Chu Shubao shouted, “What were you just saying?”

“This… I also heard it from outside. Please don’t be angry, young lady,” one of the plump maidservants said awkwardly.

These two maidservants were bought by the Chu family only after they moved to Xizhou and usually did only the rough work.

Chu Shubao laughed angrily. “Heard it from outside? Spreading baseless rumors and not afraid of ruining your mouths?”

A stout maidservant sneered, “Young lady, this isn’t something made up by others. Notices have been posted at the gates of all the counties! You can silence this old servant’s mouth, but can you silence everyone else’s?”

Chu Shubao was furious at her sarcastic words and rolled up her sleeves to fight the maidservant, but Jiang Yiyi stopped her.

Chu Shubao cursed, “What a piece of work! If it weren’t for that old bastard Jiang Jing’an deliberately stalling, could my aunt have died? Your ability to turn black into white truly opens my eyes!”

The plump maidservant, scolded thoroughly, replied, “This is all written in the imperial edict. Please don’t vent your anger on this old servant.”

Upon hearing the mention of the imperial edict, Jiang Yanyi’s first reaction was that this news had been intentionally leaked by the emperor to inform Jiang Yanxi, who had fled to Xizhou, that Minister Jiang had been imprisoned.

But Minister Jiang had always been loyal to the court; his only mistake was probably helping Jiang Yanxi fake her death and escape the palace.

It seemed absurd to accuse him of helping a concubine escape the palace, so the emperor had shifted the blame onto the Chu family.

After all, the Chu family could no longer be loyal to him, and portraying them as disloyal and ungrateful aligned perfectly with the emperor’s intentions.

Jiang Yanyi felt a wave of disgust.

Unlike Chu Shubao, who was angry enough to curse, she looked at the two maidservants and said, “It’s not your place to comment on the affairs of the Chu family. Since you dare to gossip about your master, I can’t keep you around!”

The skinny maidservant clearly didn’t take Jiang Yanyi’s words seriously. “Cousin, we are all bought by the old madam.”

The plump maidservant crossed her arms and added, “With the Chu family’s current reputation, who would still want to work in this residence?”

The two of them seemed to think that Jiang Yanyi and Chu Shubao were both unmarried young ladies, easy to manipulate.

Chu Shubao had truly never encountered such a disgusting attitude; she felt like slapping them dozens of times for relief and was almost in tears from anger.

Jiang Yanyi squeezed Chu Shubao’s hand, calmly looking at the two maidservants. “Our grandmother is old and treats the servants in the household kindly. Are you trying to take advantage of that and boss us around? I want to see if, without the two of you, our Chu family can’t find other servants!”

Jiang Yanyi quickly called for the steward, instructing the guards to drag the two maidservants to the outer courtyard and to bring in the other newly bought servants as well.

The two maidservants had never seen such a situation before and panicked, crying out and begging, “Young ladies, this old servant will never talk back again. Please have mercy!”

Jiang Yanyi ignored them.

She called the people outside to deal with the matter, worried that they might make a fuss and disturb the old matriarch.

Although the new servants had been warned when they entered the house, rumors about the Chu family were spreading wildly outside.

If they didn’t set an example by punishing someone, they might continue to gossip in the future.

Chu Changping had asked her to stay at the Chu family for the past few days to assert her authority over the servants.

But with Chu Shubao around, the legitimate eldest daughter of the Chu family, Jiang Yanyi didn’t want to take over the situation and risk causing problems between the sisters.

Seeing that the household staff were almost all gathered, she whispered to Chu Shubao, instructing her on what to do next.

Although Chu Shubao had learned about managing a household from Liu Shi, she had never truly practiced it.

Suddenly being thrust into a position of authority in front of so many people made her somewhat nervous.

Jiang Yanyi softly advised her, “Just be a bit tougher; that way, you can keep them in line. Otherwise, there will surely be more gossip from those servant women.”

Remembering the awful things those two servants had said, Chu Shubao felt her anger rising.

She clenched her fists and declared, “I’ll scold them to death!”

Seeing the two servants pressed to their knees in the snow, the other servants began to murmur among themselves.

Jiang Yanyi signaled the steward, who quieted the crowd.

