Chapter 296 Empress Cheng Has Gone Mad
Hongxiu rushed over to help Jiang Fenghua up, her eyes filled with heartache, "Miss, are you alright!"
"It's nothing." Jiang Fenghua stood up, her knee hitting the frame leg and hurting her. Her skin was delicate, and such a bump would probably make it red and purple again.
Empress Cheng, seeing that she couldn't wake her son, cried out anxiously, "Summon the imperial physician! Let the imperial physician come and take a look at Lin Feng. What are you looking at? Hurry up!"
Lin Feng's gaze was on Jiang Fenghua. He watched as the Crown Princess was pushed to the ground by the Empress. Fortunately, Hongxiu reacted quickly and helped her up.
He was stunned, then quickly lowered his head, "I'll go right now."
As Lin Feng was leaving, Lian Ye bumped into him as she entered. He knew Lian Ye's temper; she was very protective of her mistress. However, the person in front of him was the Empress, and he knew her temper even better. Once the Crown Prince was involved, the Empress would go crazy. Therefore, he couldn't afford to offend Lian Ye, a mere maid. The Crown Princess would at most suffer some grievances and that would be the end of it.
So Lin Feng casually pulled her into his arms and carried her out of the bedchamber.
Seeing Jiang Fenghua standing to one side, Empress Cheng said to her, "You are the Crown Princess. How did you manage the Eastern Palace after such a big incident? There are only a few women, and it's already in such a mess. I thought you were polite, sensible, dignified, and elegant, and that you would be able to manage the harem well for Shang'er. I didn't expect it to be in such a mess."
Jiang Fenghua, I trusted you so much, thinking that with you here, you wouldn't let the Eastern Palace descend into chaos. The entire Eastern Palace is in an uproar, noisy and disorderly state, what kind of behavior is this...
You have betrayed my trust, causing Shang'er so much trouble, and now I have to ask him to come back and take charge. He's been working so hard outside that he's fallen ill, and you've been sitting idly in the palace, offering no help whatsoever. How can you be a Crown Princess?
Shang'er is your husband. Serving him well is your duty and responsibility. Everyone in the palace knows that the Crown Prince likes you and dotes on you. What, you won't let him favor other concubines? Keeping a personal maid in his room is my idea. As long as he likes it, you have to prepare one for him.
Can't you even handle such a small thing?
She even instigated the young lady to cause trouble at Chengguang Palace. You are the Crown Princess, yet you don't even have the slightest tolerance for others. What right do you have to be the Crown Princess…
Without asking any questions, Empress Cheng launched into a tirade of angry words, which were also incoherent and rambling.
According to the Empress, Tang Qianran's fight with Lu Xuefei was instigated by Jiang Fenghua, and Ye Susu and Su Tingwan's attempt to spread rumors about Xie Shang keeping a mistress was also her fault.
Even when Consort Song was favored by Xie Shang and returned to discuss how the Crown Prince had hidden a concubine, it was because she hadn't managed the Eastern Palace well. Apparently, she should have gone earlier to make sure the concubine was hidden properly so that she wouldn't be discovered.
She was so angry... she almost laughed out of anger.
Even the palace maids guarding the door couldn't stand it. The Crown Prince had fainted. What did it have to do with the Crown Princess? It was the Crown Princess who had been taking care of the Crown Prince all along. She had brought several basins of water to wipe his body. Didn't the Empress see that?
Hongxiu's eyes reddened. Why should the Crown Princess be subjected to such insults? It was the women she had married for the Crown Prince who were causing trouble. What did it have to do with her young lady?
Jiang Fenghua kept a stern face and glared at Hongxiu, signaling her to leave immediately.
She stepped forward and knelt straight down on the wet ground. "It is my fault for mismanagement. Please punish me, Your Majesty."
Her face was timid and full of grievance, but a sharp glint flashed in her eyes before she quickly returned to normal.
Empress Cheng glared at her, but seeing her weak and listless, she stopped scolding her. "You deserve to be punished. I will punish you severely."
