Transmigration: The Evil Mother-In-Law Is Actually Innocent!
Chapter 905 Trust

Chapter 905: Chapter 905 Trust

Mingyun waited until the carriage left, taking Liufeng quickly onto the carriage with a somewhat distracted air. Liufeng didn’t ask questions; it was beyond his reach.

Back at the Zhou residence, Mingyun hadn’t even eaten when he first delivered gifts to his grandparents, then went to the main house to change clothes.

Zhou Shuren held the hairpin in his hand, "The gift from my eldest grandson isn’t cheap."

Zhulan looked at the delighted Zhou Shuren, "Look how happy you are."

"Of course I’m happy, it’s a gift from my eldest grandson."

Zhulan was also happy. Most of the gifts she received were from her granddaughters; the grandsons only gave gifts on birthdays. "This hairpin isn’t cheap either, but what matters most is the filial piety."

Zhou Shuren said, "Tomorrow, I will wear this hairpin."

"Good."

In the main house, upon seeing their son Ming Teng had indeed returned with the Jade Pendant, both Lady Li and Zhou Laoda grinned broadly. Ming Teng, looking at his parents’ happy expressions, couldn’t help but touch his purse.

Ming Teng mentally calculated; although his monthly salary wasn’t small, his expenses were not few either. With so many siblings and elders, he had to give gifts for each birthday, which was the most significant expense. He couldn’t save much silver in a year. He might not compare to his eldest brother, but he was still able to save some silver to buy gifts for his parents.

After showing off Mingyun’s gift, Lady Li and Zhou Laoda had their moment, then Zhou Laoer and Zhao’s family were envious. Chang Lian and Chang Zhi didn’t feel much since their children were still too young to understand these things.

When preparing to rest at night, Zhou Shuren mentioned the affairs of the government hall and the Emperor’s state.

Zhulan raised an eyebrow, "Haven’t you always been acting like you want to retire, with others pushing you on? You’ve already established that persona. Even if Grand Master of Writing grants you more power, the Emperor won’t be as wary of you."

Although Zhou Shuren indeed wanted to take it easy, he was always strategic, looking several steps ahead and had planned for this.

Zhou Shuren laughed, "I can’t help it. The closer we are to the imperial succession, the tenser the Emperor becomes. At this time, as I am already valued by the Emperor, to show greed for power would be suicide. It’s the imperfect people who are trusted."

Zhulan nodded; Zhou Shuren was very capable. If he wanted to do well, he surely could, but that wasn’t viable, "It’s pretty good as it is now."

Zhou Shuren held his wife’s hand, "Don’t worry, I always have a sense of measure in my heart."

Researching the Emperor for so many years wasn’t for nothing; he had constantly been adjusting his measure.

Leaning on her husband’s shoulder, Zhulan knew that to the Emperor, the Zhou family had always been transparent. Through the years of this transparency, she and Zhou Shuren had been desensitizing the Emperor’s perception, making their family still appear trustworthy in his heart.

Time flew by, and the topic of the princes in the capital being granted royal titles was brought up again. The reason was that several princes had been of age for many years and had commendable achievements, especially the Fourth Prince who petitioned for ennoblement daily.

Zhou Shuren acted as a prompter, a prompter who wouldn’t be noticed, and incidentally set a trap for Sir Lau. This Sir Lau was not the official from the Ministry of Justice but rather from the same academy as Mingyun, the Lau family.

Meanwhile, Zhulan was busy arranging the marriage of their child, Shen Xing, carefully inspecting a newly decorated residence before his departure from the capital, with Godmother Song paying special attention to every detail.

Shen Xing’s marriage would wait until his return, but there was already another happy event at the Zhou residence as they had acknowledged Godmother Song, who would later be taken out to live in retirement.

Zhulan saw Godmother Song cry for the first time; her eyes were still swollen the next day.

Now with an elder present, when it came time for the marriage, Godmother Song took over the role, keeping herself very busy.

