It's time for lunch. The women are in the west hall and the men are in the east hall.
Chen Afu did not sit at the table, but stood behind Rong Zhao. In ancient times, many daughters-in-law served their mothers-in-law like this. They would only eat when their mothers-in-law asked them to sit down.
Chen Ahfu picked up a few dishes for Rong Zhao, and Rong Zhao said with a gloomy face, "Daughter-in-law Lingxuan, didn't you ask me what kind of dishes I like to eat first?"
Madam Chu San continued, "Ling Xuan's wife asked me about it, and I told her that you like Eight Treasures Golden Bowl, Shark's Fin, Lotus Seed Tofu, and Deer Meat with Sesame Seed the most. She was right to pick it for you."
Rong Zhao snorted coldly, "I have been feeling a little irritated these days and cannot eat venison."
Chen Ahfu quickly said, "My daughter-in-law doesn't know."
Rong Zhao waved his hands impatiently, "Alright, alright, I can't stand your serving me anymore. The more you serve me, the more irritating it becomes."
Seeing that there was only an empty seat between Xue Baoyi and Chu Zhen, Chen Afu sat there.
Even though there was Chen Afu in between, Chu Zhen still tried her best to please Xue Baoyi and kept talking to him, but Xue Baoyi didn't want to pay any attention to her at all and only said "hmm" occasionally.
Everyone was eating when suddenly a shrill scream rang out. It was Chu Zhen's voice. A maid carrying a dish suddenly fell on Chu Zhen's left shoulder, and the meat and oil flowed down her arm. Chen Ahfu's right arm was also splashed with a few balls of oil.
The maid was so scared that she quickly knelt on the ground and cried, "I don't know what happened. My arm was numb and the food turned over..."
Madam Chu San stood up and snorted, "Rong Zhao, what's going on? Don't say that the horse stumbled and it was the servants' fault. However, this time the servants really made a mistake - the dish fell crooked."
Rong Zhao stood there in a daze, and before he could react, Lord Chu and several other men came over from the west hall.
Lord Chu said with a gloomy face, "Xuan'er, take your wife and leave. Dad is incompetent and cannot protect you in this mansion."
Chu Lingxuan didn't want to stay there any longer, so after hearing what Lord Chu said, he pulled Chen Afu and walked towards the outer courtyard.
After arriving at the outer courtyard, he took a carriage directly back to the Yong'an Marquis Mansion.
Damn, this half day was more tiring than running a marathon. After washing up, Chen Afu lay on the bed and closed his eyes to rest.
Chu Lingxuan sent the servant away, lay down beside her, grabbed one of her hands and said, "I'm sorry, I always thought I could protect you, but I still let you suffer."
Chu Lingxuan felt very guilty.
Chen Ahfu opened her eyes and said, "Uncle, and Grandpa, Third Aunt, you have protected me very well. Abbot Follow Lechen... No, compared to grandma, my little grievance is nothing." She turned around, looked at Chu Lingxuan and said, "In the past, I was particularly upset for grandma, thinking that she was forced into a nunnery, with green lamps and ancient Buddhas, away from her relatives, and was the most pitiful. But today, I suddenly felt that my father-in-law was the most pitiful, even more pitiful than grandma. Although grandma is far away from the hustle and bustle, she doesn't have to act, and lives a real and relaxed life every day. And my father-in-law, who has to act every day to the tyrannical and overbearing Rong Zhao, would be fine if he had a gentle and peaceful personality, but he is obviously not that kind of personality... His life is really tiring."
Chu Lingxuan sighed deeply. It turned out that he resented his father very much. He felt that he was a man, but he forced his wife to become a nun, forced his son and daughter to go to the border, and married that shameless woman. It was only last year that he heard from his grandfather that his father had endured humiliation for the sake of the Ninth and Eleventh Princes.
After the emperor inherited the throne, he rehabilitated the Yuan family and appointed the eldest prince born to Empress Yuan as the crown prince. Unexpectedly, the crown prince was killed just two days after he was named. Queen Wang was not innocent in this matter, and Concubine Sun was also involved. The emperor was so angry that he gritted his teeth but could not touch them. One reason was that he had no direct evidence, and the other was that the two women's families, the Wang family and the Sun family, had just helped the emperor defeat the rebellious king and successfully succeed to the throne. In addition, they were so powerful that he could not touch them for a while, and he did not want people to think that he was killing the donkey after it had done its work.
The emperor felt sorry for the Yuan family and Empress Yuan, as he could not even preserve the bloodline of the Yuan family. He was determined to pass the throne to someone related to the Yuan family, thinking that this would give him the face to see Empress Yuan in the future and be worthy of General Yuan, who had made great contributions to the Dashun Dynasty and was also a burden to him.
Three years later, during a secret visit, the emperor fell in love with a commoner girl named Shan Lingling, who had bright eyes and beautiful teeth. He not only favored her that night, but also brought her into the palace. But after a few days of excitement, he felt that Shan Lingling was not that good, dull and uneducated, so he only gave her the title of a talented woman and forgot about her.
In fact, this Shan Lingling is the daughter of Empress Yuan's brother and the granddaughter of Lord Yuan, Yuan Lin, who "died" the night before the execution. The emperor, who was still the crown prince, sent his confidant Chu Guangche and others to rescue her and send her thousands of miles away... At that time, the emperor just wanted to keep a little blood of the Yuan family. He knew that the boy could not be kept anyway, so he saved Yuan Lin, who was only twelve years old at the time.
If the former crown prince had survived and succeeded to the throne smoothly, the emperor and Yuan Lin would not have had any encounter. But the former crown prince died, and Yuan Lin was the only bloodline left in the Yuan family. So when Yuan Lin, who had changed his name to Shan Lingling, grew up to be fifteen years old, he was brought back to the suburbs of Beijing and was seen by the emperor...
Shan Lingling was lucky. After being favored several times, she became pregnant and gave birth to the ninth prince.
The emperor made Shan Cairen a concubine and named the ninth prince Li Zeping. The mother and son were invisible, and the emperor didn't like them at all. Only when the ninth prince was six years old did he appoint the seven-year-old Chu Lingxuan to be his companion.
The Ninth Prince and his mother lived a peaceful life, trying to reduce their presence as much as possible, and never conflicted with the Second, Third, Fourth, Fifth, Seventh, Eighth, and Tenth Princes (the Sixth Prince was dead).
At that time, the emperor's favorite was the third prince born to Concubine Sun, because he thought he was intelligent and kind. Concubine Sun was also quite favored by the emperor, so he was reluctant to make the second prince born to Queen Wang the crown prince.
When the second prince turned fifteen, many court officials wrote to the emperor, saying that the second prince was born in the harem and had both talent and virtue, so he should be crowned the crown prince, but the emperor found various excuses to avoid it. This made Queen Wang and the second prince, as well as the father-in-law and the prince, very jealous of Concubine Sun and her son, and the open and covert struggles between them never stopped.
The second prince and the third prince fought hard, and the second prince was even seriously injured by the third and fourth princes. After recovering from his injury, the second prince suddenly changed his temperament. He did not deal with the third prince immediately, but conspired with Queen Wang and Concubine Ma to cause a scandal between Princess Rongzhao, a widow who had admired Chu Guangche since childhood, and Chu Guangche, who was on the rise in his career.
Chu Guangche was secretly trained by the Emperor for the Ninth Prince. Although the Emperor favored his eldest daughter, Princess Rongzhao, he would not let her block the Ninth Prince's path and ruin Chu Guangche's future. While he was hesitating about how to suppress the matter, the Ninth Prince met with an accident again. He was disabled and could not inherit the throne...
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