The old lady is reborn

On the day of the lotus viewing banquet, Lady Anguo looked over the game she had prepared in advance. When twenty maids carrying trays passed by her, they were suddenly told to stop.

Lady Anguo looked at the pair of earrings on the tray, which were particularly small and poorly made, and asked, "Are these your own?"

Wei Ran lowered his head and replied, "Yes."

Madam Anguo said dissatisfiedly, “Just keep your own things and don’t put them in front of the guests.

Go to my yard and find my girl Haitang, and take a pair of earrings that I'm wearing for fun. Remember to return them after the game."

Then he added, "Go away, everyone. Do your respective tasks first."

Weiran went to find Haitang and told her this. When Haitang heard the words “to wear for fun”, she thought that those were cheap and good-looking ones with good designs and workmanship but inferior materials.

So she picked out a pair for Wei Ran. When Wei Ran was holding the earrings and passing by a water pavilion in the mansion, she saw lotus flowers in full bloom, lotus leaves towering like a canopy, and small boats near the shore swaying with the waves.

Weiran has always been a brave person, otherwise she wouldn't have taken off her earrings and thrown them on the tray to save trouble.

She thought that she had gotten up early this morning and had been working till now, and she was almost dead tired. Now there was no one around, and everyone knew that she had gone to get her earrings, so she decided to take a break and be lazy.

Weiran got on the small boat. She took this boat many times every year to pick lotus pods. She skillfully rowed the boat to the bottom of the small stone bridge. There was a pond of lotus flowers and lotus leaves on both sides, and a stone bridge above. Weiran thought it was a nice boat.

The anchor that the small boat had left at the shore was dropped, and the boat, which was heavy, swayed slightly with the waves and did not drift away.

Then Weiran picked a lotus leaf to cover her face and lay down comfortably. She had gotten up at dawn to work today and fell asleep in a short while.

The Sixth Prince had already arrived at the Duke of Anguo's Mansion. Although the Duke of Anguo seemed to go with the flow and sit on the fence, he was actually in the same boat with the Sixth Prince and was the one who helped the Sixth Prince do things.

Because the Duke of Anguo and his wife had a wide circle of friends and liked to hold banquets, the comings and goings of some people in his house did not attract any attention.

The Sixth Prince went to the secret room of Duke Anguo and saw a batch of fabrics prepared for Song Ying.

Duke Anguo ordered people to demonstrate the first type. It looked strong and fine and was a good material, but the clothes had to be washed when they got dirty or they would inevitably get wet during marches.

Soak the material in water, then pick it up, and just use some force to wring it out or rub it, and the material will actually have cracks of varying sizes.

The Sixth King nodded and started looking at the next one.

This material is used for lining, it is soft, sweat-absorbent, and looks good too.

The Sixth Prince was about to pick it up for a closer look when Duke Anguo stopped him and had someone hand him a pair of gloves.

The Sixth Prince asked, "Why is this? This cloth cannot be touched?"

Duke Anguo said: "There are many extremely tiny insect eggs in this cloth, and you need a Western mirror to see them.

These small insect eggs grow into small insects when they encounter human body temperature, and then live on the human skin, causing unbearable itching.

At first, it feeds on human skin flakes, and when it grows bigger, it will suck blood from the body. However, its body size has always been very small and close to human skin color, making it difficult to detect and extremely difficult to remove.

Besides, there are no good conditions for pest control in the military. If one person still has the virus, it will spread to others."

After hearing this, the Sixth Prince did not take the gloves, nor did he want to take the cloth anymore. He looked at the third model.

Seeing that it was top-quality silk cotton, the Sixth Prince asked, "What's wrong with this cotton?"

Duke Anguo said: "It's not cotton at all, it's just some plants with flying catkins, picked out from the inside. Only the thin layer on the outside can be considered as a little bit of cotton."

The Sixth Prince said, "Since it is also something that grows naturally, does it also keep you warm?"