As time trickled by, results for the princes’ ennoblement were still pending, but Shen Xing had already gotten married.

The day after the wedding, Zhulan came to the Zhou family to pay her respects, having met Zhou Shuren’s wife before. This time it was formal, and she gave the prepared gifts to the new bride.

The new bride also paid respects to Elder Lady Song, who had saved up many things over the years and was quite generous.

After getting married, Zhou Shuren no longer lived within the estate. The residences chosen by the two young men were close to West City and not far from Xue Mei’s residence.

Zhulan began to wonder when Xue Mei would arrive in the capital.

On the road, Xue Mei pulled back the carriage curtain, "The snow is getting quite heavy. I remember there’s a town not far ahead. We don’t need to rush today."

Shen Xing, outside the carriage window, responded, "Yes."

Xue Mei let down the carriage curtain. They were traveling quickly and had already covered half the distance. "I was worried Lei’er would have trouble adjusting, but it turns out he’s the most energetic of all."

Jiang Sheng watched his younger son, who had already fallen asleep, "This little one has always been quite mischievous."

Xue Mei tapped her younger son’s nose, "We’ll rest well tonight. It won’t be long before we enter the capital."

Jiang Sheng hummed in agreement, "I was thinking, once we get to the capital, we’ll use some of the silver we have to buy a small property. With the remaining silver, we can purchase land."

Xue Mei blinked, "I think mother has already bought a residence. You didn’t mention it, but I was planning to use the silver from my dowry to repay her. In the future, once we’ve saved enough at home, we can buy a residence. Then, the one bought with my dowry silver can serve as Miumiu’s dowry."

Jiang Sheng finally understood, "That’s why you never mentioned buying a residence, always talking about acquiring more land once we’re in the capital."

Xue Mei gently patted her waking son and whispered, "Buying more land is the way to save more silver, using our family’s savings to buy a residence will be the foundation for the Jiang family in the future."

Jiang Sheng felt a tightness in his chest. His wife had thought of so much for him. He wanted to assure her, yet felt that any promising words were hollow. He could only squeeze his wife’s hand tightly.

In the capital, at the Ministry of Revenue, Zhang Yang was distracted for several days, his mind racing. Some time had passed since he had last caused trouble for Zhang Jinghong in secret. Zhang Yang fiddled with an abacus, but in the end, it was all about not having enough silver. If he had enough silver, he could have won over more officials, instead of just a few minor ones, who were practically useless, with no opportunity to speak for him.

He aspired to be enthroned as a king, but the entire court seemed to voice their support for his second brother, with none speaking up for him.

Zhang Yang counted those who attended the morning court sessions, searching for anyone who had not yet made their opinion known. None from the Ministry of Revenue had spoken. The Grand Master of Writing, the two Deputy Ministers—Zhang Yang felt deflated. Mr. Qiu would avoid him if possible, going so far as to claim illness and take leave whenever Zhang Yang confronted him.

As for Chief of Staff Zhou, not only had he been approached by him but his second brother as well. Chief of Staff Zhou remained tight-lipped, and eventually, his brothers agreed to leave Chief of Staff Zhou alone.

As he was pondering, he saw Zhang Jinghong enter. "What is it?"

Zhang Jinghong truly didn’t want to see Zhang Yang, "This is from Chief of Staff Zhou for Your Highness."

Zhang Yang’s face reddened as he took it. There were annotations on it—he made a mistake. When he looked up, Zhang Jinghong had already left.

The next day, after attending the court, Zhou Shuren stayed inside the palace, standing in the government hall. He glanced around; there were indeed a lot of officials left behind today.

Yes, the Grand Master of Writing had attended the court today as well.

The Emperor pointed to the stack of Zhezi on the table, "There are Zhezi delivered every day, piling up on the table."

Zhou Shuren bowed his head. The Emperor’s tone was even, but that did not mean he was calm.