Chapter 106 Saying goodbye to her is also a wish come true

Hearing Emperor Wen Zhao's question, the little princes looked at each other, not knowing who should speak.

Sixteen, Seventeen, and Fourteen all pushed Fifteen, signaling him to speak. If it were any other time, Fifteen would have spoken, but just now the brothers had worked together to defeat the foreign enemy, and he felt a little less hostile to his brothers Twelve and Thirteen. He felt that since they were there, he shouldn't steal the limelight too much, so he looked at them.

The mother of the twelfth prince had committed a serious crime a few years ago and was sent to the Yongsi Palace. She has not left since then. The twelfth prince never dared to speak in front of Emperor Wen Zhao, so he looked at the thirteenth prince and whispered, "Thirteenth, how about you speak?"

It was rare to see his young sons getting along so harmoniously, and Emperor Wen Zhao did not rush them, but waited patiently for them to discuss the matter.

Thirteen thought about the beating he had received not long ago, and was still frightened when he saw Emperor Wen Zhao. In the end, he pushed Fifteen and pushed him one step away.

Seeing that everyone wanted him to speak, Fifteen stopped refusing, and bowed, saying in a calm and generous manner: "Father, what I am going to say next is of great importance, so I have to ask my uncle to step aside."

When Emperor Wen Zhao heard this, he asked, "Was Xiao Jiu with you just now?"

The little princes nodded in unison: "Yes."

Emperor Wen Zhao knew what Tong Tong had said. He looked at Prince Jing and saw that he was a big man but was crying like a child. He waved his hand with a hint of disdain and said, "Yucheng, go down first. Let the imperial physician take a look at you and give you some medicine. I will call you in after I finish asking you questions."

When Prince Jing heard this, he was afraid that the younger princes would slander him in his absence, so he protested, "But my brother, I..."

Emperor Wen Zhao glanced at him indifferently, and Prince Jing immediately fell silent. He replied yes, bowed, and left.

As soon as the palace door was closed, the Fifteenth Prince opened his mouth and told everything that had just happened in the training ground and what Tong Tong had said.

Emperor Wen Zhao frowned: "So my kingdom ended up in Yucheng's hands?"

He knew before that according to the original plot, all his princes would die in the end, and the country would eventually fall into the hands of others.

Tong Tong did not say who would be the final emperor. He had guessed many people, and almost all the officials in the court had guessed it. He never expected that it would fall into the hands of the dandy Prince Jing.

But when you think about it, after all, the Great Sheng Empire was founded by the Ji family. All the descendants of his lineage had died out. In order to maintain the purity of the bloodline, the civil and military officials had to support Prince Jing to ascend the throne. As for why his uncle was not allowed to ascend the throne, presumably the old man had died by then.

Emperor Wen Zhao was not angry, but he thought it was absurd. He had so many sons and so many achievements, but because of internal strife, he gave up this great country to such a waste.

Emperor Wen Zhao looked at his sons standing on the ground and said earnestly, "Today you brothers have worked together to face the outside world. Your father is very happy. Stay here and have dinner with me today."

The young princes had originally thought that even if they were right, they had injured their elders after all, and they were still worried about being blamed and scolded. When they heard Emperor Wen Zhao's words, they all showed joy on their faces and thanked him in unison.

Emperor Wen Zhao called Liang Quan in and ordered him to prepare lunch. He then said, "Send someone to escort Prince Jing back home and let him reflect on his mistakes in his residence. He should not come to the palace again in the near future."

Liang Quan agreed one by one and retreated.

When Prince Jing, who was asking the imperial physician to prescribe medicine in the side hall, heard what Liang Quan relayed, he became furious and felt extremely aggrieved. He stood up and wanted to rush to the main hall to seek justice from Emperor Wen Zhao.

Liang Quan thought of the cold tone in which His Majesty had spoken of Prince Jing just now, and without saying a word, he arranged for two strong eunuchs to carry him onto the sedan chair and escort him out of the palace.

In the main hall, Emperor Wen Zhao waved to his young sons, "Come here."

A group of little princes rushed forward, and the seventeenth prince whispered, "Father, Xiaojiu and Yu'er are still waiting in Yu Garden. Can I go and fetch them?"

Emperor Wen Zhao nodded and said, "Go ahead. Fourteenth and Fifteenth, you can follow to pick them up. Oh, and pick up Eighteenth as well. Let's have some fun with Father today."

A group of children accompanied Emperor Wen Zhao for lunch, and then the emperor had to take care of palace affairs, so the children said goodbye and left.

After leaving Chongde Hall, the group automatically split into two groups. Fourteenth pulled Fifteenth to one side and called everyone over. Sixteen and Eighteen followed. Seventeen and the young prince, one on the left and one behind, holding Little Nine's hands, also followed. The group ignored Twelfth and Thirteenth Princes and walked straight ahead.

