Who Cares

Chapter 31 Pearl

Although Li shi was a village woman who didn’t know big characters, her temperament was extremely straightforward, and she was especially protective to those who were pleasing to her eye.
She thought that Marquis Zhenbei madam, who was born in a scholarly family, must be a little aloof and arrogant.
When she heard that her brother-in-law was going to bring her to met each other, she was actually a little conflicted and had a little inferiority complex.
Unexpectedly, Guan shi was really graceful and elegant, but she treated others earnestly and sincerely, gentle and courteous, so they quickly talked happily and became friends.

The reputation of Marquis Zhenbei’s infatuation had long been known to everyone.
Seeing that he was so dedicated to his deceased wife, the noble ladies of Yanjing thought that he was a rare good man in this world, so they all wanted to marry him as his wife, to also won a share of that infatuation.
But  Li shi disagreed.
Since Marquis Zhenbei had already spent all his infatuation on his deceased wife, how could he still look at other women? Marrying him was not a blessing, rather a suffering.
Maybe they would have to live alone in an empty room for the rest of their life.
It’s a pity that a good woman like Suyi should spend the rest of her life in such a vain way, and there was no way out, just because the marriage was granted by the imperial decree and could not get divorced.

Thinking of this, Li shi couldn’t help but complain about Emperor Sheng Yuan.
Because she had been in charge of the kitchen in the military camp, and had served Emperor Sheng Yuan, who was only a rebel general at the time, the relationship between the two of them was familiar, so she said bluntly, “Your Majesty, how can you hurt Suyi so much that you even pointed her to Zhao Luli that soft egg!”

“What the hell is going on?” Emperor Sheng Yuan’s voice was cold and his brows were wrinkled.

“Suyi and Zhao Luli had been married for less than half a month, but the old madam of Ye family actually came to the door, crying and shouting for Zhao Luli to take the di daughter of their shu branch who was raised under her knees as a concubine, saying that Suyi was cruel and treated the two children harshly, she have to have a Ye family member to take care of them in Marquis Mansion to feel assured.
Do you think this is make sense? How can a mother-in-law put her hand in her son-in-law’s room? Besides, this mother-in-law is no longer a serious mother-in-law, but she regards the big Marquis Mansion as her own back house, that she can controlled as much as she wants, and can manipulate as much as she wants.
If it were me, I would have slapped that woman’s mouth long ago!” The more Li shi talked, the more annoyed she became, to the point of exploding some foul language, completely ruined the noble lady’s posture she had been cultivating.

Qin Lingyun sighed while holding his forehead, while gently pulling his sister-in-law’s sleeve, signaling her to pay attention to what she said.
His Majesty was now the ruler of Wei, not the leader who made jokes with them back then.

Emperor Sheng Yuan originally thought that Zhao Luli who had abandoned his self-esteem for this marriage, would definitely treat Guan Suyi kindly, but he did not expect him to do such a thing.
Leaving aside the so-called love, the wife was bestowed by the emperor, and also had a first-rank title order, shouldn’t she be valued?

When he done this, where did he put Guan’s family? Where did he put the Holy’s intention? Since Ye Zhen left, he become completely helpless, and become more and more ignorant.
Is a woman really that important? If so, why didn’t you stop the old marquis in the first place? Emperor Sheng Yuan couldn’t guess Zhao Luli’s mind or understand what he was doing.
He could only held back a breath in his heart, but he didn’t know whether this breath was for his former comrade or for the woman who was humiliated to this point.

Seeing that the emperor did not say anything for a long time, Li shi added, “What kind of person Suyi is, I can tell just by seeing her once.
With her extremely beautiful appearance, she will definitely not treat her stepson and stepdaughter harshly.
The Ye family’s remarks are just vicious slander.
This marriage was given by His Majesty, and Suyi is a dignified first-rank madam, so she should be highly respected, but the Ye family did not take her seriously, and within a few days of the big wedding they forced Marquis Zhenbei to take a concubine.
If Ye family say they did not intend to embarrass Suyi, even beaten to death I won’t believe it.
You said, Your Majesty, why do they despise the first-rank madam that was conferred by your golden-mouth?”

