Chapter Twenty-Nine
In the Hall of Mental Cultivation, the Empress sat beside Emperor Qianlong, looking at Prince Shuo kneeling on the ground. The Empress remained silent. Had Prince Shuo's wife really done such a thing? Swapping a daughter for a son? She was the primary wife; even a son born to a concubine would have to call her "Mother." Judging from Prince Shuo's wife's appearance, she wasn't stupid... Thinking of this, the Empress recalled what had happened in the Kunning Palace that day. After some thought, the Empress concluded that Prince Shuo's wife was indeed not clever.
"Prince Shuo, do you have any evidence?" Emperor Qianlong had always liked this prince from a different surname, but now he felt sorry for Prince Shuo. How could he have chosen such a wife? His Empress was much better.
"Your Majesty, this is a memorial I wrote. I cannot be certain, but I wish to divorce my wife! I beg Your Majesty to punish me for failing to properly manage my household! Such a disgraceful act has occurred." Prince Shuo kowtowed repeatedly and handed the memorial with both hands. Wu Shulai cleverly took the memorial and passed it to the Emperor.
"Your Majesty, Qing'er." The Empress had to remind the Emperor that he had recently betrothed Qing'er to Fucha Haozhen.
Prince Shuo immediately kowtowed, "Your Majesty, please do justice for me! Investigate carefully what the Commander-in-Chief and Lady Zhasuli have done, and clear the royal family's name."
Qianlong looked at the Empress, "This matter still needs to be discussed with the Empress Dowager. Let the Empress Dowager delay the marriage because she can't bear to part with Qing'er!" Qianlong, who had just felt some sympathy for Prince Shuo, was now filled with anger again. This Prince Shuo couldn't even manage his wife properly, what else could he do? "Prince Shuo, you have failed to educate your son properly, and your wife is not virtuous, BLABLA~~" Qianlong said a lot, the gist of which was that he dismissed Prince Shuo from his post, offered a few words of comfort, and agreed to Prince Shuo's divorce.
The Empress left the Hall of Mental Cultivation and went straight to the Palace of Compassion and Tranquility. The Fourth Princess was in the Palace of Earthly Tranquility, watching the concubines who came to pay their respects. She said with a serious expression that the Empress Mother had been summoned to the Hall of Mental Cultivation by the Emperor early this morning.
The concubines were talking amongst themselves. Consort Yu looked at the Fourth and Fifth Princesses with worry, wondering if the Empress was alright. With the Empress absent, Consorts Jia and Chun were in charge. Seeing that it was time to pay their respects to the Empress Dowager, the two consorts discussed it and decided not to wait for the Empress, but to go and pay their respects to the Empress Dowager first.
Inside the Hall of Mental Cultivation, Emperor Qianlong watched as Prince Shuo withdrew. He paced back and forth in the room. "What an audacious wife! Such a grave crime as confusing the royal bloodline—how could she be dealt with so simply as a divorce?" he thought. "Go and summon the people from the Imperial Stables." He was to investigate thoroughly. If what Prince Shuo said was true, then Prince Shuo should resign from his princely title. "Dream on!" he thought.
"Your Majesty, Prince He is outside requesting an audience."
"Announce!"
The Empress Dowager's face was grim in Cining Palace. Fucha Haozhen was the one she had chosen; he was a perfect match for Qing'er in terms of both status and family background. Who would have thought that Fucha Haozhen might be an imposter? How could the Empress Dowager be happy? Qing'er, who was standing to the side, immediately knelt down before the Empress Dowager. "Empress Dowager, Qing'er is willing to remain unmarried for the rest of her life and serve you, to express her gratitude for your mercy."
For the first time, the Empress looked at Qing'er with new eyes. The Qing'er of today was no longer the same Qing'er she was months ago before the heart-to-heart talk in the snow.
"Qing'er is unfortunate. It's all my fault for being too hasty back then. I thought the Prince Shuo's son was a good man, but who would have thought he would be like this..." The Empress Dowager sighed. "From now on, when arranging marriages for the princesses, we must carefully investigate their backgrounds."
"What Your Majesty says is true." The Empress began to worry about the princesses under her name.
“Granny Gui, go with Eunuch Jia to the Prince Shuo’s residence to announce the imperial decree. Just like how I feel sorry for Qing’er, let’s postpone the marriage for two years.”
"Yes, sir!"
~~~
The news of Prince Shuo divorcing his wife had already caused quite a stir in the capital. Not long after, it was announced that the Empress Dowager had issued an edict, saying that she couldn't bear to part with Qing'er and wanted her to stay for two more years. Everyone with discerning eyes knew that the royal family was going to break off the engagement. In connection with Prince Shuo's divorce, the nobles in the capital began to seek out inside information, all wanting to be the first to know the inside story of Prince Shuo's mansion.
In the Prince Shuo's mansion, Xue Ru knelt on the ground to receive the imperial decree, her face deathly pale. She had thought it would be a lose-lose situation, but unexpectedly, Prince Shuo sacrificed her to preserve his status.
"No, how could this be? Why did the Emperor order Father to divorce Mother?" Haozhen roared, grabbing the collar of the eunuch who was delivering the imperial decree.
The eunuch delivering the imperial decree was startled by Haozhen's actions. He had delivered countless decrees, but he had never encountered anything like this before. "What are you doing? Do you intend to defy the imperial decree?"
Prince Shuo was terrified by Haozhen's crazy behavior. He only reacted when he heard the imperial eunuch shouting, "Do you want to defy the imperial decree?" He immediately ordered his servants to hold Haozhen down and kept apologizing to the eunuch. He was even more convinced that Haozhen could not be his child. But he still had to give the eunuch a lot of silver.
The eunuch, carrying the silver, snorted as he left the Prince Shuo's residence and immediately went to the palace to complain to the Emperor.
