Chapter 376 Establishing Authority

Chapter 376 Establishing Authority

By the time Xie Wanniang and Jiang Yuan arrived after receiving the news, all the people brought by the royal relatives were already lying on the ground.

Their master angrily pointed at the Jiang family guards and cursed them, but none of them dared to rush in front of them.

They only perked up again when they saw Xie Wanniang and Jiang Yuan.

A few fools, easily instigated, jumped out to be the first to speak up and started cursing Xie Wanniang and Jiang Yuan again.

Xie Wanniang listened for a while and felt that their story was nothing new.

Disobedience, disrespect for elders, heinous crimes deserving divine punishment, lack of manners, and ill-mannered... In short, they were all clichés she had heard countless times.

Xie Wanniang was a little annoyed. Today was a thank-you banquet held by her family to celebrate Jiang Yuan's promotion and her own rise in status. These bastards, relying on being her actual blood relatives, jumped out to cause trouble and ruin her and Jiang Yuan's good mood. She felt that she should teach them a lesson.

Guard Da Yang and the other guards bowed and said, "My lord, princess, it's not that we don't know the rules, it's just that they provoked us as soon as they arrived."

The two gatekeepers who almost got beaten up nodded vigorously, "That's right, they came here shouting and cursing as soon as they arrived. Please, sir and princess, do justice for us."

Xie Wanniang and Jiang Yuan exchanged a glance, and Jiang Yuan spoke, "May I ask who you are?"

The royal relatives were furious, their faces turning purple. One of them pointed at Jiang Yuan and Xie Wanniang, "When your elders come to visit, is this how you treat them? Not only do you condone your guards beating people and breaking their limbs at will, but you don't even know to greet your elders?"

Xie Wanniang felt utterly disgusted. She just couldn't understand why there were always people in this world who thought that as long as they were someone's nominal elder, they could rightfully point fingers at others.

Don't you have any self-awareness about whether you have contributed to the growth and lives of others?

Where do these people get the audacity to act so recklessly just because they are "elders"?

Even between a father and son, there must be paternal love before filial piety can develop, not to mention that these people were actually just some of her cheap father's relatives.

She doesn't even acknowledge her scumbag father, so where do these people get the confidence that she would acknowledge their status as elders?

Xie Wanniang was too lazy to maintain any social etiquette. Her face darkened, "Who are you to us as our elders? I don't remember having a group of relatives like you."

Before the other party could speak, she continued to question with a cold smile, "Have you ever given me food, clothes, or pocket money? Or taught me to read and practice martial arts, or given me even a little bit of money to ward off evil spirits during festivals?"

"No, right? Then where do you get the nerve to come to my house and act like our elders?"

"Where were you, my so-called elders, when I was starving, when I needed food, clothing and shelter, when I faced life-or-death crises?"

“Now that my husband has become a high-ranking official and I have become a princess, I have suddenly gained a lot of relatives. This really proves the old saying: ‘When you are poor, no one cares about you in the city; when you are rich, you have distant relatives even in the mountains.’”

She was eloquent and spoke rapidly, giving the royal family no chance to refute her. The men were so angry that their faces turned purple, and they wished they could take out needles and thread and sew Xie Wanniang's sharp tongue shut.

"Those who know what's good for them will get back to where they came from, or I have plenty of ways to make them lose face."

Those members of the royal family were thinking to themselves, "You've already made us lose face! Don't act like you've shown any mercy!"

However, as it turns out, Xie Wanniang has indeed shown mercy now, because she immediately said, "If you insist on provoking me, then we can go and reason with His Majesty."

A group of royal relatives: ...

If they dared to cause trouble in front of the emperor, why would they lower themselves to come and cause her trouble?

The crowd exchanged bewildered glances before someone finally managed to stammer out, "If you didn't have the blood of the Yuan clan flowing through your veins, how would you have your current status as a princess?"

As soon as he said this, the other few people, who were just as clueless as him, immediately nodded vigorously.

Exactly, how can this woman enjoy the benefits of being a member of the royal family while shamelessly refusing to acknowledge her elders?

