"Your Majesty, just as the Imperial Concubine said, the method of making ice is a divine art, and it should be presented to Your Majesty."
"Ah, what are you saying? Immortal arts are certainly good, but if you want to offer me every kind of immortal art first, then what's the difference between me and a bandit? Your Pei family has spread this method throughout the world, which has already made a great contribution. How can I punish you?"
"Your Majesty is magnanimous, and this old minister is deeply ashamed. The Pei family has achieved its current status only because of Your Majesty's grace. However, a few days ago, my wife and the Earl's family committed the heinous act of lending money at exorbitant interest rates. Although the matter of the ice shop has been investigated and found to be a scheme by a few jealous merchants, the Pei family's reputation has still been tarnished. Now, the Pei family is distributing soup kitchens to the world, which is only to make amends."
"Otherwise, the Pei family would lose face, and how could they have the face to follow Your Majesty? This old minister would be ashamed!"
Upon hearing this, the old emperor felt immediately relieved.
He thought to himself that Madam Pei had indeed been quite unlucky lately. First, the two mistresses of the mansions lost face by lending money at exorbitant interest rates. Then, the brothers in the Marquis's mansion were fighting amongst themselves. The fourth brother was jealous of his eldest brother's inheritance of the title and secretly sent his daughter to the imperial concubine selection. Finally, a murder occurred at the ice shop.
—With these three points, the Marquis's mansion has been impeached countless times by the censors, to the point that he is almost unable to protect Lady Pei.
Now that Pei has distributed the prescription himself and extricated himself from the predicament, he no longer needs to face pressure from the censor.
Pei has indeed been loyal to him all these years and has not been involved with anyone else.
He had no intention of handing over the command of the Imperial Guards to anyone other than the Pei family.
The Pei family has face, and so does he.
The old emperor smiled slightly as he thought about these things.
"Get up. Although the Pei family has made mistakes, their crimes are forgivable, and I will not punish them."
Marquis Wenyuan breathed a sigh of relief, but Consort Gao's expression turned rather unpleasant, as did the Empress's. Her intention was to see if Consort Gao could sow discord between the Emperor and the Marquis of Wenyuan's household.
If Marquis Wenyuan falls from grace, she can recommend her own people to go there again. In this way, it can be said that when the snipe and the clam fight, the fisherman benefits.
Unexpectedly, the emperor showed no intention of punishing Marquis Wenyuan.
As expected of the emperor's confidant, he won't be so easy to bring down.
"Bring some crushed ice. I'd like to taste the difference between ice made with magical powers and ice made normally."
"Lord Wenyuan, please have a bowl before you go home."
"Thank you, Your Majesty."
After tasting the ice, the old emperor praised the magical arts, and in great joy, he issued a special imperial edict to commend Jiang Yao for teaching the magical arts and bringing blessings to all living beings.
Jiang Yao started trembling again.
Although she privately cursed the Empress and Consort Gao for shamelessly stealing her recipes, her goodwill towards the old emperor was soaring.
Therefore, he hoped even more that Pei Lingyu could take up an official post, and he urged Pei Lingyu to study with all his might.
Pei Lingyu was naturally unwilling, but he couldn't win against Jiang Yao and his wife. The two women, mother and daughter-in-law, were united against him, making him spend all his time studying and having no time to play.
Of course, even though she was completely focused on Pei Lingyu's important task of taking the imperial examination this year, Jiang Yao still didn't forget to hold a banquet to celebrate.
After all, His Majesty's decree of commendation is a great joy for both the Earl's Mansion and the Jiang family.
Lady Bo also felt that Jiang Yao was a great success and had brought great honor to the Bo family, so she specially rewarded her with an excellent ruby headdress and gave her a thousand taels of silver to prepare a banquet.
The banquet at the Earl's residence was packed; in addition to the Pei family relatives, even the Jiang family relatives occupied two tables.
The banquet was hosted by the aunt, but the main character of the banquet was Jiang Yao.
Jiang Yao was the center of attention this time, receiving praise wherever she went. Even the Pei clan members who had previously looked down on her were now full of compliments.
"Oh my, the ancients were right, 'A scholar should be looked at with new eyes after three days of separation.' Our little aunt is really quite accomplished."
"Who can argue with that? A few days ago, she was inexplicably imprisoned, but as soon as she came out, she received condolences from the Empress and Consort Gao, and even His Majesty issued an imperial decree to commend her. You can imagine how much influence our little aunt has."
"Nowadays, our little aunt is also a person of note in His Majesty's eyes."
"I used to think that the Crown Prince's wife was a lucky one, but I never expected that our youngest brother's wife was just as good, or even better."
"Of course, she is the most talented woman in Kyoto. I always thought she was talented, and seeing her today, I can see she is indeed extraordinary."
"Yes, yes, I used to think that my brother's wife was exceptionally talented, but she just hadn't had the opportunity. Now that the opportunity has come, things have changed immediately."
Jiang Yao was so amused by these words that her face almost fell off with a smile.
In both her past and present lives, she had never been praised like this by the Pei clan.
Cool!
It feels so good to roll over!
Jiang Yao flew around triumphantly, her only regret being that Wen Shi, who had tormented her every day in her previous life, was not present due to confinement; otherwise, she would have been even more smug.
Lady Bo was quite pleased with herself. Over the years, she had been suppressed by the Wen family and had not been able to turn the tables. There was also a difference in the titles of the Earl and the Marquis, and even in terms of choosing a wife, Jiang Shuwan was far superior to Jiang Yao.
Although the recipe that used to bring in a fortune is no longer available, it has still earned the Emperor's praise.
This time, she finally got her revenge.
“Good daughter-in-law, the Earl’s family’s commendation this time is all thanks to you. Come, let me toast you.”
The aunt raised her wine glass. She and Jiang Yao had been on good terms these days, and seeing Jiang Yao being fawned over by so many noble ladies, she felt honored as well. So, for the first time, she put aside her mother-in-law's pride and offered Jiang Yao a toast.
"Thank you, Mother. In fact, I owe my success today to your guidance. If it weren't for you, I probably wouldn't be where I am today."
Having learned to speak politely, Jiang Yao made Madam Bo beam with joy, even to the point of being completely overjoyed.
"Good, good, good, good daughter-in-law. From now on, you will be the undisputed young mistress of the Earl's mansion. I promise you, even if Lianxiang and Lianyu give birth to a boy, they will never surpass you, and neither will Lingyu's two concubines."
Of all the beautiful women in the world, I only recognize you as my daughter-in-law.
"Thank you, Mother. I respectfully thank you."
The mother-in-law and daughter-in-law drank a cup of wine intimately, looking at each other with the eyes of a mother and daughter, which made Song feel uneasy.
While the aunt went to change her clothes, she quickly pulled Jiang Yao aside.
"What nonsense! I am your biological mother who gave birth to you and raised you, and you, on the contrary, are calling that bitch Madam Bo your mother and daughter."
"Don't forget, when you were in trouble, the first thing she did was to tell Lingyu to divorce you. She was really heartless. If it weren't for your older sister, you would be somewhere right now."
"You need to know clearly who your family is and who your outsiders are!"
"Mother, don't worry, my relationship with the aunt was just for show, it's not real."
“How can a mother-in-law be compared to a biological mother? I’m not stupid enough to treat my mother-in-law like my own mother.”
"Mother, you keep calling Jiang Shuwan 'elder sister' as if she were your own daughter. You need to understand that I am your real daughter. Stop showing favoritism to her."
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