Minglan is reborn, this time with no regrets!

The fourth daughter of the Zou family was scolded by Princess Pingning and kept quiet for half a month. But she couldn't stand Qi Heng's cold attitude towards her and started to act up again. In the solemn mansion, she either slouched her shoulders or let her hair down, and the strange fragrance on her body was simply marinated.

In addition to Qi Heng, the Qi family also had the Duke of Qi. In addition to the Duke of Qi, there were many servants and male servants. Zou Si acted coquettishly at home every day, which gradually caused a lot of gossip.

Princess Pingning was a person who would not tolerate any injustice. For the sake of the overall situation, she had been tolerating the brainless Zou Xiaoniang over and over again these days.

However, after lunch one day, Princess Pingning heard two servants slandering Qi Heng on her way back to her room. She could no longer suppress her rage and beat the two men to death on the spot. She then rushed into Zou Xiaoniang's yard, turned out all the spices, clothes and fabrics in her room and threw them away. She also pinned all the servants in her yard to the ground and beat them with ten boards, demanding that they should advise their master well from now on.

Zou Xiaoniang didn't know the true fighting ability of Princess Pingning, and thought that was the best she could do, so she boldly retorted a few words. Princess Pingning sneered, and Nanny Yang beside her immediately took action and slapped Zou Xiaoniang twice.

This Fourth Miss Zou had never been bullied by servants since she was a child, so she slapped Madam Yang twice in return. The two of them started fighting on the spot. During the fight, Miss Zou got so excited that she actually rushed towards Princess Pingning and scratched her face with her claws.

This made the Qi family furious. Duke Qi arrived and ordered a group of guards to pin Zou Xiaoniang to the ground and beat her with twenty sticks until she fainted on the spot.

After the Zou family learned about this, they set up a formation in front of the Qi family's door with great fanfare and demanded an explanation from the Qi family. The Qi family did not want their disgrace to be made public, so they closed the door to the family.

The Zou family went to the Shen family's door to make trouble again, saying that the whole thing was instigated by the Shen family. The Shen family has been a clean family for generations and is very concerned about their reputation, so they immediately asked the Qi family to stand up and clear their daughter's name.

In the end, the Shen, Zou, and Qi families all went before the emperor and demanded an explanation from each other.

Although this marriage was arranged by the Empress Dowager, in the final analysis, the three families are now the emperor's people. In addition, the Empress Dowager has returned power and no longer has reason to meet with foreign officials, so the whole mess fell on Zhao Zongquan's head.

If Zhao Zongquan supported Princess Pingning, it would make it difficult for the Queen and the King's uncle to save face; if he supported the Zou family, it would disappoint the Qi and Shen families who had finally come together; if he followed the Shen family's request to clear Shen Hezhen's name, this scandal would become even more rampant.

When Zhao Zongquan and his wife were in trouble, the empress dowager intervened.

She sent her personal eunuch Zhu to the Duke of Qi's mansion to deliver the scar-removing ointment specially made by the Imperial Hospital to Princess Pingning. She also asked Zhu to go to the Zou family to reprimand Old Madam Zou for her poor parenting. During the conversation, Zhu started shoving and fighting with the two sons of the Zou family, and he rolled down the stairs and cut his forehead.

This time, things got even worse.

"The Empress Dowager's attendant was beaten by a relative of the emperor's wife for standing up for the daughter of an important official"... Similar words quickly spread throughout the streets of the capital, and the common people were discussing that the current emperor and empress were nepotism and bullying the widowed mother.

These words were soon collected into a book and submitted to the court, causing a wave of criticism from the remonstrators. Because the Qi and Shen families were at the center of the incident, the old officials chose to remain silent this time. The court was one-sided for a while, and Zhao Zongquan was so angry that he demoted several court officials. However, he could not stop the people from talking. With the demotion of several Beijing officials, the matter further fermented. Now the emperor's reputation has further deteriorated into "favoring treacherous people and harming loyal people."

Zhao Zongquan's headache became more severe and he missed court for several days.

On this day, Minglan came to Funing Palace on the pretext of thanking the Queen for her reward.

