Chapter 396 Retaliate

Chapter 396 Retaliate

Jiang Yuan nodded, "Leave the Marquis's residence and the Jiang family to me, you take care of the others."

Xie Wanniang shook her head, "You should continue doing what you're supposed to do. I'm free right now, and I have plenty of time to openly and honestly make their house dilapidated and their descendants few and far between."

Jiang Yuan hesitated for a moment, "Didn't His Majesty assign you a new job?"

The emperor asked her to refine her idea about utilizing water and wind power, ideally by conducting small-scale experiments beforehand, similar to those used for glass and rubber, to provide the Ministry of Works with a tangible and visible prototype.

Jiang Yuan didn't know that these things wouldn't require Xie Wanniang to spend much time, energy, or thought. After all, in her previous life, there was already a wealth of experience left by her predecessors regarding the use of wind and water power.

In other words, the people in this world haven't really made much use of the readily available resources in nature. Otherwise, she wouldn't have gone to such lengths to write about "utilization ideas"; writing "expansion of application scope" would probably have been more practical.

He was worried that Xie Wanniang wouldn't be able to handle it all, so he wanted to help share the burden.

Xie Wanniang reached out and tapped the solid wood tabletop where the Emperor Emeritus had sent her a piece of paper. "Seeing this, besides getting angry, didn't you think of anything else?"

Jiang Yuan was taken aback.

Xie Wanniang sighed, "At first, I was really just angry and didn't have the mood to think about anything else. But while waiting for you to come home, I couldn't help but think about some other things."

For example, what was the Emperor Emeritus's intention in sending this to her? As the founding emperor, she did not believe that the other party was simply being kind, nor did she believe that the other party was truly biased towards her and Jiang Yuan.

For example, if the retired emperor could easily find out the whole truth about this matter that they couldn't find out much of despite their frantic investigation, then could he also easily find out everything that happened in her princess's residence?

Her intelligence capabilities are in no way inferior to those of the famous Eastern Depot, Western Depot, and Embroidered Uniform Guard of her previous life.

She, Jiang Yuan, and their two children had no secrets to hide, so they weren't afraid of being secretly watched. But she couldn't help but wonder what the Emperor Emeritus meant by giving her this.

It wasn't out of simple kindness to help them, nor out of selfishness to show them special favor; then it must be that their actions made the Emperor Emeritus feel that they were detrimental to the Great Wei.

This disadvantage may be detrimental to the stability of the court, or it may hinder them from continuing to wholeheartedly contribute to the Great Wei.

Xie Wanniang couldn't figure out which one it was, so she simply assumed it was both.

Now that she has received ready-made intelligence from the retired emperor, she naturally can no longer frantically keep an eye on people everywhere as before.

So what she had to do next was to complete the tasks assigned to her by the emperor with high quality and quantity, while also getting revenge for her daughter in a fair and just manner.

She took Jiang Yuan's hand and intertwined her fingers with his. "Just continue doing what you need to do. Don't worry, your wife isn't as overworked as you think."

Seeing Jiang Yuan's skeptical look, Xie Wanniang reached out and took the half-written booklet she had just written. "Here, let me show you my work progress."

Jiang Yuan subconsciously flipped through a few pages, and then his previously skeptical expression turned into disbelief.

Sitting up straight, Jiang Yuan quickly finished reading the half-finished booklet written by Xie Wan Niang. "You..."

Xie Wanniang raised her chin slightly, "Don't worry, even if I spend most of my time and energy cleaning up that rubbish, I can still write this thing within two days."

Seeing Jiang Yuan's worried expression, Xie Wanniang gently shook her clasped hands with his, "As for the feasibility of my plans, once you see them with your own eyes, you will naturally believe that they are without any problems."

Seeing her full of confidence, Jiang Yuan's original worries were largely dispelled.

Looking back on the years he spent with Xie Wanniang, Xie Wanniang never indulged in unrealistic, far-fetched dreams; she was never the kind of person who only talked the talk.

With that thought, Jiang Yuan felt relieved. He gazed at Xie Wanniang's still young and beautiful face, "Alright, then you can start doing this. If there's anything I can help with, please don't hesitate to ask."

