Chapter 76: Stop Being a Lover and Be a Concubine (Part 3)
On the second day, the rewards from the palace came down, and the queen sent her personal eunuch to express her gratitude.
In fact, during the few days that Yu Huo was running around, he also probably inquired about the life experience of the Seventh Prince... No, now it's the Eighth Princess.
She was the legitimate daughter of the queen. Although she lived a life of luxury, she was not favored by the emperor in the palace.
The Empress came from an aristocratic family, her surname was Wan. Early in life, she gave birth to twins, a boy and a girl. After the births, her younger sister, a concubine from her mother's family, came to visit and was instantly promoted to Imperial Consort.
This aunt, the imperial concubine, was very much favored by the emperor. The following year, she became pregnant. Somehow, she thought of poisoning the empress's legitimate son. However, her plan was discovered, and the enraged empress forced her to drink a bottle of Hedinghong, killing the child along with her.
When this incident happened, the whole court was shocked. What was intriguing was that the emperor did not show any reaction at all, but just recited scriptures to the seventh prince in the Hall of Supreme Harmony for the whole night.
The relationship between the Queen and the Emperor grew cold, and even the Eighth Princess was rarely seen.
The most powerful person in the harem now is Wu from the Wu family. She was later promoted to a noble concubine, and the third prince under her knees was also appointed as the crown prince early on. She and the daughter of the Minister of the Central Secretariat, Concubine Xiao Shufei, are fighting like a black-eyed chicken. Even the fourth prince, Prince Yan, is fighting with the crown prince in full swing and sparks are flying.
There was also the fifth prince, who had entered the Ministry of Revenue early on and was also entrusted with important tasks by the emperor. These three of them together turned the court upside down, and there was never a moment of peace.
The queen seemed to be invisible in the palace, living in seclusion and not caring about worldly affairs. This time, the eighth princess only left the palace to visit her maternal grandfather's house to celebrate the head of the family's birthday. Who would have thought that she would be assassinated.
Assassinate a princess?
Yu Huo stretched out his hand and brushed over the pair of precious gilded vases, squinting his eyes as he pondered the secret behind them.
"Huo'er! Let go! These are gifts from the Queen, don't break them!"
Yu Huo quickly retracted his hand and rolled his eyes. His stepmother just loved to make a fuss!
Madam Yu packed up all the gifts and ordered the servants to take them away before she had time to deal with him. "Today is Mid-Autumn Festival. The palace is holding a Mid-Autumn Festival banquet. Officials are required to bring their families to the banquet. You should quickly pack up and then make the most of the time to learn the etiquette from Madam Zhang."
Yu Huo? He asked, "Do you still want me to go?"
He looked so reluctant that Madam Yu's hands itched again. She suppressed the urge to hit him and snorted, "Do you think we're willing to take you? It was His Majesty who heard that you had just recovered from a serious illness, and the eunuch who delivered the decree specifically mentioned it. So, you must go to the palace banquet today. Understand?"
Yu Huo raised an eyebrow: "Is your Majesty so gossipy?"
Seeing that Madam Yu was about to glare at him again, Yu Huo would not stand there and get beaten, so he ran back to his own courtyard.
While changing his clothes, he was still thinking absentmindedly with a frown on his face.
Then why did Lao Deng suddenly want to see me?
Aristocratic families, imperial power... checks and balances!
Yes! The aristocratic families were deeply entrenched and complex, a source of worry for almost every emperor. Imperial power could not be challenged, but generations of aristocratic families had infiltrated almost every corner of the Daliang Dynasty. If a new policy was to be implemented, it would be impossible to bypass the aristocratic families, and without their consent, the new policy could not be smoothly implemented.
It is known that the queen came from the Wan family. If one wants to weaken the Wan family, which has a complex and powerful population, one can only divide it from within. Therefore, the queen's concubine sister was made a concubine overnight after the queen successfully gave birth to a child.
Human nature is greedy, so after Concubine Wan became pregnant, she wanted to win the support of the Wan family for the throne. With the legitimate son in front, how could her own child be in turn? Perhaps this idea was instilled in her by the emperor, or even promised her something in advance, so she was so impulsive that she poisoned the prince!
Yes! That must be the case...
The queen may have seen through all of this and that's why she lives in seclusion and doesn't want to be a pawn anymore.
Therefore, the Wu family was targeted by Concubine Xiao Shufei, the daughter of the Minister of the Central Secretariat.
Then there is the Yu family...the most important Yu family.
