A maid entered the room and bowed to the Empress, saying, "Your Majesty, Consort Shuzhen has arrived."
"Let her in," the Queen said.
The Empress thought that Shuzhen's visit this time was mostly about Hongshi. Just thinking about Hongshi gave her a headache; none of these people could give her any peace of mind.
Shuzhen went into the room and knelt directly in front of the Empress.
"Aunt, please help Prince. Shuzhen has no other choice but to come to you. Since he was released from prison a few days ago, Prince has become self-destructive. No matter how I try to persuade him, he won't listen. He just drinks every day. Now the manor has stopped paying his salary, and all his so-called friends have disappeared. Without money coming in, the manor is running into deficit every day. The manor has already started laying off staff. All the maids around me have left. I have no other choice but to come to you for help."
The Empress understood Shuzhen's meaning—she wanted money. The Empress gave the maid a wink, and the maid understood and turned to leave.
The Empress said to Shuzhen, who was kneeling on the ground, "What kind of wife are you? Are you just going to watch him degenerate into a useless person? Why don't you try to persuade him?"
Shuzhen cried and said, "It was no use trying to persuade him! He wouldn't listen at all. I thought that if Prince was in a bad mood and wanted to drink, he might get better in a few days. But who would have thought that not only did it not get better, but it got even worse."
The Empress sighed helplessly, "You lot! None of you give me any peace of mind. You can't help me at crucial moments, all you do is cause trouble."
"Shuzhen knows she was wrong, and Shuzhen didn't want to cause trouble for her aunt," Shuzhen said.
Just then, the maid who had gone out earlier returned with some silver notes and handed them to Shuzhen, who was kneeling on the ground.
Shuzhen accepted it: "Thank you, Aunt. I will go back and make sure everyone in the household is settled."
The Empress didn't want to argue with her, and said calmly, "Shuzhen, get up first. I know you've been having a hard time lately. Don't blame me. You should know that it's not that I don't want to help you. You are my niece, and Hongshi is my adopted son. You two are closely related to me. Take this money back and get back on your feet."
Shuzhen remained kneeling on the ground and said, "Shuzhen has never blamed her aunt. Shuzhen only begs her aunt to help Prince."
The Empress said, "How do you want me to help him?"
"Please, Aunt, beg the Emperor to restore his title of Prince," Shuzhen said.
The Empress couldn't help but mock Shuzhen's foolishness, "Not long ago, the Emperor personally ordered Hongshi to be demoted to a commoner. How could he be reinstated so quickly? Even if the Emperor did agree, the court officials would not agree, and the people of the world would certainly not agree! Besides, the Emperor is the Son of Heaven. How could he go back on his word so quickly? You go back first and persuade Hongshi to cheer up. As long as you're alive, you can always make a comeback."
Shuzhen became anxious and said, "But if Aunt doesn't restore Prince's title, he will be completely ruined. He drinks heavily every day and won't listen to anyone. I only tried to persuade him to stop drinking, and he even tried to hit me."
The Empress was surprised; she hadn't expected Hongshi to turn out like this: "He actually tried to hit you; he's becoming more and more useless."
Shuzhen said, "He doesn't care about that anymore. All he thinks about is alcohol. He doesn't care about anything else. He even said..."
"What else is there to say..." the Empress asked sternly.
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