Different from the private discussions among the sisters and others, the atmosphere in Weiyang Palace was tense.
Princess Zhaoyang snuggled close to the Queen Mother and kept trying to please the Queen Mother with her eyes, telling her not to be angry.
The Queen Mother glared at Zhaoyang angrily.
You are really a good granddaughter who was raised by yourself. Let you meet him alone to show your charm and make him willing to marry into the royal family. The result is not good. In less than half a stick of incense, you were bribed by the enemy?
Where should I put my face?
I am doing all this for you!
The Queen Mother was very angry, both at Jia Lian and at her heartless granddaughter.
However, looking at Zhaoyang's innocent and flattering expression, he finally took out the hand held by Zhaoyang, patted the back of her hand gently, and gave her a look that was understandable but indescribable.
After all, Zhaoyang grew up next to the Queen Mother and was familiar with the Queen Mother's temperament. He seemed to have some enlightenment when he saw the situation. He smiled and stopped pestering her.
After the Queen Mother dealt with Zhaoyang, she looked at the man kneeling behind the bead curtain a few feet away, and said coldly with a stern expression:
"Jia Lian, you are so brave. In more than ten years, no one has dared to reject my decree in person!"
"I am guilty."
Jia Lian bowed his head and confessed.
"snort."
The Queen Mother snorted coldly, "I don't understand, what's so good about Wang? How can she compare to my Zhaoyang?"
Are you really going to go against me for a shallow, stupid woman?"
"I dare not..."
"I know that regardless of status, talent, virtue, or knowledge, the Wang family cannot compare with His Highness Zhaoyang.
However, she is Chen's married wife.
As the sage says, a wife of wretched men should not go to court.
I have been educated by saints and sages since I was a child, and have learned the way of loyalty to the emperor and patriotism. Now I am lucky enough to receive a high official position from your majesty. I should abide by myself more and cultivate my morality.
If, for the sake of my own wealth, I can even abandon my first wife, who has not made any serious mistakes, wouldn’t I become a treacherous villain? By doing such an act, I really betray the trust your Majesty has in me, and I will have no face to face the world in the future.
?Not to mention being loyal to the emperor and serving the country."
Jia Lian's statements were made in a sonorous voice, as if they were spoken from the bottom of his heart.
But for the Queen Mother and others, they are naturally not so easily infected if they see and hear such words a lot.
Especially Princess Zhaoyang, she almost subconsciously looked at the upright glass mirror in the corner.
Jia Lian talked about the four areas where she was better than Wang, including talent and knowledge, but the only one missing was "appearance".
This made her feel a little hurt.
She has lived among flowers and applause since she was a child, and her appearance is also well-known by everyone. At least among the royal ladies, there are few who can be said to be better than her.
Appearance is just like literature, there is no right answer, everyone has his or her own aesthetic.
Obviously, in Jia Lian's heart, he would rather admit that Wang is inferior to her in all aspects, but he is unwilling to admit that his appearance is not as good as hers.
But this was Jia Lian's unintentional statement. If he were questioned at this time, he would definitely not admit it, this cunning and hateful person.
The Queen Mother was not as cunning as Zhaoyang's angle. She didn't notice this and she just became angrier.
"You said she didn't make any mistakes? You are indeed a fool too. I'm afraid you don't know yet. During the year when you left Beijing to go to the border, the Wang family secretly colluded with several family members of the Marquis of Xiangyang and other family members to lend money. thing.
This dynasty has had strict orders since the time of Taizu, prohibiting private loans. Anyone who violates this rule will be punished by an additional one degree.
This alone is enough for me to cut off his imperial edict or even send him to jail.
So, do you still dare to say that she didn't make a mistake?"
The so-called private loans are loans made to ordinary people without reporting to the government.
Just like in later generations, it is difficult to get approval for official loans, and those big banks with lending qualifications generally do not lend to the poor, so private private loans have been repeatedly banned.
In fact, this is a bad policy, with strict laws and lax enforcement, or even no enforcement at all.
It has evolved to this day, and in all the cities of the Wei Dynasty, in gambling houses, brothels and other places, loan lending is rampant, and the government barely cares about it.
This is why Wang Xifeng and those noble families dare to get involved.
