My husband, who abandoned his father and kept his son, actually wants me to be his concubine.

Chapter 119: Treat others with their own medicine.

"Your Majesty, you must not make Consort Rong your empress! You are so wise and powerful. If you make Consort Rong your empress, you will become a laughing stock in history."

"This world values ​​etiquette and social order. Your Majesty, as the ruler of the land, you must not disrupt these principles by making your former sister-in-law empress!"

"Your Majesty, I beg you to rescind the decree appointing her as Empress. Consort Rong is unworthy to be Empress!"

As Lu Jinshi listened to the rising and falling voices of the civil officials, she couldn't help but frown. She also spotted a familiar figure in the crowd: Wu Ke, the Vice Minister of Rites, who was her senior brother, more than ten years her senior, and had been an official in the court for many years.

It's one thing for others to come, but why did Wu Ke come too?

Liang Wen, a Hanlin Academician in the Hanlin Academy, was also a student of Tianzhang Academy...

Liang Wen and Wu Keke were the most outstanding students of Tianzhang Academy.

Lu Jinshi walked up to Liang Wen and said, "Senior Brother Liang, do you still remember me?"

Liang Wen looked up and saw Lu Jinshi, saying, "Seventh Prince's Consort."

Lu Jinshi said, "Please, Senior Brother Liang, go to another place for a chat."

Liang Wen got up and followed Lu Jinshi to a deserted passageway in the palace.

Upon seeing Rong Yi approaching, Liang Wen hurriedly bowed and said, "Your humble servant greets the Seventh Prince."

Lu Jinshi looked at Liang Wendao and said, "Senior Brother Liang, you are a student from my Tianzhang Academy..."

Lu Jinshi said calmly, "How can you not know the difference between close and distant relationships? You are ultimately a member of Tianzhang Academy. Even if you help those people, they may not necessarily give you a good future."

Liang Wen knelt before Lu Jinshi and said, "Seventh Prince's Consort, I will always remember Dean Qin's earnest teachings and kindness to me. I can never repay this kindness in my lifetime. However, I am His Majesty's subject, and I must be loyal to His Majesty. I cannot stand by and watch His Majesty make his former sister-in-law Empress and be ridiculed by future generations."

Lu Jinshi looked at Liang Wen kneeling and sneered, "Former imperial sister-in-law, you yourself said former imperial sister-in-law. When Consort Rong met His Majesty, she had already divorced Prince Zheng. Since she was divorced, she was no longer His Majesty's imperial sister-in-law. The two of them clearly met again after their divorce. After the divorce, they went their separate ways, and their marriages were no longer related..."

"Besides, didn't Emperor Gaozong of the previous dynasty also marry his stepmother as his empress?"

Liang Wendao: "That's why the previous dynasty perished... Emperor Gaozong was also criticized by later generations, so Your Majesty absolutely cannot make your former sister-in-law your empress."

Lu Jinshi frowned and looked at Liang Wendao: "It's a pity that when I was a child, I saw you craving meat and often said that I didn't like to eat meat and gave you my meat. I might as well have fed it to a dog back then."

Liang Wen recalled his past at Tianzhang Academy, which felt like a lifetime ago. At that time, Lu Jinshi was only seven or eight years old.

At that time, everyone in the academy liked her, this cheerful and intelligent junior sister.

More than ten years have passed since then.

Lu Jinshi glared angrily at Liang Wen and said, "Don't ever say you're a student of our Tianzhang Academy again."

Rong Yi put his hand on Lu Jinshi's shoulder and said, "Why make yourself so angry? Let's go, it looks like it's going to rain heavily."

Lu Jinshi then followed Rong Yi back to the Jade Palace, ignoring Liang Wen who was kneeling.

On the way back to Jade Palace, Lu Jinshi frowned and said, "I really don't understand why Wu Ke and Liang Wen would help them bully me. They are students of Tianzhang Academy. Do they really think the people there can trust them?"

