15 Concubine Chen
◎Childhood sweethearts, but failed to get what they wanted.◎
Xu Qinghe decided to hold back for the time being.
Queen Wei did not clearly point out who the person she met last night was, so she didn't have to rush to identify him.
If someone really caught her meeting Wei Che and informed the Queen, since Queen Wei did not explicitly mention him today, it meant that she had a backup plan. She only needed to wait and see what happened.
If she had just said it casually today, as an elder of the Wei family teasing her nephew and the princess who was very likely to become her future niece-in-law, then there was no need for her to worry.
On the second day of the first lunar month, according to the rules of the Daying Dynasty, married princesses needed to bring their husbands to the palace, pay their respects to the empress dowager, and then go to pay their respects to their own mothers.
Princess Jing'an naturally had to enter the palace as well. When she arrived, Xu Qinghe was still in the empress dowager's warm room and had just paid her respects to the empress dowager as usual.
Queen Mother Wei had no feelings for this granddaughter. She casually asked whether everything was going well for the couple after their marriage and then let her go.
Queen Wei had already appeared yesterday, and today she again claimed to be ill and refused to see guests. Xu Qinghe and Princess Jing'an skipped the Queen and went directly to the palace of Jing'an's biological mother.
"Why are you here alone today? Where is your husband?"
Xu Qinghe let Jing'an hold her hand, and their attendants followed about ten steps behind them. The two sisters walked hand in hand, lowering their voices, and what they said was known only to you and me.
Just now, when Empress Dowager Wei saw Princess Jing'an coming to pay her respects alone in the warm room, her face looked unhappy.
Jing'an's son-in-law is now the deputy commander of the Imperial Guards. The current commander of the Imperial Guards is old and will step down soon. At that time, this son-in-law will naturally become the commander of the Imperial Guards and be in charge of the military power of the central Imperial Guards.
He also married the emperor's daughter, who was obviously from Emperor Yongshun's side.
But no matter what, he is still a junior in front of Queen Dowager Wei. How can he not come to pay his respects?
Although Queen Mother Wei had not asked or blamed them just now, her unhappiness was already written on her face, and Xu Qinghe and Jing'an could see it clearly.
Not to mention Queen Mother Wei, even Xu Qinghe felt a little dissatisfied when she saw Qi Sheng leaving the princess alone to return to the palace to visit her relatives on such an important day.
Princess Jing'an didn't care at all, and instead spoke to excuse her husband:
"It's because of your assassination attempt a month ago. Father came and determined that either spies from the Nanyi Kingdom had infiltrated the city, or that some of the ministers were plotting something bad. He detained Qi Sheng for several days without rest. With so many things to do at the beginning of the year, he dared not slack off. He required Qi Sheng to be by his side every day to protect him."
Emperor Yongshun had been the emperor for nearly forty years, but for the first decade or so he was just a puppet in name only, without any power at all. Now he had finally seized a lot of power from Empress Dowager Wei and had most of his own power. Naturally, he was unwilling to lose his life at such an important moment and not enjoy it.
Xu Qinghe didn't care how worried he was about his life, but she also hoped that the emperor could live longer, at least until she could overturn the case for the Xie family and find out the real mastermind behind the deaths of her father, mother, and 50,000 soldiers.
"Qinghe, speaking of what happened a month ago, I still have something to tell you."
Jing'an tugged at Xu Qinghe's sleeve, and the latter tilted his head and listened carefully.
"You were assassinated on your birthday. Within ten days, Qi Sheng had already identified the assassin. He reported it to the emperor, but he told him not to make it public."
Xu Qinghe was a little surprised. Does this mean that Emperor Yongshun knew that the Cen family was trying to rely on the Wei family?
"Since he knew the assassin was sent by the Cen family, why did he still worry about his life all day long?"
Princess Jing'an shook her head. "I don't know about that. Qi Sheng never told me, but he thinks you're... a victim? That's what he said. He thinks you have the right to know the truth. Last night, he specifically asked me to tell you this."
Little did he know that his wife and Xu Qinghe had already guessed this.
But judging from this incident, it is enough to prove that Qi Sheng is a man of integrity. Xu Qinghe nodded and accepted the kindness of the prince consort: "He still wants me to know the truth for your sake. It's all thanks to Jing'an."
Jing'an lowered her head and didn't answer, but her earlobes were visibly pink.
The two of them talked all the way and didn't feel the time was long. When they came to their senses, they had already arrived at the palace of Concubine Jing'an.
Princess Jing'an's mother's surname was Lan and her name was Yuanping. Although her mother's family was just a very inconspicuous fifth-rank official's family in the capital, her current position was Chen Fei, second only to Empress Wei and Concubine Zhao.
It is said that Lan Yuanping had been engaged to her distant cousin when she was young. The two grew up together as childhood sweethearts and would get married after she reached the age of 15.
However, in an accident later, Concubine Chen accidentally saved Emperor Yongshun who was on a secret tour. Emperor Yongshun fell in love with this beautiful and intelligent girl at first sight. After returning to the palace, he sent people to find out her background. In the end, he forced her into the palace despite the fact that she had already been engaged.
The Lan family was very happy to have a queen in the family, and they canceled the marriage with their cousin's family overnight.
