Ren Yong'an shook his head in disbelief. These letters, every word of which expressed a man's longing for a woman, could not possibly be fake. How could they possibly have been written by Consort Duan on behalf of her son?
Consort Duan patted Ren Yong'an's hand and said, "Don't be afraid, what's meant to be yours will still be yours."
She then turned to the Emperor and Empress Dowager and said, “Your Majesty and Empress Dowager, please understand that there is a small character ‘怡’ in the lower left corner of each page. This is my name. There are many such pages in Yuqing Palace.”
Ren Yong'an trembled violently, her whole body shaking uncontrollably. She looked at Crown Prince Zhu Zhi in fear.
Granny Liu ordered the palace maids behind her to bring the glass lamp closer. The Empress Dowager looked at it in the lamp and nodded, saying, "That's right, there is indeed such a character. The character is very light in color and very small. If you don't look carefully, you really can't see it clearly."
Lu Xiaoyun's lips curled slightly as she looked at Zhu Yu. "Look at you, look at your white lotus flower. These letters, she probably hasn't even opened them."
Otherwise, it's impossible that they wouldn't have noticed it.
The old emperor stared at Consort Duan with a gloomy expression: "Why did you do this?"
Consort Duan said, "There's nothing else to it. In my eyes, only Miss Ren, who is famous throughout Shengjing, is worthy of my son. What merit does Lu Xiaoyun have? But I also know that Zhu Yuyuan is far away in the Northwest and has not seen Miss Ren for many years. Even the best feelings will fade, so I wrote these letters on his behalf."
Consort Duan glanced at Zhu Yu and sneered, "In the end, Miss Lu from the Duke of Zhenguo's mansion interfered."
Zhu Yu lowered his head and pursed his lips.
Lu Yucheng clenched his fists tightly, his face ashen. He looked at his father, the Duke of Zhenguo, beside him, and saw him tighten his grip on the divorce agreement tucked in his sleeve. He then took several deep breaths to calm himself down.
Anyone can be the Princess Consort of An; the daughter of the Duke of Zhenguo wouldn't deign to be one!
Consort Duan curtsied and said, "Your Majesty, please issue a decree to allow Miss Ren to enter the Prince An's residence."
Lu Xiaoyun's expression changed: "Mother, your son will never take Ren Yong'an into the household!"
Consort Duan did not look at Lu Xiaoyun: "Although the letter was indeed written by me, and there are no betrothal gifts in the mansion as the Crown Prince mentioned, in my heart and mind, I only recognize Ren Yong'an as my daughter-in-law, and this will never change."
"Mother, are you trying to turn the Prince An's mansion into chaos! Your son has said that he will never marry Ren Yong'an, and he will never marry her!"
Consort Duan said sternly, "Then don't call me Mother Consort!"
The Empress Dowager frowned in displeasure and interrupted her sharply: "What kind of behavior is this!"
Lu Xiaoyun and Consort Duan then stopped talking.
The Duke of Zhenguo stood up and bowed to the old emperor and empress dowager: "This old minister begs Your Majesty and Empress Dowager to allow this old minister to take my daughter back to his residence. My daughter is neither talented nor beautiful, and is not worthy of His Highness Prince An."
The Empress Dowager said, "Why has it come to this, Duke Zhenguo? It's all a misunderstanding. Please sit down."
The old emperor also said, "My dear minister, sit down. Rest assured, I will not let Xiaoyun suffer that pain in vain. She will always be my royal consort."
"emperor!"
The old emperor, however, did not want to give the Duke of Zhenguo another chance to speak: "Guards, bestow upon Princess An two jade ruyi scepters, one thousand taels of gold, and one hundred bolts each of silk and satin."
The reward was so generous that everyone below gasped in unison.
The Duke of Zhenguo didn't want to be laughed at by so many people, so he had no choice but to sit down. However, he tightened the divorce papers in his sleeve, knowing that no amount of reward could bring Xiaoyun back to health.
Empress Dowager: "Consort Duan, I heard that you were sincerely worshipping Buddha at Prince An's residence some time ago, which is very good. It is good for cultivating your character. Guards, please invite Consort Duan back to Prince An's residence to continue copying Buddhist scriptures."
Consort Duan looked up in disbelief: "Empress Dowager, today is a palace banquet, how can you let me return to Prince An's residence so easily?"
The Empress Dowager didn't even want to look at Consort Duan, worried that this woman who didn't know her place would cause some trouble on such an occasion, so she waved for the eunuchs to escort Consort Duan out.
Consort Duan gritted her teeth and glared at Zhu Yu: "Don't think you can keep clinging to the position of Princess An forever. Sooner or later, I'll make Zhu Yu divorce you!"
Zhang Zhongwei's forehead was covered in sweat: "Your Highness, Consort Duan, this old servant will see you out."
Consort Duan glanced at Zhang Zhongwei with disgust, then turned and left.
Once outside, she let out a long sigh of relief and gently squeezed Chunfang's hand, who was disguised as Granny Zhang.
Chunfang smiled without saying a word, and helped Consort Duan out of the palace.
Inside the main hall, Zhu Zhi glanced at Lu Xiaoyun, Zhu Yu, and Ren Yong'an, whose face was as white as paper, and said indifferently, "Yesterday morning, many people on the streets of Shengjing City saw the scene of the heir of the Duke of Zhenguo's mansion angrily carrying Miss Lu out of the Prince An's mansion."
He said unhurriedly, "I heard that you two have already divorced!"
The voice wasn't loud, but everyone in the entire hall heard it clearly.
This matter is not a secret. Yesterday, when Lu Yucheng carried Miss Lu out of the Prince An's mansion on the street, many people saw it. The servants of the noble mansion received the news and hurriedly returned to the mansion to tell their masters.
In no time, almost everyone except those in the palace knew about it.
Lu Xiaoyun smiled in confusion: "Oh? Divorce? Crown Prince, do you not know that my Princess Consort Lu Xiaoyun's name has been entered into the royal family genealogy? If I really divorced my Princess Consort, how could Father Emperor and Grandmother not know?"
She turned to Prince Hui: "Uncle, since you are in charge of the Imperial Clan Court, can my nephew's wife's name be removed from the family genealogy?"
Prince Hui, who had been called out, was engrossed in his meal. Upon hearing this, he looked up blankly, seemingly unaware of what had happened: "Huh? What did you just say?"
The Third Prince Zhu Chen smiled faintly, stood up and said, "Brother Crown Prince, where did you hear this from? Even Uncle Hui doesn't know about it."
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