Husband, please lend me your virtues

He Zijin and his companions had just returned to the Duke of Zhenguo's Mansion from the Imperial Palace. The streets and alleys of the capital were revealed in the "inadvertent" conversation between the Duke of Zhenguo and his son.

Your Majesty actually allowed the daughter of the Duke of Zhenguo to divorce her husband, and congratulated her for her strong will and courage.

At first, people in Beijing were disgusted by He Zijin's divorce, thinking that she lacked the virtues of a woman and that this was a challenge to their dignity as men.

Now that His Majesty has issued an edict confirming He Zijin's divorce, they dare not criticize He Zijin openly for divorcing her husband, saying it is a heinous act, and they only dare to discuss it in private with their closest relatives and friends.

The fact that the daughter of the Duke of Zhenguo divorced her husband was far less surprising than the fact that the Marquis of Changle lost his title and was demoted to the Earl of Changle when his descendants inherited the mansion.

I originally thought that Your Majesty was getting rid of him as soon as the old Marquis of Changle died. All his great contributions during his lifetime were forgotten, and you found an excuse to strip him of his title.

The noble families in the capital understood what Marquis Changle had done and put aside their previous dark thoughts, thinking that Marquis Changle was out of his mind.

Marquis Changle actually ignored the emperor and hid the daughter of a guilty minister in his mansion. He was severely punished and demoted to Earl Changle. If it weren't for the old marquis's merits, he would have been stripped of his title.

In the Changle Earl's Mansion, Yan E was lying on the bed enjoying Lu Ruyun's attentive care, waiting for his stepmother to bring back good news from the palace.

Suddenly, the old lady of Changlebo opened the door from outside, walked up to Yan'e, and slapped Yan'e's already swollen face twice. Then she pulled Lu Ruyun out from Yan'e's left side and hit her in the face.

The old lady of the Changle Earl must have been furious that she would disregard her status and attack a maid named Lu Ruyun.

"Come here, take this maid out and send her to Jingzhao Prefecture, so that Lord Ruan can deal with her properly."

"Mother! What are you doing? Ru'er, what did you do wrong? You beat your son without knowing the truth, and you also want to punish the people around him."

"Oh, you have the nerve to say that you secretly keep the daughter of a guilty minister, and you have brought trouble to our family. The title that our ancestors fought so hard for has been lost in your hands. You are no longer the hereditary Marquis of Changle, but the degraded Changle Earl. Are you satisfied now?"

"What did you say, mother?"

Yan E couldn't accept it. He was demoted? Just because he saved Ru'er?

"You don't have to pretend to be confused anymore. His Majesty personally issued an order to take away your title and specifically gave it to your father's grandson. Now that you are no longer the Marquis of Changle, you are naturally not qualified to live in this main courtyard."

The old lady of Changlebo hated Yan'e's willfulness and boldness, which not only led to the demotion of her family's title, but also implicated her own son.

Because of his ridiculous behavior, His Majesty did not even consider her two adult sons for the inheritance of the title, but pointed to her grandson instead.

This time she came not only to deal with the troublesome maid, but also to deal with the culprit who caused the heavy losses to the Changle Earl's Mansion, and drive him out of the house.

Yan E was carried out of the Changle Earl's Mansion by the servant girl of the old lady of the Changle Earl and taken to a small courtyard bought by his biological mother in the capital, where he was left to fend for himself.

Lu Ruyun was tied up by the people around the old lady of Changle Earl and sent to Jingzhao Prefecture, and then the people of Jingzhao Prefecture sent her to where she was supposed to go.

Even the second wife couldn't be happy that her son had obtained a title for no reason. The title she obtained was downgraded by one level. He was no longer the hereditary Marquis of Changle, but the Earl of Changle, a downgraded title for inherited titles. Who could be happy!

The day after He Zijin moved back to the Duke of Zhenguo's Mansion, an impatient emperor issued an edict, making He Zijin the queen, and the marriage was to be held on an auspicious day one year later.

This decree shocked the court and the country as soon as it was issued. However, because of Chu Hongyun's previous bloody methods of suppressing court officials, the officials symbolically opposed it once and then stopped resisting. After all, this emperor really killed people.

When the people in Changle Earl's Mansion heard the news, they were shocked. They locked themselves in for a long time before daring to go out. They no longer had their previous arrogance. At a banquet with He Zijin participating, they wanted to keep their tails between their legs.

When Yan E heard that his ex-wife, whom he had discarded like a piece of trash, was lucky enough to be favored by the emperor and became so glorious, even he, an exiled useless man, knew the news that He Zijin was crowned empress and burst into tears.

If he had not relied on his father's merits to replace Lu Ruyun from the Jiaofangsi, and had not treated He Zijin so badly, would he not have ended up like this?

He was still paralyzed in bed, and his eating, drinking, defecating and urinating all depended on the mood of the servant who served him. He no longer had any slaves around to serve him.

If the servant was in a bad mood, he would have to go hungry all day, and he could only go to the toilet on the bed. If the servant didn't come to clean up, he could only sleep in the same bed with all the dirt and stench.

He thought of the time when He Zijin had played with him gently when they were young, and he began to look forward to it. He excitedly called out to the servant, "He'an, go to Zhenguogong to find Miss He and tell her that I know I was wrong. I hope she will remember the feelings we had when we were young and help me get out of this small courtyard."

"Sir, why are you still daydreaming about this? Miss He is about to become the queen, so why would she care about you, her ex-husband who insulted her? If you had known this would happen, why did you hurt Miss He's heart!"

"If I had broken off the engagement with Miss He earlier and not hooked up with the daughter of that traitor, wouldn't this have happened?"

He An grumbled that he had always looked down on Lu Ruyun, especially after Yan E said that Lu Ruyun was his nominal wife in order to get out of the situation. He hated Lu Ruyun even more, as it caused his reputation to be damaged and he couldn't even marry a good girl.

Yan'e's face turned alternately blue and white. He inexplicably agreed with He An's idea and felt that saving Lu Ruyun was a mistake. He lay on the bed dejectedly, staring at the ceiling covered with spider webs. It was useless. Tears flowed from the corners of his eyes and wet his pillow.

A year later, He Zijin's wedding date arrived, and the emperor personally welcomed her back to the palace, making everyone aware of the importance of the empress in his majesty's heart.

Not long after the emperor and empress got married, the empress became pregnant. A minister saw that Chu Hongyun broke the rule of not being close to women and married the empress, so he boldly wrote a letter to the emperor, saying that since the empress was pregnant, His Majesty should fill the harem and have children. However, the minister was dragged out and beaten with a stick by the furious emperor.

Seeing this counterexample, everyone dared not act rashly or speak nonsense about the affairs of His Majesty's harem. Only the Queen was fine. The Queen was not like the former Marquis Changle who was infertile. She would eventually give birth to the crown prince of the Jin Dynasty.

The following year, Empress He gave birth to Emperor Ying Qian's eldest son, who was named Crown Prince in the same year. When the Crown Prince was able to shoulder the heavy responsibilities, Emperor Ying Qian abdicated the throne to the Crown Prince and lived a life of enjoying the company of his grandchildren with He Zijin.

According to historical records, Emperor Ying Qian had only one son in his life and one wife, Empress He. The son died within a month of Empress He's death.