A delicate cloud and gentle breeze

  On the second day after returning to Fang's mansion, she personally delivered the gifts brought from Shanxi one by one. She sent them to Zhiyi couple, Zhilian couple, and others, but when it came to Ruxuan, she thought that Ruxuan was currently under house arrest and didn't want to see her, so she had a maid send over a pair of jade-inlaid golden phoenix hairpins she had made for Ruxuan.

  The gift prepared for He's family was a box of Shanxi specialties and some high-quality silk, which He accepted with a smile. They stayed to have tea together, at this time Lin and Rumei also arrived, the women played with the children while chatting about their daily lives.

  Now, Li realized that it was futile to resist. As a stepmother, she couldn't win against He's powerful family background, her husband's cold and hard personality, and the protection of her father-in-law. It would be better for her to yield and hand over the household authority, so she could live a more relaxed life.

  While Ru Mei had previously wanted to put on airs as a young lady, unfortunately she was not on the same level as He Shi. Her sharp-tongued and arrogant behavior in front of He Shi was simply child's play. After being reprimanded by Zhi Li and Fang Jinglan several times for using her young lady airs, Ru Mei had to retreat. Although she still felt resentful in her heart, she couldn't find a place to vent. Today, she finally came up with an excuse to send gifts to You Qing, and pretended to be elegant as she accompanied Lin Shi. On the one hand, she wanted to see what kind of gift You Qing would give He Shi, and on the other hand, she also wanted to see how He Shi would treat You Qing.

  Yu Ru naturally knew Yu Mei's thoughts, and on the spot, she ordered someone to open the box. It was all local specialties from Shanxi, including snow ginseng, deer ear, animal hides, and a small garment made for Wen Ge'er. There was nothing else besides these.

  Ru Mei said with a smile, thinking to herself that Ru Xing was still more concerned about her and her mother. She didn't think much of Ru Xing's gift, it was too cheap, how could she bear to give it away?

  I thought He would be annoyed or angry, but unfortunately, He always had a smile on his face and couldn't see any joy or anger. But as Mei was determined in her heart, He didn't care about these gifts at all, secretly laughing in her heart. Mother also valued Ruo's feelings too much. She was just a concubine-born daughter, it was already good that her second brother could give her food to eat, let alone give her private property? That was definitely impossible.

  Ru Jing's favorite pastime was listening to He Shi's gossip, and this time was no exception. She asked He Shi if there were any interesting things happening in the capital recently. Before He Shi could even open her mouth, Lin Shi quickly spoke up, "Of course there are! There are plenty of fun and interesting things to hear about. Which one do you want to hear, little sister?"

  "Just go ahead, as long as it sounds interesting."

  Lin cleared his throat and said, "Well, let's just talk about recent events then. The Rongguo Mansion was searched."

  Yu Qing was shocked, "The Rongguo Mansion has been searched? When did this happen?" It's no wonder Yu Qing is surprised, the Rongguo Mansion is indeed luxurious and extravagant, but there isn't a single decent person in the mansion, they're all just good-for-nothings who eat, drink, and play. If you really want to find someone with some dignity, it would be hard to find one. But, out of the blue, the mansion was searched, it's truly astonishing.

  Lin said, "Let's talk about the Rong family. Just half a year ago, the imperial concubine Rong died of illness. The Rong family suddenly lost their protective charm and became even more unscrupulous than before. Moreover, this family is full of old and young people who are not behaving properly. The older ones, in their seventies and eighties, are still causing trouble, taking in concubines one day and raising a ruckus the next. The younger ones are also committing all sorts of evil deeds, forcibly abducting commoner girls one day and getting into bloody fights with others over petty matters the next. Just recently, they even caused someone's death, provoking public outrage. As a result, the officials from the Censorate joined forces to impeach them, submitting dozens of memorials that listed 28 crimes, each one enough to warrant severe punishment. The Emperor had previously been lenient towards the Rong family because of their meritorious service in founding the dynasty, but those good-for-nothing sons of the Rong family chose this very moment to commit a heinous crime, trampling several commoners to death while riding horses wildly through the streets. Among the victims was an old woman who happened to be the mother of a minor official from the Ministry of Justice. That young official, still wet behind the ears, boldly rushed into the palace and knelt down in front of the imperial study, declaring that he would not leave until the culprits were severely punished. It is said that the Emperor was enraged when he heard this and ordered the Imperial Guards to work with the Ministry of Justice to round up all the young masters from the Rong family who were involved in the crime."