They and their children were all extremely envious of this woman's princess status.

Xie Wanniang then realized that these people didn't even know the real reason why she went from being a county princess to a county princess, and then to a princess.

She was speechless. These people were just lucky to have been born into a good family; otherwise, they would have starved to death on the streets sooner or later.

"Who told you that I was promoted to princess because I have the blood of the Yuan clan in my veins?"

"If having the blood of the Yuan clan means you can have anything you want, then why don't you, your children, and your grandchildren, obtain the status of princes or princesses? Is it that you don't want to?"

The sounds of sharp blades piercing flesh echoed in the minds of the royal family members, a series of ominous sounds as Xie Wanniang exposed their weaknesses and wounded their hearts.

"Even if you don't have a brain, you still have a mouth, right? Don't always assume things you don't know. What reasonable conclusions can you come up with with your pitiful brains that are smaller than a sesame seed?"

"If you go out and listen and ask around about this kind of common news, someone will take pity on you and tell you out of pity."

As the old saying goes, everything that seems illogical or unreasonable usually has a deeper reason behind it that can make it reasonable.

If these people had done even a little research and stopped being so focused on pleasure, jealousy, and wishful thinking, they wouldn't have been so foolish as to let someone easily instigate a conflict involving Xie Wanniang and Jiang Yuan.

"You, you, you..." Several members of the royal family, who had never been so humiliated, pointed at Xie Wanniang with trembling fingers, looking extremely pitiful. But what did it matter? Everyone had to bear the consequences of their actions.

She waved her hand, "Let's go, let's go. If you keep loitering like this, I'll really drag you to the palace to demand justice."

A group of royal relatives: ...

After a moment's hesitation, they slunk away.

The few guests who witnessed this scene were deeply shocked by Xie Wanniang's extremely sharp tongue.

They never expected that Xie Wanniang, who usually had a smiling and approachable demeanor, could be so sharp-tongued when she started to argue.

Some of the guests who had initially harbored certain ulterior motives immediately changed their minds after hearing about Xie Wanniang's actions, and dared not show their greed and malice again.

Xie Wanniang only learned from Cunyu after all the guests had left that quite a few officials' wives were planning to arrange concubines for Jiang Yuan.

The wives of officials brought quite a few concubine daughters, adopted daughters, nieces, and maternal nieces with them.

Cunyu told Xie Wanniang, "When they first arrived, they were still trying to find out things in all sorts of ways. It wasn't until they heard about what happened at the gate of our mansion that they became quiet."

Xie Wanniang had a headache. "It seems that I, this fake princess, am indeed not as good as the real princess."

Leaving aside those from the late period of the previous dynasty, Xie Wanniang has never seen any princesses from the early and middle periods of the previous dynasty, or even the current dynasty, dare to send concubines to their husbands.

Ultimately, these people still think she's easy to bully, a pushover.

The reason she changed her mind at the last minute was because she showed no mercy to the royal family and relatives, which made them feel fear and unable to control themselves.

After all, she was a ruthless woman who dared to have her guards break the arms and legs of even people brought by members of the royal family. If they provoked her, she might just take direct action against them.

They sent women to Jiang Yuan to gain greater benefits through this means, not to have their legs broken or be humiliated by Xie Wan Niang, a woman with a sharp tongue and a ruthless heart.

The group of people who came for personal gain quietly backed down, and the banquet at Xie Wan's family home ended smoothly in an unprecedentedly harmonious and peaceful atmosphere.

Regardless of whether the girls who were given away as gifts felt fortunate or resentful, Xie Wanniang and Jiang Yuan certainly avoided a lot of trouble.

The couple continued to live their quiet family life as usual, completely ignoring how much those trying to take a bite out of them were now agonizing.

Xie Wanniang did not send her two children to a famous school in the capital as originally planned, but instead continued to teach them at home by a private tutor.

The reason is simple: the girls' school that Xie Wanniang had her eye on had its female teacher sell the school due to health reasons, and Xie Wanniang felt that the person who took over was not suitable to be a teacher at the girls' school.

