Empress Qi nodded solemnly to Emperor Jingming and said, "Don't worry, Your Majesty. I will go and talk to Concubine Xian in person."
After the empress left, Emperor Jingming realized something and began to think: There is no need for the empress to say it in person. Is the empress taking it too seriously?
Care? Of course not for the Queen.
In this cold palace, no one is a good person, and the queen who seems to be indifferent to the world is no exception.
The queen has no children, so no matter which prince wins in the future, her position will not be shaken. However, it still depends on which prince it is.
For example, the prince of Qi, whose mother is the virtuous concubine who is the head of a palace, and whose maternal grandfather is the Duke of Anguo, who made great contributions to the founding of the country. Once the prince of Qi wins, even if the queen sits firmly on the throne, the virtuous concubine will become a person that she is jealous of. When the prince of Qi succeeds to the throne in the future, the virtuous concubine will inevitably become the Empress Dowager of the West. By then, the mother and son will have a deep affection, and she, the Empress Dowager of the East, will probably have to sit back and relax.
The status of the empress dowager is indeed respected, but this respect is given by the emperor. For an empress dowager who has no feelings for the emperor, the so-called respect is just an empty title.
After all, there is only one master of the Great Zhou, and that is the man sitting on the dragon throne.
If it were a prince whose mother was of humble origin or even had no mother at all, the threat to the empress would undoubtedly be much smaller.
The Queen knew all of this very well. Seeing that Prince Qi had displeased Emperor Jingming today and that Prince Qi's wife had made a serious mistake, she was in a very good mood and was very willing to tell Concubine Xian the news.
Concubine Xian was quite uneasy at the moment.
The headache has not improved in the past two days, and today is the day that the fourth daughter-in-law and the seventh daughter-in-law have agreed to go to burn incense.
At this point, if something had happened, news would have come in by then.
Concubine Xian was afraid of revealing any clues, so she did not dare to send anyone out to make random inquiries today, in order to prevent someone from suspecting the Princess of Yan and bringing it to Yuquan Palace.
A maid came in and reported: "Madam, the Queen is here."
Concubine Xian was startled for a moment, then came to her senses and forced herself to stand up to greet him.
The Queen had already walked in. Seeing Concubine Xian struggling to get up, she hurriedly said, "You are still sick, so don't get up."
Concubine Xian insisted on standing up and bowing to the empress, saying with a smile, "It's not that serious. Etiquette cannot be abandoned."
The Queen pursed her lips and said, "Sister Xianfei is very polite. How do you feel today? Are you feeling better?"
"My head still hurts occasionally, but it's better than the last two days." Concubine Xian asked the empress to sit down, guessing her purpose.
The queen took a sip of the hot tea offered by the maid, put down the teacup and said, "Today, Princess Qi and Princess Yan went to Baiyun Temple to burn incense together, and something happened."
The hand holding the teacup trembled, and a drop of hot tea splashed on the back of her hand. She forced a smile and said, "What happened? Don't scare me, Queen."
I couldn't help but feel happy: It seems that the fourth son's wife succeeded!
As soon as Jiang dies, that bastard Seventh Prince will behave himself for a while. Then she will pick a niece from her mother's family to be his concubine and slowly coax him. Even if he doesn't want to help Fourth Prince for the time being, at least he won't be as alienated from his mother as he is now.
As for the fourth son's wife, she has evidence of murdering Jiang, so she won't have to worry about not being able to control her in the future.
Concubine Xian was secretly delighted by this good thing that killed two birds with one stone.
The Queen patted Concubine Xian's hand and reminded her: "If I tell you, Concubine Xian, you must stay calm. You are already ill, so don't get anxious and angry——"
"Your Majesty, just say it directly. I can bear it." Concubine Xian pretended to be nervous.
The Queen sighed: "The two princesses encountered a frightened horse on their way back, and Princess Qi almost fell off a cliff——"
"What, Princess Qi?" This time, Concubine Xian's shock was not fake, and her pupils suddenly dilated.
Did she hear it wrongly?
Seeing the Queen's surprised expression, Concubine Xian hurriedly said, "Is Princess Qi okay? Where is Princess Yan?"
"Princess Qi was hanging on the edge of the cliff. She was rescued by the guards who rushed over. Princess Yan is fine."
Concubine Xian concealed her disappointment and said with relief, "It's good that both of them are fine."
The Queen sighed again: "There is still something wrong. Princess Qi is disfigured."
Concubine Xian opened her mouth and her eyes sparkled.
The person is not dead but his face is disfigured? This is a bit troublesome.
"The Shuntian prefect found out that this startle was not an accident, but that Princess Qi had ordered someone to kill Princess Yan—"
"What?" Concubine Xian stood up suddenly, her face changed drastically, and her body began to tremble uncontrollably. Then a piercing headache came over her, causing her body to sway.
The Queen reached out to support Concubine Xian and advised, "Sister Concubine Xian, please don't worry, stay calm—"
The remaining rationality of Concubine Xian restrained her from swearing.
How can I keep calm? What the hell is going on?
She finally realized that the Queen came to laugh at her!
Thinking of this, Concubine Xian calmed down for no reason. She took a deep breath and said, "Could your Majesty tell me the whole story in detail?"
The fourth son's wife probably hasn't dragged her into this yet, otherwise it wouldn't be the empress who told her about this, so she must not panic.
The queen felt that it was almost done, and then she explained the matter in detail.
After hearing the last part, Concubine Xian moved her cracked lips and said, "So, the Emperor won't allow Princess Qi to see anyone anymore?"
The queen nodded and said, "After all, it would be embarrassing if this happened. For the sake of the royal family's dignity, we have to do this."
Concubine Xian moved her lips, her expression dull, and after a while she held her forehead and said, "Your Majesty, I have a headache——"
The Queen stood up with great interest and said, "Then Sister Xianfei, take a good rest. Don't worry about Princess Qi's matter. You need to take care of yourself."
As soon as the Queen left, Concubine Xian sat on the bed with a changed expression.
Li is a person who is more likely to cause trouble than to do good!
The only thing to be thankful for is that Li hasn't woken up yet and won't be able to see outsiders in the future, so there's no need to worry about Li saying anything he shouldn't.
But the fourth son has no children, and now he has a mentally ill princess. What will he do in the future?
No, it won’t do. It won’t do if Li is just “crazy”. We can’t let her occupy the position of Princess Qi forever.
Concubine Xian suddenly felt that although Jiang Si's plan failed, it would be good to replace Princess Qi. Marrying the fourth son a stepmother who would be more fertile and giving birth to more legitimate sons would be better than any help.
But if you want Li to die, it is not the right time to do it now. You have to wait until the storm is over and no one is paying attention to it.
At Prince Qi's mansion, Princess Qi finally woke up.
She twitched her eyelids and opened her eyes, but what she saw was not the familiar decoration.
"Where is this?" Princess Qi, who was not yet fully awake, asked subconsciously.
All the thrilling moments on the way back from Baiyun Temple seemed to be forgotten for a moment.
The maid who answered was also an unfamiliar face: "Princess, this is Youqian Hall."
Youjian Hall is located in the northwest corner of Prince Qi's Palace. It is a courtyard that is locked all year round and is very remote and quiet.
Princess Qi suddenly came to her senses when she heard these three words and struggled to get up: "Where is the prince?"
There were footsteps outside, and then Prince Qi pushed the door open and stared at the awakened Princess Qi with an expressionless face.