Transmigration: The Evil Mother-In-Law Is Actually Innocent!-Chapter 1263: Slap in the Face

The next morning, at the entrance of the Duke Residence, the Retired Emperor and the Empress Dowager had not left since the previous day, resulting in everyone from the capital, whether obligated to come or not, being present.

Zhulan arrived early, her carriage had stopped at the entrance of the alley, a short walk to the Duke Residence.

As for Zhou Shuren, he would come to the Duke Residence alone.

Su Xuan accompanied him, "The line of carriages is too long."

Shen Xing returned first and said, "The Emperor and the Empress have already been here."

Zhulan was surprised; the new Emperor and the Empress had also come, which sent a message to all the nobles that the Duke had passed away, yet the Ning family was still Imperial relatives, and no one was allowed to bully them.

When Zhulan entered, she did not see the Empress Dowager but only saw the Song family and Ning Zhiqi.

It made sense, as the future duties would fall on the couple Ning Zhiqi.

Zhulan left rather quickly; she did not even see Xue Han. On her way home, Zhulan saw Yao Xin on the street, pulling a child with one hand and holding vegetarian pastries from the Vegetarian Shop with the other.

Zhulan had her carriage stop, "It’s rare to bump into you on the street."

Yao Xin seldom went out, so it was a surprise to see her walking with the child instead of riding in a carriage today.

Knowing that Mrs. Yang had gone to the Duke Residence, Yao Xin, holding the pastries, said, "The weather is quite nice today, so I brought the child to buy some vegetarian pastries, planning to visit Yao Yao’s younger brother in the temple tomorrow."

Zhulan saw a smile in Yao Xin’s eyes; Yao Yao’s younger brother was also her child, and it seemed that the child was doing well in the temple, "That’s good."

Yao Xin was extremely content with her life now; she and her husband had a strong relationship forged through trials, their child was healthy, and she desired nothing more, "Madam might like to try these pastries, they are considered among the best vegetarian pastries in the capital."

Zhulan smiled and said, "Good, then I will buy some to try as well."

Yao Xin quickly left with her child. As they walked away, Zhulan could still hear Yao Xin talking to her son about visiting to see the cotton, planning to donate some to the temple for making quilts.

Listening to the child’s speech, Zhulan couldn’t help but smile and instructed Qing Xue to buy some pastries on the way home. After tasting them at home, they were indeed quite delicious, so she distributed them to every household.

In the following days, the tension in the court somewhat eased due to the Duke’s passing.

The Duke passed away gloriously; after the burial, Ning Zhiqi became the new head of the Duke Residence. The first thing Ning Zhiqi did was to change the residence’s plaque without waiting for the Ministry of Rites, though the Ministry wouldn’t have hurried him. The Ning family had integrity and could not act shamelessly.

The Emperor learned of this and took out the list of officials from the Ministry of Commerce that were to be allocated separately, elevating Ning Zhiqi’s official rank to third-rank.

Rongchuan saw the changes with his own eyes and continued to sip his tea.

The Emperor put down the list, "Ning Zhiqi wouldn’t have thought that by actively changing to the Hou Residence, he was helping me; Ning Zhiqi’s character is good."

Rongchuan realized the truth, right, Ning Zhiqi represented the Emperor’s maternal family. If the maternal family could follow the rules without shirking, what right did these old fellows have to act shamelessly? Ning Zhiqi didn’t realize he had embarrassed them, but the Emperor was even more pleased.

This meant that the Ning family maintained their discipline, further exposing some old rascals relying on their age; now the slap was even louder.

The Emperor said softly, "Little Uncle hasn’t intervened this time."

He had a good impression of Little Uncle, not only because he had raised his younger brother, but also because of Little Uncle’s knack for reading the times.

Then the Emperor asked, "Have you visited your in-laws lately?"

Rongchuan touched his nose, feeling that his father-in-law had taken his anger out on him, "I did go, but I didn’t stay long before I left."

The Emperor knew all about it. Zhou Shuren was asking them out for tea, and these old guys weren’t fools; they hadn’t replied to the invitation to tea, "I heard that your father-in-law likes antiques."

Rongchuan thought to himself that his father-in-law liked anything valuable, not just antiques. He replied, "He likes them very much."

The Emperor continued, "Official Zhou has high standards. Although I inherited the private treasury from my father, what he left me was mostly silver. It seems all the antiques have moved to the Qin Prince Residence. I also heard that my father opened a private treasury there, and recently all the tributes to my father have been stored there."

An obviously biased father, he intended to give everything to Rongchuan. Fortunately, his younger brother had suffered a lot in the past and had finally returned to the royal family. He had also experienced his father’s favoritism, so he didn’t mind much, but that didn’t mean he didn’t resent the rich!

This time Rongchuan understood. The Emperor wanted to use his possessions to bribe his father-in-law. Tsk, the emperor’s son wasn’t grown up yet, and the first one he plucked was his own brother, "I’ll go back and look for it."

The Emperor’s gaze was deep, "Do you still need to look? The shelves in your study are so casually arranged, not even my study is that casual."

Thinking of this, the Emperor looked at the antique shelves. Tsk, the Retired Emperor had cleaned up his study when he stepped down; all the items he had once coveted were gone.

Rongchuan, "...."

His father was a bit much; one was the Retired Emperor and the other was Duke Ning, both wealthy, representatives of immense wealth in the capital!

At the Ministry of Revenue, Zhou Shuren was writing a letter, chuckling coldly to himself. Well, well, people didn’t respond nicely to his invitations, so he had to resort to other means. He wasn’t going to write them one by one; he had a template where only the names and dates needed to be changed.

The Retired Emperor watched Zhou Shuren’s actions, stroking his beard, having never done such a thing himself.

In these letters, Zhou Shuren didn’t write about how much property his family had, but instead wrote about the monthly expenses of the old officials’ children. For the Minister of Revenue, these accounts were trivial, as the expenses of their children vividly reflected the current status of a family.

Finally, the Retired Emperor watched as Zhou Shuren wrote sick leaves, "!!"

Zhou Shuren’s sick leaves were written effortlessly; he was most adept at writing them, it was just a pity he didn’t get to do it often.

The Retired Emperor said softly, "Your sick leave will not be approved."

Zhou Shuren rolled his eyes internally, "I can’t just invite people for tea and have them rush in and out; that would be insincere."

He had thoroughly reviewed the list, checking the Emperor’s circled names, specifically looking up who was related to whom by marriage, what their relationships were like, or which families had connections or past disputes.

The Retired Emperor picked up a letter, and only then noticed the names on it, then asked, "The people you’re inviting, I seem to recall some have significant grievances."

Zhou Shuren smiled innocently, "Right, if there were no grievances, it wouldn’t be easy to persuade them. Think about it, with both parties having grievances invited, the already fragile trust would surely suspect someone has been persuaded by me."

The Retired Emperor had already understood Zhou Shuren’s intentions, revealing that the Emperor had sussed them out. They’d have to sacrifice some if they remained stubborn. With two families bearing grievances, if one family faced trouble, the other might exploit their downfall. Already harboring their own schemes, layer by layer persuasion would only breed more suspicion. Tsk, Zhou Shuren truly lived up to his reputation as the old fox.

Zhou Shuren still didn’t know about the things Ning Zhiqi had done, but when he did learn about them, he would surely be even more delighted, his advocacy having become even easier.