The Palace.
Ping Hai served the warm tea and whispered, "Your Majesty, the Marquis of Yong'an has left."
The emperor placed the memorial he had just finished reading aside, picked up the warm tea, took a sip to moisten his throat, and asked, "How many days has it been?"
Without waiting for Ping Hai's answer, the emperor added, "Forget it. No matter how many days it's been, just keep ignoring him like this. Establishing a female head of the household? The Marquis of Yong'an even fabricated a fake heir. I've already been lenient not to punish him."
Just as the Princess Jingning and Chen Ruxia had guessed, the emperor intended to handle the matter with cold indifference. He wanted to seize the marquisate during this opportunity.
The emperor had even come up with an excuse. Establishing a female head of the household to inherit the marquisate violated the rules of the ancestors. If the Marquis of Yong'an was quick enough to have a baby boy, then they would have to carefully investigate the baby's background to avoid another fake heir.
As for how long the investigation would take, it was up to the emperor.
In either case, the emperor was determined to cut off the Chen family's title.
"Uncle Emperor!"
The familiar address made the emperor's body tremble. He subconsciously searched the room and finally saw Shen Baozhu at the door.
Their eyes met. Shen Baozhu was extremely excited. This was the backer who could avenge Sister Miaochun!
The emperor was also excited. This was the little celestial boy assisted by the gods!
One ran over on short legs, while the other stood up to greet her, taking three steps in two.
"Uncle Emperor!"
"Baozhu!"
They finally met, both looking extremely excited.
The emperor held Shen Baozhu's hand and ordered someone to prepare pastries, specifically emphasizing the kind she liked.
Ping Hai flattered, "Your servant will go prepare them right away. Your Highness the little princess may not know that His Majesty has always been thinking about you. He just heard that your family was in recuperation and didn't dare to disturb you."
Mainly because the emperor had inquired about the situation of the Princess Jingning's mansion afterwards. After learning about the despicable things Shen Yunfeng had done, he was afraid that Shen Baozhu was still angry.
Shen Baozhu quickly waved her hand, "Uncle Emperor, Baozhu doesn't want to eat pastries. I've eaten a lot today, and my stomach is already full."
"I'm here today because I want Uncle Emperor to help me."
Come to think of it, Shen Baozhu felt a bit regretful. If she had known she was going to ask Uncle Emperor for help, she would have eaten less.
The emperor was overjoyed. Helping was great! He wasn't afraid of helping; he was only afraid that he couldn't help!
Then, the emperor heard Shen Baozhu say, "Uncle Emperor, can you help teach the Marquis of Yong'an a lesson? Sister Miaochun has been bullied all the time, and he doesn't even know. He's so irresponsible!"
"Sister Miaochun was bullied by bad guys outside.好不容易 got home, but the servants also bullied her. The Marquis of Yong'an is her father, but he doesn't care about anything. He's really irresponsible."
These words were told to Shen Baozhu by the Dragon King. Bad behavior from the top would lead to bad behavior from the bottom. The fact that the servants dared to treat Chen Miaochun like this also showed the true attitude of the masters in the marquisate towards Chen Miaochun.
As for what Qiuqiu had said before about the people in the marquisate protecting Chen Miaochun and allowing her to bully Chen Ruxia, it was probably because Qiuqiu was too young to understand the complexities among adults and didn't understand what true love and protection meant.
The more Shen Baozhu talked, the angrier she became. She put her hands on her hips, wishing she could avenge Sister Miaochun herself.
Hearing the words "Marquis of Yong'an", the emperor's mind went blank for a moment, but he reacted quickly and immediately remembered the newly found daughter of the Marquis of Yong'an.
The emperor was indignant, "Oh my goodness, the Marquis of Yong'an is so bad. Poor Miaochun."
"That's right! But now there's Baozhu. Baozhu will protect Sister Miaochun." As the youngest child in the family, Shen Baozhu was always protected by her mother and brothers. Now that she had the help of the gods, she was also happy to protect others, such as Su Qian and Chen Miaochun.