She turned around and looked at Xie Shang on the bed, tears welling up in her eyes. This was the care and maternal love that the Empress thought she gave her son. Apart from her son, she could disregard everyone else.
Perhaps Empress Cheng was too noisy, Xie Shang slowly woke up, and when he opened his eyes he saw Empress Cheng right in front of him. "Mother, why are you here?"
"Shang'er, you're finally awake! Your mother was so worried. How could you have fainted like that?" Empress Cheng held Xie Shang's hand, tears streaming down her face.
Xie Shang said, "Mother, don't cry, I'm fine."
He then saw Jiang Fenghua kneeling on the ground, her head slightly lowered and her shoulders trembling slightly, as if she were crying.
Xie Shang got out of bed and saw that the floor was covered in water, with basins and shelves lying on the ground in disarray. She knelt on the wet ground, her skirt soaked halfway up her body.
Xie Shang frowned, his eyes as cold as ice. "What's going on?"
Empress Cheng quickly replied, "It's nothing..."
Before she could finish speaking, Xie Shang got off the bed, and without even putting on his shoes, helped Jiang Fenghua up and pulled her into his arms. Jiang Fenghua didn't dare to look at the Empress, and took the opportunity to bury her head in his neck. Tears streamed down her face like a bucket of water, and her body was still trembling uncontrollably. He sensed her grievance, held her tighter, and said to Empress Cheng in a deep voice, "Your subject is alright now, Mother, please go back first!"
"Shang'er..."
“Your son has grown up. From now on, Your Majesty will not need to worry about your son’s life. Your son knows that Your Majesty thinks of you all the time.” He said with displeasure, “Isn’t she the wife that Your Majesty did your best to find for me? Is Your Majesty still not satisfied? Then why did Your Majesty insist that I marry her in the first place? Now that I have married her, I must protect her. Isn’t that what Your Majesty said?”
Empress Cheng was stunned. Had she said that?
Even if she said it, it was only to prevent her son from associating with Su Tingwan; who cares about Jiang Fenghua's life or death?
"You're still resentful that your mother didn't let you marry Su Tingwan as your principal wife. But even though your mother didn't want you to marry Su Tingwan, you still married her. Your mother has done everything you asked!" Empress Cheng also felt wronged and didn't know what Su Tingwan had said to her son.
Mentioning Su Tingwan made Xie Shang even angrier. He was almost trembling, and he deliberately acted angry. "Yes, Your Majesty, I resent you because I didn't marry the woman I loved. So I did as Your Majesty wished and married the woman you liked. You paved the way for me, and I followed it. What else could Your Majesty be dissatisfied with?" He meant that Empress Cheng wanted him to fall in love with his wife, and he did just that. What else could she be dissatisfied with? Now she was making things difficult for Jiang Fenghua.
Jiang Fenghua felt a chill in her heart upon hearing this. Sure enough, Xie Shang didn't truly love her either. This explained why he went crazy and fainted for Su Tingwan.
He still cared about Su Tingwan, and only demoted her to a slave in a fit of anger.
Empress Cheng panicked when she saw the distance in his eyes and tried to explain, "I was so angry when I heard those rumors, and I was worried that you would faint. I lost my mind and was completely flustered. I was just anxious. I didn't object to your liking for her..."
Even now, she hasn't considered that she has wronged her daughter-in-law. She's just making excuses for herself, afraid that her son will misunderstand her, and even thinking that if Xie Shangruo really likes Su Tingwan, she has already put aside her grudges with Su Qingqing and accepted her.
"If it's a rumor, Mother should be able to tell the difference!" Unless Mother has never truly understood him, and doesn't know what kind of character her son has been from childhood to adulthood, and only thinks that he is very outstanding, and that his excellence is earned through his hard work, and that Mother has never taught or guided him, and that she is as indifferent as Father.
Even just now, he dreamt of another mother. He mistakenly recognized someone else as his mother, and ironically, he survived because of this erroneous thought.
He thought: If his biological mother were still alive, she must love him very much. The mother in front of him looked so much like him and was so good to him. Yet he hoped that another vague phantom was his mother.
How ridiculous!
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