She didn't want her daughter to be taught feudal dross. People can understand and adapt to rules, but they can't treat rules as gospel. After all, rules don't represent truth. Some rules, frankly speaking, only represent the interests and selfishness of a few.

Xie Wanniang hoped that even if An'an lived in a feudal society where men were superior to women, she could have the mindset and ability to control her own destiny like her, instead of practicing the corrupt rules of "obeying the father at home, obeying the husband after marriage, and obeying the son after the husband's death" and "a woman's virtue lies in her lack of talent".

Therefore, after learning that the newly appointed teacher was a strong advocate of the Three Obediences and Four Virtues and the precepts for women, Xie Wanniang gave up her original plan to enroll An'an in school.

She discussed with Jiang Yuan, "We can have a tutor teach her now. If she does well and wants to study further, I can send her to my uncle's house for further study. As for other things, I and the maids in the house can teach her martial arts, housekeeping, business management, needlework, and cooking. We have teachers at home. As for music, chess, calligraphy, and painting, if she is interested, I will find a suitable teacher for her. If not, then we'll leave it at that."

Unlike other families, Xie Wanniang did not intend to raise her children to be all-rounders. Rather than teaching them talents, she preferred to enhance their survival skills.

Of course, if the child wants to learn, she will never stop or oppose it.

After all, people do need some hobbies and interests to live.

Jiang Yuan rarely expressed his opinion on these matters; basically, if Xie Wanniang thought something was good, he would also think it was indeed good.

As for the children, they are overjoyed to not be forced to learn things they are not interested in, so they naturally have no objections.

However, neither they nor Jiang Yuan and Xie Wanniang expected that they would soon be selected by the Emperor and Empress to enter the palace and become candidates to accompany the princes and princesses.

The reason they were called candidates was that, in addition to them, many children from other ministers' families were also included in the list of candidates by the Emperor and Empress.

These children will be brought into the palace for about a month, during which time they will try to get along with the princes and princesses.

Whoever catches the eye of the Emperor, Empress, and the princes and princesses will have the opportunity to stay in the palace and become their study companion.

Most officials in the court and their families regarded this selection of companions as a rare opportunity to climb the social ladder. Only Jiang Yuan and Xie Wanniang were completely opposed to it.

Indeed, as those officials thought, this was a great opportunity to climb the ranks, but this opportunity was also accompanied by countless frustrations and dangers.

Firstly, princes and princesses are very precious, so when they make mistakes, it is always their attendants who are punished, not the princes and princesses themselves.

Secondly, the new emperor is different from the retired emperor; he did not decide on a crown prince at the beginning of his reign.

Of course, even if he wanted to emulate his father, it wouldn't work; the two faced different situations and the same strategy simply wouldn't apply.

The reason why the retired emperor was able to decide on the crown prince so early was twofold. First, the crown prince, as the emperor's eldest son, was indeed outstanding. In terms of temperament, ability, achievements, prestige, etc., he far surpassed the other princes. Second, the crown prince already had enough self-protection ability at that time. Even if he sat on that throne, he could protect himself from the secretive attacks of his brothers who were united in their ambitions.

Unlike him, his sons did not possess such innate advantages.

A bunch of little kids, their personalities haven't even been formed yet, let alone any ability, achievements, or prestige.

It's impossible to tell who will be capable and who won't in the future from a child this young.

Not to mention that their circumstances will change over the next ten or even several decades.

Whose birth mother's status has risen, whose birth mother's status has fallen, whose maternal family's influence has grown, and whose maternal family's influence has gradually declined—these are all things that cannot be foreseen at a glance.

To take it to an even more extreme level, what if one of the concubines, or a member of her family, stepped on the emperor's sore spot...

Jiang Yuan and Xie Wanniang were not ambitious people; they didn't want to gamble, they just wanted to play it safe.

What princes and princesses? Let whoever wants to serve them serve them. Their children don't want to enter the palace at such a young age and live that kind of miserable life of constant fear and groveling, half-master and half-servant.