Chapter 134: Greed for Vanity [VIP]
Yang Jizong was the last one to be summoned.
The saint looked at the old man in front of him and recalled the time when he had just ascended the throne. It was the constant support of the Yang family that enabled him to get to where he is today.
But now, only this pair of siblings are left in the Yang family.
"Your Majesty, I, the guilty minister Yang Jizong, kowtow to you. May your Majesty be well and at peace." Yang Jizong knelt on the ground and kowtowed deeply.
He feels pain, and so do the saints.
"All of you go down, I want to speak to him alone."
After sending away the outsiders, the emperor stood up from behind the imperial desk, walked to Yang Jizong's side, bent down and helped him up from the cold ground.
"Sage, I am a sinner, filthy as a bastard. You cannot..."
"Zi'an, I'm so pleased that you can come to see me."
"I am terrified."
The saint saw that his features were no longer the same as before, and that his natural arrogance seemed to have been worn away by heavy labor, and he no longer had the closeness to himself that he once had.
The saint was displeased.
Yang Jizong naturally also noticed the saint's emotions, but he still stood there calmly waiting for the saint to ask questions.
As expected, the sage came straight to the point and asked, "Now that you have returned to the imperial court, are you confident that you can eradicate the Prime Minister Wang and his followers?"
"I, a sinner, am willing to repay the saint's kindness with my own life." When their family was in exile, if the saint had not sent people to secretly protect them, how could they, the brothers and sisters, be alive today.
"Alright, I look forward to your performance. You don't have to wait until the winter wheat harvest. Tomorrow, in front of everyone, I will appoint you as the governor of Ezhou. Continue to promote winter wheat cultivation and ensure that every household in my people has a surplus of food."
"Thank you, Saint." Yang Jizong kowtowed again to express his gratitude.
"Xing Fang is a good man. Since he has helped me solve the problem of food and clothing for the people inside the pass, there is no need to let them stay there any longer. I will find others to guard the place. You are surrounded by dangers, so let them protect you."
Speaking of this, the saint thought of the reason why Yang Jizong was able to come to Beijing this time.
"I will give justice to the Shen family for what they have suffered. But Zi'an, if you don't get rid of Wang Xiang, they will be in danger again because of you. Have you thought about what to do?"
Yang Jizong naturally understood the sage's implication: "I will propose a divorce to her in the court tomorrow, but I have a selfish motive: I hope the sage will confer the title of Princess of Fang County on her."
The court was in dire straits at the moment. Yang Jizong had come to the capital as a criminal, which had already given Prime Minister Wang a handle. He also wanted to make a tenant farmer's daughter a county lord.
The saint leaned back in his chair, thought for a moment, and then asked, "What is so special about her?"
Yang Jizong took out two of Chen Yao's notes from his arms, as well as a book that he had asked the paper mill to copy based on the contents of the notes, and presented them to him.
The sage was quite shocked after looking at the handwriting on the letter. If he didn't understand farming, he wouldn't be able to understand what was written about farming.
It was because he understood that he realized what the contents of these two notebooks meant.
"Okay, not to mention that she's qualified for the position of County Lady, she's even qualified to be the Chief of Internal Affairs. Tell her to prepare the lawsuit against Song Zhiyi tomorrow."
Yang Jizong lowered his head with a flickering look in his eyes. Zheng Fu was originally the Internal Affairs Minister who was in charge of the imperial granaries, mulberry crops and farmers. Now he was demoted and sent to the eastern suburbs.
I estimate that we will be able to leave the quarry in two or two months.
The sage naturally thought of Zheng Fu, and suddenly he was overjoyed. "Zi'an's return this time has truly solved a lot of headaches for me. Your ancestral home in the capital is now deserted. You will stay at the post station with Li Menghong tonight."
Yang Jizong bowed in thanks and was then taken away by the palace servants outside.
In the side hall.
After Chen Yao and Tian Baolai had eaten and drunk their fill, they took a comfortable bath in the hot spring pool behind the side hall, changed into the clothes given by the Queen, and were made drowsy by the heating of the floor heater in the room.
The moment they heard the side palace door being opened, the brother and sister woke up instantly.
Everyone watched Yang Jizong return safely. Before Chen Yao and Tian Baolai could approach, Li Menghong had already come up to him and asked, "What did the saint say?"
"Don't worry, Lord Li. The Saint will never tolerate those who abuse their power for evil."
Li Menghong felt reassured after hearing this, "That's good, that's good."
After Yang Jizong finished talking to him, he walked towards Chen Yao and Tian Baolai. Looking at the new dress on Chen Yao, his eyebrows pressed down the corners of his lips that turned up: "Don't worry, cousin and A Yao, everything is going well. You can go home after tomorrow."
Tian Baolai was so nervous that he didn't notice anything wrong with what he said. He rubbed the sweat from his palms and said, "Zi'an, hurry up and eat something to fill your stomach. This is cooked with earth dragon. We specially reserved a special portion for you. It's still hot."
Chen Yao's eyes were filled with concern, and she whispered, "There are two hot springs behind this side hall. You can go there and change your clothes after you finish eating. The clothes they sent are not only beautiful, but also quite warm."
Li Menghong, who was standing by, almost laughed out loud when he heard the brother and sister's instructions. They were truly like country people coming to the city, and everything they saw was new to them.
Yeah.
After Yang Jizong finished his meal, he took a bath and changed his clothes, and then waited with everyone in a side hall for half an hour before a palace servant took them out of the palace.
Next to the carriage at the palace gate, Xing Fang, leading the horse, saw Yang Jizong and others coming out. He threw the reins in his hand to the brother beside him and walked towards him quickly as if he had seen his relatives.
