Miss Ye was the first woman in the history of the Daliang Dynasty or even from ancient times till now to divorce her husband.
She beat the Wendeng Drum to appeal to the new Emperor himself, adamantly demanding a divorce.
And the new Emperor actually agreed.
The military and civil officials initially wanted to stop it.
They were afraid that if this precedent was set, the ladies in their families would follow Miss Ye’s example and demand divorces too.
However, a single statement from the new Emperor shut them up.
The new Emperor asked the military and civil officials if they would do such despicable things as abandoning their legitimate sons and raising illegitimate sons in their stead, or would they allow incest within their families?
With that question, all the officials fell silent.
At that time, anyone who spoke against Miss Ye’s divorce would be deemed a disloyal, unfilial, inhumane, and unrighteous scoundrel, just like Qi Rui.
Xie Wenshao personally issued an imperial edict allowing Anning to divorce her husband and, to appease Anning, awarded her many fine gifts.
With the imperial edict in hand, Anning returned to Suzhou. Upon her arrival, she went straight to the Qi Family. She set up offerings, unrolled the imperial edict, and in front of Qi Rui, she wrote a letter of divorce and threw it in his face. Then, taking her dowry servants and some of her remaining dowry, she left the Qi Family with a grand exit.
Qi Rui’s reputation was completely ruined because of this incident.
And because of the disgraceful acts he committed, Xie Wenshao issued an edict to strip Qi Rui of his official post, reducing him in an instant from a Magistrate to a commoner.
Qi Rui nearly went mad from such a drastic downfall.
Having been deprived of his official position, he could only hide in the back yard, afraid to meet anyone.
Due to his ruined reputation, he rarely dared to leave the house.
With nothing to do, Qi Rui started to behave recklessly with some pretty maids.
During this time, Ruyu quietly left the Qi Family.
Her indenture was in Anning’s possession; technically, she wasn’t a servant of the Qi Family but of Anning. With Ruyu gone, Qi Rui could do nothing about it.
As Anning had said before, she released Ruyu and, in consideration of Ruyu’s years of obedient service and help, Anning arranged for her a new identity and gave her a sum of money to start anew.
Ruyu went from lowly status to a good citizen, tears of joy streaming down her face.
She knelt and kowtowed several times to Anning, taking a considerable amount of Silver Coin and left Suzhou. Where she went from there, Anning didn’t know.
In the days that followed, Anning continued to live in Suzhou.
As the Emperor’s adoptive mother and Madam Fengsheng, her status in Suzhou was unrivaled; regardless of who the local officials were, they could only respect her.
Anning lived a leisurely life. In her free time, she would go out and explore. If the weather was bad, she would stay at home, writing calligraphy, painting, or composing various writings.
Eventually, getting bored, she began writing stories.
Besides that, Anning opened several workshops. She introduced some efficient looms, hired female workers to weave fabric, and brought in cotton, improving spinning and weaving machines to produce fine cotton cloth.
Later on, Anning also established various snack workshops, such as chili sauce and a variety of pastries.
All these workshops hired exclusively female workers, providing employment opportunities for women in Suzhou and subtly elevating their status.
While Anning enjoyed her leisure in Suzhou, Wenjuan preferred the hustle and bustle of the Capital.
After being conferred the title of Princess, she settled in the Capital, where her Princess Mansion was, undisturbed about a place to live.
Initially, Xie Wenshao wanted to arrange a marriage for her.
But Wenjuan was unwilling.
Having witnessed the marriage of Anning and Qi Rui turn sour, she lacked confidence in marriage itself.
Over the years, Wenjuan had seen much and understood the difficulties of marriage. She didn’t want to get married or to be constrained by it.
Seeing that she was resolute, Xie Wenshao didn’t press the matter.
The affection between Xie Wenshao and Wenjuan as siblings was profound. He worried that without marriage, Wenjuan would have no support in her old age, which troubled him greatly.
However, after a thorough conversation with him in the palace, Xie Wenshao decided to let her be.
It turned out that Wenjuan’s choice to remain unmarried wasn’t out of a desire for asceticism.
She did keep men in her Princess Mansion.
