After rebirth, I became the favorite of my scumbag brother

The atmosphere in the capital had become somewhat grim because of the private opening of the iron mine. The Xiao family was very likely to be implicated in this matter, so Xiao Dehong was busy trying to cut off his fate and survive.

Xiao Dehong had been furious recently. A few days ago, his wife wanted a divorce, which alarmed the elder relatives of the Xiao and Yang families.

But Yang was still unwilling. After much consideration, Xiao Dehong followed Aunt Liu's advice and agreed to Yang's divorce on the condition that Xiao Hengzhi gave up his inheritance rights and stopped participating in the Xiao family's business.

Xiao Dehong had some doubts at first, but considering that Xiao Hengzhi did not follow his arrangements and contradicted him several times, and after Aunt Liu instigated him many times, he agreed to this method.

Yang was unwilling, but Xiao Hengzhi was eager for it. After more than a month of quarreling, Yang and Xiao Hengzhi finally separated. Xiao Hengzhi gave up the Xiao family's property, and Xiao Yunzhi became the young master of the Xiao family.

Xiao Hengzhi's power was taken away, and Yang's dowry, shop, and the business jointly owned by the Xiao and Yang families were gradually divided.

Before the separation was complete, the Xiao family was involved in a case of privately opening an iron mine, which made Xiao Hengzhi very fortunate. While feeling fortunate, he was also grateful to Su Lanxin for giving him the news in advance.

It just so happened that he had just persuaded his mother to divorce him during that time, and everything seemed to be just right! However, just in case, he still had to make some preparations, so as not to be implicated by those people at home.

Let's not talk about how Xiao Hengzhi prepared just in case...

Let’s talk about the case of illegal iron mining. Because the prefect of Zhuozhou and the magistrate of Chongming County were both involved in the mining of iron ore, they were guilty of knowing the crime but not reporting it, and they were soon escorted back to Beijing.

The prefect of Zhuozhou and the magistrate of Chongming County insisted that they had mined the iron ore privately and it had nothing to do with the third prince. The reason they sent their daughter to the third prince's mansion was just to try their luck and see if they could become a royal relative.

However, the magistrate of Chongming County provided several letters, which were correspondence between the prefect and the county magistrate, but all of them mentioned His Royal Highness the Third Prince.

Even though those two people insisted that the death had nothing to do with Chu Yu, the Third Prince's suspicion could not be cleared, and no one knew how the matter spread among the people.

As for where the mined iron ore went and what it was used for, it could not be immediately found out.

The prefect of Zhuozhou and the magistrate of Chongming County were sentenced to immediate execution, their families were exiled to a cold and bitter place, and the third prince was confined to the prince's palace and was not allowed to leave without an imperial decree.

The owner of the mountain, Xiao Yuhe, was Xiao Dehong's concubine. The Xiao family's property was confiscated, and Xiao Yuhe was also executed for betrayal. The rest of the Xiao family was exiled.

All the shops and Yuhua Pavilion under Xiao Hengzhi's name were transferred to his mother Yang Jinxuan, so they were spared. Su Lanxin and his mother spent a lot of money, and Li Ziyu and others helped secretly. Xiao Hengzhi did not participate in the matter and was not aware of it, so he was sentenced to one year of hard labor.

But compared with the lifelong exile of other members of the Xiao family, this result was much better. As a result, while Xiao Hengzhi was doing hard labor, Nangong Yun ran to the bitter and cold place to accompany him despite her family's objections. Xiao Hengzhi tried to drive her away countless times but failed. In the end, he could only let her stay and do his best to protect her life.

Xiao Hengzhi had Su Lanxin and his mother's shop, so he had no worries about money. So Xiao Hengzhi lived a good life. When the one-year term was up, they were taken back to the capital by Yang Jinxuan...

Of course, these are all later stories. After learning about the iron mine, His Majesty the Emperor sent his own people to investigate the whereabouts of the iron mine. It took a long time to find some clues.

If you don't check, you won't know. Once you check, you will be shocked. Looking at the news brought by your trusted secret guard about the suspected private army, His Majesty the Emperor felt his blood boiling.

He knew that he would have to face this sooner or later, but he didn't expect that his son would dare to raise private soldiers.