Chu Shubao shouted, “You are all servants bought by the Chu family! How have we treated you these days? You know in your hearts! These two traitors dare to speak ill of the master; the Chu family absolutely cannot tolerate this!”

“For each of you, two hundred slaps! If anyone else dares to offend, I will not be merciful!”

Soon, guards began to hold the two women down and slapped them hard, each strike full of force.

At first, the two servants could endure it, but soon they couldn’t help but scream in pain.

“Everyone on the street is saying it; are you going to slap them all one by one?” The fat servant’s face was swollen like a pig’s head, struggling to get free, and yelled out in agony.

Chu Shubao coldly replied, “What others say about me is none of my business, but as a servant of the Chu family, taking the Chu family’s wages while having a dirty mouth is unacceptable. Am I supposed to treat you two as ancestors?”

This punishment successfully sent a clear message to the Chu household’s servants.

Even if they heard more rumors from outside, they wouldn’t dare spread them.

After dealing with the two servants, Chu Shubao still felt angry and sent a young servant outside to gather information about the Chu family, wanting to know how far the rumors had spread.

The young servant returned with news that Chu Chengmou and Chu Chengbai had been captured by the court.

Chu Shubao, being a girl who had never managed a household, was frightened and didn’t know what to do, collapsing into Jiang Yanyi’s arms in tears.

Jiang Yanyi ordered the young servant not to inform the old matriarch and comforted Chu Shubao, saying, “Uncle has already sent people to rescue the prison cart. Cousin and the others will return safely.”

Chu Shubao, sniffling, asked, “Did you know this all along?”

Jiang Yanyi hesitated for a moment but nodded. “Uncle was afraid you would worry too much, so he kept it from you.”

Chu Shubao sobbed, “No wonder my father and second uncle drank all night the day before; they must have been worried about this!”

Jiang Yanyi gently patted Chu Shubao’s back. “We must not let Grandma know about Cousin Chengmou being captured.”

There’s an old saying that older people have a hard time every winter.

The recent death of Lady Jiang had already made the old matriarch sick; if she found out her grandson was in trouble, it could make her ill again.

The elderly woman couldn’t handle such distress.

Chu Shubao nodded, clearly seeing Jiang Yanyi as her pillar of support. “What about those rumors outside?”

Jiang Yanyi sighed, “With so many mouths in the world, we can’t control them. Rumors stop with the wise.”

Over time, these discussions would naturally fade.

If they wanted to immediately overshadow those rumors, something bigger would have to happen to draw people’s attention away.

Jiang Yanyi truly felt helpless.

After considering it, Chu Shubao decided to inform Liu Shi about the capture of her brothers.

Although Liu Shi was small-minded and petty, she could still distinguish right from wrong in significant matters.

After crying for a while, Liu Shi realized the Chu family couldn’t afford any chaos right now.

She had managed the household for decades; while she might not have done an excellent job, she had never made any significant mistakes.

Compared to the inexperienced Chu Shubao, she was much more adept and began teaching her how to manage the servants.

With the entire Chu family being reorganized, it was now as secure as a fortress, and Jiang Yanyi felt somewhat reassured.

The emperor’s proclamation was clearly unfavorable to the Chu family, and Chu Changping’s departure from Yongzhou was also because of her.

Jiang Yanyi decided to seek out Feng Shuo to discuss it.

What she didn’t know was that Feng Shuo was currently gathering his strong generals and advisers to discuss the matter.

The advisers were arguing passionately about how to deal with Lu Linyuan.

“Lu Daxueshi is a great Confucian of our time. The new emperor demoted him, which has led to countless scholars criticizing him. If his only son dies in Xizhou, given Lu Daxueshi’s prestige among scholars, I fear there would be a wave of articles condemning the prince. Lu Linyuan cannot be killed! He must not be killed!”

“Those who act righteously often harm innocent people; those who are ungrateful are usually educated! Can a few essays from scholars outweigh the truth? Lu Linyuan harbored spies from the Turks, committing treason and refusing to confess to this day. How can he not be killed? If I were Lu Laoyezi and had such a disgraceful son, I would personally take a knife to him!”

“Foolish talk! It is not worth debating!”