Ji Jinyou looked back and saw Twelve and Thirteen staring at them. She took Seventeen and Yu'er by the arm and walked a few quick steps to catch up with Fifteen. She whispered, "Fifteenth brother, didn't you reconcile in front of our father when we were having dinner just now? Why are you ignoring them now?"

Fifteen saw that the short little sister was struggling to move on her two short legs, so he bent down and picked her up, explaining in a low voice: "Thirteen is a bad guy, and his nature is hard to change. We'd better stay away from them, so as not to be hurt by him one day."

Fourteen echoed, "That's right, Twelve is no good either, let's just play our own game."

Ji Jinyou also knew that some people were born with bad hearts, and that one shouldn't expect them to change for the better easily, so he nodded and stopped caring.

---

The days passed as usual. Among the children, the one who had changed the most in recent days was the Sixteenth Prince.

Since he went to Zhenpin's palace, the little boy no longer dared to take big steps when walking. Every day, he was taken by Zhenpin to ride horses and shoot arrows, to throw pots, swing, skipping rope, and kick shuttlecock. Zhenpin took him to experience all the activities he had never tried before.

Concubine Zhen also particularly supported him and other brothers to go out and play. Day after day, they ran and jumped, increased their activities, and got a lot of sun exposure. The little boy's skin became a lot darker, but with a healthy red, and the previous paleness and sickly look were swept away. The little face looked much rounder, and there was a smile between his brows.

Now that Concubine Zhen had something to rely on, she regained the vigor and vitality she had when she first came to Dasheng. She was very caring towards the Sixteenth Prince, but she never restricted him. No matter what he wanted to do, she encouraged him to give it a try.

The relationship between mother and son became increasingly familiar and intimate. The Sixteenth Prince was no longer as reserved and polite as he was at the beginning. He began to learn how the Seventeenth and Little Nine treated Concubine Ru. He began to actively lean on Concubine Zhen, and sometimes even held her arms and rubbed her face, being silently intimate with her.

Although the little boy had never called her mother yet, Zhenpin was very surprised at such progress. She felt that in time, Sixteen would definitely accept her as his mother.

But what worried her was that Sixteen would have nightmares at night, and it had happened several times.

Sixteen was calling for his mother and crying in his dream. He kept crying even when he woke up. She held the little boy in her arms and coaxed him for a long time before he calmed down.

Concubine Zhen asked him if he missed his mother, but the little boy didn't know whether he was afraid that she would be unhappy or what, he just shook his head and said no every time. But Concubine Zhen could see that Sixteen missed his mother.

Concubine Zhen understood this very well. After all, Sixteen was raised by Concubine Ling herself, and Concubine Ling made Sixteen sick secretly. On the surface, no matter whether it was true or not, as a biological mother, Concubine Ling still cared for Sixteen.

In addition, when Concubine Ling was sent to Yongsi Palace, Sixteen had no chance to say goodbye to her, so it is normal for the child to miss her.

After Sixteen had another nightmare and woke up crying, Concubine Zhen sat with the little boy in her arms for half the night. The next day, she took Sixteen to Chongde Hall to find Emperor Wen Zhao.

Ever since Concubine Zhen found out that Emperor Wen Zhao did not allow her to have a child, she had been deliberately avoiding him and did not want to see him again.

Ever since she raised Sixteen, she put all her energy on him and completely forgot about Emperor Wen Zhao.

Emperor Wen Zhao was busy, and secondly, he knew that Concubine Zhen had resentment towards him, so he would not lose face and take the initiative to go to her house to find Leng Lian. The two had not seen each other for many days.

Seeing Concubine Zhen's rosy face and high spirits, Emperor Wen Zhao was stunned. Remembering that she was like this when she first entered the palace, he couldn't help but feel a little emotional.

Concubine Zhen was obsessed with Sixteen. After entering the palace, she didn't care about Emperor Wen Zhao's expression and knelt down with Sixteen. "Your Majesty, I beg you to show mercy and let Sixteen go to see his biological mother and say goodbye to her."

The sixteenth prince was stunned. He tilted his head and looked at Concubine Zhen, tears instantly flashing in his eyes.

He dreamed of his mother again last night. He knew that his mother had made him sick on purpose and that she was not as good to him as Concubine Fei was to Xiao Jiu, or even as good to him as Concubine Zhen.

But, but he just can't live up to expectations. He just misses her and dreams about her at night.

But his father had said that his mother was not a good person and asked him to forget her and not see her again, so he didn't dare to say that he missed her, for fear of making his father angry.

He was also afraid that if he told Concubine Zhen, she would be unhappy. She was so good to him, even better than his biological mother, and he didn't want to make her sad.

He woke up crying from his dream last night, and Concubine Zhen asked him again, but he lied as he did before.

This morning she said she brought him to pay respects to her father, so he thought she was just here to pay respects, but he didn't expect that she was here to plead for him.

The little boy felt both sour and warm in his heart, and he couldn't help but shed tears. He held Concubine Zhen's hand with his little hand.

Concubine Zhen tilted her head and saw the little boy crying. She held his little hand and squeezed it tightly, silently comforting him.

