Looking at the pitch - black kitchen at home and then at her son, who was getting thinner by the day, his face full of terror and looking as if he was in a daze, Mrs. Yang could no longer hold back. Ignoring everyone's dissuasion, she reported the matter to the Empress Dowager on the same day!
Listening to Mrs. Yang's tearful accusation, Lady Zhen tried hard not to laugh but showed a look of guilt on her face. She frequently apologized to Mrs. Yang, indirectly making excuses for her daughter.
She said that Zhen Bao was kind - hearted at heart, but just stubborn in character. Since she had been wild since childhood and had never taken care of others, she had just made a mess of things while trying to help.
Listening to Mrs. Yang's sobs, the Empress Dowager felt annoyed and couldn't even turn the Buddhist beads in her hand.
After a long while, she slowly said,
"Forget it. Since this marriage was proposed by me, I'll end it too. It'll save the world from having another pair of ill - matched and resentful spouses."
After all, Li Ji was the legitimate grandson of her elder brother, and his being beaten was also related to the Eighth Princess. She couldn't just watch him lose his life.
As for the Li family regaining military power, there were other ways.
Hearing the Empress Dowager's concession, Mrs. Yang couldn't help feeling happy, while Lady Zhen's face suddenly changed greatly, as if she couldn't accept it:
"Empress Dowager! Please think twice!"
"Zhen Bao was wrong in the first place, but everyone knows that she has some engagement with the young master of the Li family. Suddenly being jilted in the engagement will be a great blow to the girl's reputation! How can she get married in the future!"
For a man, breaking off an engagement was not a big deal, but for a woman, it was different. Lady Zhen's concern was not unreasonable.
Hearing this, Mrs. Yang sneered contemptuously,
"With a shrew like her, her reputation is already ruined. Why worry about one more thing?"
"It's better to find a nunnery and let her become a nun directly. It'll save her from harming her husband's family!"
Her son was beaten by that dead girl! Now that the engagement between the two families was off, she would no longer be nice to the Zhen family!
"Mrs. Yang, shut up!"
The Empress Dowager was originally thinking about how to restrain the Zhen family under the pretext of punishing Zhen Bao. However, being questioned like this by Lady Zhen, she was in a bit of a dilemma.
Hearing Mrs. Yang's words, Lady Zhen seemed to be greatly insulted. She knelt down in front of the Empress Dowager with a thud, and said sadly,
"Empress Dowager! I know that my daughter of the Zhen family is useless and can't please the Li family. Since this is the case, the Zhen family won't make things difficult for you!"
"I'll go back to the mansion immediately and ask someone to pack up things for my little daughter and send her to the nunnery. From now on, she'll accompany the Buddha lamp and no longer harm others!"
Saying this, Lady Zhen kowtowed heavily to the Empress Dowager, then got up and staggered out of the palace hall.
The Empress Dowager was shocked and wanted to stop her, but Lady Zhen had already disappeared...
After leaving the palace gate, Lady Zhen ordered her men to ride back to the mansion at full speed. At the gate, she saw her daughter who had been driven out by the Li family. They immediately exchanged a smile.
At this moment, Yun Xi had also rushed over. Seeing the hard - to - conceal happy expression on Lady Zhen's face, she asked,
"How did it go?"
Lady Zhen nodded and squeezed her daughter's hand,
"Everything is ready."
Then she ordered the servants to carry out the pre - packed luggage and load it onto the carriage.
Looking at the carriage full of luggage, Lady Zhen hugged her daughter reluctantly, crying and laughing,
"After you get there, you must listen to your second elder brother obediently and stop being willful! I'll come to see you when I'm free. You must take good care of yourself."
"I know, mother."
Zhen Bao hugged her mother back, but her eyes were reluctant as she looked at Yun Xi.
Yun Xi understood and stepped forward to put her arm around Zhen Bao's shoulder, and said with a smile,
"Separation is only temporary. You should set off quickly."
It would be bad if the people from the Li family or the Empress Dowager caught up!
"Yun Xi, you must come to see me!"
Zhen Bao tightly held Yun Xi's hand and pleaded eagerly.
She only had such a close friend in her life. Moreover, if it weren't for Yun Xi's idea of "going against the trend", she might really have been tied tightly by this engagement and had no way out!
Although she was unwilling and even threatened to kill herself, she would not really ignore the lives of the Zhen family and resist the imperial order to the end!
Once she compromised, her life would be completely over!
"I will."
Perhaps infected by the atmosphere, Yun Xi's eyes also became moist.
After seeing Zhen Bao off, Yun Xi finally solved another heart - trouble. However, one wave subsided only to have another rise. Just when Yun Xi thought that everything was about to return to calm, a devastating disaster swept towards the Prime Minister's Mansion!!
On this day, just like usual, Yun Xi went to inspect the grain shops under the name of Su Ji after school from the girls' academy. Recently, she had found that the reason why many grain shops had been operating at a loss for years was largely due to their practice of passing off inferior goods as high - quality ones!
Although Su Ji was involved in a wide variety of businesses, except for the main products of brocade, plain silk, silk, and embroidery, other fields also had to be perfect.
However, the shops left by her mother in the capital had, because of Mrs. Jiang's deliberate replacement and asset transfer in the past few years, mostly become empty shells.
The originally profitable shops now had few that could make money, while there were many that were running at a loss. Even the reputation had been seriously damaged in these years!
As soon as Yun Xi entered the shop, she saw an unexpected guest in the shop and immediately frowned.
"What are you doing in my shop again?"
Looking at Qi Rong sitting at the table leisurely drinking tea, Yun Xi's pretty face instantly turned ugly, and her fists were tightly clenched.
Didn't he say a few days ago that he was going to the south to build dams and bridges?
At this moment, instead of leading everyone to build embankments, dams, plant forests, and build bridges, why was he here drinking tea? Sometimes she really suspected that this rascal could take everything as a joke, except for the thing of teasing her, which he took extremely seriously.
Moreover, this time he actually brought a woman with him openly!
Although the woman was only of a delicate appearance and her skin was a bit dark, her appearance in a tight - fitting outfit gave people a unique and unruly charm. It was something that Yun Xi expected but didn't have at all.
Yun Xi desperately told herself not to care, but the sourness in her heart still overflowed her chest:
Had he finally torn off his disguise and was showing off the other woman behind him to her?
She knew that this day would come, but why did her heart still hurt so much? It seemed as if she would suffocate the next second!
Noticing that Yun Xi's face was not right, Qi Rong's eyes tightened. Before Yu Zhu noticed anything strange, he immediately got up and walked in front of her. He skillfully took out a porcelain bottle from her sleeve pocket, took out a pill from it, and quickly brought it to Yun Xi's lips.
Yun Xi gritted her teeth and stubbornly endured the pain in her heart, not wanting to be at his mercy.
"Open your mouth. Don't force me to feed you with my mouth."
Qi Rong stared at her sharply with his black eyes and whispered threateningly in her ear.
Yun Xi was stunned for a moment, then gritted her teeth angrily. Finally, she compromised and swallowed the pill with Qi Rong's hand.
Because she had no doubt that this man would do what he said!
Even though her heart had been hurt by him, she still wanted to leave herself the last bit of dignity in front of everyone.