Chapter 397 Reluctance
The problem that had troubled him for a long time finally had a solution. Duke Song felt relieved and turned around to go back to the palace.
This is no small matter, and we need to discuss it with Queen Song and the Queen Mother before we can make a decision.
Inside the house, Chen Wan was copying Buddhist scriptures, and Shanhu came back from Huguo Temple with two bags of cakes.
Chen Wan is now afraid to go to Liuliyuan. The prince does not allow the princess to leave the house and gives her soft muscle powder, but she is the one who has a hard time.
Shanhu went to Huguo Temple yesterday to "look" for it, but couldn't find anyone selling medicine, so she returned empty-handed. In order to express her concern for the princess's illness, she had to let Shanhu go again.
It was nothing for Shanhu to go to Huguo Temple every day, but she couldn't find anyone selling medicine, and Chen Wan felt like she was being fryed in oil.
It’s bad enough that the prince cheated on the princess, but he cheated her as well. Is that possible?
I feel tired.
Since there was no medicine, Shen Wan took the cakes to Liuliyuan. In fact, Shanhu hadn't found the medicine to sell, and the news reached the ears of the princess as soon as she returned to the mansion.
Shen Wan said guiltily, "The medicine seller is not here today..."
The princess smiled weakly, and in turn comforted Shen Wan, "It's okay, mother just has no strength, nothing else is a problem."
Seeing Shen Wan standing uneasy, Mother Zhao also comforted Shen Wan, "In the past, the princess had an old problem and had to manage the household. Now that the second and third rooms have been separated, the fourth room is also quiet, which is much less worrying than before."
Even so, Chen Wan felt bad in his heart.
If she doesn't tell the princess the truth about her illness, she and Xie Jingyu will be aiding and abetting the evil.
The princess leaned on the large welcoming pillow and said, "You usually only have these two maids by your side. Don't go to the Huguo Temple to look for them every day. Tell Manager Zhou what the medicine seller looks like and have him send someone to buy it."
Chen Wan has many maids at her disposal, but she only cares about Shanhu and Yinchuan. Shanhu goes to Huguo Temple every day, and Yinchuan is the only one Chen Wan has at her disposal, which makes the princess worried.
A quack doctor will not stay in one place to sell medicine all the time and may not come for a long time. Such a small matter can be left to other servants.
Shen Wan nodded, "I will listen to my mother."
Shen Wan sat down and talked with the princess to relieve her boredom. Fortunately, the fourth wife had not moved out, and the fourth lady came to talk with the princess every day, otherwise the princess would be bored to death.
The princess said weakly, "Yu'er has been busy keeping vigil for Concubine Chen these days and hasn't been able to spend enough time with you. When Concubine Chen's funeral is tomorrow, let him accompany you to stroll around the streets."
Before the princess finished speaking, a maid came in and said, "Princess, the emperor is reluctant to bury Concubine Chen in the imperial mausoleum and wants to keep her in the palace for a few more days..."
princess,"……"
Shen Wan, “…”
The princess frowned slightly.
Shen Wan also felt strange.
Didn’t the Emperor and the Concubine Chen only have a fleeting romance?
Staying for a few more days is the treatment only for the favored concubine. More importantly, the Concubine Chen has been dead for fifteen years and only a skeleton is left. What is there to keep her?
When Xie Jingyu came back, Shen Wan couldn't help but wonder, and asked Xie Jingyu, "Why didn't the emperor allow Concubine Chen to be buried?"
Xie Jingyu said, "The emperor wants to know too."
Shen Wan, “…???”
Shen Wan was stunned, "Isn't this what the emperor meant?"
"It's my father."
Chen Wan was even more confused.
Why would the prince care about such a matter as the burial of Concubine Chen?
The prince went into the palace to discuss matters with the emperor. When he was leaving, he turned back after taking a few steps and said, "If the emperor is reluctant to part with the concubine, he can keep her in the palace for a few more days. Maybe there will be an unexpected surprise."
The prince said only one sentence and left, without giving the emperor a chance to ask any questions. The emperor then called Xie Jingyu over.
Xie Jingyu didn't know why his father said such a thing. He didn't want to ask the prince. He was still angry that the prince had drugged the princess, so he said, "Your Majesty, please trust my father for once. If there is no unexpected surprise, give him thirty lashes."
emperor,"……"
Eunuch An, “…”
It is obvious that the son is angry with his father and is taking revenge through the emperor.
For the emperor, it made no difference whether the coffin of Concubine Chen stayed in the palace for two more days or two less days. Prince Jingbei was not a person who would say such things casually. The emperor also wanted to see what the unexpected surprise Prince Jingbei was talking about, so he postponed the date of the funeral. However, the specific date of the funeral had not been decided yet and had to be calculated by the Imperial Observatory to know.
When the news of the postponement of Concubine Chen's funeral spread, the corner of Yuzhang County Prince's mouth twitched while he was burning paper. He looked at Pei Huaijin who was kneeling upright beside him, "We don't know how many days you have to kneel. Are you sure you don't want to be lazy?"
Pei Huaijin, “…”
It broke gently.
He had been kneeling and burning paper for Concubine Chen for several days.
The Prince of Yuzhang and his men kept vigil, but they were not very rigid. When they got tired of kneeling, they squatted, and when they got tired of squatting, they stood. As there were so many people, they took turns sleeping in the side hall. They mainly burned paper money, but they did not tire themselves out.
