Do you know the long song of laughter?

Chapter 485 Imperial Edict?
"Your Highness!" Li An saluted.

"I hope I didn't disturb your rest?" Zhao Ceying asked.

After the morning court session, officials can go home and rest. Of course, if there are any important matters that need to be dealt with, they still have to be on duty.

The Hanlin Academy is relatively quiet, and everyone can go home and rest directly after the morning court session.

"I just got home and haven't rested yet." Li An said.

"That's good." Zhao Ceying nodded slightly.

"Your Highness, please come inside!"

Li An invited Zhao Ceying to the main hall, and after the servants brought him tea, he sent him away.

"Ziqian, I heard that you met Qi Heng after the morning court today?" Zhao Ceying asked.

"Yes." Li An did not hide it and said, "Qi Heng and I were classmates for a period of time, and I wanted to persuade him."

Zhao Ceying frowned slightly when he heard this and asked, "He didn't agree?"

"Yeah." Li An nodded.

Zhao Ceying frowned and pondered for a while, then said, "Please try to persuade him when you have time. I hope he won't make mistakes."

"Yes!" Li An sighed in his heart.

"By the way, I have asked someone to investigate what you mentioned last time. The two brothers of the Zou family and Little Zou used the names of my two cousins ​​to lend money at high interest rates." Zhao Ceying said with a somewhat unpleasant expression.

He had never had a good impression of the Zou family before, but Mrs. Zou was his aunt and was very kind to him, so he didn't have any prejudice against them.

Da Zou died after saving his mother, and he was even more grateful to her.

However, he was very angry because the Zou family used his cousin's name to lend money at high interest rates.

Even the civil servants know how to manage their reputation.

No matter how bad the inside is, the reputation outside is generally good.

After all, it is impossible for ordinary people to know the situation of wealthy families.

If the Zou family does this and it is exposed in the future, it will not only be the Shen family that will be shamed, but even the royal family will be shamed.

After all, the Shen family is an in-law family, and Shen Congxing is the queen's younger brother and his uncle.

Li An didn't say anything when he heard this. It was not appropriate for him to interrupt in such matters.

"I will tell my uncle about this. Given his temper, he will probably be upset for a while. You can invite him to have some drinks and give him some counseling." Zhao Ceying said.

"Yes!"

Ang Lee knew that the so-called guidance was not as simple as it sounded, and Zhao Ceying was giving him the opportunity to say something good about Zhang Guifen.

Shen Congxing was angry with the Zou family, and it was a good time to ease the relationship between him and Zhang Guifen.

"I'll leave first and not disturb your rest. Remember to persuade Qi Heng more." Zhao Ceying said.

"Yes!"

Li An saw Zhao Ceying off and returned to the backyard.

When Minglan asked, Li An did not hide anything. Because of his existence and Minglan had no feelings for Qi Heng, there was nothing she couldn't tell him.

"With the young master's temper, I'm afraid you won't be able to persuade him. King Huan might blame you for it." Minglan said worriedly.

She had also studied in school for a few years and had some understanding of Qi Heng's personality.

Zhao Ceying asked Li An to persuade Qi Heng, but she was worried that she would fail and be blamed instead.

"Don't worry about that. Qi Heng shouldn't wait that long. I didn't even have the chance to persuade him. Why is King Huan blaming me?" Li An shook his head.

"Sir, are you saying that the young master will be impeached again soon?" Minglan asked in surprise.

"Yeah." Li An nodded and said, "Never mind, I'm sleepy, let me take a nap first."

He has done what he should do. Whatever Qi Heng wants to do is his business, and he will have to bear any consequences in the future.

"I will help the master change his clothes." Minglan said.

"You're pregnant, why do you need any service? Just let the maid do it." Li An shook his head.

At this moment, Danju hurried in and said, "My Lord, someone just came from the palace and said that the Queen Mother wanted to invite the county lady to the palace."

"what?"

Li An and Minglan were shocked.

The emperor and the empress dowager had previously maintained a superficial harmony, but now they have completely fallen out.

At this time, the Queen Mother allowed Princess Anyang to enter the palace. Even if there was no purpose, it would not be a good thing for Zhao Zongquan if he heard it.

Although Princess Anyang sent a blood edict to Zhao Zongquan, she was willing to take the risk to do so because of the late emperor's kindness.

In Zhao Zongquan's eyes, she was closer to the Queen Mother.

This was also one of the reasons why Zhao Zongquan agreed to let her be Li An's co-wife.

After all, she is close to the Queen Mother. If she is used to win over people through marriage, she might end up making wedding dresses for the Queen Mother.

Since Li An did not hold a high position and was his concubine, Zhao Zongquan was naturally happy to agree.

