about must be very good."

She remembered something and held the hand of Emperor Jiazheng. "Your Majesty, when the granddaughter of Duke Xin distributed porridge, you issued an edict to commend her. Now the daughter of the Yu family has done such a great deed for the disaster victims, but she has never made it public. Isn't this even more precious? What do you think?"

Emperor Jiazheng happily shook Empress Nie's hand with his backhand and nodded in agreement: "Your Majesty is absolutely right. How do you want to reward this Yu family girl? It's all up to you, Your Majesty."

Queen Nie smiled and said, "Okay."

On that day, an eunuch went to the Zhenxi General's Mansion to convey the empress's decree, saying that she had heard that the Yu family had a righteous daughter who donated ten thousand taels to the charity without making it public, so she was summoned to the palace to meet the empress the next day.

The eunuch who delivered the imperial decree smiled like a flower. Looking at the Yu family members who were a little confused but still thanked the decree according to the etiquette, he specially reminded them: "The Empress has always been kind-hearted. She was very happy to hear about Miss Yu's righteous act, so she specially issued an imperial decree to summon Miss Yu to the palace. Miss Yu, this is a great grace."

Mother Wei took the lead in thanking the emperor for accepting the decree, and stuffed a thick bag of tea money into the eunuch who delivered the decree, and asked for the news with a smile: "Eunuch, I will not hide this from you. I just found out that my granddaughter donated 10,000 taels to the charity without saying anything. That was her own private money, how did the queen know about it?"

When the eunuch who delivered the imperial edict heard that all this was actually Miss Yu's own donation without telling her family, he showed even more respect for her: "Miss Yu is so kind... We also heard that when Princess Ying took Princess Qing'an to the charity hall to do charity work, they accidentally found the charity hall's account book and learned about Miss Yu's good deeds. It must be the gods who are watching over Miss Yu's noble and kind deeds, not to be hidden."

Mrs. Wei then breathed a sigh of relief and politely escorted the eunuch who had delivered the imperial edict out of the house.

After returning, Mrs. Wei held Xingxing in her arms with mixed feelings of worry and joy.

A familiar lady happened to be visiting the Yu family. When she heard about it, she was surprised and envious: "Madam, this is a great thing. The Queen has always been kind and benevolent. Now that Miss Yu has caught the Queen's eye, her future is limitless."

"Yes, yes. Let me tell you, Miss Yu is really a very kind person. She never advertises such good deeds. No wonder the Empress wanted to summon her to the palace after she found out. Don't worry, Madam. The Empress will definitely reward Miss Yu."