Chapter 770 The Emperor is Cheating (Part 8)

"Bai Zhi, is the queen asleep?"

"I just went to bed. What happened in Yongshou Palace again?"

Gu Qingcheng had just received the memory when she heard people whispering at the entrance of the hall.

The hall was very quiet, and her six senses were sharp. Although she was more than ten steps away, she could still vaguely hear a few key words.

Yongshou Palace? Well, that's the residence of the emperor's biological mother, Concubine Xie.

The original owner had quite a few records of this mother-in-law in his memory.

In the words of later generations, it was absolutely the best.

Concubine Xie was of humble origins, and her appearance and talent were not outstanding in the harem.

Her way of dealing with people, her character and her temperament are hard to describe.

Come to think of it, Min Huang, as a son, finds his mother "annoying", which is enough to prove how weird Concubine Xie is.

As a daughter-in-law, the original owner faced the more real and more terrible Concubine Xie.

“…This person is really confused!”

Gu Qingcheng recalled the memory she had just received and couldn't help but shake her head secretly.

Gu Qingcheng herself has a very high EQ and IQ. Although she doesn't quite understand, she also understands the psychology of people like Concubine Xie -

Because of her background, she couldn't help but feel inferior.

Once they gain power, their temperament will change drastically and they will become rampant.

Concubine Xie's contradiction and distortion were particularly obvious when she treated the original owner's daughter-in-law.

On the one hand, Concubine Xie was proud that her son was able to marry a girl from a prominent family who was of noble birth, talented and beautiful.

On the other hand, she envied and jealous of her daughter-in-law. Every time she saw her daughter-in-law, she felt inferior from the bottom of her heart.

Inferiority complex is not a shortcoming. People who are not mentally strong enough will always feel inferior for various reasons.

But the reason why Concubine Xie is such a weirdo is that she can't deal with her inferiority complex very well.

Others who have low self-esteem may work hard to improve themselves and become better people.

Concubine Xie has an inferiority complex, but she only knows how to satisfy her twisted mentality by suppressing and dragging down others.

Things were better three years ago. Min Huang had not yet taken power, and the former Queen Gu had just entered the palace, so Concubine Xie could still restrain her temper.

When Min Huang took power, Concubine Xie became completely terrified.

She always relied on her status as a mother-in-law to bully the original owner's daughter-in-law.

Gu Qingcheng: ... Damn, you’re sick!

If Concubine Xie targeted her daughter-in-law for her own benefit, Gu Qingcheng could still understand it.

However, Concubine Xie was obviously just doing it to "get angry", and there was actually not much conflict of interest between her and the original owner.

Compared to her daughter-in-law, Concubine Xie's "opponent" should actually be the Queen Mother! As a result, she did not dare to fight with the Queen Mother, so she just tried to make her presence felt on the side of her daughter-in-law.

Many times, Concubine Xie was just engaging in "emotional disputes", which hurt others and did not benefit herself! Concubine Xie's behavior seemed so "true to her nature" in the court where interests were the top priority.

Gu Qingcheng: ...In the harem, praising a middle-aged married woman with children for her innocence, honesty and forthrightness is not a good thing.

Fortunately, the original owner was not a softie, let alone a "bitch" - she and Min Huang were not an ordinary happy couple, but partners with whom they exchanged interests.

The Gu family gave Min Huang enough support, and Min Huang gave Gu the position of queen.

"...This Queen Gu is somewhat similar to me!"

Gu Qingcheng has integrated everything from the original owner and has a very deep understanding of her "new identity" this time.

Then, Gu Qingcheng was pleasantly surprised to find that Queen Gu was not the heroine or supporting actress in ancient Chinese novels.

The most obvious characteristic is that Queen Gu has no romantic thoughts.

Ha, she was born into a noble family, married the emperor and became the queen, but her mind was full of love and affection, that's just funny.

Talking about love with the emperor?

Really give a sincere heart? What are you thinking?

It's totally unworthy of the family education I received since childhood.

What's even more ridiculous is that in some ancient Chinese novels, the heroine is betrayed by the emperor, and her family is also ruined, so she starts to hate him and then goes on to have a rebirth, revenge, and other plots.

Gu Qingcheng: ...

This is a political marriage that is consensual on both sides, so why not just talk about the interests directly?

Why do you have to bring it up emotionally?

The combination of the new monarch and the powerful minister is both a cooperation and an investment.

Investing is inherently risky.

The emperor must prevent his descendants from becoming too powerful and his relatives from interfering in government affairs;

As for the Queen's family, they also have to guard against the Emperor's betrayal and "repaying kindness with hatred"! They have already been to the gambling table, and the winners and losers will all depend on their own abilities.

There is no need to cover up this cruel political struggle with the cloak of "tragic love".

The original owner, Queen Gu, was very clear-headed. She was not infatuated with Min Huang, but treated Min Huang as her business partner.

They are husband and wife, cooperating with each other and using each other.

No one can be said to be climbing up the social ladder.

Therefore, Queen Gu would not compromise in the harem, nor would she endure being a slave despite her noble birth and generous dowry.

Queen Gu never indulged her foolish mother-in-law, Concubine Xie.

Indeed, due to filial piety, Queen Gu would not really "disobey" Concubine Xie.

But, Queen Gu will use the opponent's force to her advantage.

Queen Dowager Wang, who has a higher status and more confidence than Concubine Xie, and Concubine Xie's son Min Huang, the emperor, are both Queen Gu's "saviors".

