Chapter 154 If your dad is rich, you'll have a bunch of brothers and sisters!
(Thanks to reader 20220730140627196 for casting 3 monthly tickets.)
The Xingsheng Tower in the prefectural city is three stories high, with four doors wide open. Just standing outside and looking at it, you can tell it's a high-class place.
Li Shiyue, who had been standing at someone's door for a while, was struggling internally.
"I feel that it would be unfair to Yan Jiuniang if I were to go to her door to buy information about the Wangfu's interpersonal relationships."
After much deliberation and mental preparation, Li Shiyue went inside anyway.
The first floor of Xingsheng Building is a trading place for bulk goods. If you want to buy or sell information, you have to get a token and go to the second floor.
The five rooms on the left upstairs are for selling information, and the five rooms on the right are for buying information.
Li Shiyue took the sign and entered the third room on the right.
As soon as you enter, a middle-aged man with a short beard standing behind a tall cabinet looks over with a smile.
"Distinguished guest, what would you like to buy?"
Li Shiyue directly asked about the connections within the Zhenbei Prince's Mansion. The man's expression remained unchanged after hearing Li Shiyue's words, and he even asked, "Would you like the best, the middle, or the worst kind of food, esteemed guest?"
Seeing Li Shiyue's puzzled expression, the man explained, "The information in our building is divided into three levels: the highest level is the most detailed and the most timely; the middle level is next; and the lowest level is the worst."
After asking the price, Li Shiyue made a bold purchase and bought a top-quality newsletter. The man climbed a ladder and rummaged through a cabinet in the back, then took out a small booklet bound in yellow paper.
"Honored guest, there is a room on your right inside. You may stay there for an hour to read the news, but you must not copy it."
Half an hour later, simply place the booklet on the tray inside the room, and someone will guide the distinguished guest away.
Li Shiyue took the booklet from the man and walked to the right. There was a row of small houses inside, and she randomly chose one to go in.
With the door closed, the room is only about two feet square, barely big enough for one person to sit in.
If one were more robust, they might only be able to stand.
Li Shiyue was thin, so she sat down and looked at the booklet filled with dense writing on yellow hemp paper by the light coming through the high window of the small room.
She carefully read the news written in the booklet twice, and her mind began to make further speculations about what had happened at the Prince's mansion that day.
According to the pamphlet, it can only be said that this situation was either set up by Prince Zhenbei himself, or it was orchestrated by one of Prince Zhenbei's concubines who had children, in addition to the princess.
If it is the Prince of Zhenbei, then the Prince of Zhenbei's motive lies in the military power held by Liu Tan!
The reputation of the Xuanjia Army was well-known in Andong, and the only general recognized by the Xuanjia Army was Liu Tan.
His son wields more military power than his father. If the Prince of Zhenbei is petty, how could he tolerate it?
Even though the Great Long Dynasty has temporarily entered a period of stability with less war, judging from the obvious chaos that existed before, how many more years can this world remain peaceful?
At this point, it's only natural to want to consolidate power and take control of the military.
Therefore, the Prince of Zhenbei certainly had a motive.
If successful, they could easily remove Liu Tan's military power and replace him with a new heir, leaving the position to the son born to his favorite concubine.
Yes, the pamphlet states that before the Prince of Zhenbei was officially enfeoffed, he married the eldest daughter of a third-rank civil official as his principal wife. A year after their marriage, the principal wife died during childbirth, leaving behind only a baby girl.
Now, that baby girl is long married and has two children.
With the princess dead, it was natural to need to remarry.
But at that time, the Prince of Zhenbei had already been enfeoffed as the Prince of Andong, and Emperor Xianzong Liu Chun had already begun to seek immortality and ask questions. The Prince of Zhenbei had not yet been able to find a suitable wife from a good family.
But the fact that he didn't remarry doesn't mean that the Prince of Zhenbei lacked women.
At this time, Liu Tan's mother was taken into the Prince's mansion by the Prince of Zhenbei. Liu Tan's mother was the illegitimate daughter of the Protector-General of Andong at that time.
At the time of Liu Tan's birth, the Prince of Zhenbei remarried, taking Zhao Changying as his wife.
Zhao Changying came from a noble family in the Guanzhong region. His grandfather was the Grand Secretary and had the ability to directly report to the emperor in secret.
But for some reason, Zhao Changying did not conceive for many years after marrying into the family. On the other hand, the Prince of Zhenbei was not idle. His concubines in the palace had already given birth to three daughters and two sons for him.
At the same time, he also had an affair with a widow from a scholarly family.
This woman is Yan Xuefei, the mother of Yan Jiuniang.
The worst thing was that when the Prince of Zhenbei first met Yan Xuefei, he applied to become a live-in son-in-law with a playful attitude.
He even married Yan Xuefei and lived as an ordinary couple for a month before revealing his true identity.
"How about I take you as my concubine?"
Prince Zhenbei originally thought that granting Yan Xuefei the position of a concubine was already a great favor to this lady from a scholarly family.
But little did he know that Yan Jiuniang's mother was not the kind of person who would passively accept her fate!
If she were her, she wouldn't have insisted on taking a son-in-law after becoming a widow, going against all advice.
Yan's mother simply picked up a broom and swept the Prince of Zhenbei out of the house.
However, a month later, the absence of her period made Yan's mother realize that she might be pregnant. She invited a doctor to the house, and sure enough, she was pregnant.
Upon learning this news, the Prince of Zhenbei came to take another concubine. Enraged, Yan's mother held a gold hairpin to her neck and screamed at the Prince of Zhenbei, "I, Yan Xuefei, will never be a concubine! If you force me again, then let me die!"
At this point, the Prince of Zhenbei gave up the idea of taking Yan Xuefei as a concubine and instead decided to keep Yan's mother as an mistress.
To everyone's surprise, the strict mother did not listen to any orders and went to the nunnery on the mountain with her dowry to become a lay Buddhist. Later, when she was about to give birth, the strict mother returned to the Yan family.
After Yan Jiuniang was born, she took her mother's surname Yan and followed the Yan family's birth order, becoming Yan Jiuniang.
When Yan Jiuniang turned four, Princess Zhao Changying finally became pregnant and gave birth to Liu Shu in February of the following year.
When Liu Shu was five years old, the Prince of Zhenbei petitioned to make him his heir.
At the same time, Zhou, a concubine of the Prince of Zhenbei, gave birth to another son.
This concubine, Lady Zhou, is the one mentioned in the pamphlet, the apple of the eye of the Prince of Zhenbei, his most beloved concubine.
Li Shiyue looked at the summary on the last page of the booklet: "The Prince of Zhenbei is now forty-two years old and has seven sons and seven daughters. His eldest, second, third, and fourth daughters have all married."
The eldest son was already married, while the second and third sons were both born to concubines. After reaching adulthood, they married one after another and were appointed as officials in other places.
The remaining four sons and three daughters are all unmarried.
Finally, Li Shiyue concluded: "If it weren't for the Prince of Zhenbei setting the trap himself, the most likely person to orchestrate this whole affair at the Prince's residence today would be Consort Zhou, who has two children."
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