Chapter 392 The Tool for Giving Birth
Jiang Fenghua said gently, "There's one more thing I'll tell you all today! His Highness the Crown Prince's birthday is approaching. You ladies can prepare whatever gifts you want to give him yourselves. There's no need to spend money; the sentiment is what matters most."
The ladies-in-waiting began to chatter amongst themselves about the gifts they should give to His Highness the Crown Prince.
Since Zhao Shangshu was investigated, before he was even imprisoned, he confessed his crimes. Given his good attitude in confessing and his voluntary surrender of the embezzled funds to the national treasury, the emperor only demoted him to a minor official without any rank, making him a handyman in charge of registering and compiling records in the Ministry of Revenue.
Zhao Yuntong is still the young mistress of the Eastern Palace, but due to the influence of her family, she has almost no presence now, and dares not go to the Crown Prince to curry favor.
The reason Zhao Yuntong was the first to know about what happened that day was because she delivered Wuxin's gift to Chief Steward Cao, which then went directly to the Emperor.
She went to Consort Zhao, who advised her and her father to give up their wealth to avoid disaster, which saved the lives of the Zhao family members.
The Zhao family's only hope for a turnaround now lies with Consort Zhao, the Tenth Prince, and Zhao Yuntong.
The Zhao family also hoped that Zhao Yuntong would gain favor with the Crown Prince and then turn their fortunes around.
Zhao Yuntong was thinking: what gift should she give the Crown Prince to attract his attention? She dared not give anything expensive, as all the Zhao family's belongings had been handed over.
She was also very distressed.
Seeing that everyone was chatting enthusiastically, Granny Wang added fuel to the fire, "Last time, Her Majesty the Empress checked the list of concubines who were to serve the Emperor and inquired about their health. Her Majesty the Empress's intention is that the concubines should visit the Crown Prince more often and give birth to imperial heirs as soon as possible to continue the imperial lineage."
“This servant thinks that Consort Zhu has seen His Highness the most, but she looks sickly and delicate. Shouldn’t we stop her from serving His Highness until he has fully recovered? This servant also feels that His Highness’s body is precious and that we are afraid of him passing on his illness. When I heard His Highness cough just now, my heart was in my throat. I was afraid that Her Majesty the Empress would blame me…”
Jiang Fenghua glanced at Zhu Zhenzhen and said directly, "Granny Wang has thought things through. Let's stop for now. During this time, we should also tell the Imperial Hospital to keep a close eye on Zhu Xiaoxuan's medicine. As long as it can cure Zhu Xiaoxuan, we should use all the most precious medicinal materials."
"Zhu Liangdi, this arrangement is also for your health. Do you have any objections?" she asked softly.
Zhu Zhenzhen dug her fingernails into her flesh, her face wearing a forced smile. Why is she pretending to be sick for no reason?
"In truth..."
"That's settled then!" If you want to play tricks on me, you'll have to let me do it first.
Jiang Fenghua then addressed the other concubines, saying, "Everyone, please make every effort to ensure that you conceive the imperial heir as your top priority."
Jiang Fenghua also had a copy of the list of concubines arranged by Granny Wang sent to Chengguang Palace.
After hearing this, Granny Wang wanted to stop her, but in the end she did as the Crown Princess wished.
The Crown Princess may say she doesn't care, but she probably does care a lot in her heart!
If this list were presented to the Crown Prince, he would probably be furious.
Granny Wang had some idea that the Crown Princess's intention was to punish Consort Zhu, but she couldn't guess the whole story.
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Xie Shang took the list from the eunuch and asked, "What is this?"
The young eunuch said, "The Crown Princess said that Your Highness should summon the ladies to serve you in bed according to this list from now on."
After Xie Shang looked at it, he saw that the names of all the young ladies of the Eastern Palace were listed, filling a whole month's worth of text. He frowned: What does the Crown Princess mean by this? Her name and Zhu Zhenzhen's name weren't on it either.
She really treated him as a breeding tool; she spared no effort for the sake of the imperial heir.
He crumpled the list into a ball, threw it on the ground, and said coldly, "Please have the Crown Princess come over and personally assign the tasks to me."
Seeing that the Crown Prince was angry, the young eunuch was so frightened that he dared not utter a sound. How could he possibly go back and relay the message like that?
Wuxin stepped forward, gesturing for the young eunuch to go back first. He calmly picked up the crumpled paper from the ground, glanced at it, and said, "Your Highness, please don't be angry."
"How could I not be angry? She's practically ready to change the names of all the concubines to 'equal distribution of imperial favor.' She might as well just blow out the lamps and make the concubines line up so I can favor them one by one until they all become pregnant with the emperor's child before she's happy."
Wuxin felt utterly speechless. "This servant thinks the Crown Princess is deliberately trying to anger His Highness. She's jealous."
"She's jealous? From outside the palace to inside, I've never seen her jealous at all." The more he thought about it, the angrier he became. He had thought she was finally showing her true colors in front of him, but she still didn't say a word. So he let her stay silent. If she didn't want to talk, she didn't want to talk. He could just pretend he didn't know anything.
Having followed the Crown Prince for so long, Wuxin naturally understood his temperament. In court, he was a decisive and ruthless prince, but outside of court, he was a man who needed to be coaxed by a woman, and only the Crown Princess could coax him.
Unfortunately, the Crown Princess treated him like a tool, a tool for having children. She would coax him when she needed him and push him to other women when she didn't. His Highness the Crown Prince could naturally sense this.
Unfortunately, the Crown Prince was a shameless scoundrel. Among so many beauties, only the Crown Princess could make him reveal his true emotions of joy, anger, sorrow, and happiness.
Without thinking, I quickly tried to salvage the situation for the Crown Princess.
Wuxin said, "But didn't Your Highness notice? The Crown Princess removed Consort Zhu from the list of those to serve in the Emperor!"
"That night, His Highness abandoned the Crown Princess in the middle of the night and ran to Consort Zhu's palace. Any woman would have felt this was an insult."
Xie Shang felt guilty. "I have already subtly asked Gao Qingtong to explain the situation to her. I only went to inquire about Zhu Zhenzhen's health out of respect for Imperial Censor Zhu, and she knows that."
Wuxin was also exasperated, saying, "What's the use of the Crown Princess knowing? In short, His Highness abandoned the Crown Princess and left." You're a scumbag; no one but a scumbag would do something like this.
"That's why the Crown Princess removed Consort Zhu from the list of concubines to serve the Crown Prince. She must be very angry to use this method to upset His Highness. This servant thinks that compared to the other concubines in the harem, the Crown Princess's actions are already quite unfair. Life in the palace is always depressing. As the head of the Eastern Palace, the Crown Princess not only has to take care of His Highness but also all the other concubines. Why should the Crown Princess make things so difficult for herself?"
Wuxin added, "This servant is a eunuch and doesn't understand the love between men and women, but since His Highness the Crown Prince did what he did that night, he should apologize to the Crown Princess. Otherwise, how can the Crown Princess think that His Highness really likes her?"
After hearing this, Xie Shang felt even more guilty. He should have taken Jiang Fenghua with him that night. He and Zhu Zhenzhen were close, but they hadn't been together many times, and Zhu Zhenzhen didn't have a place in his heart. Did Ruan Ruan think he liked Zhu Zhenzhen?
Xie Shang put down his pen and quickly asked, "Did I seem to dislike her a lot?"
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