The Concubine in the Palace_The Feast of Masks【Complete】(154)

Zidie cried and said, "We betrayed our master, but the master must love us. I came to serve the princess at the age of eleven, and it has been thirteen years now. I am twenty-four this year. Have you ever seen a twenty-four-year-old girl who is not married? The princess always said that she would help us find a good family, but she just said it, and she didn't think so at all. I don't want to be an old maid for life. You can scold me if you want, I won't talk back, but don't hit me. If you hit me again, we will fight back!"

Mother Zhou has always claimed to be highly respected, and the maids are usually respectful to her. She has never been treated like this. Especially what the two said, every word was heartbreaking, and she didn't know what to say for a while.

Princess Jin was struck by lightning, her face pale and looking around at the maids, and her voice squeezed out of her throat little by little: "Do you all think so?"

Although these Zi dared to talk back to Mother Zhou, they didn't dare to talk back to Princess Jin. They probably felt guilty and turned their faces away. Her sight fell on Zi Yan, and she hurriedly said: "My lady, I have never planned to get married."

Princess Jin was stunned, then smiled bitterly: "I thought I was good to you, but I didn't expect to cause your disgust. What's the good of getting married? The suffering of being a woman starts from getting married."

She said this in a very low voice, almost like a mosquito's hum. Others only saw her lips moving a few times, but didn't know what she was saying.

She smiled suddenly.

At this moment, her smile was very beautiful.

She looked at the King of Jin, her eyes were dark, without a trace of light: "I have nothing to say, you can kill me or cut me up, it's all up to you."

Li Dequan sighed.

He didn't expect that he was just on behalf of the emperor to come to the King of Jin's mansion to give rewards, but he would see such a show. Before the King of Jin kept him, he had some idea in his mind, thinking that something might have happened, but he never expected it to be like this.

The Prince of Jin ignored the Princess of Jin and said to Li Dequan, "I've made you laugh at me, Eunuch Li."

Li Dequan sneered, "Your Highness, this - this old slave is still waiting to return to the palace to report."

"I'll take you there."

The two of them left together, just as casually as when they came, leaving the room in ruins.

As old men who have been in the palace for many years, Li Dequan naturally understood what the Prince of Jin meant.

After returning to the palace, he replied to Emperor Hongjing, saying that both mother and child were safe, and the second son of the Prince of Jin's mansion was very healthy. After he finished speaking, he paused and told Emperor Hongjing everything he saw in the Prince of Jin's mansion.

After listening to this, Emperor Hongjing was very silent, put down the red pen in his hand, and asked, "Then according to you, what does the Prince of Jin mean?"

"This -" Li Dequan bent down, "Your Highness the Prince of Jin probably wants to abolish the Princess of Jin."

Otherwise, why would he take so much effort to take him to watch this show?

Emperor Hongjing reviewed memorials all day, all of which were accumulated in the past few days, and his shoulders and waist were also very sore. He stood up from the dragon throne, walked back and forth a few times, and stretched his muscles and bones before saying: "I chose the wrong wife for Lao Wu back then."

Li Dequan did not speak.

In fact, it was not Emperor Hongjing's fault. The Princess of Jin had a good family background and extraordinary appearance. She was also a famous talented woman in Beijing. When the Prince of Jin had not left the palace to go to the vassal state, Emperor Hongjing knew that Lao Wu and his wife had a very bad relationship. He just thought that Lao Wu was a loner and would get better over time.

But who would have thought that the Prince of Jin's mansion had never given birth to a legitimate son, and there were always rumors spreading outside. He didn't think there was anything wrong with the fifth son. He rewarded women several times, but Lao Wu refused them. It was only the last time that he sent the person over without even saying hello that he accepted it.

This time when he came to Beijing, he suddenly had a son and a concubine around him. Emperor Hongjing has never paid attention to women's affairs. He thinks that every man has three wives and four concubines. He can spoil them and it doesn't matter. As long as he can get by, it's fine. But who would have thought that such a thing would happen. The fifth son actually wanted to divorce his wife. It was obvious that the resentment was not accumulated in one or two days, but accumulated over time.

"This Xu is really not solemn and decent. She doesn't look like a wife at all! But is it an exaggeration to divorce her like this?"

Li Dequan didn't dare to respond, but just smiled and hesitated, but actually said nothing.

Emperor Hongjing suddenly said: "Summon him to the palace tomorrow. I want to ask him what he thinks."

The next day, Prince Jin came to the Qianqing Palace.

Emperor Hongjing had just finished discussing things with several cabinet elders, and he summoned him in without delay. Emperor Hongjing was reading a memorial and asked, "Have you made up your mind?"

Prince Jin naturally knew what he was asking, "I have made up my mind."

"It's just a concubine."

Prince Jin was not speechless, but many of the things he wanted to say were not suitable to be said to Emperor Hongjing, so he simply said nothing.

It was not the first time that Emperor Hongjing faced this son, and he knew some of his character. When he saw him like this, he knew that he must be rebellious in his heart.

So, he didn't plan to beat around the bush anymore, and waved his hand in annoyance: "Don't mention this matter again, I won't allow it."

"Why?"

Emperor Hongjing looked very serious and solemn, "I'm doing this for your own good."

Just as Emperor Hongjing knew some of Prince Jin's character, Prince Jin also knew some of Emperor Hongjing's habits. Seeing him like this, a thought flashed through his mind like a spark of lightning, and he suddenly understood why his father did this.

