Early spring, the nights are cold.
It felt like it was about to rain, as if winter hadn't ended.
Ms. Hua, being quite old, naturally didn't dress like a young person, so she was dressed very warmly.
She wasn't fat, and the light purple cloak she wore made her look exceptionally noble. At first glance, a sixth-rank female official might mistake her for a palace concubine.
However, while imperial concubines could rise through the ranks, female officials did not. The sixth rank was reserved for imperial concubines, while the highest rank for ordinary officials was the fifth rank.
Changqiu Palace and Changxin Palace are different, so their statuses are different.
However, the old servants sometimes have more imposing presence than the new ones who have entered the palace; this servility is something that ordinary people cannot imitate.
When the Crown Princess lost her temper, this old servant trembled even more.
Di Baose returned just in time for this incident.
The old servant wanted to prove his innocence, so he went to strike his head against a pillar. Several palace maids stopped him, but the old servant became even more determined.
The palace maid spat in her face: "Afraid you'll dirty the Qing'e Palace! You filthy thing! There's plenty of room for you to die, why are you pretending to be so noble?"
The eunuch returned after investigating Liu Qing and reported to the Empress: "Liu Qing knew her before, but they didn't have much interaction."
That's an objective statement. After all, doing things doesn't require frequent interaction.
Another eunuch came to report: "The Hua family has a large household in Yunyang County, and the Wu family alone owns over a thousand hectares of fertile land."
Madam Hua trembled with anger, and cried out to Consort Huan with grief and indignation, "What are you trying to do? That was a gift from the Dowager Consort!"
The palace maid sneered, "Showing no respect for Your Highness, does the Dowager Consort give you this confidence? As for whether it was bestowed by the Dowager Consort, a simple investigation will reveal the truth!"
Huan Yue gestured to the eunuch to request an imperial decree.
Madam Hua persisted, "Aren't you afraid of the Empress Dowager?"
The palace maid sneered, "You think you can get away with anything just because you're a concubine? If the concubine doesn't know, won't you ruin her reputation? You wicked servant, you deserve to die!"
If the Dowager Empress knew, the wicked servant would have to take the blame.
Even if the Dowager Empress wanted to protect her, she might not be able to.
The Hua family is far too mismatched with the Crown Prince's consort.
In the current imperial harem, the crown princess can basically handle most of the servants, at least those who are servants.
Di Baose told the Empress, "Those two girls from the Cai family are pretending to be innocent. Both of them are acting like they own the Peng Prince's mansion. They're all unruly servants!"
Huan Yue nodded.
Di Baose said, "I beat those two wives, you know those two scheming women, crying and begging to find their cousin. So I beat them both."
Huan Yue nodded.
Although Di Baose calls him her cousin, the Crown Prince is very close to her. Also: "The Cai family also has a maidservant, a beauty. I plan to bestow her upon General Gao."
Huan Yue nodded, "Excellent."
Di Baose didn't take the Shen family's affairs seriously either.
She has the support of the Di family, which is something countless people can't match.
Although it could establish Princess Peng's authority, once it was dealt with, the matter was over.
Is Princess Peng still worried about not having enough authority? I reckon the Shen family relatives won't be satisfied after this once, and will come back several more times.
Huan Yue said, "Some people are just out of their minds, trying to act like they're the elders of Princess Peng."
Di Baose nodded, they all liked this style.
Anyway, the Di family didn't need it, and the Chang family was honest. So they did it without any scruples.
Xie Zhou returned and looked at his wife: "Haven't you eaten yet?"
Huan Yue said, "There's a lot to do."
Xie Zhou was particularly displeased: "The Dowager Consort has passed away."
Hua was stunned for a moment, then suddenly burst into tears.
Xie Zhou kicked her: "We've already gone to investigate the Wu family. You can either go with the Dowager Consort or wait for the Wu family to come along."
Hua opened her mouth, but couldn't cry anymore.
Xie Zhou didn't even bother to look at her and ordered her to be dragged away. How dare she scheme against his legitimate son? Her crime was unforgivable!
Huan Yue is fine now. His Highness is better at managing things than she is; she's going to eat.
Di Baose wanted to freeload a meal. As for the death of the Dowager Empress?