Emperor Wen Zhao was also surprised and asked, "Why?"

Zhenpin replied: "Your Majesty, although I have made a big mistake, I have raised Sixteen for so many years. Sixteen would cry when she dreamed of her at night. I am wondering if Your Majesty could show mercy and let Sixteen see her and say goodbye to her. It would be a wish come true and I can feel at ease in the future."

Sixteen saw that Concubine Zhen had told him everything and looked at Emperor Wen Zhao nervously, fearing that he would be angry.

Emperor Wen Zhao looked at Sixteen and saw that he leaned against Concubine Zhen unconsciously, looking very dependent on her. Then he looked at Sixteen's increasingly better complexion and increasingly strong body, and he felt in his heart that Concubine Zhen, his adoptive mother, was many times better to Sixteen than Concubine Ling, his biological mother.

Emperor Wen Zhao looked at Concubine Zhen and asked directly, "It's not been long since Sixteenth came to your place. Aren't you afraid that after Sixteenth sees Concubine Ling, she will miss her even more and it will be harder for her to get close to you?"

Sixteen's face was filled with anxiety, and he tried to assure, "I won't, Father, I won't."

Concubine Zhen touched Sixteen's head, looked directly at Emperor Wen Zhao, and said to the ground with a loud voice: "Your Majesty, time will tell if a person is a person. I believe that as long as I treat Sixteen sincerely, he will treat me as his own mother sooner or later."

Sixteen said nothing but nodded quickly.

Emperor Wen Zhao looked at the woman kneeling on the ground for a long time, then smiled and said, "Yes."

There was no time to lose. As soon as she came out of Chongde Hall, Zhenpin took Sixteen to Yongsi Palace as ordered to visit Lingpin, who had been stripped of her title.

The concubines imprisoned in Yongsi Palace were never allowed to leave unless they were dead, and no one was allowed to visit them. Zhenpin and Sixteen were the first to step into Yongsi Palace to visit someone.

Lingpin, who had lost a lot of weight, was wearing a plain robe and only a wooden hairpin on her head. She was brought out by two maids.

When she saw Sixteen, she rushed over in disbelief, knelt on the ground, hugged the little boy and burst into tears, apologizing vigorously: "Son, I was wrong, I'm sorry..."

Sixteen was held in her arms and burst into tears. After crying for a while, he raised his little hands to wipe her tears and cried, "Mother, you must take good care of yourself here and don't worry about your son. Your son is doing well outside. My mother took me for a ride on a horse and made a swing for me with her own hands. Your son is swinging so high..."

The little boy cried and told Concubine Ling everything that had happened recently.

When Zhenpin heard Sixteen calling her "Mother Concubine" instead of "Empress Zhenpin", she was very surprised and looked happy.

Lingpin looked at Sixteen carefully and saw that he had gained a lot of weight and his face was healthy and rosy. She also heard him calling Zhenpin "mother". She knew that Sixteen was living very well with Zhenpin, much better than when he was with her.

She has been locked up here these days, and has been restless every night. Thinking back on what she has done over the years, she has regretted it so much that she wants to die, but she can't let go of Sixteen. She doesn't know to whom the emperor will give him to take care of him. It feels like a pair of iron claws are scratching her heart, the pain is unbearable, but there is nothing she can do.

Now that she saw that Sixteen was doing well, she felt relieved, but also extremely sad. He was her son, born after ten months of pregnancy. She should have raised him by her side until he grew up, but...

There was no point in regretting. Lingpin let go of Sixteen and kowtowed three times to Zhenpin, who was standing aside and looking at her coldly: "Madam Zhenpin, from now on, Sixteen is entrusted to you."

Concubine Zhen said coldly: "Sixteen is my son, so I will naturally treat him well."

After a while, Zhenpin came out of Yongsi Palace with the crying Sixteenth Prince, gently stroked his head, and comforted him, "You can see that Yongsi Palace is clean and tidy, and there are people to serve. His Majesty and the Empress have strictly ordered that the food and living conditions here should not be harsh. As long as your mother is fine, life will be OK. Don't worry."

Sixteen held Concubine Zhen's neck tightly with both hands, put his little face against hers, and said softly, "Mother, thank you."

Zhenpin was delighted. She pulled the little boy off her neck with both hands, held him in front of her, and asked, "What did you call me?"

Sixteen's face was flushed, a little shy, but she called out again: "Mother."

Concubine Zhen happily took the little boy back into her arms, kissed him hard, and laughed heartily: "Haha, good son, call me again."

Sixteen shyly nestled his head on Concubine Zhen's shoulder and called out again, "Mother."

Seeing her master so happy, Yunzhi also smiled happily.

The three of them returned to the palace happily. Not long after they entered the palace, Liang Quan, the chief eunuch of Chongde Hall, came with the imperial edict. After everyone knelt down, Liang Quan announced the edict loudly, and Concubine Zhen was named Concubine Zhen.