Shen Xinyan tried to hold back her smile as she watched Xiang Ge'er reciting his lessons. She almost couldn't help laughing when she saw the little boy imitating his teacher by standing with his hands behind his back and nodding his head.

"Mom, you are not allowed to laugh!" Xiangger noticed that she was not serious, and said unhappily with a stern face.

"Okay, Mom won't laugh." Shen Xinyan straightened her back and said in a serious tone.

Xiang Ge'er was satisfied, and continued to recite his "zhihuzheya" with his head shaking. After finishing the last sentence, he looked at Shen Xinyan with shining eyes, and his little face was full of anticipation.

Shen Xinyan coughed, tried to suppress the upturned corners of her mouth, and praised: "Xiang Ge'er recites really well!"

When Xiang Ge'er heard this, he immediately puffed out his chest and said loudly, "I can recite it even better in the future!"

"What are you reciting?" Wei Junhang, who happened to walk in, asked casually after hearing his youngest son's words.

"Memorize, Daddy. I can memorize more next time." Xiangger ran up to him and said with his head raised.

Wei Junhang touched his head and said, "Okay, Daddy will wait."

"Why did you come back so early today? Didn't you say you had a drink with some colleagues?" After coaxing her younger son out to play, Shen Xinyan asked the maid to bring in warm water and personally helped him wash his face and hands before asking.

"Qiao Liu broke his promise and made us wait in vain." Wei Junhang took the clean cotton towel she handed over and wiped the water droplets on his hands, saying helplessly.

"Didn't you say that he is always punctual? How come he broke his promise this time?" Shen Xinyan was a little surprised.

"Who knows what this old guy is doing! But if I were to guess, it must be that his old lady forced him to get married too much, and he couldn't stand it and ran away." When he said this, his tone was filled with a bit of undisguised schadenfreude.

Shen Xinyan laughed hoarsely and said angrily, "I still regard you as my best brother, but you are still here saying mean things."

Wei Junhang laughed, and then said, "His first wife has passed away for so many years, it's time for him to remarry. No wonder his old lady is urging him to do so."

Shen Xinyan smiled: "You are right."

"I almost forgot to tell you." Wei Junhang suddenly slapped his forehead.

"What?" Shen Xinyan was suspicious.

"The Crown Princess is pregnant again!"

"Pregnant again? This is such a great joy!" Shen Xinyan was a little surprised, but happy for the Crown Princess.

"It's indeed a good thing, but I'm afraid the Crown Princess may not be completely happy." Wei Junhang shook his head.

If she could have a boy this time, the pressure on the Crown Prince, the Crown Princess, and even the Royal Concubine Rui in the palace would be relieved a lot.

Among the three grandchildren of Emperor Yuanyou, the Crown Prince had two legitimate daughters, the Second Prince who was always taking medicine with him every day had a legitimate son, and the Third Prince had no children since his marriage. The royal lineage could not really be said to be prosperous.

Especially the Crown Princess, who gave birth to two daughters in a row. If she gives birth to another daughter this time, it will not be long before the Emperor Yuanyou bestows the title of Crown Princess on her.

If the Crown Prince's eldest son in the future is born from Concubine Liang's belly, the Crown Princess's situation will be even more difficult.

Shen Xinyan also thought of this, and her brows were filled with worry. "Whether a child is a boy or a girl is determined by fate and cannot be controlled by human power. If the Crown Princess is worried, how can she rest assured and take care of the baby?"

"The pressure on the crown prince is just as great as hers. As the crown prince, he should consider his offspring. Without a son, the position of crown prince will not be stable." Wei Junhang sighed.

If the Crown Princess gives birth to a son this time, everyone will be happy; if she gives birth to a daughter...

Now that the Crown Princess was pregnant, the eyes of everyone in the court and the country naturally fell on the East Palace, waiting for the Crown Princess to be pregnant.

If we follow the usual practice of the royal family of this dynasty, we still hope that the eldest son will be born from the main wife. If the main wife cannot give birth, it is not a big deal, because there will be concubines to give birth to next, so that the family line will not be cut off.

