The world of film and television begins from childhood

Sheng Hong still lacked courage. A day passed, and rumors were flying outside, but he still hadn't made a decision. He still wished he could solve the problem better.

However, Wang Ruofu and the old lady were unwilling to go to the Duke Ling's Mansion to propose marriage, Zhou Chen also showed his attitude, and Minglan did not even return home. Instead, Ruolan came back, but she cried and shouted as soon as she came back, saying that Molan's affairs made her embarrassed in her husband's family, and asked Sheng Hong to severely punish Molan and quickly solve this trouble.

This made Sheng Hong, who was already having a headache, even more uncomfortable.

Hua Lan knew what kind of person her father was, so she returned to Sheng Mansion the next day, wanting to resolve the matter as soon as possible.

"Father, now that things have come to this, if the Duke Ling's Mansion had any instructions, they would have sent someone here long ago. But they haven't given a reply yet, which means that the Duke Ling's Mansion simply won't allow Molan to enter the mansion. Do you still want to continue the stalemate and let outsiders see the embarrassment of the Sheng family?"

Among the children of the Sheng family, only Hualan dared to speak to Sheng Hong like this, but Sheng Hong really couldn't do anything about Hualan.

"You, you will force me. Mo'er is my daughter. How can I bear to kill my own daughter?"

Wang Ruofu immediately made her attitude clear: "Sir, if you can't do it, then leave it to me. I promise to make Molan become a nun obediently."

"Can you please shut up and stop adding fuel to the fire?" Sheng Hong shouted angrily.

Hua Lan was very disappointed and said slowly, "Father, the longer you drag this out, the worse it will be for the Sheng Mansion. My master said that no matter how you deal with it, even if the news of Molan's affair gets out, it will not have much impact on the Jingguo Mansion. The one who will be most affected will be the Sheng family. Because in the final analysis, the Zhou family and the Sheng family are not one family, so father, you don't have to tell the master that we are one family and we will prosper together and suffer together."

"To put it bluntly, after something like this happened, even if you divorce me, I will have no complaints, because this happened because I brought shame to the Zhou family."

Wang Ruofu was shocked and asked anxiously, "Hua'er, did the Duke say he wants to divorce you?"

"No."

Hua Lan said calmly, "Master didn't say he was going to divorce me, but comforted me instead. But because of this, I feel even more guilty and want to resolve this matter better and faster. I have already brought shame upon Master, and I cannot let the situation get any worse."

"Father, I am here to advise you not only for my own reputation, but also for the Sheng family. If you don't even care about the reputation of the Sheng family, then I, as your daughter, will not do anything unnecessary."

After saying that, she turned and walked out of the yard. Changbai's wife, Hai, hurriedly followed her.

"Big sister, are you really not going to care?"

Hua Lan sighed, "It's not that I don't care, but my father doesn't want me to care."

Hai Chaoyun said: "The official has also advised the father-in-law, but the father-in-law has his own ideas, and the official cannot change them."

"Big sister, the fourth sister is kneeling in the ancestral hall, do you want to go and take a look?"

Hua Lan's expression changed, and she finally said, "We are sisters after all. She did such a thing, and I want to know why she did it."

"Then let's go together, big sister."

Hai Chaoyun took Hualan to the Sheng family ancestral hall.

Sheng Molan, who was lying on a mat to rest, heard the footsteps and immediately struggled to kneel down again. When she turned around and saw that the people coming in were Hualan and Hai Chaoyun, her body relaxed again.

"Why, big sister, are you here to laugh at me?"

Hua Lan snorted coldly: "Do you think I have time to laugh at your joke?"

Molan sneered contemptuously, "Yes, elder sister is now the eldest lady of the Duke's Mansion, so how could she take a younger sister like me seriously? But elder sister, what is there to be proud of? You are just lucky, thanks to the old lady and age. If I were the same age as you, it is hard to say who would be the eldest lady of the Duke of Jingguo today."

Hualan and Hai Chaoyun were stunned by these words. They could not believe their ears, and Hualan was speechless.