Duke Anguo said, "Don't worry, Sixth Prince. If this stuff is used to keep warm, it is cotton. It is because the wind blows through it and it makes you extremely cold that it is worthless even though there are bundles of it all over the ground."

The Sixth Prince laughed and said, "Where did you find it? It wouldn't be easy to find so many.

This batch looks to be the best so far.”

Duke Anguo said: "It is easier than you think. There are honest people in this world, but there are also dishonest businessmen who sell inferior goods as good ones in order to make money.

As long as you find a few such unscrupulous businessmen, some of them will use tricks such as selling inferior products as good ones and passing them off as shoddy products in order to get away with it.

It was just the inner fabric of that type of clothing that was infested with insects. It was not properly stored in the warehouse. Insect eggs were found in it, and people who wore it had rashes all over their bodies. The itching was unbearable, so it should have been burned.

But there are always people who want to save money. If you buy such cloth, even if you are reluctant to burn it, you should soak it in lime water. However, by that time the insect eggs will be almost gone and the cloth will probably be of little use.

Unscrupulous merchants buy such materials and want to sell them at a high price, so they mix them together and sell some good and some bad.”

The Sixth Prince asked again: "How much material do you have?"

Duke Anguo said: "We can't just have these. If we find some others, it will be enough for 30% to 40% of the people.

Besides, the matter of the bugs could spread.

There are still some top-quality materials among the ones we supply. As for the bad ones, we can say that we have been cheated.

Just push those unscrupulous businessmen out and take the blame, and that’ll be the end of it.”

The Sixth Prince said, "Okay, let's go out for a walk." Thinking of the cloth with insect eggs, the Sixth Prince felt unwell.

When we got outside, because there was a lotus viewing banquet today, the main road in the mansion was crowded with maids and servants busying about.

The two walked towards the lake and finally got onto a small stone bridge. This was considered a high place and the crowds of people didn't come here, so the two chatted here for a long time.

Wei Ran had already woken up in the boat under the bridge. She could tell that it was Duke Anguo who was talking to someone. She was confused at first.

He panicked and thought that he was just being lazy and would not be caught by the biggest master in the mansion, Duke Anguo.

When I woke up a little, I found that I was still fine. Lying on the boat, I looked up at the inner wall of the stone bridge cave.

Only then did she realize that no one noticed her because Duke Anguo was talking to someone on the stone bridge.

The more Wei Ran listened, the more frightened he became. He was so frightened that he couldn't help but tremble all over and covered his mouth with his hand.

For the first time in my life, I regretted doing such a lazy and sloppy thing.

The Duke of Anguo and the man who was speaking had placed people in the army to incite a mutiny.

...Some of the generals are their people.

As long as some soldiers mutinied in anger and feared being held accountable later, they would have no choice but to go all the way to the end in order to save their lives. If they could get about 30% to 40% of the border troops to turn against them and then attract foreign troops to invade, they would ignite the war and raise the banner of rebellion.

The Sixth Prince added, "The military rations are also being taken. The rations will arrive late. Without food, the three armies will be in chaos."

Duke Anguo said: "It is better to have a legitimate reason."

The Sixth Prince said, "Let's just say that the late emperor's will passed the throne to the Ninth Prince, and the current prince is the one who succeeded the throne without any legitimate reason."

Duke Anguo said, "This cannot be concealed. Although it has been twenty years, the late emperor passed the throne to the present emperor and entrusted the two capable ministers to protect the Ninth Prince's life. This matter was done openly."

The Sixth Prince laughed and said, “Even if the whole court knows that he is the orthodox one, who in the world knows?

Various unofficial historical stories about how Du Zhuohua was the most favored concubine in the harem spread throughout the countryside, and the stories spread by the people were more numerous than the true stories we know.

The emperor wanted to pass the throne to his favorite concubine and beloved son, but the current emperor killed his mother and took the throne. This is a story that the people love to hear.

Our people can just exaggerate it and it will be fine.”