Chapter 624 Looking Forward
Just then, Zhu Zhenzhen suddenly burst into laughter, staring at Zhang Jingjing's belly, "Big belly, what's inside you is my child, my child, give me back my child."
Granny Liu quickly pressed down on her hand, pulled her away a little, and hurriedly said, "Your Highness's child is here."
Zhu Zhenzhen hugged her pillow and rocked back and forth, then grinned and said, "My child, my good child."
Empress Cheng was furious. "Who brought her here? Take her back immediately. She's such bad luck."
Since Imperial Censor Zhu suffered a stroke, the Zhu family has fallen into decline. The reason Zhu Zhenzhen is still alive in the palace is because she has Granny Liu serving her closely. Today, the Empress Dowager ordered her to come, and Granny Liu dared not disobey.
Jiang Fenghua, who did not suffer from amnesia, helped Granny Liu, which is why Zhu Zhenzhen was able to live a peaceful life in the palace.
Granny Liu hurriedly said, "This servant will take Your Highness back to the palace immediately."
"Since you're already here, let's wait until the banquet is over before leaving. Being locked up in the palace all day is what drives people crazy. Let her go out more; maybe she'll get better. It's already pitiful enough for a woman to lose her child, but to have her locked up in a room all day—how heartless can a person be to do that!"
The Empress Dowager had spoken, and Liu Mama dared not disobey, so she could only appease Zhu Zhenzhen to stop her from causing trouble.
Empress Dowager Cheng also fell into deep thought, wondering what the Grand Empress Dowager was planning to do, and why she was keeping a madwoman around.
The Empress Dowager calmly sipped her tea, looking as if she wanted to stir up trouble and watch the show. No one knew better than her how to incite hatred and desire among the women of the harem.
They were all in the prime of their lives, and if the emperor continued to neglect them because of the empress, the empress would be the one to be scolded in the end.
After the Empress Dowager's actions, everyone showed varying degrees of dissatisfaction.
Especially Shu Yan, she has seduced the Emperor so many times, but the Emperor has never even given her a second glance, and no one knows why.
Later, she finally understood that it was because the Empress had stopped them. The Empress appeared to be a good person, but secretly she was the one who knew how to compete for the Emperor's favor, which was why the Emperor had not favored them.
She had also discussed this matter privately with the concubines, and they all agreed that the most deceitful one was the Empress. She made a list of concubines to serve the Emperor, but in the end, she angered the Emperor. It was clearly her doing.
If the Empress were truly kind, she wouldn't have kept monopolizing the Emperor's position; she's the one who has given birth the most children in the entire palace.
After the Empress Dowager pitied this person and that person, it instantly aroused everyone's jealousy. The concubines who had taken the initiative to side with Jiang Fenghua and thought she was good began to feel dissatisfied.
They also thought that Consort Gao and Consort Song were close to the Empress because they were favored by the Emperor and had given birth to imperial heirs, so they could rest easy. But what about them? Were they destined to live out their lives in loneliness or even misery in the palace?
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Jiang Fenghua took the children back to Kunning Palace, had lunch with them, played with them for a while, and then had someone take them to take a nap.
She took out her old books to look at, as well as all her notes.
Seeing that she was flipping through two pages of each book, Lianye explained, "The servants have moved all the books from Chenxi Palace to Kunning Palace for Your Highness. The Emperor knows that Your Highness likes to read, so he specially ordered the craftsmen to design a large study and a large bookcase."
She said, "So I love reading so much! How bored must I be to read so many books?"
Lianye was stunned. "Did Your Highness study because you were bored before? Your Highness also liked to dance. Does Your Highness still like to dance now?"
Jiang Fenghua said, "Who dances all day long for no reason? Who are they dancing for?"
Lianye leaned close to Jiang Fenghua's ear and whispered, "Your Majesty used to learn to dance to impress the Emperor, but Your Majesty also said that it was because you liked it."
"I learned to dance for him?" Jiang Fenghua asked incredulously, deliberately saying, "Dance for him alone? Do I like him that much? The Emperor told me personally that I don't like him, which is why he chased me out of the palace."
“I didn’t like it before, but all Your Majesty wanted was for the Emperor to like you enough. The Emperor does like Your Majesty…”
Hearing this, a sly glint flashed in Jiang Fenghua's eyes. "Xie Shang lied to me again. He clearly said he didn't like me."
“Yes, the Emperor used to like Su…” Lianye quickly took back her words. The person was dead, so if he didn’t remember, he didn’t remember.
She added, "However, this servant thinks that Your Highness likes the Emperor now, and the Emperor also likes our Your Highness very much. Has Your Highness fallen in love with the Emperor now?"
Upon hearing the name Su, Jiang Fenghua tapped Lianye's forehead and asked, "When will Lianye marry Lord Lin? Should I prepare a dowry for her?"
Lianye blushed and her heart pounded. "Who would want to marry him? This servant wants to stay with Your Highness for the rest of my life."
"If I really want you to stay with me for the rest of my life, I'm afraid Lord Lin will hate me to death."
"He dares..."
"See? She's not even married yet, and she's already trying to control him. She even said she doesn't want to get married."
"If anyone's going to get married, it'll be Hongxiu first. During the time Her Majesty was away from the palace, she and Lord Cheng became quite close, and she often brought us pastries from outside the palace—from the most famous shop outside the palace, where Cheng Feng is the owner..."
Jiang Fenghua guessed that the girl Xie Shang used to like was surnamed Su. Everyone kept quiet about it, probably because Xie Shang had told them, or perhaps they really didn't want her to know.
As Jiang Fenghua came out of the study, she saw Granny Wang walking hurriedly outside. She said, "Granny Wang, what's wrong that you're in such a hurry?"
Granny Wang hesitated, realizing that the Empress needed to know about this, as it couldn't be kept secret any longer. She said, "Consort Zhang and Consort Pan are about to give birth. They've had a miscarriage in Shou Kang Palace. I just received the news."
Jiang Fenghua took some books from the study, intending to read them in the bedroom. Upon hearing this news, the books in her hands suddenly fell to the ground. How many women did Xie Shang have? How many things was he hiding from her?
Granny Wang said, "Your Highness, remember what I told you: look ahead."
Just as Granny Wang was about to leave, Jiang Fenghua said in a deep voice, "Granny Wang, you'd better tell me everything that's going on in the palace, otherwise I'll be in a very passive position!"
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