He was staring at me before he even had time to salute. Let's follow Lord Li and leave this place."
"Yes." Xing Fang said in a loud voice and smiled.
Tian Baolai was about to sit in the front and drive the car, when he saw Xing Fang coming over and said loudly: "How can I let my cousin drive the car? You and
cousin?
Xing Fang is much older than me, how can I call him cousin?
While Tian Baolai was still in shock, he was carried to the back by Xing Fang's brothers.
Li Menghong shook his head when he saw Xing Fang trying to be too attentive for no reason, and led everyone to the inn where they usually stayed.
As soon as they left the palace, they were quietly followed by Wang Xiang's men.
Xing Fang rode his horse parallel to Yang Jizong and noticed that the followers behind him did not move. Instead, they asked Yang Jizong whether he should take action.
Yang Jizong shook his head: "Let them follow us. They will definitely find out something."
Otherwise, how can they believe tomorrow's play?
After everyone followed Li Menghong to the post station, Chen Yao and Yang Jizong had just entered the room when Yang Jizong took out the divorce agreement without even closing the door: "Here is the divorce agreement, please sign it."
Chen Yao raised an eyebrow and saw several people walking in the corridor of the courtyard. She understood what was going on and immediately slapped Yang Jizong in the face: "If I hadn't invited you to marry into my family, you and your sister would still be alive today. You want to abandon me now that you've become successful? Dream on. I won't sign this divorce agreement."
Chen Yao stood there with her hands in her sleeves, as stubborn as an ox.
Yang Jizong's face was burning with pain. He only heard him say calmly, "This is the capital. Don't make a scene. Signing the divorce agreement is for your own good."
"Bah, you're a useless person. You married into my family and couldn't even give me a son. You're doing this for my own good? Don't you just think I'm vulgar?"
"Chen Yao, you are simply unreasonable." Yang Jizong's face turned pale and blue, as if he had been stabbed in the vitals. He was anxious and wanted to leave.
Chen Yao tried to stop him from leaving, but was pushed to the ground by Yang Jizong.
"Cousin, cousin..." Chen Yao looked at his leaving back in disbelief. She didn't even have time to pick up the divorce papers on the ground before running to find Tian Baolai, asking him to make the decision for her.
There was no one else in the house, so several people in the courtyard immediately walked over and picked up the divorce papers on the ground. However, they did not leave, but quietly followed Yang Jizong.
There were quite a variety of people coming in and out of the post station, some delivering goods, some sweeping the courtyard, and some helping the distinguished guests who came to stay with their luggage.
Except for Xing Fang who was hiding in the dark and saw all of this, no one else noticed it at all.
Tian Baolai was changing out of the precious clothes bestowed upon him by the sage in his room, intending to wear them after entering the palace tomorrow.
He had just put on his cotton jacket and trousers when he heard his cousin crying from far away.
Tian Baolai opened the door before he even finished buttoning his clothes. "Cousin, A Yao, what happened? Who bullied you?"
With red eyes, Chen Yao exaggerated the news that Yang Jizong wanted to divorce her and told Tian Baolai: "Cousin, you have to help me. I don't want to divorce."
Tian Baolai's head suddenly buzzed, "Cousin, this is impossible. How could Zi'an be such a person?"
"He told me himself that he had even prepared the divorce papers. Cousin, we were all deceived by him. No wonder he instigated us to come to the capital to file a complaint. He just wanted to be an official. He's just greedy and vain."
"Cousin, cousin, you sit in the room, I will go and ask him myself." Tian Baolai frowned. His cousin cried so aggrievedly. Could there be some misunderstanding?
Yang Jizong sat in the study of the post station and rewrote a divorce letter. When he saw Tian Baolai coming towards him angrily, he didn't wait for Tian Baolai to speak and question him.
Yang Jizong had already stood up and told him, "The divorce is real. Cousin, please advise her to sign the divorce agreement to avoid embarrassment for everyone in the court tomorrow."
Are you thinking they are embarrassing?
Tian Baolai threw a punch, but was blocked by Yang Jizong with his bare hands: "You bunch of roughnecks, can you use your brains before you attack? Do you think this is still your Xiahe Village?"
Yang Jizong's next move made Tian Baolai even more angry.
"If you continue to make trouble, I will go to the palace alone tomorrow."
"Yang Jizong, were all the things that happened in the past fake?"
Yang Jizong looked up at Tian Baolai in front of him and said word by word, "Of course it's true, but times have changed. The saint has given me the opportunity to serve as an official, so how can I give it up so easily? I will not go back to Xiahe Village with you to be a tenant farmer. You should persuade her to sign the divorce agreement."
"We are not the same kind of people."
Tian Baolai returned to the house in a daze, holding the divorce letter written by Yang Jizon.
When Chen Yao saw him coming back, she immediately stood up to greet him: "Cousin, what did he say?"
"He said that we are not the same kind of people and he wants to stay and become an official. He thinks we are a burden to him. Such ungrateful villains are not worthy of being our family." Tian Baolai slammed the divorce papers heavily on the table.
Chen Yao looked at the divorce agreement, covered her face with her hands and began to sob again, "Cousin, how am I going to explain this to my parents when I get home? How am I going to face people in the future?"
Tian Baolai put his arm around his cousin's shoulders and tried to comfort her: "Don't be afraid, Yao, your cousin is here. You can only dream of divorcing him. The man who marries into our family will only be divorced by you."
Chen Yao raised her eyes, her eyes full of shock. She didn't expect her cousin to say such words for her.
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