Chapter 77 Concubine Chen Appears at Zhaonan Palace
Upon hearing this, the Queen Mother's face darkened and she slammed the jade staff in her hand heavily onto the ground, making a dull sound. "Ye'er, what do you mean by this? I can't even enter your study room anymore?"
Jing Siye bowed respectfully, his voice neither humble nor arrogant: "Grandmother, the study is a forbidden area."
The Queen Mother walked down the steps, her eyes fixed on Jing Siye, trying to find any sign of relaxation on his face, but she only saw that his expression was firm, with no intention of retreating.
"I want to ask, what shameful things are hidden in this study that even I can't see?"
Jing Siye lowered his head slightly, avoiding the Queen Mother's scrutiny, and said in a deep voice:
"Grandmother, the study is where I handle government affairs and study military tactics. Most of the things placed in it are confidential and important. I dare not slack off in the slightest. I hope Grandmother will understand."
"Humph, confidential matters?" The Queen Mother sneered.
"Your behavior is becoming more and more incomprehensible to me. This world is still the Jing family's world after all. I am the empress dowager, how can I harm you?"
Jing Siye was silent for a moment, then slowly spoke: "This son naturally knows that the Royal Grandmother loves me, but the rules of this study have been set since my father was in power, and this son dare not change it easily. Besides, I hope that the Royal Grandmother will agree."
"Is it accomplished?"
"Second Prince, I am becoming less and less important in your eyes. I was kind enough to arrange a marriage for you, but you beat her unconscious on the wedding day. You didn't hit her, you hit my face. How can I help you with anything?"
Jing Siye: "Ye'er dare not. Since the Royal Grandmother has given her to this prince, she has acted recklessly and does not know etiquette. It is a family matter for my grandson to teach her a lesson."
Queen Mother: “…”
"Your family affairs are so bad, have you grown so powerful that neither I nor the Emperor care about you anymore? Look at you, your father and the Crown Prince also have male favorites, but they also know to pass on the family line first."
The Queen Mother said this as she walked towards Zhu Wenqin. When the jade staff stopped beside him, Zhu Wenqin shivered with fear. The Queen Mother's sharp eyes seemed to be piercing with knives.
"Zhu Wenqin, right? Who is your father? What does your family do? You keep pestering the Second Prince, but he is just taking her as a concubine. If you really like him, how could you bear to let her die without an heir?"
Upon hearing this, Zhu Wenqin turned pale and his legs softened. He was about to kneel down and apologize, but Jing Siye pulled him up and stepped in front of him.
"Grandmother, I don't like women. As for the continuation of the family line, it's fine to have a crown prince, or a branch of the Jing family. I'm not interested."
As soon as these words were spoken, the air in the courtyard froze.
The Queen Mother's face was filled with disbelief and anger, and the jade staff in her hand was shaking from the force.
"You...what nonsense are you talking about!" Her voice was sharp, with uncontrollable anger.
"How can you treat the royal bloodline inheritance so lightly?"
The empress dowager pointed at Jing Siye with a trembling hand and was speechless for a long time.
After a long while, she took a deep breath and said coldly, "Okay, very good! Since you are so stubborn, I will expel Zhu Wenqin from the capital and let him stay away from you. Let's see what you can do!"
When Zhu Wenqin heard this, she was horrified and subconsciously grabbed Jing Siye's sleeve.
Jing Siye held Zhu Wenqin's hand with his backhand and gave him a firm and soothing look. Then he raised his head and looked directly at the empress dowager without fear. Just as he was about to speak, he was interrupted by an urgent shout.
“Oh no!”
The voice was sharp and panicked, breaking the tense atmosphere in the hall.
The guard at the gate of the palace came in trotting and reported:
"Queen Mother, Your Majesty, there is a woman claiming to be... Concubine Chen, and she is asking to see you at the door."
"What?"
The Queen Mother and Jing Siye spoke almost at the same time, shock written all over their faces.
The empress dowager subconsciously glanced at Zhu Wenqin, as if weighing the pros and cons, and finally decided to let him go for the time being. After all, Concubine Chen was still pregnant with the dragon seed.
"Hurry, let her in." The Queen Mother ordered, and then she and Jing Siye and others quickly walked towards the meeting room in the front yard.
When everyone arrived at the conference room, the Queen Mother sat in the main seat, looking anxious and expectant.
After a while, a woman with messy hair was seen being helped in.
She looked haggard and her eyes were red and swollen. As soon as she stepped over the threshold, she fell to her knees and burst into tears:
"Mother, I finally see you..."
Upon seeing this, the Queen Mother quickly stood up and walked quickly forward to help her.
However, the moment she approached Concubine Chen, she discovered something incredible, and the expression on her face gradually froze:
"Concubine Chen...where is your child?"
Upon hearing this, Concubine Chen cried even more bitterly:
"Mother, I am guilty. I can't even protect my own child. Please punish me."
She kept knocking her head while crying.
When the empress dowager heard this, she was struck by lightning and staggered back two steps. Fortunately, the maid beside her was quick-witted and supported her in time.
"What? You said... the dragon heir is gone?"
The Queen Mother's voice was filled with incredible despair. The hope in her heart for the continuation of the royal bloodline was shattered like a bubble. A basin of cold water was poured from head to toe, and her whole body was chilled to the bone.
Concubine Chen cried heartbrokenly: "Queen Dowager, it's all my fault. I trusted someone I shouldn't have trusted..."
The Queen Mother suppressed her grief and anger and asked sternly:
"Whoever you believed is the one who framed you."
Concubine Chen hesitated for a moment, a look of fear appeared on her face, and she stammered:
"I dare not say..."
"Speak - this Queen Mother will make the decision for you." The Queen Mother's voice rose eight octaves, carrying an irresistible majesty.
Concubine Chen shuddered all over, and finally mustered up the courage:
"Yes...it's the Queen."
As soon as the words came out, the meeting room fell into deathly silence, and the atmosphere was so tense that it seemed to ignite the air.
Jing Siye subconsciously exchanged a glance with Zhu Wenqin, a look that conveyed a thousand words. Then he calmly reached out and pulled Zhu Wenqin into his arms, as if to shield him from the sudden storm.
The Queen Mother was so angry that her face turned blue, her breathing became rapid and disordered, and after a long while she managed to squeeze out a few words from between her teeth:
"Tell me again, who is it——?"
Concubine Chen burst into tears and sobbed:
"Yes...it was the Queen Mother. On the day when my mother returned to the palace, a woman named Wang Zhiyan brought me a bowl of white phoenix chicken soup, saying it was a gift from the Queen Mother and that it contained medicine to help the fetus. I was filled with joy at the time, thinking of the Queen Mother's concern, and drank it without a second thought."
When she said this, she covered her chest with both hands, as if she still felt the pain of her child's death. Her crying became more and more mournful, and her words were intermittent:
"My dear little prince, who is about to be born...my prince..."
The Queen Mother's eyes suddenly became sharp, and she stared at Concubine Chen:
"You said that you were carrying a prince..."
Concubine Chen nodded desperately: "That's right, mother. There was a drug in that bowl of medicine. After I drank it, my consciousness gradually became blurred. When I woke up, I was in a peasant woman's house. I heard from the peasant woman..."
She took a deep breath and tried to calm down. "She said that her husband came back from hunting in the grove and heard the conversation between those people. He then realized that I was still alive. He waited until those people left before digging me out of the ground."
"But... I no longer have a child. ... Mother, you must make a decision for me and the unborn prince..."
Upon hearing this, the Queen Mother murmured to herself with a dull look in her eyes:
"Empress Xiao...I really misjudged you."
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
