Concubine Xu slowly woke up. She sat in the empty Zhaoxiang Palace, and many memories emerged in her mind. When I was a child and a teenager, I was named a concubine by His Majesty and moved into Zhaoxiang Palace.
Many memories have become dim and blurred, except for the moment when I put on the palace dress, the pink skirt was gorgeous and dazzling.
She paid so much and endured for so many years, just to become the emperor's mother one day. But all this has come to nothing today.
The afterglow of the setting sun lengthened the shadows on the window. Concubine Xu looked at the light and shadow shining on herself, chuckled a few times, and then the laughter stopped abruptly.
Someone walked in, and Concubine Xu raised her head and glanced at him.
"Empress Xu, by His Majesty's order, I deprive you of your title and abolish your position as the head of Zhaoxiang Palace." Liu Zhongbao bowed to her and said, "Please excuse me, I will ask you to follow me first."
Concubine Xu sneered and asked, "Does this palace have the right to refuse?"
Liu Zhongbao smiled but said nothing.
He turned his head and looked outside the door. The Queen and Princess Chen were standing there, the afterglow of the setting sun casting a layer of golden light on them.
"Concubine Xu is patient and resourceful, while my eldest brother is straightforward and seldom scheming. The personalities of mother and son are completely different."
"Going in opposite directions..."
Jiuzhu suddenly remembered the letter that Concubine Zhao left for her, and had an absurd guess in her mind.
"Su Meidai, I didn't expect that you, a merchant girl, would win in the end." Concubine Xu walked out of the palace with hatred in her eyes: "You hurt me so much today, Liu An will definitely remember this day and avenge me!"
When these words came out, everyone was stunned.
Concubine Xu's words were clearly telling the Queen that it was not enough for me to fall, you had to kill my son, otherwise he would cause trouble for you.
What a loving mother! She never forgets to pull her son along even when she is in trouble.
Jiuzhu, who thought she had some understanding of the people in the capital, was once again shocked by Concubine Xu's behavior.
The capital city is indeed a complicated place.
This mother really "loves" her son.
After King Huai sobered up, he found out what had happened in Zhaoxiang Palace.
"You said that my mother said in front of the Queen that I would avenge her?" King Huai's smile was uglier than crying. Did his mother think that his current situation was too good, or did she think that he, as a son, was dispensable?
"What did she do again?" King Huai wiped his face with cold water and calmed down.
"Mother sent people to the Dali Temple to inquire about the secret case, intending to spread rumors in the palace, to sow discord between my fifth brother and his wife, and to alienate the Ming family and the royal family." Princess Huai looked at King Huai with pity: "Now mother is imprisoned in the Dragon Guard Prison, and father has not ordered you to visit."
"She's crazy!" King Huai could hardly believe that his mother would do such a thing: "The Ming family is full of loyal people who have brought countless benefits to the people of the world. If you make them alienate the royal family, it will be the people of the world who will suffer!"
His fifth brother and his wife came to rescue him yesterday, but his mother plotted against him and his wife, and wanted to create a grudge between the couple. How could he face them?
"Put yourself in good shape." Princess Huai stuffed the gift list into the king's hand and said, "Now go and apologize to your fifth brother and his wife."
"Thank you, Princess, for taking care of it for me." Prince Huai presented the items listed on the gift list, as well as Princess Huai's dowry. Thinking back to the years since the princess married him, she had been virtuous and filial in front of his mother, but his mother had always been critical of her and dissatisfied with her, and had wronged her all these years. He was the one who was sorry for her.
"These are all the things you like. Keep them all and fill the gap with other things." King Huai eliminated Princess Huai's dowry and planned to replace it with other things.
"Your Highness has spent a lot of money on supporting counselors and students over the years. After we moved into the palace, the original tributes were cut off, and your salary was also suspended. Other items are not as sincere as these." Princess Huai looked at her husband who was ruthlessly harmed by her mother and was dejected and pitiful. Her heart softened a little: "If the prince feels sorry, please give me a few more good things after we move back to the palace."
