After that banquet, Ye Zhen finally established himself firmly in the Marquis's residence.
The eldest daughter attempted to oppose the young mistress, but was instead banished to the horse farm, and the servants dared not let their guard down again.
The Marquis's residence entered a state of orderly harmony and tranquility.
Marquis Zhongyong was very satisfied with this and entrusted the Marquis's residence to Ye Zhen with peace of mind.
Ye Zhen was worried about Yin Jiu Niang, but he remembered Xie Tingzhou's reminder and did not search for her without permission.
However, he kept a close eye on the General's Mansion and actively participated in several banquets in the capital, revealing his current situation.
At the same time, letters were sent to Yin Yue, who had come to the capital, and to the people in the southern village, instructing them to keep an eye on Yin Jiu Niang's movements.
Ye Wantang originally wanted to go out and find Yin Jiuniang herself, but after the letter was taken away and she was injured, she gave up the idea.
To salvage her reputation at the Marquis's residence, she arranged for several porridge distributions at the city gates and went to the palace to explain her foolishness to the Empress.
She cried and said, "Your Majesty, I grew up with my aunt since I was a child. I know that my aunt is not sincere with my cousin. She is cold and distant on the surface, but she always cares about her."
Every year, he would send a portrait of his cousin back to the capital from Zhuangzi's side to ease his longing for her.
In reality, he was monitoring Ye Zhen because he was worried that she looked too much like Ye Jinghong.
"But my aunt was terrified by my cousin's death. She was worried about losing her only daughter as well, and she was in a dead end. It wasn't that she didn't love my cousin, but that she loved her too much. That's why she was worried that the prophecy was true and didn't want her to waste the rest of her life in the Marquis's mansion."
Now, only Cousin Zhen is left in the Ye family. Her aunt is afraid that Cousin Zhen will be helpless in her old age and wants to send her back to the south to get married. However, she is not willing to ask the Marquis's mansion to release her, so she took a different approach.
My aunt treats me like her own daughter, and I want to repay her and fulfill her wishes.
This was the first time Wan Tang had done something so foolish, and she was worried that if the world knew the truth, it would encourage other widowed women to follow suit, causing a bad influence in the capital. Therefore, she did not dare to reveal the truth.
But Wan Tang dared not hide it from Her Majesty. "Your Majesty, Wan Tang knows she was wrong."
With no infighting in the harem and the Empress enjoying the Emperor's exclusive favor for many years, she developed a kind and gentle appearance.
He listened patiently to Ye Wantang finish speaking and comforted her with a smile.
Ye Wantang added, "Your Majesty, in Wantang's heart, I still hope that my cousin can have a chance to start over in the rest of her life."
Being widowed is not a woman's fault; she has the right to pursue happiness...
The empress was a widow who remarried, and her new husband was her brother-in-law. This matter was still quite controversial, but due to the emperor and empress's authority, no one dared to discuss it openly.
Ye Wantang took the opportunity to flatter the Empress.
She then asked the Empress for a female physician to treat her, citing concerns about scarring.
Afterwards, Ye Wantang entered the palace twice more to accompany the Empress. Those who wanted to see her make a fool of herself gave up their plans out of respect for the Empress.
Ye Zhen was not discouraged after learning about this.
Her mother was a loyal minister who sacrificed her life for the country and made great contributions to Dayuan. Her only daughter was the orphan of a meritorious official. As long as she did not commit a serious crime of treason, the emperor and empress would be more lenient towards Ye Wantang in view of her mother's achievements and in order to establish an image of gratitude towards meritorious officials.
The same applies to ordinary people.
Therefore, Ye Zhen's path to revenge is not easy, and he must plan every step of the way to regain his identity.
A breach in a dam stretching a thousand miles is not caused by a single ant hole.
As long as Ye Zhen digs enough ant nests, once these ant nests accumulate to a certain amount, no matter how Ye Wantang tries to save them, she will not be able to avoid the collapse.
Ye Zhen has patience, and he must also be patient and calm.
Only when you are emotionally stable can you influence the other person's emotions.
Wanxing came in and said, "Miss, the Marquis has returned."
Ye Zhen picked up the account book and asked Wanxing to take the inkstone from the table. The two of them went to the study of the Marquis of Zhongyong.
What she needs to do now is to completely eliminate the Liu family.
“Father, when your daughter-in-law was checking the accounts, she found that the inkstones purchased for the household were unusually expensive. She was worried that the servants were using inferior materials to make a profit, so she investigated further.”
She presented the inkstone to the Marquis of Zhongyong, dipped her brush in ink, wrote a character on the paper, then touched the mechanism at the bottom of the inkstone, dipped it in ink again, and wrote another character.
Soon, the words written later gradually faded away until they became transparent, leaving no trace.
Ye Zhen explained, "I only just learned that this kind of inkstone was specially made for the mansion to keep accounts for both the living and the dead."
It doesn't need to be said who commissioned it; the Marquis of Zhongyong knows perfectly well.
He asked in a deep voice, "What problems were found in the ledgers?"
Ye Zhen opened an account book, and with a light sweep of her fingernail, another line of small characters appeared beneath the original ink.
It was clearly written above: "Ten thousand taels for the repair of the ancestral home".
Ye Zhen then pulled out another book and copied it in the same way. The handwriting was clear, and it also stated that the repair of the ancestral house would cost 10,000 taels.
The two account books were only half a year apart in time. "The daughter-in-law looked at the account books for three years in a row. The Marquis's mansion would allocate 20,000 taels of silver back to the ancestral home every year to repair the ancestral house."
Ye Zhen's fingernails concealed a special herbal powder, specially developed by the shop that made the custom inkstones, for the convenience of those who kept yin-yang accounts to check the true accounts.
"My daughter-in-law also spent a lot of money to customize one, and only then did she learn about the wonders of this kind of inkstone from the shop owner."
Ye Zhentong explained to Marquis Zhongyong.
Marquis Zhongyong didn't care about the money Ye Zhen spent; what he cared about was what the 20,000 taels of silver Liu gave to the ancestral home every year were actually used for.
The old Marquis became an orphan when he was just over ten years old. No relatives or friends helped him, so he made a living by hunting. Later, he was tricked by his clan into taking his place in the army.
Therefore, he didn't have much affection for the people in his hometown.
After being granted the title of Marquis, when his former relatives and friends came to visit, he would only give them some money to appease them, and rarely returned home except to pay respects to his ancestors.
After the old Marquis passed away, he inherited the title, and those people from the clan came to him again.
Liu was worried that he would be seen as heartless and ungrateful, so she gave him a thousand taels to get rid of him.
At the time, he thought he could buy some peace and quiet with a thousand taels of silver, so he didn't object.
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