Chapter 160: Surviving with a Broken Tail

Jiang Boyou wrote a memorial to inquire about the Xiao family, which can be considered as daring to stroke the tiger's beard. The Xiao family was naturally extremely angry from top to bottom. Moreover, there are already many people speculating about when Jiang Boyou will be unlucky, both in the court and in the public.

Xiao is now a powerful relative and the mother of the Empress Dowager!

As the emperor, Shen Lang's attitude towards the Xiao family in the past few years has been seen by everyone and can be called "indulgence". A minister of the Ministry of Revenue may be considered a considerable official in the court, but what is he worth in front of the emperor?

"Jiang Shilang doesn't seem to be a troublemaker usually. Why did he lose his head this time and come to argue with Xiao Shi?"

"I'm afraid it's for my own daughter, right?"

"Yeah, I heard that in order to choose the Princess of Linzi, these wealthy families in the capital are secretly holding back their efforts. Isn't the bad reputation of the Jiang family girl originally passed down by people from the Xiao family?"

"My arms can't twist my thighs, why take this breath?"

"Unfortunately, unfortunately."

No one thinks that Jiang Boyou can get along well with Xiao Shi.

Sure enough, there were only a few who actually stood up to support Jiang Boyou, and everyone was afraid of getting shot in the head and getting unlucky. After the memorial was submitted, it did not receive approval, but was withheld by Shen Lang and kept in the center without being sent.

Xiao Yuan then became complacent and threatened to have Jiang Boyou look good.

But no one expected that just one day later, the previously suppressed memorial would be directly sent to the cabinet, and several auxiliary ministers would vote on it to discuss whether to allow it to be reinstated.

Although it is just such a small action, it has a profound meaning in the eyes of those who have intentions.

Everyone couldn't help but secretly calculate.

The cabinet aides sat around the memorial placed in the center of the table, looking at each other in silence, afraid that they might have guessed the emperor's meaning wrong.

That afternoon, Xiao Yuan panicked.

He is actually a foreign minister, and if he enters the palace to meet the Empress Dowager at this time, it may reveal too much evidence and be afraid of being caught by others. Therefore, he asked Xiao Shu, the younger generation, to go and pay her respects.

*

In the evening, the Cining Palace was shrouded in a layer of twilight.

The palace attendants rushed out to serve dinner.

Xiao Shu, dressed in splendid attire, showed a vibrant vitality that was out of place with the dim yellow light in the bleak sky. She stood still for a moment, waiting for the call from inside before coming in from outside the palace gate to pay her respects.

Empress Dowager Xiao saw her and smiled, saying, "When I was as young as you, I also had such charm. You must have come for something that happened in the past few days, right? I've heard of it all."

Xiao Shu's heart suddenly became cold.

She vaguely sensed something was wrong. When did this esteemed aunt, who used to dominate the Six Palaces, sound so dull, and how did she start to recall her past?

"Even now, it's hard for Ashu to match the beauty of her aunt, let alone back then?" Xiao Shu bowed and stood up, getting close as usual. "Auntie is also well prepared. Recently, my father's heart has been difficult to stabilize. You know he has always been an indecisive person, thinking about the beginning of spring, hot and cold, and the unpredictable changes in solar terms. Therefore, Ashu is here to greet you and give you some guidance."

Xiao Shu always speaks without any leakage and is extremely pleasing. If she had listened as usual, Empress Dowager Xiao would have probably laughed now and brought her to talk to her.

But at this moment, he only stared at her.

After a while, I saw that the smile on Xiao Shu's face was gradually fading away. She slowly said, "Where did the Ai family meet you back then? As you said, it was your father who needed advice from the Ai family, my immature brother! Why did you ever need it?"

As soon as these words were spoken, Xiao Shu bent down and knelt in front of her, her voice sounding somewhat frightened: "Auntie, why speak so heavily?"

Xiao Tai couldn't even find a smile from behind, and even a hint of cruelty appeared. He gritted his teeth and said, "My foolish brother really has a good daughter! My family usually only knows that you are smart, seeking benefits and avoiding harm. You are the only person in the capital who deserves to sit in the position of the head of these six palaces! You really don't disappoint! Being at home really has a good strategy for your father!"

Xiao Shu looked up at her in astonishment.

Empress Dowager Xiao sneered and said, "The proposal for marriage is very noisy. Xiao is already a thorn in the flesh in the eyes of others and a living target! Your father can't lift it clearly, but you can't be unaware. The more times it is, the less you can act recklessly. But what idea did you give your father? He used the Tongzhou incident to pour dirty water on Jiang Boyou's daughter!"

Xiao Shu seemed to still not understand the Empress Dowager's words and said, "Jiang Xuehui is Ah Shu's biggest opponent. If it weren't for her, the position of Princess Linzi would be none other than mine. Did Ah Shu do something wrong?"

"Confused!"

Empress Dowager Xiao, seeing that she hadn't even understood at this moment, was extremely angry and slapped her in the face with a slap!

"Pop!"

Xiao Shu was jolted and fell to the ground.

