Chapter 58 His only eyes and ears were the Crown Prince; he was all alone.
"Please invite the concubine to wait inside the hall for a moment. I will be leaving now."
"yes."
Hearing that Chu Rou was coming, Shen Yujiao's eyes lit up with a smile. They had been away from the capital for nearly three months, and since returning, they had been busy with accounting matters, so she hadn't had a chance to meet Chu Rou yet.
"Greetings to the Crown Princess, Your Highness. May you enjoy good health."
As soon as Shen Yujiao came out, she saw Chu Rou bowing to her. She took a few steps forward to help her up and said with a smile, "It's kind of you to think of coming over. I've been so busy these days, and I only just got a break today."
Knowing that the Crown Princess is busy, I have not come to bother her.
"Sit down," Shen Yujiao led the person to sit down in front of the daybed. Mu Jin served tea and snacks on a small table. "Did you come today for something?"
Chu Rou is quick-witted and must know that she is going to the palace today to pay her respects to the Empress. She wouldn't have come at this time unless it was something important.
"Yes, I would like to remind the Crown Princess of a few words."
Upon hearing this, Shen Yujiao put down her teacup and listened attentively to Chu Rou's words. She had been so busy in the past few days that she had hardly had time to rest. Only now did she learn from Chu Rou what had happened in the capital after she and Jiang Chen left.
First, there was some good news from the palace: Consort Rong, the birth mother of Princess Yong'an, was diagnosed with pregnancy at the beginning of the month. The emperor was overjoyed and sent countless jewels and treasures to her. Consort Rong, who had just moved to a new palace a few months earlier, moved again, this time to Fu Hui Palace, which was close to Kunyi Palace. Its splendor was no less than that of Consort Yao's Huaqing Palace. So, rumors began to circulate that if Consort Rong gave birth to a prince this time, she would definitely be promoted to the rank of Zhaoyi.
"Looking at it this way, it's probably not just a Zhaoyi. His Majesty is intentionally elevating Rong Jieyu. Fu Hui Palace... is the residence of the four consorts."
"Does the Crown Princess think so too?"
"But now that the rank of Consort Shude Xian has been secured, if we were to promote her further, we would only have the rank of Imperial Consort left."
Shen Yujiao gently stirred the covered bowl with her delicate hand, finding the whole thing utterly ridiculous. All three consorts came from prominent families, and if the emperor were to elevate a concubine of humble origin like Rong Jieyu to the position of Noble Consort, there would surely be some in the court who couldn't contain themselves.
After saying that, Chu Rou turned her head and brought up another matter, "Speaking of pregnancy, there is another ridiculous thing. Prince Huan and the Crown Prince left the capital one after the other, but just a few days after Prince Huan left, Princess Huan was found to be pregnant. This should have been a happy event."
It is indeed a joyous occasion. Currently, the only princes who have come of age and are married are Prince Huan, Prince Han, Prince Zhao, the Crown Prince, and Prince Tai. Among these princes, only Prince Zhao has a daughter. The rest have no children. If Princess Huan can give birth to a son this time, he will be the eldest grandson of this generation.
"But the ridiculous thing is that after Prince Huan returned to the capital, he had a big fight with Princess Huan, and the next day Princess Huan miscarried. When Consort Shu found out about this, she summoned Prince Huan to the palace and gave him a good scolding. But unexpectedly, Prince Huan brought a group of imperial physicians and said to Consort Shu in front of her that Princess Huan's pregnancy was fake."
"It just so happened that it was the Mid-Autumn Festival banquet that day. The matter got out of hand, and even the noblewomen on the Empress's side heard the news. Now almost all the high-ranking and noble families in Xiajing knew about it, and they were all amazed that the Huan Prince's Mansion had no regard for its reputation at all."
Prince Huan and Princess Huan, this couple... Shen Yujiao couldn't help but sigh. This ill-fated couple is still at odds, probably because of Miss Shen. To outsiders, it's a joke. Perhaps Prince Huan even had someone spread this news so that she would know. It's just a pity...
Not wanting to dwell on matters concerning the Prince Huan's residence, she asked again, "Is there anything else?"
"Yes, there is another matter that I heard the Chu family mention. It seems that there has been a great turmoil in the Northern Territory these days. At the end of last year, there was a heavy snow in Liaodong, and this year the Northern Territory is also suffering from drought. Not only are the people having a hard time, but even the soldiers stationed there are finding it difficult to endure."
