Allure of a Country Maiden
Chapter 784 - 782

Chapter 784: 782

"Mother, don’t get angry, beheading is not the solution, it’ll only confirm the rumors!" The eldest princess soothed the Empress Dowager’s backside.

"What? Even the princess thinks I’m cruel and heartless?" The Empress Dowager was displeased after hearing these words. What does she mean by confirming the rumors? People had unjustly accused her, and she wasn’t even able to punish them!

The eldest princess was momentarily speechless. She was concerned that acting impulsively would only intensify the rumors. People were merely gossiping, and if she used punishments and beheading to solve the issue, wouldn’t that affirm that what others said was the truth?

"The Empress Dowager misunderstands you, Crown Princess. Punishing the Crown Princess was not wrong in itself, and copying Buddhist scriptures is not a severe punishment, so why did the matter escalate to such severity? It’s all because the subordinates dared to cross the line! Not only did they deprive you of making fire in the Buddhist temple, they even didn’t attend to the Crown Princess, and didn’t even know when she fainted. In the severe cold winter, they have no idea how long she lay on the freezing ground, eventually suffered from a cold, causing her condition to worsen and falling into a coma! This is all because the maids in the palace dared to disdain the master. Seeing that the Crown Princess came from a lower background, they looked down upon her, and an accident happened causing the matter to get out of hand. That made public misunderstanding the Empress Dowager. As long as we clearly explain to the common people, it’ll be fine! We cannot stop these rumors with violence." Shangguan Ruixi clung to blaming maids because, firstly, they were indeed neglectful, and secondly, he wanted to kill a chicken to scare the monkeys – the other maids of the Cining Palace! He wanted them to know that the master was still the master, and even if the master was punished, they couldn’t add insult to injury. If something happened to the master, they would be the ones to suffer!

Du Yijin would need to interact with the Empress Dowager quite often after marrying him. Her background and reputation were something the Empress Dowager could hardly tolerate, and he anticipated that there would be plenty of difficulties in the future when he couldn’t be nearby to protect her.

He was persistently nitpicking in hopes of letting the Empress Dowager to think twice and reconsider before she wanted to give Du Yijin a hard time in the future. She needed to consider her reputation, and he believed that the maids in the Cining Palace would also learn their lesson and never dare to add insult to injury again.

After all, the Empress Dowager only gave the orders, and those who executed them were her subordinates! He wanted to tell them, anyone who bullied his people, he would never let them go. He trusted that they would know what to do if anything similar happened in the future.

The Empress Dowager nodded after listening to these words. She never intended to kill Du Yijin, she just wanted to punish her. "That’s right! I didn’t ask them to ignore the Crown Princess! It was only a punishment to copy the Buddhist scriptures. I have punished the eldest princess like this before! But the eldest princess never fell ill because of it. It’s all those maids who thought they were above everyone else, and did not put the Crown Princess in their eyes, causing all these troubles! Bring all the maids on night duty that evening and give each of them twenty heavy blows!"

Initially, the Empress Dowager wanted to send the maids to the Clothing Bureau. But she was elderly, and she had gotten used to them. She didn’t want to change the maids and have to remember the names of new ones.

Although Shangguan Ruixi was not totally satisfied with the punishment, he couldn’t say anything more. He’d positively accept the gain and would have to refrain himself, otherwise, the Empress Dowager would start to have suspicions.

"Then how should I clarify to the common people that I am not a cruel person?" The Empress Dowager always loved her reputation, just as any sovereign wanted to be known as a good emperor in all times, she, the Empress Dowager, also wished the world to know about her grace and gentleness, and have her name remembered through ages.

Whenever there was a natural disaster or man-made calamity, she would donate money to help the victims. She did it all in hopes that the people would remember her, and her deeds would be passed down through generations.

The desire that the Empress Dowager had to be remembered through ages had waned somewhat. But when Xiao’er was getting married, the number of common people who spontaneously contributed to her dowry, despite the long distances, truly moved her. The direction of public sentiment and the depth of their affections had deeply shocked her, and her desire rekindled.

Recently, she had pulled out her private savings to donate and build a school in a poverty-stricken area, in hopes that one day, on her big birthday, there would be commoners who would journey a thousand miles to pay tribute to her, contributing their feather-light gifts filled with heavy sentiment.

When she was a maiden, the Empress Dowager often participated in charitable activities like setting up tents and offering porridge. However, during her grand wedding, there wasn’t a single commoner who gave her any dowries. Because of this, she harbored some resentment towards Xiao’er, feeling that a crown princess had overshadowed her, the Empress Dowager.

Shangguan Ruixi knew about the Empress Dowager’s desire for a good reputation and her wish to be remembered through the ages, and he decided to use it.

"Empress Dowager, in dealing with this matter, we could post an imperial list, clarifying everything. If anyone still dares to discuss the Empress Dowager behind her back, disparaging the Empress Dowager, they could all be jailed."

"Post an imperial list? That might not be necessary!" The Empress Dowager never imagined there would come a day when, in order to clarify that she was not malicious, that she was not a cruel and cold-hearted person, she would need to post an imperial list to explain it all.

Surely such an imperial list wouldn’t leave a good legacy? But seeing such a legacy, she was not willing to even glimpse at it!

The Palace Master also felt it was inappropriate: "Wouldn’t this be too serious?"

Post an imperial list to explain? She felt slightly as if the Empress Dowager was publicly issuing an apology statement. And there was a sense of ’protesting too much’?

Imperial lists were either for posting a warrant to arrest criminals or for announcing important government affairs to the people.

The Empress Dowager nodded after hearing these words. It’s too serious! Quickly think of another solution!

"Then, do you have any good ideas?" Shangguan Ruixi asked respectfully.

The Empress Dowager also looked expectantly at her.

The eldest princess: "No."

What sort of ideas could she have?

This matter, in her opinion, did not require clarification. Some things would only become worse the more you tried to explain them, and people would stop talking about it eventually!

The Empress Dowager let out a sigh of disappointment.

The Emperor and the imperial doctor rushed over at this point.

The eldest princess and Shangguan Ruixi quickly got up to bow in greeting.

"Dispense with the formalities!" The Emperor waved them off. Seeing that his mother was alright, he let out a sigh of relief: "I heard that my mother fainted? Is everything alright now? Imperial doctor, quickly check on the Empress Dowager!"

"Yes, Your Majesty." The imperial doctor prepared to step forward.

"There’s no need to check, I’m fine now!" The Empress Dowager burst into tears at the sight of her son: "Emperor, my reputation is completely ruined! You must hang an imperial list for me to clarify everything!"

"What happened?" The Emperor was taken aback upon hearing this: is the situation so serious for an imperial list to be posted to clarify everything? Emperor looked at Shangguan Ruixi, indicating for him to explain.

Women took a long time to answer questions and usually didn’t get to the point. Therefore, the Emperor did not dare hope that the Empress Dowager could explain things clearly and quickly. It was better to ask the only man present directly.

"Your Majesty, the entire Imperial City is filled with rumors. They all say that the Empress Dowager..." Shangguan Ruixi bowed, briefly explaining the situation.

How could such a thing be spread? The Emperor frowned, then it dawned on him. This young man must be venting his anger for his wife, he thought to himself as he playfully glared at Shangguan Ruixi, although he didn’t actually blame him.

The men of the Shangguan family all protected their wives. For the sake of their families and future prosperity, they really did put a lot of effort into it!

The Empress Dowager cared about her reputation, and after this incident, she should learn to restrain herself and not blow small mistakes out of proportion.

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