Lan Yuanping was unwilling in her heart and even thought about eloping with her cousin and leaving the capital or refusing to obey, but in the end, under the persuasion of her family elders, she entered the palace for the so-called family honor.
As soon as she entered the palace, she was loved by Emperor Yongshun, but because she had someone else in her heart, Lan Yuanping was always indifferent to Emperor Yongshun.
Emperor Yongshun later realized that this woman's heart could not be warmed, so he sent her to live in the most remote palace and never called her to sleep with him again.
Lan Yuanping was happy and at ease. She finally didn't have to force herself to smile at the murderer who had destroyed her happiness every day. Even though everyone in the palace was a flatterer and looked down on the weak, many people came to kick her when she was down, which made her suffer a lot of cold stares.
But why should she fear the cold stares of others when her heart is dead? In the midst of other people's ridicule, she actually lives a better life.
She thought that she would spend her days in the cold palace like this, but who would have thought that two months later, she was diagnosed with pregnancy.
The dark days in her eyes suddenly seemed to have hope. When Jing'an was born, she devoted herself to raising her daughter. Later, when Xu Qinghe entered the palace, no concubine in the palace wanted to take on this thankless job, so it was finally thrown to Lan Yuanping.
The three of them lived in a remote palace and originally lived a peaceful life. However, the eldest princess of Concubine Zhao held a grudge against Xu Qinghe because she was outdone by him at a palace banquet. She caused a lot of trouble to the three of them, both openly and secretly. She even forced Jing'an, who was already sick, to go to the lake to look for her fallen hairpin in the cold winter.
By the time Xu Qinghe learned about this, Jing'an had been running in the water for nearly two hours, but the eldest princess was still standing by and would not let her get up.
Xu Qinghe had no choice but to push the eldest princess into the lake. He then went into the river himself to pull Jing'an out and send her back to the palace.
Jing'an developed a high fever that night, but Concubine Zhao held a grudge against her. Not only did she make Xu Qinghe kneel outside the door, she also strictly forbade the imperial physician to treat Jing'an.
Lan Yuanping had no other choice but to beg at Emperor Yongshun's door for a whole night. Finally, he softened his heart and sent an imperial physician to treat Jing'an, saving her life.
After this incident, Lan Yuanping finally realized the importance of the emperor's grace. Even though she was unwilling in her heart, for the sake of her daughter's better life and no longer having to worry about her life, she had no choice but to take the initiative to accept the emperor's favor again. Finally, she finally climbed to the position of Chen Fei.
But when the night was quiet, she would always think that if she had not rescued Emperor Yongshun, she might have been living a happy life with her cousin now, instead of being the concubine in the harem who had no freedom and could not even control her daughter's marriage.
When they reached the entrance of Concubine Chen's palace, Xu Qinghe suddenly stopped and said, "I'll accompany you here. You can go and meet the Empress."
She was in the palace and had plenty of opportunities to meet Concubine Chen, so why bother disturbing the affection between mother and daughter?
"Why, Qinghe, won't you go with me?"
Concubine Chen felt sorry for Xu Qinghe because she lost both her parents at a young age and became an orphan. She was sent to this deep palace and she raised her sincerely for a period of time.
Also, because she had saved Jing'an's life, Concubine Chen always treated her like a half-daughter.
But she was not his biological daughter after all, and she would feel uncomfortable going with him, and she would miss her mother who had died in battle.
"I simply didn't want to stay in the Empress Dowager's palace any longer, so I deliberately came out with you. Now that my goal has been achieved, you can go see the Empress Chen."
After she left, Xu Qinghe took Nanzhi back.
On the way back, she had to pass by the Imperial Garden and Concubine Zhao's palace. In order to avoid trouble, she decided to take a detour and go around them.
Who would have thought that before he had even gotten far, someone covered his mouth and nose and dragged him into the rockery.
The person who restrained her thought she would struggle and was prepared to protect herself, but she was so quiet and even signaled Nanzhi not to make a sound.
"Isn't the princess afraid?"
A man's warm breath came from above his head. Xu Qinghe nudged the man's ribs with his elbow, signaling him to let go.
Turning around, she saw the person in front of her with a figure as beautiful as jade, but wearing a bright red dress that was particularly eye-catching. At this moment, he looked down at her with a smile on his face. Those eyes full of affection, who else could it be but Wei Che?
Nanzhi was already outside keeping watch on the two of them. Xu Qinghe straightened his messed-up clothes and said calmly, "Your Highness, why not change the scent you're wearing before trying this unexpected trick again?"
Wei Che raised his sleeve and smelled it, and it was indeed the scent of spring in the snow.
"The princess has a very sensitive nose."
Xu Qinghe replied, "It's because the prince's scent is too strong."
After thinking about it, Xu Qinghe decided to tell him what happened yesterday: "My private meeting with the prince on New Year's Eve may have been known to the Queen."
"Oh? Why do you say that, Princess?"
Xu Qinghe then relayed to him the words that Queen Wei had said yesterday to show her concern for him. Wei Che listened with his lips still curled up, but the smile in his eyes had faded.
"One or two of them, they are all from the Wei family. Wouldn't they be able to speak without Wei Ming?"
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