Qi Yuning said, "How could that be? Isn't there Princess Shiyi? Besides, wasn't the Queen also pregnant two years ago, but she couldn't keep the baby. You should just relax and stop listening to the rumors."
Lu Baozhu said, "Let me tell you the truth. Shen Jialin's family has a niece who is fifteen this year, the same age as Lingling. The Shen family wants to have her selected into the imperial harem, but His Majesty hasn't held a selection in all these years, except for the year he took power. Shouldn't you and Big Brother persuade His Majesty to hold a selection? I think His Majesty is only willing to listen to you."
Qi Yuning said, "I won't try to persuade His Majesty on this matter. Haven't there been many people who have tried to persuade His Majesty over the years? Besides, His Majesty has been ruling the country for many years now. He is no longer the young emperor who was willing to listen to us."
Zhao Jie, who is now almost twenty-one years old, is no longer the child he was back then.
Lu Yiling said from the side: "Aunt, do you like your uncle to take a concubine?"
"How dare he! If he even thinks of taking a concubine, I'll make him a eunuch."
Lu Yiling said calmly, "Then why did you let your uncle take a concubine?"
"Royal concubines are different after all," said Lu Baozhu.
Lu Yiling said, "What's the difference? Uncle doesn't want to be selected for the draft, so we shouldn't force him."
Lu Baozhu said, "It's not that I want to force Your Majesty. This is also Shen Jialin's idea. Ever since Madam Chu left, Chu Yan has not cared about the friendship we once had and has frequently attacked several other aristocratic families. The Yang and Sun families, needless to say, have long been annexed. The combined forces of the Shen and Ning families are no match for the Chu family. That's why Shen Jialin and the Shen family wanted to send a beauty to Your Majesty to protect themselves."
Qi Yuning fanned Lu Yiling and Xiao Yile and said, "The Chu family has indeed acted recklessly in recent years, but it seems that it is also because of His Majesty's connivance. Without His Majesty's connivance, how could the Chu family act like this?"
The Chu family in Jiangnan is well-known, and the business of the Qi family is not affected. However, Qi Yuning can feel that the other so-called thousand-year-old families are about to be swallowed up by the Chu family. There is no need to say much about the Yang and Sun families. The Chu family is the one that is trying to wipe out the Ning family.
Lu Baozhu is no longer as heartless as she was in her youth. She said to Qi Yuning, "I'm still worried that His Majesty wants to use the Chu family to deal with these self-proclaimed thousand-year-old families first, and then turn around to deal with us? After all, our family is also married to the Chen and Ning families."
Lu Yiling said to Lu Baozhu, "Aunt, you worry too much. My uncle will never deal with me no matter who he deals with. The Chu family attacked the Ning family because Ning Ji and the Queen Mother plotted to get the little princess to win the favor. As a result, my aunt lost her child and she has not recovered yet. The Chu family is taking revenge on Ning Ji.
If you cut ties with the Ning family, the Chu family will naturally not deal with the Shen family as well. Now you are sending people to the palace, won't the Chu family be even more angry?"
Qi Yuning didn't know why Chu Chi had a miscarriage or was harmed by Ning Ji. She just heard that Ning Ji was deposed from the position of imperial concubine and demoted to a commoner two years ago, and was imprisoned in the small courtyard next to Prince Duan's Mansion where the former crown prince had stayed.
However, since this involves the Empress Dowager, I think the palace must have kept it a secret. "The Empress Dowager, she's already at the age of retirement, but she still has to cause trouble. Sigh."
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