Emperor Yuanyou was the eldest son, so naturally he hoped that the crown prince could also have a eldest son. This was also the reason why he did not give the crown prince a concubine after the crown princess gave birth to two daughters in succession.

After all, at that time he could still wait, and so could the government and the people.

When everyone was staring at the Crown Princess's belly, Emperor Yuanyou suddenly issued an edict to confer the title of Empress to Consort Ruigui. The court officials were somewhat stunned when they first heard it, but it was not too unexpected.

After all, over the years, Concubine Rui's status in the palace has been equivalent to that of the Empress, the only difference is a title.

Besides, she was His Majesty's first wife. If there hadn't been an accident that year, the position of Empress should have been hers. It is already many years too late to confer the title on her now.

On the day of the Queen's coronation ceremony, Shen Xinyan wore the ceremonial attire of a superior duke's wife and stood at the front of the line of court ladies. She secretly glanced at the dignified, graceful, and noble woman sitting on the throne, who was wearing a phoenix robe. She felt mixed emotions in her heart.

Empress Zhao's life was full of ups and downs, which can be regarded as legendary.

If she had not experienced the tragedy of that year, she might have lived a peaceful life under the love of her husband like Zhou Wanning in her previous life; she might have died early in the struggle in the harem and would no longer be as charming and stunning as she once was; or she might have been tempered in the struggle in the harem and eventually completely shed her original innocence and truly become the master of the harem.

The deafening shouts of "Long live the Empress!" echoed throughout the palace. Shen Xinyan and other court ladies knelt three times and kowtowed nine times, formally paying homage to the new empress.

After the ceremony, there was no more Consort Ruigui in the palace, only Empress Zhao.

Not long after the ceremony of conferring the title of Empress, Emperor Yuanyou suddenly issued another decree, conferring the title of Prince Shun on the second prince and Prince Ping on the third prince. At the same time, he also appointed the second daughter of the Junior Secretary of the Ministry of Rites as the concubine of Prince Ping.

After the decree was spread, Shen Xinyan, who was discussing the selection of the eldest daughter-in-law with the Grand Princess, felt her hands tremble and almost knocked over the teacup in her hands.

Prince Ping's concubine? In this case, Zhou Wanning will have to share a husband with another woman for the rest of her life?

She really couldn't tell what she felt in her heart.

In her previous life, before her death, the eldest son was always by her side with Zhou Wanning alone, and he carried out the "one couple" policy to the end. In order to prevent Zhou Wanning from being wronged, the eldest son, who had always been very filial to the eldest princess, even rejected her opinion on the spot because of the concubine.

After starting over again, Zhou Wanning failed to marry into the Duke's Mansion, but married into the royal family and became the Princess of Prince Ping. But at the same time, she was about to welcome the Princess of Prince Ping to share her husband with her.

What a heavy blow this must be to her, who has always been meticulous and used to being loved wholeheartedly by those around her!

Even if this husband may not be the one she loves in her heart, it does not mean that she will be happy to see another woman share him with her.

There was also the second daughter of Master Kong, the Junior Minister of the Imperial Palace. If she remembered correctly, she was the first wife of the Third Prince in the previous life, and later the Queen of Prince Ping. She did not expect that in this life, because Zhou Wanning became the Queen, she could only be reduced to a concubine.

What kind of evil fate is this! If she could have the memory of her past life like me, I'm afraid she would faint right now!

Although there is only one letter difference between the main wife and the concubine, the status is a world of difference. Even if Zhou Wanning is no longer favored by Emperor Yuanyou and Concubine Li, as long as she is the main wife of Prince Ping, she is a legitimate daughter-in-law of the royal family and sits beside Prince Ping with dignity.

In Longqian Palace, Concubine Li was overjoyed and thanked Emperor Yuanyou for his grace.

She had long since fallen in love with the girl from the house of the Shaoqing of the Taichang Temple, and wanted to make her a concubine for her son. She had begged His Majesty for this several times, but His Majesty always refused. Now, her wish has finally come true.

