Chapter 127 The Strongest Mouth Substitute
"Your Majesty, I have a memorial to report."
At the morning court session, after everyone finished discussing official business, Zhou Zhili took a step forward.
"speak."
The emperor felt somewhat uncomfortable when he saw Zhou Zhili returning to the court early.
Almost everything that has happened in Dizhou recently is related to them.
Zhou Zhili knew that the emperor didn't like him at the moment, but there were some things he had to say.
"Your Majesty, I am here to ask about the Empress Dowager's decree yesterday..."
After he had laid out his brief groundwork, he continued speaking only after seeing that the emperor did not stop him.
"After the Empress Dowager's decree arrived yesterday, my father-in-law and his family have actively cooperated. However, many of the items on my former mother-in-law's dowry list are now scattered throughout my residence and in the hands of the younger generation of the Ye family. It's not that I'm reluctant to part with them, but I've thought of something else."
"What's the matter? Just tell me."
The emperor was a little impatient. Just by listening to him say this, he knew what he wanted to express.
Gu Congyun was also there listening attentively, ready to refute at any time.
Zhou Zhili looked at his two brothers-in-law, Ye Cheng and Ye Chi, and said with a stiff upper lip, "I still have three sons in my family, and they are also the bloodline of Ye and Sheng. If Princess Chaoyang can use her birthright as a proxy to get these private properties, I think these private properties should be divided into four parts. This is also what my sons think."
After hearing this, the ministers had different expressions.
Prime Minister Wu Lihuan felt uncomfortable after hearing this and frowned tightly. The Wu family's family tradition was destined to monogamy, so they took relationships very seriously. He looked down on Zhou Zhili in the past, and now after hearing his theory, he despised him even more.
The Ye family was pleased to hear this. After all, this was the best solution they could think of.
As for other people, there were also those who despised him. They thought it was shameless for a man to covet the private property of his divorced wife.
However, no one interrupted at this time. After all, it was none of their business and there was no need to offend anyone at this time.
"Your Majesty, my three sons all feel that their share does not need to be returned. After all, the Ye family voluntarily gave up their private property and never regretted it. When they left Imperial State, they also voluntarily severed ties with the Ye family and took nothing with them. Now that the Empress Dowager is compassionate and willing to take the initiative to return these private properties, I understand the Empress Dowager's good intentions, but we are all the children of the Ye family, and my three sons have equal rights."
"Based on their opinions, I believe that the Ye and Zhou families only need to return 25% of Ye's private property..."
As soon as Zhou Zhili finished speaking, Gu Congyun came out.
"You're really becoming more and more shameless. How could you possibly say something like that? You deliberately ended your mourning period early just to attend court and make the Emperor and all the civil and military officials feel bad and shameless? Those three ungrateful bastards from your Zhou family still want to enjoy He Sheng's private property. They already called Ye Lanxin "mother" a long time ago. That bastard Zhou Yuqi even calls He Sheng "Ms. Ye" in front of me. He doesn't even dare to acknowledge his own biological mother. Now, he wants to help the Ye and Zhou families keep this ill-gotten wealth and wants to inherit it as his son. It's true that none of you Zhous are good people!"
Zhou Zhili seemed to have anticipated what he would say, so his expression did not change much.
He said, "Why is the Duke of Shou so excited? Is it because my daughter is now included in your Gu family's genealogy, and all the private property she gets in the future will go into the Duke of Shou's mansion?"
Gu Congyun was instantly furious. He could actually say such disgusting words.
At this time, Ye Chi said, "Why did the Ye family give up these private properties back then? Doesn't the Duke of Shou know?"
Could it be that Grand Tutor Mo, who was present today, heard this and knew what he wanted to say, so he spoke directly: "Minister Ye wants to remind the Duke that Ye Hesheng had to give you his private property in order to help him and the Duke's wife get together. It became the basis for you to marry the princess's daughter. Therefore, the Duke is also the beneficiary of this matter and has no right to say anything, right?"
Ye Chi didn't expect that he would actually get involved, especially since her daughter was not favored in Prince Duan's Mansion and only had an empty title of princess. She couldn't even keep her son's position as the crown prince or even his life. He, the Grand Tutor, actually had the mind to meddle in these trivial matters.
"Grand Master, your words are wrong. I am only addressing the matter at hand. Since Ye voluntarily gave up her private property, her descendants should respect the result now."
Grand Tutor Mo looked at Ye Chi's shameless expression, then took in Zhou Zhili's rather guilty expression, and said, "So Minister Ye didn't marry the princess' daughter voluntarily, but was forced to use these things as a betrothal gift because Ye Hesheng had given you enough private property, right? But I heard that both the Shang and Ye families have concealed this matter from the Minister's wife for years. When the incident happened a few days ago, the Ye family claimed that the Minister fell in love with his wife at first sight and would marry no one but you. Is that true?"
Ye Chi didn't expect that Master Mo knew so much. His father-in-law, the Minister of Works, Shang, was looking at him with squinted eyes, and he didn't dare to deny it.
"Yes, I have not changed my mind so far."
Grand Tutor Mo nodded and said, "If that's the case, then wasn't Ye Hesheng doing you a favor by giving you her private property as a betrothal gift? She prevented the marriage between the Princess's daughter and the Duke of Shou, thus allowing you two couples to be together, both of whom have yet to take concubines. Yet, you're ungrateful and are trying to make this a stain on the Duke's reputation. What are your intentions?"
Grand Tutor Mo didn't let Ye Chi interrupt him and continued, "Let's not talk about you, who claims not to take concubines. Why didn't you stop your widow when she seduced her brother-in-law and successfully forced Ye Hesheng away? When Ye Hesheng left, your Ye family actually kicked her out of the house, leaving the dowry for your widow to marry again? And then there's your family's behavior after Princess Chaoyang returned. Shouldn't you have voluntarily returned Ye Hesheng's private property? Now that the Empress Dowager has seen through it and issued an imperial decree to comply with public opinion, you're still making excuses here. You're completely shameless."
Master Mo was highly respected, and after he finished speaking, no one dared to refute him.
Although Shang Zhe, the Minister of Works, wanted to say a few words to help his brother-in-law, he really couldn't think of what to say.
In particular, his wife, Princess Jincheng, came to the palace yesterday. Not only did she fail to put pressure on the emperor, she was also scolded by the empress dowager.
After Grand Tutor Mo finished speaking, he turned to the trembling Zhou Zhili and said, "Marquis Jing'an, I respectfully call you Marquis, but ask yourself, if Ye Hesheng hadn't married you and given birth to three sons, would you have been eligible for the title of Marquis? Even though your eldest brother was in poor health and had only one daughter, couldn't he have adopted a son? Why did you, the second son, ultimately ascend to the throne?"
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