"I am indeed lucky, but I really don't know where you get your confidence from. Madam Jingguo, with your behavior, my master won't even consider you as a concubine."

Molan's breathing suddenly became heavy. She took a deep breath and calmed her surging anger.

"I can't be the wife of the Duke of Jingguo's mansion, but I can be the wife of the legitimate son of the Duke of Lingguo's mansion. I am the fourth daughter of the Sheng family. For the sake of the Sheng family's reputation and for the sake of all of you, you must let me marry into the Duke of Lingguo's mansion."

Hearing Molan's arrogant words, Hualan was furious, and even Hai Chaoyun, who was always kind and easy to talk to, showed anger on his face.

Ever since Hai Chaoyun married into the Sheng family, she has been a member of the Sheng family. Naturally, everything she thinks about is for Mr. Changbai and the Sheng family. So she was very angry when Molan threatened the Sheng family.

She had been married into the Sheng family for more than two years. Her brothers and sisters were all good. Even Sheng Changfeng, who was also born to Lin Xiaoniang, was a little naughty, but he did not really ruin the reputation of the Sheng family. Apart from that drunken nonsense, he did not do anything to harm the Sheng family.

But what about Molan? She was the most favored by Sheng Hong among the four sisters, much more favored than her brother Changfeng. But what she did brought shame to the entire Sheng family.

"Don't be so wishful thinking. Your family has already decided not to go to the Duke of Lingguo's mansion to propose marriage for you, so don't dream of marrying into the Duke of Lingguo's mansion anymore."

"impossible."

Molan screamed loudly, "Impossible, how could Daddy not help me find a marriage? I'm already like that with the youngest son of Duke Ling. If he doesn't help me find a marriage, does Daddy even care about the reputation of the Sheng family? Aren't you afraid of being implicated?"

Hua Lan snorted coldly, "You and Lin planned very well, hoping to marry into the Duke's Mansion by this means, but unfortunately, no matter how much you planned, things can't develop completely according to your ideas. According to my grandmother, you should be beaten to death for doing such a thing."

When Molan heard this, she panicked and asked anxiously, "No, Daddy wouldn't do that. He loves me so much, how could he beat me to death? Don't try to scare me."

"At this point, do I still need to scare you? Fourth sister, although we have had conflicts, to be honest, I have never thought of targeting you. We are a family, both daughters of the Sheng family. Even though I don't like you, I still hope you can marry well."

Hua Lan said with a disappointed look on her face: "But you, I don't know why you have to resort to such means, disregarding your own face and the face of the Sheng family, and having an affair with someone. With this kind of behavior, how can the people in the Duke's Mansion look up to you?"

Molan screamed angrily: "What qualifications do you have to say that to me? You have no qualifications to say that to me. You are now the eldest lady of the Duke of Jingguo's Mansion. You have a high status and are respected by everyone. But seeing you put on one face in front of others and another behind their backs makes me feel sick. I don't think anyone can pretend more than you."

Hua Lan was not angry either, she just said: "There is a conflict between us. I am not surprised that you see me like this. Since I am already like this, I might as well be a bad guy to the end. Fourth sister, I can only give you two choices now."

"One is to beat you to death in order to save the Sheng family's reputation; the other is to let you live, but for the sake of the Sheng family's reputation, you become a nun."

When Molan heard this, she could no longer care about anything else. She stood up and shouted at Hualan: "You are dreaming. You dare to make me a nun? I want to marry into the Duke's Mansion and be his principal wife. If you dare to make me a nun, I will fight you."

When she learned that she could not marry into the Duke's Mansion as his principal wife, she could no longer bear it and rushed towards Hualan like a madman.

"Fourth sister, big sister."

Hai Chaoyun didn't expect Molan to attack suddenly. He was shocked and rushed over to stop Molan.

But before she could stop him, Molan fell to the ground by herself. She had been kneeling for so long and had just stood up due to her excitement. But when she wanted to move, she found that her legs did not obey her commands at all and she could not even stand steadily, so she fell to the ground.

Hualan was not frightened by Molan's ferocious look. She looked very calm. As she watched Molan fall to the ground, her face gradually turned cold.