"Where is the Third Prince? Why is he so expressionless? Is it possible that he is not happy at all?" Emperor Yuanyou's gaze fell on Prince Ping, who had a wooden face and showed no emotion at all, and asked slowly.

Prince Ping came back to his senses, lowered his eyes to hide the bitterness in his eyes, brushed the corner of his robe, knelt down, and said in a deep voice: "Thank you, father, for your grace!"

Emperor Yuanyou nodded slightly and said, "My father has ordered people to carefully investigate the character of this girl in Lord Kong's house. She is indeed a dignified and polite virtuous woman. You must treat her well in the future."

"Yes, your son will follow your father's orders." King Ping felt as if he had eaten bitter gourd, and even his heart was bitter.

By taking a concubine at this time, the gap between him and Awan and his wife became wider. But could he disobey the order? In order to save her life earlier, he had already offended his father. This time, would he dare to do it again?

She was afraid that if she didn't obey, her father and mother would vent all their dissatisfaction and anger on her, and her life would be even more miserable in the future.

But will she understand that she is forced to do so?

Probably not...

He sighed inwardly.

She never wanted to be close to me in the first place, and now with this happening, I'm afraid she'll want to stay away from me even more.

Emperor Yuanyou had no time to care about the twists and turns in his mind. He had not carefully examined the character of the daughter of Zhou and had hastily granted her marriage. Now, because of her father Zhou Mao, he could neither depose nor kill her, so he could only give another virtuous woman to the third prince, which was also a kind of compensation from him as a father.

As for what Zhou Mao's family thought, he didn't care at all and had never thought about it.

It has always been natural for a man to have three wives and four concubines, let alone a royal family member. It is really ridiculous for him to only stay with one woman, especially such an immoral and unfaithful woman.

Is Zhou Mao angry? Of course he is very angry.

He held his grown daughter in his hands and doted on her with all his heart. Originally, he just wanted to find a man who would be devoted to her and take care of her for the rest of her life.

But after careful selection, his daughter finally married into the royal family. This also left him, as a father, with no reason to stand up for her even though he wanted to.

In addition, his daughter was abducted, and he was already short of breath in front of King Ping, making it even more difficult for him to express his dissatisfaction with a clear conscience.

"I heard that the girl from the Kong family has a very fierce temper, but Ah Wan has that kind of personality, how can she defeat her? She will definitely be bullied in the future!" Wen said, wiping her tears.

"How can this be possible? This is simply too much! No, I'm going to go and settle the score with King Ping!" Zhou Zhuo has always loved his sister, so when he saw his sister being bullied, he became furious and turned around, ready to go out and find trouble with King Ping.

"Come back!" Zhou Mao shouted.

Zhou Chang, who was standing closest to him, quickly grabbed his brother and said, "If you make a scene this time, it will only put Ah Wan in an even more embarrassing situation. His Majesty is already dissatisfied with what happened earlier, so he gave her this concubine. If you make a scene and make His Majesty furious, then Ah Wan will be the one who will suffer the consequences."

"Your elder brother is right." Zhou Mao breathed a sigh of relief.

The second son is reckless and stubborn, but fortunately the eldest son is calm and intelligent, and he can at least persuade him.

"Then we can only watch this happen passively?" Zhou Zhuoyue felt more suffocated the more he thought about it.

His beautiful sister, which woman in the world can compare with her? What is the girl from the Kong family? She is not even worthy of carrying Ah Wan's shoes!

"At this point, this is all we can do!" Zhou Mao let out a long sigh. There really was nothing he could do about this matter.

He could take action without hesitation against Fang Birong, who wanted to destroy his daughter's reputation, making her live a life worse than death and unable to see the sun from now on; he could also ruthlessly plot to destroy Murong Tao, who had kidnapped his daughter and caused her to fall into her current predicament, making him a disabled useless man for the rest of his life.

The premise for him to do this is that he never crossed the bottom line of His Majesty. Within this bottom line, he can happily make those people pay the price they deserve!

"It's all Wei Chenglin's fault. If he hadn't broken his promise and ran away without a word, my sister wouldn't have married King Ping and would not be facing the situation now." After a moment, Zhou Zhuo gritted his teeth and said.

