Huang Quan's words caused Wang Chuan to be puzzled: "What invitation did Princess Wuyang send?"
"It's an invitation for the madams and young misses of each manor to attend a banquet at Wen Xuan Palace on the tenth, which is tomorrow evening. Not only did they invite the head wives and young misses of the first wife of each manor, they even invited the young misses of concubines. "
Wang Chuan furrowed his brow: "But our manor did not receive an invitation?"
"That's what I'm talking about." Huang Quan stomped her foot and said: "What's going on? Normally speaking, it's impossible for Princess Wuyang's banquet not to invite our young miss? Young Miss, did you get into a fight with Princess Wuyang? "
Feng Yu Heng rolled her eyes, "She just swindled food and drinks from us yesterday. Can you tell that she got into a fight?"
Wang Chuan's lips twitched, what did she mean by swindling food and drinks? Aside from the Bai family's young miss, everyone else had paid 100,000 taels of silver as food expenses, alright? She suddenly thought of something, "Could it be that the secret plan that Princess Wuyang spoke of yesterday was this?"
Feng Yu Heng declined to comment, asking Huang Quan: "Do you know what the banquet's theme is?"
Huang Quan nodded, "It's said that it's to pray for Dashun, for the Emperor and for Her Highness the Empress."
"That's it." Feng Yu Heng could not help but laugh. She understood a little what those servants were up to. With such a big accusation, who would dare not attend this sort of banquet to pray for blessings? If word got out that the madam or young miss of a certain official's manor did not attend, that would be not giving face to Dashun and ignoring the safety of the Emperor and the Empress. Who could bear this sort of accusation? To pray for blessings, money had to be used! To pray for blessings at the temple, money had to be given. Xuan Tiange would not make a loss.
She curled the corners of her lips into a smile. Wang Chuan had also figured out some reasoning, but Huang Quan was still confused. However, she could tell that it wasn't because of the estrangement between her Young Miss and Princess Wuyang, so she didn't dwell on it anymore.
Feng Yu Heng simply ate some plain porridge and side dishes as breakfast. This New Year's celebration was not joyous at all, but the benefits that the servants in the fu should have were not reduced at all. Of course, she didn't need to worry about this. Everything was taken care of by the head steward, Qing Yu. She also gave Qing Yu a lot of power. For example, if the expenditure of less than a thousand taels of silver was spent, she didn't need to report it to her. She only needed to record it properly. Every year, Qing Yu was in charge of the welfare of the servants in the fu, including the family members of the servants. As long as they were in the capital or in the suburbs, they could not be ignored.
Qing Yu was indeed a good housekeeper material. Not only did she think about the family members, but she would also prepare gifts according to the different needs of each family. For example, if there were children, she would prepare more sweets. If there were elderly people, she would send some tonics. If the male servants had wives, it would be easier if they worked together. If they didn't work together, she would give them the same amount as the maidservants in the fu. Not a single piece of jewelry was missing. As for the servants in the fu, it was not just double their wages and extra money. She would also distribute fish, eggs, oil and other necessities. It was very considerate.
Feng Yu Heng still believed that she could not completely rely on money to move people's hearts. Sometimes, doing some small considerate things could make those servants follow her wholeheartedly. After all, she could not take the risk of having spies in her imperial daughter's fu. Even if they weren't spies, having a few servants with bad intentions would also cause a pool of water to be muddied. Small favors could win people's hearts. She would definitely not be stingy with the money. In addition, if the servants in the fu were sick, they would be sent to Hundred Herb Hall for free treatment. The servants did not have to pay a single cent of their own money. The fu would pay for everything.
Now that Hundred Herb Hall was closed, she couldn't take all the servants with her when she went to her fief. In order to appease the people left behind, she had Wang Lin choose a doctor who was slightly older and whose family business was in the capital. He would be paid the same salary and would be responsible for the treatment of the servants in the imperial daughter's fu, the Yao fu, and the other manors that were close to her. When the servants heard of this, they were all very moved. They all said that they would take good care of the imperial daughter's fu and wait for her return.
As for the servants that were chosen to follow Feng Yu Heng to her fief, they were all busy packing their things. They were all filled with hope for their new fief.
Right now, the news that Feng Yu Heng was going to leave the capital for her fief was no longer a secret. She didn't deliberately hide it. She even had Wang Lin and Qing Yu spread the news. She also made it clear that she had been chased out of the capital by those old officials. As for who those old officials were, the commoners naturally knew. Weren't they the ones that forced Princess Ji An to close Hundred Herb Hall? The commoners also didn't forget that those people all relied on the Eighth Prince.
In all these years, Feng Yu Heng had never given up on her reputation in the capital. She had also done a lot of good deeds. There were a lot of people in the capital who had received her kindness. Her medical skills had even cured the families of many officials. Those people were originally neutral, but because of Feng Yu Heng's miraculous treatment, the scales in their hearts gradually shifted toward the Ninth Prince's side.
The commoners spontaneously formed an "Anti-Eighth Alliance". Over a thousand people spread out and blocked the doors of the officials who were enemies of Princess Ji An. They were smart and didn't charge in. They knew that trespassing on the residences of officials was punishable by death. They just sat in front of the doors and each person moved a small stool. Some people even filled water bags with water. When they were thirsty, they would take a sip.
