As the sun shone brightly, the huge imperial city was covered with a light layer of light, and the ridged beast on the eaves showed light and shadow, making it even more lively, as if it were really standing there.
In the hall, there was a large hall full of ministers, all of them lowered their heads and closed their eyes in silence, as if they were afraid that the next young emperor would call their names.
Jiang Huaiyang was sitting at the top, wearing a bright yellow court dress, pursed his lips, and there seemed to be frost between his brows. He seemed to have something else in mind as he looked at it. It's no wonder that all the ministers looked so arrogant that they didn't dare to express themselves.
His eyes wandered among the ministers for a while, and he said in a deep voice, "If you, my dear friends, have nothing to say today, then I will speak first."
Gradually, people below looked at each other. It wasn't that they all had nothing to do, but seeing that the new emperor looked worried, no one wanted to speak first and offend him.
Seeing that he had something to say, and fearing that he would be the one to attack, everyone was in danger, and hoped that there would be an adult next to him to report some trivial matters, dragging him along. Maybe the emperor would be disturbed by everything.
I forgot what I was going to say.
Mr. Cheng stood near the door and was not easily noticed by Jiang Huaiyang. He was bolder and quietly raised his eyes to glance at him.
Since the new emperor came to the throne, although he is young, he has been ruthless in his methods, causing many older ministers to be very frightened when they mentioned him. But Master Cheng is not too panic at the moment, as if he has a long history.
The relationship between the princess and the princess is kinship, so there is nothing to be afraid of.
Even ignoring the chilling aura around him like the autumn wind, Mr. Cheng realized for the first time that the new emperor was actually not as old as the eldest son in the family.
With this thought in mind, he skimmed over what he wanted to report in his mind, walked out of the train, brushed his front skirt and knelt in front of the emperor, "I have this memorial."
Perhaps because he was far away, Mr. Cheng didn't know that Jiang Huaiyang's eyes had been falling on him. Although he was watching him from a distance, Jiang Huaiyang's mind couldn't help but wander to other places. The palace was quiet, but there seemed to be bells in his ears.
The sound started.
He remembered that the young lady was the daughter-in-law of Cheng Yushi's family.
No matter what he thought in his heart, his expression remained unchanged, and he still looked cold to others. He said, "My dear, please speak."
Mr. Cheng squeezed the wat tablet in his hand, "Someone reported a few days ago that in the past four years, the Moyang Prefecture has been secretly deducting military pay, totaling thousands of taels of silver, which has been verified. However, the money has disappeared.
I hope your Majesty will send someone to recover it."
Hearing this, Jiang Huaiyang suddenly sneered and said slowly, "What I want to talk about is exactly this case. It's just right for Aiqing to mention it now."
All the officials below were nervous and couldn't help but look in the direction of Mr. Cheng, secretly shouting that something was wrong. They originally thought that it would be possible to delay, but he just said it directly for His Majesty.
Mr. Cheng also felt the complaining eyes of the surrounding officials. He felt as if his body weighed a thousand kilograms, so he couldn't help but bend down a little, and his palms were slightly wet.
"I ask you," Jiang Huaiyang sat on a high place, looked down, and said in a deep voice, "This person has been corrupt for several years. What have you been doing for such a long time? Do I want you to be free of charge? After all!
It was only after the news reached me that you found out."
Moyang is located on the border of Wu State, adjacent to Hu Di, and is an important border town. The officials involved did not know how to do it, but they managed to hide it so tightly, and the silver coins were undetected before their people went to search.
He really has the ability to move the land.
If the military staff hadn't sent a letter to the capital and compared it with the allocation, I'm afraid they wouldn't have discovered it in another hundred and eighty years.
Mr. Cheng opened his mouth, words of defense lingered in his mouth, and finally he just said, "I am guilty, please punish me."
It's not that he hasn't thought about the consequences of his words and doesn't care about his wife and children at home. It's just that only in this way can His Majesty believe that he didn't have any protection in the past four years.
