Chapter 61 Sharing Palace Affairs
"Bang!"
The bowl in Defei's hand fell to the ground and broke into several pieces. The Third Prince's thigh was burned by the still slightly scalding Yanwo and he burst into tears.
“Don’t cry, don’t cry… Xuan’er, don’t cry… Cuiyin, quickly go get some clean clothes.”
She hugged the third prince and touched his face with fear, the fear in her eyes had not yet dissipated: “Buddha bless us, it’s a good thing we found it early, otherwise if we let such a vicious person like Su live in Yanqing Palace, I don’t know if my daughter Xuan’er would have fallen into her hands, thank God... Buddha bless us…”
Cuiyin quickly asked the people below to find some burn medicine, fortunately the third prince only had a slight burn and reddened, he stopped crying after a little coaxing.
He pouted: "Mother, Empress Zhen has a new puppy in the palace, named Guolai. Can I raise one too? Guolai is so cute."
"No!"
Concubine De pinched his little nose: "You see, the puppies raised by Empress Zhen are always killed by bad people. If your puppy died, would you be very sad?"
The third prince frowned and thought about it. If Guolai was his pet and was killed by Empress Su, he would also be very sad.
He sighed: "Okay! Then when I have a day off in the future, can I go to Empress Zhen's palace with my eldest and second sisters to play with Guolai for half an hour?"
"If they go, you can go too."
The child's emotions come quickly and go even faster. With his mother's permission, he jumped for joy.
Kunning Palace -
In addition to Concubine Shu and Concubine Rong who had recovered, Empress Dowager Wu sat on her kneeling ground.
A huge tripod in the shape of a phoenix was placed behind a folding screen. The burning agarwood incense emitted wisps of green smoke from the bird's mouth. The entire hall of Kunning Palace was filled with a solemn and calm fragrance.
Empress Zhu's face had turned pale, and her body, which was already too thin due to overwork, was shaking and about to fall.
"Bang!"
A memorial book fell on Empress Zhu's forehead, causing small spots of light to appear in her eyes.
"Empress, I gave you the golden seal and the imperial seal for managing the imperial harem because I wanted you to share the emperor's worries and not let him be controlled by the women in the harem. But look... for the sake of a beast, the emperor actually listened to Zhen Zhaoyi and used such a cruel method to deal with a powerless concubine in the harem. Isn't this a slap in your face? Can you still tolerate her?"
Empress Zhu was thinking of a way to deal with it, but she heard Empress Dowager Wu In a slightly coercive tone, she said, "I heard that you were not feeling well before the New Year. If you feel that you are unable to handle the palace affairs, I will let Concubine Shu and Concubine Rong come to help you share some of the burden. The most important thing for you now is to take care of your body as soon as possible and give birth to a legitimate son for the emperor as soon as possible. Otherwise, if this continues for a long time, it will be difficult for the Queen Mother to have children. Do you think you can still sit firmly on the throne of the Queen?"
Her fingers dug deeply into the tender flesh of her palms, and Empress Zhu's cheeks were flushed with a sickly red.
Could it be that she had never given birth?
In the first year after she married Emperor Xuanwu, who was still the Crown Prince, she gave birth to the Crown Prince's first child, and two years later she gave birth to the second son, but she was unlucky and could not keep him. When
the eldest prince was just ten years old, he was found drowned in the lake. The second prince contracted smallpox at nine, and his condition worsened and he was confined outside the palace.
The Zhu family used their connections to investigate, but the result they got was that he fell into the water accidentally.
From then on, it was difficult for her to warm up her heart again. When she heard that she was asked to have a child, she was very resistant.
But as the empress of the central palace, she could not have a son by her side.
Empress Dowager Wu did not know that she was planning to have a child by surrogacy. If she knew, she would probably ask Emperor Xuanwu to depose the empress directly.
"The queen has taken good care of my harem, so you don't have to worry about it."
Fenyun followed Emperor Xuanwu and walked towards Queen Zhu without leaving any trace. Together with Wang Dequan, they helped Queen Zhu up.
Emperor Xuanwu didn't even want to put on a show, and he grabbed Empress Zhu's hand and was about to leave.
"Bang!"
"Stop right there!"
The tabletop made a sound due to the loud slapping. Empress Dowager Wu stood up with the help of Concubine Shu and stopped Emperor Xuanwu: "The emperor is now quite powerful, and he is no longer respectful to his own mother. But you want the people of the world to point at your nose and scold you for being unfilial?"
"No one dares to scold me."
Emperor Xuanwu looked back at the tough Empress Dowager firmly: "Since I ascended the throne at the age of sixteen, it has been twelve years. I know how to use people, select the wise and capable, and promote trust and friendship. I have made the strong people useful and the young people talented, and the world is peaceful. Who dares to scold me for not doing a good job as an emperor?"
Who dares to scold?
The expression on Emperor Xuanwu's face barely showed: No one dares to scold me, except you, the Empress Dowager, who relies on your status to show off your power in the harem, taking advantage of the power of others and causing trouble.
Empress Dowager Wu was so angry that she fell backwards. Her chest rose and fell violently, and her voice trembled: "I... everything I did in the past was to make you sit more firmly on the throne. Do you have to hold on to this point? What's wrong with the Wu family being strong? Will your uncle still harm you? Will I harm you?"
In response to her excitement and anger, Emperor Xuanwu's eyes were cold and without any fluctuations. His tone was as calm as ever: "Mother, don't forget that there are people with the surname Shen in this world, not Wu. I am also a descendant of the Shen family, not a pawn in your nest to control the government."
Why is it for his own good?
It's just because he is his biological son and easier to control, so he was allowed to ascend the throne.
It is simply unreasonable to disguise one's ambition as maternal love and find some high-sounding reasons to continue to hurt one's own son with peace of mind.
After leaving the gate of Kunning Palace, Emperor Xuanwu let go of Empress Zhu's hand, turned around and told her: "If you are summoned to Cining Palace again in the future, you should ask the people in your palace to report. If I hadn't arrived in time today, you would have suffered the consequences."
There was still some concern in his tone.
Young couples will eventually have feelings for each other. No matter how fierce the quarrels are on weekdays, when it is time to unite against the outside world, the emperor will never let Empress Zhu face it alone.
It is always Emperor Xuanwu who saves Empress Zhu from danger.
How can she not have expectations and feelings for her husband that she shouldn't have?
"I understand."
Empress Zhu nodded, her eyes soft, "How is Zhen Zhaoyi?"
Emperor Xuanwu shook his head, "The imperial physician said that she had cold in her body. She has been recuperating for more than half a year and is almost recovered. The bleeding this time is actually a good thing. She will take a few more medicines next time and there will be no problem with having children."
When Su was driven out of the palace, she rushed towards Zhen Zhaoyi like crazy. If Emperor Xuanwu had not reacted quickly, she would have been injured.
But Zhen Zhaoyi seemed to be frightened at the time, and a lot of blood flowed out of her lower body. The emperor thought she was pregnant without knowing it, so he quickly summoned the imperial physician.
Fortunately, it was just a false alarm, not a miscarriage as everyone thought.