Chapter 102 The fake prince ascends the throne as emperor!
Since Crown Prince Zhou Xi supports Zhou Ming, will people think that he is deliberately going against the emperor?
Of course not, although from the point of view of competing for the position of Crown Prince, Zhou Jing and Zhou Ming seem to be irreconcilable opponents. The emperor supported Zhou Jing, and the prince supported Zhou Ming. It seemed that the situation had become a confrontation between the emperor and the prince.
But in reality, no one sees the problem that way.
In the eyes of outsiders, Zhou Jing and Zhou Ming are, after all, the sons of the Duke of England. You can’t write two Zhou characters with one stroke. No matter how much the two sons of the Zhou family fight, they are still brothers in the eyes of outsiders.
What's more, Zhou Ming's title of crown prince was conferred by the emperor himself. No matter how you think about it, everyone feels that the emperor would not turn around and slap himself in the face by promoting Zhou Jing to compete with Zhou Ming for the title of crown prince.
Therefore, the prince's act of supporting Zhou Ming would only be regarded by the so-called smart people as the prince following the emperor's footsteps and showing goodwill to Britain.
The emperor showed his favor to Zhou Jing, and the prince showed his favor to Zhou Ming. In fact, the emperor and the prince joined forces to tell everyone that they have the support of the Duke of England's Mansion. They valued both the Duke of England's legitimate son and the prince.
This interpretation is exactly what the prince wanted to see after calling Zhou Ming to his side.
After seeing what the prince did, the emperor also understood what the consequences of his actions would be.
In fact, the emperor was just supporting Zhou Jing: "..." Forget it, the prince's actions could be regarded as an accidental way of getting the situation back on track. He almost affected his original plan because of a momentary impulse.
Therefore, the emperor did not express any dissatisfaction with the prince's support for Zhou Ming. The emperor noticed Zhou Jing's indignant look as he stared at the prince and Zhou Ming, and sighed in his heart, then comforted him: "The prince only looks at Zhou Ming differently because of the Duke of England. In the future..."
The emperor originally wanted to ask Zhou Jing to get along better with the prince in the future and learn more from the prince on how to be a good prince.
But thinking that Zhou Jing was his biological son and the prince was just a fake, the emperor felt uncomfortable letting his biological son curry favor with the fake prince, so he did not finish his words and changed his words: "Come to the palace to visit me often when you are free in the future."
According to his plan, Zhou Jing will soon restore his true identity, so it is urgent to teach Zhou Jing how to be a good prince.
The emperor decided to personally teach Zhou Jing how to be the crown prince.
However, the emperor has no intention of telling Zhou Jing his true identity before revealing the truth about the baby swap. Zhou Jing doesn't seem to be someone who can keep a secret with patience, and the emperor doesn't want to let Zhou Jing take the blame.
Zhou Jing didn't think too much about it. He was just happy that he could often go to the palace to get along with the emperor and gain the emperor's favor. Maybe he could persuade the emperor to help him get the position of crown prince back.
"Thank you, Your Majesty!"
Zhou Jing agreed with a smile on his face, and tried his best to please the emperor.
The eldest prince, who was driven by the emperor to sit at the end of the table, looked at Zhou Jing, who was sitting next to the emperor, drinking cup after cup.
It was a pity that he had looked down on this dandy boy Zhou Jing because he had lost his title as crown prince. As a result, he, the eldest prince, was far less favored by his father at the Mid-Autumn Palace Banquet than Zhou Jing, the dandy boy who had lost his title as crown prince.
Chen Pin, who was among the concubines, looked at her son who was drinking alone at the end of the banquet with concern. She could not help herself and quietly hinted to her chief maid to go out and get help.
No matter what, she couldn't let her precious son continue to remain silent. She and the Chen family were still counting on the eldest prince to make a comeback.
Not long after Chen Bin's maid left, she heard a high-pitched voice from a eunuch outside: "The Empress Dowager has arrived—"
Everyone in the hall who was attending the Mid-Autumn Palace Banquet was slightly startled. They thought that Empress Dowager Chen, who was claiming to be ill, would not attend this year's Mid-Autumn Palace Banquet. After all, such a big thing had just happened in the Chen family.
Unexpectedly, the Mid-Autumn Palace Banquet was almost over, and Empress Dowager Chen, who had claimed to be ill and not attending the banquet, actually showed up again at this time.
No one dared to neglect him. The emperor personally stood up to greet Empress Dowager Chen: "Isn't your mother recuperating? Why are you attending the banquet again? What did the imperial physician say? Is she fine?"
When it does not involve his own imperial power, the emperor is indeed a filial son to Empress Dowager Chen. The first thing he does when he sees her is to care about her health.
Queen Mother Chen said with a smile: "The imperial physician said that my health has improved and there is nothing serious. I am alone and heard the lively noise in front of me. I couldn't help but come over to join in the fun."
When Concubine Shu, who was standing with Concubine Xian and Concubine De, heard what Empress Dowager Chen said, she lowered her head slightly and curled her lips imperceptibly.
Yesterday, Empress Dowager Chen called her over late at night to take care of her, saying that her illness had worsened. She was so exhausted that she had to put on heavy makeup to cover her dark circles when attending the palace banquet today.
As a result, Empress Dowager Chen’s description of her illness is completely different from what she said last night. She is really good at pretending!
The second prince, who was standing behind the crown prince, couldn't help but complain in his heart: The queen mother has so many people serving her, how can she be considered alone? Moreover, the Empress Dowager's bedroom is separated from here by most of the imperial palace. Does the Empress Dowager have clairvoyance or super hearing that she can hear the excitement of the Mid-Autumn Palace Banquet from across most of the imperial palace? If you want to participate, just participate. Why say these funny things that will make people complain?
