Chapter 92 Rejecting me is not the kind of person who repays evil with kindness.
Shen Yan and the others were all taken aback and looked at each other in bewilderment.
They had not heard the news, assuming it was just a rumor circulating in the palace and had not yet been decided; otherwise, it would have spread throughout the outer court long ago.
Qi Yunxiu clutched the hem of her dress and whispered, "The Tatars have always wanted to marry a princess from our Great Zhou, but the court has never agreed before. This time... this time Father... seems to be going to agree, and I heard that the candidate is Third Sister."
“I know that my third sister and the princess have never had a good relationship, but... apart from the princess and my seventh brother, I really don’t know who else can persuade Father.”
Gu Niannian was indignant and retorted, "That's not exactly good! Every time the Third Princess sees Aci, she either gives her the cold shoulder or speaks sarcastically. She's simply not good to Aci! Now that she's implicated because of her brother's rebellion, instead of seeking help from others, you're making Aci step in to help. What kind of logic is that?"
Qi Yunxiu gripped the hem of her dress even tighter, her eyes reddening slightly. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I... I know I shouldn't have, but I really had no other choice, so... so I shamelessly came to try."
Her words were sincere and her attitude humble, even a little cautious, which made Gu Niannian feel a little embarrassed, as if she had bullied her, and she didn't know how to speak for a moment.
Li Yaozhi frowned slightly and asked, "Fifth Princess, if I remember correctly, the Third Princess didn't seem to treat you very well either."
The Third Princess was a spoiled and willful woman. Relying on the support of Consort Jia and Prince Ning, she acted arrogantly both inside and outside the palace. Although the Fifth Princess was also a princess, because the Fifth Princess's mother was of low rank and died early, she had no one to rely on and was always ordered around by the Third Princess, treated like a palace maid.
Now that the Third Princess is in trouble, everyone in the palace is avoiding her like the plague, so it is truly baffling that the Fifth Princess alone wants to stand up for her.
Qi Yunxiu's eyelashes trembled slightly, and her voice was as soft as a mosquito's buzz: "Actually... she just has a bad temper, but she's not a bad person."
Gu Niannian seemed to have heard a joke: "She's not a bad person."
Qi Yunxiu lowered her head even further: "When I was little, I was bullied and didn't even have enough to eat. It was she who scolded those palace servants so that I could have enough to eat. It was also because she often took me with her that no one dared to bully me anymore. If it weren't for her... I don't know if I would be alive today."
In his early years, the emperor did not have a firm grasp on the political situation, and his mind was focused on competing with the powerful clans. Apart from Consort Shu and her son, the rest of the women in the harem were merely necessary social interactions to maintain imperial power. People like the Empress and Consort Jia were people he had to pay attention to, and even Consorts Xian and Hui, whom he did not like at the time, required him to put in effort to cultivate a relationship with them.
But... Qi Yunxiu's birth mother was just an ordinary palace maid, not even a famous one in any palace. She was just someone who happened to be sent to the emperor's bedroom to deliver midnight snacks.
At that time, the emperor was being pressured by his ministers to establish a crown prince, and feeling frustrated, he was unwilling to summon his concubines. In a moment of impulse, he favored this palace maid with no background. It was as if this was the only way to show that his harem was not something anyone could interfere with, and that he had the right to choose.
But afterwards he soberly realized that this palace maid was of no use to him; she could neither please him nor provide him with any assistance. So in the end, he only gave her the title of a concubine and then left her aside.
Later, when the palace maid became pregnant, the emperor was not happy at all; on the contrary, he was disgusted.
He was initially chosen as the heir apparent because the imperial astronomical oracle predicted that he would have "abundant offspring and a deep bond with his children." Court officials privately mocked him for being "fertile."
Now that this palace maid has become pregnant after only one favor with him, it seems to confirm this claim, which infuriates the emperor.
He had considered not having the child, but the Imperial Hospital already had a record of it, and the matter was already documented. What would be the point of having the palace maid abort the child now? If people found out, they would be accused of disregarding human ethics.
