The news that Noble Consort Xue had been contradicted by the Empress' taijian and fainted in the Imperial Garden quickly spread through the palace.
When Emperor Zhao Qing hurried to Zhong Cui Palace, there was a crowd of consorts and noble women in the outer hall. Not a single one of the women that had been in the Imperial Garden two hours ago was missing. They had all been kept here by the Empress.
It had to be said that the worst person right now was Rui Empress. Originally, she had planned on destroying Noble Consort Xue's reputation in front of others to cover the momentum of Kun Ling Bureau replacing her. Who would have thought that Noble Consort Xue had come prepared and purposefully ran into her gun.
Great, Noble Consort Xue had miscarried. After the taiyi had examined her, they all had bitter expressions and said that the breathing was unstable. If Noble Consort Xue really miscarried, she wouldn't be able to escape the blame. She wouldn't be able to explain herself.
At this critical moment, she really didn't know if she should hope that the dragon seed in Noble Consort Xue's belly would be preserved or not.
Seeing Emperor Zhao Qing stride in, Rui Empress shook and brought a room full of women to greet him.
"Your Majesty — —"
Before they could finish, Emperor Zhao Qing raised a hand to interrupt them. Ignoring them, he walked straight into the inner hall.
Emperor Zhao Qing saw the unconscious Noble Consort Xue on the bed and called over the taiyi and palace maids to ask what had happened. His face was so black it could wipe shoes.
When Rui Empress saw him come out with a cold expression, she knew it wasn't good. Before Emperor Zhao Qing could question her, she blamed herself: "Your Majesty, please don't be angry. That chamberlain that rudely offended guifei's chamberlain, chen qie already had people drag her away to be flogged. Speaking of this, chen qie is to blame. At the time, I was happily chatting with my meimei in the garden and didn't notice guifei had come. The people below didn't know that guifei was delicate and stupidly blocked her path. That's why she was so angry, sigh."
Rui Empress sighed as she spoke. Sun Gui Ren, who was standing behind her, softly followed up: "Yes, Your Majesty, how could we have known that guifei niangniang was pregnant?"
Normally, Rui Empress knew Emperor Zhao Qing's temper. One, he liked the new and hated the old. Two, he hated people hiding things. With her explanation, it was more like Noble Consort Xue knew she was pregnant but hid it and purposefully ran to the Imperial Garden to cause trouble.
With Sun Guiren's support, even if Emperor Zhao Qing blamed her, he wouldn't reprimand her in public.
Who knew that after Emperor Zhao Qing finished listening to the two, his anger didn't subside but rose. With a wave of his sleeve, he brushed off the porcelain cup on the tea table. He said angrily to Rui Empress: "She is a guifei, and her rank is just below you in the hougong. Yet she can't even stroll in the flower garden and has to endure the harassment of your servants. How absurd! Men, tie up all the evil servants of the Empress. Every one of them shall be flogged twenty times, no less! "
Rui Empress would never have thought that Noble Consort Xue hadn't run to the Imperial Garden on her own, but Emperor Zhao Qing had said it first. Now Rui Empress was going to say that something had happened to Noble Consort Xue because she had run to the Imperial Garden on her own. Wasn't that slapping Emperor Zhao Qing's face?
Emperor Zhao Qing hadn't finished venting his anger when he turned his head to see Sun Gui Ren's aggrieved state. He didn't feel pity, but felt that she and Rui Empress were birds of the same feather. Just now, they had been trying to fool him.
"You are just a little noble person. Even if Noble Consort is pregnant, do I have to send someone to notify you beforehand? You really don't know etiquette, don't know what it means. From today onwards, zhen will move out of Xi Xia Palace. That is the place of De Fei's Palace. How can it be sullied by an immoral woman like you! "
Sun Gui Ren was completely dumbstruck. Move out of Xi Xia Palace, the Emperor wanted to remove her position!?
Rui Empress was also frightened by Emperor Zhao Qing's outburst. Before she could react to save her, she had someone "invite" her out of Zhong Cui Palace.
