Chapter 316 Return to Shenjing
The team rested for a night on the way, and then continued on their way ! Moreover, after the rebellion, everyone obviously sped up their pace, and the journey that should have taken two days was completed in less than a day and a half.
In Xiaoci County, Jia Cong had already sent people to replace as many missing ceremonial objects and supplies as possible, and those ceremonial objects and servants who had been replaced also returned to the team.
Outside the mausoleum, the body was kept for nine days, and the Buddhists and Taoists who had been waiting here for a long time began to perform rituals! Officials and imperial edicts from various prefectures went to mourn the death every day, and at night they rested in the house prepared by Xiaoci County.
Nine days passed in a flash, and the old empress dowager's coffin was sent into the underground palace. The whole team began to return impatiently.
It only took three days for the team to return to the outside of Shenjing City.
"Niu Jizon, Shang Yan, go open the city gate and lead the troops directly into the city. After investigating the situation in the city, report back immediately! Lu Feng, Cheng Yuhu, follow them!" Jia Cong gave the order.
Everyone immediately took the order and left, while the emperor and empress's carriages and other people were waiting several miles away under the protection of the army.
About an hour later, Niu Jizong and Lu Feng returned in person and came to the side of the dragon sedan chair.
"Your Majesty, I, Niu Jizong, pay my respects to you!"
"The soldiers under my command have entered the city. The soldiers guarding the city are from the Bingma Division, Meng Hua from the North Camp, and Cao Zhuang from the East Camp! In addition, Shang Yan has led the Dragon Guards into the palace to meet His Majesty the Emperor..."
A moment later, the voice of Emperor Longxing came from the dragon sedan chair, "Return to the palace!"
The huge team finally entered the Shenjing City and arrived outside the palace gate. People from all the mansions watched the emperor and empress enter the palace in their carriages and finally breathed a sigh of relief.
"Greetings, old Lord Feng. My Lord, please follow His Majesty into the palace first. I order my subordinates to escort everyone in the palace back first!"
The old lady nodded, then took two steps forward and asked in a low voice, "Did your Lordship tell us what to do with the Zhen family?"
Prince Beijing rebelled, and his wife was the daughter of the Zhen family. Who knew if she was implicated? If there was any hindrance, Grandmother Jia would definitely not take any feelings into consideration and would have everyone in the Zhen family driven out of the house.
Lu Feng also responded in a low voice, "The Marquis said that it would be bad to be too deliberate for the time being. They are just some relatives of the Zhen family. Since they live in the mansion, they can just stay there. If there is really any trouble, there is still time for the mansion to kill the relatives for the sake of justice."
Upon hearing this, Grandmother Jia nodded immediately!
Afterwards, she walked towards the back with Yuanyang's support. Soon, she arrived at the Zhen family's team.
It was unknown whether it was done intentionally by Old Lady Zhen, but this time, except for Zhen Muring who stayed in Jia Mansion, all the other Zhen family members in Shenjing were all there. However, after the rebellion of Prince Beijing, the Zhen family, which was once quite popular, immediately became a hot potato.
Those who were close to them before were afraid that they might have a relationship with the Zhen family. In the past ten days, the Zhen family members were too lazy to do any superficial work. With the alienation of the others, and the fact that Old Lady Zhen had been in the sedan chair and had hardly shown up in the past few days, the Zhen family members were naturally worried.
Now the arrival of Jia's mother moved and excited everyone in the Zhen family. After all, this undoubtedly meant that the Jia family had not completely severed their relationship with the Zhen family, and as long as they had the support of the Jia family, the Zhen family would not be completely abandoned.
"Greetings, old Lord Feng!" Unlike before, everyone in the Zhen family bowed down in greeting.
Grandmother Jia hurriedly said, "Get up quickly, my old sister is okay!"
As they were talking, the curtain of the sedan chair was opened, and the old lady of the Zhen family slowly walked out and said with a moving face, "Old sister, they say that a friend in need is a friend indeed. Even before our Zhen family fell into decline, we have seen the good and evil in people's hearts! I am deeply grateful that you can come here today!"
"But I'm not a tactless person! We can't be a nuisance to our elder sisters! Now, I only ask my elder sister for a word. Since my granddaughter hasn't been in trouble, I will temporarily protect her!"
Grandmother Jia pretended to be angry and said, "What are you talking about, elder sister? Our two families have been friends for a hundred years. What kind of rifts and difficulties have we not encountered? Elder sister, come back with me today. I want to see who dares to gossip about our two families!"
Upon hearing this, Old Lady Zhen stepped forward and grabbed Grandmother Jia's hand and burst into tears! The rest of the Zhen family members all bowed to the ground and kowtowed to thank her.
Afterwards, the two mansions merged into one and returned to the Jia Mansion under the protection of Jia Cong's personal guards!
With the return of the old lady, the Jia family, which had been in a state of panic for many days, finally settled down!
"Old sister, we have been busy for more than half a month, and we have encountered something like this. You should go back and rest first. We will hold a banquet in a day or two."
Afterwards, everyone in the Zhen family returned to their residence in the East Courtyard.
After entering the house, the touched look on Old Lady Zhen's face disappeared! The wife of Zhen Yingjia said with emotion, "The Jia family is really kind and righteous. Now all the families in the capital are alienating us, only the Jia family treats us as before!"
Old Madam Zhen smiled faintly, "Benevolence? It's just a favor! Although this is a great disaster for our Zhen family, it is not a life-and-death situation yet! What does the rebellion of Prince Beijing have to do with our Jiangnan Zhen family? Without any evidence, how can the emperor kill thousands of people in the Zhen family when the old concubine's body is still warm?"
"In this case, why not let the Jia family show favor to the Zhen family?"
"But aren't they afraid of being hated by the emperor?"
Old Madam Zhen sighed, "The Jia family is so lucky. Didn't you see how the Emperor and Empress treated the Marquis of Guanjun? How could the Marquis of Guanjun be so easily rejected after his two great contributions in saving the emperor? The future of the Marquis of Guanjun will be three times better than that of the two Dukes Ning and Rong."
"Perhaps the Jia family will certainly be feared by the royal family in the future, but now that we have the Marquis of Guanjun, as long as the Jia family does not rebel, they are destined to be rich and prosperous for decades."
"It is precisely because of the Champion Marquis that they dare to show favor to our Zhen family! Otherwise, they would not have the time to drive us out of the house, so how could they accept us back?"
"Grandma, what should we do with my aunt and sister?" Zhen Muning, who was standing in the hall, spoke in tears.
The little aunt she mentioned was the Second Prince's mother, Consort Shu, and her sister was Princess Beijing! Although she had been in the Jia Mansion these days, how could she feel at ease? The maids outside were all spreading rumors that Prince Beijing and the Second Prince were rebelling, so how could the Second Prince's biological mother and Princess Beijing escape from the turmoil?
Old Madam Zhen's expression changed at first, then she looked at Zhen Muring and sighed, "This is their fate. It is already extremely difficult for our Zhen family to protect ourselves now, and we can't plead for mercy in this matter."