So the emperor simply grunted in acknowledgment to indicate that he understood, and then paid no further attention to the palace maid. Whether she could give birth or not was irrelevant; the emperor already had many children, all born to various concubines, and he didn't care about a palace maid's child.
Although the palace maid's life was originally simple and frugal, she was hardworking and appreciated by her superiors, so her life in the palace was not too difficult. However, after being favored by the emperor and becoming pregnant, she was subjected to all sorts of difficulties, and her life became worse than before.
She endured ten agonizing months in this way, ultimately dying in childbirth. Her name wasn't even recorded in the Imperial Medical Academy's archives; only her surname was given: Li Xuanshi. And now, apart from her daughter Qi Yunxiu, no one remembers this surname at all.
Qi Yunxiu was born out of favor. At first, the palace servants, mindful that she was a princess and the emperor's own daughter, dared not treat her too harshly. But as she grew older, they realized that the emperor truly cared nothing for her and never summoned her, so they became increasingly bold.
Her allowance was almost entirely embezzled by the palace servants, and she was treated worse than ordinary palace maids. Some of the bolder palace servants even beat and scolded her at the slightest provocation.
Once, the eunuch serving her was caught drinking and was punished. When he returned, he took his anger out on her. She was in so much pain that she cried and ran away.
The eunuch was drunk and couldn't stop her for a moment. When he saw her run out of the courtyard gate, he hurriedly chased after her and beat her up again after catching up with her.
Qi Yunying happened to be nearby. At first, when she heard the commotion, she thought it was a eunuch disciplining a disobedient palace maid and didn't pay any attention. However, when she caught a glimpse of the "palace maid's" attire out of the corner of her eye, her brows furrowed.
Among Qi Yunxiu's rations, the only thing the palace servants dared not deduct was her outer robe. This was because not only was the material of fine fabric—only the ladies of the palace could wear it—but it also had a special design. The palace servants dared to take the material from her inner garments for their own use, giving her coarse linen clothes, but they dared not touch this outer robe. Firstly, they themselves couldn't wear it, and secondly, if one day the princess were suddenly encountered by His Majesty or any of the ladies of the harem and saw her dressed in tattered clothes, wouldn't all the palace servants around her be in trouble?
So everyone agrees that it's okay to treat her harshly, but we still have to keep things on a good level.
Today, the eunuch had been drinking and had been upset. In a fit of anger, he forgot the occasion and started punching and kicking Qi Yunxiu in public. Qi Yunying happened to be passing by and witnessed it.
Qi Yunying was puzzled to see that the person who had been beaten was dressed in princess-style clothes, though old. After asking her servants, she learned that the person who had been beaten was the Fifth Princess. Enraged, she immediately ordered the eunuch to be beaten, saying, "How dare a lowly servant disrespect his superior! If you dare to beat her today, will you dare to beat me and a prince tomorrow?"
The eunuch was beaten and thrown into the Imperial Prison, never to be seen again. Qi Yunxiu, on the other hand, was dragged before the emperor by Qi Yunying to file a complaint against the servants who had deceived their master.
Although the emperor didn't care much for this daughter and rarely saw her even once a year, she was still his own child. To see her treated so badly by a group of servants—how could he possibly save face?
The palace servants who served Qi Yunxiu were all punished and sent to the Department of Cautious Punishment or the Laundry Bureau. From then on, Qi Yunxiu was often taken by Qi Yunying's side. Although her living expenses were not as good as Qi Yunying's, she was no longer bullied.
"I am weak-willed and have no mother to protect me. My father can't always look after me either. If this goes on for too long, those palace servants will definitely revert to their old ways. Even if they don't beat or scold me, they will definitely cut off my allowance. It is only because my third sister often takes me with her and keeps those palace servants in check that I have been able to live peacefully for so many years. So... this time when she got into trouble, I really couldn't just stand by and do nothing. But after thinking it over, I really didn't know who else I could turn to besides the Princess and my seventh brother, so... so I rashly made this trip."