Without waiting for Emperor Sheng Yuan to answer, Li shi sneered, “Isn’t it because of Ye Jieyu‘s power? Without Ye Jieyu, Ye family will still selling horses at the border!”

Qin Lingyun almost ripped his sister-in-law’s sleeve, but he couldn’t stop her from speaking up for justice, his heart was angry and funny, had no choice but to apologize to the emperor.

Emperor Sheng Yuan would not argue with a woman, and Li shi was right.
If it wasn’t for the imperial family’s backing, how could the Ye family dare to directly confront the Emperor Teacher’s mansion? It’s unknown how Guan Suyi is right now, how she feels in her heart, does she has any resentment about this marriage?

Emperor Sheng Yuan, whose face had been gloomy for a few minutes, finally couldn’t sit still.
He threw his sleeves and said, “Let’s go back!” and strode downstairs.
After a while, he disappeared without a trace.

Qin Lingyun looked at Xu Guangzhi, who was talking eloquently and indomitable, and at the excited Confucian scholars, couldn’t help laughing.
It’s pitiful that these people do their best, but they don’t know the noble person they want to cling to have long been disinterested.

He seems to care more about Guan Suyi than listening to the battle of words? With this thought in his mind, Qin Lingyun smiled again, seeing that his sister-in-law was still puffed up, he quickly patted her tense back, and his affection overflowed beyond words.

As soon as Emperor Sheng Yuan returned to Weiyang Palace, a secret guard reported the recent events of Marquis Zhenbei Mansion one after another.

“First they tried to persuade Marquis Zhenbei to marry Guan Suyi as his wife, and then stuffed in the di daughter of their shu branch to restrain the mistress, Baifu.” Emperor Sheng Yuan put down the secret letter and pondered, “You said that the Ye family did this on purpose, or is it a mistake?”

One moment His Majesty added the name of Marquis Zhenbei madam to the list of candidates for imperial concubine, and the next moment Liu shi  took Zhao Chunxi to meet the Guan family’s mother and daughter by chance, and said they had familiarity at first sight, and felt extremely close, then decided she wanted Guan shi as Zhao Chunxi’s stepmother.
At the end there was the matter of Lord Zhao entering the palace to ask for a decree.
So many coincidences happened at the same time, if it was said that no one pushed it, Baifu would not believe it.

But when Ye Jieyu was involved, he didn’t dare to answer rashly, so he had no choice but to vaguely say, “This, this, it’s not easy for this servant to say, maybe it’s Heaven’s will.”

“The so-called Heaven’s will is mostly man-made.
The news in Weiyang Palace was leaked too quickly.” Emperor Sheng Yuan had already condemned the Ye family, and even Ye Zhen, of the crime in his heart.
But in the early years he had sworn that he would protect Ye Zhen for a lifetime, as long as she didn’t touch his reverse scale, he would not move her, but his impression of her was greatly reduced.

“In the past, you only knew how to protect Zhen, and didn’t care about anything else.
In the future, you have to change it.” Throwing the secret letter into the brazier and burning it, Emperor Sheng Yuan said word by word, “Allocate a few more groups to clean up the palaces.
From the noble masters to the lowly slaves, they all have to be investigated clearly, and if there is any suspicious behavior, no matter who it is, high or low, all of them will be disposed by Zhen.
In the future, if there are changes in the palaces, Zhen want to be the first to know.”

The dark guard was shivering inside, and took the emperor’s order to do it immediately.
They turned the huge imperial city upside down, and indeed cleaned up many hidden spies left over from the previous dynasty, especially in the Weiyang Palace, and casually found excuses to dispose a large number of snitches.

Although Emperor Sheng Yuan was born from the clan leader of Jiuli tribe, but in the end he had never managed a country, let alone being an emperor, and everything was still being explored.
Previously, he underestimated the strength of women, and only after receiving the report did he realize that the means of these women when they were fighting was not inferior to the cruelty of fighting with real sword and spear in the battlefield.
In his mind, Ye Zhen, who was as bright as the moon, sweet-tempered and gentle, was not an easy person to get along with.
For the time being she didn’t have life on her hands, but facing the Empress Dowager and the concubines of the whole palace alone, she actually never fallen behind.