Sun Gui Ren, who had knelt on the ground and cried for forgiveness, was forcefully dragged away by two strong palace maids.
Zhong Cui Palace was noisy for a while before quickly returning to silence. Emperor Zhao Qing returned to the room and sat down in front of Noble Consort Xue's couch. He held the soft hair hanging by her side and lowered his head to look at her bloodless face. He was dazed. This situation seemed familiar.
Three years ago, she had also been like this. She had mysteriously lost the child in her womb. He knew that the fault wasn't on her, but he couldn't even help her vent. He could only secretly visit her in the dead of night.
As the Emperor, sitting on the dragon throne, there were times when he had no other choice.
Back then, when the Tenth Princess fell off a building and died unexpectedly, he had investigated clearly who had done this behind the scenes and framed the Xue family — his Seventh Prince, Liu Hao, had been so audacious as to scheme against his royal sister and murder his own kin.
But he couldn't punish this bastard. Instead, he had to cover up his crimes and make the Xue family the scapegoat. This wasn't because he loved Liu Hao so much that he couldn't tell right from wrong, but because he couldn't go against the teachings of his ancestors.
Other than the successive Celestial Commissioner's advice, few people knew that every new Emperor would go to the Imperial Ancestral Temple to listen to the teachings of the Holy Ancestor on the day he ascended the throne.
He clearly remembered the most glorious day of his life more than ten years ago. Wearing a dragon robe and imperial canopy, the officials bowed to him. He held a heart full of ambition and stepped into the Imperial Ancestral Temple and knelt in front of the ancestral tablets …
Emperor Zhao Qing's thoughts couldn't help but drift away.
The storm in the palace wasn't deliberately suppressed. That night, the news leaked out of the palace. When they heard the news, the most worried was Empress Rui's family, the Zhong Yong Count.
Count Rui couldn't sit still. He immediately used the excuse that the Countess wasn't feeling well to send someone to the Junior Supervisor Fu to find his eldest daughter, the wife of the Junior Supervisor, Ren Rui shi.
As the eldest di daughter, Rui Hongxia was more than ten years older than her youngest sister, Rui Zizhu. She was twice her age. She wasn't as beautiful as her sisters. When she was middle-aged, she looked like a dignified woman. Her features were similar to Empress Rui in the palace.
"Father, why are you in such a hurry to find me?" Ren Rui shi walked into the dining hall. Seeing her father's frown, she guessed: "Did something happen to the Empress in the palace?"
Count Rui gave her a summary of what had happened in the palace this afternoon.
Ren Rui shi finally knew the severity of the situation. Not only was Noble Consort Xue pregnant, she took the opportunity to attack her aunt, the Empress. The Emperor was so angry that he punished the Empress's palace servants and even punished Sun Guiren, who had finally gained favor.
Now, their plan to have the Empress raise a stepson was ruined.
Emperor Zhao Qing had been ill in recent years and the Empress was childless. Her authority in the palace was declining day by day. Missing this opportunity, how could they find another?
"I've long said that the Xue family has evil intentions. That Noble Consort Xue has endured until now. Father doesn't think so and even planned to marry Zizhu meimei to their family. Fortunately, this didn't happen," Ren Rui shi couldn't help but say. Seeing Count Rui's expression wasn't good, she changed the topic and urged: "Father, don't panic. It's true that we should quickly think of a countermeasure."
If this continued, no matter which prince Emperor Zhao Qing appointed as the heir apparent, as long as Rui shi still sat on the position of Empress, the Count Fu would be a thorn in the other's side.
Most likely, after the new Emperor ascended the throne, the first thing he would do would be to attack the Count Fu. After that, there would be no place for the Rui family in the capital.
Count Rui said: "Your aunt sent someone to send a letter. She has an idea to deal with the urgent matter and wants me to make a decision. I just can't decide whether it's good or bad, so I asked you to participate."