Prince Huai reached out and held Princess Huai's hand, and was silent for a long time: "I have let you down over the years."
Princess Huai pulled her hand away and said sarcastically, "Your Majesty is making a joke again."
Looking at his empty hands, Prince Huai was too embarrassed to say anything to the princess, but he felt even more guilty.
Qilin Palace.
Prince Chen sat up, holding his head. Jiuzhu saw that he woke up and walked to the edge of the bed and sat down: "Headache?"
"Yeah." He leaned his head against Jiuzhu, lazily not wanting to move.
Jiuzhu's fingers gently pressed on the top of his head, which soon relieved his headache: "Empress Xu was taken away by the Dragon Guards."
"There is indeed something wrong with her." Prince Chen forced himself to stay awake and finished washing up, then sat down next to Jiuzhu again.
"Your Highness, is the relationship between Concubine Xu and Prince Huai good?"
Prince Chen shook his head and said, "In the past, when other princes and their mothers would send people to deliver gifts during the horse riding and archery lessons, Concubine Xu was in poor health and was not suitable for worrying and working hard, so she rarely sent people to deliver gifts to my eldest brother. After my mother knew about it, she sent two gifts to the horse riding and archery field every day in the name of my father."
"I rarely see big brother and Concubine Xu together alone, and I have never seen Concubine Xu punish big brother, so the true relationship between them is only known to them." Prince Chen embraced Jiuzhu in his arms: "Why do you think of asking this?"
"Your Highness, do you think it is possible that my eldest brother is not Concubine Xu's child?"
"Shh." Prince Chen stretched out his hand to cover Jiuzhu's mouth and whispered, "Don't say that. Father doesn't like green hats."
"I didn't say that Big Brother is not Father's child. The color of Father's hat is still so bright. Don't let your imagination run wild."
Jiuzhu pulled down Prince Chen's hand and said, "Look at the storybooks. There are plots like a cat replacing a prince, a daughter replacing a son. Concubine Xu is in trouble, but she doesn't forget to drag my brother down with her. They are not biological mother and son, but clearly have a grudge. Her actions seem to be waiting for my father to be dissatisfied with my brother."
If my eldest brother is not Concubine Xu's biological son, then in her heart he is just a tool to be used. When she can no longer use this tool, she will choose to destroy the tool to retaliate against those who care about the tool.
Prince Chen originally thought Jiuzhu's statement was absurd, but after listening to what Jiuzhu said when Concubine Xu was taken away, he straightened his back.
"This is definitely not something my mother would do." He thought for a moment and said, "How about asking the Dragon Guards to investigate?"
"Check!" Jiuzhu nodded: "What if it really isn't true?"
If it's really not the case, it would be a good thing for Big Brother.
If they are biological mother and son, then the eldest brother is too pitiful.
King Huai went to Qilin Palace to apologize. As soon as he sat down and had no time to say a word, he was warmly received by his fifth brother and his wife.
King Huai: “…”
This was a little different from what he expected.
When he finally left, not only did he not give out any apology gifts, but his fifth brother and his wife stuffed a lot of things into his pockets and took them away.
Did they believe him and know that what his mother did had nothing to do with him?
The more he thought about it, the more guilty he felt. He was sorry for the princess, sorry for his fifth brother and his wife, and sorry for his father.
It was selfish of a son to help his mother conceal the fact that she was faking illness. But if he knew that his mother would use loyal ministers as pawns, he would stop it no matter what.
Thinking of his mother, King Huai wiped his face and found the leader of the Dragon Guard, wanting to meet Concubine Xu.
"Your Highness, please follow me." Commander Wang did not refuse Prince Huai, but was afraid that Prince Huai would cause trouble after arriving at the Dragon Guard Prison, so he told him about what Concubine Xu had done over the years.
