Three days later.
Yan Mingli was about to take Shen Baozhu, Qiuqiu, and the Fourth Prince out for some fun. The Princess of Jingning was selecting accessories for them.
Shen Baozhu and Qiuqiu wore hairpins of the same style but different colors. Coupled with their similar hairstyles, they looked more and more like real sisters. The Fourth Prince had a jade pendant hanging from his waist, and another one was tied to Shen Baozhu's.
The Princess of Jingning originally picked three tassels. However, the Fourth Prince felt that since Qiuqiu already had a hairpin, adding a tassel would make her have two similar accessories to Baozhu, while he only had one. So he sulked silently.
Shen Baozhu noticed that the Fourth Prince was unhappy and asked the reason. Fortunately, Qiuqiu didn't mind and generously took off the tassel. The Princess of Jingning then fetched a pair of mother - and - child jade pendants from the storeroom and put them on Shen Baozhu and the Fourth Prince respectively, which cheered the Fourth Prince up.
"Princess! Princess! The Imperial Academician has been dismissed from his post!" Baizhi rushed in from outside the mansion, her face beaming with excitement.
She even didn't care that Yan Mingli and the three children were there. Gloating, she said, "I heard that when the imperial edict arrived at the Imperial Academy, the Imperial Academician was so enraged that he fainted on the spot. It's really a case of evil deeds being punished. It must be that even the heavens couldn't stand it anymore and gave the Shen family a lesson!"
The Dragon King: [Who is the Imperial Academician? Is he from the Shen family?]
Shen Baozhu knew this and explained, "The Imperial Academician is the nickname Baizhi Auntie gave to Uncle. Auntie said that Uncle always acts like a high - and - mighty academician, so she just calls him that."
The Dragon King: [Is the position of academician a high - ranking one?]
Shen Baozhu didn't know whether the position was high - ranking or not. She looked up at Yan Mingli and asked, "Brother Mingli, is the position of academician high - ranking?"
Yan Mingli first nodded, then shook his head. After thinking for a while, he finally came up with a suitable explanation. "The position is prestigious, but the actual power is not great. During the reign of the Great Ancestor, the academicians in the Imperial Academy were like the left and right arms of the emperor. They could enter the palace without an imperial edict. They were really powerful!"
"However, nowadays, the emperor has many capable ministers at his disposal. So the role of the academicians in the Imperial Academy has diminished a bit. But their status is still quite high because the memorials will first be sent to the outer hall of the Qianqing Palace, and the on - duty academicians will sort them out, thus relieving the emperor of some of his burdens."
"The Imperial Academician that Aunt Bai mentioned should be the eldest master of the Shen family, that is, Baozhu's uncle, Shen Yunlin."
The Dragon King: [Being able to directly handle the memorials, this position is quite high - ranking!]
The True Man Qingyun: [So the Shen family used this academician to suppress the dissatisfaction of others for the Third Prince. Now that the emperor has found out about this, he has dismissed him from his post.]
The Dragon King: [Makes sense! That's exactly what I thought!]
Lin Yu: [The Shen family has suffered a great loss. No wonder Baizhi is so happy.]
Baizhi was telling the Princess of Jingning the information she had gathered. The emperor had summoned Shen Yunlin to the palace for tea for three consecutive days. No one knew what Shen Yunlin had done, but he had enraged the emperor. The emperor scolded him every day, and the words were different each time.
Today, Shen Yunlin wasn't summoned by the emperor. He thought the matter was over. But just now, he suddenly received an imperial edict dismissing him from his post. Shen Yunlin closed his eyes and fainted from anger.
Baizhi described Shen Yunlin's plight vividly. Among the four guards, she hated the Shen family the most.
Back then, when the Princess of Jingning first married into the Shen family, she had Baizhi help her fight against the old lady of the Shen family and guard against the schemes of other branches.
The eldest mistress of the Shen family, the wife of Shen Yunlin, came from a scholarly family. On the surface, she seemed gentle and generous, but in fact, she was selfish. She didn't want to deal with the troublesome affairs of managing the family, but would show up whenever there were a lot of benefits.