At this point, Chu Rou lowered her voice and said, "There are also rumors that the Northern Di have begun to retrain their troops since last year, and they may be about to make a move soon."
Shen Yujiao's hand suddenly clenched. Compared to the previous news, this was the matter she was most concerned about. If war broke out in the Northern Border, then the tragedy of that year would inevitably be repeated. The case of the He family back then has not yet been overturned. If war breaks out again, it will probably be detrimental to the Xia Army.
She said gratefully, "Thank you for coming over and telling me all this. Otherwise, I really wouldn't have been able to find out about these things so soon."
"Princess Consort, please don't say that. I remain in the capital to serve as Your Highness's eyes and ears."
As if she had thought of something, she added, "Oh, right, there is one last thing. It's not that important, but since it involves the princes, I must remind the Crown Prince that the Ninth Prince is about to return to the capital."
"The Ninth Prince?" Shen Yujiao had been married into the royal family for so long, but she had never heard anyone mention that the emperor had a ninth prince.
“Hmm…” Chu Rou hesitated for a moment, then told the truth: “The Ninth Prince is His Highness the King of Thailand’s younger brother, named Prince Lin. This Ninth Prince has been His Majesty’s favorite since childhood. Compared to him, His Highness the King of Thailand is not worth mentioning.”
It turns out he is Consort De's youngest son. "Then why haven't we seen him?"
"His Highness the Ninth Prince is free-spirited and dislikes being restrained. A few years ago, he received His Majesty's permission to travel and study abroad. I suppose His Majesty allowed him to return to the capital because he will be getting married in another year or two."
No wonder Consort De was so fearless in the palace, and no wonder the Liu family wanted to marry their daughter to the Prince of Tai's mansion. It turned out that there were two princes in Qixiang Palace, and both of them were quite favored by the emperor. This made Shen Yujiao suddenly realize something.
King Huan was followed by King Zhao, King Tai had a younger brother, and King Han seemed to be on good terms with some prince. Among all these princes, it seemed that only Jiang Chen was alone. His position as crown prince was too stifling. With so many brothers sticking together in pairs, he, who had no older brother, seemed particularly easy to bully.
Shen Yujiao looked up outside, then turned to Chu Rou and said, "Thank you. I'll come find you again when I get back from the palace."
Upon hearing this, Chu Rou also stood up and bowed with great tact: "Then this concubine will not delay Your Highness's entry into the palace."
Today, Shen Yujiao entered the palace to report on the affairs of Jiangnan to the Empress. However, she did not expect that as soon as she entered Kunyi Palace, she saw a pile of portraits on the Empress's desk. The Empress looked extremely tired. When she saw Shen Yujiao enter, the Empress showed a rare smile.
"I've finally waited for you to come. You've been back in the capital for so many days, and you didn't even come to the palace to pay your respects to me. You didn't even come to the Mid-Autumn Festival banquet a few days ago."
"Isn't this to apologize to Mother Empress?" Shen Yujiao said to the Empress in a coquettish manner, as if she were a little girl. She walked forward and looked at the portraits, asking with some curiosity, "What is Mother Empress doing? Is Kunyi Palace going to replace a batch of guards?"
The Empress laughed at her words: "Why would we need to look at someone's face to change guards? It's just that several princesses are about to come of age, so His Majesty wanted me to choose their husbands in advance. These are all eligible unmarried young talents in the capital city of Xia."
Shen Yujiao glanced down at the portraits. She saw that they not only depicted people, but also included names, ages, backgrounds, official positions, and so on. She clicked her tongue in amazement as she scanned them. The emperor chose princesses for his sons from humble backgrounds, but he was quite generous in choosing husbands for his daughters.
"Mother, please rest," noticing the Empress's helplessness, Shen Yujiao went behind the Empress and massaged her sore shoulders. "Your younger sisters will still be a year or two away from reaching marriageable age. What does it matter if our royal princesses marry later? Why rush things?"
Hearing her say this, the Empress's smile widened. The Crown Princess had realized that she was unwilling to choose husbands for the princesses. She raised her hand and patted the Crown Princess's hand, saying, "The Crown Princess is still the one who truly understands my heart."
After saying this, the Empress ordered Zhiyuan to come in and put away the portraits. Then she dismissed the servants and sat down to ask Shen Yujiao if anything had happened during her trip to Jiangnan.
