Article 634 The Lady's Invitation
The little parrot's scolding caused Yi'er and Yu'er to be frowning for several days.
Du Wanchun walked into their courtyard and asked, "What's wrong with you two? Did someone offend you?"
Yu'er was the first to look up. "Mother, we didn't mean to do that with the parrot last time."
Du Wanchun slowly stepped forward and gently put the parrot down. "So you just threw this parrot away?"
Yu'er lowered her head, her face clearly showing some guilt.
Du Wanchun took out some birdseed and fed the parrot. "Parrots are not born talking. They learn to talk by listening to the people around them. Losing it will not solve the problem."
Yu'er slowly replied, "Mother, this parrot was bought by my eldest brother and me at the market. I don't know who was gossiping about this stupid bird."
While feeding the parrot, Du Wanchun said meaningfully, "Why don't you ask it?"
Yu'er was startled. "Mother means to ask about this parrot?"
Du Wanchun finished feeding the birds and clapped her hands. "That's right."
After hearing this, Yu'er was wondering how to start the conversation.
Suddenly, Yi'er, who had been silent to the side, strode over and asked the parrot sternly with a cold face, "Tell me, who taught you to say that?"
The parrot looked up at Yi'er, pecked at its food twice, and exclaimed, "Princess, Princess, you're a monster! You're a monster!"
Yi'er frowned, reached for a handful of birdseed, and asked it again, "Tell me, who taught you that?"
The parrot glanced at the food in front of it, paced back and forth a couple of times, wagged its tail, flapped its wings twice, and said in a shrill voice, "Miss, Miss Cheng, Miss!"
Yu'er was quite surprised and quickly got up to feed the parrot a handful of food.
"Which young lady from the Cheng family?" he asked.
The parrot rolled its eyes, glanced at the food in front of it, scratched its feathers with its claws, and replied, "Second Miss, Second Miss!"
"Second Miss, are you teasing the birds again?"
As the parrot spoke, it even imitated the maid's mannerisms and shouted loudly.
Upon hearing this, everyone immediately understood; it seemed that this parrot was a pet that the second young lady of the Cheng family had kept.
Du Wanchun touched the parrot's paw, stood up, and said, "How about it? Wasn't Mother right?"
Yi'er and Yu'er both smiled.
The Miss Cheng that the parrot mentioned earlier is the daughter of the current prime minister.
Originally, the position of prime minister was intended for Lord Zheng.
Lord Cheng, taking advantage of his large number of protégés in the court, forcibly seized the position of prime minister.
Miss Cheng was not an only child; she had an older sister and two or three younger sisters.
She was much older than Mianmian, having already reached the age of marriage a year ago.
Because Tong Yi was a woman of noble status in the capital, she was often used as a comparison.
Over time, Miss Cheng developed a strong aversion to Mianmian.
In her eyes, Mianmian was just a country girl and didn't deserve to be a princess at all.
Inside the Cheng residence, Miss Cheng searched the house thoroughly but could not find her pet parrot.
"Cai'er, where's my parrot? Have you seen the parrot in my room?" she called out as she searched the yard.
Soon, a young maidservant came running over with her head down. "Miss, the master has thrown away the parrot in your yard."
Miss Cheng was shocked. "Why would Father throw away my parrot for no reason?!"
The maid trembled with fear at her scolding. "Miss, Master said the parrot in your yard is too noisy and told us to get rid of it."
Miss Cheng's face immediately filled with anger.
"If you think it's too noisy, just let me play with it and give it away. Why did you have to throw my parrot away? This parrot has a big mouth. If it tells us our secrets, that would be terrible."
The maidservant cautiously raised her eyes. "Second Miss, you don't need to be too anxious. You don't usually talk much with the parrot."
Miss Cheng had long forgotten what she had said, and nodded with a slight sense of relief, completely unaware that the parrot had betrayed her.
The news of Miss Cheng's affair soon reached Zhou Ruiyuan's ears.
Therefore, when Zhou Ruiyuan attended the morning court the following day, he proposed the idea of replacing the prime minister.
Prime Minister Cheng sensed Zhou Ruiyuan's unusual behavior and immediately became cautious, obeying his every word.
Zhou Ruiyuan couldn't think of any way to demote him for the time being.
Left with no other choice, they decided to take a longer-term approach.
After Du Wanchun completed the ceremony of being crowned empress, Xiao Mianmian officially became a little princess.
Yi'er, Yu'er, and Fei Fei are the eldest prince, the second prince, and the fourth prince, respectively.
These three princes all held very prominent positions in the palace.
Gradually, some people in the court began to set their sights on the three of them.
Du Wanchun had just woken up from her sleep when Dong'er slowly called out to her, "Your Majesty, we received an invitation from Madam Cheng in the palace today."
"Madam Cheng?" Du Wanchun was slightly surprised. She didn't expect that before she even had a chance to go to the Cheng family, the Cheng family would come to them instead.
Dong'er whispered, "Your Majesty, this Madam Cheng rarely speaks to you. Her unusual attentiveness today must mean something is amiss."
Du Wanchun nodded.
Although Dong'er was just a palace maid, she had some knowledge of the affairs of the household.
She lowered her voice and continued, "A few days ago when I left the palace, I heard the ladies in the capital say that the eldest prince and the second prince are still young and have no engagement. They are planning to put their daughters in front of the empress and the emperor, wanting to arrange a good marriage in advance."
Du Wanchun suddenly realized, "You mean, Madam Cheng thinks the same way, that she will send her daughters to me so that they can smoothly enter the palace and become imperial concubines in the future?"
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