Chapter 237: A Generation of Evil Concubines (11)
At this time, Emperor Ping's eyes fell on the palace maid who was serving him. After thinking for a while, he added to the imperial edict: "The concubines and accompanying palace maids can choose to stay or leave on their own."
After drafting the imperial edict, Emperor Ping felt relieved and involuntarily went to Weirui Palace where Shi Yi was.
He didn't know what kind of mood he was in when he said in front of her that he would dismiss the three thousand beauties in the harem and keep only her, but he noticed her expression and there was no change, as if it was within her expectations.
Shi Yi was also surprised that Emperor Ping had changed so quickly. In his previous life, he doted on the original owner so much but he just treated the concubines in the harem as air and never made such a decision. However, since Emperor Ping said it in front of her, the imperial edict must have been written. She thought for a moment and suggested, "Since the emperor has already dismissed the concubines and their accompanying palace maids, why not let the older palace maids in the palace go out and marry on their own?"
As soon as she finished speaking, Emperor Ping realized her true purpose as if he had suddenly realized it.
Since the establishment of the Wu Dynasty, a document has been issued to limit the age of palace maids to 25 years old, while most women in the folk marry at the age of 17 or 18. Therefore, most of the 25-year-old palace maids who leave the palace face the fate of being unable to get married and having to live alone for the rest of their lives. Most of the folks who have daughters who enter the palace as palace maids complain about this.
If the palace maids of marriageable age can be released from the palace, it will definitely cause a much greater shock than dismissing the concubines and the accompanying palace maids.
He immediately took a sedan chair back to his Dayang Palace to draft an edict.
Sure enough, the next day, as soon as Emperor Ping's edict was issued, it caused a shock in the harem, the court, and the people.
When everyone in the harem heard this edict, they all knelt on the ground and shouted loudly, "The emperor is wise." The harem has a clear hierarchy, and there is a huge difference between the favored and the unfavored. Although they came in with the idea of spending their lives in the palace, now they have the opportunity to leave the palace, which immediately ignites their passion for life outside the palace.
For many years, the common people have suffered a lot because of the royal selection of concubines and palace maids. Now they can look forward to their daughters back, which is of course a great blessing. Therefore, they all praised Emperor Ping for his wisdom, and the poets and candidates in the folk sang praises to Emperor Ping for his benevolence like Yao and Shun in ancient times. Even those ministers of the previous dynasty who secretly stood on the side of King Zhaoyang praised Emperor Ping for this move. It is certainly much better for their daughters to leave the palace and marry someone else than to live as widows in the harem.
There are still three days to go before the day of marrying the adopted daughter of the Zhaoyang Palace. Although the old lady is not feeling well, she still forces herself to go to the boudoir of her adopted granddaughter Qin Shuangshuang to advise her.
But Qin Shuangshuang immediately buried her head in the quilt when she saw her enter the room, not wanting to see or listen to her.
"Except for Aunt Zhang, everyone else please leave." The old lady sighed, and with Aunt Zhang's help, she sat down tremblingly beside her bed.
"Grandma, why did you come to see me? I am no longer your biological granddaughter. Your biological granddaughter is being favored by the emperor in the palace." Qin Shuangshuang's face flushed with anger under the quilt. Although she didn't want to enter the palace as a concubine, she didn't want her identity to be taken away by others.
Aunt Zhang was very disappointed with the young lady, but the old lady didn't say anything. Even if she had a lot of things to say in her heart, she couldn't say a word, so she could only stand aside depressed.
"Get up, cover yourself with the quilt, be careful not to hurt yourself." The old lady tried to lift Qin Shuangshuang's quilt, but was pushed by Qin Shuangshuang through the quilt. She had no strength in her hands, and she also stopped thinking about her well.
Her granddaughter was spoiled by her and her old lady to the point of lawlessness. She didn't listen to anyone's words.
Of course, she could understand. Any daughter who has been raised in luxury for seventeen or eighteen years would not be able to accept that her status was suddenly changed by the closest person.
But the most wronged are the Gao family.
"Old lady, may I ask what is the matter with summoning Wei Zhao?" The Zhaoyang King stood tall and graceful outside Qin Shuangshuang's boudoir, looking very bright and sunny.
"Wei Zhao, come in." The old lady said in a serious voice.
Since it was she who spoiled her granddaughter to be like this, it was she who had to correct the spoiled granddaughter.
"Brother Wei Zhao, why are you here?" Hearing that her lover was coming, Qin Shuangshuang immediately turned out from the quilt, staring at him with her eyes, completely like a little girl. Adhering
to the principle of not looking at inappropriate things, the Zhaoyang King bowed his head and greeted both of them, without looking up for a second glance.
The old lady was very satisfied with this grandson who was raised by her own hands. She asked Aunt Zhang to bring a stool for him, clapped her hands and let him sit down next to her.
"There are some things I didn't want to say too clearly, but now I have to break them down and make them clear."
Prince Zhaoyang glanced at the old lady's face and used his hands to signal his sweetheart not to speak. Qin Shuangshuang felt confident seeing her sweetheart here, but couldn't help but be sarcastic.
"What's wrong with the old lady today? Why did you come to talk to me?"
The old lady ignored her and continued, "Two generations of men in the Gao family have devoted themselves to the court and the people, and finally lost their lives on the battlefield. I lost my husband in middle age, and my daughter-in-law lost her husband when she got married. Because of the Gao family's merits to the court, my dead husband and son were posthumously named kings of different surnames by the late emperor, and those of us who are still alive were granted by the late emperor to live in the Chaoyang Palace. But if my husband and son can come back to life, I would rather not have this useless merit."
The old lady's eyes were already red, and Nanny Zhang, who was serving beside her, hurriedly handed the handkerchief in her hand to her, but she pushed it away again.
The old lady looked at her grandson and said with pity: "Your mother, my youngest daughter, was even more pitiful. She passed away at a young age, leaving you, only ten years old, to be tortured in the harem. I really couldn't bear it, so I begged the late emperor to let you live in the Chaoyang Palace. Because of this, you and Shuangshuang fell in love."
"Wei Zhao will be grateful for the old lady's kindness for the rest of his life." Prince Zhaoyang hurriedly held her hand to express his filial piety as a junior.
The old lady looked at her "granddaughter" whom she had raised for eighteen years and finally burst into tears. "Since your mother's affair was exposed, you always blame me for being cruel. But if you knew I was really cruel, I would have secretly poisoned her to death with medicine. Why did I send her to the manor under the pretext of praying for the soul of my deceased husband? I watched you being born and growing up with my own eyes. Regardless of whether there is blood relationship or not, I only have you as my granddaughter. How come you don't understand my painstaking efforts at all? The Chaoyang Palace has no descendants and has long been at the end of the road. It doesn't matter whether you are the legitimate daughter of the Chaoyang Palace. What matters is whether the husband you are going to marry really has only you in his heart."
(End of this chapter)
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