When they heard him mention Wei Chenglin, everyone in the room fell silent.

"Don't mention this again in the future. Your sister is now the Princess of Ping, but only the Princess of Ping. She has nothing to do with Wei Chenglin." After a long while, Zhou Mao said calmly.

"Your father is right. You'd better not mention such things in the future. If others hear it, it won't matter what happens to Wei Chenglin, but I'm afraid it will cause unnecessary trouble to your sister. By then, I'm afraid it won't be cleared up even with water." Wen wiped away her tears and agreed with her husband's words.

"Got it. I won't say anything more." Zhou Zhuo responded in a low voice, but the feeling of being suffocated in his heart became even stronger.

After his wife and second son left, Zhou Chang asked hesitantly, "Father, are we just going to let Wei Chenglin off like this? Ah Zhuo's words make sense. If Wei Chenglin hadn't taken the initiative to arouse my sister's feelings and then walked away irresponsibly, my sister wouldn't have ended up like this today."

"Speaking of which, Wei Chenglin is more hateful than Murong Tao."

Zhou Mao glanced at his eldest son, smiled slightly, and sighed: "Do you think your father wants to stop here? However, Wei Chenglin is also gone, but his father Wei Junhang is not an easy person to deal with. He is your Majesty's confidant and grew up with your Majesty. Your Majesty respects and trusts him many times more than his father."

"If you attack Wei Chenglin, you will be the enemy of Wei Junhang. I am not sure if I can compete with him."

"Is the Duke of England really so powerful?" Zhou Chang still had some doubts.

Zhou Mao shook his head: "This man is unfathomable, and I, your father, cannot figure out his true colors. Especially in recent years, I have become increasingly unable to see through him, so naturally I dare not act rashly."

Although he loved his daughter and wanted to avenge her, he would not lose his mind and get himself involved in the rebellion that he had just managed to escape unscathed.

"Chang'er, you have to remember that revenge is fine, but you must never lose your mind or your judgment. Venting out your anger will put you in a bigger crisis."

"This is what it means to lose more than you gain!" Zhou Mao said earnestly.

"I understand, son." Zhou Chang agreed.

Regardless of what the Zhou family thought, the matter of Prince Ping marrying a concubine had already been taken up by the Ministry of Rites and officially put on the agenda. Later, due to the oral order of Emperor Yuanyou, the Ministry of Rites gave priority to arranging this matter. In this way, three months later, Miss Kong would marry into Prince Ping's mansion and officially become the first concubine of Prince Ping's mansion.

When Shen Huiran arrived, Shen Xinyan was massaging the legs of the Grand Princess. When she heard the maid come to report, before she could say anything, the Grand Princess smiled and said, "Hurry up and invite her. This new bride is coming for the first time, so she must be treated well. Is she coming alone, or is the third son of the Chen family accompanying her?"

"Young Master Chen San came with us!" the maid replied with a smile.

"Why don't you go and ask the prince to accompany you?" Shen Xinyan ordered hurriedly.

The maid took the order and left. After a while, Wei Chenglin came in with Mr. Chen San and Mr. and Mrs. Shen Huiran.

"It's true that you're different after you get married. You really have the demeanor of a young lady." After the greetings, Shen Xinyan took her niece's hand and said with a smile.

Shen Huiran looked a little embarrassed: "Auntie is used to making fun of people."

"Your aunt is not making fun of you. She is telling the truth. Chen San, Hui'er is a good girl. You must treat her well." The eldest princess took over the conversation and then said to Master Chen San, who was smiling a bit foolishly.

"Don't worry, Your Highness. Huiran is my wife. I will respect, love and protect her for the rest of my life." Young Master Chen San quickly stood up, bowed and said seriously.

Shen Huiran blushed at his serious look, especially when she saw Shen Xinyan's playful expression, her face turned so red that it looked like blood was about to drip out.

What a person! Why would he say such embarrassing things in front of his elders?

She glanced quickly at her husband in a reproachful manner, and then quickly lowered her head.

