Four Harmonies and Good Fortune

Chapter 416 Attention
The Empress Dowager was fiddling with the prayer beads in her hand. This matter had been clearly explained by Abbess Jingxuan when they were at Yunqi Temple.

If it weren't for the abbot of Yunqi Temple being greedy for money and renting the land to a merchant, Si Niang's story might never have come to light.

The merchant claimed to be from the Duan family of Huaizhou. He said that he came to the South City Wharf to buy land before and after the arrival of coal in the capital, and opened restaurants, post stations and perfume shops.

Because of the success of this deal, the owner set his sights on the land outside Yunqi Temple.

Things were still quite normal up to this point, after all, this was Bianjing, and every day many merchants came to open shops and make money.

The problem was that, for the convenience of guests, the owner had his workers build a private road around the shop, digging and turning over the soil everywhere, and they just happened to dig up the burial place of Shen Si Niang.

Fearing that their scheme would be exposed, the two nuns, Mingzhen, stepped forward to stop them and forced the hired workers to re-fill the land.

That wasn't enough. Fearing further mishaps, the two wanted to drive the merchant away, so they sought help from the demon cult, only to be refused.

Mingzhen had long harbored resentment towards the missionaries and others who oppressed her, which is why she instigated a group of people to engage in infighting at Li Family Village.

Next, Xu Huaiyi led his troops to arrest people. They encountered the Zhou family's fleet and then took the group of people to the Ministry of Justice.

All of these things can be explained clearly, except for Jingxuan, who seems to have truly been punished by Buddha.

Jingxuan suddenly saw the relic box in the meditation room, and she couldn't remember what she did after that.

“Jingxuan said that the Buddha appeared on the lotus seat of the relic box, and after that she didn’t remember anything. It must have been the Buddha who guided her to dig out Fourth Sister’s remains,” Madam Gao said, choking with emotion. “I wondered if it was because the Empress Dowager and the Imperial Concubine had been worshipping Buddha for many years that the Buddha appeared. Since Fourth Sister was protected by the Buddha, I thought I would buy a place outside Yunqi Temple and build a small temple. In addition to worshipping Buddha, I would also enshrine Fourth Sister’s memorial tablet there.”

The Empress Dowager nodded: "The nuns in Yunqi Temple have harmed people, and the temple itself has committed a fault. It is only right that it cede a piece of land."

She couldn't help but sigh as she said this.

"Just do it. If anyone tries to stop you, just say it was my idea."

Madam Gao wanted to seek help from the Empress Dowager, but now that the Empress Dowager had helped her, she felt guilty. Her daughter was already the Consort De, and in principle, she shouldn't be afraid to use the Shen family to intimidate others. It was just that in recent years, the Shen family had become timid and hesitant, fearing that someone might find fault with them and harm Consort De.

Consort De wanted to say something, but before she could open her mouth, she saw the Empress Dowager's gaze, which was filled with a sense of gentleness.

The Empress Dowager was well aware of the Shen family's intentions; she agreed because she genuinely wanted to lend a helping hand.

It was getting late, and the Empress Dowager did not keep the Shen family any longer. She simply instructed the court lady to take the clerk and hand over the prepared cloth and jewelry to Madam Gao.

“I used the Buddhist beads that Fourth Sister gave me as a token of her respect. These things will be placed in her burial chamber as a token of my gratitude to the Dowager Consort.”

Consort De and the women of the Shen family hurriedly bowed.

The Empress Dowager waved her hand: "Go back, don't be too sad. Fourth Sister is protected by Buddha over there, and she will be freed from suffering and reborn in the Pure Land."

After everyone left, the Empress Dowager leaned against the soft couch for a long time without saying a word, seemingly lost in thought.

The emcee didn't know how to comfort them, so he just stood by and watched.

After a long while, the Empress Dowager sighed, "What a clever child! He almost escaped."

Knowing that the Empress Dowager was only talking to herself and not responding, the master of ceremonies poured her a cup of hot tea and handed it to her.

The Empress Dowager's mood improved after drinking a bowl of hot tea.

The Empress Dowager said, "Prime Minister Wang's son is truly extraordinary; he is so composed at such a young age."

The master of ceremonies asked in a low voice, "Are you referring to what happened at the Chuigong Hall today?"

