Chengze had just been fed by the wet nurse and burped loudly. There was still milk on his little mouth. Yao Niang wiped it clean for him and said to the wet nurses, "He is still young, there is no need to take him out to see the wind."

Chengze's wet nurse Zhu Shi believed this: "I have often heard that when children are young, there are many evil spirits, especially the sons and daughters of wealthy families. It is not easy to raise them. They must be taken care of so that they will not be touched by others."

"You are very right. Not to mention that the Second Prince is so young, even if our Chengyun is only three years old this year and is quite sensible outside, I would still be worried." Yao Niang touched Chengyun's head.

The wet nurses flattered her: "The princess is a very blessed person, and the two princes are also blessed by gods and Buddhas. How can they be like ordinary people?"

Yao Niang smiled and shook her head.

Years ago, Qintianjian chose an auspicious day to marry Prince Zhou's concubine. The concubine of a prince is equivalent to the wife of a county prince and cannot be compared with other concubines. Although the Ministry of Rites and the Ministry of Clan Affairs have made arrangements, Princess Xu Qingrong still has to help. This is the helplessness of being a princess. She is not only the wife of Prince Zhou, but also his housekeeper.

Xu Qingrong even thought that there was no difference between her and King Zhou's subordinates. King Zhou only had respect for her as a couple, but not the slightest love for her as a couple.

On her birthday last month, the King of Zhou was very unhappy because the gifts and birthday banquet given to her by the officials of the palace were on par with those given to the King of Zhou. He indicated to the Chief Secretary that she was the princess and must be one level lower than the prince and could not be on the same level.

As a princess, she is far worse than Princess Chen and Princess An.

Although they are both sisters-in-law, she is like the heart of a lotus seed, sweet on the outside but bitter on the inside.

Yao Niang met Zhou Wang's concubine Gan on the first day after the Little New Year. Gan was the daughter of the former Governor of Yungui. Her father had retired. Her eldest brother was the Tongzhi of Hangzhou Prefecture in Zhejiang, and her second brother was a Hanlin Academy Scholar. It can be said that her family is noble and has a good family background.

Moreover, Gan was as beautiful as a chrysanthemum, not a traditional suitable lady for bearing a son, but she had a unique charm.

Concubine Hong was obviously very courteous to Gan, and Yao Niang also personally sent a gift: "Concubine Gan, please don't despise it."

Gan had inquired about the people in the palace, for example, Royal Consort Hong. It was said that she was extremely favored in the palace. She didn't know what kind of beauty she was, but at first sight, Royal Consort Hong looked solemn and dignified, while the young woman sitting next to her, who was dressed as a prince's wife, had a face that could move the whole country and the whole city. This person must be Princess Chen.

The outside world was full of secrets about her, saying that even a gifted son of heaven like Prince Chen bowed down to her, and that originally the position of Prince Chen's consort should have been given to the daughter of Duke Xian, but it fell to her for no reason.

Now that I see her, she is indeed radiant and very proud of herself in front of the Imperial Concubine.

Although the Royal Concubine was very kind to Gan, she was a concubine after all, so she knew the limits. After the Prince of Zhou paid his respects, he went back. Royal Concubine Hong kept Gan for a cup of tea and then sent her back.

Yao Niang stayed to talk as usual. Concubine Hong said, "Zhen Yang followed her husband to Jiangnan. The emperor said that they should go to Jinling. This way, she is very happy."

"This is also a good thing. The princess is an unrestrained person and she is free-spirited by nature. The princess and her husband are together, and the wife follows the husband. Isn't this a good thing? My mother always said that it is not a problem for her children to live far away. As long as they live a good life, she will be relieved. Moreover, if your mother misses the princess, the princess is a very filial person. If she comes to see you, I guarantee she will tell you a lot of new things and new sights."

Concubine Hong smiled upon hearing this and pointed at Cheng Yun and said, "With this monkey of mine, this place is lively enough."

Today, the King of Zhou was visiting his concubine, which was also a big event. Yao Niang sat for a while and then prepared to go out. This time, Xing'er saw her out. For so many days, she had people carefully observe Xing'er, and it seemed that she had no close relationship with the Princess of Zhou. This was strange. Could it be that she had made a wrong judgment?

"Sister Xing'er, please stay. We will go back by ourselves." Yao Niang stopped and said to Xing'er.

Xing Er was a maidservant who could get to the side of Concubine Hong. She was not stupid. She saw that Yao Niang looked at her with a trace of inquiry, so she did not dare to reveal too much of her thoughts. She just smiled and said, "Since Princess Chen said so, then I will send you here."

There was not much work to do in Kunning Palace. Concubine Hong had already gone to her afternoon class. In recent years, the emperor favored young concubines. In addition to taking care of the harem and often seeing her grandchildren, Concubine Hong devoted herself to Buddhism.

Therefore, Xing'er went back to her own residence. She was now an aunt, and had two young palace maids serving her. The two young palace maids were very happy. Xing'er usually treated the servants well, so she asked in a gentle tone, "Why are you two girls so happy?"

