Chapter 770: Afraid of Shooting a Rat
Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios
Xie Jingliu thought for a moment and pointed out the crux of the matter. “Jia Changfeng is arrogant and despotic, and he’s not a blind fool. He’s done a lot of bullying, but he’s always chosen his targets carefully. He even has to be wary of Lin Ruoru, but he has his eyes on Little Yao’er. Somethings wrong.”
“The Xie family is superior to the Lin family. In the past, Jia Changfeng did not dare to offend our family. Now, although he clearly knew Little Yao’er’s ident.i.ty, he still dared to mess with her. Not only does he not take the
Imperial Court and the Yu Clan seriously, but he also the Xie family.”
Little Yao’er was first conferred the t.i.tle of County Head of Shaoyi by the
Emperor to represent the n.o.ble clans.
Next, she was the daughter of a n.o.ble family and the young miss of an official.
Lastly, she was also the granddaughter of the Xie family.
With these three ident.i.ties added together, other than the fact that they were really blind, no one would deliberately provoke her.
Yu Youyao said, “Jia Changfeng isn’t looking for trouble for no reason. He’s brought over ten guards but he did not make a move easily. He clearly knew my ident.i.ty, but he pretended not to know me. He had the guts to tease me, but he didn’t plan to fall out with the Xie family directly. It’s obvious that he was hesitating. What does this mean?”
Xie Jingliu frowned. “It means that he heard about our Xie Residence from somewhere and the news that we might lose power. He’s no longer afraid of the Xie Residence, but because this news is very secretive and it’s not good to reveal it, he still has scruples in his heart and doesn’t dare to be too blatant. He deliberately teased Little Yao’er. On the one hand, he wanted to find out more about you, and on the other hand, he was probably blinded by l.u.s.t. He really had his eyes on you. After all, the County Head has power in the capital but in Quanzhou, the Jiazhou Residence has influence over everything. If the Xie Residence loses power, you’ll be too far from authority to get any help. As long as Little Yao’er takes a step back, he’ll push his luck and become even worse.”
Where else could a playboy who ate, drank, wh.o.r.ed, and gamble get such secret information other than from his own family?
It was confirmed that the Jiazhou Residence wanted to deal with the Xie Residence.
However, the Xie Residence had a lot of connections. Where did they get the confidence to attack the Xie Residence?
Unless there was someone else with a high status behind him.
Who would it be?
Old Master Xie sighed softly. “Once the news of the Emperor’s critical illness spreads and the princes fight for the throne, I’m afraid the news of the
Marquis of Ningyuan colluding with King Liang can’t be hidden anymore.
King Liangs intention to rebel is obvious. He definitely won’t wait for the new Emperor to ascend the throne and settle his crime. Instead, he will take advantage of the chaos.”
“King Liang sent the heir into the capital to be a hostage to gain the trust of the Imperial Court. Isn’t it also to monitor the movements of the Imperial Court? I think he has also sensed the actions of the palace.”
“The Marquis of Ningyuan is still locked up in the edict prison and hasn’t been tried. He’s always a knife hanging over the King of Liangs head. King Liang has no way out and has already made preparations to force him to rebel.”
“The Jiazhou Residence has already sided with King Liang. He wants to attack the Xie Residence for their wealth.’
It was not far from Yu Youyao’s guess.
The Imperial Court coveted the Xie family’s wealth.
How could King Liang not be envious?
Old Master Xie said, “Fortunately, Little Yao’er sensed that Jia Changfeng had ill intentions. When she broke his leg, she even poisoned him and said confidently in public that she wanted to report to the Imperial Court. Next, no matter what the Jiazhou Residence does to the Xie Residence, I’m afraid they’ll be afraid. It solved the Xie Residence’s urgent problem.”
Previously, the Xie family had learned from Yin Huaixi that King Liang was going to rebel.
During this period of time, the family was also preparing to evacuate Quanzhou, including Xie Jingzhou and his brothers.
However, plans could not keep up with changes.
Who would have thought that the Jiazhou Residence would secretly side with King Liang and plot to attack the Xie Residence in advance?
Old Master Xie pondered and said, “The Xie Residence can’t sit back and do nothing. Eldest Son and I will make a trip to the Jiazhou Residence later and make a fuss out of this. The bigger the matter, the more wary they will be, and the less they will dare to act rashly.”
Xie Xun, who had been silent all this while, also nodded. “Although we can delay the Jiazhou Residence for the time being, King Liang is behind them. We have to speed up the preparations for our evacuation from Quanzhou. In order to hide it, we’ll gather food and winter clothes for the disaster relief from the Xie Residence and transport them to the North.”
Xie Liao and Xie Tiao quickly nodded. “Alright, if the family business can be transferred out, we’ll do it. If it can’t be transferred out, we’ll directly give it to King Yue Fei. Xue Qianhu of the Sea Defense Department is his man. Leave this matter to him. King Liang and the Jiazhou Residence don’t have the guts to touch the Sea Defense Department now.”
The family spoke one after another. There was no hurry. Soon, they came up with a plan.
If the officials and women in the court had any grievances, they would all complain to the Empress Dowager in the palace. The Empress Dowager would decide according to the priority of the matter. She would either deal with it herself or discuss it with the Emperor.
Only those at the fifth-grade and above were qualified to hand over a memorial to the palace.
As soon as Yu Youyao returned to the Yi Water Garden, she went to the study room. She first planned to complain to the Empress Dowager, then sent a letter to the Yu Clan.
If the Xie Residence could guess it, the Yu Clan could probably come to the same conclusion. At that time, they would definitely mobilize their connections in the court and try their best to impeach the Jiazhou Residence. The more people impeached, the bigger this matter would become.
The news that the Emperor was seriously ill had not spread, and the three sons in the palace were not in chaos. If King Liang wanted to rebel, he had to have a reason. The Jiazhou Residence was controlled by the Imperial Court, so King Liang did not dare to act rashly.
According to the Great Zhou Dynasty’s law, the officials who were impeached had to send a memorial to the Imperial Court based on the number of people impeached and the severity of the crimes. They had to take out strong evidence to refute the crimes of impeachment and vouch for their innocence.
At that time, the Imperial Court would investigate the details of the memorial.
If there was anything incomplete, the Imperial Court would order him to temporarily leave his position and personally bring evidence to the capital. Both sides would take out the evidence and argue with each other.
If the impeached official had sufficient evidence and won, the Imperial Court would present evidence to the Emperor to prove his innocence.
The promotion and demotion of officials had to be finalized by the Imperial Court. Officials who could win in the trial often had character and political achievements that could withstand the test. They would be recorded in the official’s evaluation. There was no lack of the word “excellent”, and there would be fewer obstacles to promotion in the future.
However, if they lost, they would naturally be imprisoned and investigated.
Often, this process would take at least two to three days. It could also take up to five months, or even longer.
Yu Youyao was worried that her actions today would alert the enemy. She wanted to use the Imperial Court to temporarily restrain the Jiazhou Residence and buy more time for the Xie Residence.
Although the Yu Clan valued profits, they were still fair and took care of her fairly. This letter could be considered a kind reminder to them.
After writing the memorial, Yu Youyao called out to Yin San, “Send someone to the capital at full speed.”
After Yin San left, Yu Youyao sorted out what had happened today again.
Suddenly, she thought of a problem and couldn’t help but frown.
At this moment!
Chun Xiao came over. “Young Miss, the Jiazhou Prefecture is on the way to the
Xie Residence with Jia Changfeng..”