The paper money burned while squatting is the same as the paper money burned while kneeling.
But Pei Huaijin was different. When Old Master Pei came to pay homage to Concubine Chen, he saw that Pei Huaijin was tired of kneeling, so he squatted quietly, frowned, and said, "Kneel well."
"Your life was saved thanks to the Emperor sending someone to open the coffin and perform an autopsy. He asked you to wear mourning clothes and kneel here to burn paper as a filial son. How could you be so lazy?"
From then on, whenever Pei Huaijin burned paper for Concubine Chen, he would kneel down to do it, not daring to be lazy in the slightest.
While throwing paper money into the brazier, Prince Yuzhang said, "You are more filial than a filial son. The spirit of Concubine Chen is still in the afterlife. With us here, she will definitely bless you extra."
Pei Huaijin, “…”
"...You'd better be lazy. You managed to save your life with great difficulty. If you collapse from exhaustion, won't you be buried with Concubine Chen?"
Seeing that Pei Huaijin was kneeling and about to collapse, but still holding on and being extremely stubborn, Prince Yuzhang and Zhao Ang directly carried him to the side hall to rest.
The next day was supposed to be the day of the funeral of Concubine Chen. However, since the funeral was postponed, all civil and military officials continued to attend the morning court.
After breakfast, Shen Wan went to visit the princess. When she came out of the Liuli Courtyard, Chun'er came running over and said, "Princess, the emperor has found the princess born to Concubine Chen..."
Shen Wan was stunned for a moment, "Found it?"
Chun'er nodded repeatedly, "At court this morning, Duke Song informed the Emperor that news had arrived from Suizhou that the daughter of the twin boy and girl born to Concubine Chen had been found. If they were to confirm that she was a princess, then there was no need to send Princess Shouzhen to marry."
Chen Wan was so angry.
After much difficulty, Princess Shouzhen was allowed to marry into Dongliang, so that Queen Song could taste the pain of separation from her family. However, these people actually found someone to pretend to be the daughter of Concubine Chen, and created a princess out of thin air to marry Princess Shouzhen.
What’s even more infuriating is that this is exactly what the emperor wants.
Even a tiger won't eat its own cubs, and the emperor was unwilling to let his own daughter marry a foreign prince, but the empress dowager's life was at stake, so he had no choice.
If there is a fake princess, the emperor will definitely let this fake princess marry a foreign prince.
Shen Wan actually hoped that what Duke Song had found was a real princess. She was the granddaughter of Old Taifu Lin, and she had never enjoyed the honor of a princess for a day. Shen Wan didn't believe that the emperor would really let his newly found biological daughter go in marriage.
Shen Wan was very angry, and the empress dowager called the emperor over.
The Empress Dowager leaned back on the large welcoming pillow and said, "The Emperor has ordered the Concubine Chen's daughter to marry in Dongliang."
The emperor frowned, "How can we rashly issue an order when the identity has not yet been confirmed?"
The Queen Mother said, "The princess is fake. I asked Duke Song to find someone to impersonate her. Could it be that the Emperor really wants to send Shouzhen to marry?"
The Emperor said, "This marriage is originally the fault of our Ning Dynasty. To avoid war between the two countries, we sent a fake princess to marry. This is not to improve the relationship between the two countries, but to deliberately provoke the Dongliang."
The Queen Mother said, "If it weren't for the unlucky fortune I drew at the Huguo Temple, the Emperor could have chosen a noblewoman from the royal family, named her a princess, and sent her as a princess. This has been the practice throughout the dynasties. The daughter of the Concubine Chen is the Emperor's princess. As long as the Emperor recognizes her, what is there for Dongliang to be dissatisfied with?"
"This matter is not Dongliang's, it's the Emperor's."
Queen Song knelt on the ground and begged the emperor, "This is the only way to prevent Shouzhen from marrying off. If you find a real princess in the future, Your Majesty will adopt her as your adopted daughter."
The emperor suddenly understood what Prince Jingbei meant by the unexpected surprise.
"I agree."
Queen Song knelt on the ground and cried with joy.
The emperor's words were golden, and he agreed to it in front of the empress dowager, so there was no room for regret.
Her daughter no longer had to marry off, and the stone that had been weighing on her heart for so long was finally removed.
But this joy did not last long. The next day, Queen Song almost went crazy.
At the morning court session, Eunuch An read out the imperial edict, announcing that the Emperor had found the twins, a boy and a girl, born to Concubine Chen and who had been lost outside.
On her way back to Beijing, the princess was named Princess Heshun and an auspicious date was chosen for her marriage to the prince of Dongliang, the grandson of Old Master Pei, Pei Huaijin.
The emperor was grateful to Old Master Pei and the Pei family for their care and kindness in raising Pei Huaijin... no, Xiao Huaijin, so he rewarded him generously and asked Xiao Huaijin to wear mourning clothes and bury Concubine Chen in the imperial mausoleum.
This imperial edict came very suddenly, without any prior warning. It is no exaggeration to say that it was like a bolt from the blue.
Civil and military officials were more shocked than each other and looked at each other in disbelief.
Duke Song's expression became even more interesting.
I was so angry that my mouth tasted like blood.
After realizing it belatedly, I finally reacted——
King Jingbei tricked him!
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
