After rebirth, I teamed up with the scumbag's mistress

In the Qionghua Palace, Concubine Wan was sitting on the couch.

"Your Majesty, your family is here." The maid said with her head down as she entered the room.

"Let them in." Concubine Wan picked up a grape and ate it, saying.

"Your servants pay their respects to Her Majesty the Imperial Concubine and wish her good health and longevity." The two men saluted and said.

"Stand up, we are all family, no need to be polite." Concubine Wan said with a smile.

"Your Majesty is just being considerate of us. We should respect each other. If this gets out, people will just gossip about us." said one of the men in dark blue clothes.

"Uncle is right. It's always better to be cautious." Concubine Wan replied.

"I called my uncle and brother here this time because I have an important matter that I need you to do for me. It concerns Hong Shen's future." Concubine Wan's face was serious. She walked to the desk, opened the drawer, and took out a book and a stack of papers.

Concubine Wan handed the book to her uncle, "Uncle, brother, take a look."

"'Gui Xun' is a book for educating girls. What's wrong with it?" asked Concubine Wan's uncle.

"I plan to add the deeds of 12 virtuous and heroic women, and of course I have to be among them. The stack of papers in your hands is the preface I wrote personally, and it will also be put into the book. This book is given to you to ask someone to write it and reprint it." Concubine Wan gave instructions one by one.

"Okay." The two responded respectfully, then said goodbye and left.

Soon after, this new version of "Gui Xun" gradually spread among the people. Since the two versions were published in parallel, with the same title and similar content, people gradually confused the two books.

So, just as Kang Miaoqing and Concubine Wan had expected, the incident happened as soon as the trigger came.

The powerful official Pei Guan submitted a memorial to the emperor, requesting him to save on daily expenses, stop extortion and levy heavy taxes in order to stabilize the country.

Originally, the emperor did not take this memorial seriously. After all, he had received too many such memorials.

However, Ren Yong, the official in the Ministry of Personnel, impeached Pei Guan for this memorial. In his impeachment memorial, he wrote: "Pei Guan first wrote "Instructions for the Ladies", and then submitted such a memorial, which obviously harboured evil intentions. The "Instructions for the Ladies" he wrote was obviously intended to win over the imperial family and curry favour with Concubine Wan."

As soon as this memorial was submitted, rumors spread in the court.

Helpless, the emperor had to call the two men to his presence to explain the matter clearly.

"As soon as Pei Guan entered the palace, he knelt down in front of the emperor, tears streaming down his face. "Seven years ago, when I was an inspector, I wrote this book, Gui Xun, which was intended to teach girls. Later, more and more copies were made and it was circulated more and more widely. How could I know where this book has been spread to?"

Pei Guan bowed his head and said, "Please ask the emperor to look into this book. The Hanlin Academy can check whether the "Gui Xun" I wrote is the same as the "Gui Xun" engraved by the Wan family. I am really wronged. I really have no evil intentions."

The emperor nodded slightly to show that he had heard it. Then he asked, "Ren Yong, what do you say?"

"Your Majesty, I thought this was just General Pei's excuse after the truth was revealed. The contents of the book are clearly written. Moreover, there is a preface written by Concubine Wan in the book. Besides, the palace is already cutting expenses, but he still wrote a letter. Isn't he trying to curry favor with the imperial concubines and have some ulterior motives?" Ren Yong said.

The emperor gently turned the golden dragon-patterned ring in his hand and said slowly, "Your words make sense. Invite General Pei to the Dali Temple."

Then a guard came forward and dragged Pei Guan away.

Pei Guan was still shouting: "I am innocent, I am wronged!"

The emperor looked tired, "I am tired, Ren Yong, you can leave now."

Ren Yong bowed and left.

On the other side, the East Palace.

The prince sat on the couch with a worried look on his face, "I wonder how Commandant Pei is doing?"

But a servant came to report, "Your Highness, King Jing wants to see you."

"Let them in."

"Yes." The servant took the order and went down.

After a while, people came.

The two men greeted the prince and sat down.

"Brother, what do you think about the events caused by the book 'Guixun'?" Liang Jiuan asked.

"The purpose of this move by my second brother and the Royal Concubine is to get rid of Pei Guan," said the prince.

"Brother, what you said is correct, but what if Pei Guan has not submitted any memorial that could lead to this incident?" Liang Jiuan said with a smile.

The prince was startled, "You mean the Imperial Concubine wants to improve her reputation among the people and add weight to the battle for the throne."

"I didn't say anything." Liang Jiuan said lightly after taking a sip of tea.

The prince smiled, "Fifth brother, are you here?"

"I want to cooperate with you. General Pei is in great danger this time and I'm afraid he can't escape. But if a powerful official like General Pei leaves, it would be like cutting off his own arm. And I have a way to drag that mother and son into the water." Liang Jiuan said.

"Oh?! I'd like to hear more details." said the prince.

Liang Jiuan then told the prince about his countermeasures.

The prince's eyes lit up, "That's great."

So, when everyone thought the matter was over, someone distributed a lot of leaflets on the street.

This matter spread among the people and caused a huge uproar.

There was an article on the leaflet, which specifically discussed the events of deposing and enthroning legitimate wives and illegitimate children throughout the dynasties, thereby alluding to the issue of "the foundation of the country".

This article has once again put the issue of the book "Gui Xun" at the center of public opinion.

This article points out that the first chapter of Gui Xun written by Pei Guan is about Empress Ma of Han Mingde. Empress Ma entered the palace as a noble lady and had no legitimate son. She was promoted to Empress Zhonggong because of her excellent moral character. Concubine Wan also entered the palace as a noble lady, which shows that if Concubine Wan became Empress in the future, there would be a precedent to follow.

The reason why Pei Guan wrote this book was because he accepted benefits from Concubine Wan. Concubine Wan gave him fifty taels of silver and ten pieces of brocade. There were five eunuchs present and they all saw it with their own eyes.

Concubine Wan reprinted the book only to win over the people and build momentum for herself so as to prepare for the Second Prince to seize the throne of Crown Prince.

The article also said that Pei Guan formed a clique with ten people including his maternal relatives Wan Zhongcheng, Wan Taien, the assistant minister of the Ministry of Revenue Zhang Youliang, and the minister of the Ministry of War Fu Changfeng, and attached themselves to Concubine Wan.

The article on this leaflet caused a sensation in the city.

Today, Pei Guan was released from the Dali Temple, but during this period of time, leaflets were distributed everywhere and the people were extremely indignant.

This time, Pei Guan had to sneak back home from the Dali Temple for fear of being seen by others.

In the end, Pei Guan was still scolded.

"A hypocrite who pretends to be kind and righteous and curries after the rich and powerful. What a villain. Bah!" A passerby passed by the Pei family, spotted Pei Guan, and cursed him behind his back.

"It's disgusting. They form cliques just for money and power!"

"How can you write such a book? It is simply shaking the foundation of the country."

...

The abuse was endless.

Finally, a servant opened the door for Pei Guan and he hurriedly walked in.

Then with a bang, the door was closed.

Pei Guan was filled with pain, and could still hear the people's curses faintly in his ears, "How did it come to this? Sigh, is it really the only way to resign?"