"You said that when you were in the palace, your mother colluded with Du Qingke and wanted to work with him from inside and outside to use your father as a bargaining chip in exchange for freedom and wealth?" King Huai knew that the Dragon Guards would not lie to him. He stood outside the gate of the Sky Prison, looking at the darkness behind the door, and suddenly he lost the courage to step in.
Behind the dark door was like the bloody mouth of a giant beast, swallowing up all his courage.
The moment he stepped through the door, a chill instantly spread throughout his body and he shivered.
He soon saw Concubine Xu, who was still wearing her complicated palace skirt and had not even taken off her hairpins and rings.
Seeing her son appear, Concubine Xu glanced at him indifferently and did not expect him to rescue her.
The mother and son looked at each other in silence.
Prince Huai spoke first: "When mother was in the palace, did you ever think of taking me with you?"
"Take you away?" Concubine Xu sneered, "You are your father's child. If I take you away, do you know how much trouble I will have? I didn't expect that those people failed, allowing your father to ascend the throne. All the things they did have become a burden to me."
"So, even if you found a way out at that time, you never thought of taking me with you?" King Huai was extremely disappointed. Commander Wang, who was standing behind him, looked at him with a bit of pity.
Concubine Xu smiled and said nothing, but her meaning was self-evident.
"Sometimes I really doubt whether I am my mother's child." King Huai took a step back and said in a dull tone: "A son shouldn't ask this question."
"You shouldn't ask. Sometimes I also wish you were not my son." Concubine Xu's smile faded. "You are stupid and inflexible. If you had a good brain, you, as the eldest son, would have already sat on the throne of the crown prince. I planned so much for you, but in the end you ended up like this..."
"Are you plotting for me?!" King Huai interrupted her: "You are doing it for yourself!"
"Get lost, you useless piece of shit!" Concubine Xu looked at him with disgust. "Even if I raise a pig, it's more useful than you. Go and be your good fifth brother's pawn. I don't have a useless son like you."
Prince Huai's heart was chilled as ice. He endured it again and again, lifted up his robe, knelt outside the prison door, and kowtowed to Concubine Xu.
Concubine Xu turned around and stopped looking at him.
Again and again.
"Mother, you have given me life through flesh and blood. I am incompetent and have disappointed you. Please take care of yourself." He kowtowed nine times sincerely and vigorously, with blood running down his forehead to his chin. King Huai stood up and bowed to the bottom: "Your son takes his leave."
Concubine Xu still didn't look at him.
Not until King Huai's footsteps had gone away did she slowly turn her head and look towards the empty prison corridor. Her eyes were extremely calm and no one could see through her thoughts.
Commander Wang felt more and more pity for King Huai. How blind must he have been when he was reborn to have such a mother?
That night, Concubine Xu died.
Committed suicide by taking poison.
She lay on the stone bed in the sky prison, her complicated palace dress was clean, her makeup was neat, and she died decently and elegantly.
"Prince Huai is so pitiful."
"Yes, I was schemed against and treated coldly by my own mother, and I was scolded bitterly."
The person who cursed committed suicide with a clear conscience. It was just a pity for the unfortunate King Huai, who was not only not loved by his own mother, but also despised and hated.
I'm afraid I'll never be able to let it go in this lifetime.
Emperor Longfeng also knew what Concubine Xu had said to his eldest son. He sighed deeply and not only rewarded Prince Huai with many things, but also restored the salaries of several princes.
But he still didn't mention letting them return to the palace.
"The Dragon Guard has already found out that my eldest brother is indeed Concubine Xu's biological child." Prince Chen placed the information the Dragon Guard had found in front of Jiuzhu and said, "Perhaps some mothers are born not to love their own children."
"No." Jiuzhu shook her head. She didn't look at the information. There were still stars twinkling in her bright eyes: "Maybe I'm wrong."
"Maybe she's a mother who loves her children."
After Concubine Xu committed suicide, Emperor Longfeng did not pursue her past actions any further and buried her in the concubine's tomb with concubine rites.
Her funeral was not grand, and two days later, the ceremony of enthroning the prince was held.
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