The wicked mother-in-law doesn't try to whitewash herself; she only abuses her awful children.

Chapter 340 Attitude towards Imperial Edicts
"Zhaoyang, what do you want to say to me?"

The banquet was lively until evening. When Tong Huaqiong was seeing off the guests, Lu Zhaoyang stayed close to her and didn't leave her side for a moment.

This led many people to believe that Lu Zhaoyang was her youngest son who was studying.

Tong Huaqiong guessed that Lu Zhaoyang had something to say to her, but Lu Zhaoyang refused to speak. Unable to hold back any longer, Tong Huaqiong couldn't help but ask him.

"Um, Aunt Tong," Lu Zhaoyang said, blushing as he spoke, "Grandpa asked you to help me find a wife. Do you have a girl you like now?"

Seeing Lu Zhaoyang's face flushed crimson, Tong Huaqiong retorted, "Have you taken a fancy to some girl and want me to play matchmaker?"

Despite his shyness, Lu Zhaoyang was quite frank about the girl he had chosen, saying, "To be honest, Aunt Tong, I fell in love with Miss Huang at first sight."

Just as I thought!
Lu Zhaoyang has taken a liking to Huang Jingshan.

Have a vision.

In her previous life, Lu Zhaoyang died young, and Huang Jingshan and Lu Zhaoyang had no interaction.

Their paths crossed in this lifetime, but Huang Jingshan got engaged. It has to be said that the timing of their meeting was wrong.

Tong Huaqiong said, "Miss Huang is a good person, and you two are quite a good match, but Miss Huang is already engaged."

A shadow of sadness flashed across Lu Zhaoyang's eyes.

He has always been engrossed in his studies since childhood and has never been attracted to any girl.

They finally met, but the girl was already engaged.

Lu Zhaoyang initially felt that fate had smiled upon him after his illness was cured, but now he feels that fate is playing tricks on him.

Tong Huaqiong said, "They said it was arranged with the Lian family in Pingchuan County. The Lian family is a wealthy family in Pingchuan County, and the young master they arranged for Miss Huang is also a scholar."

Lu Zhaoyang said, "Aunt Tong, I understand. Please pretend I never mentioned this."

Tong Huaqiong sighed and said, "Marriage is all predestined. If you're meant to be, it's yours; if not, you can't force it no matter how much you pray. Don't think too much about it. Your cousin from the Liu family and I will keep an eye out for other good girls for you."

That's all Tong Huaqiong could say.

She would never tell Lu Zhaoyang that she was going to steal his love, since Huang Jingshan would be unhappy and abandoned if she went to the Lian family anyway.

Even if she did speak up, could Lu Zhaoyang persuade Huang Jingshan to break off the engagement?

In this era, only if the man makes enough mistakes can the woman break off the engagement without incurring criticism.

In short, Tong Huaqiong will not reveal anything about Huang Jingshan from her previous life to Lu Zhaoyang until things are absolutely certain.

Lu Zhaoyang bowed deeply to Tong Huaqiong.

At this moment, Old Mrs. Huang came with Huang Jingshan to say goodbye.

Han took Liu Yanhong with her to say goodbye.

Since the family's carriage had left ahead of Magistrate Liu, Han planned to take the Huang family's carriage to Yanguan Town, and then hire a carriage from Yanguan Town to Pingchuan County.

“Aunt, I happen to be heading back to the prefectural city from Pingchuan. I’ll travel with you,” Lu Zhaoyang said.

Lu Zhaoyang arrived on horseback. After escorting Han Shi and Liu Yanhong onto the Huang family's carriage, he mounted his horse and led the way.

Grandma Huang peered at Lu Zhaoyang through the curtain, once again feeling regretful that her granddaughter was already engaged.

By the time the villagers had completely dispersed, it was already dark.

Except for Gu Dashu, everyone else gathered in the upper room.

Gu Taohua lit two oil lamps, and the imperial edict shone even brighter with its bright yellow light under the lamp's glow.

There were many guests at home during the day, and no one had time to carefully examine the imperial edict.

At this moment, Gu Jingzhe and the others were extremely excited as they looked at the imperial edict.

To be honest, Tong Huaqiong, with her modern soul, was only curious about the imperial edict rather than excited about it. But for ancient people like Gu Jingzhe who were loyal to the emperor, an imperial edict issued by the emperor was an immense honor.