Rice cricket
You don't have to do it yourself, just hand over the money to those underground organizations, and you can get the principal and interest back on schedule every month. It can be said to be the best way to manage money.
Most of the noble families in Beijing are involved to some extent.
It's just that the Jia family is full of pride, so no one has done this before. At least the heads of the two houses have not done this.
Until the appearance of the daring king Xifeng.
Originally, this was nothing, but on the table, it was a sin, let alone from the mouth of the Queen Mother, it was a big sin! Jia Lian had known about Wang Xifeng's handle. In the carriage before, Wang Xifeng couldn't bear the pressure. After being pressed with him, I finally confessed honestly.
In this era, women are much less tolerant of committing crimes than men.
If Jia Lian wants to protect Wang Xifeng, he must solve this matter for her so that the Queen Mother has no excuse to deal with her.
That's why Jia Lian just deliberately said that Wang Xifeng had not made any big mistakes and was deliberately trying to guide the Queen Mother.
His voice was sad and remorseful, and he kowtowed and said, "The humble minister is guilty!"
"Now that things have happened, I don't dare to deceive the Queen Mother anymore.
It turned out that the family was in financial difficulties at the beginning, so the ministers discussed with Zhuo Jing and implemented this loan method in an attempt to alleviate the family's difficulties.
This matter was caused by a temporary personal gain, and since I already knew the crime, I asked the Queen Mother to punish him."
As soon as Jia Lian said these words, the three extraordinary women in the inner palace were stunned.
It is common for aristocratic families, princes and nobles to make mistakes and commit crimes. As long as they are not brought to the table, it is nothing. It is really unavoidable. It is just a matter of begging for mercy and opening up the door. Big things are reduced to trivial matters. .
If someone really wants to hold on to you, just find someone to take the blame.
It's rare to see people like Jia Lian who can't wait to carry things on themselves as soon as things are released.
So they couldn't adapt for a while.
After all, it was the Queen Mother who knew more about the situation, and Qingli's face suddenly darkened when she heard this.
When she came back from the Prince's Villa that day, she couldn't wait to have someone investigate Jia Lian.
Later, he wanted to betroth Jia Lian to Zhaoyang, so he asked people to investigate Wang Xifeng's dirty information.
She even specifically sought confirmation that Wang Xifeng did this thing after Jia Lian left Beijing, so such a stupid thing most likely had nothing to do with Jia Lian.
She had no intention of touching Jia Lian, and she didn't even want to do anything to Wang Xifeng. She just used it as a sharp sword to make them obedient.
Who knew that Jia Lian would take this matter directly on himself!
The Queen Mother easily figured out Jia Lian's purpose for doing this...
Is that woman really that important in his heart?!
The Queen Mother became more and more angry.
I even felt angry.
"Jia Lian, do you know the consequences of what you do?
You are the inheritor of Rongguo Mansion, and what you do represents Rongguo Mansion.
If you insist on taking this matter and going against me, I will not mind and let Rongguo Mansion be removed from the capital."
The Queen Mother's words made people feel a biting chill for the first time.
Even Zhaoyang could see that the Queen Mother was different from before and was really angry.
Yuanchun couldn't stand any longer and hurriedly knelt down and said: "Your Majesty, please calm down."
While pleading with the Queen Mother, Yuan Chun turned around and said to Jia Lian: "Brother Lian, why don't you quickly admit your mistake to the Queen Mother..."
Jia Lian did not expect that doing so would make the Queen Mother angry.
The reason why he dared to bargain with the Queen Mother was because he could judge her general character based on her actions. In addition, the Queen Mother obviously remembered her efforts to save her that day, so she was so patient with him.
However, Jia Lian was not afraid. The Empress Dowager was not Emperor Ning Kang's biological mother, and she had no history of intervening in politics. Her talk of disturbing the Rongguo Mansion was just a moment of anger.
After all, even if the Queen Mother wants to clean up the Rongguo Mansion, it is not a matter of raising her hand. She needs to go through the Supreme Emperor or Emperor Ningkang. And the Queen Mother is a person who wants to save face. How could she have just saved her and turn around and destroy her benefactor's family?
statement.
Aren't you afraid that the Supreme Emperor or Emperor Ning Kang would look at her sideways?