  As if enchanted, Lin's storytelling was more vivid than He's, "What happened next?"

  Later on, the Rongguo Duchess was busy running around finding people to plead for her, but those who were trampled to death and the families of the girls who were forcibly taken away came to the door, but she didn't care at all. She let the slaves drive them out with sticks, which further infuriated everyone. In the end, the officials collectively condemned the Rongguo Mansion for its moral decay, lack of humanity, and bullying. If they weren't stripped of their titles and privileges, it would be unacceptable to heaven and earth... In the end, the Emperor was furious, and the Rongguo Mansion was confiscated, and the imperial mansion was taken back. All the family property was confiscated, and several of the young masters were thrown into prison...

  Anyway, in short, the Rongguo Mansion was completely finished. The two older generations of women were punished for not teaching their children properly and had their titles and privileges stripped away. They were demoted to commoners. The younger generation of women was also deeply affected, but they were much better off than the older generation. At least they got to keep the dowry they brought from their maiden homes. Only the unmarried girls suffered, going from being admired as thousand-gold misses to becoming lowly commoners overnight.

  The rest of the servants involved in the case were all dismissed and sent to a remote area three thousand miles away. The others were demoted to commoners. The Rongguo Mansion had already become history last month.

  As she listened, her eyes widened in shock. She knew that the sons of the powerful were all like this, doing evil and being reckless, but as long as they didn't betray the country, the emperors could tolerate them and wouldn't easily touch their heads. How did it come to this, with such a severe punishment?

  He said lightly: "Your Majesty, your elder brother said that this is killing a chicken to scare the monkey."

  Thinking of those arrogant young masters in the capital, they are no longer making a sound.

  However, these are not the things that concern her. What she is most concerned about is another issue: "Isn't the second wife of Rongguo Mansion also the cousin of the wife of Yongning Bo Mansion?" Would Yunshi just watch as her own cousin falls into trouble without lending a helping hand?

  When it came to Yun's family, He and Lin couldn't help but laugh, somewhat gloating, "The Yongning Marquis' household isn't very peaceful either nowadays."

  It turned out that after Yongning Bo Ye handed over his duties and was idle at home, the Yongning Bo Mansion began to decline. At this time, Kai'an County gave birth to a young son, and Yun Shi originally wanted to ask the Ministry of Rites to give her grandson a title of Feng Guo Jiangjun, but was rejected by the officials of the Ministry of Rites. The reason is that there is no merit or achievement, why should we want fame? It made Yun Shi so angry that she was about to collapse.

  It so happened that the second lady of Rongguo Mansion came to ask Yun Shi for help. Yun Shi, a woman in the inner courtyard, really had no way out, but this second lady who was forced into a corner became anxious and spoke recklessly, quarreling with Yun Shi and scolding her as a white-eyed wolf, ungrateful and heartless, etc., until Yun Shi was almost vomiting blood. After finally getting rid of this hysterical cousin, it turned out that Kai An County had caught a chill while sitting in the moon window wearing thin clothes during her confinement, and from then on she fell ill and couldn't recover. The Prince of Cheng's mansion insisted that the Marquis of Yongning had mistreated Kai An County and demanded an explanation from the Marquis of Yongning, and now both sides were at odds with each other.

  When she heard this, her eyes widened in surprise and she let out a loud cry of delight. If Yun Shi was having a bad time, she would feel relieved and delighted.

  As for Jiang Yunran...

  This man, he is talented, has a sense of responsibility, and has ambitions, also has his own views. Unfortunately, in this era where filial piety governs the country and brings peace to the world, all his responsibilities and ideals cannot escape the word "filial piety". If he resists stubbornly, then it would be unfilial. The only time he resisted was for love, unfortunately, it didn't succeed, let alone achieve benevolence.

  Since the incident, Jiang Yunran was placed under house arrest by the Yun family, and it wasn't easy to even send a message out. It took great effort for him to get his handwritten letter delivered to Zhili through a young servant.

  After reading that belated apology letter, it was as if things had been settled with the Xiang family regarding their engagement.

  That hastily written, obscure and chaotic apology letter has long since become a wisp of smoke under the candle. As that wisp turned into dust, the feelings of expectation, longing, disappointment, subtlety... towards Jiang You Ruo also disappeared.