Rebirth of the High Family's Beloved

Moreover, from all the things that happened in this life, we can find that the tragic situation of the complete destruction of the Yongding Marquis' Mansion was not just the work of Xiao Chengzhang alone.

If it weren't for Prince Xiang's support, the Yongding Marquisate would not have become a victim of the imperial power struggle.

Therefore, for Xie Chengyin, the prince's ascension to the throne is the key to changing the fate of the Yongding Marquisate.

"All we can do is try our best to protect the crown prince and the unborn grandson. Now that the prince is in the light and we are in the dark, it will be much easier for us to act. However, I'm afraid the East Palace doesn't trust us much."

After hearing what Xie Chengyin said, Yan Ci shook his head, "You are wrong. The Eastern Palace trusts us more than you think. A few days ago, the Crown Princess sent me a letter and invited me to visit the Eastern Palace. At that time, I didn't want to be too involved with the Eastern Palace, so I declined. Now is the right time."

Xie Chengyin was a little surprised that Yan Ci had never mentioned this matter before.

"Jiang Yun? Why did she invite you to the East Palace?"

"I guess they know the truth about the maid falling to her death during the wedding."

Shen Zhaoyong is not a fool. How could he not know whether it was an assassination attempt on him? Moreover, although he is not in charge of the affairs, his identity as the crown prince is legitimate and many people are still in his service. It is more than enough for him to investigate an assassination case.

New Year's Eve is approaching, and all the mansions have received invitations to the palace banquet. This is an annual event. Whether or not one can get promoted and make a fortune in the coming year depends entirely on the emperor's attitude at the palace banquet.

As the new tax system was smoothly implemented in various places and achieved remarkable results, Emperor Tianqing was in a very good mood. After the palace banquet, he let Yan Ci go home.

Although he had not been troubled during his time working in the palace, and had even received personal instruction from Emperor Tianqing, he was not as free as he was in the Yan Mansion.

Yan Ci was still a little excited to be able to leave the palace and return home.

This year's New Year's Eve palace banquet was originally planned to be attended by officials of the third rank and above.

Emperor Tianqing was delighted and with a wave of his hand, he ordered all officials in the court, regardless of their rank, to enter the palace to attend the New Year's Eve banquet. For a moment, some were happy and some were worried.

Han Qi, the Minister of the Ministry of Rites, was not originally present at the palace banquet. His official rank was fourth, which was a far cry from the third rank. In addition, due to the Han Liang incident, he had lost face among the officials, so he wanted to use the New Year's Eve palace banquet to downplay his presence.

Now, he, a fourth-rank official, has to enter the palace to attend the New Year's Eve banquet. When all the officials gather together, in addition to listening to the emperor's lectures, they can't help but chat about gossip.

Han Qi could already predict that he was most likely the gossipmonger.

Han Liang seemed extremely excited, and ran to Han Qi and said, "Dad, take me with you."

Han Qi's face immediately turned green, "What are you going to do? You think you haven't lost enough face."

You can bring family members to the New Year's Eve dinner, but they will have to sit at a separate table. If you are a female family member, then they will sit at the table prepared by the Queen, while men will sit with their elders.

Of course, not everyone can attend the New Year's Eve palace banquet. It is understandable for officials to attend, but the family members who come with them are nothing more than the wives who have imperial edicts, or the legitimate sons and daughters who want to show their faces in front of the emperor.

Apart from Han Qi, there is only Han Liang in the Han family. Although Han Liang is not capable of anything, Han Qi still hopes that he can have a good future, as there are not many opportunities to show up in front of the emperor like this.

Han Liang walked over and rubbed Han Qi's shoulders and legs to please him. "Dad, I'm doing this for our Han family. You can't always protect me. I have to walk the rest of the way by myself. You pave the way for me so that I can walk more smoothly."

Han Liang became much more sensible after he recovered from his illness. Neither the father nor the son mentioned his illness again. Also because of this, Han Qi couldn't say anything harsh to Han Liang.

"You can go, but don't cause any trouble. Just attend the party and come back."

Han Liang chuckled, "Don't worry, Dad. This is right under the Emperor's nose. I'm not really going to die."

Hearing his son's serious agreement, Han Qi felt relieved.

On the New Year's Eve, lights and decorations were hung everywhere inside and outside the palace, and the people returned home early. The whole family, young and old, sat together and happily ate the New Year's Eve dinner.

Jiang Qingqing went to the palace to attend the banquet with Yan Tonglin. Now that Yan Tonglin had been promoted to a third-rank official, she had been granted the title of a virtuous lady.

The master and the mistress were not at home, so Aunt Zhao and everyone in the mansion sat together to have dinner and chat for a while, then everyone left.

After returning to her yard, Zhao Shihuan took off her makeup and looked at the reflection of her no longer young and beautiful face in the mirror, revealing a look of regret.

Over the past year, she had witnessed with her own eyes how Jiang Qingqing managed the Yan family from top to bottom in perfect order. Not only did she gain the respect and favor of Yan Tonglin, she also transformed herself from a criticized widow to an enviable lady of noble title, and now she could even attend banquets in the palace.

It would be a lie to say she wasn't jealous.

Originally, all of this should have been hers.

If Jiang Qingqing had not married into the Yan family, she would not have had the status of an imperial concubine, and her daughter Yan Ci would not have been able to enter the palace to serve as a court lady.

And she could also become the mistress of the Yan family's backyard, and maybe even promote the concubine to be a wife, and her daughter Yan Ru wouldn't have to rely on Han Liang anymore.

She was originally very proud of finding a marriage for her daughter as the principal wife, but the comparison between Jiang Qingqing and her daughter made her joy disappear immediately.

There is no harm without comparison. A concubine is always a concubine.

This is also the reason why she tried her best to earn the title of the principal wife for her daughter.

She had to be a concubine in the first place, and suffered all the shackles of being a concubine. Now her daughter absolutely cannot be a concubine again, so even if Han Liang is such a person, she can ignore it for the sake of her status as the main wife.

She was striving hard for the title of the principal wife, and her own daughter Yan Ru was willing to marry the good-for-nothing Han Liang.

However, Yan Ci had already become a female official, standing upright in the court.

It had been many years since a woman had served as an official in Daxing, but Yan Ci did it so easily.

With such a comparison, Zhao Shihuan felt even more angry.

Nanny Gui looked at Zhao Shihuan's unhappy expression and moved her hands more gently when she was fixing his hair.

But then I heard Zhao Shihuan say, "My father also advised me not to be a concubine, but I didn't listen. I thought that since our master didn't have a wife, there was no difference between a concubine and a wife. But I didn't expect that he seemed heartless, but in fact he was loyal. Since he got a wife, he has never looked at us straight in the eye."

With her nimble fingers, Nanny Gui took off all the pearls and jade on Zhao Shihuan's head and placed them neatly on the table.

"Don't think too much, Auntie. It's useless to think too much about what happened many years ago. What matters is the future. When Miss Nine marries into the Han family, Auntie will have more confidence."

It would be fine if the Han family was not mentioned, but Zhao Shihuan got even angrier when the Han family was mentioned.