Chapter 672 Why is my cousin so happy?
Meanwhile, news of what happened at the palace gates reached Empress Dowager Cheng's ears in Cining Palace.
Today is the Lantern Festival, and she had no plans to attend the banquet. Upon hearing that the matter was related to the Jiang family, she said indifferently, "This matter is aimed at Jiang Jinyan. How could Jiang Fenghua let the Jiang family suffer a loss? Just wait and see, who knows what tricks Jiang Fenghua is up to again."
Granny Xi stood to the side, not daring to say a word, because the person who came to deliver the message to the Empress Dowager was a confidante personally trained by the Empress Dowager. She was close to Granny Wang and was one of the old women who came to serve the Empress Dowager in the same batch. Now the Empress Dowager disliked Granny Wang and was also wary of her.
The Empress Dowager didn't go anywhere, not even to Shou Kang Palace to pay her respects to the Grand Empress Dowager. It seemed she had truly become obedient and stayed in the palace in a daze every day.
Even the Emperor declared that the Empress did not need to pay her respects to the Empress Dowager, so no one in the entire palace dared to say that the Empress did not respect the Empress Dowager.
At this moment, a palace maid came in to report, "Your Majesty, Consort Chang has arrived."
Empress Dowager Cheng pondered for a moment, wondering what she had come for.
When the late emperor was still alive, Lady Chang was in poor health and moved to the most remote palace in the West Palace to recuperate. She gave birth to the Fourth Prince. After the late emperor passed away, Lady Chang was made the Dowager Consort Chang. When the emperor ascended the throne, he issued an imperial edict allowing the Dowager Consort to leave the palace to live with the prince and enjoy her old age. However, Lady Chang did not go to the Fourth Prince's residence. Instead, she stayed in the West Palace to eat vegetarian food and chant Buddhist prayers for the late emperor.
Empress Dowager Cheng said calmly, "Please come in!"
Chang was dressed in plain clothes, with no excessive jewelry in her hair. She knelt respectfully before the Empress Dowager and said, "Your Majesty, I pay my respects."
Empress Dowager Cheng said calmly, "Get up!"
Consort Chang added, "Today is the Lantern Festival. I made several kinds of glutinous rice balls for Your Majesty to try. I remember that Your Majesty likes glutinous rice balls with fillings the most, especially peanut and sesame fillings."
Empress Dowager Cheng paused for a moment, "The imperial kitchen sent over some glutinous rice balls, why did you make them yourself?"
"I remember when I first entered the palace, I was caught stealing glutinous rice balls from the imperial kitchen. It was the Empress Dowager who pleaded for me. I remember that the Empress Dowager also loves glutinous rice balls with peanut and sesame filling, so I would like to take this opportunity to invite the Empress Dowager to eat glutinous rice balls during the Lantern Festival."
While scooping up glutinous rice balls, Consort Chang said, "I have lived in the palace for more than 30 years. The Empress Dowager is very kind to the concubines in the harem and also very kind to me. I am very grateful for the Empress Dowager's care."
Empress Dowager Cheng was quite embarrassed. "I had completely forgotten. Why bring this up?"
Empress Dowager Cheng found it strange to hear her say this. She had never thought of being kind; everyone is selfish, and she was selfish too.
The eldest prince was the emperor's favorite, but unfortunately he died young. The second prince was a lecher and was practically ruined while he was in the palace. The third prince was born lame, and the fourth prince was timid, weak, and indecisive. She didn't think much of the other princes. The late emperor had many concubines and children. As long as they were all useless and didn't compete with her son for the throne, she could be a virtuous empress.
Consort Chang personally handed a bowl of glutinous rice balls to the Empress Dowager, saying, "Your Majesty, please try it and see if my cooking skills have deteriorated."
Empress Dowager Cheng's eyes were full of doubt. She glanced at Granny Xi, who stepped forward to take the glutinous rice balls and place them on the table. "Consort Chang is so thoughtful. If the glutinous rice balls are a little cold, this servant will serve them to Your Majesty."
Consort Chang took the bowl again. "If Your Majesty is not hungry, then I will eat this bowl first. There are still some in the jar, with fillings that Your Majesty likes. I made extra so that I could eat with Your Majesty."
After she finished speaking, she picked up the bowl and started eating the glutinous rice balls. A fragrant aroma of sesame and peanut sauce wafted out, which made everyone's taste buds excited. Even Empress Dowager Cheng swallowed her saliva. Chang's cooking skills were good, and her snacks were also quite good.
