Chapter 30 The concubine looks three times like Lu Ze

Qi Yuning said: "It's not the case at all."

If you haven't performed any of the six rituals, how can you be considered a wife?

Qi Yuning added: "It seems that Lu Baozhu and I have wrongly accused Miss Guan Liu."

Originally, Qi Yuning and Lu Baozhu both thought that it was because Sixth Miss Guan had great connections and abilities that she was able to get a marriage with the Qin family.

After hearing the words coming from next door and what Lu Ze just said, Qi Yuning realized that it was the fifth uncle of the Qin family who was deliberately forcibly taking his nephew's wife away.

"Master Lu, how have you offended Master Qin Wu?"

Lu Ze said slowly: "No."

Qi Yuning asked curiously, "Then why did Master Qin Wu want to fight with a little cousin like you for something?"

"Maybe my fifth cousin is jealous that I'm younger and more handsome than him."

Qi Yuning chuckled lightly, but what Lu Ze said did make some sense. After all, he had been blind since he was a child, and Master Qin Wu was six years older than Lu Ze.

Lu Ze could write poems and essays when he was seven years old. When Master Qin Wu was just thirteen years old and about to become famous, wasn’t his fame snatched away by a little brat?

Although Lu Ze is young, he has always been very talented, which makes other young men from aristocratic families in Shengjing City who are a few years older than him look far inferior.

Yesterday, Qi Yuning was still saying that the marriage arranged by Guan Zhiyi was a good one, but now it seems that it may not be a good one.

After all, Qi Yuning has been competing with Lu Baozhu for rare treasures since childhood, and most of the time it was not because he really liked them, but just because he didn't want the other party to be proud.

Like her white jade hairpin, it was valuable and precious because it could make Lu Baozhu angry when she first got it.

Later, after having it for a long time, it fell into Lu Ze's hands, and Qi Yuning just became casual about it.

Qi Yuning sighed deeply.

Lin Jiang asked: "Why did Princess Qi sigh?"

Qi Yuning said: "I feel sad for Miss Guan Liu's marriage. She climbed to the top by stepping on my reputation, but ended up with such a marriage. How sad and lamentable."

Lin Jiang said: "This marriage can be regarded as a blessing from the Guan family. The Guan family relied on marriages to join the noble family of Shengjing. Guan Zhiyi can marry the nephew of the queen, which is already extremely rich. When the prince ascends the throne in the future, the Qin family will be the most powerful family in Dasheng!"

Qi Yuning said: "Not necessarily."

In the end, the prince did not ascend the throne. As long as the Qin family was still alive, they would not allow the prince to be alive but unable to ascend the throne.

Lin Jiang asked, "What do you mean by that, Princess?"

Qi Yuning took a sip of the tea in front of him and did not answer Lin Jiang's words. He just looked at Lu Ze and asked, "They insulted you like this? You are so good-tempered and endured it?"

Lu Ze said: "Those people didn't dare to say it in front of me, and I don't know who is the coward."

Halfway through the meal, Qin Feng and Lin Jiang were called away by the servants.

After seeing Lin Jiang and Qin Feng leave, Qi Yuning asked the maid to go out and close the door. There were only two people in the room, and it was quiet for a while.

Qi Yuning said to Lu Ze, "As long as the Crown Prince is alive, the Qin family should support His Royal Highness to ascend the throne. The Qin family controls nearly 100,000 soldiers in Shengjing City and the capital, and 3,000 cavalry. Not to mention a few years later, even now, they can help the Crown Prince to abdicate and become the emperor. Why didn't the Crown Prince succeed to the throne in the end?"

Lu Ze took a sip of tea. He had no idea what to do. Lingling was too young and didn’t know much, so he couldn’t get anything useful out of her.

Lu Ze said, "We need to find out who the uncle Lingling is talking about is first."

"What do you want to do?" Qi Yuning asked, "Kill the future emperor first? Eliminate the worries for the prince? Lu Ze, although the prince is your uncle, he also strangled Lingling's neck."

Lingling is still young, and children’s words cannot be trusted easily, but Lingling’s repeated fear of being strangled by the prince must be true.

Lu Ze said in a deep voice: "I will be on guard against the prince, but if we find the uncle that Lingling mentioned as soon as possible, maybe we can know more and protect him well."

Just as Qi Yuning said, between his uncle and his biological daughter, Lu Ze still knew how to choose, and Lingling was definitely the first in his heart.

Even though they have a close relationship and blood relationship since childhood, he still has to be on guard against His Royal Highness the Crown Prince.

Qi Yuning said, "Your Majesty's birthday banquet will be held in a few days. Your Majesty's grandchildren will come to celebrate your birthday. Then we will know which of your little cousins ​​will become the emperor in the future."

Lu Ze said, “I’m afraid that Lingling doesn’t recognize the uncle who is five or six years younger than her.”

