"Why?"
In the quiet room, King Huai asked in a trance, "Mother, why did you do this?"
He could never have imagined that his mother, who had seemed gentle and frail in his eyes all these years, was pretending to be sick.
But why did she do that?
Worried that Empress Su would make things difficult for her?
Is she afraid that other concubines in the harem will plot against her?
But since my father ascended the throne, he has only favored Empress Su, and the concubines in the harem are only jealous of Empress Su. Why should my mother put herself in such a difficult position?
"I do everything for you, of course." Concubine Xu looked at her son and said slowly, "Liu'an, you are your father's eldest son. The future throne should belong to you."
King Huai looked at Concubine Xu in astonishment. This ambitious mother became a stranger in his eyes. In his memory, his mother was gentle. She would not force his fourth brother to study like Zheng Lanyin did, nor would she let his second brother give in to other brothers like Lu Zhaoyi did. She even never mentioned words like eldest son or crown prince in front of him.
"Now that Su has been canonized as the queen, what's the point of me being the eldest son?" King Huai accepted his fate: "Mother, in the future... don't wrong yourself anymore. Medicine is three-quarters poison. Even if you are not sick, drinking these bitter medicines often will not be good for your health."
"If I wasn't weak and sickly, how could His Majesty let me go?" Concubine Xu lifted the quilt, walked to the table and sat down, sneering: "Your father is a man who is extremely good at forbearance. When the kings fought for the throne, he just used a little trick and hid in the palace, and finally won the throne..."
"My father was clearly framed by the other princes and was placed under house arrest in the palace for two whole years." He was like a tiger in a plain, bullied by a dog. He almost didn't want to recall what kind of life he lived during those two years under house arrest.
"But it was this imprisoned prince who finally ascended the throne." Concubine Xu looked at her ignorant son and asked, "Why was it him?"
"Father is the chosen one by heaven. He is both talented and virtuous. He is better than all the other princes." King Huai could not understand Concubine Xu's words even more: "Isn't this as it should be?"
"There are not so many things to do in the capital." Concubine Xu raised her eyebrows: "With your stupid personality, how can you win over the court officials in the future?"
King Huai frowned and said nothing.
"I used to think that your father was a gentle and kind person, until one day, I found that there was no warmth in his eyes when he looked at me." Concubine Xu fell into past memories: "In his eyes, I was no different from the flowers and trees on the roadside. Although he didn't kill me, he had no feelings for me."
"Mother, what are you talking about? Why does father want to kill you?" He looked at Concubine Xu in horror, thinking that she was sick and confused and talking nonsense: "Son will help you to the bed to rest."
"Sixteen years ago, the King of England's men found me and asked me to steal a list from your father's study. They promised that as long as I got the list, they would protect my son and me and take us out of the palace." Concubine Xu laughed at herself: "When people are desperate, they tend to lose their minds. I promised the King of England."
King Huai looked at Concubine Xu in disbelief: "Mother, you are lying to me, aren't you?"
How could my mother, who is so gentle and kind and deeply devoted to my father, betray the palace?
At that time, there were dozens of people in the entire palace. If my mother gave the list to someone else...
He asked hoarsely, "What happened next?"
"Then the King of England was defeated and died under the sword of the Golden Armor Guards. I don't know which floor tile in the palace was stained red by his blood." When mentioning this past event, Concubine Xu felt regretful: "If I had known that he would end up like this, I would never have agreed to his request."
"You didn't steal the list?" King Huai secretly breathed a sigh of relief.
"I stole it." Concubine Xu lowered her eyelids: "After the King of England was defeated, I burned this list."
King Huai recalled an incident when his mother was burning something in the house. Her eyes were red and she looked very sad.
"You told me that you burned the poems you wrote for your father." King Huai sat down on the stool dejectedly: "Are you lying to me too?"
He thought that his mother was so sad after seeing the deep affection between his father and Su that she burned the things she wrote to his father. It turned out that there were no love poems at all, only a list of names related to life and death in the royal palace.
Concubine Xu did not admit it, but she did not deny it either.
"I don't know when your father found out about this, but in order to make him stop hating me, I can only pretend to be sick every day and try not to let him notice me."
"But after my father ascended the throne, he gave you the title of consort and also gave his son the title of prince." King Huai's mind was in a mess: "If he really minded, why would he give you the title of consort?"
"You are the eldest son. As your biological mother, he only gave her a concubine position, not even a title. Isn't that perfunctory enough?" Concubine Xu tightly grasped the hand of King Huai: "Liu'an, Zheng has been sentenced to death by His Majesty. If you can't be the crown prince, I will die under the three-foot white silk like Zheng. Do you understand?"
Concubine Xu’s grip was frighteningly strong. Prince Huai looked down at the hand that was tightly grasped by Concubine Xu and said, “Fourth brother’s mother, it’s not because of poisoning the prince…”
"No, she died of stupidity." Concubine Xu interrupted King Huai: "After she met her family, her complexion became better. It was not a secret that she had secretly contacted the guards guarding the palace several times."
