"nausea?"
Yongchang refused to accept it. She was already impatient with kneeling, and now that her mother had scolded her, she simply stretched out her legs and sat with her legs spread wide.
"Mother, how can you say that? How could your daughter have disgusted the Empress?"
Yongchang muttered discontentedly.
The Empress Dowager's forehead twitched.
A royal princess sitting with her legs straight – what kind of etiquette is that?
In front of her own mother, if it were in another setting, she would be laughed at to death.
Despite her attempts to restrain herself, the Empress Dowager finally lost her temper and snapped, "Sit properly! How dare you sit like that in front of your mother? What kind of behavior is that?"
Yongchang: ...
"Mother, I'm over fifty years old, why are you still scolding me like an ignorant child?"
"You know you're past the age of knowing your destiny?" You're getting old, but you don't know how to be sensible.
"Mother—"
"alright!"
If it were anyone else, the Empress Dowager would have driven them out.
Even though he was her own flesh and blood, and even if he was a wicked child, the Empress Dowager could only endure it.
Take a deep breath and desperately repeat in your heart, "My own flesh and blood, my own flesh and blood, this is my own flesh and blood."
The Empress Dowager composed herself and patiently explained to Yongchang again, "I have already said that I will not abandon Nanling!"
"Let Nanling stay in the Taoist temple for a while. Once things calm down outside, we can slowly make plans!"
Yongchang couldn't wait any longer. "Slow? Mother, how slow do you want it to be? How old is Nanling? She's already twenty!"
Nowadays, there are indeed families who love their daughters and will let them marry when they are seventeen or eighteen.
It's not too unusual for someone to remain unmarried until the age of twenty.
However, the daughters of those families were already engaged, but the wedding ceremony was delayed.
The situation is different in Nanling.
She was engaged, but one of her fiancés died, and the other became disabled.
The engagement was called off, and she became an "old maid."
Unpleasant rumors have already begun circulating among the powerful and influential circles in Beijing.
If the marriage cannot be arranged soon, Yongchang is truly afraid that Nanling's reputation will be completely ruined.
"But we can't act recklessly!" The Empress Dowager, unable to control her emotions any longer, growled in a low voice.
"How is this considered reckless? We're just praying for your well-being. There's no difference between a Taoist temple outside the palace and one inside."
Yongchang's tone was still as willful and domineering as ever.
This is the purpose of Yongchang's visit to the palace today.
She wanted to find an excuse to bring Nanling into the palace.
Being near the water tower gives you an advantage.
More than a month has passed since the coronation ceremony, and the emperor's harem still only has Xie Yuan as his concubine.
Some ministers in the previous dynasty suggested that Helian Jue expand his harem and take in more concubines for the sake of his descendants.
But Helian Jue retorted directly: "Three years have passed since your father's death, and now your mother has also passed away."
"Ordinary people have to be careful about what they say when they are in mourning. As the emperor, I should be a role model for all the people. How can I do such an unfilial and unjust beastly thing?"
"You, as subjects, do not speak of loyalty to the emperor and love for the country, nor of diligence in governing and care for the people, yet you always think of making me a foolish ruler. What kind of logic is this?"
Helian Jue launched into a tirade without any restraint, forcing the court officials to prostrate themselves in apology.
The civil and military officials still didn't quite believe that Helian Jue was willing to observe three years of mourning.
Wait, something's not right!
Not three years, but six years!
Tsk, Empress Dowager Ashina died at just the right time, extending Helian Jue's mourning period by three years.
Helian Jue: ...Filial piety is really useful!
He didn't want to take a concubine, didn't want to betray A Yuan, and didn't want to be coerced by the court officials. He didn't need to say much; just the word "filial piety" was enough to shut everyone up!
In fact, not only did the civil and military officials not believe it, but even Yongchang himself did not believe it.
Even as a woman, she had a penchant for novelty and boredom, and kept a group of male favorites in the princess's mansion.
Yongchang simply couldn't imagine why an emperor, who should have had three thousand concubines, would only have Xie Yuan by his side.
Her family is from Nanling. Although she is a bit timid, she is extremely beautiful.
Besides, don't men all like delicate, innocent girls?
"What's going on with her, a twenty-year-old unmarried young woman, living in the palace for no reason?"
The Empress Dowager thought her daughter was being delusional and scolded her irritably.
"How can it be 'for no reason'?"
At this point, Yongchang deliberately glanced at the Empress Dowager.
The Empress Dowager was so angry she almost fainted.
She knew her own daughter all too well.
To put it bluntly, the moment Yongchang bent over, the Empress Dowager knew exactly what kind of shit she was going to take!
"You unfilial daughter, how dare you curse me?"
The best excuse to get Nanling into the palace is: the Empress Dowager is ill, and as her own granddaughter, Nanling is here to attend to her!
In this way, not only would they have an excuse, but they could also improve the reputation of Princess Nanling.
If the Empress Dowager recovers because of the good service provided by Nanling, then out of filial piety, Helian Jue, as her grandson, will bestow generous rewards upon Nanling.
Ahem, at this moment, if the Empress Dowager were to take the opportunity to cry and complain that Nanling's reputation has been ruined by the two broken engagements and that she is unable to marry into a good family.
Rather than letting outsiders pick and plunder, it's better to strengthen ties with the sage.
Logically speaking, a sage would not and should not refuse.
They are all first cousins, so even if there is no romantic love, there is still familial affection.
This is another benefit of "strengthening family ties": in addition to knowing each other's background, it also provides security for the daughter's future.
In a stranger's home, the relationship between husband and wife is completely over once it's gone.
Even if blood relatives like cousins no longer love each other, they can still take care of the woman because of their blood ties.
The Empress Dowager deliberately played the victim, hoping that Helian Jue would give Nanling a "way out" out of consideration for their shared kinship.
The Empress Dowager even had her lines prepared in advance: "Knowing that you and the Empress are a harmonious and loving couple, I don't ask for anything. I only hope that you can give Nanling a title so that she can spend the rest of her life in peace in the harem!"
Empress Dowager: ...I'm perfectly fine!
I do not wish to feign illness! Nor do I wish to scheme against Helian Jue in this way!
The example of Ashina is right before our eyes.
Although the truth is unknown, based on the Empress Dowager's decades of experience living in the palace...
The Empress Dowager was willing to bet that Ashina's death was definitely not what it seemed on the surface.
Helian Jue and Xie Yuan are definitely not to be trifled with.
The Empress Dowager did not consider herself to have much prestige with Helian Jue; she was merely a grandmother, not much different from a foster mother.
She is already seventy years old, yet she doesn't compete, fight, cause trouble, or make a fuss, and is able to enjoy a wealthy and healthy old age.
if--
The Empress Dowager understood, but when she looked up and saw her daughter's pleading eyes, she couldn't help but soften.
"I must have owed you something in my past life, and now you've come to collect it from me!"
"Fine! Fine! I'll help you one more time."
"However, we can't enter the palace this way; we need to find another way—"
The Empress Dowager was no fool like Ashina. She was shrewd and experienced, and it was not difficult for her to scheme for anything!
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