Chapter 220 Hongjin's Wedding
"Hey, have you heard? Consort Qi of Chuxiu Palace has been punished. I heard that Her Majesty the Empress demoted her to a commoner and sent her to live with the late Emperor's concubines. She was about to be promoted to the rank of Consort. It's really tragic."
A young palace maid looked around to make sure no one was watching, then whispered to her aunt beside her.
"Tch, what do you know, little girl? Look how many members of the Guarjia clan are left? Treason and forcing the emperor to abdicate are crimes punishable by confiscation of property and extermination of the entire clan. The fact that Consort Qi was spared is entirely due to the benevolence of our Empress."
A slightly older palace maid spoke in a low voice. If the two of them weren't carrying trays and walking down the palace path, she would have really wanted to give the round-faced maid next to her a hard tug on the ear and tell her to stop saying whatever she wanted.
But that round-faced palace maid had probably only been in the palace for a short time and was incredibly curious about everything—"I also heard that Consort Meng suffered even more. The Crown Prince had her escorted out of the palace, and first she witnessed the confiscation of the Duke of Pei's mansion, and then she was taken to the execution ground to watch her entire family be beheaded one by one."
As she spoke, she frowned as if she were experiencing the same thing firsthand, and patted her chest—"According to Eunuch Xia, not a single servant was spared from the entire household of over a hundred people. Even the earthworms in the mansion were cut open vertically without leaving a single one alive. Consort Meng was driven mad after seeing half of them."
"Shut up!" the head palace maid said softly, glancing around warily. She breathed a sigh of relief when she saw that no one had heard her. "This is the Forbidden City, not some village or town of yours. If you want to live here long, you'll have to shut your mouth. What Consort Meng? We don't have anyone like that in our palace."
What secrets could a mere palace maid who had only recently entered the palace possibly know? Anything she could find out was deliberately spread by her master so that others would hear it; it was all just hearsay from other people.
For example, the time when Lady Meng died suddenly was only one after the time when Prince Guo died suddenly. Lady Meng was taken into the Imperial Clan Court and never came out alive. Prince Guo died suddenly, but it was only said that he died of a sudden illness. The specific details were not something that the two little palace maids could hear.
"Alright, alright." The head palace maid quickly told the round-faced maid to stop there—"It's such an auspicious day, it's bad luck to bring up these things. Let's hurry up and send these to Yongshou Palace, so we can also share in Princess Jinghua's good fortune."
...
Yongshou Palace had been preparing intensively for over a month, and now the day for Hongjin's wedding had truly arrived.
Inside the inner hall, Hongjin sat upright in front of the dressing mirror, her hair as black as her mother's, cascading down her back. Her bright red auspicious dress made Mingzhu even more radiant and dazzling, captivating all who looked at her.
Lu Jiaying stood behind her daughter, holding a jade comb and tidying her hair from head to toe. She deftly tied her hair into a bun, her eyes filled with more reluctance than relief. "The time has been too short. I feel that there is still so much I haven't prepared, and you are about to get married."
Looking into her mother's beautiful eyes through the mirror, Hongjin saw that she seemed to be expressing deep regret and guilt. Hongjin then used her usual ability to give her mother a bright, cheerful smile.
She herself didn't care about any of this, except for the initial shock when she first heard it. She had always known that Amur was a good person. Anyway, she was going to get married; her father was the emperor, and her brother would be the emperor in the future. If she lived long enough, her nephew would also be the emperor, so what did she have to worry about?
She reached out and took her mother's slightly cool hand, shaking it gently. "Empress Mother, look outside! The dowry alone has filled the entire Yongshou Palace. It's all from Father, what you prepared, what my brother sends every day, what the Empress Dowager and the Empress Dowager pay respects to, and what my third brother and sister-in-law give. Every box is overflowing. What could be worse?"
But what Lu Jiaying was dissatisfied with was not the dowry. She smiled slightly and said, "Mother is not talking about that. Your princess residence is not yet completed, and Amur does not have a proper residence of his own. This time, we borrowed Prince Yi's residence to pick you up from Yongshou Palace and take you to Prince Yi's residence, and then from Prince Yi's residence back to Yanchun Pavilion."
She patted Hongjin's head—"Your mother thinks that with all this trouble, the first part of your dowry has already arrived at Prince Yi's residence. The rest haven't even stepped out of the palace gates yet. Once the rest have finally stepped out, the first part will have to be sent back again."
This is absolutely true, without any exaggeration. The Emperor has always been rather stingy when it comes to rewards and titles. This stinginess only improved in the last two years when the national treasury became more abundant. The dowry prepared for Hongjin is even more unprecedented and unparalleled.
Not to mention the Empress and Crown Prince sending in a continuous stream of gifts; the dowry must have been incredibly generous, something no one else could even imagine.
“I think it’s all good, Mother, you really don’t need to worry. You see, I’m just going out for a stroll to show off my dowry and the pampering I’m receiving, but I’ll still have to go back to the palace to live here. It’s so much better to stay by your and Father’s side.”
With the auspicious time fast approaching, Lü Jiayingfeng had no choice but to stand up, no matter how reluctant she was. She picked up the hair crown that Xuexin was holding and put it on Hongjin's head, carefully tidying it up in front of the mirror. "It's good. After you get married, you'll be my younger brother. Just like before, you'll come back to your mother's house for hot pot."
Outside the door, Hongzhao was already standing and waiting.
According to previous rules, the Crown Prince was not required to escort the princess to her wedding; simply appearing at the ceremony was considered a favor to the princess and her husband. This was the first time the Crown Prince had personally escorted the princess to her wedding, which was enough to show how much favor this Princess Gulun enjoyed in the palace.
"Sister, let's go."
Hongzhao separated the people from the Ministry of Rites and the Imperial Household Department, personally stepped forward to support his sister's arm, and led her step by step toward the bridal sedan chair.
The joyful music playing in his ears vibrated his eardrums more and more, but Hongzhao's thoughts drifted further and further away.
He did not betray his original intention in coming into this world. Whether she was the older sister or the younger sister, from the moment Shuhe became Shuer, and then Hongjin, her fate had already been rewritten.
"Sister, you always have a way out. I will support you no matter what you do."
He had an idea, but it wasn't appropriate to put it into practice yet. He was just waiting for an opportunity to discuss it properly with his sister. In terms of intelligence and skill, Hongjin was by no means weak. If he could achieve something of his own, he would surely be a prominent figure in the annals of history.
They rode through the streets to Prince Yi's residence, which, like Yongshou Palace, was adorned with red silk ribbons. Prince Yi was as happy as if his youngest son, Hongxiao, were getting married, as he greeted the guests.
Although the Emperor and Empress did not accompany the bride, they left the palace early to attend the ceremony for their eldest daughter at Prince Yi's residence.
As Hongzhao watched Amur and his sister performing the wedding ceremony, only one thought kept swirling in his mind.
"I need to keep using this whitening cream."
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