Whether it was Lin's family or Lin Daiyu herself, they all understood that Lin Daiyu becoming the empress would not be a smooth and easy process.

  But only three days after the ceremony of Na Zhai, a wealthy family from the northwest, Yang, filed a complaint with the Imperial Censorate, accusing Lin Ying, the Commander-in-Chief of Shaanxi Province, of seizing their horse farm and granary by force. The Right Censor-in-Chief, Lu, submitted a memorial impeaching Lin Ying for violating laws and disciplines, and for being lax in governing the army. A loud and intense impeachment case against Lin spread throughout the imperial court. Later, a petition from the people of the northwest, accusing Lin of bullying and extorting them, was also placed on the emperor's desk.

  As the situation continued to develop, people in the imperial court began to suggest that Lin Ying had committed multiple crimes of deceiving the emperor and should be dismissed and investigated, taken back to the capital for trial. His daughter, Lin Di, as the daughter of a criminal official, was not worthy of being the empress, and another virtuous woman should be selected as the empress instead.

  The whole event, whether it was impeachment or asking for another queen, looked like there was no law to follow, each doing their own thing, with no focus, but in the midst of it all, it seemed as if there was a hand pushing these people forward, putting the Lin family in a state of exhaustion from responding.

  At this time, in the Foning Hall of the Li family, the people from the first house, second house and third house of the Lin family gathered together to discuss the countermeasures with a solemn expression.

  Everyone's expression was not good, and Zhuang's eyebrows were even more deeply furrowed, worrying about her husband on one hand and being anxious about her daughter's affairs on the other.

  Lin Yong, after all, was a man who had experienced great storms and waves. At this time, he remained calm and comforted Li Shi and Zhuang Shi, saying: "Mother and third brother and sister do not need to worry too much. Let these petty people jump up and down as they please. The most important thing is the attitude of the emperor. The emperor has not spoken yet, at least it means that he still trusts the Lin family."

  Li furrowed his brow, his voice tinged with anger: "This time it's probably the Wu family's doing again. They've learned their lesson this time around. Except for one relative, Lu Guangtian, being implicated, everything else seems to have nothing to do with the Wu family. Outsiders would even think they didn't take advantage of the situation."

  Lu Guangtian, the right vice censor-in-chief of the Ducha Yuan, remarried after his first wife's death. His new wife was the eldest daughter from the third branch of the Wu family. Lu Guangtian was over fifty years old, while his new wife was only twenty years old, a typical case of an old husband with a young wife, like a pear blossom overshadowing an apricot blossom. Three years ago when they got married, it became a hot topic in the capital city.

  Madam Wu gave birth to a son for Lord Lu two years ago, and it is said that Lord Lu loves this young child extremely, intending to let him inherit the family business by passing over his eldest legitimate son.

  Li said with a snort, "A good official like him, instead of being loyal to the emperor, is mixed up with the Wu family's snakes and rats. I think he's digging his own grave."

  The position of the imperial censor has always been special, "to impeach all officials, to clarify grievances, to supervise various paths, and to be the ears and eyes of the Son of Heaven", is the ears and eyes of the Son of Heaven. Since it is the ears and eyes of the Son of Heaven, how can the Son of Heaven allow other voices to mix in? Therefore, from ancient times to the present, the imperial censor has been the confidant of the Son of Heaven, but can only be the solitary minister of the Son of Heaven.

  Lin Yongdao said, "Let's ask San Di about what happened first. Only when there is a gap can the wind come in. The Wu family, no matter how powerful and capable they are, cannot create trouble out of thin air. It must be that San Di made some mistakes in his actions, allowing others to grasp the handle."

  "Regarding the occupation of Yang's horse farm and ironworks, I do know about it. After autumn arrived, some Huren colluded with mountain bandits to harass the border, and the military salary and supplies from the capital never arrived. Third Master had no choice but to negotiate with Yang and other wealthy households in the northwest to purchase their horses and grain. However, Yang's family joined forces with other wealthy households to raise the price three times higher than the market value. In a fit of rage, Third Master ordered his men to seize their horses and granaries directly, but they did pay them silver for it. As for bullying the common people and extorting their wealth, that is completely fabricated. You both know Third Master's temperament; although he can be hot-headed and impulsive at times, he would never do anything to bully the common people."

  Li said: "I think the Yang family is also in cahoots with the Wu family."

  Lin Yongdao said, "It's not necessarily a conspiracy. Wu Chongjing is in charge of the Ministry of Revenue, and previously he has been delaying military supplies on the grounds that the ministry's silver is insufficient. He just needs to drop a few words to the Yang family, who are merchants seeking high profits, and they will naturally take advantage of the situation to raise prices. As for the matter of filing a complaint afterwards, I'm afraid it was only after my third brother's strong pressure that the Yang family became angry and joined forces with the Wu family."

  Li said, "Since they are doing the first day of the month, we will do the fifteenth. The Lin family is not so easy to bully either. As for the Wu family's usual behavior, it's not difficult to find a few things to impeach them. They have people in the imperial court, but that doesn't mean we don't."

  Lin Yong had a plan in mind, but seeing Lin Yuan's silent and contemplative expression, he felt a pang in his heart and asked, "Yuan Yuan, what do you think we should do now?"

  Lin Xiao understood that her second uncle was trying to test her.

  She lowered her head and thought for a moment before asking him back: "Second Uncle, what kind of person do you think the Emperor is?"

  Lin Yong was somewhat surprised, but still answered her question: "Wise and intelligent, with a deep understanding of the city." After thinking for a moment, he added another sentence: "He is a wise ruler."

  Lin Xiangdao said: "Such an emperor would certainly not love his ministers who cause him trouble."

  Lin Yongdao said: "Nature."

  Lin He furrowed her brow, seemingly hesitant about what to say next. After a moment of silence, she continued: "Two days ago, two maidservants in my household, one named Cherry and the other Lychee, got into an argument. The reason was simple - they were both responsible for cleaning the porcelain decorations in my room. Cherry had always been lazy and liked to push her work onto Lychee, which made Lychee uncomfortable. That day, Lychee asked Cherry to work together with her, but Cherry didn't take it seriously and even spoke rudely to Lychee, leading to a fight between the two of them. They even started pushing and shoving each other, causing a huge commotion in my courtyard."

  "This matter seems to be more Cherry's fault, but when I dealt with it, I gave them each 50 big boards, both were fined three months' salary and not allowed to eat for three days."

  Lin Yong asked: "Why is this?"

  Lin Daiyu said, "It's simple. I don't care who is right or wrong between the two of them. What I care about is whether they can handle the tasks I've entrusted to them properly. There are so many maids and servant girls in our household, each with their own temperaments and personalities, and there will inevitably be some small conflicts among them. If they have conflicts, I'll have to go and mediate for them. That way, as the mistress of the house, I won't have time to do anything else, just mediating their disputes all day long."

  "I naturally know that Litchi has been wronged, but I let her, a third-class maid, lead the second-class maids and receive twice as much silver for rewards during festivals than Cherry. In my opinion, I have already made amends to her, so I don't want her to cause trouble for me again."

  Look at the emperor again, his thoughts are probably all of you, one by one, be loyal and do your job conscientiously, don't cause trouble for me.