When Grandpa Yu was alive, he had many students all over the world, and Yu Kangping was like a fish in water in the court. However, the Yu family was small, and there was a fool in the original body... Oh, yes, this fool might have been made stupid by the royal family, but let's not talk about that for now.
Therefore, a fool cannot inherit the family business. The Yu family would have collapsed in his generation, but Yu Huo came through and broke this delicate balance.
It's understandable that the old emperor can't sit still...
After figuring all this out, Yu Huo had an idea of what to do at the evening banquet. He finally had time to look up at his own attire in the bronze mirror, but his brows furrowed even deeper.
"Mom, what kind of clothes did you pick for me? Red and white patterns... It looks like a piece of fat, snowflake-like beef!"
The satisfaction on Mrs. Yu's face instantly turned into confusion. She had been admiring her child's handsome appearance, but after hearing this, she couldn't smile anymore.
It would be fine if you didn't say it, but looking at it this way, it actually looks like a big piece of marinated beef!
He immediately reached out to pull off the coat: "You poor kid, you feel uncomfortable all over if you don't splash your mother with cold water for a day, don't you?"
Yu Huo raised his arm obediently, shaking his head and lecturing: "What the hell? How disgraceful."
The next second, Madam Yu pinched his arm fiercely: "If you dare to talk nonsense again when we get to the palace, I will use the family law to lash you with twenty canes!"
Yu Huo stiffened his neck and said, "Hitting people at every turn is not what a gentleman does!"
Madam Yu sneered: "I am not a gentleman, I am your father's wife."
Yu Huo spoke earnestly and sighed, "Just finished talking about your mother, and now you're talking about your father. Mother, please be careful with your words."
Mrs. Yu: “…”
I'm so angry. I might as well have always been a stutterer. Now that I don't stutter anymore, I can't win the argument at all!
The Yu family's residence was firmly within the second ring road of the capital, and the carriage took less than half an hour to reach the palace. Before entering, the guards and eunuchs simply searched them and then let them in.
Then they had to go through a second inspection before entering the Linde Hall used for banquets. All swords, knives and purses had to be checked and confiscated. After a long delay, Yu Huo was even worried that the food would get cold and he wouldn't be able to eat it hot.
Fortunately, Mrs. Yu had been trained by him in the past few days and stared at him vigilantly. Yu Huo had to swallow back the sarcasm that was stuck in his throat.
When they entered the hall, most of the ministers had already arrived. They stood up to greet Yu Kangping. Many of them looked at Yu Huo curiously and congratulated him.
As the person involved, Yu Huo didn't want to be treated like a monkey, so he lied to his mother with his eyes open: "I want to change clothes."
Madam Yu laughed dryly twice, pretending to be gentle and kind: "Go, don't waste time."
Yu Huo nodded perfunctorily, turned around and left, then walked towards a road completely different from the toilet under Madam Yu's vicious gaze.
“.......”
Here he was curiously admiring the cannas planted in the yard, but an unpleasant and sarcastic voice came from the other side of the palace wall.
"Little Cripple, what a refined mood you have, sitting here admiring the flowers?"
The person who was speaking was in the voice change period, and his throat sounded like a dying duck.
"Hey, I'm talking to you, why are you pretending to be dumb?"
Yu Huo looked out from the moon gate and saw a young man in luxurious clothes kicking Jiang Ye's wheelchair, almost knocking Jiang Ye down. It was really hateful.
Yu Huo hurried forward and grabbed the other person's wheelchair.
The young man squinted his eyes and squinted at him, then scolded him unreasonably, "Whose family are you from? How dare you be so rude to this prince?"
As he spoke, he shook his neck, as if it had become a habit, as if he was deliberately showing off something.
Jiang Ye glanced at Yu Huo: "He is the Sixth Prince."
And then it was gone.
Yu Huo didn't expect this crazy guy to indulge in premature love at such a young age, so he immediately pretended to be terrified and said, "Your Highness, Sixth Prince, please forgive me. It's true that you are so dignified standing here, especially the dazzling necklace around your neck, that I was dazzled and forgot to greet you."
The Sixth Prince touched the jade pendant around his neck, looking very proud: "Yes, this is a gift from my father, there is only one of its kind!"
"Really? No wonder it's so unique, the retro style is so chic~"
The Sixth Prince frowned in confusion: "What wind?"
Yu Huo pointed at the jade pendant and smiled. "Retro. Uh... like stepping back in time?"
"Why go back in time?"
Yu Huo: "Because the necklace you wear gives me the feeling of an umbilical cord around my neck."
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