***
On the day Yue Jiang planned to leave the palace to make offerings, many idle palace maids and eunuchs appeared along the route from Qi Luan Palace to the palace gate.
Their behavior was strange; they furtively glanced at Yue Jiang's sedan chair heading out of the palace, yet none of them dared to approach and greet her.
Qingke glanced at everyone subtly and realized that most of them were sent by various palaces to investigate the situation.
She whispered her reply, "Princess, there are no people from Empress Dowager Cheng's side in Yongshou Palace, but there are palace maids from Empress Dowager Zheng's side in Changshou Palace."
"Empress Dowager Zheng!" Yue Jiang was taking a nap. After a moment of contemplation, she chuckled softly, "It seems she's getting anxious."
Qingke was puzzled: "She's anxious? She couldn't possibly be anxious for the princess. Although Empress Dowager Zheng is His Highness's biological grandmother, I've heard that she's closer to Consort Zheng's two children."
"So, they sent someone here to inquire about you, Princess?"
Yue Jiang smiled faintly: "In the palace, family ties always come after interests. Perhaps this time they are just concerned about me."
Although Consort Zheng was Empress Dowager Zheng's niece, Jingyan was also her grandson and currently the crown prince.
Regardless of who she favored first, Empress Dowager Zheng couldn't help but feel a bit of maternal affection for Jing Yan, an outsider like Empress Dowager Cheng. However, this affection was bound by mutual interests.
In recent years, Empress Dowager Zheng has had her own emperor son and crown prince grandson. No matter how you look at it, she is more powerful than the one in Yongshou Palace. She can show off her status as the direct grandmother.
However, Empress Dowager Zheng and Empress Dowager Cheng were still evenly matched in their struggle, which Yue Jiang speculated was because Empress Dowager Zheng's own son, Jing Huaixu, was the emperor of the Jing Kingdom.
Empress Dowager Cheng was the late emperor's first wife, and her maternal family had been meritorious officials in the Jing Kingdom. They held the hearts and minds of the orphans and the people in their hands. She dared not go too far with Empress Dowager Cheng, lest it affect her son's reputation as the emperor.
If Yue Jiang's intervention this time wins over the hearts of the orphans and makes them less reliant on the Cheng family, then Empress Dowager Cheng will lose her trump card, and Empress Dowager Zheng will have gained an advantage.
Empress Dowager Cheng's quietness today undoubtedly stems from her overconfidence in the orphans she has cultivated over the years, believing that Yue Jiang, this young girl, will surely suffer a loss.
After Yue Jiang left the palace, the palace maids of Changshou Palace also went back to report the matter.
When Empress Dowager Zheng heard that Yue Jiang had left looking radiant, her aging but still charming eyes slightly raised as she put down the blue-and-white porcelain teacup in her hand, filled with doubt.
“This girl is so young, she entered the palace even earlier than Empress Ye. The Empress was personally chosen by the late Emperor. She comes from a scholarly family with countless friends among the upright officials. She herself is also a lady of high birth. In all these years, she has not been able to shake the orphan in the slightest.”
“If Yue Jiang goes out to give alms now, the orphans will turn around and leave when they can’t see the Cheng family. It would be too lenient if they just overturn her stall, which would be extremely shameful.”
"Yutong, what do you think?"
Zheng Yutong frowned slightly and thought seriously: "Princess Yuejiang doesn't understand the feelings of the orphans. It's because she's ignorant. If things can't be done, she will definitely need to ask Yongshou Palace for help to comfort the orphans."
"I'm afraid that a young girl from a foreign land might witness their methods and become subservient to the Yongshou Palace."
Empress Dowager Zheng frowned and snorted coldly: "I actually quite hope that Yue Jiang has this ability."
Being able to get rid of those arrogant orphans is like slapping the Yongshou Palace in the face, letting them see how they'll ever try to act superior and virtuous again.
If Ruoyue Jiangzhen is defeated in one strike, she will choose that side as her backer, which is very disadvantageous to her.
Empress Dowager Zheng touched Zheng Yutong's delicate, flower-like face. Her eyes, no longer bright and lively, still held a faint softness, as if she were looking at her younger self.