It could be seen that her various self-pity actions were all to gain sympathy, and then took advantage of the situation to rise to the top, and even borrowing other’s knife to kill.

Emperor Sheng Yuan’s face was covered in frost, and said solemnly, “Zhen thought she was forced to submit to Zhao Ming (Zhao Luli’s father), and stays by Zhen’s side is just to find a place to live, but it turns out that she is also flying around like flies, live like a dog and exhausted all methods.
Her infatuation, unforgettable old feelings, depression, and washing her face with tears were all fake?”

How could Baifu dare to criticize Jieyu niangniang, if he turned his face to the emperor and remind him of her life-saving grace, wouldn’t he pull out his tongue, so he continued to answer vaguely.

Emperor Sheng Yuan didn’t need his answer, he said with a sarcastic smile, “In the face of such great power, who is able to not forget their original intention? It’s not surprising that Ye Zhen became what she is now.
Well, Zhen said that Zhen will continue to protect her, so let’s keep it.” Having said that, he withdrew all the people dispatched to Ganquan Palace.
With such talent, Ye Zhen didn’t need extra help from others.
To protect and to “protect”, the word were the same, but the treatment was vastly different.

After reading the secret reports from various palaces and getting rid of all the spies and snitches, the anger in Emperor Sheng Yuan’s heart had not diminish.
He picked up a memorial, and without turning a page for a long time, he suddenly said, “Baifu, Zhen remember that you people from the Central Plains have a saying, but Zhen a little vague about the specific words.”

“Which saying?” Baifu was puzzled.

“There is a bright pearl, it is dazzling and valuable, it should be cherished and treasured, but it is acquired by someone who has no eyesight, and then it is thrown into the corner thinking it’s a stupid stone or fish eye, causing it to be set aside day after day, covered with dust.
What kind of saying is that?”

“Fish eyes mixed with pearls? Pearls covered in dust? Pearls thrown in the dark?”

“Yes, Pearls thrown in the dark.” Emperor Sheng Yuan suddenly realized, his originally dark and gloomy eyes inevitably became deeper.

Baifu waited for a long time and did not heard the following.
He raised his head to glanced quickly and found that the emperor was slowly turning the blood jade ring on his thumb, with gloomy expression and unpredictable thoughts.
He had no alternative but to retreat to the corner with trepidation, wondering what this ‘pearls thrown in the dark’ was referring to, or who?

——

The harem was so chaotic, Emperor Sheng Yuan also had a headache.
Since Ye Zhen had the ability and influence, it didn’t hurt to let her continue to manage it.
As for a step further, to bear the sin of spying on the emperor’s tracks, succeeding the position above Jieyu was an extravagant hope.

Ye Zhen didn’t know anything about these inside stories, but she was really flustered, just because the changes of personnel in various palace were not small, some people disappeared overnight, and some people suddenly appeared, especially in Weiyang Palace.
And she was Jieyu, who was in charge of the Sixth Palace, but she didn’t hear any wind, and only after contacting the snitch under her hand did she realize that they had disappeared for no reason.

“Niangniang, following the transfer of the aunt in charge, Siqin and Sihua also left, and this servant just asked them but they refused to say, and they don’t know which master they will serve in the future.
Niangniang, what should we do?” Ye Zhen’s grand palace maid, Yong He, asked worriedly.

The aunt in charge, Si Ming, was an old person from the previous dynasty.
She had stayed in this forbidden palace for decades, had served two empress, one Zhaoyi in succession, could be said to have hand and eye in the sky.
With her as a helper, Ye Zhen went all the way smoothly, and Siqin and Sihua were her direct disciples, one was good at medical skills and one was good at strategy, they were all rare talents.

But because of lack of details, Ye Zhen didn’t dare to put them in an important position, and only waited to seize their weakness and then threaten them, but even when she only asked occasionally, she was benefited a lot.
Now she couldn’t help but secretly regret that if she had gathered these people earlier, they would not have left without saying anything.
If they become other’s confidants, they would definitely turn their spear against her, which was not good.

Countless sinister thoughts swirled in her mind, but Ye Zhen didn’t reveal it on her face.
She sent people away generously and gave rich rewards, considered it master-servant camaraderie, but behind their back, she planned to find out the movements of those people and then dispose them.