At this time, what would Zhao Zongquan think when Princess Anyang went to see the Queen Mother?
"Sir, what should we do now?" Minglan asked anxiously.

"The Queen Mother has summoned me, so I have to go." Li An said, "I will go and hold back the eunuchs from the palace, and you go and talk to Ruichu about the interests involved, and ask her not to talk nonsense when she sees the Queen Mother."

"Yeah!" Minglan nodded.

When Li An arrived at the main hall, he saw a man in his thirties, with no beard and dressed in eunuch's clothes, sitting in the hall drinking tea.

"May I know your name, eunuch?" Li An bowed with a smile.

"Oh." The eunuch put down the teacup, stood up and said in return: "Li Hanlin, you are too kind to me. There is no such thing as nobility or nobility for us. My surname is Wei."

"Isn't his name Wei Zhongxian?"

Li An muttered to himself, but smiled and said, "Eunuch Wei, please take a seat."

Eunuch Wei did not sit down, but looked around and said, "Li Hanlin, I am here on orders. The Queen Mother is upset and has summoned Princess Anyang to the palace to chat with her. When will Princess Anyang come?"

"The county princess is dressing and changing her clothes. She will be here soon. Official Wei, please sit down and have some tea first." Li An said with a smile.

After hearing this, Wei Neiguan sat down.

Li An asked Desheng to take out a hundred taels of silver and gave it to Eunuch Wei.

Eunuch Wei pretended to refuse, then accepted it with a smile.

He answered all the questions Ang Lee asked.

Unfortunately, he was just an errand boy, and Ang Lee didn't get any useful information from him.

After about an incense stick of time, Princess Anyang walked into the hall from the back door.

"Sir!" Princess Anyang bowed.

"Madam, you've come at the right time. Internal Official Wei is ordered by the Empress Dowager to invite you into the palace. We have been waiting for a while. You should follow Internal Official Wei quickly. You can't keep the Empress Dowager waiting for too long." Li An said.

"Yes!"

Princess Anyang looked at Eunuch Wei and said with a smile, "Eunuch Wei, let's get going."

"Please come in, County Lady!" Eunuch Wei said sideways. Li An saw them out the door, and when County Lady Anyang got on the car, she gave him a reassuring look.

After watching the carriage leave, Li An entered the yard.

"Don't worry, sir. Sister Ruichu is very smart. I have explained the pros and cons to her. She can handle it."

Minglan and others were waiting in front of the corner gate of the Chinese and Foreign Courtyards. Seeing that Li An looked solemn, they comforted him.

Li An stepped forward to support her and walked inside, saying, "Actually, what we talked about is not important. What's important is that we met. The government knows that we can't refuse, but our government is a suspicious person. I don't know what he will think."

"Now that things have come to this, there is no other way." Minglan comforted.

"Yeah." Li An nodded and said, "No matter what the Queen Mother says, the Emperor will still be suspicious. As long as I do nothing, nothing will happen."

…………

Ruichu came to the palace in a carriage and walked all the way to the Cining Palace.

"Greetings, Her Majesty the Queen Mother!" Ruichu bowed.

"No need to be so polite. Come here and let me see you." The Queen Mother smiled and waved her hand.

Ruichu stepped forward upon hearing this. The Queen Mother pulled her aside to look at her for a while and said with a smile, "You look good. I think your husband treats you well. I am relieved."

"Thank you for your concern, Her Majesty the Queen." Ruichu said with a smile.

The Queen Mother pulled Ruichu to sit beside her and complained, "It's been so long, and you didn't even come to the palace to talk to me. I have no children, and in my heart, you are just like my daughter. The late emperor promised you that if you could survive, he would make you a princess. The official was stingy and only made you a county lady."

"Thank you, Empress Dowager, for your kindness. I am very satisfied to be named a county lady." Ruichu smiled and said, "I wanted to repay the late emperor's kindness and never thought of any reward."

"You are just a palace maid, but you know how to repay a favor. All the civil and military officials in the court are scholars with great knowledge, but they have read so much that the books they read are useless. The late emperor was so kind to them, but now that his body is still warm, they are helping the emperor to bully an old woman like me." The empress dowager said gritting her teeth.

Ruichu's face turned pale when she heard this. Although she was not as smart as Minglan, she could see the situation in the court clearly.

But she still knew which words were taboo during the New Year celebrations in the palace.

"Anyang, now the emperor is disregarding the situation that the late emperor had worked so hard to build up, and wants to change the strategy set by the late emperor. I cannot bear to watch the years of hard work of the late emperor being destroyed, but now most of the civil and military officials in the court stand on the emperor's side. Only you can help me." The empress dowager said, holding Ruichu's hand tightly.

Ruichu forced a smile and said, "Empress Dowager, I am just a woman. I don't understand the affairs of the court, let alone have a say. How can I help you, Empress Dowager?"

