Qiao Jinniang lowered her eyes and said, “Your Majesty, the Qiao family is insatiable. If I give them some benefits, they will only demand more.”


  “If I give them money and ask them to return home, maybe tomorrow they will run amuck in the name of my sister and mine in Lin’an.

  “Moreover, if they use up the money, they will definitely come to Chang’an again. I will never be able to satisfy them!”


  Empress Zhou sighed. “It is indeed unlucky to have such relatives, but they are your former relatives anyway. If you just sit by and watch them become beggars, I am afraid that your reputation will be affected.”


  “Chang’an is not Lin’an. After all, it is necessary for you to maintain a good reputation.

  “They can’t cause you any serious trouble anyway. If you don’t want to give them money, I’ll give them some money and send them away.”


  Qiao Jinniang hurriedly said, “Your Majesty, it’s not about money. You can rest assured that I will handle this matter properly. Even if I can’t handle it, I’ll bear the consequences alone and will not implicate His Royal

  Highness.”


  Empress Zhou chuckled and said, “But he is your husband. Why did Censor Tong impeach you today? Isn’t it because you are the biological mother of the imperial grandson and the future crown princess?

  “You don’t want to implicate Chen’er, but it’s not possible. Since you and Chen’er got married, you two have been tied to the same boat.”


  Qiao Jinniang said, “But I haven’t entered the East Palace yet. I can cut off all connections with His Royal Highness and bear the bad reputation alone.”


  Empress Zhou said helplessly, “Jinniang, after Chen’er returned, he has repeatedly angered his father who loves him the most for you. His Majesty is the Emperor after all. Although he is Chen’er’s father, he is also the Emperor of the country. He has disobeyed His Majesty for you many times, but what about you?”


  “You want to cut off all connections with him just because of a few irrelevant clansmen? You said it was for the good of Chen’er, but can you abandon Chen’er so easily?’


  Qiao Jinniang pursed her lips. “Your Majesty, I don’t want to abandon His Royal Highness, but I think maybe I’m not worthy of being the crown princess.

  “Censor Tong is the elder brother of Your Majesty’s sister-in-law and Your Excellency Duke Wu’s brother-in-law, so he is certainly on His Royal Highness’ side.

  “He has impeached me because I am the mother of the imperial grandson, but wasn’t it also to protect His Royal Highness?”


  Empress Zhou looked at Qiao Jinniang in surprise. “I didn’t expect you to know the complicated relations among the nobles and officials in Chang’an?”


  Qiao Jinniang said, “After all, I don’t want to be blind. Your Majesty, I also want to be His Royal Highness’ good wife, but I know why I, an insignificant woman, was targeted.

  “Censor Tong must be trying to strike first, for fear that other imperial censors will impeach His Royal Highness for condoning my extravagance and ignoring poor relatives.

  “Or maybe he didn’t think I deserve to be favored by His Royal Highness.

  “In any case, this impeachment is aimed at His Royal Highness. If His Royal Highness can’t properly handle the officials, why should he blame me for giving up so easily?”


  Queen Zhou looked at Qiao Jinniang, took a sip of tea and said, “If you have any idea, then try it first. ” Qiao Jinniang nodded.

  After leaving the Queen’s palace, Qiao Jinniang went to the Relief Workshop in the west Of Chang’an.

  The Relief Workshop was in the west side of Changan, an area where there were poor childless elderly, abandoned children, and some crazy people who had been driven out by their families and had nowhere to

  go.

  In the Relief Workshop, there was a place called Jingci Garden, which accommodated old people who could no longer work. Additionally, there was a place called Disability Hall for disabled people, and Foundling Home.

  In the Foundling Home were all children under the age of 12, and for most of the children, once they were 12 years old, they would go out to work as servants, maids, laborers or embroiderers.

  Qiao Jinniang went to the Foundling Home. The chief of the Foundling Home was a 40-year-old lean woman. She said to Qiao Jinniang, “Nice to meet you, County Mistress. The one hundred taels of silver you donated really helped us out, thank you!”


  Qiao Jinniang said, “It’s getting colder and colder. I came to donate some charcoal fire, and do you need books here?”


  The lady said, “For the children here, it’s just too much to hope for food and clothing. They dare not dream

  to learn how to read and write. Let me call the children out to thank you, County Mistress.”


  The chief came out with the children, and Qiao Jinniang found that they were all girls. “Why are they all girls?”


  The chief said, “These are times of peace and most ordinary people live well. Even if there are orphans, their clansmen can take care of them.

  “But if some girls whose parents own some property but don’t have any brothers, after their parents died, their clansmen would drive them out or abuse them to death so as to take possession of their parents’ properties.

  “Fortunately, well-intentioned people would send them to the Foundling Home. There are also some people who had many daughters but still wanted to have a boy. In the end, they couldn’t afford their daughters but didn’t want to be scolded for selling their daughters, so they sent their daughters here.

  “Some were adulterous children and had nowhere to go. Some were the daughters of official prostitutes who didn’t want their daughters to be official prostitutes as well, so they sent them here.”


  Qiao Jinniang saw only five boys, and most of the girls were skinny.

  Although the Foundling Home had subsidies from the government and donations, it was far from enough.

  Qiao Jinniang was a mother. Seeing the girls about the same age as Xi’er dressed in tatters, she felt uncomfortable. She thought that if she had a daughter, she would never let her dress in such thin and tattered clothes.

  “Wow, Sister, are you a princess? Your dress is so beautiful!”


  “And the hairpin on your head is also very beautiful.”


  “Can I be as beautiful as you when I grow up?”


  Surrounded and praised for being beautiful by a group of girls, Qiao Jinniang couldn’t help but smile happily. She rubbed one of the girls’ cheeks and said, “You don’t have to wait to grow up. When the tailor makes your clothes, you will surely be beautiful.”


  The chief said to Qiao Jinniang, “This will cost you too much money. Besides, they are children, and they don’t need to be dressed well. It’s enough for them to wear some old cotton-padded clothes of the maids in rich families.”


  Qiao Jinniang smiled and said, “Girls should dress beautifully. I’ll make a dress for each of them.”


  The chief sighed. “Thank you for your kindness, County Mistress, but it’s really unnecessary. The money and charcoal fire you donated earlier are already enough.

  “Good and evil people mix around here. If the girls are dressed too beautifully, there may be some b*stards who……WeII, it would be better for them to dress in tatters. ”


  Qiao Jinniang didn’t get what she meant. “What do you mean? Will those people steal their clothes and sell

  them?”


  The chief said, “No, if these girls dress too beautifully, those beasts may harass them, and there are some old b*stards in Jingci Garden.

  “There are many kinds of people living next to Relief Workshop, and some seriously ill jerks realized that they are going to die soon, so they…… alas!”


  Hearing her words, Qiao Jinniang felt sad. “I still want to make them clothes. I’ll give you more money. You can buy some strong mammies to protect these girls.”