Chapter 49: The Mother is Gone, the Son is Left
Just as Jing Cang was about to retort, the Queen said, "Look at what you have become now. You are deceiving your superiors and subordinates, bewitched by evil spirits, just like you are possessed by a demon. Or you have simply learned the ways of the Yu family's merchants who are cunning and treacherous!"
Jing Cang stood up suddenly and said loudly: "The court officials are the people, the farmers are the people, so are the merchants not the people of our dynasty? The Yu family is the richest merchant in Shu County, paying more than ten thousand taels of tax to the court every year, and their industry supports thousands of local people. Whenever the country is in trouble, they raise money and grain to donate. As the mother of the country, you said this, I don't know who is more treacherous, you or the Yu family."
The queen was furious and pointed at him.
Jing Cang realized that he was too disobedient, so she softened her tone and said, "Mother, if I am really possessed, Yang Zhi will not be the Crown Princess in the future."
The queen thought of his marriage proposal and felt that he was still teachable. She said earnestly, "Qilin, everything she did to you is not what an ordinary woman would do. She is treacherous and cruel. If you keep a woman like this around you, your family will be doomed to be in turmoil."
Jing Cang also thought deeply about it, but now she knows her mistakes and is willing to change, and is happy with him. He murmured: "I told her that I would marry Yang Zhi, and she agreed to stay with me."
"It's easy to change a country, but hard to change one's nature!" The Queen said angrily, "She has been spoiled since she was a child, and she is so beautiful, how can she be willing to be inferior to others? You haven't even married yet, but you are always speaking for her. Isn't it obvious that you will favor concubines over your wife in the future? If you act like this for the emperor, do you want people all over the world to call you a 'tyrant'?"
"A wife is to be respected, and concubines are to be pampered, aren't they?"
Seeing that he was stubborn and unwilling to repent, the queen said in a stern voice, "Tomorrow, your father and I will send troops to encircle Prince Ning's mansion and execute Yu Fei in the chaos. The Yu family will show mercy and pardon him. You don't need to say anything more!"
Seeing that she had no chance of turning back, Jing Cang suddenly recalled an incident from his childhood.
At that time, he was five or six years old. He fell in love with a pigeon given by a minister. When his mother found out, she scolded him for losing his ambition due to playing with toys, and warned him that a prince should "not show his joy or anger on his face, and not show his likes and dislikes on his body." He was still childish and retorted. Then she asked the palace maids to strangle the pigeon to death.
From then on, he restrained himself and became a "saint" with a pure heart and few desires.
But Yu Fei is not just a pet, and he is no longer the child he used to be. She is the woman he rubs his neck with day and night and clings to until death.
If he was born in an ordinary family, he would have taken advantage of the girl and was already pleased with her, and he would have definitely gone through the three books and six ceremonies and welcomed her in a sedan chair. But he was in an important position, and as Yu Fei had said before, "The prince's marriage is not only a family matter, but also a state matter", so he chose a concubine who was praised by his parents, court officials and the people.
If this is the case, and he cannot keep the one he loves, then what is the point of observing the etiquette of family and country!
Jing Cang knelt on the ground and said firmly: "Mother, if you are determined to deal with Yu Fei, you might as well sentence me to death first. In my eyes, she is the future concubine of the Eastern Palace. She may already be pregnant with royal blood. I can't watch my woman and child die at the hands of her biological mother!"
If Yu Fei had not used saffron to avoid pregnancy before, she might have been pregnant earlier. Even if she was not pregnant now, she would definitely give birth to an heir in the future. He was not lying. Moreover, since ancient times, a woman's pregnancy was a great achievement for the royal family, which could offset any sins, not to mention that he, the victim, was willing to let bygones be bygones.
The Queen saw that Jing Cang had a desperate aura, as if he was going to knock two holes into the ground. She was worried about his leg injury and angry at his stubbornness.
She thought for a moment and said in a deep voice: "Well, I will order people to rescue Yu Fei. If she is pregnant, she will be spared for the sake of the offspring. If she is not, she will be dealt with according to the law. What do you think?"
The Queen gave in a little, and Jing Cang could no longer press her.
If Yu Fei were to get pregnant, the method would be extremely simple. He would hide her in the bedroom when she came back. Probably within a month or two, her belly would show signs of pregnancy. By then, his father and mother would have no complaints.
Furthermore, women are weak by nature, but they become strong when they become mothers. With a child, Yu Fei might be able to restrain her spoiled and willful nature, and also stop thinking about leaving the palace.
Jing Cang nodded, "I am willing to follow your mother's words, but Prince Ning is corrupt and treacherous in public, and has harmed the people's livelihood. He has also assassinated, coerced and harmed his brother. As the crown prince and brother, I must eliminate the treacherous and treacherous, and kill my relatives for the sake of justice to uphold the king's law. Please allow me to lead the army to redress the injustice."
The Queen looked at him steadily and realized that Jing Cang was doubting whether she would really let Yu Fei go, so she made some high-sounding speeches and wanted to go and save people herself.
Seeing that he was determined not to get up unless she agreed, she had no choice but to say, "Okay. Get out now. It makes me upset just to see you."
Jing Cang left. The Queen and the Nanny told the whole story of their meeting with the Crown Prince and sighed bitterly: "I worked hard for twenty years, and I actually raised such a thing!"
The nanny consoled him, "Your Highness, I'm sure that His Highness's disobedience this time was not out of his heart. That pig was a love pig that only appears once in a century. Although the pig is gone, as the saying goes, love is like spilled water that cannot be reversed. You have to give him some time to wake up."
The queen curled her lips and said, "Don't you see him like that? He doesn't look like he's just beginning to fall in love. He's so straightforward that he's blinded by lust. If he hears what's going on in a few days, he might disobey the order and cancel the engagement and support Yu Fei to take the throne."
The nanny thought for a moment and asked, "Madam, do you really want to let Miss Yu off?"
The Queen pondered. She was half-believing and half-doubting the fact that Yu Fei was pregnant.
Ever since this woman entered the palace, she heard that the prince did not ask her to avoid having children, and was preparing to summon her over to give her a lesson, but then Yang Zhi brought people to report the evil deeds that Yu Fei had done to the prince in Shu County.
Perhaps the woman knew what she was talking about, so she asked someone to ask the Imperial Hospital for saffron as a secret contraceptive, and she turned a blind eye and pretended not to know.
But some time ago, the prince seemed to have learned about this and scolded her. Since then, the two of them have been doing whatever they want and getting along as normal.
Judging from this, Yu Fei might be pregnant, but even if not, she couldn't execute Yu Fei with great fanfare, otherwise it would definitely hurt the relationship between mother and son, and Jing Cang had just recovered.
The queen clenched the teacup tightly and sighed, "For now, there is no other way, but the palace wants to make a woman who has given birth disappear... This can also be regarded as leaving a thought for Qilin."
The nanny understood. It turned out that the queen wanted to kill the mother and keep the child, so she asked someone to do something while the woman was giving birth, which would naturally be done without anyone noticing.
The Queen was thinking deeply about Jing Cang's leading troops to suppress the rebellion. Suddenly, she remembered something and ordered the nanny, "Go and ask someone to invite Concubine Zhu over."