Jiang Huaiyang was a little surprised that he would take the initiative to plead guilty. In fact, he knew in his heart that Moyang was far away on the border, and even Cheng Changyin, as the censor, was beyond his reach. What's more, if a prefect could do this, there was no guarantee that there was no one else behind him.
But when Jiang Huaiyang wanted to mention this matter, he actually had selfish motives.
So he followed Master Cheng's words, "Since Aiqing is aware of her fault and will be fined for one year, if she continues to neglect her duties, she will no longer tolerate it and will be demoted and exiled. I hope Aiqing will learn from it.
Take care of yourself."
For being demoted and exiled, a year's salary was nothing more than a painless punishment. He knew that Cheng Yushi had done his duty when he was in office, and he never really thought about how to punish him severely.
He just wanted something to happen to the Cheng family so that they could shift their focus away from the marriage of their two sons and elsewhere. He even felt guilty and cut off all contact with Zhao Rong.
Below, Mr. Cheng breathed a sigh of relief and felt a little more energetic, "I obey your order."
Several courtiers who were looking sideways at the excitement also looked away.
After a while, the atmosphere in the court became slightly more relaxed, and then those who had something to report came out of their duties, and those who had nothing to do were kept silent and listened. After everything was reported, everyone returned to their duties.
The east wing of Cheng Mansion.
Ruan Yuyi was embroidering the red plum pattern on the hem of her clothes. Suddenly she felt a little colder, so she stopped what she was doing and said to the wood spirit on the side, "Go and close the window."
Mu Ling smiled and said, "They told you not to wear this, but you don't listen. The weather today is not as good as early autumn. It's strange that it's not cold."
Looking at Ruan Yuyi again, she is wearing a flowery blouse and a pure pleated skirt. The exquisite flowers are exquisitely embroidered. At first glance, she seems to be alive. She has a silver hairpin in her hair and moves like a butterfly.
It sways slightly when walking, but also feels like it's about to fly.
She threaded a few more stitches and replied, "I thought it was too fancy in the past, so I put it under the storage box without moving it. Today I was just thinking about which one to wear, and I happened to see this set, and then I felt...
Put it on freshly."
I didn't feel much inside the house, but when I went out, I felt really freezing, so I just wanted to put on a cloak.
The color of this silk thread was bright, but it was a bit darker than the red silk thread on the banyan tree in Shenghe Temple. She couldn't help but think.
She embroidered a few flowers and rested for a while. When she was almost finished, it was already afternoon. Because Mu Xiang had suffered from what happened yesterday, Ruan Yuyi thought of letting her rest and planned to take Mu Ling to the temple.
After applying some lipstick for Ruan Yuyi, the two of them were about to go out. However, before they could take a few steps, they saw Mu Xiang chasing after them.
There was a cloak on her forearm, she stepped forward to unfold it and tied it on Ruan Yuyi, "Why are you so thinly dressed today? What will happen if you catch the cold again?" As she said that, she glanced at Mu.
Ling, there was quite a bit of blame in this look.
When Mu Ling saw her coming with a shawl, he suddenly remembered that he had forgotten to bring extra clothes for the young lady. At this moment, Mu Xiang looked at her and touched the tip of her nose with guilt.
Ruan Yuyi calmly let her put on her clothes and said, "Don't tell her, I insisted on wearing it."
"Miss, you know how to protect this girl," Mu Xiang tied a neat and beautiful knot, then went around behind her and straightened the collar for her.
In fact, she was not at ease about asking Mu Ling to accompany the young lady. Mu Ling has always been outspoken. If he bumped into the crown prince, wouldn't it cause trouble for the young lady. Thinking of this, she said, "Miss, why don't I stay with you as a slave today?"
Just go."
"Didn't you promise me yesterday that you wanted to take a day off?" Ruan Yuyi turned her head and looked at Mu Xiang carefully. She saw that her face was rosy, but she didn't look like she was sick.
She was not resolute and couldn't resist Mu Xiang's nagging, so he took her with him anyway.