When Haozhen received the Empress Dowager's decree at Prince Shuo's residence, he remained unmoved. He had never intended to marry the princess; he only wanted his Yinshuang, and even if it meant betraying her, he would never do so. Hearing the Empress Dowager's decree, Haozhen actually breathed a sigh of relief and rushed towards Prince Shuo, shouting, "Father, where is Yinshuang! Where did you lock Yinshuang up? Why can't I find Yinshuang!"
"Guards, lock this beast in the woodshed for me."
"Your Highness!" Xue Ru, who hadn't left yet, immediately blocked Hao Zhen's path upon hearing the Prince's order; Hao Zhen was all she had left now.
“Zhasuli, you are no longer the wife of the Prince.” Prince Shuo looked coldly at Xue Ru.
Xue Ru was hurt by Shuo Wang's tone, and her body swayed. What was the point of all this?
"Father, how could you treat Mother like this? Mother has done nothing wrong. It's all Second Mother's fault, it's all her fault! If it weren't for her, how could Yinshuang have been taken away? If it weren't for her, how could I have... Father, you should divorce Second Mother, not Mother!" Haozhen shouted at the top of his lungs, his voice echoing throughout the Prince Shuo's mansion!
"Gag this beast's mouth. I never want to hear his voice again," King Shuo ordered. "And you, I never want to see you again, Zhasuli."
~~~
As Qianlong listened to Prince He recount the same story he had heard twice before, he said to his younger brother, "Hongzhou, are you very free?" Qianlong looked at his brother with a meaningful gaze.
"Your Majesty, I am currently short of money and would like to hold a funeral, but I am afraid of being scolded by Your Majesty. I would like to ask Your Majesty for some reward!" Prince He asked the Emperor for a reward.
"Alright, go and escort Hejing and Hewan back to Mongolia. If Hewan is pregnant when you return, I will reward you with some silver."
"..." Prince He silently left the Hall of Mental Cultivation, intending to go and complain to the Empress Dowager.
~~~~
After the New Year, both Hejing and Hewan were to return to Mongolia. Although they had princess residences in the capital, they were, after all, princesses who had married out, and without the Emperor's decree, they would not remain in the capital for long. Before leaving the capital, when Hejing went to the palace to bid farewell to the Emperor, she hesitated to speak. The Empress, sensing that Hejing wanted to say something discreet, asked the Emperor if Hejing could stay in the palace for one night, as she wanted to instruct Hejing on matters concerning motherhood.
Emperor Qianlong looked at Hejing's protruding belly and nodded, "How about letting Hejing give birth before going back?"
"That's good. It's Hejing's first time being a mother, and the journey will be too much for her."
After the Emperor and Empress discussed it, Hejing was allowed to stay. That evening, the Emperor went hunting, and Hejing sat next to the Empress. After dismissing the servants, Hejing knelt down before the Empress and said, "Your Majesty, I have a request."
The Empress quickly helped Hejing up, saying, "You're pregnant, how can you do such strenuous activities? Take care of yourself. If anything happens, tell your mother. I will do everything in my power to help."
"Hejing begs Your Majesty to help her find out who harmed you back then." Hejing gritted her teeth and said it aloud, feeling that her mother's death was very suspicious.
The Empress looked at Hejing, trying to discern something from his eyes, and finally sighed softly, "Hejing, let me say something you may not like to hear, but who in this palace doesn't leave a trace of something suspicious after they've been there?"
Hejing looked at the Empress with disbelief. Did the Empress mean that the Empress's death was normal? No, that's impossible!
"If you want me to investigate, I will help you investigate, but you should also know that this matter cannot be rushed. Of course, the people who served my sister all left the palace a few years ago, so it is difficult for me to investigate."
"He Jing knows, He Jing understands the reasons behind this, but... He Jing is unwilling."
The Empress patted Hejing's hand. No matter how much resentment there was in the palace, what could it do? If the Emperor valued you, you would be respected. If he didn't value you, no one would know if you died in some corner.
The next day, after Hejing left the palace, the Empress sat on the couch and thought quietly. Back then, Xiaoxian's illness came on very suddenly and abruptly, and it lasted for several months... During that time, the Emperor slept in Kunning Palace every day. Not long after Xiaoxian left, Wei became Consort Ling.
“Empress Mother.” The Twelfth Prince ran to the Empress. “Fourth Sister bullied me.” The Twelfth Prince hugged the Empress’s leg and glared at his sister who was following behind him.
"Greetings, Your Majesty!" Fourth Princess greeted the Empress, then looked at Twelfth Prince, "Little Twelfth, come play with your Fourth Sister and let Your Majesty rest."
"Empress Mother, Fourth Sister said that Little Twelfth also came out from here." The Twelfth Prince pointed to the Empress's large belly, his brows furrowed. Then he looked down at his own belly, "Mother, will Little Twelfth also have a younger brother or sister inside?"
The Fifth Princess, who was sitting on the couch, couldn't help but turn around and spit out the mouthful of water she had just drunk. The unlucky Lan Xin was sitting next to the Fifth Princess, and every drop of water sprayed onto Lan Xin.
Fourth Princess's lips twitched. She had failed in her parenting! "Little Twelfth, how could a boy have a younger brother or sister inside his belly? Only a girl can have a person inside her belly."
The twelfth prince nodded, only half understanding, and was taken out to play by the fourth princess.
"Empress Mother, I think Fourth Sister should stay away from Seventh Sister." Fifth Princess wiped the water from the corner of her mouth with a handkerchief, showing no embarrassment as she watched Lan Xin lead the palace maids back to their room to change clothes, and put the rattle drum further inside for Seventh Princess, who was playing on the couch.
The empress nodded stiffly.
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