He asked his trusted secret guards to arrange for investigations on each of the princes. He didn't know how many things each of them had done under his nose without telling him.

After investigation, it was discovered that some iron ore had been sold to neighboring countries, which made the emperor very angry.

Now the Third Prince was directly changed from being under house arrest to being under house arrest, and the Imperial Guards were guarding the Third Prince’s mansion.

The Queen was already disliked by the Emperor because of the incident at the Marquis of Jingbei's Mansion. She finally mustered up the courage to ease relations with the Emperor, but she didn't expect that her son would be placed under house arrest at this time.

The queen requested to see the emperor, but was blocked outside the door. After several times, the emperor became so annoyed that he ordered the queen to reflect on her mistakes at home.

The Queen has been in charge of the palace for many years. Even though she is no longer in power, she still has many capable people at her disposal.

Seeing that both mother and son were imprisoned by the Emperor, the Queen gave up on her husband and finally made a decision in her heart.

The third prince was placed under house arrest in the palace. On the surface, he seemed to have accepted his fate and was just quietly reflecting on his mistakes.

But this is only what we see on the surface. In fact, he has been doing business in the capital for many years. How could he easily accept his fate? He just acted more low-key.

Chu Mo gradually stood out from the other princes, and spent more and more time meeting the Emperor alone. This made many people believe that the eldest prince was the emperor's choice for the crown prince.

Many people began to get restless. Not only was there frequent guests coming in and out of the eldest prince's mansion, but people from the Shen family also came to visit. Many people also tried to get close to Shen Mu, a playboy who was neither good at literature nor martial arts.

Time passed slowly, and His Majesty's birthday, also known as the Wanshou Festival, was approaching.

A palace banquet is held every year on the Emperor's birthday, and this year will be no exception, so all departments have started preparing early.

Although the emperor's birthday is coming soon, his majesty's health is not as good as in previous years. Su Lanxin learned that everyone in the mansion would attend the palace banquet on the birthday, but it was Xue Yunmei who told her that she could not attend.

In order to tell her the news, Xue Yunmei came to Bitao Courtyard specially and laughed at her. Su Lanxin naturally didn't tolerate him and said bluntly that she had no chance to attend the Wanshou Festival, so she had no chance either.

They were both illegitimate daughters-in-law of the Zhenbei Marquis's mansion. Neither of them was more noble than the other, so why should they laugh at each other? Besides, at least she had gained experience by going to the palace banquet with her own ability, and she was already satisfied.

The final result was that Xue Yunmei was pissed off by her and left. When she left Bitaoyuan, she was so angry that she looked like a puffer fish, which made Su Lanxin laugh.

She didn't know why this girl was so hostile to her, whether it was because of her husband, and she always liked to come to her to cause trouble. She didn't know what this hobby was.

After Xue Yunmei left, Su Lanxin began to process the news sent by Bai Qi and found that there were always strangers pouring into the capital recently, and there were quite a few of them. In addition, there was very little news sent back from the Third Prince's Mansion.

But recently a piece of news was sent out, saying that although the Third Prince’s Mansion looked very peaceful on the surface, in fact there was a sense of weirdness everywhere.

Su Lanxin looked at the letter in her hand and had some guesses in her mind. The current situation was completely different from the previous life. At this time in the previous life, the eldest prince had already been disabled in both legs and could not walk well. The second prince had left the capital...

In this life, I intervened, and nothing happened to the eldest prince. The third prince was not as powerful as he was in his previous life. After all, he had a strong competitor in the eldest prince in this life.

In my previous life, my cousin had not returned yet, and His Majesty the Emperor was in good health at that time, not as sickly as he is now. He was in good health and enjoyed himself every night.

There was no such thing as an edict of repentance in the previous life. I think it was precisely because of this change that His Majesty the Emperor was hit hard. After all, he always claimed to be a wise monarch.

But in fact, he did not have the tolerance that a wise ruler should have. When the edict of repentance was issued, the fact that he knew that the Bai family was being plotted against during his reign but turned a blind eye to it was enough to cause criticism from future generations.

In addition, he is old and has been in power for so many years that he is always attached to the power in his hands. Given his temperament, he naturally cannot accept the loss of his integrity in his old age.

The capital city seems peaceful nowadays, but actually there are storms brewing beneath the calm surface!