Let alone touching it, even looking at it would be considered a desecration of the imperial edict.

Gu Taohua stretched out her hand and said, "This is the imperial edict. Let me touch it."

Gu Jingzhe exclaimed in alarm, "Peach blossoms! You mustn't be so reckless! What if you damage them?"

Gu Taohua withdrew her hand.

Su Chengmin snorted from the side and said, "If you touch it and it gets damaged, only heaven, earth, and you know. How will the Emperor find out? Who can punish Peach Blossom for this?" Su Chengmin's contemptuous attitude towards the Emperor made Gu Jingzhe quite dissatisfied.

“Laifu is right. So what if it gets damaged? Besides, the Emperor wouldn’t be so stingy as to issue an imperial edict with a piece of easily damaged rag, would he?”

As Tong Huaqiong spoke, she reached out and took the imperial edict, handing it to Gu Taohua.

"Touch, touch as much as you want. Everyone should touch it."

Gu Jingzhe sighed, rubbing his forehead. His mother treated the imperial edict like a head of cabbage.

Gu Taohua touched it and said, "This material feels nice."

“Little sister, let me touch it too,” Liu Yue’e said happily.

Gu Taohua handed the imperial edict to Liu Yue'e.

In order to obtain the imperial edict, Liu Yue'e washed her hands with soap after tidying up the house in the evening, and then applied rose-scented balm.

"Yaozu, you can touch it too." Liu Yue'e handed it to Yaozu.

Gu Jingzhe stopped him, saying, "How could Yaozu's hands be clean after climbing up and down like that? What if he gets them damaged?"

Yaozu stretched out his hand and said, "Third Uncle, it's clean now."

As soon as he got home from school, Liu Yue'e made him wash his hands thoroughly.

Yaozu carefully slid his finger across the imperial edict.

Liu Yue'e said, "Yaozu, you must study hard and make something of yourself. I don't have your grandmother's ability to earn an imperial title on my own, so whether I get an imperial title or not depends on you."

Yaozu nodded as if he understood, and said, "I'll earn an imperial title for my mother."

Liu Yue'e looked pleased.

Then the imperial edict was passed to Man'er. Man'er touched it carefully and said to Chen Sufeng and Gu Taohua, "I will also earn an imperial title for my mother and my aunt in the future."

Yaozu retorted, "You're a girl, you can't take exams or become an official, you can't earn that."

Man'er tilted her head back and said, "I'm going to earn it."

Yaozu got excited and said, "You can't earn that."

Man'er's face turned bright red with anger.

Tong Huaqiong said to Man'er, "Grandma believes you can earn an imperial title for your mother."

If things had continued along the same path as in her previous life, she might have been able to elevate her entire family of scoundrels to the status of royalty.

“Mother, Grandma said I can earn you an imperial title, so I can. You can touch the imperial edict too.” Man’er presented the imperial edict to Chen Sufen.

Chen Sufeng touched it quickly, her hand trembling, like a dragonfly skimming the water.

"Dad, you touch it too," Man'er said to Gu Dahan.

Gu Dahan lightly touched the edge of the imperial edict and said, "I won't touch it, there's nothing to touch."

Gu Dahan felt that his hands were too rough from working all day, and he didn't want to scratch the imperial edict.

Therefore, he absolutely refused to touch it.

Finally, it was Gu Jingzhe's turn. Although Gu Jingzhe was worried that the imperial edict would be damaged by touching it, he could not resist the temptation of its bright yellow luster and held the edict tightly.

Gu Jingzhe was the most excited person in the whole family.

He studied and took exams only to sell himself to the imperial family, hoping for an imperial decree from the emperor.

"Xiaolong, Uncle Laifu, do you two want to touch it?" Man'er noticed that everyone in the family had touched it, but Su Chengmin and Xiaolong were the only ones who hadn't.

Su Chengmin refused, saying, "I won't touch it."

Xiao Long shook his head and said, "It's nothing good, I won't touch it."

Everyone's eyes fell on Xiaolong, who pursed his lips tightly.

Imperial edicts were certainly not a good thing for Xiaolong; it's likely that Xiaolong's father was executed by imperial edict.

Tong Huaqiong, fearing that the imperial edict would cause Xiaolong PTSD, said, "Alright, you've touched everything, there's nothing special about it, put it away."

After saying this, he rolled up the imperial edict and put it in the box.