Qi Yunxiu kept her head down the whole time, not daring to look at the people in the room.
Li Yaozhi frowned, wanting to say something more, but Shen Yan spoke up on her own: "I understand and support the Fifth Princess's gratitude, but I'm sorry, I really can't help with this."
"Firstly, I am not the kind of person who repays evil with kindness, and secondly, this matter involves politics and even relations between two countries, which is not something I can get involved in."
"As for your seventh brother... although he is your and the Third Princess's elder brother, you should already know how the Third Princess has treated him all these years, and how Prince Ning has framed him. As his wife, I really can't bring myself to ask him to plead for the Third Princess."
"Of course, if you go and ask him yourself and he agrees, then let him be, and I won't interfere."
She said all she had to say; her attitude was already very clear.
Qi Yunxiu knew that the chances of her agreeing were slim, and she was prepared to be rejected. She wasn't very disappointed, but she really didn't know what to do next.
She knew her seventh brother's temperament; unless his wife persuaded him, he would never agree. But besides the couple, who else could possibly help and also speak on their behalf to the Emperor?
Qi Yunxiu couldn't think of anyone else, so she could only nod dejectedly, get up to leave, and prepare to try again with Qi Jingxuan, just in case he agreed.
As Shen Yan and the others watched her departing figure, they all felt a deep sense of melancholy.
"She usually seems very listless and can't even speak properly in crowded places. I didn't expect her to show such courage when she pleaded for the Third Princess. She's quite loyal and righteous."
Gu Niannian said.
Li Yaozhi nodded: "She is grateful and loyal, but it's a pity she shouldn't have come to find Aci."
“Exactly,” Gu Niannian nodded vigorously, “The Third Princess has been kind to her, but not to Aci. Isn’t this being generous with other people’s money?”
Shen Yan didn't dwell on that, since she had already refused. She was now thinking about what the Fifth Princess had just said about the marriage alliance: "I feel like... this is not very reliable. His Majesty doesn't seem like the kind of person who would do such a thing."
"That's not necessarily true. After all, the Third Princess is Prince Ning's younger sister. Even if His Majesty doesn't punish Consort Jia for breaking Prince Ning's legs out of consideration for the greater good, he certainly won't like her anymore. He might even want to use this opportunity to send her far away."
Gu Niannian guessed.
The events of three days ago had already spread, and everyone understood why Prince Ning was not present when the Xie family led troops to force the emperor to abdicate. It wasn't that he had repented at the crucial moment and stopped the original plan, but rather that he had been summoned to the palace by Consort Jia beforehand, and had his legs broken while he was imprisoned in Yongning Palace.
The exact details are unclear, but the fact that Consort Jia had such courage was something no one expected.
Prince Ning was, after all, her own son, and the son she had valued most in the past twenty years. To make such a choice at a critical moment was something no ordinary person could do.
Li Yaozhi thought more deeply than Gu Niannian and nodded in support of Shen Yan's opinion: "The Tatars have been asking for the marriage of the Great Zhou princess for more than a year or two. They have been saying it since the founding of our Great Zhou, but the court has never agreed."
"Although there are occasional battles on the border, we have always been in the upper hand. There is no reason to send a princess to marry a foreign ruler at this time, let alone send a real princess."
Historically, marriage alliances involved either daughters of the imperial family or meritorious families, or simply choosing a clever and quick-witted palace maid to be bestowed the title of princess. It was rare for a real princess to be married off to a foreign land.
Since the founding of the Great Zhou Dynasty, there has never been a precedent of a princess being married off to another country. If the emperor were to open this door and marry a real princess to the emperor, it would be recorded in the history books, and he would not be able to bear the shame.
Shen Yan nodded: "I don't know where this news came from, but the Fifth Princess actually believed it. It seems that she was too worried to think straight."
After exchanging a few words, the group dropped the topic and moved on to other things, quickly forgetting about the incident.
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