Chapter 108: The Queen Mother did not let people feel that they were actually inferior to Lu...
When the Queen Mother heard the maid's report, her eyes were filled with disgust. She said in a deep voice, "If she wants to kneel, then let her kneel. I am too lazy to see her today!"
The palace maid accepted the order and answered "yes", bowed and left the hall.
Outside the palace, Concubine Shu was kneeling on the ground in a plain and elegant palace dress embroidered with osmanthus flowers. Her face was solemn and her eyes were full of anxiety.
When she saw the palace maid come out and heard that the empress dowager refused to see her, her face became even more embarrassed.
After the maid left, she spoke bitterly, "The Empress Dowager refused to even see me. In the Empress Dowager's eyes, I, the Imperial Concubine, am not even as good as an ordinary maidservant. And Lu Bingzhi is the Empress Dowager's most beloved treasure. My brother humiliated him so much today. How could the Empress Dowager not be furious? And why is she taking her anger out on me?"
Nanny Duan sighed softly inwardly and whispered, "Even if the Empress Dowager refuses to see you, Your Majesty will have to come to the Cining Palace to apologize. If you, as a mother, kneel there, perhaps His Highness will be spared some of the blame."
Hearing Nanny Duan's words, Concubine Shu's face turned pale. "He had caused such a disaster, and he had no idea at all? Did the people we sent out find where he went?"
Nanny Duan shook her head. "There's been no response yet. Ever since His Highness's marriage to Zheng Suining, the eldest daughter of the Kangshou Marquis's mansion, was finalized and he established his residence outside, His Highness has been keeping an eye on the Ministry of Works and the Imperial Household Department, often going out, sometimes even relaxing at his farm in the suburbs. He's gone missing now, so I'm afraid he left the capital after the birthday banquet. Otherwise, he would have rushed back to the palace long ago. How could He leave Your Highness to face this situation alone?"
Concubine Shu nodded, but her expression remained grim. She lowered her voice and said, "Ze'er is truly confused. I know he dislikes his cousin Lu Bingzhi, but even if he wants to humiliate Lu Bingzhi, he has to wait until he takes that position. Now he's so anxious. Besides making his situation difficult and ruining his reputation, what good will that do?"
"And that bitch Cui Linghui, when did she seduce Ze'er? I will never let a woman like her serve Ze'er, a woman who willingly despises herself like this!"
Nanny Duan did not respond to this. The Second Prince's personality was probably even more stubborn than the Empress's. This matter was probably not something the Empress could decide on her own.
Not to mention, the Empress Dowager probably wanted to kill Cui Linghui right now, so it was not her turn to arrange Cui Linghui's future.
However, within half an hour, the news that Concubine Shu was kneeling in the Cining Palace and could not be summoned by the Empress Dowager quickly spread throughout the harem.
Kunning Palace
After listening to the palace maid's report, the queen waved her hand and ordered everyone to leave.
Second Princess Jingyi, who was sitting nearby, took a sip of tea and said sarcastically, "Second brother is becoming even more unruly. He previously poisoned Lu Bing, and Father, mindful of their father-son relationship, only had the eunuch serving him beaten to death. It would have been fine if he hadn't reflected on his behavior and tried to restrain himself, but today he has dared to humiliate Lu Bingzhi like this. I wonder how furious the Empress Dowager will be now. If this news gets to the court, who in the court will support this narrow-minded prince with a tarnished reputation?"
The Second Princess asked tentatively, "Does Mother want to go to the Cining Palace to see the Imperial Concubine's miserable state?"
The Empress Dowager glared at her and said, "What nonsense are you talking about, child? We, mother and daughter, have always stayed out of the palace's affairs, letting others mess around. Even if I have to go to the Cining Palace, I will wait until tomorrow morning to pay my respects. I'm not going there to watch the jokes, but to show my concern for the Empress Dowager's health. I'm afraid that the Second Prince's ridiculous and infuriating behavior will make her sick."
The second princess Jingyi has always been well aware of her mother's temperament, but she hesitated for a moment, and finally said somewhat unwillingly: "My mother has the phoenix seal, but she only has a daughter, a princess. If my mother had a prince, perhaps we would not be able to..."
Before she could finish her words, she was interrupted by the Empress Dowager: "Don't talk nonsense! If I really have a prince, I'm afraid that mother, daughter, and this child will not have a good ending in the future."
"In my early years, I also wanted to fight for the throne, but later I realized that what the emperor likes is my non-competitiveness. If I change my personality and become like the other concubines in the palace, the emperor will probably be fed up with me. In this palace, even if I, the successor queen, am disliked by the emperor, I will not end up well."
"I don't want to think about anything else right now. I only want to find a good marriage for you, Jingyi. I don't fight for anything. I don't have any princes. No matter who sits on that throne in the future, they will always be kind and filial to me, the Queen Mother, considering the public opinion. This is the long-term solution."
When Princess Jingyi heard her mother mention her marriage, a rare blush appeared on her face.
The Empress Dowager smiled, then thought of Lu Bingzhi, the protagonist of today's events. She sighed softly and said, "If it weren't for Lu Bingzhi's status, he would be worthy of my Princess Jingyi. Unfortunately, he's already engaged, and he's the son of Princess Shuning, and he's highly favored by the Emperor. There's no way he can marry a princess."