Lu Jinshi then said to Rong Yi, "I really don't know why my two senior brothers would go against me. Senior Brother Liang Wen was very good to me when we were young, but his family was poor and he couldn't afford to go to school or eat meat. Back then, he was as thin as a bamboo pole, so I would deliberately say that I didn't like Dongpo pork and make him eat the meat for me."

“All my kindness towards him back then has been wasted. In the past, when he sent gifts to my father every year, he would also bring me one. Some time ago, when my father came to Chang'an, he even went to pay his respects. But today he came to obstruct my mother from becoming empress. It’s really puzzling.” Liang Wen doesn’t seem like an ungrateful person.

Why are you trying to obstruct us like this today?

Rong Yi asked, "You said earlier that even if they tried to kill themselves, you had a way to deal with them. What was that way?"

Lu Jinshi smiled, tiptoed and whispered in Rong Yi's ear, "Treat him as he treats you."

Rong Yi asked, puzzled, "Hmm?"

Lu Jinshi said, "If they are willing to risk their lives to protect His Majesty's reputation, why can't the subordinates who are only loyal to His Majesty also risk their lives to protect His Majesty's dignity?"

Lu Jinshi entered the Jade Palace.

He wrote a letter to Yuan Fei, Jiang Yin, Xu Yang, and others, asking them to come and kneel after the heavy rain.

Rong Yi smiled and said, "I thought you had come up with a good idea. These military generals are not like these civil officials who would act like they want to die or play games. They are upright by nature."

“Uprightness is good!” Lu Jinshi said. “These civil officials are putting on an act, but we are not. His Majesty, as the ruler of the country, has been forced by these treacherous officials to not even have the power to appoint his beloved as empress. How can he talk about imperial power then?”

Rong Yi said, "I just saw the Grand Secretary kneeling outside the palace gate. The Grand Secretary in front of me committed suicide by hitting his head against a pillar because my father wanted to make my mother empress. After that, my mother kept persuading my father not to make any more empresses. My mother didn't want my father to bear the name of a tyrant."

“If he were a tyrant, he would have killed all these kneeling people long ago,” Lu Jinshi said with a smile. “Your Majesty has been very merciful.”
-
Inside Fengkun Palace.

Emperor Huiyuan frowned upon hearing the report from the eunuch that his officials were kneeling outside the palace gates.

Rong Shuang leaned against Emperor Huiyuan's chest and said, "Your Majesty, you really don't need to make me Empress anymore..."

Emperor Huiyuan embraced Rong Shuang and said, "Back then, it was I who insisted that you follow me. You had to live outside for two years with Yi'er before you were able to return to the palace. After you returned, I was still unable to give you the title of Empress."

This time, even if it means risking my reputation for tyranny, I will still make you my empress. If I were to back down again, I would truly be letting you down.

Rong Shuang sighed and said, "I'm afraid that another life will be taken. I don't want any more deaths to occur."

Emperor Huiyuan said, "Time and time again, people will always die. Why not just thoroughly cleanse them all this time? I am not young anymore. What's wrong with taking the blame to pave the way for Xiaoqi? I have already wronged you and your mother in many ways."

Rong Shuang smiled at Emperor Huiyuan and said, "You've been good enough to Xiao Qi."

There was a boom.

Thunder roared, and large raindrops pounded heavily on the ground.

Seeing the heavy rain outside, Rong Shuang couldn't help but sigh.
-
Inside the Jade Palace.

It was pouring rain outside, and Xiao Zhang'er huddled in Lu Jinshi's arms.

Looking at the torrential rain, Lu Jinshi felt worried about his parents who were on the water.

Rong Yi gently placed his hand on Lu Jinshi's shoulder and said, "The boat that Father and Mother are on can withstand this storm, so don't worry."

Lu Jinshi smiled and said, "Hmm, I wonder if those officials outside the palace gates are still getting soaked."

Rong Yi said, "They like to get rained on, so they got rained on for a while longer. It can also help clear their heads."