Queen Gu would not argue with Concubine Xie over some insignificant matters.

When it comes to certain issues of principle, Queen Gu would pass them on to Queen Mother Wang and Min Huang.

At this point, some people may wonder, didn't Queen Gu help Min Huang fight against Queen Mother Wang? They should be enemies, this pair of cheap mother-in-law and daughter-in-law.

Gu Qingcheng: ...Haha, that’s superficial.

People in later generations have said, "There are no eternal enemies, only eternal interests"! Not to mention that there is no life-and-death feud between Queen Gu and Queen Mother Wang, even if there is, in the face of absolute interests, they can turn enemies into friends.

In the eyes of the bigwigs in the government, there is no absolute right or wrong, nor is there any sense of satisfaction in settling grudges.

Sometimes, for the sake of profit, even the hatred of having one’s father killed or one’s wife stolen can be “laughed off”.

There is no mistake in the poem, post, content, and read the book on 6, 9, and bar!

Although Queen Gu and Queen Mother Wang were both women, they were very mature politicians.

They would weigh the pros and cons, instead of being as "true to nature" as Concubine Xie! Concubine Xie thought she had not offended the Queen Mother, but in many cases, her "confusion" itself was an offense to the Queen Mother.

Queen Gu took perfect advantage of this and asked Queen Mother Wang, the legitimate wife, to deal with the former concubine.

As for Min Huang, that is easier to explain.

Min Huang is Concubine Xie's biological son. If there is anyone in this world who really owes Concubine Xie and has to endure her mischief, that person must be Min Huang.

Although Queen Gu did not have the theories of mother-in-law and daughter-in-law in later generations, she was always very clear about the differences.

If she didn't have Min Huang as her husband, she and Concubine Xie would be two strangers and would have no intersection at all.

There was a conflict between the mother-in-law and the daughter-in-law. The root cause was not the two women, but the man in the middle.

The inaction of husbands and sons will lead to conflicts between mother-in-law and daughter-in-law.

Although Queen Gu was an ancient native, she understood the principles of distinguishing responsibilities and tracing one's roots, and she refused to have filial piety outsourced.

Being targeted by Concubine Xie, she would not be so foolish as to think that she did not do well and that was what made her elders unhappy.

She would convey one message to Min Huang: Mother seems to still have resentment towards His Majesty.

People always say "love the house and love the dog". If mother really cares about Your Majesty, she would not target me.

Fortunately, I still have some brains and know that my mother is just confused for a moment and does not really want to cause trouble for Your Majesty!

Queen Gu’s meaning was very clear. A mother-in-law who deliberately targeted a daughter-in-law who was of noble birth and could be helpful to her son was either really stupid or she really did not take her son seriously.

Or, it's both.

Unfortunately, Concubine Xie seems to be the third case.

Every time Concubine Xie came to provoke trouble, Queen Gu would express her thoughts openly or secretly - Your Majesty, your own mother does not love you, and is not willing to "love her and her dog as well" for you.

Self-blame, shame? Self-reflection?

Are you foolishly being kidnapped by the so-called filial piety and putting yourself in a humble position? Sorry, I won't do that!

Queen Gu did not live on Min Huang's favor. She became queen not because of Min Huang's favor, but because she had a powerful family behind her.

As long as the Gu family still exists, even if she disobeys her mother-in-law and behaves unvirtuously towards her husband, her position as queen will remain secure.

And once the Gu family is gone, even if she worships her mother-in-law as her ancestor and humbles herself to the dust, she will still be abandoned!

...It can be said that although Queen Gu is a pure ancient native in this small world, her thoughts are not "conventional" at all.

Even more rational and sober than people in later generations.

"I like it!"

The more Gu Qingcheng understood the original owner, the more satisfied she became.

She turned over and sat up, then pulled open the curtain.

At the outer door of the bedroom, two palace maids who were huddled together and whispering heard the noise and quickly shut up.

One of them even asked respectfully, "Madam, are you awake?" Although the voice was still not loud, it was louder than when it was lowered just now.

At least, Gu Qingcheng was able to hear clearly and recognize who this person was——

"Bai Zhi, come in and talk!"

"Yes, my lady!"

Bai Zhi responded and walked in quickly.

Seeing that Gu Qingcheng had already sat up, she hurriedly walked over in three or two steps, took out a hidden bag and stuffed it behind Gu Qingcheng.

"What's wrong? I vaguely heard 'Yongshou Palace'?"

Gu Qingcheng leaned against the hidden bag and looked at Bai Zhi, her voice neither too high nor too low, and her speaking speed neither too fast nor too slow.

She was completely calm, as if she didn't care at all when she heard her annoying mother-in-law coming to make trouble again.

"Reporting to the queen, Aunt Yuping from Yongshou Palace just came and said that the queen dowager had chest pain and needed the best rhinoceros horn as medicine--"

Bai Zhi was a maid brought into the palace by the original owner from her natal family. Her ancestors had been servants of the Gu family for four or five generations and were the most loyal.

As a loyal servant, Bai Zhi is very disgusted with such an extremely bad mother-in-law as Concubine Xie.

There is also a deep disdain.

It’s not that Bai Zhi thinks she is too arrogant because she is a noble servant of an aristocratic family, but this Concubine Xie is really unbearable.

For example, this time, he was sent here openly to ask for his daughter-in-law's dowry!

(End of this chapter)