As a result, there were one to two hundred people blocking the doors of each residence. The people didn't just sit there and do nothing. From time to time, they would organize a group to denounce and shout at the door: "Give justice to Princess Ji An! Give back our Hundred Herb Hall! What right do you have to chase Princess Ji An out of the capital? The ones who should leave are you! "The voices rose and fell one after another. It was very lively.
When they weren't shouting, the people would chat in groups of three to five. Under the influence of the environment, the chatter was all about Feng Yu Heng. The people still remembered Feng Yu Heng's contributions to the capital. Someone brought up the winter disaster two years ago: "That year, my mother was so cold that she was stiff. She was about to die. Fortunately, someone said that the imperial princess was giving out warm tea at the entrance of Hundred Herb Hall. I went to get the tea behind my mother's back. When the imperial princess saw that my mother was seriously ill, she took me into Hundred Herb Hall and personally treated me. My mother was pulled back from the gates of hell. Even now, my mother still talks about how Princess Ji An is my benefactor. She always tells me that I have to kowtow when I see the imperial princess. "
After he finished speaking, someone immediately said: "Isn't that right! If it weren't for Ji An thinking of the poor people in the northern part of the city, giving us food and having people help us repair our houses, who would care about our lives? We would have all frozen to death in the snow. "
Another person mentioned the flood and the epidemic after the flood. "That year, if it weren't for the Princess and His Highness the Ninth Prince's prompt decision to block the refugees outside the city, I'm afraid that the entire capital would have been infected by the epidemic. That was an epidemic! Who could survive after being infected? It was imperial princess and His Ninth Highness who saved the entire capital. "
"That's right! Imperial princess and His Ninth Highness are both good people. For the sake of not letting the people outside die, they actually left the city with their noble statuses. They set up tents outside to personally treat the refugees. Are there still such good princes and imperial princesses in this world? "
"That's right! Imperial princess even produced steel for our Dashun. I heard that our steel weapons easily broke Zong Sui's iron essence weapons. We really showed off! "
"Imperial princess even conquered Qian Zhou!"
The people went back and forth, talking about Feng Yu Heng's achievements over the years. It was not just one manor that had this sort of discussion. Instead, all of the manors that had been surrounded by people were talking about the same sort of story. The more the people spoke, the more excited they became. The more they spoke, the more they felt that with this imperial princess around, Dashun would have hope. Only when the Ninth Prince and Princess Ji An were married and ruled the world together would they have hope for the future.
"But such a good imperial princess was chased away by this group of bastards!" Someone shouted emotionally, standing up and pointing at the manors in front of them, cursing: "Are you really Dashun's officials or not? Are you really Dashun's people or not? Are you spies sent by another country? Why are people who are good to Dashun and good to the citizens being chased away? Why can't you just watch as Dashun becomes stronger and stronger with each passing day? "
With someone taking the lead, the others could no longer sit still. They all stood up and cursed, even crying as they cursed. In the end, it developed into everyone kneeling in the direction of the imperial palace, crying and begging: "Your Majesty! Look at these officials who do not care about the safety of Dashun, who do not care about the lives of the citizens! The court cannot use these kinds of officials anymore! With them around, Dashun will never have a day of peace! Your Majesty! The human heart is hard to fathom. The Eighth Prince does not have good intentions! Your Majesty, please investigate! Your Majesty, Ming Huang! "
The shouts shook the heavens, and could be heard from ten li long streets. The people were infected by such an atmosphere, and more and more citizens came out of their homes to join the "Anti-Eighth Alliance". The scene was so spectacular that even the officials sent by the capital governor to maintain law and order had goosebumps. They even had the impulse to kneel down.
When the capital governor saw such a scene, he was the parent official of the capital. When such a situation occurred, he should be the first to suppress it. However, as a member of Feng Yu Heng's party, he knew that what he should do now was to go to the court to meet the emperor and tell the emperor about the situation outside in full detail. Regardless of whether it was useful or not, at least this situation had to be made known to the court.
As for the officials and their family members who were holed up in their manors, at this moment, they were trembling with fear. They all gathered in a room, guessing what kind of ending this matter would eventually develop into.
Some of the more timid officials had already begun to plan what to do if they were punished. Should they escape or find the Eighth Prince to think of a solution? Some of the braver ones sent their own servants to quietly leave their manors and run to the city gates, informing the city guards that there was a disturbance in the capital and asking the city guards to send troops to suppress it.
However, they did not know that the general of the city guards was called Wang Zhuo, a fourth-ranked military general. He was personally promoted by Feng Yu Heng. He had long heard of the situation in the city, and was also present on the night of the palace banquet. However, his official position was too low, and he was also a military general. His eloquence was not as good as those civil officials, so he could not get a word in edgewise. However, he did not expect that there would be someone who would shamelessly ask him to send troops to suppress the people. Wang Zhuo was so angry that he hung up the servant who reported the news and beat him up. He then threw him into prison with the crime of destroying the city's defenses.
That servant was also unlucky. Destroying the city's defenses? He had indeed destroyed the city's defenses. Because when he ran over, he accidentally fell down. The soldiers on the city walls were bored and were playing with bricks. The five bricks that had just been built were knocked down by him.
Such a big thing happened in the capital. Of course, it could also reach Feng Yu Heng's ears. The person who told her the news was the Seventh Prince, Xuan Tianhua, who had visited an hour ago.
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