"The plan failed but he didn't know how to restrain himself. He provoked Su Meidai everywhere in the harem. If she didn't die, who would die?" When talking about Zheng Lanyin, Concubine Xu's tone was full of disdain: "Yun Yanze was raised by her to be just like her. He looks glamorous on the surface, but he is a fool on the inside. At such a young age, he dared to spread the word of a wise king and a master of both civil and military affairs. He even wanted to stick the word gentleman on his forehead."
"Mother..." King Huai turned his head and looked at the setting sun climbing onto the window frame: "Forget it."
"I don't want any throne or throne anymore." He became uninterested: "As long as we are all well, that's better than anything else."
"I have endured for so many years, all for you, and you told me to just forget it?!" Concubine Xu took out a handkerchief and gently wiped the tears from the corners of her eyes: "Do you know how scared my mother was when Zheng was sentenced to death?"
"Can you bear to watch your mother follow in Zheng's footsteps?"
His mother's crying was like a net that tightly wrapped him from head to toe, making it difficult for him to breathe.
"Even if it's for my mother." The big tears dripped onto the back of Prince Huai's hand: "Liu An, my mother only has you. If even you are unwilling to help me, I will be the second Zheng Lanyin, do you understand?"
King Huai almost fled in panic. He covered the back of his tear-stained hands and did not even dare to look back when he left Zhaoxiang Palace.
Concubine Xu slowly wiped the tears from her cheeks and took a sip of the tea on the table.
The throne is within reach, why should we give up?
It’s a pity that His Majesty protected Su Meidai too well, leaving her no room to take action.
Neither the Zheng family nor the Wei family is the biggest threat.
As long as Su Meidai and Yun Duqing are not eliminated, they will always be a major worry for her.
After walking out of Zhaoxiang Palace, King Huai walked straight forward with his head down. The eunuch behind him did not dare to ask any more questions and just trotted after him.
He didn't know how far he had walked before he gradually regained his senses and looked up to see a kite in the sky.
"Who is so bold as to fly a kite in the palace?" Because in the previous dynasty, a concubine used flying kites to send messages to people outside the palace, causing a big mess. Therefore, although there was no explicit prohibition on flying kites in the imperial harem of this dynasty, the concubines all tacitly agreed not to touch this thing.
"Your Highness, I don't know." He followed behind the prince and had no idea who was flying the kite.
The afterglow of the setting sun filled the entire palace. King Huai walked around the palace wall and saw the person flying the kite.
"Sister-in-law, you can't pull it like that, or the kite will be torn." Jiuzhu handed the kite string in her hand to Chunfen and tied the hem of her skirt around her waist: "Wait, I'll help you take it off."
Before Princess Huai could react, she saw Ming Jiuzhu jumping onto the tree.
"What are you still standing there for? Go and help the princess." Princess An reacted, threw the string in her hand to the maid behind her, and walked nervously to the tree: "Fifth brother's wife, come down quickly, leave this matter to the maids and eunuchs, don't fall on your own."
"I got it." Jiuzhu threw the kite to the ground, climbed down from the tree in a few seconds, picked up the kite on the ground and handed it to Princess Huai: "Don't worry, sister-in-law, the kite is not damaged at all."
Princess Huai took the kite, bent down and straightened the hem of Jiuzhu's skirt with one hand: "If the kite is broken, we can make a new one, but what if you break it?"
"This kite has a pattern drawn by my sister-in-law herself. It's different from other kites." Jiuzhu patted the wrinkles on her skirt: "I've been used to climbing trees since I was a child. I won't fall."
Princess Huai held the kite in her hand, and a smile appeared on her usually calm and composed face.
She hasn't been as happy as she is now in a long time. Ever since she married King Huai and became a princess, her words and actions could not go beyond the rules.
Her mother was still seriously ill, but when she walked out of the yard, she saw her two younger siblings sitting at the table making kites. Perhaps they were laughing too happily, which made her drop everything and do such a bold thing.
"Thank you, sister-in-law." She touched the kite lovingly and handed it to the palace maid behind her, asking her to keep it carefully.
"It's just a small thing, no need to thank me." Jiuzhu took the kite string handed to her by Chunfen and looked up at the kite flying steadily in the sky: "Sister-in-law, you are too serious."
Princess An teased, "Sister-in-law, at the roast deer banquet later, you can roast a piece of venison for her yourself, as a way to thank her."
"Okay." Princess Huai was infected by the happiness of her two younger brothers and sisters-in-law: "Later, I will not only bake for Jiuzhu, but also for you, so that you won't accuse me of being partial."
"It's unfair, I didn't say anything." Princess An went to pull Jiuzhu's arm, but before she had the chance to act pitiful, she started laughing.