"It was the Third Prince's wife who gave us some gifts today. This morning, she was in the kitchen making breakfast for the Imperial Concubine, and we were there to help, so she had someone deliver a few feet of cloth to each of us. Aunt Baiying just delivered it."

In many places, silver is not widely used. Some people may never have seen silver in their entire lives. A piece of cloth can be exchanged for more things.

Xing Er smiled and said, "You guys want even a little favor, but if it were me, I wouldn't want such a small amount of cloth."

"How can we compare with you, aunt? You are so proud of yourself in front of the Royal Concubine. But it is good enough for us to get these. Aunt Baiying said that this is the best makeup satin, sent by Princess Chen's family! If I can ask someone to send it back to my sister for her wedding, she will be so happy."

…

Lying on the bed, Xing'er was making plans for Prince Chen. It was obvious that the Emperor valued Prince Zhou more now, and gave him the daughter of such an important official. This was different from the girls of the Hong family.

Those from the Hong family are just like leeches, wanting to suck the blood of King Chen. They are of no help at all and are no better than the Luo family.

But Luo was not virtuous at all. The Prince of Chen was so lonely in Xirong. If she was afraid of affecting her status, she could have sent two maids to warm his bed. But she really let the Prince of Chen suffer like this.

This is all because Naro is too jealous.

She had no one to vent her frustrations. Before, she could find Hong Shuyi. She probably knew that Hong Shuyi was also dissatisfied with Yao Niang. She heard that Luo Yao Niang had hurt Hong Shuyi's best friend Tang Huijun.

But if she said anything to Hong Shuyi now, it would be bad if it was discovered.

Because Gan entered the Zhou Wang Mansion, she was young, beautiful, well-educated, and looked gentle and submissive. The Zhou Wang stayed in her room for half a month and was very satisfied with her.

Xu Qingrong felt that she had encountered a powerful enemy, so she had no time to focus on dealing with Yao Niang. She was even afraid that her position was unstable.

Of course, Yao Niang also felt that Xu Qingrong was always making a fuss: "The position has been determined. Second sister-in-law is the princess, Gan is the concubine, and Second sister-in-law is not like Lin who appeared out of nowhere. Her position is very stable."

How could a princess take the initiative to deal with a concubine? Isn't this lowering her status?

Considering how favored Concubine Hong was in the past, Concubine Lin would never fight with her. If she did, it would just make people laugh.

However, it was a good thing that Xu Qingrong was distracted, so he had one less enemy for the time being.

While Prince Zhou's wives and concubines were having a great time, the Fourth Prince and his wife also started quarreling. After the Fourth Prince came back from Huguang, he found out the sad news of Concubine Yan's death. His mother was a concubine after all, but she lived a simple life. As a son, he could not blame the Emperor, but he also had to find out the reason.

Concubine Hong did not cover up much about Concubine Yan's affairs. The Fourth Prince had been in the palace for so many years, and it was not that he did not find people to ask. In particular, although Nanny An and others were executed, Xi Liu was rewarded for reporting the crime and had not done anything wrong, so she was only beaten with sixty boards and then sent back.

He had never imagined that his mother, who had always been prudent and self-protective, would do such a thing, even practicing witchcraft. It was for this reason that Emperor Jianzhang sent him to Huguang to work in order to protect him.

There were many empty wine bottles on the table. The Fourth Prince used to drink freely, but he never drank to such an extent.

"Fourth brother, please drink less." Seeing her husband drinking, Mu Wantong felt very uncomfortable.

The Fourth Prince was not very smart, but he was not stupid either. He looked at Mu Wantong and said, "You know what happens in every corner of this palace on a daily basis? But how could you not know that your mother did such a stupid thing? In fact, what she did was wrong, but it was for your child."

By this time, the Fourth Prince didn't know what was wrong.

Mu Wantong turned her face away and said, "Fourth brother, what are you talking about? You know my little sister is weak. Because my brother is gone, my mother blames me, and I have to take care of her. I rarely go there. I don't know what happened."

The fourth prince smiled bitterly, "Forget it, forget it. I can't blame you. If I have to blame someone, I should blame myself. It's all because I'm too weak. That's why mother is very concerned about the auspiciousness of the dragon and phoenix fetus. She wants father to treat me differently for the sake of this child. If I were the same as my third brother, mother would at least make me a noble consort."

Because of her favor, Concubine Li was now prepared to be promoted to a noble concubine. Emperor Jianzhang was always generous to the people he liked.

No, people are very generous to those they favor.

It would be fine if the Fourth Prince lost his temper, but Mu Wantong felt uncomfortable when he blamed himself like this: "Fourth brother, the Emperor is actually very good to you. If he wasn't, why would he specifically leave you out? It's just to protect you."

"Okay, you finally told the truth. You must have known this for a long time, right?" The Fourth Prince stood up angrily. He couldn't believe that Mu Wantong had known all this for a long time and now he had tricked her out of it.

