The Legend of the Concubine in the Harem

After the plan to encircle Lin Qiao failed, Huang Ming did not give up. Instead, he went home to ask Old Man Huang for more manpower. However, his grandfather, who always doted on him, refused with the reason that "if the first strike failed, there can be no second strike."

However, Huang Ming believed that he had received a guarantee from his good brother Zeng Fu. If he retreated at this time, it would be too embarrassing for his family. So he gritted his teeth and used his own small treasury to hire people. He also hid it from his grandfather and borrowed manpower from several other elders who also doted on him.

So, without Old Man Huang's knowledge, his eldest grandson had dragged his entire family into trouble by himself.

Rumors about Lin Qiao are increasing day by day.

Naturally, the news also reached the ears of He Sangrou and Yao San.

"What's going on? Didn't you say that the maid that Madam Chen took away was just an ordinary servant girl and didn't know about this? How come such a rumor came out from somewhere else?" Yao San had "changed his mind" a little these days because of He Sangrou's great help and no longer went to the two new concubines.

He Sangrou couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief again: "The servant of the second house of the Marquis of Anguo Mansion was sold by the official. We are not the only two families who have bought people. If you want to know where the rumor came from, why don't you check it out?"

Although the capital city has a large population, this kind of rumor that is obviously targeted is actually not difficult to investigate. First, because the target is too obvious. At the beginning, it started to ferment from the vicinity of the Lin family. Second, the intention of the person behind the rumor is also very obvious, which is to provoke the suspicion and anger of the scholars. Therefore, the rumors are concentrated in several large and small academies in the capital city, as well as in the alleys where students who come to Beijing for the imperial examinations gather.

He Sangrou didn't believe this truth which she herself could clearly see. Yao San, who had been running outside all day, would not be unclear about it. After all, it was just because something went wrong that he took advantage of the situation to gain some fame so that he could then go look for his two concubines with a clear conscience.

Send Yao San away.

He Sangrou angrily threw a teacup to the ground, and the porcelain pieces flew everywhere. She felt that her marriage was just like the broken porcelain pieces. It still looked bright and white at a glance, but as long as she raised her eyes, she would find that it was just a pile of wreckage that could never be put together again.

Once upon a time, Yao San was a perfect husband.

As a military man, he had a handsome appearance and a noble bearing. He was also an official at a young age. Apart from himself, he had no concubines or even a roommate. Although he was not meticulous and considerate in some aspects at that time, he was obedient to me and spoke softly to me...

Thinking of the good times in the past, He Sangrou couldn't help but feel sad.

When did it start to change?

It was when that woman appeared—the one Yao San met on the battlefield, the shameless woman who actually wanted to enter his home as his concubine!

He Sangrou thought angrily that it was all her fault. She had let her man indulge in adultery and have tasted the goodness of women other than her, which led to the situation today where he had done such unruly things time and time again and was no longer able to deal with the problem!

After cursing the two concubines in her family with gnashing teeth, He Sangrou wiped her tears, put on her going-out clothes, got on the carriage and headed towards her parents' home again.

When they arrived at He's house, they heard the person at the door say that General He was not there.

This trip was to ask her father to help her again, to help her find out the source of the rumor, so that she could use this achievement to make Yao San change his mind. He Sangrou was stunned for a moment: "Where is my father?"

"In reply to my aunt, the wife of Marquis Anguo and the prince have returned from their villa today. His family sent an invitation to our old master a few days ago..." the doorman said cautiously.

In fact, the Marquis of Anguo not only sent invitations to the He family, he also sent invitations to all the noble families and high-ranking officials in the capital who were relatively close to his family. However, Yao San had no title and his real job was stripped away. Now he only had an idle official position, so naturally he could not receive any news.

After thinking this through, He Sangrou couldn't help but start to grind her teeth again: "Since father is not here, then you should call Uncle Wu out first. I have something to tell him."

This is an attempt to bypass General He and execute first and report later.

The doorman invited He Sangrou in with a bitter face, and then turned around to look for Wu Bo, the old butler who had always been with General He and was very valued.

The inner court.

When Chu Liupo heard that He Sangrou returned to her parents' home but stopped in the outer courtyard and refused to enter, she knew something was wrong. She hurried out with her men and stopped Uncle Wu who had just met He Sangrou: "Uncle Wu, please wait a moment."

Uncle Wu is General He's maternal brother and also served as the chief steward of the mansion. He retired due to his age, but he still manages some of General He's affairs.

"Madam, the eldest young master." Uncle Wu knew a little about the entanglement between his two mistresses, but General He turned a blind eye to their grievances, and as a servant, he had no right to intervene.

Chu Liupo carefully inquired about He Sangrou's purpose. After learning that she was actually looking for a rumor about Empress Xie's cousin, she sent Wu Bo away in a friendly manner. Then she paced back and forth in her courtyard for a while and clapped her hands again: "In the past, she always relied on her status as an elder to bully me. It's time to teach her a lesson!"

She called her confidant and whispered a few words in his ear, telling him to trip up He Sangrou a little, and asked him to find out the news and come back with some evidence that Yao San had been having affairs with prostitutes recently.

After thinking about it, Chu Liupo recalled the several times that the wife of the Marquis of Yongjia had shown kindness to him before, and also helped him to fend off He Sangrou's attacks at certain banquets. Then he thought again and said to his confidant, "Don't forget to inform the Marquis of Yongjia's Mansion about this. She wants to find out about other people's relatives for no reason. I always feel that she has no good intentions."

After hearing the news from Chu Liupo, Xie's mother, who had been keeping an eye on the movements of these families, felt more and more that this girl was someone she could get along with. Unfortunately, she already knew everything about He Sangrou's movements, and her daughter in the palace had already made arrangements for the He family before this news came.

As soon as Huang Ming's message spread, Yao San would definitely put pressure on He Sangrou again, and she would certainly ask her family for help - all this was already anticipated by Xie Yuzhen. What she needed Xie's mother to do on her behalf was to arrange witnesses and evidence, and link the rumors about Yao San, the He family, and the Huang family together, so that they could be caught in one fell swoop after the incident.

He Sangrou's request for help gave Xie Yuzhen the best opportunity to take action.

General He still has a great reputation in the army. Xie Yuzhen thinks he needs to manually whittle it down to make way for the young man, especially Jun Yuexin.

With this knife, although the He family was not the main culprit and was not a big accomplice, turmoil was inevitable.

But it's okay too. By the way, all the positions that were granted to those useless younger generations of the He family were stripped and they were kicked out of the army completely. This can be regarded as a way to vent Xie Yu's anger after so many years.

No one is better at surviving a disaster and then giving it another blow than Xie Yuzhen.