Husband, please lend me your virtues

"What Zhang is doing now is not quite right, but it is a fact that she saved our mother. Changning, don't think too much about it. If you don't like her, just stay away from her in the future."

Zhang Jiji saved her, not her Changning. There was no need for Changning to be friendly with Zhang Jiji. It was fine for them to be strangers.

"Yes, I know, mother." Zhuang Zijin swallowed her doubts about Zhang Jiji saving her mother. There was no evidence, and her mother and father might not believe it.

"Father, where is the Crown Prince?" How come her father had time to come to her mother's palace today, but the Crown Prince was nowhere to be seen?

"Your brother the prince is busy confiscating the property. Don't expect to see him these days."

Outside the imperial palace, in the west city, there was a house named Lady Weiguo's Mansion. At this time, the whole family had sad faces and were kneeling in the front yard to welcome the imperial edict.

Qian Xiuyuan looked at his mother with a pale face and a thin body that looked like she was about to collapse at any time, and he felt extremely unfair!

Her Majesty the Queen is so ungrateful!

If his mother hadn't blocked the sword for her, how would she have had the chance to sit in the back seat today?

There are intrigues everywhere in the palace. Can the Queen's children grow up safely without their biological mother's protection?

Qian Xiuyuan heard his mother say that the whole family would be waiting for the imperial edict in the front yard later, but she did not elaborate on what the edict was.

He originally thought that his mother was favored by the Empress and had requested an imperial decree to grant marriage between him and the princess, so he happily ordered the servants to burn incense and set up the altar.

But he didn't know that the imperial edict was to demote his mother from Lady of the State to a Lady of Honour!

After the angel announcing the decree left, all the people in the mansion also dispersed, and Qian Xiuyuan came to Zhang Jiji's courtyard.

"Mother, did you offend His Majesty and the Queen by entering the palace today?"

Otherwise, how could he be demoted two ranks just after entering the palace?

Zhang Jiji felt bitter, "It's just that Princess Changning made slanderous remarks to the Emperor and Empress. When Princess Changning enters the palace, I will punish her. You must not be soft-hearted."

Qian Xiuyuan hesitated, not holding out hope for Princess Shang. "Mother, Princess Shang may not be easy. Besides, the princess will live in her own mansion after her marriage. If she doesn't want to see you, how can you get in? How can you act like a mother-in-law?"

"Hmph, don't worry about it. I have my own way. The Qian family will definitely marry the princess. In the future, I will make the princess give up the princess's mansion and live in the Qian family, and become a good daughter-in-law in the eyes of the world."

Qian Xiuyuan saw that Zhang Jiji was full of confidence and it seemed that the princess would be born soon. He couldn't help but become curious, "Does mother have any good ideas?"

"Come closer and listen." Zhang Jiji waved at Qian Xiuyuan and told him all her plans.

"Xiuyuan, remember what mother said and do it word for word."

Zhang Jiji smiled grimly, "By then, who would be willing to marry a princess with a bad reputation?"

"If she insists on not getting married, she should also consider the impact her behavior will have on the royal family's daughters and her nieces!"

Seeing his mother's confident look, Qian Xiuyuan suddenly calmed down, "Mother, the princess is still a princess, why should she be afraid of rumors? Mother's idea may be too optimistic."

Qian Xiuyuan had never seen a princess in any dynasty being slandered by rumors, which would affect her sisters and nieces. In this dynasty, princes-in-law were allowed to enter the officialdom. If one married a princess, he could not only have the honorary title of prince consort, but also enter the court and gain power through his own efforts.

How could it be possible, as his mother said, that the princess would be so easily despised by the world!

"Xiuyuan, please believe your mother for once. Otherwise, can you think of a better way besides what your mother did?"

"Mother, this method is too risky. If it is exposed by someone with ulterior motives, I'm afraid the Queen will not forgive mother and us for the kindness we have shown her in the past."

Qian Xiuyuan was attracted by Princess Shang's interests and couldn't extricate himself, but he didn't dare to bear the revenge that would come with failure.

"If you want benefits, how can you not bear the storms that may come with them?"

"Besides, my mother has become a lady now, and the benefits she can bring to the Qian family in the future will definitely not be as good as before. Are you willing to let the Qian family fall into ruin in your hands?"

Zhang Jiji tempted, she didn't care about Qian Xiuyuan's worries, she just felt that her son was too honest and didn't dare to gamble.

Back then, she gambled with her own life under the oppression of her mother-in-law and the neglect of her husband, and carved out a smooth path for herself.

Qian Xiuyuan hesitated for a quarter of an hour, then slowly said, "Okay, mother, I'm willing to take a gamble. If I win, the Qian family will prosper from now on. If I lose, I'll just be beaten back to my original state."

As for whether they would lose their lives, Qian Xiuyuan was not worried. He still had the Queen Mother. Considering how she had taken care of his mother over the years, the Queen Mother would definitely not have the heart to sentence them to death.

Zhuang Zijin was not idle in the palace waiting for Zhang Jiji and Qian Xiuyuan to make a move. She sent people to guard near the Qian family. She wanted to know any movement so that she could sit back and wait for the opportunity.

Zhuang Zijin brought a box of osmanthus cake made in her small kitchen to visit her brother the Crown Prince in the East Palace and reminded him that one of his confidants had betrayed Dalin.

In the play, it was the betrayed confidant who assassinated the prince at the banquet. Qian Xiuyuan blocked the knife for the prince at the banquet, which made him recognized by the prince, and even took the initiative to arrange a marriage between him and his sister.

After hearing this, the prince did not turn a deaf ear to Zhuang Zijin's words, but treated Zhuang Zijin as a 20-year-old girl, unlike the emperor and the queen, who always thought that Zhuang Zijin was still young and had a childish temper.

The prince sent his secret guards to carefully investigate the minister that Zhuang Zijin mentioned, and he actually found a flaw. It turned out that this man was the most deeply buried spy by Beidi in Dalin.

The prince put him on the list of people to be confiscated, and took out some hard-to-find jewels from his private vault and sent them to Zhuang Zijin's palace to thank her for her reminder, otherwise he would have been stabbed by the minister at any time.

It was the time of spring examinations again, and students coming to Beijing to take the examinations gathered in various major inns in the capital. However, today was particularly strange, as the lobby on the first floor of the little-known Xiying Inn was packed with students.

Even the waiter who was responsible for adding tea could not squeeze in to serve the guests with more tea or water.

The people passing by heard that the topic discussed by the students in the Xiying Inn was not about academic studies, but about the rumors in the market that the students despised the most. They stopped outside the inn and pricked up their ears to listen to the heated arguments in the lobby of the inn.

Most of them felt that the scholars there had put the cart before the horse. They came to the capital for the imperial examination, not to denounce the princes and nobles.

A man with rich clothes and ordinary face squeezed through the crowd and finally entered a corner of the lobby of the inn. He said loudly: "My brothers, I have a question and I would like to ask you to help me solve it."

"What does the princess' unwillingness to choose a husband that you are discussing have to do with the purpose of your coming here?"