Noble's Woman Guide

Chapter 105 - Golden House

Several days after Chu Sanghuai's death, Wang Ying and Wang Jian, who were imprisoned in Wangdu's main prison, were also executed one after the other while the remaining officials of the Wang clan were all sentenced to exile with their family members serving as official slaves, and the once premier prominent family banished just like this.

The common people said that the Ye family had bet on the right prize and Ye Huaiyang, who made this wise decision, was rumored to be the goddess of foresight. For a while, the families of any eminence in Wangdu began to seek connections with the Ye family. Every day the queue of people who came to pay a visit at the door was several blocks away. Yet Ye Huaili's way of handling was very simple — Once the main door is closed, no visitor is received.

Running into dejection, everyone returned in a huff. But there was not only one newly appointed high-official's family, so someone soon switched targets and headed towards Meng mansion.

The Meng family had lived in the Northern Land for a long time. Originally, they had intention to move to Wangdu when Imperial Consort Chen was in favor but were unable to do so due to various reasons. Since Chu Jinglan has regained control of the reigns now, this is precisely the great opportunity. Therefore, during this period of time, the direct descendent of the Meng has successively come to Wangdu and Meng Qi is one of them.

This old gentleman however, is very low-profile and has not made an appearance after entering Wangdu. The internal and external affairs were all handled by his eldest son, Meng Xuan and second son, Meng Gan, hence it was difficult to meet him in person.

Perhaps it was because they were newcomers and needed to establish good relationships with the local aristocrats, the Meng family did not treat visitors like the Ye family, who locked their door and refused to see anyone. Their stances were extremely amiable. They would accept most of the invitations and always integrated quickly, whether it was the tea parties or hunting and garden events, which was commendable. But one thing about the Meng family was that they would avoid topics involving political affairs no matter where they were.

So, those who intend to curry favor with the powerful met another round of refusal again.

But no matter what, it is good as long as one can get associated. Hence, there are neverending streams of horses and carriages at the front door of Meng mansion and this has become Wangdu's spectacle. Gradually talks about the Meng family having the intention to form an alliance by marriage with the imperial family to consolidate their kinship spread amongst those who had dealings with the Meng family and the person selected is naturally the youngest daughter of Meng Qi, Meng Chen, who is still unmarried.

As is known to all, there are only a few men of marriageable age in the present monarch and the Meng family is definitely not interested in such a loathsome man like Chu Luze while Chu Zhenghe is the prodigal son amongst millions clusters of flowers, so the only one left is Chu Jinglan. So to put it bluntly, they want to send Meng Chen into the palace to become an imperial concubine.

As such, the relationship between the Ye family and the Meng family was very delicate. Although Meng Xuan had strongly denied this matter while Ye Huaili had no response, the atmosphere between these two families was just indescribably tense.

While everyone was discussing this apocryphal with fervor, the two masters of King Lan mansion had quietly moved into the palace.

Although the inside and outside of Taiji Palace was completely new and most of the servants were brought over from King Lan mansion, Ye Huaiyang still felt somewhat unused to it. But there was no time to care about it now as the enthronement ceremony was drawing near.

Chu Jinglan did not attach much importance to this matter but to keep everything simple, yet she took it seriously and personally took care of everything from the internal affairs to the external rituals in order to strive for perfection. She only relaxed on the day of the ceremony and slept till the sun was directly overhead. After getting up, she stretched herself languidly and let Yue'ya served her some porridge without inquiring about how the event proceed. She merely thought that Chu Jinglan would still have to summon the cabinet to discuss official businesses after the ceremony and perhaps would not be free for a while.