"Whether you like it or not, your fate is doomed from the moment you did that. You can't blame anyone else."

"Next, you should reflect on yourself here. What your final outcome will be depends on your father's decision."

After saying that, she stopped paying attention to Molan and turned to leave the ancestral hall.

Hai Chaoyun looked at Molan who was lying on the ground and wanted to help her up, but Molan pushed her away angrily.

"Go away. I don't need your hypocrisy. In fact, you are laughing at me in your heart, right?"

"Fourth sister, you..."

Hai Chaoyun wanted to persuade her, but when he saw Molan's angry and hateful eyes, he could no longer say what he wanted to say and could only sigh.

"Just take care of yourself."

…………

The atmosphere of today's grand court meeting was very wrong, mainly because the government actually proposed to investigate the salt affairs. In fact, this is not a bad thing, but a good thing, because the salt tax is a large part of the national treasury revenue. However, the actual salt tax collected is more than half of the actual salt tax.

Checking the salt tax and increasing the treasury revenue are good things, but the problem is that the government cannot even fully control the political situation, yet it begins to dream of checking the salt tax.

You have to know that the embezzled salt tax went into the pockets of officials and wealthy people in various places. The scope of involvement is unimaginable. Even among the ministers in the court, I am afraid that many people were involved.

If the salt tax is to be investigated, it will undoubtedly affect many people, and everyone from top to bottom will be disturbed and targeted.

In the plot, when King Huan went to check the salt tax, he was assassinated many times. If he had not been lucky, he would have died long ago.

Zhou Chen could understand the emperor's thoughts. Since he wanted military power, he also wanted to control the court and increase the national treasury.

Power, money, food...

He didn't want to let go of any of them.

But doing so is really taking too big a step, and you might end up hurting yourself if you're not careful.

The plot does not go into detail about this trip to check the salt tax, but one can guess that the process was not smooth.

In Zhou Chen's opinion, the most correct choice for the government should be to consolidate its own power first, and then slowly investigate the salt tax, corruption, etc.

It is not impossible to conduct a forced investigation now, but it requires drastic measures, and by then, it will be no problem to kill many people.

The official wanted to send someone to investigate the salt tax, but after calling for a long time, no one stood up. Instead, he encountered opposition from many people, which made the official furious and roared in the court.

Finally, the government issued an edict, appointing Prince Huan, Shen Congxing, Sheng Changbai and others to inspect the salt affairs in eight provinces together.

Seeing that the arrangement was not much different from the plot, Zhou Chen frowned slightly. Among these people, the one he cared about most was naturally Sheng Changbai, after all, he was his wife's biological brother.

When the court was dismissed, Zhou Chen was about to look for Sheng Changbai when the Duke of England suddenly came over.

"Uncle Yuan."

"Old Duke."

Duke Ying smiled and said, "Shuyuan, are you free today? I'd like to invite you to have dinner at Fanlou."

"The old Duke invited me, so I must make time even if I don't have time."

"Haha, okay, let's go there now."

"Old Duke, please."

Zhou Chen came to Fanlou with the Duke of England, and then went straight to the private room. When he entered the room, he found that there was another person.

"Duke Ling."

"Dong Jingguo."

Zhou Chen was not surprised to see Duke Lingguo. He knew that Duke Yingguo would definitely not ask him to dinner for no reason, and there were not many people who could invite Duke Yingguo, so on the way here, he had guessed the most likely people, and Duke Lingguo was one of them.

The purpose of Duke Ling's visit to Zhou Chen was naturally because of the matter between his youngest son and Molan, but before he could say anything, Zhou Chen spoke first, saying that he didn't care about the matter and that Duke Ling could do whatever he wanted, leaving Duke Ling at a loss for words.

Fortunately, the Duke of England mediated and made Duke Ling understand that what Zhou Chen said was the truth. Then he felt relieved and the three of them drank in harmony.

When they returned home, Hualan saw that Zhou Chen smelled of alcohol again, so she asked Cuichan to make a sobering soup for Zhou Chen.

Although Zhou Chen was not drunk, he did not refuse and just took it and drank it.

