Chapter 146 An Lingrong 87
"Did she really say that?" The queen stood in front of the bed and began to cut the candle flowers. The flickering candlelight reflected on her no longer young face.
"Yes, Ruyi said that she had personally tested Jixiang and confirmed that Concubine Duan must know the news."
The Queen couldn't help but laugh. "Qi Yuebin, Qi Yuebin, I didn't expect her to live like a dead person for so many years, and she still hasn't given up that stubborn streak. I've been deceived by her all these years. I'm afraid the Emperor and the Queen Mother both think she's just a pitiful woman who's hopeless because she can't have children."
"Your Majesty, are you saying that Concubine Duan deliberately leaked this news to us?"
"Of course, if I hear this news and can't help but attack Concubine Yi, she will naturally be happy to reap the benefits. If I find her, it doesn't matter, because it is naturally more cost-effective to have an additional assistant than an additional enemy who poses no threat but is very troublesome."
The Queen casually placed the scissors on the tray and smiled with emotion, "It was really worth it for me to save her life back then. I had hoped this dog would help me get rid of Nian, but I didn't expect her to be more capable than I thought. Now she is willing to confront Concubine Yi."
Jianqiu hesitated. "This Concubine Duan is so scheming. Does Your Majesty really want to cooperate with her?"
"Oh, a useless woman who can't have children is not worthy of discussing cooperation with me. Isn't it just because she has her eyes on Jing Fei's Long Yue? She wants to have that child, so naturally she can only come to me for help. Otherwise, who else in the palace can help her?"
The Queen sat on the bed, looking at the empty space on the other side. Even her smile turned much colder. "If she is really useful, I wouldn't mind rewarding her with a princess."
"That's true. If you can really use Concubine Duan to overthrow Concubine Yi, then Your Majesty can rest easy."
Yixiu thought of the emperor's unhesitating promotion of her family, his awards to her parents, his favoritism towards her mother's family, and his partiality towards her child. She then thought of her promotion to Imperial Consort before she even had children. She closed her eyes and lay on the cold bed, "It's still too early..."
After the decree to confer the title of Imperial Concubine came down, the Imperial Household Department began to prepare for her enthronement ceremony.
As a token of her virtue, the Empress exempted Lingrong from paying her respects for the first four months. Fearing that she would be overworked, the Emperor issued a decree that no one was allowed to disturb her unless Lingrong herself invited him.
For a moment, Chengqian Palace at the center of the vortex became the most peaceful place.
The old man in Lingrong Palace had gained experience and, with the other servants, followed the old standards and surrounded Chengqian Palace with three layers of fences inside and outside. Although the flow of people continued as usual, the situation was actually quite tight inside. For example, Baoque, who was used as a spy, had difficulty finding opportunities to go out and deliver messages these days.
However, Concubine Duan did not intend to use her at will again.
Before long, word of Concubine Yi's great favor spread inside and outside the palace. In less than three days, there were dozens of versions of the story. The most exaggerated one was that she was favored to the point that she was comparable to Concubine Yang and Feiyan, and even the Queen had to give her three points.
This naturally included exaggerating the emperor's rewards to her mother's family, saying her father was harming a region but was protected by the emperor, who even promoted him to governor of a state. He also said her brother was a beast in human form, a bad boy at home who had defiled countless good girls.
The rumors became more and more exaggerated and spread more and more widely. Because they were so ridiculous, the emperor even told them to Lingrong as a joke at first.
However, when these rumors not only did not stop but instead showed a tendency to spread further, Yinzhen could no longer laugh.
Although he had long understood that the rumor was the work of someone with ulterior motives and had sent people to investigate, he initially thought that someone in the palace was jealous of the imperial concubine and was slandering her maliciously; or that it was a group of restless defeated generals who wanted to use this to tarnish his reputation.
But immediately afterwards, someone in the court actually proposed the issue of establishing a crown prince.
First, a few low-level officials said that the reason why rumors were so rampant was because the country was unstable, and they suggested that the emperor should exercise benevolent governance and show favor to the clan members.
Then, the heroes who overthrew Nian Gengyao and several princes naturally stepped forward to stop them and scolded those ministers for their evil ambitions.
Afterwards, someone brought up the idea of appointing a crown prince to calm people's hearts, and someone actually strongly recommended the Sixth Prince.
The court immediately became a mess.
Without the emperor saying a word, a group of veteran ministers led by Zhang Tingyu scolded the group back and directly pointed out that they had "ulterior motives."
This war of words lasted for less than half a month. Finally, a Han official who firmly supported the establishment of Zhang as the heir turned his spearhead towards An Lingrong in the deep palace. Although he restrained himself, his words were obviously mocking her for being a seducer and delusionally wanting to be like Concubine Qi of the past.
In the court, Zhang Tingyu, the leader, felt a pang of fear in his heart, secretly cursing the old man for being more trouble than help. He knew full well that the events of the past few days were complicated and involved many forces.
But unfortunately, the appointment of a crown prince was of great importance, so he had to take the lead in taking action.
A smart person should know from what he just said that this matter can only involve the previous dynasty and the two princes, and must not be involved with anything else.
Unexpectedly, I still couldn’t escape.
The emperor would never tolerate others accusing him of being a tyrant, especially a tyrant who was lustful, shameless, and unable to distinguish right from wrong.
As expected, Yinzhen, who was sitting on the dragon throne, immediately turned cold. "How dare you! How can a mere outsider like you speak so freely about the affairs of the six palaces? Come, take off his hat and feather, and drag him away."
Two sturdy guards immediately led the old minister with the white beard away. He realized what he had just said, his hands and feet weak, unable to even utter a word of begging for mercy, and was dragged away with a pale face.
For a moment, all the ministers stood where they were, not daring to speak again.
Zhang Tingyu, the leader, secretly shook his head. He feared that even the group that had initially taken action had not anticipated the current situation. He looked at the emperor, whose face was ashen, and felt a pang of bitterness in his heart.
Although he had no choice, he was afraid that after this incident, he might not be able to escape unscathed.
…………
[The water in this pond is truly muddy now.] Ling Rong casually cut off a branch of the rose. Several palace maids gathered around her, fearing that she might hurt herself.
[With the deposed crown prince, the eight or nine deposed kings, the empress, Consort Duan, Consort Qi, and a few smart and foolish people, I'm afraid no one can control this huge ship of public opinion now.]
System N1 nodded: [Who told them to have their own agendas and exploit each other? Some simply want to disgust the Emperor, some want to discredit him, and some want to revive the rumors of his illegitimate rise to power... But the Empress and Concubine Duan have achieved their goals. Aren't you being described as a demonic concubine by the outside world now?]
"What's the big deal? If it gets out there, I'll be bringing disaster to the country and the people. Excessive extravagance is even more dangerous." Lingrong thought about the short stories she'd written herself. An Ke must have been shocked when she received the letter from Sanbao and the others.
"But look, what's going on out there now?" Lingrong laughed, falling onto the bed. "Noble Concubine Yi has four eyes on her head and is incredibly powerful. Is that why the Emperor is afraid to favor someone else?"
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