The Marquis' Wife
News about the arrival of the capital's employees

Adelia did not expect that Liang Chenyue was the culprit who tried to abort her womb!! He heard the report from Lu Mei with a shocked face.

"You're sure Liang Chenyue is the real culprit?!".

"Yes madam!! That vile woman was extremely brave even in the residence of Prefect Zhong himself. The officer will investigate further before giving proper punishment to Liang Chenyue!!".

Lu Mei was also so shocked to hear the news spread in the community, Liang Chenyue's arrest made them wonder why the woman did such a cruel thing to Adelia who had absolutely no relationship whatsoever.

He also told the mothers in the market that Liang Chenyue took a grudge because Adelia refused to sell the recipe for pudding and parfait cake to make the mothers and people who heard the source of the problem initially. News of his explanation quickly spread.

"He's really crazy and reckless. If anything happens to me, does he think the reputation of the Zhong family is not tainted?".

"That's because she's a narrow-minded mistress. You know from the beginning he came arrogantly and didn't even care if you were Xiefu's wife. It already showed his true character".

Adelia nodded in agreement. Being too pampered made the woman so dominant and wanted all her will to be fulfilled like a princess.

Lu Mei approached and whispered. "Miss do you think that Liang Chenyue was also the shooter of De Xiang's shop last time?".

Adelia frowned confusedly. "Why do you think that?".

"That's because the big master said that the perpetrator who harmed the mistress was the same perpetrator as the De Xiang store burning!!".

Adelia's stunned. "really? Lu Xiang said that?".

Lu Mei nodded strongly and began to tell what she had heard from prefect Zhong and Lu Xiang's response to her master.

Adelia thought and shook her head. Her husband always hides things that can make her think hard. She did not know to resign or moved by the attitude of her husband who always put her physical and mental first.

Adelia forced the man to return to the academy when her husband had two days off but still wanted to continue his day off. Sheng-shih's exam was about to take place, he didn't want Lu Xiang to fail or get an unsatisfactory champion for not making careful preparations.

&&&

Lu Xiang who went to the academy got a lot of entertainment from his classmates or close friends about what happened to his wife.

They were relieved that nothing had happened to Adelia, but they also discussed the topic of Liang Chenyue and asked her why she wanted to harm Adelia.

Lu Xiang let out a heavy sigh. "That's because she owns two cake shops like my wife's and is outmatched. She wants to force Adelia to sell De Xiang's new menu recipe but Adelia refuses because of that she becomes a grudge".

Lu Xiang did not tell about the De Xiang shop arsonist because the case was investigated by Prefect Zhong so that if people knew then they would assume that the Chennai provincial prefect was protecting his wife's own nephew, although he wanted people to know, he could not make Prefect Zhong uncomfortable.

With her capture Liang Chenyue had already shown that Prefect Zhong was no longer siding with the woman and that was enough this time for her.

Two days later, the chief yamen officer who investigated the attempted murder of Xiefu's wife finally sentenced Liang Chenyue to 10 lumber hours and 3 years in prison for her actions.

The court was witnessed by many people present out of curiosity as to what had happened at the Zhong family party, they were stunned to hear the chronology of Liang Chenyue hiring a servant temporarily employed by Prefect Zhong to harm Lu Xiang's wife Miao Adelia by pushing hard on Xiefu Lu's heavily pregnant wife.

"Start carrying out the punishment!!"

Two officers dragged Liang Chenyue who no longer looked beautiful because of her sluggish and grim face and dirty prison clothes.

The woman who was still very arrogant a few days ago was already nowhere to be seen for spending her time in a seedy prison and was not worth living in.

Liang Chenyue was tied up on a long bench and started screaming in pain as wooden punches hit her thighs and buttocks.

The shout was not heeded by the officer in charge of punishing, the heavy blow of wood after heavy blow hit the fragile body of Liang Chenyue to make the woman unable to scream again when the last blow was executed.

His lower body began to bleed and numb, his eyes staring at the nanar and slowly turning full of hatred.