Jiuzhu laughed along with her and said, "It's better for the eldest and second sisters-in-law to bake for me. I'm thick-skinned, I eat a lot, and I don't mind your cooking skills."
Princess Huai thought their laughter was a little silly, but she couldn't help but laugh along with them.
She temporarily forgot that her mother was still ill and as a daughter-in-law, she shouldn't laugh.
Rules and etiquette are not important at this moment.
Maybe the sunset was too beautiful and the kite flew too high, so high that it seemed as if she had flown out of the rules and etiquette and turned back into the little girl she once was.
"Sister-in-law." Jiuzhu bent down and picked a flower that was in full bloom, and put it in her hair: "Flowers go with beauties. Whose family are you from?"
Princess Huai was stunned for a moment, then she laughed: "Where did this lecher come from, to put flowers in a woman's hair casually?"
"I am intoxicated by your beauty, how can I be a pervert?" Jiuzhu pretended to be shocked and widened his eyes: "I am very sad, and I need you to roast venison for me for an hour to relieve my pain."
"So he's not a lecher, but a little liar who cheated people into eating venison." Princess Huai pinched her cheek gently and said, "Forget it, for your good looks, I'll do as you say."
Princess An, who was standing nearby, looked at her sister-in-law who was in a state of depression. Ming Jiuzhu's few words coaxed her into a happy smile and she chuckled.
No wonder even a prince as arrogant as Prince Chen softened his voice in front of her and protected her like the apple of his eye.
For those who are used to seeing the ugliness of human nature in the palace, if they can get a pure heart, it is the best gift from God.
Not to mention men, even women would soften their hearts at the sight of her eyes and smile.
"Your Highness..." The eunuch following behind Prince Huai was a little nervous. He had never expected that the princess was also flying a kite.
"Let's go." King Huai turned and left. His shadow was stretched out by the setting sun and reflected on the palace wall, distorted beyond recognition.
"What happened just now." The shadow stopped, still with a distorted look: "Don't mention it to others."
"Yes." The young eunuch responded quickly.
He was a little surprised. With the prince's previous temper, he would definitely question the princess as to why she was laughing and having fun when his mother was seriously ill. He didn't expect that she held back today.
"Jiuzhu, what's over there?" Princess Huai noticed that Jiuzhu looked at the round moon gate on the other side of the palace wall several times.
"Nothing, I just felt like someone was looking at this side." Jiuzhu retracted her gaze: "It might be a palace maid or a eunuch."
Princess Huai chuckled and didn't take the matter to heart.
As soon as he stepped into the gate of Zhangliu Palace, King Huai smelled the aroma of barbecue spices.
Looking around, there was a big grilling table in the middle of the yard. The palace maids and eunuchs were busy around the table. The second brother and Yun Duqing were playing chess nearby, and the third brother was dozing off while watching them. This was enough to prove how boring this game of chess was for the two of them.
No one knew where Yun Yanze was, and there was no sign of him in the yard.
"Brother, you are finally back." When King An saw King Huai appear, he threw away the chess piece in his hand and walked towards King Huai with a look of relief.
Playing chess with my fifth brother is so painful. Every move he makes is in an unexpected place and there is no pattern at all.
If his opponent had not won several games against him, he would have almost suspected that he was making random moves.
Everything is just to curry favor with someone!
"What do you want from me?" It was not until King An walked up to him that King Huai slowly reacted.
"We got some fresh venison today, so let's have a good get-together." Prince An took Prince Huai's arm and pulled him to sit at the table. "We'll drink and chat later, and we won't leave until we're drunk."
"Look, everything is ready and waiting for you."
"Okay." King Huai nodded in agreement.
Prince Chen paused for a moment while picking up the chess piece, raised his head and looked at Prince Huai, and asked with a smile, "Big brother, do you like to eat it roasted or in a hot pot?"
"It tastes better when grilled." King Huai perked up: "No need to prepare a hot pot."
"Okay." Prince Chen smiled meaningfully, threw the chess piece into the chess basket, and a chess piece jumped out.
Prince Jing reached out and picked up the chess piece, and at the same time picked up a black chess piece from the white chess basket and put it back into the black chess basket.
"When roasting, brush it with a layer of oil and sprinkle a few sesame seeds on it, so that the wine will taste better." King Huai wanted to get drunk so that he could forget what his mother had said to him.
His biological mother was seriously ill, but Da still had time to think about how to roast venison to make it taste good.
Really interesting.
Prince Chen chuckled and picked up a few chess pieces to play with. Accidentally, a few black chess pieces fell into the white chess basket: "As you wish, big brother."
Prince Jing stared at the black chess pieces and turned his head away after a moment.
After the three princesses who had been flying kites came back, everyone sat down around the table, and Prince An asked, "Did we forget something?"
Strange, what did I forget?
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