Princess Jingyi heard her mother mention Lu Bingzhi and shook her head. She whispered, "Prince Lu seems too aloof. I'm afraid he's even more sullen in private. Even if he wasn't of this status, his personality is still too boring. Jingyi doesn't want a sullen man as her consort."
"He's just aloof and aloof. He doesn't take anything to heart and puts himself on a pedestal. He won't cry or make a fuss. That's why the poisoning incident was just forgotten. Now, if the rumors hadn't spread so widely, I'm afraid it would be the same as last time. Even if others heard about it in the future, they wouldn't take it to heart, and it would just be more gossip to tell behind his back."
"My daughter doesn't like Lu Bingzhi's temper."
The Empress Dowager took a sip of tea, her eyes becoming more complex. "How do you know these rumors weren't spread by Lu Bingzhi?"
Princess Jingyi stood there in a daze for a moment, her eyes wide open in surprise.
She subconsciously retorted, "How is that possible? Lu Bingzhi is a man of such character. Even if he's unhappy, he probably wouldn't make such a shameful thing known to everyone. Besides, he doesn't like Cui Linghui. He probably thinks that Xiao Ze and Cui Linghui's behavior is really shameful and a joke."
The Empress Dowager spoke meaningfully, "Even clay has its temper, and Lu Bingzhi is no clay man. If you repeatedly displease him, he's not stupid, and he'll definitely fight back. As a result, once the rumors started, Imperial Concubine Shu had no choice but to kneel in the Cining Palace courtyard and apologize. Xiao Ze hasn't returned to the palace yet, so I'm afraid he doesn't know the news yet. If he did, he'd probably regret it like crazy, thinking he'd done something stupid and gotten himself into trouble."
"We mother and daughter should just watch the show. Jingyi, you too, stay in your own palace and live your own life. Don't get involved in this."
After hearing her mother's instructions, Princess Jingyi nodded in agreement.
That night, the palace was not peaceful. Concubine Shu was kneeling in the Cining Palace and refused to be summoned by the Empress Dowager.
As soon as the Second Prince Xiao Ze arrived at the farm, guards came in hurriedly and reported to him the rumors in the capital.
Xiao Ze's face was extremely grim. He slammed the wine jug in his hand to the ground and said angrily, "Lu Bingzhi, isn't he aloof and arrogant? Now he's actually trying to play this trick on me, the prince?"
The guard sighed inwardly and advised, "Your Highness, please return to the palace with me as soon as possible. The Imperial Concubine must be very worried right now. If Your Highness returns early, you can discuss with her how to handle this matter."
Xiao Ze's face looked grim but he had no choice but to rush back to the capital with his men. He just made it back to the palace before the palace gates were locked and went directly to Zhaoyang Palace.
At this time, Concubine Shu was still kneeling in the Cining Palace and had not returned. Only the senior palace maid Yurui was in the palace, making it seem particularly deserted.
Seeing the Second Prince return, Yu Rui hurriedly bowed and greeted him: "This servant greets His Highness."
Xiao Ze showed a bit of impatience on his face and asked in a cold voice: "Where is my mother?"
Yu Rui's face paled, and a thin layer of sweat formed on her forehead. She hesitated, as if she was afraid of Xiao Ze's anger, but she, a servant, dared not conceal such a serious matter. She whispered, "When the Imperial Concubine heard about what His Highness did at the banquet, she felt uneasy and guilty, so she took Nanny Duan to the Cining Palace to apologize to the Empress Dowager."
"It's just that the Empress Dowager is furious. Your Highness has been kneeling in the courtyard of the Cining Palace for almost two hours. I don't know if the Empress Dowager has summoned you yet."
When Xiao Ze heard this, his face suddenly turned ashen, and then he felt embarrassed.
He said angrily, "Mother is a noble concubine after all. Why do you always apologize for your crimes? Even if this prince really humiliated Lu Bingzhi, Cui Linghui has already broken off the engagement with Lu Bingzhi, and Lu Bingzhi has married a new wife. Is there any way to stop Cui Linghui from falling in love with this prince?"
"He is just the son of Princess Shuning. Doesn't the Empress Dowager think that a grandson like him is more noble than this prince, her own biological grandson?" Xiao Ze said, waving his hand and pushing the teacup on the table to the ground. The teacup made a crisp sound when it fell to the ground, and the hall was suddenly in a mess.
"Your Highness, please calm down!" Yu Rui's face changed and she knelt on the ground with a thud.
At this time, Xiao Ze did not feel guilty because Concubine Shu went to the Cining Palace to apologize to the Empress Dowager for what he had done. Instead, he felt that Concubine Shu's behavior really brought shame to them and their son, and made the harem and the former court look down on them.
Although my mother is not favored by my father, her position is the most honorable after that of the empress. Is she really asking to be humiliated and humiliated?
In his opinion, even if his father would be angry this time, he was still his father's biological son after all. Could he completely dislike his biological son because of this?
After the last test, Xiao Ze felt that Lu Bingzhi's weight in his father's heart was not as important as he thought. This time, he would at most be caned by his father. He would rather be caned than see his biological mother kneeling in the Cining Palace to apologize. He didn't want people to think that they and their son were inferior to Lu Bingzhi, the prince of Weiguo.
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