"Look after I get out, I'll kill you, Adelia!!" The whisper was like a curse because it was spoken full of vengeance.

But little did Liang Chenyue know that three years was a long time and a lot happened in those three years. His servant and fortune disappeared from being manipulated by Zheng Hui, as well as when he got out of prison, who welcomed the woman was not a warm family and home but a cold temple. A wife who commits a grave mistake will be punished as a nun and will have to spend the rest of her life in the temple to reflect on her mistakes and pray for her husband's family not to be affected by the sin she committed.

Prefect Zhong deliberately engineered his chronology a little because it would be terrible if people knew that Liang Chenyue was putting spies into his residence, especially influential extended families such as the mayor's family or scholars.

He was also not too heavy in punishing Liang Chenyue because of the taboo status of the woman who was the nephew of his wife, people would shudder in horror if he had no mercy on his own brother because they thought that he was cold-blooded if he did that.

Such were the humans, since this was not their own family to experience it, they understood why Prefect Zhong decided that as well as Lu Xiang who had been notified by the Zhong Prefect.

He understood but was not satisfied, his hand squeezing the strong paper sent by the yamen attendant and gazing coldly forward and the greater his desire for his strength and power.

"Don't think that it'll all just end".

Lu Xiang went back to reading Jansenxui's report on the political situation in the capital. Emperor Murong had many sons and daughters but the ones that have survived to this day are 5 princes and 2 princesses, the first prince who became crown prince when he was 5 years old Murong Xianming, the third prince of Murong Xianting, the fourth prince of Murong Xianxian, the seventh prince of Murong Xianlei and the ninth prince of Murong Xianzhong, only three princes have grown up while the other two princes are still small so can not follow the competition to seize the throne.

The two princesses are married to a Jinshi scholar and one of the Cheng families who is the crown prince's maternal family.

Although the crown prince was the first prince to have an advantage in politics due to the culture of the first child who inherited the family and became the family leader, the crown prince's maternal family, the Cheng family, did not have significant power because the queen died eight years ago.

Moreover, Emperor Murong was more indulgent Yang Guifei who became a great candidate to become the next queen, Yang Guifei was the third prince's mother and the first princess to marry a Jinshi scholar. Murong Xianting's maternal family was a noble family that had military power.

While the fourth prince had a mother, Mei Fei, and had an influential noble family, his grandfather had a position in the palace of being the right prime minister.

So of the three princes, the third and fourth princes had significant influence because their maternal families were compared to the crown prince.

However the one leading the strongest candidate was the third prince because it had the Emperor indulging his mother so he had a closer relationship with the Emperor than any other prince.

"I'm sure it's not that simple" Lu Xiang commented softly.

He thought so because the third prince had the most scandalous intensity compared to the crown prince and the fourth prince. It was impossible for the Emperor who cherished the mother and child to let bad news spread about them.

Lu Xiang kept the records carefully and secretly because if caught could be accused of traitors for seeking information about the royal family.

Lu Xiang spent his usual days studying hard and was increasingly active in the academy in answering questions or attending seminars or discussions on Sheng-shih exam questions up to a week before the exam, Prefect Zhong brought good news that the Emperor was very pleased with the report he gave and ordered the public works ministry employees to survey the truth of the report.

Lu Xiang was stunned to feel that such a response was so quick, that he knew that the Emperor would usually respond to a report from the Prefect between 1 to 2 months depending on the distance and severity of the report.

"Uncle, when will they arrive? Do I have to meet them too?".

Prefect Zhong looked very happy, his face was so moody for over a week because of Liang Chenyue's troubles. The good news was that it became cool water that cleared his tired mind.

"They'll be until next week, because you're taking the exam at that time so you can't welcome them".

Lu Xiang was silent for a moment then nodded slowly. For now the exam is more important than welcoming employees from the public works ministry, after all, he was convinced that with the arrival of the employee, he had a great chance to get an honorary title that would change his family status to a noble family.