Then there was the former second mistress of the Shen family who had passed away. If the eldest mistress still knew how to pretend to be kind, the second mistress didn't even bother to pretend. On the first day after her marriage, she even directly asked for the Princess of Jingning's headdress. After being refused, she feigned heartache and said she would buy it. But until the Princess of Jingning moved into the princess mansion and she passed away, Baizhi never saw the money.
Just thinking about that headdress made Baizhi grind her teeth in anger.
The Princess of Jingning saw through Baizhi's thoughts at a glance. She gently patted her hand and said, "It's just a set of headdress. It was worth it to make the eldest and second mistresses quarrel. If they hadn't made such a ruckus, I wouldn't have found the opportunity to move out."
The Dragon King: [It sounds like there are many stories. I'm curious.]
Shen Baozhu knew about this. She had heard Baizhi tell the story many times. "Auntie wanted Mother's money, but the former second auntie got there first. So Auntie and the second auntie quarreled and accidentally hurt Father. Father was very angry and moved to the princess mansion with Mother."
"The former second auntie got sick and died. Auntie Baizhi said she was forced to death because Uncle wanted the money of the current second auntie. Only when she died would the family of the current second auntie send a lot of money to Grandmother."
Lin Yu: [Sure enough, Uncle is not a good person.]
"Big Brother said that Uncle is not a good person either because Uncle did something bad and became penniless. Grandfather scolded him for a long time and finally helped him."
"And, and, Third Brother said that there are only a few good people in the Shen family."
"That is Mother, Second Brother, and Baozhu!"
Lin Yu: [Did you miss out Big Brother and Haiyan himself?]
Shen Baozhu shook her head and denied. "No. Third Brother said he is really good at tricking people, so he is not a good person. Big Brother has a good relationship with Father, so he is not a good person either. Second Brother has a bad relationship with Father, so he is a good person."
The Dragon King: [Hahaha.]
The True Man Qingyun: [Shen Haiyan is very smart. It's really like that.]
Lin Yu also thought of Shen Heqing blindly trusting Shen Yunfeng and agreed. [Haiyan sees things very clearly.]
The Dragon King: [When will Shen Haiyan come back? I want to see him cause trouble for the Shen family.]
Looking at this subtitle, a look of loss flashed across Shen Baozhu's eyes. She missed Third Brother. She missed not only Third Brother but also Big Brother, Second Brother, and her maternal grandfather.
"Stand here, Baozhu. Qiuqiu and the Fourth Prince, come here too."
Since the two kids were both Shen Baozhu's good friends, Yan Mingli made Shen Baozhu stand in the middle, holding Qiuqiu's hand with his left hand and the Fourth Prince's with his right hand, in case they quarreled.
Just in case, he said presciently, "Qiuqiu, the left side represents the most noble position. You and Baozhu are old friends who have shared hardships. This most noble left side should be yours!"
"Your Highness, the Fourth Prince, you are Baozhu's best new friend, and I'm not. So I have to leave the right side of Baozhu and give up the honor of holding her right hand!"
Shen Baozhu blinked her eyes and looked up at Yan Mingli. The latter whispered to her, "Baozhu, I'm not your good friend because I'm your brother - in - law."
The Dragon King: [Hahaha, Yan Mingli is always thinking about Miaochun.]
Lin Yu: [Even the dogs in the Marquis Mansion would call Yan Mingli 'son - in - law'.]
The Dragon King: [I've forgotten what he was like in the Marquis Mansion.]
Shen Baozhu was very busy. She had to look at the subtitles with her eyes, listen to Qiuqiu's words with her ears, and also pay attention to the Fourth Prince's mood. This busy life made her put aside her longing. She didn't have time to miss Big Brother, Second Brother, Third Brother, and her maternal grandfather!
On the official road a hundred miles away, Shen Haiyan was driving a carriage. Inside the carriage were Xu Yutang and the badly - injured Xiaotao.
Xu Yutang spoke gently, but her tears kept flowing. "When we get to the capital, I'll ask Baozhu to save you. Hold on a little longer, Xiaotao. For me, hold on a little longer."