Zhou Qiongyue still hated the New Year celebrations as much as she had over the years. She basically had to spend the New Year holidays in the palace, and the various New Year ceremonies were a hassle.
Fortunately, she no longer has to worry about the household affairs of the palace, and Zhou Qiongyue also adheres to the principle that if Gong Lianyu doesn't ask, she won't interfere.
Just wait with Yuan Bohua to attend the New Year's Eve banquet.
If we were to say what was different about this year's New Year's Eve banquet, it was probably that this year, from the eldest prince to the seventh prince, all of them had their own houses, got married and entered the court, and the fight for the throne entered the open daylight stage.
But it is precisely because of this that Zhou Qiongyue has high expectations for this year's New Year's Eve banquet, and she is waiting to watch the excitement.
With the hope of seeing something exciting today, Zhou Qiongyue and her group left early. As soon as they sat down in the main hall, the princes came over one by one to greet them.
Zhou Qiongyue just needs to remain cool throughout the whole process, and Yuan Bohua will do the rest.
Zhou Qiongyue looked at the bustling scene in the hall calmly.
The most nervous person in the whole place was probably Nanny Gumei. She kept an eye on the princess and the prince's eating the entire time, not daring to be careless.
If we were to ask who Zhou Qiongyue favored as the crown prince, it would undoubtedly be the eldest prince, Li Chengyan. This was mainly because Zhou Qiongyue had a good relationship with the empress, and Yuan Chaochang had been the eldest prince's study companion. The Fu'an Palace secretly supported the eldest prince.
However, on the surface, Yuan Bohua and Zhou Qiongyue have not been involved in state affairs for many years, and they treat all the princes equally and with distance.
In order to avoid suspicion, Zhou Qiongyue rarely even entered the palace in recent years.
This New Year's Eve banquet did not disappoint Zhou Qiongyue's expectations. The excitement never stopped from the moment the emperor announced its start.
Either the concubine vomited and was found to be pregnant. Or the prince vomited and was found to be poisoned. There were also concubines who sprained their ankles, got drunk, performed dances, and the daughters of ministers showed off their talents. Various princes requested concubines, all hoping to strengthen their power.
The excitement was truly unstoppable from beginning to end, with one concubine discovering she was pregnant after spotting her blood after her dance. Zhou Qiongyue and Princess Yongchun were both fascinated by the scene.
They both felt that these antics were much more interesting than the performances of the dancers in the middle.
Everyone in the palace wanted to achieve their own goals through this grand banquet, but Zhou Qiongyue secretly observed the emperor's expression.
Zhou Qiongyue felt that although the emperor was always smiling, based on her understanding of the emperor, she felt that the emperor was getting more and more angry.
Zhou Qiongyue silently lit a stick of incense for these noisy people in her heart, but it did not affect her interest in watching the fun.
Anyway, as long as these conspiracies and intrigues don't affect them, it's fine.
In previous years, the emperor would always sit with his ministers until the end. However, this year, the banquet was only half over when the emperor and his people left.
Zhou Qiongyue guessed that the emperor was afraid that if he continued to sit there, who knows how much trouble he would cause. The emperor didn't want everyone to watch the royal family's excitement.
The emperor passed away early, and of course Zhou Qiongyue and the others also left early, so this year was unprecedented in that the party ended the earliest on New Year's Eve in recent years.
Zhou Qiongyue and the others returned to the palace and ate some hot food in their respective rooms. Then Zhou Qiongyue and Yuan Bohua went to bed.
After returning home, Yuan Chaochang and Gong Lianyu went to see a few children first, and then went back to the yard to eat something before resting.
Yuan Chaokang and Ren Xiyu also went to see their children as soon as they returned home. When they were away from home, what they were most worried about were the children in the mansion.
Yuan Bohua was the late emperor's adopted son, and he would be attending the imperial ancestral worship ceremony tomorrow morning. Zhou Qiongyue, on the other hand, was going to the palace to pay her respects to the empress, as would many other ladies of state.
The next day, when the emperor led the royal family to worship their ancestors, everyone could clearly feel that the emperor was in a much better mood.
No one thought much about it, thinking it was because of the Chinese New Year.
But when offering sacrifices to the ancestors, the emperor directly handed the incense in his hand to the eldest prince Li Chengyan. This was the last test before the emperor appointed the eldest prince as the crown prince.
Everyone and the eldest prince were stunned. Fortunately, the eldest prince was smart and steadied his shaking hands. He imitated his father's ancestor worship in previous years, performed the whole process of worship, and finally lit the incense steadily.
After this whole process, the eldest prince's clothes were soaked. He didn't know what his father meant by this, and at this moment he had no brain to figure out what his father meant.
The other princes present, seeing their eldest brother's actions, all wished they could take his place.
The royal family members kneeling below, including Yuan Bohua, were also guessing what the emperor meant.
However, the emperor did not make everyone wait for long. After the eldest prince Li Chengyan lit the incense, the emperor saw that there was no change in the sky, so he gave Eunuch Hou a look.
Eunuch Hou immediately took out the imperial edict that the emperor had written long ago, appointing the eldest prince as the crown prince, and read it out in public.
After everyone knelt down to listen to the imperial edict, it can be said that some were happy while others were sad.
The happiest ones are of course the people from the eldest prince's lineage and those who have already sided with the eldest prince. The ones who are worried are those who have sided with other princes.
Although the queen has only one son, the eldest prince, the eldest prince already has four sons, two legitimate sons and two illegitimate sons.
Now that he has been named the crown prince, some people believe that the eldest prince's position as the crown prince is secure.
When Zhou Qiongyue was still in the Queen's Palace, someone came in to announce the good news. Zhou Qiongyue also joined everyone in congratulating the Queen.
The Queen was very happy in her heart, but she still put on a brave face and chatted with these ladies. Her attitude towards these ladies did not change because her son was crowned as the Crown Prince.
The queen always knew what her goal was, and her ultimate goal was to become the queen mother.
The emperor originally thought that by appointing a crown prince, the attacks on each other in the court would be reduced to a great extent.
But things were not as the emperor expected, and there were even signs that the situation was getting worse.
The princes have been fighting for so many years, who would be willing to give up their ambitions that have been aroused!
Finally, the emperor forced them to compete, executed a number of ministers, and imprisoned two princes. Only then was the trend in the court suppressed.
The prince won the contest and the emperor was very satisfied with his performance.
The reason why the prince was able to win so beautifully was that he asked Yuan Chaochang for advice from Yuan Chaokang.
As for why the prince trusted Yuan Chaokang so much, it was because Yuan Chaokang had been backing Yuan Chaochang and indirectly the prince over the years.
After the prince's position was completely secured, the mourning period for the brothers Yuan Chaochang and Yuan Chaokang was also over.
Yuan Chaochang and his wife returned to their previous lives, one working diligently while the other continued to be a playboy.
As soon as the mourning period was over, the women in Yuan Chaokang's backyard became active, especially Ren Xiyu, who ordered people to stop giving them contraceptive soup.
Everyone wanted to have a child quickly, after all, a prince could have two concubines. Now the two concubines in Yuan Chaokang's backyard were both vacant!
The things that Ren Xiyu has to do every day have increased visibly, not to mention that she has three children, the oldest of whom is only 7 years old. It takes a lot of time just to ask each child about what's happening around them every day.
In the end, Ren Xiyu decided to send her two-year-old daughter to be raised by her mother-in-law. She took good care of her two sons, otherwise no matter which one of them got into trouble, she would regret it.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