It was nothing more than for Prince Hui's son Zhao Zuo, the former grandson of the emperor.

In fact, Emperor Hongjing had already chosen a grandson's wife for Zhao Zuo a long time ago. She was the youngest daughter of the Chen family. Although the Chen family was not a family of aristocracy, it was also a noble family. There were countless sons and daughters in the family who had passed the imperial examinations and were the backbone of the civil servants. Zhao Zuo's marriage to the daughter of the Chen family would be a great help in inheriting the throne in the future.

Unfortunately, the matter was disturbed by the order of the King of Jin. The daughter of the Chen family eloped with her cousin. The Chen family had no way to make up for it and could only report that she was sick and dead. Of course, this was a statement to the outside world. The Chen family and the King of Jin knew that the young lady of the Chen family was not actually dead.

Let's skip this matter, because the grandson was about to get married, and his fiancée suddenly died of illness. Emperor Hongjing felt unlucky for a while. He also felt sorry for Zhao Zuo's fate and wanted to compensate him, so he pointed out another marriage for him.

The origin of the object this time is higher than the previous one. She is the daughter of Wang Ge Lao. Her grandfather is the leader among the civil officials. She is also the legitimate daughter of the family and grew up with great pampering.

The wedding was originally scheduled for October this year, but who would have thought that something went wrong in the middle and the little girl was unwilling.

Wang Ge Lao personally came to find Emperor Hongjing to say that his granddaughter was spoiled and willful since she was a child, and the old woman in his family spoiled her very much. I don’t know why the granddaughter suddenly made a fuss about not getting married, saying that she wanted to stay at home with her grandmother for two more years. The little girl cried, and the old woman cried too. The two grandparents cried so much that Wang Ge Lao had no choice but to go to the palace to find Emperor Hongjing.

Wang Ge Lao was able to sit in the position of the elder, so he was naturally not stupid. How could he come to Emperor Hongjing to cancel the engagement openly? Of course, he was strategic. He roughly told the story, and then sat on the ground of the Qianqing Palace and cried, making Emperor Hongjing pity him at his age and really couldn’t stand the tossing.

This tossing and turning is naturally attributed to his wife. Everyone in the capital knows that Wang Ge Lao has first-class moral character, except for one thing: he is afraid of his wife. This is not a shameful thing. There have been many famous ministers and generals in the past dynasties who are afraid of their wives. In addition, Wang Ge Lao is also old, with a white beard, and no one will be uncomfortable to find fun with him.

But this fear of his wife to the point of opposing the current emperor is also the first one. The key is that Wang Ge Lao is very humiliating. Emperor Hongjing is so angry that he is fuming, but he doesn't care and just cries.

Until Emperor Hongjing cried and softened.

Emperor Hongjing had no choice but to agree to this marriage and pretend that it had never been mentioned. Anyway, no imperial edict was issued at the beginning. Fortunately, there was no edict, otherwise Emperor Hongjing would not know how to make up for this.

He naturally knew why Wang Ge Lao came to cancel the engagement. All the excuses he made were false. The real reason was that the Eastern Palace lost power and was abolished. But Wang Ge Lao is an old minister of two dynasties. When the marriage was first proposed, Wang Ge Lao was not very willing. He repeatedly said that his granddaughter was spoiled and might not be suitable to be the crown prince's consort. The old woman at home was also unwilling to let his granddaughter marry into the royal family.

It was Emperor Hongjing who repeatedly guaranteed that the crown prince would not treat the girl from the Wang family badly, and asked Wang Ge Lao to go back and persuade the women at home, and the marriage was settled. Now it has to be said that Wang Ge Lao is really a thousand-year-old fox. He has prepared a back-up plan for himself in advance when he speaks and does things. All problems were solved by saying that the old woman was ignorant and made a scene of not agreeing.

It was also Emperor Hongjing who did not want to have a rift with this old minister who relied on him.

During this period, another thing happened. That is, Wang Ge Lao withdrew the marriage. Not long after that, it was reported that the Princess of Yong and the girl from the Wang family had close contacts and intended to hire the girl from the Wang family as a concubine for the Prince of Yong. The key is that when the Princess of Yong showed this intention, the girl from the Wang family did not refuse on the spot.

Although it is a woman's matter, the former dynasty and the harem are related. It is a foregone conclusion that the princes will withdraw from the vassal states and return to the capital. If nothing unexpected happens, these princes are all strong contenders for the future crown prince, which inevitably makes people think more.

And then something happened, which almost made people drop their teeth. The King of Lu actually ran to Emperor Hongjing and said that he wanted to marry the girl of the Wang family and asked Emperor Hongjing to grant the marriage. Although he was dismissed by Emperor Hongjing, these two consecutive events have already shown that the competition among the eight kings has officially begun.

Now that the King of Jin has gone to such great lengths to abolish the Princess of Jin, the suspicious Emperor Hongjing believes that it is not for the concubine. He probably wants to show his sincerity, vacate the position of the Princess, and win over the Wang family. After all, the eight kings are all married, and the position of the concubine is not as tempting as the position of the Princess.

The King of Jin is also a man with a seven-hole mind. Many thoughts flashed through his mind in an instant.

He hadn't expected that his intention to depose the princess would be so unfortunate and connected to this matter. You know, he just wanted to...