The Second Prince is a prince after all, and he suffered less torture from Empress Dowager Chen than Concubine Shu. But the Second Prince, a prince who had been treated with respect and honor since birth, had never experienced such hardship, and he had long since resented the Empress Dowager, the Chen family, and the eldest prince.
However, as for Empress Dowager Chen, since she was his grandmother, the Second Prince could only hold his nose and endure her difficulties. Otherwise, he would leave the impression of being an unfilial elder in the eyes of the Emperor, which would be a loss.
The arrival of Empress Dowager Chen made the originally lively atmosphere of the Mid-Autumn Palace Banquet suddenly become cold.
After Empress Dowager Chen was helped to take her seat by the Emperor, she looked at Zhou Jing who was sitting next to the Emperor and asked with a frown, "Emperor, which prince is this young man? Why haven't I seen him before?"
The emperor felt a little happy, because his precious son looked like him, otherwise his mother would not have thought that the child was a prince as soon as she saw Zhou Jing.
The emperor replied happily, "Mother, you have seen Jing'er before. He is Zhou Jing, the legitimate son of Duke Ying."
In the past, Zhou Jing had been to the palace many times since he was a child and was favored by the emperor. Naturally, Empress Dowager Chen had met Zhou Jing several times.
Of course, Empress Dowager Chen would not fail to recognize Zhou Jing. She just pretended not to recognize him and asked the emperor which prince Zhou Jing was, implying that the emperor should choose a prince to sit by his side instead of keeping the son of a minister.
However, she didn't expect that the emperor didn't think deeply about it at all, and answered her questions happily, thinking that she really didn't remember Zhou Jing's identity.
Empress Dowager Chen looked at the emperor with a puzzled look. She was a little surprised by the emperor's reaction, but no matter how well Empress Dowager Chen knew the emperor, she was not a worm in his stomach, and she did not know that the emperor had ever changed his children.
Empress Dowager Chen could only point it out: "So he is the legitimate son of Duke Ying. Then why is he not sitting with Duke Ying?"
The emperor, who was just immersed in the joy that "my mother, who was unaware of the truth about the child swap, could actually know through blood relationship that Jing'er was my son", slowly lost the smile on his face after hearing Empress Dowager Chen's pointed question.
Then he realized that it was not what he thought, and Queen Mother Chen was just looking for trouble with Zhou Jing.
The emperor took a deep breath. He didn't want to offend the empress dowager in public, so he could only smile and say, "Jing'er is a child I watched grow up. I really like him. He is no different from my own son. I haven't seen Jing'er for a long time, so I called him over today to take a closer look."
Empress Dowager Chen did not take the emperor's words to heart. She had the same idea as everyone else. The emperor valued Zhou Jing, and it must be because he valued Duke Yingguo that he looked at Duke Yingguo's legitimate son differently.
What about treating the legitimate son of the Duke of England as your own son... Just listen to this kind of talk, anyone who takes it seriously is a fool.
Empress Dowager Chen took the opportunity to say, "Emperor, you haven't seen the eldest child for more than three months. I haven't seen him for a long time either. After all, he is my eldest grandson. Why don't you call the eldest child over for me to take a look?"
The emperor was not at all surprised by what Empress Dowager Chen said. When he saw Empress Dowager Chen, who had claimed to be ill, take the initiative to attend the palace banquet, he guessed that Empress Dowager Chen must have come for the eldest prince or Concubine Chen.
The emperor was disappointed and dissatisfied, but he still thought of his own mother, so he resisted the urge to refuse. He turned to look at the eldest prince who was sitting at the end of the table, and said calmly, "Then please ask the eldest prince to come and accompany the queen mother."
Empress Dowager Chen's eyebrows jumped. She keenly heard something wrong in the emperor's words. The emperor actually called his eldest son "the eldest prince" directly. He did not call him by his name or rank or title, but just a cold nickname of "the eldest prince", as if he was not his own son. The emperor's address to his biological mother also changed from "Queen Mother" to "Empress Dowager".
The emperor was expressing his dissatisfaction.
Empress Dowager Chen felt a little regretful, thinking that she might have acted too hastily.
But it had already been done and there was no room for regret, so she simply concentrated on saving face for the eldest prince in front of the royal family and ministers at the palace banquet.
Si Yuan, who was sitting in the seat with important ministers, was leisurely sipping wine, eating snacks, and watching the good show performed by the emperor's family, with the corners of his lips slightly raised.
It's really interesting. The mother-son relationship between the Empress Dowager and the Emperor seems to have faced an unprecedented crisis, but the Empress Dowager herself has not realized the seriousness of the matter.
Si Yuan thought about his and Zhou Xi's plan, and then saw that there was no one from the Chen family in the court. The power of the Chen family's in-laws was not to be feared. The eldest prince had been imprisoned by the emperor for several months, and Concubine Chen became Concubine Chen. It could be said that the only supporter the eldest prince and his party could rely on now was Empress Dowager Chen.
The power of Empress Dowager Chen came from the emperor. Since Si Yuan was planning to kill the emperor, Empress Dowager Chen would naturally be less of a threat.
Therefore, the eldest prince's party actually posed no threat to Zhou Xi anymore, and the second prince's party was also defeated and declined together under the crazy targeting of the eldest prince's party.
As for the third prince and the fourth prince, Zhou Xi had a lot of leverage over them and could bring them down at any time.
So it seems that the time has come to take action against the emperor.
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