“Yutong, your beauty surpasses even that of your aunt Consort Zheng in the past. All these years, I’ve kept you quietly in the Changshou Palace, without helping you get closer to His Highness.”
"It's really unfair to you to just hear the rumors about that girl Cheng and His Highness being a perfect match."
Zheng Yutong has a charming beauty, with cherry lips, a delicate nose, and an exquisite oval face, all of which exude the beauty of spring.
Compared to Cheng Suyun's aloof yet sharp-looking demeanor, it was a complete contrast.
Even her words carried a sense of approachability, Zheng Yutong said modestly.
"Grandmother, you flatter me. All these years you've kept Yutong in the Longevity Palace because you were afraid she'd be bullied by Cheng Suyun."
“She is a princess, while I am just a nameless and unrecognized girl who was kindly brought into the palace by my great-aunt to be raised.”
"If I had tried to compete with her for attention all these years, I would have been cursed to death long ago."
"Yes," Empress Dowager Zheng sighed indignantly upon hearing these words.
Back then, she and the late emperor shared a love affair in a foreign land, and the late emperor doted on her endlessly.
After returning to Jing Kingdom, Empress Dowager Cheng, being the late emperor's first wife, received no love or favor from her and even secretly suppressed her, making Empress Dowager Zheng inferior to her in everything.
Empress Dowager Cheng could not be deposed because she had no children, and the ministers believed that she had served her parents-in-law well.
Empress Dowager Zheng even felt that she had the merit of bearing children, extending the dynasty, and accompanying the emperor.
After much pleading with the late emperor to appoint his niece as the crown princess, the emperor finally agreed, but unexpectedly, the ministers all favored the Cheng family.
To avoid offending either side, the late emperor chose the daughter of Jing Huaixu's imperial tutor, and the matter was eventually dropped.
Then the late emperor was killed in Anguo, and the Cheng family was on the verge of collapse. Finally, Empress Dowager Zheng was able to drive out Empress Dowager Cheng with the help of her son.
Helpless, Anguo launched an attack on Jingguo, and Jingguo was in imminent danger. She had no choice but to join forces with Empress Dowager Cheng to fight against the external enemy.
After the matter was settled, Empress Dowager Cheng also gained a foothold by virtue of her orphan, and was ranked among the empress dowagers, raising her young son together.
This resulted in Empress Dowager Zheng always being inferior to Empress Dowager Cheng, because when she arranged for her niece to enter the palace as a concubine, all of Cheng's daughters were to become Noble Consorts, while her niece was a Noble Consort.
If the older generation is like this, the younger generation will be even more so. Over the years, it has been a foreseeable fact that Cheng Suyun would become the Crown Princess of Jingyan, even though the two empress dowagers did not say it.
Empress Dowager Zheng was unhappy but still had to endure it. While her grandniece was allowed to be flamboyant, she told her to keep a low profile.
In any case, Cheng Suyun is not a steady person, not as good as Empress Ye, whom the late emperor chose. If she makes a mistake, there are plenty of reasons to depose her, and Empress Dowager Zheng's grandniece can take her place.
Unfortunately, after enduring for another month, it seems that Empress Dowager Zheng's grandniece will follow in the footsteps of Consort Zheng.
When will her family produce a proper empress, so that Empress Dowager Zheng won't have any regrets?
...
After Yue Jiang left the palace, the stalls outside the palace had already been set up in their original places. The orphans, holding their children and helping the elderly and carrying the young, had already lined up in front of the stalls.
But when the orphans saw that it was a strange woman who got off the carriage, not Princess Cheng who always came in person, their expectant look turned into confusion as they whispered among themselves.
Ignoring their whispers, Yue Jiang straightened her back and walked to the stall, introducing herself loudly.
"Good morning, everyone! I am Princess Yue Jiang from the Moon Kingdom, here for a political marriage!"
Once their identities were revealed, the orphans' initial confusion and restlessness suddenly turned into resistance.
An old man with a cane stepped forward and took the lead in demanding a replacement.
“Where is Princess Cheng? Princess Cheng is the one who usually gives us alms. We want Princess Cheng.”
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