The legitimate daughter was reborn, and the emperor’s little Jiaojiao went crazy.

The reward that the Chi family had obtained was gone. This realization was like a thunderbolt, causing pain in the hearts of everyone in the mansion.

You know, if one person is rewarded, the whole family will be honored. Originally, relying on Chi Yue's military achievements, the sons of the Chi family might be able to fill a few official vacancies, and the unmarried women could also marry a higher grade.

Now, the fat meat that was about to reach his mouth was lost due to the stupidity of his own family.

Old Master Chi's knees ached from kneeling, and his vision went dark. In a trance, he saw the mud on his boots seeping into the cracks of the bluestone slabs bit by bit.

It was like the last bit of dignity of the Chi family was disappearing in front of everyone. He had a premonition that losing the reward was not the worst...

Madam Chi was even more furious. Her skinny fingers tightly grasped the collar of her clothes. After a long while, she finally whimpered through her teeth, "Brother Yue! The eldest grandson of my Chi family!"

The sound of her crying, wrapped in rain, fell on the ground. Even if she cried for the living, it would be too cheap. The Buddhist beads that she always wore around her wrist were now scattered in the muddy water, and each bead was covered with mud.

The annoyance, remorse, and years of hatred towards the eldest daughter-in-law reached their peak at this moment.

Shi Anxia looked at the family quietly, her fingertips gently stroking the imperial edict. Her eyes briefly met with Chi Shuang's - those eyes were filled with the same cold sarcasm as hers.

The ancestors of the Chi family were once prominent and were once awarded the title of third-class earl. A royal plaque with the words "loyalty and bravery passed down from generation to generation" was hung on the lintel. Unfortunately, their descendants were not virtuous, and by the time of Grandpa Chi's generation, the title had long been stripped, leaving only an empty shell.

When the late emperor was in his later years, Old Master Chi managed to get a sixth-rank idle position in the Guanglu Temple by selling his ancestral property and using his connections. He just had to report for duty every day, but he could wear his official uniform to show off in front of others.

After Emperor Mingde ascended the throne, the situation in the court changed suddenly.

The Empress Dowager's party and the Emperor's party were fighting openly and secretly, but the Chi family was not even qualified to take sides.

The Empress Dowager thought his family was too poor, and the Emperor's party looked down on his mediocre talent. Whenever there was a big court meeting, Master Chi would always be squeezed to the corner of the last row in his faded official uniform.

When the "Purging Dust Plan" massacred the court, the Chi family turned out to be a blessing in disguise.

The important positions vacated by the implicated ministers naturally did not belong to Old Master Chi, who was just filling in the numbers. But no one cared about his idle job, just like the tortoise shell of a thousand-year-old turtle, which accidentally protected him from the great purge.

Nowadays, he still goes to the yamen to report for duty every day, receiving a salary that is barely enough to fill his stomach, and has become a strange sight in the six ministries.

Everyone knows that Lord Chi is a "living tablet", but no one can say what exactly he is in charge of.

His descendants were even worse than their father. They could not even get close to passing the imperial examinations, and they just relied on the little skills of scheming inherited from their ancestors to get by.

Mr. Chi held the honorary title of "Xielülang" in the Taichang Temple and spent all day hanging out with the opera troupe.

Master Chi Sanye was even more outrageous. No one knew how he got hold of such connections, but he managed to get an idle position as a "Tongshi Sheren" in the Honglu Temple, in charge of the dispatch of carriages and horses for foreign envoys entering the capital - in other words, he was a guide.

It just so happens that this father and his sons think very highly of themselves and always brag about their ancestors' titles during every banquet.

Once, when he was drunk, Old Master Chi slammed the table and said that his family was a "hidden dragon in the abyss", which made his colleagues laugh secretly. When the word reached the ears of the censor, someone impeached him the next day, which frightened him so much that he did not dare to report to the government office for three months.

It is not entirely true to say that the Chi family has never produced any decent talents.