He is the children's father, and he also has a responsibility to be their protector.

The couple huddled together to discuss their next course of action. After quickly reaching a consensus, Jiang Yuan accompanied Xie Wanniang in a hearty fight, allowing her to vent the last bit of negative emotions in her heart.

After they were both covered in sweat, Jiang Yuan accompanied her back to wash up, change clothes, and have dinner.

With Jiang Yuan so perfectly catering to her preferences, Xie Wanniang found it hard to maintain her gloomy mood. By the time the two of them had dinner with the child, she had already become cheerful again.

Unlike the harmonious atmosphere of her family, the guys she had precisely targeted were now terrified and unable to eat.

They didn't know what the Emperor Emeritus had been doing in private, so they were all confused about how Xie Wanniang had managed to pinpoint their location so accurately.

Jiang Tong prided himself on being very careful in his actions. Even when he instigated others to target An'an, he did not allow his subordinates and servants to show themselves. Instead, he specifically instructed them to take several detours.

Even his subordinates and servants, when carrying out their operations, would deliberately use walls or other obstructions to make it appear as if they were just casually chatting and "said something unintentionally," making it impossible for anyone to find any real evidence against them.

The family whose ambitions had been stirred up by Jiang Tong, who planned to scheme against An'an through underhanded means, never dreamed that Xie Wan'niang would still be able to find them so accurately, despite their careful and cautious actions.

At first, when Xie Wanniang cast a wide net to investigate, they could comfort themselves that they were just one of Xie Wanniang's suspects. As long as Xie Wanniang couldn't find any concrete evidence against them, she couldn't make them the main targets for retaliation.

At the time, their thought was, "Let them make a scene, no matter how big a scene you make, they won't be able to find any concrete evidence."

But soon they noticed that Xie Wanniang had stopped using the needle-in-a-haystack search method. She, she, she actually managed to accurately retrieve their needle from the vast ocean.

Although they went through all that trouble to scheme against An'an and failed, at least in terms of their initial intentions, they didn't intend to antagonize Xie Wanniang and Jiang Yuan. Instead, they wanted to use this method to secure a prestigious marriage alliance for their own family.

It's frustrating to fail at stealing chickens, but as long as they don't get caught, they still have the chance to set up another scheme.

But now they not only failed to steal the chicken, but also suffered a loss. No, no, no, given Xie Wanniang's temperament, they won't just suffer a loss.

There is a high probability that they will ruin their entire family's future and wealth due to momentary greed.

This is terrifying.

The only one who wasn't yet uneasy about this matter was the head of the Marquis's mansion who had set conditions for Jiang Tong to do it.

Although it was indeed his suggestion that this matter was made, and his eldest grandson did go to the peach grove to admire the flowers that day, he could deny making the suggestion. His eldest grandson's visit to the peach grove to admire the flowers was a perfectly legitimate act. The old Marquis did not believe that their Marquis's mansion needed to feel guilty because Xie Wanniang and Jiang Yuan suddenly went mad.

Of course, his composure was also partly due to the fact that Xie Wanniang hadn't openly sent anyone to keep watch outside their manor.

The family that plotted to harm her daughter An'an had a head who was only a fifth-rank official, and the rest of the family members were all unambitious.

Xie Wanniang wasn't worried at all that these families knew she was investigating them or keeping an eye on them.

In order to improve efficiency, Xie Wanniang adopted a tough approach of alerting the enemy when dealing with their family.

Although Jiang Tong was a nobleman, Xie Wanniang and Jiang Yuan had already collected information about his and other members of the nobleman's family in the past, just in case.

Now that Jiang Tong has set his sights on An'an, he has completely crossed Xie Wan'niang and Jiang Yuan's bottom line, so naturally the two will no longer be polite to the Jiang family.

The only one who started all this, the old Marquis of the Marquis's mansion, was a newly emerged enemy with a high status, so Xie Wanniang and Jiang Yuan really couldn't do anything about him for the time being.

But it doesn't matter. It's never too late for a young woman to take revenge. Xie Wanniang has plenty of time to dig a pit and bury people.

