The eldest princess pretended not to understand. Her face was filled with surprise. "So, you're willing to return to the Zhang family, to live under the care of your grandparents and enjoy a good life with them?"
Lady Zhang's face darkened in an instant. This damn girl, how could she still be so stubborn?
Driven by her strong desire for wealth and glory, Concubine Zhang gained a lot of courage.
She shamelessly wiped away her non-existent tears, then pretended to be full of love and said to the eldest princess: "But I can't bear to leave you. I, I want to live with you."
The eldest princess lowered her eyelids, and the disappointment in her heart was so deep that it could not be described.
But on the surface, she did not immediately show this disappointment, but nodded vigorously and said to Lady Zhang: "Will you take me back to the Zhang family? I am willing!"
Lady Zhang:!!!
This was because there was no table nearby and there were so many outsiders watching, otherwise Concubine Zhang would have overturned the table to express her strong dissatisfaction with the eldest princess.
Concubine Zhang wanted to beat her chest and stamp her feet, pointing at the eldest princess and scolding her to wake her up.
She just couldn't understand what was going on in the eldest princess's head. She didn't want to live a good life, and she didn't want to curry favor with her popular brother. Instead, she was like someone possessed, and insisted on staying away from Xiao Yuanjin and her own biological father.
Concubine Zhang never considered that the eldest princess was unwilling to get close to Xiao Yuanjin and Xiao Shaoyuan simply because she didn't want Concubine Zhang to use her to cause trouble for those two people.
In her opinion, it was natural for the eldest princess to cling to Xiao Shaoyuan and Xiao Yuanjin, just as it was natural for her to cling to the eldest princess.
There are huge differences in concepts between the mother and daughter, and neither can convince the other with her own ideas, so they can only be deadlocked in endless conflicts.
Taking a deep breath, Concubine Zhang tried hard to maintain her facial expression, so that others would not stand on the side of the eldest princess and give her harsh criticism and contempt because of her inappropriate words and actions.
"How can you be so ignorant, kid? Don't you know what the Zhang family's financial situation is like? If I go to the Zhang family with you, I'm afraid they won't be able to make ends meet. Can you bear to see your grandparents and your uncle's family go hungry?"
Of course, the Zhang family is not so poor that having two more mouths to feed would cause others to be unable to eat. Lady Zhang exaggerated so much just to find a plausible reason for not returning to the Zhang family.
Her eyes were filled with tears. "And I can't bear to see you go through that kind of life! You are a child of wealth and you have a father and brother who are in a very good situation. You..."
The eldest princess frowned and interrupted her, "When did I ever say I planned to let the Zhang family support you and me? You also said that I was born into a wealthy family, and I still have a father and a brother. Neither of them has ever treated me unfairly. Although the assets I have are not much, they are more than enough for us to live comfortably for the rest of our lives."
Concubine Zhang gnashed her teeth in hatred. She secretly blamed the eldest princess and tearfully said to her, "But you could have lived a better life! How could I bear to ask you to use your own private money to support me?"
The eldest princess had not intended to embarrass her biological mother in public, but Concubine Zhang was determined not to give up until she saw the coffin drop and the Yellow River.
She took a deep breath. "Even if you can't bear to see me use my own private money to supplement the family expenses, you and I won't be left without food and clothing. After all, my father treats all his women equally and gave each of his women a severance pay."
When everyone heard this, the way they looked at Lady Zhang suddenly became subtle.
Yu Zizhen did not hide the identities of Xiao Shaoyuan and others, so almost everyone in the capital knew that those who lived in Prince Zhao's Mansion were actually the direct descendants of the royal family of the previous dynasty, Da Qi.
Now, after listening to the conversation between the eldest princess and Concubine Zhang, everyone almost immediately connected the facts.
Xiao Shaoyuan, who was once forced to favor certain women because the Lu family controlled the harem, did not want those women who symbolized his humiliating past to appear in front of him again, so he gave each of them a sum of severance pay, let them return to their families, and find another way for themselves.
However, although Concubine Zhang took the silver, she was unwilling to return to the Zhang family because she was the biological mother of the eldest princess. Instead, she tried to take advantage of the eldest princess's favor and get closer to Xiao Shaoyuan under the pretext of wanting to live with her daughter.
However, the eldest princess would rather live in the temple than take her mercenary mother, Concubine Zhang, to Prince Zhao's mansion to cause trouble for her father, Xiao Shaoyuan, who was actually very kind to her.
She imprisoned Concubine Zhang in Huangjue Temple, but Concubine Zhang sneaked out and stopped the founding emperor of China, who was also the wife of Xiao Yuanjin, the eldest princess's elder brother.
Wow, this is true.
Everyone kept a serious expression on their faces, but they were very satisfied with the show in their hearts.
The emperor was no exception and would be inexplicably involved in such trivial and meaningless disputes. This realization made all the ministers and guards feel a subtle sympathy for Yu Zizhen.
However, Yu Zizhen didn't understand their sympathy for her at all. In her opinion, because the eldest princess was sensible, the trouble that Concubine Zhang could cause her was almost zero.
As expected, Lady Zhang, whose excuses had all failed, could no longer maintain her mask.
Her face turned serious, and she immediately put away the extremely uncomfortable motherly look she had just put on. "That's my retirement money! You little beast, you actually want your own mother's retirement money! You..."
The eldest princess said nothing, but just listened quietly to this long string of accusations and scoldings mixed with many vicious curses and unbearable insults.
She had gotten used to it. Over the years, she had become able to remain calm in the face of Lady Zhang's outbursts when she was unhappy.
However, she was still very embarrassed at the moment, because this was the first time she was insulted by her biological mother in public.
"Shut up!" A small teapot suddenly flew over, interrupting Lady Zhang's ferocious and powerful attack.
At the same time, another protagonist in this incident, the eldest princess's father, Xiao Shaoyuan, was lifting up his robe and jumping out of the carriage with nimble movements.
Although he failed to successfully bring back the eldest princess, he never relaxed his care and protection for his daughter. Inside and outside the Huangjue Temple, there were servants and guards placed by Xiao Shaoyuan with the help of Xiao Yuanjin.
After Concubine Zhang ran away, the eldest princess asked these people for help in finding her. And these people's actual employer was Prince Zhao's palace, so they passed the news back immediately.
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