"Then what does Auntie mean?"
Count Rui raised his head to look at his eldest daughter and said: "Today, it seems that the Emperor is biased towards Noble Consort Xue. It's hard to guarantee that there won't be some fence-sitters in court that will fall to the Ninth Prince's side tomorrow. Moreover, the Ninth Prince is about to get married. Among the princes, only Ning Wang has more prestige than him. However, Ning Wang is grounded in his mansion, allowing the Ninth Prince to outshine him. Your aunt wants us to think of a way to make Ning Wang leave the mansion early to suppress the Ninth Prince's power."
Ren Rui shi immediately understood. It wasn't just the Rui Family that couldn't tolerate the Xue family's rise in power. There was also Ning Wang Fu.
"Go back and mention this to your son-in-law. Tell him about Noble Consort Xue's pregnancy. The Empress has been implicated because of this and your mother is ill. Ask him if he has any way to smooth things over," Count Rui instructed his eldest daughter.
Even though his eldest son-in-law was inflexible, he was still a smart person. It might not be easy for him to abuse his power for personal gain, but in this situation, if he was asked for help, he definitely wouldn't refuse his father-in-law.
As the adjutant of the Celestial Commissioner, Ren Qiming had the right to ask about the rewards and punishments of the Imperial Family. It wouldn't be difficult for him to have Ning Wang release his house arrest early.
Ren Rui shi thought about her husband's cold face and then looked at her father's confident face. She hesitated for a moment before agreeing.
After they were done talking about business, Count Rui asked his eldest daughter to visit his youngest daughter's room. He said with some hatred, "This girl, your mother slightly revealed that she was going to marry into the Xue Clan, and she's already taken a liking to that brat Xue Rui. Now that the marriage has failed, she's actually hiding in her room without eating or drinking. What a good-for-nothing. Go teach her a lesson on my behalf. Turn her around as soon as possible, lest she embarrasses me when she goes out in the future."
Ren Rui shi went to the rear courtyard to talk to Rui Zizhu.
The sisters hadn't seen each other for a long time. When Ren Rui shi saw Rui Zizhu, she could see that she had lost a lot of weight. Her eyes were dark and she looked listless. She was shocked.
"What's going on? How did you end up like this?"
When she married out, her younger sister was still a baby. They didn't spend much time together, but the elder sister was like a mother. Every time Ren Rui shi obtained something good, she would never forget to send a portion to the fu. When they saw each other, they would talk to each other gently. So when Rui Zizhu saw her, she couldn't help but cry.
"Jiejie, help me ask Father why the marriage with the Xue family couldn't go through. What is wrong with me that he dislikes me?"
The little girl was stubborn. Ren Rui shi had been young and could understand her feelings. Moreover, she had seen the Dalang of the Xue family before. He was a handsome scholar that could make girls fall head over heels for him.
Ren Rui shi gave a look and asked all the servant girls in the room to leave. She closed the door and coaxed her, "Silly girl, you are beautiful and have been sensible since you were young. How could you be disliked by others? In my opinion, it is the Dalang of the Xue family who doesn't deserve you. Don't cry. Your little face is all wrinkled from crying. "
Madam Ren quickly appeased Rui Zizhu and called her personal servant girl to fetch water. She personally helped Rui Zizhu wash her face and said jokingly, "You've only seen that Xue Rui a few times and talked to him a few times. How would you know what kind of person he is? It's not to the point where you have to be a ruler. Believe it or not, if you don't think about him for a while and stop crying, it won't be long before you even remember what he looks like."
Rui Zizhu's mind became clearer after crying. Hearing her elder sister's words, she didn't refute. She just said sadly, "You don't have to say nice words to coax me. I know it's my own wishful thinking. Eldest Brother of the Xue family already has someone else in his heart. I just don't feel reconciled. How can I be inferior to him?"
You've already exceeded your reading limit for today. If you want to read more, please log in.
Login
Select text and click 'Report' to let us know about any bad translation.
