After Chu Jinlin and his brothers entered the mansion, they discussed things in the front hall.
Princess Kang was determined not to give a dowry, not because she was greedy for money, but because she could not bear the humiliation, especially after knowing that Chu had caused her son to have no descendants.
So he made up an excuse with a dark face: "Chen Ge'er is still here, and Chu's dowry will all be given to Chen Ge'er in the future."
Chu Jinlin glanced at Rong Shi and said, "Chen'er's mother is not from the Chu family, so he naturally has his current mother's dowry to use."
Rong: "Does the Duke of Chu want to sever ties with Brother Chen?"
Chu Jinlin raised his eyebrows: "It sounds like it has something to do with me and Brother Chen."
He had to rely on his sister, the queen.
Rong didn't expect that the Duke of Chu's Mansion was so short-sighted. The Queen is pregnant now, but giving birth is like giving birth to a child. It is hard to say whether the child can grow up healthily. There may be a glimmer of hope for Chen'er.
Seeing that Rong Shi was unable to speak up after being choked, Princess Kang also hated this useless thing. Why did she take Chu Shi out properly, but let the matter get out of control?
She did get rid of the Chu family, and then made the palace a topic of conversation among the people after dinner. I'm afraid the palace has become a hot topic again today.
I heard that more and more people were gathering at the door, and soon everyone took the lead and spontaneously clamored for the palace to return the dowry.
After Princess Kang found out, she gritted her teeth and ordered someone to send Chu's dowry back. The Chu and Jinlin brothers held their heads high as if they had won a battle. They didn't expect it to be so easy.
Rong's heart was bleeding. She asked Princess Kang in confusion, "It was clearly the Chu family who made the mistake first. The one who married the prince was a fake daughter, and now they have the nerve to take back the dowry."
Princess Kang glared at him and said, "What if we don't give it to you? Are we going to let the people watching at the gate laugh at us for coveting someone else's dowry?"
But I would never let her have an easy time, so she immediately changed into the imperial uniform and went to the palace to ask to see the emperor.
When the Duke of Chu heard about the good things his son had done, he also wanted to go to the palace to apologize, but the emperor did not see him.
At this time, Qi Mu was accompanying Dan Ruo in the imperial garden to bask in the sun. When he heard that Duke Chu had requested an audience, he refused without a second thought. Feeling sorry for his little queen, he held Dan Ruo in his arms and whispered in her ear, "From now on, I will love you as much as I love my own child. You have the wholehearted love of me and my child."
Dan Ruo nodded. He now controlled her like a father controls his child. He didn't allow her to eat spicy food or drink cold drinks, and he would cover her with the quilt that had been kicked away at any time at night.
Qi Mu's breath fell on her neck, it was so hot, she wanted to break free. She was particularly afraid of heat now. Qi Mu had a high body temperature, and she felt irritated when he got close to her.
Fortunately, Qi Mu always paid attention to her condition and they separated after they had their fun.
Rong Zhaoyuan, standing in the distance, was filled with jealousy. The emperor had never been so gentle before. When the emperor hugged her, she actually turned a blind eye. If the emperor could hold her, she would be so happy. If the emperor could make the queen pregnant, then he could naturally make her pregnant. She had to find an opportunity.
The next morning, without waiting for the emperor to speak, the perceptive Censor Qi told him about yesterday's farce.
When his family affairs were brought up in the court, Prince Kang's face turned as dark as the bottom of a pot.
All the imperial censors criticized the Duke of Chu for not managing his family properly, marrying his daughter off twice, and deceiving the royal family into marriage. This was already a mess, and now he was even trampling on the royal family's reputation.
It was useless for Duke Chu to claim that he was not aware of the matter. The matter of his son and adopted daughter was definitely closely related to the Duke's Mansion.
The censor had finally caught such an absurd incident, so of course he wanted to show his value to the royal family as much as possible. Seeing this opportunity, the Yingyang Marquis Mansion, the family of the deceased first wife, also took advantage of it.
The final result was that the hereditary title of Duke of Chu was revoked and he was dismissed from his official position.
The Duke of Chu turned pale all of a sudden. He didn't expect the emperor to punish him so harshly.
He returned to the Duke's Mansion in a daze. The brothers Chu Jinlin and Chu Jinsong originally thought that they had done a great deed by bringing back so much money for their family, but they didn't expect that it would cause their family to lose their titles.
Now, even if the Duke of Chu didn't beat them with a stick, they both felt uncomfortable, especially Chu Jinlin, because he was the eldest son and could inherit the title.
Duke Chu didn't have to go on duty now, and he didn't want to go out and face the contemptuous looks from outside, saying that he had ruined his whole life for a woman named Yang, and had mistaken a fish eye for a pearl.
He didn't want to think about those things, nor did he dare to face Yang. He drank at home every day to drown his sorrows. The brothers Chu Jinlin and Chu Jinsong were having a hard time in the academy because they had offended many children from other aristocratic families before, and their academic performance was also in a state of decline.
Time flies, and it has been six months since Danruo.
During this period, no matter how Rong Zhaoyuan tried to seduce Qi Mu, she was just winking at a fool. Later, Qi Mu found her annoying and simply grounded her.
It was only with the help of the Queen Mother that Rong Zhaoyuan was able to get out, but she didn't dare to hang around Qi Mu again.
She told the empress dowager about her niece, Princess Rong of Kang County, and said that the queen was very scheming, otherwise how could Rong be fooled by the queen? The queen and Chu Xiangxiang had a sisterly fight because of their backgrounds, and ended up being sent to the Kang County Palace.
Moreover, the queen also knows magic, otherwise how could she persuade the emperor to favor her alone, and even after she became pregnant, she still monopolized the emperor.
There is a rumor in the circle now that the Queen is the Goddess of Fertility. Many people who have not been able to conceive for a long time prayed to the Queen and became pregnant.
The ultimate purpose of these words was to let the empress dowager persuade the emperor to treat everyone equally, and at the same time ask the empress to give children to the sisters in the harem.
The Queen Mother thought to herself, “That’s a nice thought. If you were the Queen, would you do this?”
After tricking Rong Zhaoyuan away with a few words, the Queen Mother pondered. She didn't care about having more children in the harem or about equal treatment. What she cared about was who would be the better emperor, the child in Prince Kang's belly or the child in the Queen's belly.
She liked her eldest son, and since he had passed away, she preferred Prince Kang. She originally thought that Prince Kang would just be a rich and idle prince, but the emperor had no children, which gave everyone hope that Prince Kang could ascend to the throne. Now that hope was shattered by several unborn children, Prince Kang was falling from a high place, and he was likely to be ruined.
Although the emperor is also her son, these grandsons have not been born yet and she has not developed any feelings for them. Besides, those who have several children in one birth are basically very weak and a cold may be fatal. The probability of them not being able to survive is too high.
Danruo is now so well protected by the emperor that concubines and unfamiliar eunuchs and palace maids cannot get close to Danruo at all, and the servants in the emperor's palace are also difficult to bribe.
The Queen Mother had no choice but to go into battle herself, and Qi Mu was indeed not on guard against his own mother.
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