Chapter 156.1 – Changeable Situation
Three days after the incident happened, an official immediately wrote a petition to impeach the Pu family.
The impeachment memorial did not mention adultery at all. Instead, it targeted the Pu family for accepting bribes and forming cliques for personal gain over the years.
It was impossible for any big family, especially a famous family like the Pu family, to be completely clean. Therefore, under the instruction of Emperor Chong Ming, the officials wrote up to five memorials to impeach the Pu family. Emperor Chong Ming was determined to deal with the Pu family. Even Zhang Sun Cheng De did not dare to plea leniency for the Pu family in the imperial court.
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In the end, Pu Song Yong and his father were dismissed from their government posts. Originally, Pu Zhen Cheng just wanted to return home to recuperate, but in the end, this temporary rest became an eternal vacation.
But the Pu family was still considered lucky.
In situations like this, the family would usually have their house searched and possessions confiscated. But Emperor Chong Ming decided to let the Pu family go for the sake of his imperial aunt. However, the Pu family would not be allowed to serve as officials in the imperial court from now on.
Although he was spared from a complete disaster, this result still made Pu Zhen Cheng’s* head turn gray overnight. They were not allowed to serve as officials in the imperial court. This meant that the Pu family would only gradually decline in the future.
[*T/N: Based on the context of the following paragraph, I think the author meant to say Pu Song Yong (the son) here instead of Pu Zhen Cheng (the father)…]
Despite this, he did not dare to tell his old father – who was living a leisurely life away from the imperial court while he recuperated – about this matter. His father was already very old. If he found out about this matter, who knew what would happen to his health?
On the fifth day, Pu Song Yong went to Prince Wu’s Mansion to discuss the matter with the eldest prince, Fu Yuan Wu. He really didn’t expect that the matter would become so serious.
Now that the Pu family was in decline, his wife’s maternal family decided to cut ties with them. His only son no longer recognized him as a father. The only person he could go to for help was his son-in-law.
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The steward of Prince Wu’s Mansion came out. Pu Song Yong went up to greet him, but the steward said, “Pu-daren, please leave. Wangye said he is really busy and does not have time to see you.”
Pu Song Yong’s entire body immediately turned cold and his eyes widened in disbelief.
As soon as the Pu family fell into decline, his son-in-law actually burned the bridge after crossing the river*.
[*T/N: “to burn the bridge after crossing the river” is a figurative speech meaning “to abandon one’s benefactor upon achieving one’s goal”]
His daughter was still that man’s wangfei!
“No, I must see my son-in-law today. I have very important things to discuss with him.” Pu Song Yong yelled, wanting to rush inside.
The steward had already guessed that this would be the case and immediately ordered two servants to stop him. Pu Song Yong had been living in a position of dignity for many years and had no physical strength at all, so he was easily stopped by the two servants.
“Pu-daren, this insignificant one is just conveying wangye’s words. Please don’t make things hard for me.”
The steward did not dare to let the servants hurt Pu Song Yong. The Pu family might have lost power, but Pu Song Yong’s daughter was still the mistress of Prince Wu’s Mansion. Unless she commits some terrible mistake in the future, she would always be their wangfei. And if she found out that they treated her father horribly, she would not let them get off easy.
Pu Song Yong stopped struggling.
The steward thought that he had been convinced and finally breathed a sigh of relief.
But Pu Song Yong just knew that a head-on confrontation would do no good to him. After calming down, he said to the steward: “Steward, go and tell your wangye that if he does not see me, then I might not keep mum about a certain matter.”
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For his son-in-law, he not only sacrificed his official career, but also the Pu family. Since his son-in-law was being heartless, he would just have to return tit-for-tat.
The steward saw that Pu Song Yong was serious. After hesitating for a bit, he agreed.
He conveyed Pu Song Yong’s words verbatim to the wangye and saw the wangye’s expression change.
“Let him in.”
The steward didn’t dare to think too much and immediately went out to bring Pu Song Yong inside.
As soon as Pu Song Yong saw the heartless Fu Yuan Wu, he couldn’t help letting out a sarcastic sneer.
“My good son-in-law, as your father-in-law, it’s really hard to see you!”
It was all thanks to him that Fu Yuan Wu got to where he was today. Before, he had extravagant expectations that Fu Yuan Wu would help the Pu family. He didn’t think that the man would be such a thankless wretch.
“If you have anything to say, just say it.”
Fu Yuan Wu’s face was full of impatience. He had been very close to the Pu family before, but since the Pu family was no longer useful, there was no need for him to be nice to the Pu family anymore. This was the kind of man that he was. It’s not like this was the first time the Pu family saw him acting like this. When it came to useless chess pieces, he got rid of them without batting an eye!
Of course Pu Song Yong knew, but he never thought that the Pu family would be one of those chess pieces.
