90 Chapter 90
◎This person is really good to her heart◎
The Empress Dowager certainly did not get a good result. Not only did she lose the title of great-niece, but the little girl of the Xun family was also sent out of the palace. Li Cheng was not too sentimental. He was no different to his maternal uncle's family. These people usually treated him coldly, but when they saw that he was in power, they all tried to get benefits from him.
Not to mention that he still remembered that when the Empress Dowager was the Dowager Consort, she worked hard to make him money and spent it without any regret. But now in the palace, he didn't see her giving gifts to the Crown Prince and the Second Prince.
It is said that the emperor is rich, but his wealth does not mean you can always take advantage of him. Huiyin understands this truth. Li Cheng is a person of excellent character. He always has a simple sense of justice. Why Huiyin can have such a good relationship with him is because she feels that he respects her as his legal wife from the beginning.
Xun Rou had been fought back by Huiyin before, and she stayed away from her when she saw her methods again last time. When she heard that her niece was sent back home from the palace, her fear deepened.
During this month, Huiyin's condition has improved a lot. She is in good spirits and has started to take care of palace affairs. Jiang Bibo sent a special sign to visit her and also brought in some top-quality thousand-year-old ginseng.
"I am just suffering from a minor pregnancy ailment. Why do I need such a heavy dose of ginseng? You should take it back and keep it."
Seeing that the Queen did not take the ginseng seriously, Jiang Bibo knew that her role was beginning to slowly fade away. She used to have a lot of advantages. At that time, Prince Huaiyin was raising an army and needed money. The Prince's Mansion looked well-maintained, but in fact it was empty inside. So every time she wanted to accomplish something and took out money, Zheng would definitely take the money to do the job.
But now, the emperor has ascended the throne, and all taxes from various places have been collected by the central government. As the first person in the harem, the Empress has countless rare treasures for her to enjoy. Therefore, even if she took such a thick and good ginseng, the Empress would not take it seriously.
She was a smart woman, and she was born into a merchant family, so her sense of smell was more acute than that of men, so she smiled and said, "Your Majesty, you are joking. I hired someone to dig these ginsengs in Liaodong and gave them to you. Please fulfill my wish. If I take the ginsengs back, my uncle will blame me again."
Huiyin understood the implication of her words. What she meant was that Guo Zhao asked her to do almost all these things and she had no choice but to do them.
She didn't want to embarrass Jiang Bibo, so she gave him two boxes of food: "Take these for the children."
Jiang Bibo immediately took his leave and didn't dare to stay.
However, she was also very good at dealing with people. She sent a box of purple ginseng from the carriage to the Zheng family. When Ji saw her sending something, she quickly declined: "You always send such things every time you come. It's really unnecessary."
It was worth it to have this godson, especially since Jiang Bibo was now a countess and her relationship with her family remained the same as before, and she never took advantage of others.
Jiang Bibo said, "If it weren't for the Empress and your family supporting me, I wouldn't be here."
"Don't say that. It's obviously you who are blessed. Come in and have a cup of tea." Ji invited her in.
Jiang Bibo said hurriedly: "I will definitely come to your house next time. I just came back from the palace and I have things to do at home."
As a result, Ji did not stay any longer. Just after seeing Jiang Bibo off, she saw her eldest daughter-in-law Xin and Dong coming to pay their respects. Today was the first day of the new year, and it was also the day Ji had set for paying respects.
Xin felt guilty after the marriage, but she was Pei Shuo's first wife and had an eldest son and daughter. Even if they were angry, they would not divorce her. Therefore, she was humble now, and when Ji's anger subsided, who would dare to say anything?
"Madam, do you have any guests here?" asked Xin.
Ji said, "It's Madam Guo who's here. She's quite nice. Even though she's the wife of an earl, she rarely puts on airs."
"You are the Duchess, the biological mother of the Empress. Who dares to put on airs in front of you?" Xin knew that Ji was warning her, so she could only answer as if she didn't understand.
Ji smiled and said, "Although I am the wife of a duke, there are countless nobles in the capital. We must be careful in what we say and do. Aren't there many examples of people who lose everything because of one wrong move?"
Mrs. Dong, who was sitting at the bottom, felt confused when she heard their fighting and had no idea what was going on.
Obviously, Ji had other things to do, so she just scolded Xin a few words and let her go. Xin had been the head of the family for a long time. Her son was the crown prince and her daughter was doted on by the empress. They were in a completely different situation. She was being humble just to show everyone. After leaving Zheng's house, she shook her clothes, held her head high, and walked into the carriage holding Dong's hand.
After the carriage started, Xin realized what she had forgotten. Cui Yuehuan, yes, it seemed that she had not seen her sister-in-law today.
Cui Yuehuan had just returned from the temple, and immediately went to Ji's room, "Madam, I have asked someone to perform a ritual to save the dead again, and I have also taken out three Buddhist scriptures that were offered in front of the Buddha."
