On his second court appearance after returning to the palace, Yuwen Ran announced the Prince of Xiang's actions in Qianzhou before all the court officials. He fined the Prince of Xiang a year's salary, with relief funds to be sent to Qianzhou soon. He also confined the Prince of Xiang for three months, ordering him to reflect on his actions in Qianzhou.
The original governor of Qianzhou, lax in disaster relief efforts and unwilling to assist the imperial official, Yao Jinle, in aiding the victims, instead encouraged Prince Xiang to withhold the relief grain and resell it at exorbitant prices to wealthy merchants, capitalizing on the national crisis to enrich themselves. Their crimes are punishable by death and they will soon be publicly beheaded.
Both Prince Xiang and He Shuhuan received their due punishments. However, the "no bishop" incident was left unresolved because there was no evidence to prove that Prince Xiang and He Shuhuan were responsible.
Soon after Yuwen Ran returned to the palace, he remembered the Queen Mother who was still "praying" in the Jialan Temple. Since the King of Xiang had already recognized that his actions as the governor of Qianzhou were true and had also been punished by him, Yuwen Ran no longer had an excuse to keep the Queen Mother imprisoned in the Jialan Temple.
So he went to the Galan Temple in person to bring the empress dowager back from there, and also apologized to the empress dowager respectfully. The whole trip was full of sincerity.
"I'm here to apologize to my mother." Yuwen Ran bowed to the Queen Mother as soon as he entered the Temple, and his attitude was extremely humble. "I shouldn't have gone to Qianzhou and forced my mother to be imprisoned in the Temple. I knew that if I didn't do this, my mother would definitely stop me from going to Qianzhou. So for the sake of the people of Qianzhou, I had to do this."
The Queen Mother had already known what had happened in the court in the past few days. Prince Xiang had already admitted his actions in Qianzhou. It was indeed the Queen Mother who was at fault in this matter. If she had not kept making excuses for Prince Xiang in front of Yuwen Ran, Yuwen Ran would never have forced her to be imprisoned in the Galan Temple.
Besides, Yuwen Ran had already given her a way out, taking the "blame" on her own initiative. Even if the empress dowager was not convinced in her heart, she could only follow the step given by Yuwen Ran and walk down obediently. "It's okay. I know I'm old now, and it's inevitable that I will be a little confused when doing things. I also want to thank the emperor for not making a fuss about me this time. Why are you asking for forgiveness first?"
The Queen Mother personally went forward to help Yuwen Ran up, and said some things to him that she didn't mean, and then he got on the carriage with Yuwen Ran's support. When the Queen Mother returned to Cixi Palace, the matter was completely over.
During the first month of the lunar year, the busy schedule was quite high. When Yuwen Ran and Gu Yanyue set out for Qianzhou, it was just before the Lunar New Year. The Queen Mother had been left in the Jialan Temple before Yuwen Ran and Gu Yanyue set out. The Emperor, Queen Mother, and Queen Mother were all gone. Only the concubines in Yuwen Ran's harem were left. Therefore, this Lunar New Year was the quietest Lunar New Year ever in the palace.
Now Yuwen Ran and Gu Yanyue have returned before the fifteenth day of the first lunar month, and the empress dowager has also been taken back to the palace by Yuwen Ran from the Galan Temple. This Lantern Festival banquet must be a grand one.
The Queen Mother seized the opportunity of this banquet and couldn't help but make trouble as soon as she returned to the palace. She secretly contacted the legitimate daughter of the Marquis of Zhenbei - Liu Yanyan.
Before Yuwen Ran married Gu Yanyue as his queen, she had declared that she would become Yuwen Ran's queen in the future.
Even after Yuwen Ran married Gu Yanyue and became the queen, she always hoped that one day Gu Yanyue would make a mistake and be deprived of the position of queen, and she would still have a chance.
Liu Yanyan has been waiting and waiting, and she has not married yet. If this happened in modern times, she would definitely be Yu Wenran's absolute fangirl.
The Queen Mother wanted to contact her simply to keep a check on Gu Yanyue in the harem.
She planned to join forces with Liu Yanyan. What Liu Yanyan cared about most was Yuwen Ran's position as queen. It was for this reason that she had not married in all these years.
She believed that her status was only worthy of the position of queen, and she looked down on Yuwen Ran's position as a concubine in the harem.
Three or four days before the Lantern Festival banquet, the Empress Dowager specially asked someone to prepare an extra invitation.
When you invite the Marquis of Zhenbei to the palace for a banquet, please be sure to bring Liu Yanyan along.
Because Liu Yanyan is over 18 years old but still refuses to get married, she will be subject to rumors every time she goes out. Moreover, the people from the Zhenbei Marquis Mansion always take Liu Yanyan with them when they go out, and who knows what people will talk about behind her back.
Over time, they no longer wanted to take Liu Yanyan with them when they went out, and Liu Yanyan had not appeared in the eyes of people in the capital for a whole year.
Just when everyone in the capital thought that she was finally getting married, she appeared at the Lantern Festival banquet with the people from the Zhenbei Marquis Mansion.
Moreover, when the Queen Mother arrived, she called her up and asked the eunuchs to add a seat next to her, and asked Liu Yanyan to sit next to her.
Looking at the smug look on Liu Yanyan's face, no matter how you look at it, it seems that it was wrong for the Queen Mother to call Liu Yanyan to sit up there.
Yuwen Ran and Gu Yanyue entered the main hall a little before the banquet began. As soon as Yuwen Ran entered, the court officials in the hall stood up and saluted Yuwen Ran and Gu Yanyue, saying in unison: "Your Majesty, we pay our respects to the Emperor and the Empress. Long live the Emperor, and a thousand years and a thousand years to the Empress!"
Yu Wenran led Gu Yanyue to the upper part, raised his hand, and said in a flat voice: "Everyone, get up. Today is a family dinner."
Liu Yanyan, who was standing next to the empress dowager, never took her eyes off Yuwen Ran the moment he brought Gu Yanyue in.
That fiery gaze was fixed on Yuwen Ran without any concealment. Yuwen Ran naturally felt it, but because she was standing next to the Queen Mother, she couldn't get angry, so she let Liu Yanyan go.
Halfway through the banquet, the Queen Mother looked at Liu Yanyan and suddenly said, "Yanyan is filial and virtuous. It would be great if she could stay in the palace for a long time to accompany me."
As soon as the Queen Mother said this, the people below gradually fell silent and the whole place was silent.
These words clearly have a hidden meaning, and any discerning person can hear it. If the Queen Mother wants Liu Yanyan to stay in the palace for a long time, there is only one way, and that is to let Liu Yanyan enter the palace as a concubine. Wouldn't that force Yuwen Ran to take Liu Yanyan as his concubine?
Yu Wenran seemed not to understand the Queen Mother's words. He put down the wine glass in his hand and pretended to be stupid. "Since the Queen Mother likes Miss Liu to be by her side, then I will grant Miss Liu a privilege, allowing her to enter and leave the palace at any time. Is this okay with the Queen Mother?"
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