Empress Dowager Xiao pointed to her nose and scolded her with resentment, saying, "It's been a waste of my family's education for so many years. I didn't expect you to be my foolish elder brother and the foolish woman outside. Your intelligence is in vain on a daily basis, and at critical moments, your head is filled with wax! Although you have caused damage to Jiang Xuehui by pouring dirty water on her through Jiang Xuening's affairs, you didn't expect them to retaliate as well. Besides, now that the public and court are discussing you, pushing you to go to the Tatars for marriage on behalf of Leyang. If Jie Er can understand the current situation, how can she?" "May I choose you as my concubine?! There are many people in the world, and just one mouthful of saliva is enough to drown him! Even if I don't choose Jiang Xuehui, there are also Chen Shuyi and Zhao Shuyi! Where can I turn to you?"

The palace maids left early and went outside, leaving the entire hall cold and solemn.

Xiao Shu's lowered eyelids trembled lightly, but when she lifted her head, it seemed as if she had only just thought of these tricks, and her whole body seemed lost in thought.

After a moment, she seemed panicked and knelt in front of Empress Dowager Xiao, kowtowing and saying, "It was Ashu who was confused and forgot about this layer. But now the big mistake has been made. Auntie, you have been in the palace for many years, and the Holy One is your closest relative. There must be a way, right? I'm so afraid they will really send me for a wedding..."

===Kunning Section 206===

Tears streamed down as they spoke.

Empress Dowager Xiao usually treats her as a close relative to teach, because she is not so playful and indulgent, so sometimes she treats Xiao Shu even better than Shen Zhiyi, who is her own daughter.

But at this moment, seeing her disorderly behavior made me feel a bit annoyed and disappointed.

She said coldly, "If you don't use this cunning move, perhaps I'm afraid the Ai family can still protect you. After all, my Xiao family is powerful. If I send you for a marriage, the emperor's heart is probably pricked. We need to guard against the collusion between the Xiao family and the Tatars, plotting to seize the throne. But you're better off, forcefully handing the sword to the emperor's hand, giving him an excuse to weaken the Xiao family first!"

Empress Dowager Xiao closed her eyes and looked at her like an abandoned child, feeling like it was a waste of time. She only said, "Your bad idea, by chance, led us to uncover the emperor's intentions. Now that we have left a pile of mess, we still need to clean up our family. Even the matter of marriage is beyond our control. You can go back on your own, and there is no need to frequently visit the palace to pay respects in the future."

Xiao Shu seemed to not believe her so heartless.

Looking at her aunt, she asked, "Does Auntie want to watch Ashu go to that dangerous Tatar to marry?"

Xiao Taihou remained expressionless and remained unmoved, saying, "Zhiyi is the flesh and blood of the Ai family. She can go, what's there that you can't go to?"

Xiao Shu lowered her head.

Empress Dowager Xiao stood up and ignored her, leaving only one sentence: "The Heavenly Family has no father and son. It's because you are too foolish, not because the Ai family is too cruel."

After saying these words, Empress Dowager Xiao's figure had already disappeared behind the painting screen.

The dusk outside also fell completely, and the inside of the hall was pitch black.

So whether it was Empress Dowager Xiao who left or the palace maids who walked in, they did not see. At the moment when Empress Dowager Xiao's figure disappeared and darkness shrouded her, Xiao Shu's face, which was originally bright and radiant, was filled with respect, fear, and sadness, all as if a layer of color from the painting had faded away, leaving only a beautiful face with delicate facial features embedded in it.

Like a dummy.

Even revealing a sense of mystery.

She stood up unusually calmly, with five fingerprints left by Empress Dowager Xiao's slapping on her cheeks, and walked out of the main hall.

The palace maids were carrying palace lanterns to escort her out of the palace.

As she heard the Empress Dowager in a fit of anger, she didn't dare to scrutinize her at all. She glanced at her and then buried her head.

Just halfway through, Xiao Shu's footsteps stopped.

The palace maid is strange, looking back.

But she saw Xiao Shu standing under a palace wall, looking up at a certain spot above: there was a small gecko lying on the edge of the vermilion wall, which was not uncommon elsewhere, except for its short tail, which appeared bare. It turned out to have a broken mark.

The palace maid was startled and said, "It must be that the eunuch in the palace was not careful. How could there be such a thing?"

She came up to drive away the gecko.

The gecko was startled and quickly crawled along the edge of the wall, disappearing from sight.

Xiao Shu lowered her eyes, but her expression became slightly gloomy, and a sense of melancholy surged in her heart: if someone had told her before, she would have been forced step by step to the point where she is now struggling to survive, afraid that she would treat this person as talking nonsense and causing them to be beaten up.

But now

The real situation was cruelly presented to her.

Just now, Empress Dowager Xiao's cold words in the Cining Palace still echoed in her mind, but they did not arouse any disappointment or sadness, let alone any shame.

How could she not know the consequences of smearing Jiang Xuening through the Tongzhou incident?

It is even more impossible to be unaware of the current situation. Not to mention Prince Shenjie of Linzi, anyone in the capital who has some foresight would not marry her at this time, causing countless troubles for their own family.

Jiang Xuening!

Xiao Shu remained calm and took the palace lamp from the maid's hand, saying, "Give it to me. I know all the paths in the palace. If you want to be alone, I can leave the palace by myself."

The palace maid hesitated for a moment but did not object, as she dared not speak much and was happy and relaxed.

After the palace maid left, Xiao Shu's footsteps turned and her direction was not at all Shunzhen Gate in the northeast corner, but Qianqing Palace located in the center of the entire imperial palace!