Chapter 804: Granted Marriage (5)
The concubines in the harem were all worried. Why had the Empress become so seriously ill? It was simply because the Crown Prince had fallen. With his death, the Empress would be left without a supporter for the rest of her life, and it was uncertain whether she could maintain her position. The Empress, having lost her beloved son, would likely harbor resentment towards Emperor Wenhui, and Emperor Wenhui would naturally be wary. Whether she was confined to her house due to illness or under house arrest, only they knew.
If the Empress also fell, who would be the next master of the six palaces? It seemed that Concubine Xu had the best chance of winning. Emperor Wenhui favored Concubine Xu, and Concubine Xu also had two princes and sons. The brothers Prince Zhou and Prince Jing fought against Prince Li's faction to the death, but Prince Li did not have a favored mother after all.
King Jing of Zhou was a man with the right time, place and people.
Therefore, the concubines behaved very cautiously. At this critical juncture, they could not be caught by others. If they were used as a tool by accident, it would be a disaster.
In the Huangfu Hao incident, not only the Crown Prince and the Empress were implicated, but everyone else involved, from top to bottom, was also implicated. But the worst affected were the Yuanwailang Wang Mansion.
It was Young Master Wang from the Yuanwailang residence who had proposed going to taste incense that day, bringing his wife along. Who knew Huangfu Hao would end up in Yifeng Pavilion with bloodshed? Wang Bi and Shen Dongling were definitely not going to escape.
But that was not what convicted them of.
A deputy minister was secretly accused of smuggling salt, a serious crime that implicated the entire royal family. Wang Bi and Shen Dongling were sentenced to death, while the remaining male members of the Wang family were exiled and the female members were sent to the border as military prostitutes.
Anyone with a discerning eye could see that Emperor Wenhui was in a state of great rage, as if provoked by something and deliberately taking it out on others. However, the emperor's thoughts were always difficult to fathom, and although the court officials were puzzled, they simply followed orders.
Shen Miao listened to Jingzhe talk about what had happened in the past few days while drinking tea. Luo Tan beside her kept stuffing snowflake candy into his mouth.
The snowflake candy was brought in from Yang, who said it was made by a famous pastry chef from Daliang, and that only the Daliang royal family could eat it. Shen Miao hadn't noticed, but Luo Tan discovered it. After trying it once, Luo Tan was pleasantly surprised and asked Shen Miao where she had bought it. Shen Miao could only stammer and answer casually.
"The matter of Crown Prince Qin has caused quite a stir." Luo Tan said as he ate, "So many people were buried with him, even the Crown Prince wouldn't be enough to replace them." At the end of his speech, his voice became softer, as if he was afraid that someone might hear him.
Shen Miao smiled faintly, without making any comment, but in her heart she was shocked by Emperor Wen Hui’s cruelty and decisiveness.
As expected, like father, like son. In order to eliminate the Shen family and leave no future troubles, Fu Xiuyi had completely disregarded the lives of Fu Ming and Wanyu. At the time, she wondered how such a heartless person could exist in the world. Now, it seemed that Fu Xiuyi's actions were exactly the same as Emperor Wenhui's.
In the eyes of the Fu family, family affection, love or friendship are all unreliable. Only power is what they pursue throughout their lives. In order to secure this position, sacrificing a son is nothing. Anyway, there will be other women to give birth to their children.
This is probably the inherent lack of loyalty in the Fu family's nature.
Luo Tan looked at the few pieces of snowflake candy on the plate and counted on her fingers: "Aunt and uncle have eaten them, cousin Qiu has eaten them too, only brother Ling has not eaten them yet. Can we give these left to brother Ling?" She looked at Shen Miao.
Shen Miao naturally wouldn’t be fussy about a single bite of food, so she nodded.
"It would be great if you could remember where you bought this snowflake candy." Luo Tan sighed, rather regretfully. "I've tried every pastry in Xiaochun City and pretty much everything in Dingjing, but this is the first time I've tasted such delicious snowflake candy. Even though you can't remember it, I plan to ask someone to look for it myself tomorrow. I'm determined to find this shop!"
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