After Minglan finished her greetings, Shen Congying got straight to the point: "Your Majesty has finally won over these old ministers. Now that this matter has become serious, if we don't handle it well, I'm afraid all our previous efforts will be wasted. Good boy, you have always been a scheming person. Now that this matter has become serious, do you have any good plan?"

Minglan: "What did the Madam say?"

Shen Congying: "The Empress Dowager didn't say anything, but the more she said so, the more the censors scolded Your Majesty. Alas... This matter has been going on for more than a month, and Your Majesty has not slept a whole day. Normally, when the Empress Dowager granted the marriage, both the Qi and Shen families should have seen that this was an open conspiracy. Why didn't the adults of the two families come up with countermeasures to avoid it, and eventually let the matter ferment into what it is now!"

Minglan: "In my humble opinion, the two families still want Your Majesty to give a clear attitude. Although Your Majesty is trying to win them over with the excuse of the late emperor's benevolent rule, I'm afraid something has happened that makes the adults feel uneasy, so you are using this matter to test whether the emperor can really stand by them regardless of everything." After all, they were hurt by the late emperor. The new policy was shelved just one year after it was implemented due to party disputes and peace talks with Western Xia, and the new policy faction was banished from the capital one by one.

The Queen seemed to be thinking: "So... it is most likely that it is something about Jiangning College. Marquis Gu went to Jiangning on behalf of His Majesty to persuade Lord Wang, and was assassinated twice on the way. I'm afraid..."

Minglan stood up in a hurry: "What!?"

The queen was stunned: "You... don't you know?"

"Your Highness...Your Highness...Your Highness...I don't know!!! Your letter clearly said everything is fine!!!"

Seeing Minglan's eyes were red, the Queen hurriedly comforted her, "Good Ming'er, it's okay, she is out of danger. Marquis Gu and Lord Wang have sent letters, and she is now well at the Wang family in Jiangning."

The hall was quiet for a moment.

Minglan slowly sat back down at the table.

She was filled with resentment. In his previous life, Gu Tingye was assassinated because of his salt inspection. After all, salt administration was a big deal for many people, so it made sense for these people to kill for money. This time, he was just trying to gather old officials for the emperor, but someone wanted to kill him. How cruel!

The Queen saw her expression change several times, and said helplessly: "If it is not necessary, Your Majesty is unwilling to let Marquis Gu leave the capital. Now that the old ministers in the court have become powerful, if a force is not established as soon as possible to check and balance, once the Qi family's affairs ferment into a disaster, then... then Your Majesty will find it extremely difficult to realize the revenge in your heart..."

She explained the emperor's purpose and predicament very frankly. Minglan was touched and said, "Your Majesty has won the world, worked hard to govern, and has great strategies. You can't keep being at odds with these old ministers."

Queen: "Then, how do we break the impasse?"

Minglan stood up again: "I am afraid that what I said may offend the royal family."

Queen: "I called you here to speak. It's okay, speak now!"

Minglan knew that Shen Congying was different from those who said they were tolerant but were actually petty. She would really put herself aside for the sake of the overall situation, so she slowly said, "During the Three Kingdoms period, Cao Cao issued an order that anyone who jumped over a horse into a fertile field would be beheaded. Cao Cao's own horse was frightened and rushed into the wheat field. Although the chief clerk did not dare to punish Cao Cao, Cao Cao still cut off his hair instead of his head and punished himself, which is why he had so many followers."

Hearing the words "followers like clouds", the queen's eyes widened slightly.

Minglan: "Guo Ai, the son of Guo Ziyi in the previous dynasty, married the princess. After the marriage, they quarreled and he cursed the princess. What a serious crime! The princess returned to the palace to complain. Emperor Daizong of Tang angrily accused his daughter of bullying others by taking advantage of her power and bluntly said that Guo Ziyi could become the emperor, and only then would the Guo family be loyal to him."

Hearing this, the Queen already understood Minglan's meaning. However, it was too embarrassing for her as the Queen to bow down to everyone.

The queen's eyes slowly dropped, and she remained silent...