"Well, thank you for your hard work. Actually, I wouldn't be afraid if she cursed me, but if anything happened to the queen, I would be the one to blame." Ji was worried when she remembered that her daughter was pregnant.
Cui Yuehuan sighed, "Don't worry, your Majesty is blessed by heaven, and nothing will happen to her."
Ji was only worried about her daughter and didn't care about anything else. Zheng Fang, who was older, said to Ji: "I don't know what you are so worried about. She's dead, what else can you do?"
"You are not worried, but I am." Ji still found it difficult to comment.
In fact, Zheng Fang was not completely heartless, he was still a little scared: "This Xu is a bit weird, always speaking and doing things in a sinister way, and now she has come to this point and she has done this."
Ji was originally grumbling in her heart, but after hearing what Zheng Fang said, she suddenly became more confident: "What are you afraid of? No wonder you have been away from home these days. I am here, so there is no need to panic. The queen is the one destined by heaven, she will be fine, and our family will be fine too."
Zheng Fang heaved a sigh of relief when he saw Ji like this.
In fact, Ji was still worried that Madam Xu and Deyin were secretly doing something, so she asked Cui Yuehuan to help keep an eye on them these days. Fortunately, the two of them were only concerned about their sadness now, otherwise, she would have to take preemptive action.
Deyin certainly would not do anything to Zheng Fang and Ji. After she was sad, she was more worried about her own health. If she could not be cured, she would not be happy even if she remarried. If a woman did not have children, she would not be respected if she married someone else. Why could her sister be favored? Even if she could give birth, if the baby in her belly was a son, then it would be the third prince.
If a queen can give birth to three healthy princes, even if only one of them is useless, her position will be stable.
If Ji hadn't given birth to a son, she wouldn't have been able to stay at home. Her mother was at fault for not having a son, so everything would have to wait until she recovered. As for Madam Xu, she really hated Ji, but it was not easy to kill her. Moreover, if Ji died, it would be difficult to fool the Empress in the palace. If she knew that she was the one who did it, would she still be able to survive?
I only heard these things from Ji after Huiyin gave birth to a princess.
At that time, she had already finished her confinement. When she heard Ji say this, she just said, "If I can succeed by cursing anyone, there are many people in the world who don't like me, but they still can't get rid of me."
Take the Empress Dowager for example. She is not afraid of the villains who want to use this method to curse her. People who do this just show that they are already impotent and furious.
Ji opened her mouth and said, "I don't have the strong will of the queen, and I almost ruined the matter. Fortunately, your brother persuaded me."
"My younger brother has grown up and is able to take care of family matters. I feel relieved to hear that." Huiyin gave birth to a daughter this time. She suffered a lot when she was pregnant with the child, but after giving birth, Huiyin recovered quickly. Her husband and sons at home especially liked this girl.
But she is not strong-willed at all. In fact, she can be fragile, but her fragility will be alleviated only when Li Cheng is by her side.
Seeing Huiyin's good complexion, Ji put her hands together again and said, "Your Majesty, I just hope you are well."
Huiyin knew that Ji was sincere to her, so she just smiled and said, "I'm fine, don't worry. The emperor is busy with state affairs now, but he comes to see the princess every day after court. Our family is together every day. I'm really fine now."
In fact, she was originally very afraid. She was afraid that she would grow old and lose her beauty, and that her sons would be disobedient and seize the throne when they grew up. She might have had many concerns, but after seeing her daughter was born, she really let go of many things.
Although people who don't think about the future will have immediate worries, people should always live in the present. If they only think about the bad things in everything, they will let down Li Cheng's love for her.
After the confinement period, Li Cheng had the altar rebuilt for Huiyin. It was the first time Huiyin had sex with silkworms three years after the emperor took power. She felt that it was a bit too grand: "Our treasury has just become more abundant, and they are holding such a grand sex with silkworms for me. I'm afraid it's not a good idea, right?"
"What's wrong with that? Almost all of your dowry was used up in the harem. You just took out a little bit of the money in our inner treasury to show off, so that everyone would think we were wealthy and wouldn't turn against us. Now we've been at war for the past two years, and then you gave birth to a child. I can't just let you be a queen in name only." Li Cheng really thought Huiyin was intelligent. She was not an ordinary woman. It was a pity that such a woman was completely buried in the harem and only became a Zheng in future history books.
It's just that my wife has never received any instruction from a man, so she looks a little immature, but she still has some skills.
He had already fought in the battlefield before he was twenty, and now he is thirty years old. He is still as vigorous as a dragon and a tiger, and his old illness may relapse in the future. The prince is still young and cannot control those old ministers. So the only one who has authority and status is his wife.
Huiyin raised her eyes to look at him, and felt that this man was really good to her heart. In the past, she thought that Li Cheng was just talking, after all, the ethics were strict and there were very few women in power, but now she believed that what he said was true.