"Sir, I went to my mother's house again today, but my father still hasn't made a decision." Hua Lan looked unhappy.

Zhou Chen said: "It doesn't matter. Today, the Duke of Lingguo specially asked the Duke of Ying to find me and invite me to drink at Fanlou."

When Hua Lan heard this, she immediately asked, "Duke Ling invited you to drink? What did he say?"

"Just like I told your father, the Duke of Lingguo's intention is very clear. He does not want his son to marry your fourth sister. At most, she will be a concubine."

"My father will definitely not agree."

"So I told Duke Ling that I would not be involved in this matter and he could handle it however he wanted."

Zhou Chen did not tell the whole truth. In fact, although Duke Ling was unwilling, he left room for negotiation in his words. However, according to Duke Ling, if Zhou Chen asked for mercy, he might agree, but he would definitely have to pay a certain price.

But how could Zhou Chen be willing to do that? Molan's affairs had nothing to do with him. Asking him to pay a price to let Molan marry into the Duke of Lingguo's Mansion was just a dream.

So he made his attitude clear on the spot that he would not care about the matter. Although Duke Ling was a little disappointed, he also understood what Zhou Chen meant and did not dwell on it any further.

My body has mostly recovered, and I will resume writing two updates tomorrow. I don't know what's going on, but ever since I had the erection, every time I catch a cold or have a fever it seems to be much more serious than before. I used to be able to recover after just two days of rest, but now I still feel very uncomfortable after five or six days, and my head is dizzy. The doctor said it's due to insufficient blood supply to the brain. This has happened three or four times, and I feel very uncomfortable.

(End of this chapter)

Chapter 1165: Neither of them can help each other, save the old lady

Just before the salt tax inspection team was about to set off, Zhou Chen found Sheng Changbai.

"Going to eight provinces to inspect the salt tax is a very dangerous thing. You must put your own safety first. I know your character, but don't forget that you still have a wife and children, and a whole family waiting for you to return safely."

Zhou Chen knew that Sheng Changbai was an honest and upright person. If he took on this task, he would definitely do his best to complete it.

However, he knew that this inspection was very dangerous. Considering that Sheng Changbai was his brother-in-law, he took the initiative to mention it to Sheng Changbai.

Sheng Changbai said respectfully: "Don't worry, brother-in-law, I know what to do."

"You just understand."

Zhou Chen nodded, and then whispered: "This time you go with King Huan, he will definitely do his best to win you over, you must be mentally prepared, don't take sides easily, you should understand what I mean."

Sheng Changbai's face changed slightly, and he also replied in a low voice: "I understand. We in the Sheng family are loyal subjects and will not easily take sides."

Today, the emperor's rule is not stable yet. Although Prince Huan is the eldest son, he is not the crown prince after all.

Now their Sheng family is no longer a small family. They have two officials wearing scarlet robes and two relatives from the Duke's Mansion. He is the eldest son of the Sheng family. If he takes sides, the impact will be huge.

As the salt tax inspection team left, the situation in the court became increasingly serious. Now the emperor had gradually begun to take control of power, and the empress dowager was also deliberately retreating, which led to the gradual amplification of the contradictions between the emperor and the officials.

In the minds of officials, they hope that the emperor can be like the previous emperor, not so strong, more lenient and kind, and not infringe on their interests.

But the current emperor certainly would not want this. He would rather concentrate power in his own hands, control the world, and truly rule the world. Anyone who dares to hinder him is his enemy.

Each party represents its own interests, so it is normal to have conflicts. Among all the officials, there are very few who truly care about the world and put the people of the world in mind. Most of them only care about themselves and their families.

Sheng Hong pondered over the matter of Molan's affair with a man outside his home for several days, and finally made up his mind and made a decision.

He first made up his mind and asked Dong Rong to beat Lin Qinshuang with a stick. After Lin Qinshuang was half dead, he threw her back to the farm outside the city and left her to fend for herself.

As for Molan, she also chose the method Zhou Chen suggested. In the end, she couldn't bear to do it and didn't want to beat her own daughter to death, so she forced her to become a nun.