Chi Yue and Chi Shuang's father, Chi Yiqing, the eldest son of Old Master Chi, was a genuine Jinshi (imperial examination candidate) and ranked 17th in the second class. He was the only person in the Chi family in nearly a hundred years who had passed the imperial examinations based on his real talent and knowledge.

Chi Yiqing was born with beautiful features and was also a good writer. When he was a scholar in the Hanlin Academy, even the late emperor praised him for his "clear and dignified character."

The excerpts from the Comprehensive Mirror with his annotations were copied into a book and circulated in the Hanlin Academy.

The Prime Minister at that time also said, "This boy will surely become a pillar of the country in the future."

It was such a son who disobeyed Old Madam Chi in terms of marriage, making her furious.

After she passed the imperial examination, the old lady had already taken a liking to General Ying's legitimate daughter.

This General Ying was the one who later rebelled in the Qingchen Plan.

Chi Yiqing said, "My son only cares about Qingqing."

"Do you know how prominent the Ying family is?" Old Madam Chi smashed the teacup in anger, and the flying porcelain fragments drew a bloody mark on the corner of Chi Yiqing's eye, which has remained a shallow scar ever since. "General Ying commands 100,000 cavalrymen in the North Wing! How many princes and nobles in the court wanted to marry his daughter but were unable to do so!"

Chi Yiqing did not move at all, letting the blood flow down his cheek, "My son will not marry anyone other than Qingqing in this life."

The "Qingqing" he mentioned was Huo Qingqing, the mother of Chi Yue and Chi Shuang. Her father Huo Jinshu had taught Chi Yiqing in his early years and was his first mentor.

Chi Yiqing was determined and married Huo Qingqing despite his family's opposition, which angered his parents, brothers and sisters.

The marriage was arranged hastily, but the two were in love, loving each other, and lived a happy life.

Many years passed, and Huo Qingqing gave birth to a son and a daughter for the eldest son of the Chi family. However, she still failed to gain the recognition and favor of her mother-in-law and was often bullied.

Chi Yiqing was disillusioned with the Chi family, angry and helpless about his mother's troubles, and even more distressed that his wife was having a hard time in the Chi family, so he took the initiative to apply to the court for a transfer to another place to serve as a prefect.

I thought the family would be happy soon after they left for a distant place. Unfortunately, God was jealous of his talent. Just before Chi Yiqing was about to be appointed as the prefect, he caught a cold.

The symptoms came on violently, initially just a cough and low fever, the doctor prescribed a few prescriptions to dispel wind and cold, but three days later it suddenly turned into lung abscess, and the sputum he coughed up was stained with blood.

Huo Qingqing went to ask for help from Doctor Lin, who was on good terms with her husband, overnight. When he arrived, Chi Yiqing was already barely breathing, his fingers were blue, and even his pulse could not be felt.

Old Madam Chi was furious and blamed her eldest son's death entirely on the negligence of her eldest daughter-in-law.

That day, she smashed the celadon incense burner in the ancestral hall, pointed at her eldest daughter-in-law, Mrs. Huo, who was kneeling in front of the coffin, and gnashed her teeth, "If you hadn't fallen asleep late at night and delayed the time to call the doctor, how could my son have died?"

With trembling hands, she plucked the white flower from her eldest daughter-in-law's hair, threw it on the ground and crushed it. The white flower made of silk cloth was soon covered with the incense ash in front of the mourning hall.

She roared at Mrs. Huo, "Go to hell! Why don't you die with my son?"

Since then, Huo Qingqing's life in the Chi family has been like walking on thin ice.

The old lady ordered the charcoal fire in her room to be removed, and she was only allowed to wear plain linen clothes in the cold winter. Even more cruel, on the anniversary of Chi Yiqing's death, the old lady required the eldest daughter-in-law to kneel in the ancestral hall for twelve hours without eating or drinking.

In fact, Huo Qingqing had prepared a three-foot long white silk on the day her husband passed away suddenly. But when she looked down and saw four-year-old Chi Shuang tightly grasping the corner of her clothes and one-year-old Chi Yue still babbling, she finally untied the knot with shaking hands.

A mother is strong and she cannot die.

She had to hold on, and this lasted for seven whole years.