Chapter 178: The Year of the Son of Heaven (Part 1)

At night, the Taichu Palace was quite deserted.

A flute sounded suddenly, like an invisible hand, disturbing the night.

The palace guards at night frowned at first, fearing that someone would disturb the emperor's sleep, but soon discovered that it was Chunjia who was playing the flute.

He half opened the palace window, overlooking the dim moonlight in the courtyard, with the jade flute across his lips, swallowing and weeping, as if sad, but full of alienation and indifference.

It seems to be telling a very sad and cold story.

It has nothing to do with the piper, however.

The steward listened to the sound of the flute, and whispered to the servants in the palace to be more careful, not to disturb the emperor's interest by making any noise.

But Chunjia is actually not in a bad mood at the moment.

The method of plagiarizing Yunfenghuang is very useful. No matter what the Queen Mother Yuan thinks at the moment, it is impossible to prevent Yuan Niang and her son from becoming the past in this palace and disappearing from sight.

Now that his goal had been achieved, he didn't bother to think about it any more.

After all, whether it is Yuan Niangniang, or her child named Gong Xiangzhuo whom he temporarily named Gong Xiangzhuo in order to impress the Empress Dowager Yuan, they are not very important people to Chunjia—this is a secret that only he knows well. , not disclosed to anyone.

Nor can it be disclosed.

If it is said that Empress Dowager Yuan did not like Yuan Niangniang at first, but during the long time together, she unconsciously fell in love with this niece, forgetting the anger at being threatened by Yuan's family when she agreed to this marriage; , always treat Yuan Lianniang with a respectful and far-flung attitude.

The problem is that the Queen Mother Yuan at that time could not reject the Yuan family, and he could not reject the Queen Mother Yuan.

He knew very early on that he was not the biological son of Empress Dowager Yuan. This was not caused by some servant or Empress Dowager Qu, but from his direct grandmother, Concubine Fuyang Zhuang.

As far back as I can remember, Empress Dowager Yuan took him to greet Concubine Zhuang. Concubine Zhuang looked at them indifferently, and said in front of Empress Dowager Yuan, "It's not your own after all, it looks more like your biological mother...but it's more like your biological mother... When I was a child, I was still pretty."

Then, as if he didn't see Empress Dowager Yuan's pale face and Chunjia's ignorance, he smiled and served tea to see off the guests-the corners of his eyes and brows were clearly intentional and malicious.

It's not over yet.

One day after Fuyang Duan Wang passed away and was still in the middle of the funeral, the sick Concubine Zhuang took advantage of the time when Queen Mother Yuan greeted and mourned the guests, and asked Chunjia to be brought to her.

The young Chunjia was very scared. Although he was the only grandson of Concubine Zhuang, because he was a concubine, he could not inherit the royal title according to the rules, and was not welcomed by Concubine Zhuang.

Apart from greetings on New Year's Eve, his direct grandmother doesn't even want him to step into the main courtyard.

This was the first and last time he faced this grandmother alone.

Although the Empress Dowager Yuan has been covering up for Concubine Zhuang in front of him, saying that Concubine Zhuang still likes him very much, just because he is a man and looks harsh... But he was forced to enter the inner room, under the strong smell of medicine and the weirdness of the dying old man When he kowtowed tremblingly in his body, he still had instinctive fear and nervousness.

"I'm about to die. Although I don't like you, you are my son's only flesh and blood." Concubine Zhuang changed her coldness towards him before and took the initiative to speak, "So I plan to tell you something."

Chunjia was at a loss and kowtowed, not daring to make a sound.

He heard the maid in the room who had served Concubine Zhuang all her life covering her mouth, expressing the depression that she tried her best to suppress, and subconsciously shivered.

Concubine Zhuang didn't pay attention to this, she just said to herself: "After I die, this palace will be run by Yuan Shi, and you are her reliance as the concubine, so she will not treat you badly on the scene, at least you have a son to come No. But if you don’t want to be her puppet and obey her all your life, life and death are up to her, you must remember what I said—even if the descendants of my Gongxiang family are only concubines, they are not mere daughters of the Fuyang Yuan family You can handle it!"

