Four days later, Jiang, who had received the news, took Chen Yuqing and her four siblings back to the capital. They knew they might live in the capital for a long time, so they moved many of their belongings here.
Chen Afu took the child back to eat a meal, and did not go to see Chen Yuhui. In her opinion, Chen Yuhui was hopeless, and she did not want to have anything to do with her in the future.
On the 16th, the Xie family formally invited a matchmaker to come and propose marriage. The Chen family agreed, and Chen Yuqing and Xie Feng finally got engaged.
Jiang was overjoyed. Xie Feng's family background, character, and talent made him the best young man Chen Yuqing had ever seen in all these years, better than any other young man she had ever met. She was very grateful to Chen Afu and Chu Hua, because these two people had secretly facilitated this marriage.
On the 28th day of the twelfth lunar month, when people were immersed in the joy of the New Year, the emperor passed away.
The new emperor announced a grand funeral for the late emperor. All civil and military officials in the capital came to pay their respects and mourn. Officials of a certain rank had to fast for three days and could not go home. Women of the third rank and above in the capital had to go to the palace to mourn for three days. They entered the palace in the morning and left in the evening.
The tragic news made the Empress Dowager extremely sad. Her health, which had been good, deteriorated again, and she passed away on the second day of the first lunar month. The funeral of the late emperor had not yet been completely concluded, and the royal family ushered in a second funeral.
The death of the Empress Dowager made the Third Lady heartbroken and she fainted several times from crying. Chen Afu took care of her personally, comforted her, and even stayed with her in the palace for three days.
On the fifth night, after the mourning was over, Chen Afu helped the pale-faced Third Lady out of the palace.
The Fourth Master Chu Lingwei was waiting outside the palace gate. When Chu Lingwei saw the almost shapeless Third Madam, tears welled up in his eyes. He stepped forward to support her and said, "Mother, please accept my condolences. If you do this, my grandmother in heaven will be sad."
After handing the third wife over to Chu Lingwei, Chen Afu finally breathed a sigh of relief. These days, she was very anxious because there were three children aged one to two at home. Thinking of them crying and making a fuss at night, Chen Afu's heart was bleeding.
After returning to the mansion, Chen Afu went directly to Anrong Hall. Chu Lingwei said that the four children had been living with their grandfather in Anrong Hall these days.
As soon as I entered the room, I saw Chu Hanyan sitting on a brocade stool playing cross-legged rope with Luo Mei. The three little ones were playing with the animal house, and Lord Chu was sitting nearby watching them.
As soon as they saw their mother coming back, the children all rushed towards her. The two little brothers each held onto their mother's legs and called out "Mom", while Chu Hanyan held onto the unstable little Yu'er, who looked up at her mother and cried, feeling extremely aggrieved.
Chen Ahfu picked up Xiao Yuer and said, "Good child, mother is back."
She said goodbye to Lord Chu and took the children back to Zhuxuan.
On the eighth day of the first lunar month, a grand coronation ceremony was held. Li Zeping officially ascended the throne and changed the Hongnian to the first year of Qingguan. Queen Shan was made the Empress Dowager and the former Crown Princess was made the Queen. Several princes who had not been made kings were also made kings and given the title of Prince of the Imperial Court. The eleventh prince, Li Zetai, was made the Prince of He. The second prince's brother, the eighth prince, was made the Prince of Su and sent to guard the imperial mausoleum, never to enter the capital.
Chen Ahfu was very happy to hear that Xiao Shiyi had been crowned a king and would move out once the mansion was renovated. He would see him more often in the future.
Chen Shiying was also officially appointed as the Right Vice Minister of the Ministry of Works, one of his main duties was to manage military farms and farming.
By the end of February, the remnants of the Second Prince's party were basically cleared out. For those with serious crimes, males over the age of seven were beheaded, and female relatives were either confiscated to the Jiaofang Bureau or allowed to be official prostitutes. For those with less serious crimes, the person concerned was beheaded, and the rest of the family was exiled 3,000 miles away. The He family was one of the less serious crimes, and except for He Quan who was beheaded, the rest of the family was exiled to Qiongzhou.
It is said that before his death, He Quan saw his wife and eldest son for the last time and asked his wife to agree to divorce his second daughter-in-law to save the baby in her belly. When his wife told him that Chen Yuhui's child was aborted by his son and the emperor had sentenced them to divorce, she burst into tears.
The Ma family was a serious case, so the host family dealt with it accordingly. As for Chu Hanyan's maternal family, they were only relatives, so they were sentenced to exile to the north and allowed to be military households. They were much better off than the family exiled to Qiongzhou, and perhaps the emperor would not necessarily do so for the sake of the future and the princess.
Chen Afu felt that the family was related to Chu Hanyan by blood, so it would be difficult to ignore them. So he asked Luo Fang to give a lot of silver to the escorting soldiers, asking them to help take care of them. He also gave some silver and medicinal herbs to Chu Hanyan's grandfather in her name, so that they would have a better life in the future.
Perhaps the only one who dared to help the exiled people was the future Princess He. Everyone knew that Prince He was the most favored by the Queen Mother and the Emperor.
February 27th was Prince He's ninth birthday, and the Queen Mother would definitely celebrate for him. Chen Ahfu had made a birthday cake early in the morning and had it sent to the palace, along with a set of underwear made by Chen Ahfu himself and a beautiful blue bracelet woven by Chu Hanyan.
What Chen Afu didn't expect was that he and the prince actually came to the Chu Mansion that evening.
Chen Ahfu was both happy and puzzled, and asked, "Why did you leave the palace?"
He Wangye came over and leaned beside her, saying, "Since my father passed away, my mother has been studying Buddhism most of the time. I can only see her before the hour of Si. If it weren't for my brother and I persuading her, my mother would have wanted to become a nun..." His eyes were a little red, and after calming down, he said, "I came here because I wanted to eat the minced meat and mixed sauce noodles made by my mother-in-law."
After hearing this, Chen Ahfu smiled and went to the backyard to make noodles with mixed sauce. He also asked people to go to Anrong Hall to pick up the children, and then invited the third wife and Chu Lingzhi to the bamboo pavilion to eat longevity noodles to celebrate the birthday of the prince. Because there was no preparation and the time was short, he did not invite everyone.
He Wangye waved his arm towards Chu Hanyan again, and the beautiful blue chain on his wrist was particularly eye-catching. He smiled and said, "Sister's hands are getting more and more skillful. This chain is really beautiful."
Chu Hanyan smiled and said, "Your Highness likes it. I will make a few more for you in the future." She added, "My mother said that I can learn embroidery next year, and then I can embroider handkerchiefs and purses for your Highness."
The prince was even happier after hearing this and said, "Okay, I'll wait."
As the lights came on, a large bowl of noodles and several large bowls of sweet potatoes were placed on the kang table in the east room. Chen Ahfu prepared several kinds of sweet potatoes, including minced meat, fried eggs with leeks, stewed chicken with mushrooms, and shrimp with ginger sauce.
He Wangye laughed and said, "I only eat noodles with minced meat and mixed sauce. No other noodles are as delicious as this."
Chen Ahfu prepared a bowl for him, and he asked for more after he finished it. Chen Ahfu prepared another half bowl for him, and then did not allow him to eat any more, saying that eating too much noodles at night was not easy to digest.
Seeing that the prince liked it, the two brothers insisted on eating the mixed noodles, and ate until half of their faces were covered with blood.
Before Chen Ahfu could take out his handkerchief, He Wangye took out his silk handkerchief to wipe their noodles, coaxing them, "Slow down, there's still more, only the three of us like this kind of noodles."
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