"I know, but doesn't your husband work in the Hanlin Academy? The Hanlin Academy is noble and elegant. Although the official position is not high, his words still carry some weight." said the Queen Mother.

"Sure enough, it's just as the lady said."

Ruichu frowned slightly when she heard that.

Before coming to the palace, Minglan told her that the Queen Mother might have asked her to let Li An speak for her in the court.

Before, she was willing to risk her life to deliver the blood edict, not because she was noble or doing it for the country and the people.

She is just an ordinary woman who simply wants to repay a favor and does not have such a high level of awareness.

Minglan told her that the emperor and the queen mother were fighting for power, and it would be very dangerous for Li An to get involved.

If Minglan had not explained the pros and cons to her, she might have agreed to persuade the Queen Mother after she said so.

Now that she knows the pros and cons, she will definitely not agree to it.

"Empress Dowager, I also want to help you, but your Majesty has a very good relationship with the eldest lady and doesn't like me very much. I can't say anything in front of your Majesty." Ruichu said aggrievedly.

"I heard that your husband is very good to you. And Madam Sheng is pregnant. Could it be that she will force your husband to stay in the room?" The Queen Mother frowned.

"No, it's just that the master just doesn't like me for some reason. He often goes to my room to rest, but that's because I am a county lady and he dare not neglect me. But he never listens to what I say." Ruichu said.

"You are not bad looking, how could your husband not like you?" The Queen Mother frowned and said, "It's probably because Madam Shengda is too powerful."

She knew that Li An and Minglan helped persuade Shen Congxing and Zhang Guifen.

I was somewhat displeased with her because of this.

Upon hearing this, Ruichu just acted aggrieved and said nothing.

Minglan told her not to care about what the Queen Mother said, as long as she didn't agree with her.

The Queen Mother hesitated for a moment, and just as she was about to say something, a eunuch came in and saluted, saying, "Your Majesty the Queen Mother requests an audience."

The Queen Mother snorted coldly upon hearing this, "She came so quickly! I summoned her into the palace just as she arrived. You might as well put me under house arrest."

"Let her in."

…………

"The Queen Mother didn't make things difficult for you, did she?"

When Li An learned that Ruichu had returned, he came out to greet her.

"The Queen Mother wanted you to say a few words in the court, and she didn't embarrass me." Rui Chu shook her head and said, "Fortunately, the Queen came and helped me out."

"I'm glad you're okay." Li An heaved a sigh of relief and said, "You're not scared, are you?"

"No." Ruichu felt warm at heart when she heard the concern in Li An's words, and said, "After I came out from the Queen Mother, the Queen asked me to sit in her palace for a while. She also praised the Madam and said that she knew everything that the Master and the Madam had done, and she wanted to confer an imperial decree on the Madam."

"A royal decree?"

Li An was stunned when he heard this, because only civil officials of the fifth rank and above had the opportunity to be awarded by imperial decree.

Although it is just a title and has no rights, it is still very useful among officials' families.

The men in the family hold similar official positions, and when they meet, they compare whether one of them has an imperial decree.

Isn't the purpose of a man's hard work to provide for his wife and children?

Having an imperial edict represents the government’s respect.

Logically speaking, he is only from the sixth rank and does not have the qualifications.

However, Li An quickly reacted. When Empress Shen said she wanted to confer an imperial decree on Minglan, on the one hand, the couple had solved a problem for Empress Shen.

At the beginning, it was Empress Shen who felt that she owed the Zou family, so she strongly supported Shen Congxing's marriage to little Zou, and even begged the emperor to grant little Zou an imperial decree.

Now Zhang Guifen is not living well in the Shen family, and little Zou is arrogant and domineering, so Queen Shen is also responsible.

The government probably has something against her because of this incident.

However, Li An always felt that things were not that simple, as the imperial edict had to be approved by the government.

Perhaps Empress Shen went to the Empress Dowager at the emperor's instruction.

The imperial edict was most likely the government's idea.

Since the Queen Mother wanted to win him over, he issued an imperial edict and told the Queen Mother that Li An was his man.

At the same time, it also gives Ang Lee some benefits.

Whether this is true or not, Ang Lee doesn’t want to delve into it, after all, he made money.

Moreover, the imperial edict did not confer the title only on Minglan, but conferred the title on both the mother and the wife together.

According to his rank, at most his mother and wife could be given the title of a fourth or fifth rank lady.

It’s nothing in Bianjing, but it’s different in Yangzhou.

Although the imperial edict had no power, he did not need to perform formal greetings when meeting officials of lower ranks. On the contrary, the officials had to perform formal greetings to his mother.

With an imperial edict in hand, almost no one in Yangzhou would make things difficult for the Li family.

(End of this chapter)