"Okay, okay, okay, well said, it should be so. If you don't respect, love and protect your own wife, what kind of man are you? It's good that you think so!" The eldest princess slapped her thigh and laughed.

They talked for a while. Shen Xinyan naturally did not miss the eye contact between the young couple. Seeing that Shen Huiran looked very good, she knew that she was living well in the Chen Mansion, and she was finally relieved.

Old Madam Chen and her mother-in-law are not the kind of people who would give others trouble. My niece is of a gentle and docile nature. It seems that the Third Master Chen is also a considerate person. If we manage things well, our lives will get better and better.

After a while, Wei Chenglin led Mr. Chen San to the outer hall, while Shen Xinyan took Shen Huiran to Funing Courtyard.

The eldest princess looked at the disappearing figures of her eldest grandson and the third son of Chen for a long time and then let out a long sigh.

The third son of the Chen family is married, but Lin Ge'er still has no marriage. All the girls she liked in the early years are married, and she has been picking and choosing girls of marriageable age now, but she still can't find one that she likes. She always feels that something is missing.

Now, stimulated by the newlyweds in the Chen Mansion, she felt that she could no longer be picky. At least she had to marry her eldest grandson's wife before she closed her eyes!

In the other room, Shen Xinyan held Shen Huiran's hand and asked her softly about her life after marriage.

"My mother is a kind person. She doesn't ask me much about what happens in the house between me and my husband, nor does she let me set rules. My two sisters-in-law are not difficult to get along with except for some jokes from time to time."

"My grandmother just observes fasting and chants Buddhist scriptures, and rarely does anything about things. I don't know why, but I am a little afraid of her." Shen Huiran knew that she cared about him, so he didn't bother to answer her with those polite words and just answered honestly.

Shen Xinyan smiled slightly: "Old Madam Chen is highly respected, cold on the outside but warm on the inside. She may seem hard to talk to, but in fact she treats her children and grandchildren very well. You can see that when she declined the marriage proposal from the Duke's Mansion on behalf of her granddaughter."

"Don't be afraid of her. Just respect her and be filial to her from the bottom of your heart. Even if she doesn't say anything, her heart knows better than anyone else."

"I understand." Shen Huiran nodded obediently.

"There is something... I always feel a little uneasy in my heart, but I don't know whether I should say it or not." After a while, she said hesitantly.

"Tell me about it now, maybe I can give you some ideas." Shen Xinyan patted the back of her hand.

"Recently, my second aunt has ordered people to secretly inquire about some secret recipe for having a child. But now, except for me, I have no children in the mansion, and all the other sisters-in-law are able to give birth. Why would she be like this..." Shen Huiran's voice became lower and lower.

For some reason, Shen Xinyan felt nervous and asked quickly, "Has she been close to anyone recently?"

"I haven't noticed that." Shen Huiran shook her head.

Shen Xinyan turned around and felt that she had asked the wrong question. How could her niece, a new bride, pay attention to who her aunt from the next room was getting close to?

"I know everything about this matter. Just pretend you don't know it for now and don't tell anyone." She always felt that there was something fishy about Mrs. Chen's search for the secret recipe for having a child, so she didn't dare to be careless. She was also afraid that her niece would be confused and get involved in things that she shouldn't be involved in, so she hurriedly warned her.

"Don't worry, aunt. I have only told you about this matter. I have never mentioned it even in front of my husband." Shen Huiran nodded.

The aunt and niece talked about some family matters, and seeing that it was getting late, Shen Huiran said goodbye and left.

When Wei Junhang came back that night, Shen Xinyan told him without hesitation that Mrs. Chen had asked someone to secretly look for a secret recipe for having a child.

"Ridiculous! There is no such thing as a secret recipe for having a baby in this world. This is simply stupid and ignorant!" Wei Junhang's face darkened when he heard this.

"I always feel that this matter is a bit strange. Could it be that the second wife was found for the Crown Princess?" Shen Xinyan said worriedly what she had been worried about.

Wei Junhang's face became even uglier.

"Don't worry about this, I have my own ideas!"

Seeing him say this, Shen Xinyan naturally didn't know what to say. At least it was good to be on guard.