Mu Wantong had never been so angry before. Seeing the Fourth Prince talking loudly, she also said anxiously: "This is her own doing. What does it have to do with me? She hates me and my daughter so much. Why should I help her? Besides, her relationship with me was not good to begin with. She didn't tell me. Am I going to expose it? Can I stop your mother?"

Now Mu Wantong thinks that the Fourth Prince is too foolishly filial.

Concubine Yan was a heartbroken person. She said that she was dealing with an unborn child for the sake of her own son, but in reality, she was unable to deal with Concubine Hong and Prince Chen, so she chose to deal with the child.

But the Fourth Prince looked at her in confusion: "Yes, I know that your mother was not kind to you, but she is my mother. How could you watch her die in vain? You are so terrible."

"I'm doing this for your own good. It's actually a good thing to leave you out of this matter. That's all I need to know." Mu Wantong never cared about others but only about Gao Xuandu.

The fourth prince smiled sadly, pointing at Mu Wantong and said, "You are too stupid, you are really too stupid. In addition to being a couple, mother and son are also one. Although my mother appears decent on the surface, she actually made a big mistake. How could the emperor use me? I am afraid that he will suppress me for the rest of my life."

"What?" Mu Wantong was not stupid and quickly thought of the key.

Yes, she was blinded by the conflict between the mother-in-law and daughter-in-law. She just wanted to see Concubine Yan make a fool of herself and wanted Concubine Yan to remember a lesson. As a daughter-in-law, she couldn't teach her a lesson for the sake of the Fourth Prince's face, but others could.

But in this palace, everyone prospers together and everyone suffers together.

The fourth prince looked at Mu Wantong and said, "So, it's useless for you to be nice to me. Look at my third brother, how arrogant he is, why is he so nice to the third sister-in-law? He just wants peace in the backyard. The imperial concubine blamed the third sister-in-law in front of everyone even though it was not the fault of the third sister-in-law before. But she just endured it. Why? Is her status lower than yours? No, it's not, because she knows that internal chaos is not good. At the same time, even if my mother sent women, she only sent some low-status ones, because she also knew the limits, but now you have allowed her to make a big mistake and even lost her life. What else can I do? I can only ask my father to send me to the fiefdom to retire."

Mu Wantong fell to the ground: "Is it so serious?"

The fourth prince smiled bitterly: "A small action in the palace will lead to very serious consequences."

Just when the Zhou Palace and the An Palace had calmed down and turned from external to internal development, Yao Niang was able to have a year to breathe. At the same time, she had not seen her husband for two years.

This year was peaceful, but then she began to worry again. The heat was unbearable. After Gao Xuance defended Huancheng for two years, he finally launched a fierce attack on the Western Rong.

When the war really breaks out, everyone's focus will be on Huancheng.

In fact, there were some people who said that the Prince of Chen was wasting people's time and money, but the Prince of Chen governed Huancheng very well, and even discovered salt fields near Huancheng. He also asked the court to open a market, and a lot of silver was paid every year, so people did not dare to complain.

But even so, Luo Zhizheng also endured tremendous pressure for his son-in-law.

This year, Concubine Li was also successfully promoted to Concubine Li Gui, becoming the first person under the Imperial Concubine, and even more favored. This is how the harem is, flowers do not last forever, and people do not stay good forever. Concubine Hong Gui has a decent reputation. She used to rely on her husband, but now she relies on her son.

Yao Niang wondered what kind of person Dugu Jialuo was. She wanted to be with Yang Jian for the rest of her life, but in the end Yang Jian changed his mind.

She didn't know whether she should believe Gao Xuance. This person who had died in his previous life was now inseparable from her.

But at least she misses him very much now.

The war lasted for three whole months, and Yao Niang was worried every day and had no appetite. Apart from taking care of her sons and doing housework, she also copied Buddhist scriptures to calm her mind.

"Eight hundred miles, eight hundred miles, good news! The Dalin army has won, the Western Rong have surrendered, and the Rongdi have been changed to the Rong County of Dalin from now on."

Emperor Jianzhang was discussing matters with his ministers. He was overjoyed when he heard the news. He immediately stood up and said, "My son is comparable to Wei and Huo, comparable to Wei and Huo!"

Luo Zhizheng also breathed a sigh of relief. In recent years, many people have criticized Prince Chen for causing casualties and property losses on the border, and some even said that he was colluding with foreign countries. These things made him worried, but fortunately, the child won in the end.

Afterwards, the court assigned other officials to arrange all matters, and Emperor Jianzhang personally summoned Prince Chen back to the capital.

He even went out of the city to greet her in person, and Yao Niang also went there with Concubine Hong in a crown carriage. She had automatically ignored the envious looks others cast on her and just wanted to see Gao Xuance as soon as possible.

Today's battle was very grand. Yao Niang looked eagerly and finally saw the army coming. She excitedly opened the curtain to look at the man riding on the horse in the lead, but she felt as if struck by lightning.

That person, that person is clearly Lu Xiao.