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  When a person dies, it's like a lamp going out; regardless of their merits or demerits in life, both Pei Xiang and the Crown Prince can finally rest in peace.

  After the funeral, the newly appointed Zhen Guo Gong Pei Xiaoqing invited a prestigious elder from the Xining clan to preside over the division of the family. This was the case for most of the aristocratic families in the imperial court, where the eldest son who inherited the title stayed in the main mansion of the duke's residence, while the younger brothers who did not inherit the title moved out of the mansion to live separately. There were no disputes over this, and the division of property, shops, and land was also clear-cut, with each household knowing what they should or should not get, following established precedents. However, problems arose in the distribution of the remaining funds from the public treasury and the allocation of calligraphy, antiques, and other valuable items from the warehouse.

  Yang knew that the overall situation had been decided and did not struggle anymore. He handed over the account book of Gongzhong early, and also obediently handed over the key to the warehouse to Pangshi.

  The Zhen Guo Gong Fu has had many industries placed outside in recent years, and every year at the end of the twelfth month, there are four or five estate managers who come to Shengjing to pay their annual taxes. At the end of the year, all the income is handed over, and it's only just past the first month, so logically speaking, the silver in the public account should be most abundant at this time. Although the Pei family has many people, there are also many sons who are officials in the imperial court, especially several old masters, each of whom holds an important position, with a lot of salary and rewards, plus the accumulated surplus over the years, it's impossible for such a large Gong Fu to not have 180,000 taels of silver on its accounts.

  However, there was nothing on the public account, and the accountant who had been in charge of the silver ingots in and out of the government office had long since disappeared without a trace.

  In the treasury, although there were many antiques and valuable jewelry recorded in the logbook, Madame Pang and her servants spent half a day sorting through them, only to find that the second-rate items filled an entire house, while not a single truly valuable item was found. It just so happened that except for the items bestowed by the Emperor, which had records in the Imperial Household Department, all other items were vaguely recorded, making it impossible to distinguish between genuine and fake goods without evidence. For example, "鎏金凤钗一对" (a pair of golden phoenix hairpins) and "碧水葫芦玉佩一件" (a celadon jade gourd pendant), the names alone did not reveal their quality, although they were priced similarly, the value of different craftsmanship was vastly different, and jade pendants were even more so. The difference between ordinary jade material and top-quality beautiful jade was like the difference between a feather and Mount Tai.

  Madam Pong went to the Ping Sha Hall to question Yang's wife.

  But Yang was relying on her recent widowhood, with a heartbroken and desperate look, lying in bed all day. As soon as Madame Pang opened her mouth, she cried and made a fuss again, shouting that she wanted to hang herself. The elder of the Xining clan was still there, and Madame Pang was afraid that these things would get out and be disadvantageous to her husband, so it seemed like they had taken advantage of Yang and bullied her, but she couldn't do anything about it. She could only let her have her way.

  Pei Xiaoqing was different from Mrs. Pang, he didn't care about these small profits on the public account, and he wasn't interested in the antiques, calligraphy, jewelry, and accessories that were obviously tampered with in the treasury. In his opinion, the title of First-Class Duke was something that couldn't be bought with any amount of silver. As long as he had the title, he would have a bright future, and these small losses would eventually come back. Therefore, he instructed Mrs. Pang to let it go, not to push Yang's family too hard, and not to make a scene in front of the elders that would make him lose face in the clan.

  In addition, the current Empress is always from the Yang family, even if Empress Pei is not favored by the Emperor. However, she is still the mother of the nation and the empress dowager of the Zhou Dynasty, so as long as she has this identity, he will still have to show some respect to the Yang family.

  It was probably Pei Xiang's last words to each house before his death. Although there were some discrepancies in the account and warehouse, the division of the family property went surprisingly smoothly. The third, fourth, and fifth houses did not pick and choose the items allocated to them from the warehouse, but instead signed and stamped the division documents with ease, and then chose a auspicious day to move out one after another.

  Although Mrs. Pang felt somewhat stifled in her heart, after Pei Xiaoqing's repeated explanations, she also felt that if it weren't for this incident with the young master, how could the second house have inherited this title? How could she possibly become the first-class national princess? Thinking like this, she put aside some of her resentment towards Yang Shi, guessing that Yang Shi would soon be leaving, and when the time came, the vast mansion of the Town National Duke would only have their two houses left, with fewer days of friction, and no need to be as careful as before.

  But Yang was slow to move and did not even show any intention of leaving Ping Sha Tang.

  Ping Sha Hall is the main house in the backyard, and Mrs. Pang is now a first-class national public wife of the emperor's personal book. This town government office is clearly their second house, but Yang Shi doesn't leave, so she can't live in this main house, which naturally makes her very uncomfortable. She can't openly drive her away, otherwise, she would be considered a cruel elder sister-in-law. The couple has just risen to power and is now the most concerned about others' evaluations, really not daring to do anything wrong.

  She couldn't, so she went to Ernai Min's place to try it out, but Min had a difficult expression on her face, tactfully expressing that everything was important with her mother-in-law and husband, and also subtly hinted that her mother-in-law's body was not good, and might not be able to move away in the short term.