Qi Wenjuan lived a luxurious life in the Capital. Xie Wenshao treated her well, and she never lacked anything good. Anning was wealthy, her fleets always brought back substantial amounts of Silver Coin from their sea voyages, and the profits from the various workshops she opened in Suzhou were also very considerable.
Most of that money Anning gave to Xie Wenshao, and only a small part to Qi Wenjuan.
Even this small part was enough for Qi Wenjuan to live an indulgent life for a lifetime.
The Princess Huixian Mansion was the most extravagantly built of all the princess mansions in the Capital. Besides the mansion, Qi Wenjuan also bought the hot spring manor, and several other manors for leisure and enjoyment, etc.
She was not short of money and being a princess, she naturally did whatever she wished.
Her spending was careless, never lacking any good things, even using East Pearl as marbles. As for the men she fancied, if they were willing, she would keep them in her Princess Mansion.
This caused her much criticism, but Qi Wenjuan didn’t take it to heart. In her view, living a carefree and happy life was better than anything else.
Some officials also submitted petitions criticizing her many shortcomings.
But these petitions were suppressed by Xie Wenshao.
Xie Wenshao had promised Anning that if he became Emperor, he would certainly honor Anning and would ensure that Qi Wenjuan could live as she wished.
Now that Qi Wenjuan was happy, and Xie Wenshao was willing to indulge his little sister’s happiness, and since she didn’t break the King’s Law, it was no one else’s business.
And some people did talk to Anning about these matters, telling her to keep a tight rein on Qi Wenjuan, but Anning never interfered.
Actually, Anning was somewhat envious of Qi Wenjuan’s lifestyle.
Young and beautiful, with power and influence, keeping the men she wanted for herself – not even immortals would trade such a life.
Because of Xie Wenshao and Anning’s indulgence, Qi Wenjuan lived her life so unrestrainedly.
And Anning had a good life too. Xie Wenshao was a man of deep loyalty and sentiment. During his reign, he always treated Anning with filial respect, never forgetting to share any good things with her, and he took great care of the Ye family as well.
Because of the Emperor’s respect, Anning was untouchable all her life.
She opened many workshops and supported many merchants, contributing to the commercial prosperity of the Daliang Dynasty.
But Zhao Sanya and Qi Wenwei’s lives were not so easy.
Qi Wenwei failed to pass the Imperial Examination and became a total wreck after returning to Suzhou.
He never married nor had children in his life, and he and Zhao Sanya were constantly at odds.
As they got older, they often fought and quarreled incessantly.
Qi Rui died early on.
In the end, he was destitute. When he died, there was no one by his side, and his eyes were not even closed in death.
After Qi Rui’s death, Qi Wenwei and Zhao Sanya became even more unreasonable, causing endless disturbances that became the gossip of Suzhou City.
Anning lived to be over seventy in this life and died of natural causes.
Shortly after her death, Xie Wenshao and Qi Wenjuan also passed away.
Anning had avenged Ye Anning and cared for Xie Wenshao and Qi Wenjuan her entire life, ensuring the siblings lived happily ever after.
After her death, her soul left her body and quickly reached the void.
Ye Anning saw Anning arrive and smiled in thanks.
"I saw it all in the Water Mirror, thank you."
Ye Anning felt Anning was quite exceptional and possessed extraordinary abilities. Even if she had gone back herself, she might not have done as well as Anning.
Moreover, Anning found a way to make Qi Wenshao the Emperor, which for Ye Anning, was unimaginable.
But Anning did it, and because Qi Wenshao became Emperor, he protected Qi Wenjuan her entire life, allowing her to live as she wished.
For a mother, this was the most desired outcome.
Anning smiled at Ye Anning and hit her with a stream of Merit Power: "Go reincarnate."
This Merit Power, though small, could protect Ye Anning and allow her to be reborn into a good life in her next lifetime.
After Ye Anning left, Anning was ready to rest when she felt a disturbance in the void. She reached out and in a flash, the ghost of a modernly dressed woman appeared before her. The woman bore a look of desolation, her expression blank, but her eyes held deep-seated hatred.