“You…”

As the advisors and generals continued to argue, Chi Qing quickly walked in from outside and clasped his hands, saying, “Your Highness, a woman has been brought over by Song Lushi. She claims to be the person saved by Lu Linyuan last night.”

“Could it be a trick?”

“It’s best to interrogate her first.”

The advisors began to debate animatedly again.

Seated above, Feng Shuo spoke in a deep voice, “Let Yuan Yi identify her and see if she is indeed the woman who escaped last night. Chi Qing, go interrogate Lu Linyuan again. Tell him that the woman has surrendered, and once you finish questioning both of them, compare their testimonies to see if they match.”

Chi Qing received the order and withdrew.

Feng Shuo looked down at the advisors and didn’t want to hear them arguing about how to handle Lu Linyuan any longer.

He asked, “What do you think should be done about the Chu family?”

The imperial edicts had been posted outside Xizhou City, but Feng Shuo hadn’t allowed those notices to be put up inside the city.

However, rumors were spreading like a flood and could no longer be suppressed.

Chu Changping had less interaction with the advisors, but the generals had basically recognized each other’s capabilities and could bond over a drink, considering each other as brothers in arms.

Soon, a general spoke up for Chu Changping: “The imperial edict is clearly turning black into white! When General Chu’s family left the capital, Jiang Jing’an was clearly obstructing them. How could they be said to have helped the imperial army? I believe it’s because the young emperor saw that Your Highness had a talented general and intentionally smeared the Chu family’s reputation!”

One advisor hesitated and said, “Although Chu Changping wasn’t in Yongzhou when it fell, this crime cannot be absolved. If Your Highness wants to raise a rebellion in the future, having a general under your command with a reputation for fleeing the city may not be beneficial for gathering support.”

As soon as these words were spoken, a general immediately retorted, “Fan Wei and Prince Xinyang aren’t afraid of public scorn when they rebel; General Chu simply refuses to serve the court! Should he be scorned for that?”

They didn’t know the source of the animosity between the Chu family and the emperor; they assumed that Chu Changping had intended to join Feng Shuo all along, which was why he had traveled so far from Yongzhou to Xizhou, bringing his entire family from the capital to prevent the emperor from using them as hostages.

Feng Shuo listened to the discussions of the advisors and generals but remained silent.

He was also pondering the new emperor’s intention with this move.

Exiling the daughters of noble families to serve as military prostitutes, the new emperor had previously been wary of his own stains and didn’t dare to act recklessly.

But now, it seemed he had gone mad, as if he was no longer afraid of the revelations of his past actions or perhaps… it was for an even more significant purpose that he simply couldn’t care less.

Feng Shuo thought for a long time but couldn’t come to a conclusion.

However, regarding Jiang Yiyi’s reputation, he certainly couldn’t reveal that she had been punished by the new emperor and sent to the military camp in Xizhou to serve as a prostitute.

Meanwhile, the advisors continued to argue.

In the study, a charcoal brazier burned, and the windows were opened for ventilation. Occasionally, cold wind would seep through the windows.

A thick layer of snow had fallen on the lush pines and cypresses outside.

Perhaps the snowfall had been too heavy, causing the branches to sag under the weight, and as they bent, a lot of powdery snow fell.

Feng Shuo seemed to have made a decision, and his eyes darkened like the night sky. “Chu Changping could be a capable leader.”

No one in the room rebutted this statement.

It was easy to find a general, but it was difficult to find a strategist who could strategize.

He spoke solemnly, “In the battle of Yongzhou, it wasn’t that Chu Changping abandoned his post; rather, he brought his old troops to join this king!”

As soon as these words were spoken, the room fell silent.

The advisors and generals were stunned for a moment before erupting in joy, asking, “Does Your Highness intend to rebel?”

Feng Shuo lightly raised his phoenix eyes, saying, “Why not? sooner or later, he would have to rebel against the court. The new emperor wanted to tarnish the Chu family’s reputation, and if he continued to rely on Chu Changping in the future, he would inevitably face criticism. It would be better for him to act now and deflect the new emperor’s smear against the Chu family.”

The advisors and generals were overjoyed, kneeling and calling in unison, ‘We pay our respects to Your Majesty!'”

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