The Empress Dowager stood up: "If we steer the whole matter towards the demonic cult, and things escalate, more officials will be implicated. Isn't that exactly the path they use for factional strife?"

"Now that the Emperor is furious, he has ordered the Secretariat to deal with the matter, and neither side dares to take advantage of the situation."

The emcee said, "Could it be that this young prime minister's political views are not entirely aligned with those of the old prime minister? Won't the Wang family and the new policies eventually be taken over by this young prime minister?"

“If the son is not clever enough, we will worry that no one will inherit the family business; if he is too clever, he will have his own thoughts,” the Empress Dowager’s eyes flashed, as if she were pointing out something, “Every family is like this.”

The emcee thought for a moment and said, "Do you suspect that this case is related to the Wang family? Based on our current investigation, the Wang family has not been involved."

The Empress Dowager remained silent for a long while before saying, "Send someone to inquire about the Duan family from Huaizhou again. Perhaps there will be other developments in the next few days." Indeed, the Empress Dowager had not been involved in affairs for a long time. She had closed the doors of Cining Palace, only tending to her flowers and plants, and occasionally going out for a stroll. She had long lost interest in the affairs of the outside world and did not want to concern herself with them anymore.

Others thought that the Empress was old and not as energetic as before, but the master of ceremonies knew that the Empress did not want to have any more grudges with the Emperor, and that she was truly heartbroken.

Does not meddling in other people's business really bring peace and quiet?
……

Xia family.

Madam Li picked up the yellowish tea in front of her and took a sip.

The bitter taste immediately spread.

The house was in complete chaos, with several accountants busy altering the books, trying to erase anything related to Steward Li. Of course, some things couldn't be completely erased.

Madam Li also knew that Steward Li would inevitably mention the Xia family.

In Madam Li's memory, Steward Li did not have much contact with the family, but a check of the accounts revealed that Steward Li would come to the house once a month, and the amount of money he handled added up to at least a thousand strings of cash.

Unfortunately, all this money came from the He family.

The He family recently got into trouble involving gambling and trafficking of women. In these two cases alone, as many as seven or eight members of the He family were arrested.

Now that Manager Li has been arrested, how can we prevent this fire from spreading to the Xia family?

Even though Madam Li was skilled at managing household affairs, her mind was now a complete mess, and she couldn't sort it out no matter what she did.

Xia Erniang also helped out, and soon she had a stack of accounts at hand.

"Never mind."

A voice came from above, and Madam Li looked up to see her husband.

A light rain had started falling outside, soaking Xia Mengxian's official robes. Madam Li remembered that her husband had never experienced anything like this since he entered officialdom.

Especially the official robes, which are always neat and clean, but today's incident...

Madam Li had a bad feeling.

"Master, what's wrong with you..." Madam Li frowned and scolded the servant, "You can't even hold an umbrella anymore?"

Xia Mengxian didn't want to hear any of this and waved to the people in the room: "Everyone, get out."

The accountants quickly got up, and the steward and servants didn't dare to stay any longer and all left the room.

Madam Li's hands immediately turned ice-cold: "Sir, please don't scare me."

Xia Erniang placed a cup of hot tea in front of Xia Mengxian.

Xia Mengxian steadied himself before looking at Madam Li: "Changing the accounts is useless. Manager Li knows that I helped the He family settle several lawsuits."

Madam Li was taken aback: "Do we still need to investigate past cases?"

“There’s no need to investigate Steward Li,” Xia Mengxian took a deep breath. “The court is investigating me now.”

Madam Li froze on the spot, and Xia Erniang's expression also changed.

“I’m afraid I won’t be able to keep this official position,” Xia Mengxian said. “I’ll set aside some money now and wait to pay copper to atone for my sins!”

After saying this, he frowned.

“But the marriage between Second Sister and the Xie family cannot be changed,” Xia Mengxian said. “If Qiao Ge’er and Xie Erlang had an accident together, and the Xie family refuses to arrange the marriage, it will be difficult for Xie Shumi to get away.” Even if he has to threaten them, he has to make the Xie family marry Second Sister back. Otherwise, if he loses his official position, who will handle many things for him?

I wanted to highlight the female lead's storyline in this chapter, but after writing it, I realized it wasn't appropriate and revised it again. Let's take it one step at a time; the next chapter will return to the female lead's role.

It's available in the evening.