[That's right, that's right. The little cutie will protect Chen Miaochun. It's so nice for everyone to love and care for each other!]
The Dragon King flicked his tail and reminded, [Little cutie, tell the emperor that if he helps, this king can reluctantly let his avatar appear for a while.]
The Taoist Qingyun knew well that something would lose its value if it was done too often. For the Dragon King, letting his avatar appear for a while was just a piece of cake, even less effort than giving fruits, because at least the fruits had to be picked by the Dragon King himself.
He stopped Shen Baozhu, [Let the emperor help first.]
Lin Yu understood the intention of the Taoist Qingyun, [What one has worked hard to obtain is more precious than what others give!]
Shen Baozhu looked at the subtitles thoughtfully, trying hard to understand.
The emperor's mind was working at high speed. He tentatively asked, "By the way, Baozhu, is Miaochun the eldest daughter of the Marquis of Yong'an?"
After getting an affirmative answer, the emperor immediately changed his mind, "She's so pitiful, having such an unreliable father. Uncle was just thinking about how to help her establish a female head of the household."
[Female head of the household? The little cutie's mother seems to have mentioned it. What's the use of it?]
Shen Baozhu also asked this question. The emperor held her hand and explained as they walked.
A female head of the household was a special provision in the laws of the Great Yong Dynasty. It meant that a woman could inherit the family business and become the head of the household.
Under normal circumstances, only men could be the head of the household. A woman should obey her father before marriage and her husband after marriage. The head of the household in her household registration would be her father and husband. If her husband died after marriage, the head of the household would become her son.
It was the first time Shen Baozhu had learned about this aspect of knowledge. She was like a curious baby and asked many questions, "What does the head of the household do?"
"Why can't women be the head of the household?"
"Mother and Father got divorced, but Father is still alive. Is the head of the household in Baozhu's family Father or Big Brother?"
"Qiuqiu doesn't seem to have a brother. Her father is dead. Where is Qiuqiu's household registration?"
At first, the emperor explained one by one, "The head of the household is the master of the family. If something happens in the family, the government will first look for the head of the household."
"Because men can support the family, they are more suitable to be the head of the household."
But the third question stumped the emperor. Fortunately, the grand eunuch always paid attention to the princess's mansion and privately sent Ping Hai to the yamen to check.
Ping Hai whispered, "Your Highness the little princess, after the Princess Jingning and Shen Yunfeng got divorced, she didn't make Young Master Heqing the head of the household. Instead, she moved the household registration back to the Mu family. So the head of the household in Your Highness's family is General Mu."
"As for Qiuqiu... Your Highness the little princess, please forgive your servant. Your servant doesn't know who Qiuqiu is. But according to the laws of the Great Yong Dynasty, if there are no male descendants in the family, the household registration will first be moved into the clan. After the woman gets married, it will be moved into her husband's family."
These words were a bit difficult to understand. Shen Baozhu vaguely understood the first paragraph. The head of her family was her grandfather.
Shen Baozhu let out a long breath, "That's good. Father is a bad guy. Baozhu doesn't want to be in the same household as Father."
The emperor's eyes flashed. So Shen Baozhu hated Shen Yunfeng so much.
After figuring out her own family's situation, Shen Baozhu didn't forget about Chen Miaochun's matter, "Uncle Emperor, why do you want to help Sister Miaochun establish a female head of the household? Sister Miaochun can eat by herself. She can be the head of the household by herself. She doesn't need Uncle Emperor's help."
Shen Baozhu didn't know the meaning of "support the family", but she recognized the characters "support" and "mouth"!
"Support the family" should mean being able to support oneself and eat by oneself.
The emperor's expression froze. He was a bit at a loss. How could he explain the meaning of "support the family" and why only men could establish a household to a five - year - old child?