Before coming, Shen Yujiao had already prepared a draft in her mind. She could not talk about the Crown Prince's injury, the ambush at the He family, or the secrets of the Shen family. She only picked some other things to talk about, and then focused on Zhu Tong. She also described the miserable lives of the people in Jiangnan, and once again smeared Zhu Tong in front of the Empress.
"What a Zhu Tong!" The Empress was indignant after hearing Shen Yujiao's words. "It's not enough that he receives the country's salary; he even wants to compete with the people for profit!"
Hearing that the emperor had punished Zhu Tong was one thing, but hearing the Crown Princess recount it with her own ears was another. At this moment, she felt that the emperor's punishment was still not enough!
Considering that the Ministry of Revenue is still controlled by Li Lu, Shen Yujiao pondered for a moment and said, "Father has already ordered people to start investigating this matter. However, when we were in Jiangnan, the Crown Prince went to the Zhu residence to ask for the account books, but Zhu Tong refused to return them. According to the Crown Prince, Zhu Tong's words implied that he had someone backing him up..."
The Empress had an extremely keen political sense. Upon hearing the Crown Princess say this, she subconsciously thought that Zhu Tong probably had high-ranking officials in the capital backing him up, and that he might even be a prince.
Rumors of a succession struggle have already spread in the capital. If it weren't for the Crown Prince's remarkable progress after his marriage, countless court officials would have turned to support those illegitimate princes. The position of Crown Prince... The Empress suddenly thought of her eldest son who had died young.
Ayu was born with the appearance of an emperor. She was proficient in military history, classics, law, literature, martial arts, horsemanship, and archery. Even the old imperial tutor said that Ayu was a rare talent with extraordinary abilities.
She took a deep breath, slowly loosened her clenched hands, and made a silent vow in her heart that even for Ayu's sake, she would firmly hold onto the position of Crown Prince. Not to mention that Chen'er already had the demeanor of a crown prince, even if he were an ordinary child, she would stand behind him and make him stand tall and sit firmly in the Eastern Palace.
"Your Highness, you must have had a hard time on this trip. You should take good care of yourself these days. The northern border is suffering from a severe drought, and His Majesty intends to dig a river from south to north, firstly for the benefit of the people in the north, and secondly for the sake of trade. If Chen'er can take on this task, that would be ideal... I have observed that Chen'er is making progress every day by your side, so if he travels again, I'm afraid you will have to accompany him."
These words struck a chord with Shen Yujiao. She had been worried about how she would volunteer if such a thing happened again. Now, the Empress had granted her request. Suppressing her joy, she knelt before the Empress and bowed, saying, "Assisting Your Highness is my duty. Thank you, Mother, for trusting me."
The Empress reached out to her and said, "Get up. I still have some things to take care of here. Go to the West Palace and keep Yong'an company. She seems to be feeling unwell these days, and I'm too busy to take care of her."
"good."
Shen Yujiao knew that the Empress was about to start making plans, and it was inappropriate for her to get involved. So she got up, nodded respectfully, and left the main hall. She walked through the long corridor and made her way to the west side hall.
The young palace maid was about to report when she saw the Crown Princess approaching when she noticed the Crown Princess's index finger pressed against her lips. So she simply curtsied without disturbing Princess Yong'an in the inner palace. Shen Yujiao walked lightly and saw that the princess was hunched over her desk. She assumed the little girl was asleep and gestured for a maid to bring a blanket. Just as she was about to drape the blanket over Yong'an, she heard a very soft sob. She quickly dismissed the palace maids and straightened the little girl's body.
"Yong'an..."
Princess Yong'an, her face streaked with tears, was startled when she saw the newcomer. Then, without a second thought, she buried her face in Shen Yujiao's arms, clutching Shen Yujiao's clothes tightly with her small hands, silently venting her emotions, her whole body trembling uncontrollably.
Shen Yujiao had never seen Yong'an so distraught. Not knowing what had happened, she could only pat Yong'an's back repeatedly, saying, "Sister-in-law is here, sister-in-law is here. Yong'an, you can cry if you want to."
It's unclear how long Yong'an had been suppressing her emotions, but upon hearing her words, her tense body relaxed slightly. However, she was still sobbing softly, as if a thousand grievances were stuck in her heart. Shen Yujiao had no choice but to hold her even tighter.
After a long silence, she heard Yong'an speak: "Sister-in-law, I want to... see Mother..."
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Author's Note: My darlings: I apologize again. I've been incredibly busy lately, so my update schedule might be a bit irregular. If you don't see an update by 9 PM, please come back later or the next day. Thank you all!
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