At this time, Xie Wanniang was unaware that Jiang Tong had actually dug a pit for the Marquis's mansion. However, in order to bury everyone in the Marquis's mansion, it would take more time for things to slowly ferment.

Under Xie Wanniang's ruthless methods and relentless pressure, the fifth-rank official was quickly convicted of breaking the law due to his own disarray. The emperor, who had been waiting for the outcome of their struggle, readily presented the evidence to Jiang Yuan. After the three judicial departments verified the evidence, the official was demoted and banished from the capital.

As for Jiang Tong, he was quite slick and never committed any major offenses, but he had a bunch of ambitious but scheming illegitimate sons who all lived in the capital.

These incompetent teammates personally selected by Jiang Tong were easy targets for Xie Wanniang to find fault with, like tossing rings together – she could find the culprit every time.

The most ingenious thing is that they know they don't have much influence, so whenever they do something wrong, they always use their father, Jiang Tong, as a shield.

Although Jiang Tong did nothing wrong, he failed to restrain his sons, allowing them to commit illegal acts in his name. This crime was undeniable and indisputable to him.

In the end, all of Jiang Tong's illegitimate sons lost the jobs that Jiang Tong had painstakingly arranged for them. The two who were most guilty were even exiled to the Northwest to eat sand.

Although the exile period is only two years, it is enough for them to suffer greatly, and if they are not careful, it is not impossible for them to lose their lives there.

Their birth mother wailed and howled, feeling as if her world had completely collapsed. However, this time Jiang Tong didn't have the patience to coax his concubines.

After all, as the father of those unfilial sons, he was severely punished.

The emperor did not take action against his title, but he changed the hereditary title of Earl, which he had obtained for his contributions to the founding of the dynasty, into a temporary title that would be abolished after three generations.

The title that Jiang Tong had risked his life for was now being made temporary by the emperor; one can imagine the extent of his heartache.

The punishment was severe, and some other nobles felt the same way, so they pleaded with the emperor on his behalf for their own benefit. However, the emperor ultimately did not change his mind.

In the emperor's words, how many years has the Great Wei Dynasty been established? The descendants of the original meritorious officials have already begun to unscrupulously exploit the people and empty the national treasury. If he does not take swift and decisive action to deal with them severely as soon as this unhealthy trend emerges, so as to make an example of them and deter others, who knows what even more outrageous things these people will do in the future, relying on the achievements of their fathers and grandfathers.

The emperor then turned around and asked the nobles who had tried to plead for Jiang Tong, "Do you have such unworthy descendants in your family? Are you pleading for the Jiang family today because you are worried that if one day your descendants do something that harms the Great Wei, I will punish you severely according to the law?"

A seemingly mild questioning retort was enough to frighten several nobles who were trying to plead for Jiang Tong into never mentioning the matter again.

Whether they have such unworthy descendants in their own families is not important. What is important is whether they want to protect their unworthy children and let them ruin the country and society of Wei, or whether they will put righteousness above family ties and prioritize the stability of the country and society of Wei.

For people living in feudal dynasties, this was not a choice, but a life-or-death situation.

Anyone who doesn't want to be branded as disloyal and implicate their entire family must outwardly prioritize "loyalty" over everything else.

The instigators and perpetrators all received their just deserts, and Xie Wanniang, the mastermind behind it all, had meticulously orchestrated a grand drama for him.

The eldest grandson of the old marquis who tried to scheme against her, three months after the Emperor Emeritus passed Xie Wanniang a note, was exposed for having a secret engagement with a cousin from her grandmother's family, and that the cousin was already pregnant.

The news became the hottest topic in the capital as soon as it spread. Whether it was the nobles who knew about the Marquis's family or the vast majority of ordinary people, everyone was discussing it enthusiastically in private.

Such scandalous gossip is naturally the easiest to arouse people's curiosity, not to mention that this matter is not just a simple scandalous gossip.

Following the phrase "secret pregnancy," there was an even more shocking piece of news—the mother of the eldest grandson of the Marquis's family, who was also the heir apparent of the Marquis's family, did not react by secretly bringing the person into the mansion or keeping her in some other house after learning that her son had committed such a disgraceful act with her deceased mother-in-law's niece. Instead, she ruthlessly killed the pregnant young girl.