  Mrs. Pang felt somewhat disheartened after hearing this, although Mrs. Min spoke tactfully, she was almost certain that Mrs. Yang was deliberately stalling. Not only did Mrs. Yang scrape together all the money from the public funds, but she also made up her mind to let the eldest son stay in the Town Country Public House, letting the second son support them, and absolutely refusing to move out of the Ping Sha Hall. Originally, she had been heartbroken over the missing silver on the accounts and the empty warehouse, now she felt even more resentful.

  The elders from Kesi Ning all returned one after another, and no one was able to preside over justice.

  Madam Pang thought for a while and then went to the Anping Wangfu, wanting to ask Mingxuan for help to mediate.

  Ming Xuan was taken aback by the words, and after a moment of contemplation, she said, "Second Aunt is our elder, and we should naturally listen to what you have to say. However, when Wang Ye was bestowed with the imperial surname and separated from the Pei family, he didn't take anything with him, not even a single utensil or vessel. To speak bluntly, although Wang Ye still has the blood of the Pei family flowing through his veins, he is no longer a member of the Pei family and therefore has no right to interfere in their affairs."

  She gently stroked the delicate pattern on the hand warmer and said with difficulty, "Besides, what's the relationship between me and Yang's wife? You're not unaware of it, are you? Even if I really went over there, how could Yang's wife listen to me? On the contrary, if she were to use her words to bully me, as a senior, I wouldn't dare refute her."

  She also knew in her heart that Mrs. Pong was just trying her luck, as there was no one else to turn to. Upon hearing Ming Xuan's words, she didn't take offense and instead complained about the trivial matters for half a day. As night began to fall, she reluctantly bid farewell.

  Ming Xuan invited Dan Hong to personally escort Mrs. Pang out, while she herself leaned against the headboard of the beauty couch, massaging her temples.

  On the day of Pei Xiang's funeral, she vomited seven times, and Pei Jingchen vaguely sensed something, but at that time there were many people and things were complicated, so he could only hold back.

  Later, after returning to the Anping Wangfu, Pei Jingyuan immediately invited the imperial physician to take Mingxuan's pulse. The result was that she indeed had a fetus of over a month, and calculating the days, it should have been conceived during that time when he couldn't help but be intimate with Mingxuan after his residual poison had been resolved. Now, it has already been almost three months.

  Pei Jingchen had never experienced the warmth of family since he was a child, and perhaps no one in this world longed for a complete family more than him. Now, not only did he have a deeply loving wife, but his wife's belly also carried their bloodline's next generation - he was going to be a father! This news made him so excited that he couldn't bear it; if he weren't still pretending to be disabled for the time being, he would probably jump up immediately.

  Ming Xuan was also delighted, this child was unintentionally obtained, but she was full of expectation for his arrival.

  It was just the early pregnancy reaction, but it made her miserable, smelling strange smells and wanting to vomit, eating too much and vomiting, eating too little and also vomiting. Vomiting a lot naturally made her spirit weak, lacking energy, and easily tired and powerless. Today, Madame Ping of Zhen Guo Gong came over, she originally just wanted to perfunctorily respond and be done with it, but Madame Ping was full of complaints and never gave her the opportunity to interrupt, so she thought that Madame Ping wasn't easy either, and forced herself to listen to Madame Ping's grievances. Finally sending off Madame Ping, she felt like all her energy had been drained away.

  Yan's nanny placed the warm soup on the table and said disapprovingly, "The prince has already said it before. Since he moved out of the Town National Public House, those messy troubles of the Pei family have nothing to do with him. You're pregnant now, and you haven't been feeling well these past few days. You should be resting properly, why must you force yourself to entertain the Town National Public House's madam for so long? If you're not feeling well, you should just tell her straight out. She's also a mother herself, she'll naturally understand. It's not worth it to keep holding on like this. Look at your face, when the prince comes back and sees it, he'll definitely be worried."

  She ladled out the soup and vegetables, but instead of hurrying to serve Ming Xuan, she picked up a copper basin from under the table and handed it over.

  After rinsing her mouth with clear water, she covered her chest and said, "The prince is always flowing with the blood of the Pei family. Where can you say that it's okay to separate just because you want to? If something happens later, do you think outsiders won't drag our palace into it? I listened to my aunt talk so much, first because I saw her being really anxious and pitiful, if I didn't let her speak out, it would be unfair. Second, I also wanted to know what happened, whether it's manageable or not is one thing, knowing or not knowing is another thing. As the saying goes, 'know yourself and know your enemy', listening doesn't hurt anything."

  She had just finished speaking, and then she said pitifully with her head raised, "Just now I only felt that my throat was galloping with a thousand horses, and I couldn't help but vomit. But as soon as I finished vomiting, I felt hungry again."

  Yan laughed and handed the soup to Ming Xuan, "This is a honey ginger soup made by Su Wan and the others. It's good for nourishing the body and relieving nausea. I heard it can also alleviate morning sickness. Here, try some, if you like it, I'll have them make more."

  Ming Xuan didn't hesitate, took it and drank it. After feeling a bit better in her stomach, she suddenly raised her head and asked, "The emperor has invited the king to enter the palace for discussion, it's been several hours now, can someone be sent to wait at the palace gate? It's cold and slippery on the road, let's light another lantern."

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