Chunjia didn't speak.

He doesn't know what to say?

Fortunately, Concubine Zhuang didn't need him to talk, and said, "Since you became the son of the crown prince, the Yuan family of Fuyang has hinted several times that they wanted to betroth their daughter to you, but I stopped them. But I am dying now, Yuan Shi will definitely help her natal family, but no one can refuse this for you. The girl they want to promise to you, I sent someone to inquire about it, and it is really not very good. If you say that you are worthy, you are worthy of this mansion. It’s not enough to be in charge.”

She had a cold face, "But after I died, Yuan Shi told you about this matter, so you should agree. After all, if you don't agree, she also has a lot of ways to make you have to marry her niece."

"...Mother concubine is very good to her grandson." Chunjia boldly retorted.

He was too young at this time, so he didn't really understand what he said. He only vaguely felt that his grandmother was speaking ill of Queen Mother Yuan.

Concubine Zhuang sneered when she heard the words, but she didn't reprimand her, she just said lightly: "In a few days, when you make an engagement with her niece, she will definitely take her over to cultivate feelings with you. Look, does she love you more, or her own niece?"

When mentioning Chunjia's future fiancée, the concubine gave a strange smile, "She chose one for you among all the nieces who is not outstanding in appearance, but also has a bit of conscience."

Even the young Chunjia felt that this was wrong, but before he could ask, a mother next to her sobbed and said, "Your Majesty, the concubine is your real grandmother, even if you are not allowed to come to the main courtyard, there is a reason for it. How could it be possible not to miss you? I'm afraid the exhortation at this moment is... the prince wants to hear it in the future, but he won't be able to hear it... the prince should stop talking and just listen to the concubine!"

Chunjia lowered his head, feeling a little dazed and apprehensive. He must not like Concubine Zhuang very much. After all, this grandmother has always been indifferent to him. Although Queen Mother Yuan did not teach him to distance himself from his grandmother, she did not teach him either. Get close to grandma.

In his eyes, Concubine Zhuang was actually not much better than a stranger.

But it was his own grandmother after all.

Guochao ruled the world with filial piety, and at his age he had already been influenced by it, and if his grandmother died, he could not be indifferent after all.

Concubine Zhuang looked indifferent, and continued to say: "You are talented and intelligent, and your body is also strong. From now on, study hard and don't lose your martial arts. When you grow up, you don't need anyone to tell you what is right and what is wrong. Say, you should understand. This is only about ten years of hard work. I heard that you have been determined since you were young, and you never supervised your schoolwork. The teachers are full of praise for you. Don’t you have any patience? It's also because you don't end well in the future!"

She said slowly, "You are too young now, with no status but no ability, you can only rely on Yuan Shi for everything...but you can't rely on her for the rest of your life!"

"The tree that embraces you is born at the end of the hair; the platform with nine stories rises from the pile of soil. I just hope you remember this sentence, no matter how many people talk to you nicely, no matter how many people flatter you, what will happen after you ascend the throne?" If you don’t do it, you can live a rich life, don’t listen to it, don’t believe it, when you have nothing, ask your teachers as much as possible——When you grow up, the Yuan family doesn’t care about you, you should also learn to give yourself a reputation for being virtuous! "

"So, after ten or twenty years, I believe you will thank me."

Concubine Zhuang smiled at her own grandson for the first time in her life, but she didn't have much comfort or kindness, she just emphasized slowly, "Work hard, and strive to not rely on your mother, concubine, Yuan, or even Fuyang Prince's Mansion, you can also gain a foothold between the heaven and the earth, and you will definitely thank me when the time comes."

She smiled, beckoned to the mother not far away to help her, reached out with a little difficulty, and stroked Chunjia's hair.

Chunjia was not used to her touch, so she wanted to hide subconsciously, but she froze when she was halfway there.

