Chapter 27 Queen Mother
Upon hearing this, the Queen Mother twitched her lips quickly.
General Lin is dead, but he was nearly sixty years old when he died. The old lady's granddaughter was already married. Isn't it an exaggeration to say that he was left with an orphan and a widow?
The Queen Mother had this thought in her mind, but her face was still concerned: "Where did you get this from, Madam?"
The old lady stopped crying immediately and continued, holding her cane: "Back then, Wanqing insisted on marrying Wen Rugui. I didn't want to, but after all, Wanqing liked him. A mother will always be soft-hearted towards her children..."
The Queen Mother couldn't help but nodded.
Wasn't it the same for her? That year, the second son led his troops into Beijing and seized the throne from the eldest son. Although she was angry at his reckless behavior, she still felt distressed when she saw that he was having a hard time because of the opposition of some officials. So she showed support for him and helped him get through the difficulties of the period after he ascended the throne.
Of course she felt sorry for her eldest son, but he was missing and his life or death was unknown, and her second son was right in front of her. What else could she do but help him?
Thinking of this, the Queen Mother pressed the corners of her eyes with her handkerchief.
"I had thought that as a Jinshi from a humble family, he would definitely be supported by the Yue family in the future, and would definitely treat Wanqing well. But who would have thought that today, he would actually bring his concubine and a pair of concubines into the family!"
"Is there such a thing?" The Queen Mother looked surprised, but in fact she was not surprised at all.
After hearing so much from the old lady, she would be foolish if she still couldn't guess that Wen Rugui had a mistress in his mansion.
However, the Queen Mother did not share the old lady's anger.
When she became the empress dowager, she must have seen countless beautiful women around the emperor. Was a concubine worth the old lady of the Lin family coming to the palace to cry and complain?
Lin Wanqing was really spoiled by the old lady and became stupid.
The Queen Mother was naturally familiar with Lin.
When General Lin followed the late emperor to fight for the world, the old lady also went to the battlefield with her husband. Lin was left behind and was often called to talk by the empress dowager.
Lin Wanqing was only about ten years old at that time, and her personality was not liked by the empress dowager. The reason why the empress dowager was always concerned about her was self-evident.
"The Queen Mother almost didn't see me!"
The Queen Mother coughed and said, "Old Madam, please relax. This man—"
The old lady interrupted the empress dowager's consolation and said, "When I saw that the concubine was even older than Chan'er, I almost lost my breath!"
This time, the Queen Mother was really surprised.
"Bigger than Chan'er?"
Doesn't this mean that not long after Lin Wanqing and Wen Rugui got married, Wen Rugui started having a mistress?
No wonder the old lady was so angry.
This is not just a matter of embarrassing the General's Mansion, but also makes the love that Wen Rugui showed to Lin Wanqing a joke.
The old lady treats Lin Wanqing like the apple of her eye, so how could she not be angry?
"That's fine. After all, it was Wanqing who chose him first. A lover isn't that easy to find." The old lady's expression turned from anger to coldness. "But he said in front of countless people that my old man forced him to agree..."
The Empress Dowager listened to the old lady talking about the steward Wen Ping.
"Fortunately, the people around him are honest and didn't help him lie. Otherwise, the General's Mansion would never be able to clear its name even if it jumped into the Yellow River." At this point, the old lady's eyes were already red. "That cruel beast pretended for twenty years, but he only showed his fangs because he saw my old man was gone. Wanqing and I have lost our greatest support. Queen Mother, I have no other choice but to ask you for the decision..."
Listening to the old lady's crying, the empress dowager thought of herself.
Unlike those women who climbed up to the position of empress from ordinary concubines by competing for favor, she was the late emperor's first wife before he fought for the world, and her subsequent becoming empress was a natural and unquestionable process.
Even so, during the period when the late emperor passed away, she also experienced some of the difficulties of losing her husband's support.
Those difficulties were not the same as those encountered by the old lady, but they were similar.
Looking at the old lady with red eyes, the Queen Mother's long-buried affection was awakened.
To say it was a little doesn't mean the friendship between the two women was too shallow when General Lin accompanied the late emperor in his conquest of the empire. During that particularly difficult and anxious period, the Empress Dowager and Madam Lin were once very close.
Of course, the Empress Dowager was very close to the wives of several of the late emperor's right-hand men, so there is no need to go into details.
But more than 20 years have passed, and time has gradually hardened the heart of the most noble woman in the Great Zhou Dynasty and diluted the once sincere friendship.
And the connection at this moment finally softened the Queen Mother's heart.
"I really didn't expect that—" The Queen Mother sighed and patted the old lady's hand. "What are your plans, old lady?"
The old lady's expression was particularly resolute: "Wen Rugui's slander of my old man is tantamount to forcing me to death. We must sever all ties with him. The Lin family does not want to have anything to do with such a corrupt person!"
It's a righteous break.
The Queen Mother was not surprised by the old lady's decision: "With things like this, we really can't be a family anymore."
"The two granddaughters must return to the Lin family and cannot follow their heartless father!" the old lady said again.
This was her main purpose in going to the palace to complain to the Queen Mother.
She had no patience to fight with that beast for the ownership of her two granddaughters, and asking the Queen Mother for the decision was the quickest way.
As for getting Wen Rugui dismissed from his post, that is what the censors would do.
Wen Rugui has such a big handle, no matter what the motive is, there will always be censors who stand up.
The Queen Mother then turned her attention to the young girl standing quietly behind the old lady.
The girl was wearing a white silk shirt and green silk skirt that was neither new nor old, and had two simple buns on her head. Her dress was ordinary, but she looked strikingly beautiful.
"Is this Ah Hao?" the Queen Mother asked based on her impression.
Wen Hao knelt down and said yes.
The Queen Mother couldn't help but look at Wen several times and said with a smile, "I heard that Ah Hao could speak, but I didn't believe it. I didn't expect it to be true."
As she spoke, she patted the old lady's hand and said, "Old lady, your granddaughter is good in every way. The only regret is that she can't speak. Now that regret is gone, good days are sure to come."
"It's all thanks to the Empress Dowager." The old lady breathed a sigh of relief.
The Queen Mother said this, obviously willing to intervene.
Not long after the old lady took Wen Hao away, Emperor Tai'an came to the Cining Palace.
Emperor Tai'an was very filial to the Empress Dowager. Unless he was extremely busy, he would always come to the Cining Palace to chat with the Empress Dowager.
"Why does your Majesty Queen Mother look unhappy?" After a few words, Emperor Tai'an noticed it.
The Queen Mother's expression was indifferent: "Just now, the old lady of the Lin family came into the palace."
Upon hearing the word "Lin family", Emperor Tai'an immediately realized which family it was. After all, General Lin was the only one in the world who didn't even want the title of Duke.
"Could it be that the old lady of the Lin family has displeased the Queen Mother?"
"The old lady of the Lin family didn't make me unhappy, but after hearing what she said about her son-in-law, I felt heavy in my heart."
The Queen Mother told the news brought by the old lady and sighed softly: "Even at the age of the Lin family's old lady, if a woman loses her husband, will she allow herself to be bullied?"
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