If she had died later, and it had been discovered that she had harmed the Crown Prince, she could have been demoted to a commoner. Few people would willingly do that in their entire lives.
Even if she's dead, the investigation will still proceed. What good will her death do?
Consort Zhu will be busy again.
Fortunately, there's still some time before March. After the 27th of the month, the 100-day celebration won't be affected at all. As for who will be her filial son, that's the Emperor's business; it's impossible for the Crown Prince to do it.
Having the entire family of the filial son observe mourning has far less impact. Only the national mourning period for emperors and empresses lasts three years.
It's obviously impossible to compare a concubine to the emperor and empress. And if an emperor has many concubines, even if he were to succeed to the throne, he'd be constantly busy.
A table of food was set out in Chengen Hall.
The cook removed the unsuitable items, and everyone ate quickly.
It would be such a waste to throw it away, so we ate it quietly.
Huan Yue ate quickly. He usually eats little in the evening, but he had a lot to do and needed to eat more.
Xie Zhou has a very good appetite; he feels great being with his wife.
"Cousin~~~" Di Baose mischievously cried out.
Xie Zhou glared at her.
Di Baose got really excited: "I heard that a cousin from the Li family is going to the capital."
The Li family was Empress Mingde's maternal family, and they had no blood relation to Di Baose. Empress Mingde's surname was Di, so Di Baose was her closest relative.
Therefore, he looked down on the Li family's daughter, and Di Baose looked down on the empress, thinking she was bullying a country bumpkin.
Xie Zhou put a meatball on Di Baose's plate and said, "Eat it quickly!"
These meatballs are being disguised as vegetarian meatballs; these days even meatballs are made by pretending.
Huan Yue thought to himself, "Vegetarian chicken, vegetarian ham, whatever, we can just say it is."
A palace attendant ran over and reported, "We have found Xie Xuan."
Xie Zhou nodded; Xie Xuan was just bored.
Huan Yue ate some vegetarian fish and shark fin soup, and then planned to loosen Xie Xuan's bones.
Xie Zhou stopped his wife, saying, "Don't go to jail. If the investigation reaches Xie Xuan, do you think he'll get away with it?"
Di Baose felt that the Wu King's lineage should be dealt with. However, it was difficult to say for sure.
The King of Wu also deserves credit for this victory. Perhaps Xie Xuan is itching for a beating.
It's hard to say whether the Dowager Empress had any other motives. Now that she's dead, it'll be difficult to investigate further. Some things are better left uninvestigated once they're all gone.
Xie Zhou went along to see his two younger brothers.
Sun carried Jiulang out.
The child is still awake and is very happy to see his second brother.
Huan Yue looked at it and said, "It's quite nice."
Xie Zhou told the truth: "His eyebrows and eyes resemble those of my father."
This could potentially earn the Emperor's favor.
The wet nurse, still holding Hachiro, was already wailing loudly, mourning the Dowager Empress. She was heartbroken.
The crying was so loud that Xie Zhou and Di Baose stopped worrying about it.
If something were truly wrong, it would be impossible to cry so sweetly.
Huan Yue looked at Jiu Lang, who was actually pouting and asleep: "Are you secretly complaining about Xiao Ge?"
Jiulang barely opened his eyes and saw that his second sister-in-law looked completely bewildered; she had really fallen asleep.
Why does Di Baose think this kid is quite amusing?
Huan Yue told her, "That's how it is when you raise a child. It can be incredibly stressful or incredibly sweet."
Forget it, Di Baose has been making a fuss for so long, she should go back to wash up and go to sleep.
A strong wind blew.
Xie Zhou hurriedly carried his wife away.
After checking on Balang thoroughly, Sun and Pingxiang found it quite annoying that he was still crying.
Of course, it's inappropriate for a servant to bother his master, and it's also not good to argue with an infant.
Over here, the maid and the empress whispered to each other, "That child looks like a white lotus?"
What was Huan Yue thinking when he looked at her?
The cat blinked and whispered, "The squeaky wheel gets the grease. And since his mother is favored, if he cries a little more, won't everyone fawn over him? If you think about it that way, Jiulang is rather innocent."
Huan Yue nodded. Like a prisoner's child.
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