Empress Dowager Cheng said, "Granny Xi, please serve me a bowl as well. I'm getting a little hungry after seeing the Imperial Concubine eat."
Consort Chang's palms began to sweat, and she quickly fed the remaining glutinous rice balls in the bowl into her mouth.
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Meanwhile, Jiang Fenghua and her entourage arrived outside the Golden Palace in a grand procession. At this time, the square outside the Golden Palace was filled with civil and military officials, who were discussing the matter of someone beating a drum to lodge a complaint with the emperor.
Lin Feng said that there were many people watching the commotion outside the imperial city. Shang Hong led the Imperial Guards to surround the imperial city, and the Five Cities Garrison was also maintaining order outside the imperial city, which shows how big the incident was.
Upon seeing the Empress arrive, everyone bowed and said, "Your subjects pay their respects to Your Majesty the Empress."
Seeing that all the ministers were present, Jiang Fenghua casually asked one of them, "Is the Emperor inside?"
The person who answered her was Lu Tingwei. He said, "His Majesty kept the princes in the main hall. The people outside the palace are making a lot of noise, as if they came prepared. His Majesty knew that there were people causing trouble outside the palace, but he did not order them to be arrested and interrogated."
"Thank you," she said.
Wuxin hurriedly ran out, "Your Majesty, please invite the Empress and Lord Jiang inside."
Jiang Jinyan and Jiang Fenghua appeared at the entrance of the Golden Palace at the same time. Xie Shang, dressed in a dragon robe, sat on the dragon throne and stared intently at Jiang Jinyan.
The next moment, the Emperor slammed the memorial on his desk toward Jiang Jinyan, and a deafening roar of anger echoed throughout the hall: "Jiang Jinyan, look what you've done!"
Jiang Jinyan picked up the memorial from the ground, his eyes filled with disbelief, and denied it, saying, "Your Majesty, I did not. They are slandering me. I am innocent. How could I possibly keep a mistress?"
"The memorials impeaching Minister Jiang are piling up, is that any doubt? The girl's family is outside beating drums and crying for justice, looking for their daughter. Tell me, how am I supposed to help you this time..."
Xie Yu scoffed, "The Marquis of Wu'an has been keeping a mistress, and things have escalated so much. Just because Lord Jiang is the Empress's elder brother doesn't mean this should be swept under the rug! Who said that the emperor is subject to the same laws as commoners? How can this be…?"
Jiang Fenghua stared coldly at Xie Yu, and Xie Yu immediately dared not say another word.
He said, "I was just telling the truth, I didn't say anything else..." He was still afraid of Jiang Fenghua. A good man doesn't fight with a woman, so he let it go.
The Third Prince was eager to stand on the Golden Palace. He didn't know why the Emperor wanted them all to stay. He thought they were just coming to the palace to attend the Lantern Festival banquet, but he didn't expect that someone outside the palace would cause a disturbance.
The Fourth Prince seemed timid and cowardly. He asked, "Is there some misunderstanding?"
The Tenth Prince and the Ninth Prince were also present.
Since Consort Zhao was sent to the imperial mausoleum to be buried with the emperor, and the Zhao family was demoted to commoners, the Ninth Prince has been incompetent and idle all day long. He was also watching the show and wished that Jiang Jinyan would also be demoted to commoners. The Ninth Prince said, "What misunderstanding is there? If Lord Jiang wants to take a concubine, he should do it openly and honestly. Keeping a mistress and then killing her to cover it up is too cruel. People have already come to our door."
The Tenth Prince said, "Your Majesty, I feel there is something fishy about this matter. I believe that Lord Jiang is a man of integrity who would not keep a mistress, much less kill anyone."
Jiang Fenghua pleaded, "Your Majesty, my elder brother is definitely innocent. I dare to swear on my life that Your Majesty should investigate thoroughly."
Xie Shang said coldly, "Jiang Jinyan has caused such a big mess, and I will definitely investigate it thoroughly. There are not only people outside the palace calling for Jiang Jinyan to return his daughter, but also onlookers watching the spectacle. Today, this matter must be resolved by Jiang Jinyan himself."
Regardless of the circumstances, Xie Shang did not want the Xie family to collude with outsiders to harm the people of the Great Zhou Dynasty.
Zhang Yumo and the others who remained outside the Golden Palace also heard the Emperor inside the palace raging.
At this moment, everyone was preoccupied with their own thoughts. Zhang Yumo's eyes flashed with worry as she looked in the direction of the Fourth Princess. She saw the Fourth Princess's lips suddenly curl into a barely perceptible smile.
She wondered to herself: Why is my cousin so happy?
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