"Passing off inferior goods as superior ones and concealing taxes."
These eight words were truly perfect.
In the Prince Ning's Mansion, Lady Kang laughed triumphantly.
Firstly, it wasn't a serious crime, so it wouldn't arouse the suspicion of Prince Ning, Xiao Yuancheng. Even if he guessed it was her doing, he wouldn't blame her too much.
Secondly, although it was a minor offense, it was enough to ruin Li Wanming's reputation and make her fall from grace.
Just think about it. A wine shop that supplied alcohol for the imperial palace's New Year's Eve banquet was exposed for falsifying accounts on New Year's Eve. What a sensational piece of gossip it would be!
This matter would surely spread quickly throughout the court and the common people, causing a great deal of discussion.
By then, even if Li Wanming was innocent, she wouldn't be able to clear her name.
How could a woman suspected of falsifying accounts enter the Prince Ning's Mansion?
Even if the prince agreed, Empress Dowager Kang and the other veteran officials wouldn't allow it.
Moreover, she deliberately asked Xiao Yingchu to expose this matter to the Ministry of Revenue on the 29th of the twelfth lunar month, just to catch Xiao Jingnan and Li Wanming off guard.
With such a big incident in the wine shop, the originally planned Jin Yutang wine definitely couldn't be delivered. The imperial kitchen in the palace must be in a complete mess at this moment... This matter couldn't be hidden and would surely reach the ears of Empress Dowager Kang.
Although it was just a minor crime, if used properly, it could be magnified infinitely.
A wine seller suspected of "passing off inferior goods as superior ones and concealing taxes," a woman whose reputation was ruined and well-known throughout the court... How could the court officials and the censors in the Imperial Censorate allow her to marry into the Prince Ning's Mansion and become the future mistress of the most prestigious feudal prince in the Great Sheng Dynasty?
Moreover, she had already offended the Imperial College and the Beijing Metropolitan Prefecture.
Not to mention anything else, the spittle of those pedantic scholars in the Imperial College alone could drown her!
Lady Kang had long had a feeling that Empress Dowager Kang actually didn't really want Xiao Jingnan to get married.
Otherwise, with a single imperial edict from the empress dowager, couldn't they find a woman with a strong horoscope throughout the Great Sheng Dynasty, spanning the north and the south?
But the empress dowager just didn't do it.
Every time she mentioned Xiao Jingnan's marriage, she would just feign concern for a few words and then bestow some rewards to show the care of the mother of the nation for the courtier. That was all.
Apart from that, she didn't do anything else.
What Lady Kang didn't know was that Empress Dowager Kang didn't want Xiao Jingnan to get married because she was wary of the courtier.
The most prestigious feudal prince in the Great Sheng Dynasty already had a lofty status, only one step away from the imperial power. Moreover, the Princess Ning was the aunt of Zhao Yanke!
Xiao Jingnan and Zhao Yanke were cousins with the same bloodline!
Seeing Zhao Yanke growing up day by day and becoming more and more independent, she was even more reluctant to see the Prince Ning's Mansion become more powerful - it meant that Zhao Yanke would have a powerful maternal clan behind him and would eventually break away from her control.
Fortunately, the prince was sensible and had maintained a neutral stance and stayed out of politics for so many years.
Coupled with the prediction of a wandering Taoist priest that Xiao Jingnan would have difficulty getting married and the Prince Ning's Mansion was at risk of having no descendants, Empress Dowager Kang felt a little more at ease and maintained a superficial peace with the Prince Ning's Mansion.
However, in Lady Kang's eyes, this attitude of the empress dowager was interpreted as the empress dowager's dissatisfaction with Xiao Jingnan and her hope that he would end up alone!
Thinking of this, Lady Kang was almost crazy with joy.
Great...
If the empress dowager didn't like Xiao Jingnan and the eldest branch of the Xiao family, it meant that her son had a chance to inherit the title!
...
In the middle of the night, Xiao Yingchu finally returned.
Lady Kang looked behind her and was slightly stunned. "What? Why didn't the Black Armored Cavalry come back with you?"
Xiao Yingchu had a wooden expression on her face. "The Black Armored Cavalry are Uncle's personal guards. Of course, they will protect his son and daughter-in-law. Why would they send me back?"
Lady Kang raised her thin willow-leaf eyebrows and scolded angrily. "Who said she is your uncle's daughter-in-law? She hasn't even entered the Xiao family. What kind of daughter-in-law is she!"
She rolled her eyes and then asked. "Did you slip up in the Ministry of Revenue?"
Xiao Yingchu shook her head tiredly. "No. I only said that I accidentally found that the goods were wrong..." Then, she gave a sad smile. "Mother, do you really think Uncle and Cousin are that stupid and will believe these things?"
Lady Kang said, "It doesn't matter whether they believe it or not. The important thing is to let that girl from the Li family know that it's not easy to enter the Prince Ning's Mansion!"
Xiao Yingchu knelt down weakly. "Mother, Sister-in-law is kind and benevolent, with a pure heart. She is really not the kind of person who schemes to climb up the social ladder as you think..."
"Shut up!"
Lady Kang screamed. "That little bitch knew how to play the game of 'catching a son-in-law under the list' and 'pretending to be reserved but actually welcoming' back then. She bewitched your cousin so much that even your uncle and aunt accompanied them in their nonsense... With such scheming and means, you still say she is a good person?"
"If it weren't for me carefully managing this family, if it weren't for me finding a way to expose her true face to the world, the entire Prince Ning's Mansion would probably fall into the hands of that little vixen!"
Lady Kang was sitting on the chair, her chest heaving violently.
Xiao Yingchu slowly shook her head and shed two lines of clear tears. "Mother, you don't want Sister-in-law to enter the mansion, not for the sake of the Prince Ning's Mansion at all. You are ruining her reputation like this, even at the cost of Uncle's and Cousin's reputations. You are just doing it for yourself!"
"If Uncle Xu hadn't arrived early today, Sister-in-law might have died in prison! You only told me to hand over the prepared account books at that time. You didn't say that the Ministry of Revenue would arrest them and throw them into prison!"
Her face was flushed red. The more she talked, the more excited she became. By the end, she was almost hoarse. "You are so vicious. You are not doing this for the sake of the Prince Ning's Mansion at all! Uncle and Aunt have been so kind to us, but you want Cousin to end up alone and make them have no descendants..."
Slap!
A slap was狠狠地 slapped on Xiao Yingchu's face.
Lady Kang was gasping for breath, her fingers trembling as she pointed at her. "You... What are you talking nonsense about? How could I raise such a stupid daughter who betrays her own family!"
She could do these things, and her husband and daughter already knew her intentions... But they couldn't say it.
Especially today, when Xiao Yingchu shouted it out regardless, it was simply crazy!
Xiao Yingchu covered her face and let the tears fall silently.
She slowly turned around, knelt down again, and kowtowed heavily to Lady Kang.
"Mother, Uncle didn't question you this time, not because he couldn't guess, but because he didn't want to ruin the brotherly relationship with Father! Mother, please stop. I'm begging you..."
Lady Kang was so angry that she was trembling all over and almost gritted her teeth. "Good-for-nothing things... All of you are good-for-nothing things!"
Stop?
How could it be possible!
Seeing Li Wanming's reputation ruined and her son about to become the heir of the Prince Ning's Mansion, how could she give up at this moment?
As Lady Kang thought about it, she seemed to see the prosperity of the whole family waving to her. A crazy and distorted smile couldn't help but appear on her flushed face.