He felt that grandma's palms were wet with cold sweat, and she almost wiped her hands with her own hair, but he didn't dare to say it—to hide the discomfort, he turned his head slightly, but just in time to see that the mother also turned her head, Skim off the crystal eyes.

This kind of scene reminded him quickly that a few days ago, he was also like this, kneeling in front of the sick bed, watching a roomful of people shed tears, sending away his biological father Fuyang Duanwang.

Chunjia was in a daze for a moment, but couldn't hear Zhuang Taifei's next words clearly. When she came back to her senses, the dowager had finished speaking: "...Anyway, you go down."

Naturally, he didn't dare to ask the concubine to say it again, he agreed indiscriminately, kowtowed and hurriedly walked out.

But when he went out, he found out that the concubine only let him out of the inner room, but did not let him leave the main courtyard.

And soon someone came out, put a brazier under the corridor, asked him to kneel, and burned paper for Fuyang Duanwang.

It was still very cold at that time, although Chunjia was wearing a fur coat, the corridor was ventilated on three sides, the concubine didn't ask for anything, and the servants didn't dare to bring him anything.

After kneeling like this for a short time, he felt a bit overwhelmed.

The mother who had helped Concubine Zhuang in the house before came out and asked someone to watch the door. She just took off her waistcoat and put it on for him, and said in a low voice: "Your Majesty, bear with it. After a while, the princess will come. alright."

Chunjia was ignorant at that time, thinking that he had offended his grandmother and was being punished. He was not close to Concubine Zhuang, and of course he was cautious towards Concubine Zhuang's close servants. He thanked her lightly and did not answer other words.

But the mother stood by the side and didn't leave, she looked at him fixedly, and after a while she said: "The son followed his birth mother, but this chin looks exactly like a prince's."

Chunjia glanced at her sideways, a bit puzzled why she suddenly said that?

He had met this mother before, but the other party had never looked him in the eye, let alone started a conversation.

"...The imperial concubine knows everything about the prince these years." The mother finally said, "As for why it is not obvious on the surface, the prince will naturally understand when he grows up. After the prince returns today, please return the matter to me." Tell the princess carefully. It is best not to mention a word."

Then she went in.

After a while, the little maid rushed in to report the news, and the mother came out and quickly took away the waistcoat under Chunjia's knees—soon Empress Dowager Yuan came in with dipped willows to pay her respects to the concubine, seeing Chunjia burning paper alone on the porch, she couldn't hide her face. Live in anger.

How the mother-in-law and daughter-in-law tore Fa Chunjia up that day is not very clear, after all, they all want face.

In short, when his grandmother and aunt quarreled, he thought hard outside: Should I tell Queen Mother Yuan what my grandmother told me?

Later he decided to tell, after all, Queen Mother Yuan is more trustworthy than Concubine Zhuang.

It was only when she opened her mouth that she said, "Concubine Mu, grandma said, after she dies, you will promise me your cousin?"

Empress Dowager Yuan's complexion changed drastically, she hugged him, and asked repeatedly: "What else did she say?! Did she tell you something?!"

This hasty attitude caused Chunjia to misunderstand, and shook his head: "Grandmother said that my cousin is not good, but the child wants to listen to mother and concubine...Grandmother asked the child to go out and burn paper for the father."

Empress Dowager Yuan breathed a sigh of relief—this time he missed the confession, and when he turned around, he temporarily forgot.

When I remembered it, it was already Zhuang Taifei's funeral.

After the funeral, Chunjia felt that his mother and concubine treated him better, and wanted to confess to Empress Dowager Yuan, but before he came to the aunt, Empress Dowager Yuan asked him with a smile: "Concubine mother, how long is your cousin going to stay here?" Day, are you okay?"

He hesitated for a while and said yes, and said nothing more.

He thought that in just a few days, how about looking at the situation of this cousin, so as to judge whether what the grandmother said is true or not?

Later... After seeing Yuan Niangniang, Chunjia knew that what Concubine Zhuang said, she should never tell Queen Mother Yuan in this life.