Children look different every day. A child who suddenly looks five or six years younger would be hard to recognize even for adults, let alone a three-year-old child.

Qi Yuning said: "I have to write a letter to my brother and ask him to prepare early."

Lu Ze nodded gently, "Now that the Lu family has no military power, we can only ask Prince Qi and the princess for help."

Qi Yuning asked: "Why did Prince Consort Lu hand over the military power of your Lu family to the Qin family? Did it make your descendants of the Lu family be laughed at by others?"

Lu Ze said slowly: "Before Your Majesty ascended the throne, my grandfather chose to protect himself and did not support Your Majesty's ascension to the throne as loyally as Prince Qi. This has always been a thorn in my grandfather's heart.

Before my grandfather died, he wanted to return the military power to His Majesty, but later His Majesty gave the Lu family's military power to the Qin family. From word of mouth, it became that my father was afraid of his wife and took the initiative to give up the military power to the Qin family. But how can military power be given away casually? "

The events of His Majesty's ascension to the throne happened almost forty years ago, but Qi Yuning had also heard about it.

At that time, the Lu family relied on its status as the head of an aristocratic family and had its own army. In the war-torn era when many heroes were in chaos, the old Duke Lu chose to protect himself and did not bravely protect Emperor Shi Yuan's ascension to the throne like the Qi family.

Although Qi Yuning is a member of the Qi family, she thinks it is understandable that the Lu family was trying to protect themselves at that time.

Nowadays, the Lu family has many descendants. Lu Ze and Lu Yun have six cousins, and Lu Baozhu also has three cousins. There are twelve grandchildren alone.

Unlike the Qi family, there are only her and her brother, and their descendants are few.

If Qi Yuning had to choose, she would still fight like her ancestors, but she would not scold them for being cowardly. She still remembered the coffins in the hall when she was four years old...

"Your Majesty does trust the Qin family." Qi Yuning said.

Lu Ze said: "After all, the Crown Prince is your Majesty's son who was born in middle age. Your Majesty is afraid that something might happen to him, so he gave the military power to the Qin family to protect the Crown Prince."

Qi Yuning picked up the teacup in front of him and took a sip. "Your Majesty loves the prince so much, I don't understand why the prince couldn't ascend the throne in the end."

Lu Ze didn't understand either. "We can only wait until we find the uncle Lingling mentioned."

…

In the north city, Yunsha Town is a frontier town with many merchants coming and going from the Western Regions.

Fifteen years ago, this place belonged to the Northern Desert Kingdom. After being conquered by Prince Qi from Qiyang, it became the Northern City of Dasheng.

Qi Yu'an left Shengjing and his sister when he was young and came here because he was afraid that the new territory would be unstable and that the fleeing Northern Desert tribes would take advantage of this to cause trouble.

Qi Yu'an returned to the gate of Prince Qi's Mansion in Yunsha Town. There was already a woman in plain green clothes and a bun waiting outside.

"Your Highness." The woman's voice was soft.

Qi Yu'an got off his horse and saw his favorite concubine waiting for him at the door. He smiled softly, took off his cloak and put it on the woman, then hugged her and said, "It's windy outside, just wait for me inside."

The woman was in Qi Yu'an's arms, and she said softly, "The wind is strong but not cold. Your Majesty, will the princess' wedding be grand?"

Qi Yu'an's face darkened, thinking of the two bastard brothers of the Lu family. He lowered his eyes to look at the woman in his arms. At first glance, he felt that the concubine in his arms was three points similar to that bastard Lu Ze.

Especially after she put on her cloak, she looked more like Lu Ze.

Qi Yu'an took the cloak from the woman, frowned, and went straight into the mansion.

Ah Ping was stunned in the spot, looking at the nanny beside her and said, "Aunt, why is the prince suddenly angry? Is it because I am not dressed well? The prince has returned from his sister's wedding banquet, should I wear something brighter?"

The nanny, who was called "Auntie" by the woman, looked at the woman in front of her with heartache, and there was guilt in her eyes, "Girl, why don't you change into something brighter."

A Ping changed into bright clothes and waited for Qi Yu'an to return in the room.

In the past, when Qi Yu'an had been away from the palace for a long time, he would always come to her courtyard first, regardless of whether it was daytime or not...

But when it was dark, Ah Ping still hadn't seen Qi Yu'an. She looked at her own face in the bronze mirror. She was only in her early twenties. Although she was not as pretty as a fifteen or sixteen-year-old girl, she thought that her beauty had not faded.

"Aunt, is the prince going to marry a princess? Is that why he dislikes me?"

Mammy's throat felt sore that she couldn't speak.

The maidservant beside Ah Ping came to report: "Miss, the prince has rested in the front yard and turned off the lights. You don't have to wait any longer."

(End of this chapter)