Chapter 346: The Ice Is Three Feet Thick, Not Formed in a Day
"It's okay." Zhang Chengyan quickly came back to his senses, his face remained calm, and he skillfully continued to play the role of a loving father. A gentle smile appeared on the corner of his mouth, and he patiently played with the children.
In the following days, Zhang Chengyan was only accompanied by Bai Wutong and his four children.
The children fell asleep peacefully on another bed under the careful care of the palace maids.
And he slept in the embrace of Bai Wutong.
Strangely enough, after having someone by his side, those fantasies that once made him deeply immersed and unable to extricate himself gradually faded away.
Three days later, those enchanting scenes almost completely disappeared from his mind, as if they had never appeared.
Under the careful care of the imperial physician, Zhang Chengyan recovered very well and was full of strength and energy.
He never felt drowsy during the morning court again.
When the ministers saw that he had returned to his former diligence, they all secretly breathed a sigh of relief.
At the same time, a new piece of news was quietly spreading in the streets and alleys of the capital.
The emperor's favoritism towards Turkic beauties was actually an elaborate scheme to confuse the Turks.
The end of the year is approaching and the days of heavy snow are just around the corner. The Turks live in a bitterly cold land and suffer from food shortages every winter. They have often taken the opportunity to invade the border.
The emperor favored the beauty this time only to appease the Turks, so that they would behave themselves and not dare to act rashly.
When the people heard this, they all felt that it made sense. For a moment, the songs that had once caused a lot of uproar gradually died down, and the capital returned to its former tranquility, as if the rumors had never existed before.
Zhang Chengyan felt much happier when he learned about this.
While having lunch with Bai Wutong, he couldn't help but praise him, "Your idea is really brilliant. Now the people are no longer talking about it, and the court and the people are much more peaceful."
Bai Wutong smiled as she picked up a piece of food with chopsticks and put it into Zhang Chengyan's bowl. "As long as Your Majesty thinks it's useful, I'm just trying my best to help."
After a pause, she frowned slightly, "But the news that the two beauties were confined won't spread to the Turks, right?"
Zhang Chengyan was not worried at all. "No, the Turks are thousands of miles away. Their envoys have already returned. The two beauties have no close relatives in the capital, so the news cannot be passed on."
After lunch, Zhang Chengyan went to review memorials and handle government affairs.
Bai Wutong returned to Ti Shun Tang and left the four children with him, taking this opportunity to enhance the relationship between father and son.
"Chan'er, have the two Turkic beauties made any moves in the past few days?"
Chan Er shook her head, "No, Madam. They only came to ask the Emperor why he was under house arrest on the first day. After that, they did not move. It was unusually quiet, and I always felt something was wrong."
Bai Wutong's expression remained unchanged. "Don't make random guesses. Keep your eyes on them. By the way, how is Yaoguang Palace doing these days?"
"Reporting to the queen, Concubine Jin has been very well recently. I heard that her health has improved a lot and she is resting quietly every day. She seems to have no interest in the outside world and has not sent anyone to inquire about it. I think she is afraid that hearing bad news will affect her mood and aggravate her condition."
"It seems that Jin Weige was inspired by these two people and plans to gather his strength and regroup. Arrange someone to spread a rumor that the two Turkic beauties were confined because Jin Weige spread rumors in front of the emperor, saying that they were partying every night and caused the emperor to lose his composure and fall asleep in the court. The emperor then woke up and felt that he favored them too much."
"My Lady, will this method work?" Chan'er hesitated. "It's just spreading rumors. They may not believe it, right?"
Bai Wutong chuckled, "Go ahead if I ask you to. It doesn't matter whether they believe it or not. The key is to plant the seeds of doubt in their hearts and make them believe that Jin Weige is the enemy. That's enough."
As the saying goes, a three-foot-thick ice does not form overnight.
If you want to stir up conflict between the Turkic beauty and Jin Weige, you need to do it slowly. This is just the beginning of the plan.
The rumor quickly spread to Lanxin Pavilion.
After hearing this, Lady Yan didn't even think for a moment. Her eyebrows were raised and she shouted angrily, "Humph! That Jin Weige is an old, fat fool, as fat as a sow. She even dared to gossip and slander us in front of the emperor! Who does she think she is? Just wait and see. When I gain a foothold in this harem and have power in my hands, the first person I will deal with is her. I will make her pay the price for her bad mouth."
"Wait." Lady Lin raised her hand and gently stroked her temples, a trace of suspicion flashed in her eyes, "Sister, this matter is very strange. I always feel that this news is spread too deliberately, as if someone deliberately did it, hoping that we would fall into this trap and believe that it was Concubine Jin who did it. Think about it carefully, once we fight with Concubine Jin of Yaoguang Palace, who will be the biggest beneficiary?"
Lady Yan frowned and thought for a moment, "Of course it's Concubine Zhao. But it shouldn't be her, right? She has only been in the palace for two short years, and she has already surpassed Concubine Jin, who was once favored. She also gave birth to four children in succession and continued to be favored. I heard that the Queen and Wen Chuyun had fought openly and secretly with Concubine Zhao before, but they were defeated. Only Concubine Zhao stood firm and her life became more and more prosperous."
"How could such a deep-minded and clever person use such a simple and crude method to mislead us? Sister, in my opinion, could it be that Duan Chunrou? She was robbed of her chance to sleep with us before, and she must be very angry. She might be thinking of revenge."
The more Yan Meiren spoke, the more excited she became. Her expression became more and more certain. "Sister, it must be her! No one else would do this!"
Lin Meiren nodded slightly. "What you said does make some sense, but we still can't be sure who is behind this. No matter what, we can't act rashly."
Beauty Yan snorted coldly, "Even if it wasn't Concubine Jin who did it, I will definitely not let her go!"
She would never forget how Jin Weige made things difficult for them when she first entered the palace!
They were forced to kneel for a long time on the cold and hard floor of the palace, their knees were red, swollen and bruised, and the pain was excruciating.
Jin Weige not only made the emperor indifferent to their complaints, but also directly ordered them to be confined to their homes, so that they could recuperate and not complain to the envoys.
Otherwise, they would have been favored long ago!
After spending some time together, the emperor might even develop feelings for them, and he would be reluctant to put them under house arrest now!
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