Chapter 661: Harsh Treatment of the Princess

On Wei Shiyu's birthday, a small banquet was held in Zhaoyang Palace.

The concubines in the palace were all smart people. They knew that Empress Nie only wanted to make friends with Wei Shiyu this time. So they came to give gifts, said a few auspicious words and left without staying any longer.

Empress Nie asked the kitchen to add some dishes for the concubines as a small return gift.

Xingxing also brought a gift.

Although Wei Shiyu himself said that asking Xingxing to invite him to the Yu family as a guest was a gift, Xingxing couldn't really take it as a gift.

She prepared a brocade headband with an emerald gem on it, which was especially suitable for a lively young man like Wei Shiyu.

Wei Shiyu really liked it, and immediately took off the usual headband that tied her high ponytail and replaced it with the one that Xingxing gave her.

Wei Shiqing watched from the side, frowning a little worriedly.

Wei Shiyu raised his head and saw his elder brother again.

He ran over and looked behind Wei Shiqing: "Why don't I see my sister-in-law?"

Wei Shiqing raised his hand and touched Wei Shiyu's hair: "It snowed again yesterday, and your sister-in-law is pregnant. I won't let her go out."

Wei Shiyu nodded frantically and smiled: "Yes, yes, yes, sister-in-law, you must take care of yourself and give birth to my nephews and nieces safely. I'm waiting to become an uncle!"

Wei Shiqing smiled: "Ayu has grown up a bit."

While the two brothers were talking, Concubine Bai came with her maids to present gifts.

The gift was placed on a brocade box. Concubine Bai had a slightly sad look on her face, holding her belly and saying, "I am unlucky. Otherwise, I might be able to give birth to a brother or sister for the Third Prince next year."

Wei Shiyu said, "Don't be sad, Concubine Bai. Besides, I don't lack brothers and sisters. I heard that there are two more pregnant ladies in the palace. Concubine Bai, don't mind it too much."

Bai Fei's somewhat sad expression froze for a moment. When she finally left, she looked at that figure with a somewhat angry feeling.

Wei Shiqing sneered and ordered someone to throw away the golden box sent by Concubine Bai.

Wei Shiqing did not avoid Xingxing, and told Wei Shiyu in front of Xingxing: "Don't accept Bai Fei's things in the future. Those who are not of our race must have different hearts."

Wei Shiyu didn't care: "Okay, don't worry, big brother, I will listen to you."

After saying that, he turned around and asked Xing Xing, "Today my mother gave me a precious horse, do you want to go and see it?"

Wei Shiqing sighed.

I feel that my third younger brother is already fourteen years old, but why is he still so childish?

Xingxing was taken by Wei Shiyu to see the precious horse behind Zhaoyang Palace, and Nie Yuke and Nie Luming, brother and sister, came over right after.

When Nie Yuke saw Wei Shiqing standing there alone, his eyes first brightened, then flashed a dim light.

How could she not hate it?

Why can't such a good cousin be hers?

Nie Luming didn't notice his sister's complicated mood. He stepped forward and bowed to Wei Shiqing, saying, "Greetings, His Royal Highness the Crown Prince."

Nie Yuke hid all her girlish thoughts and knelt down to greet: "Hello, cousin, the crown prince."

Wei Shiqing nodded calmly, and suddenly asked Nie Luming: "Ah Ming, you are not young anymore, have your grandparents started to arrange marriages for you?"

Nie Luming was stunned, and his face showed some emotion: "Cousin, you are busy with all kinds of things every day, but you still care about me. It's because I am really unpromising. I am not good at literature or martial arts. How can a girl from a good family be willing to marry me?"

At the end, Nie Luming let out a long sigh.

Wei Shiqing smiled slightly: "Don't be ridiculous, don't you know? There are many families who want to marry into the Nie family."

Nie Luming sighed again: "They are all good, but I know in my heart that I don't like them. Getting married will only delay them, so why bother?"

Wei Shiqing frowned slightly, but before he could speak, he heard Nie Yuke jokingly say, "I see. Fifth brother wants a girl with similar interests to be my fifth sister-in-law. Isn't there someone ready?"

Nie Luming blushed slightly and immediately scolded: "Ake, don't talk nonsense."

Nie Yuke smiled softly and said, "Fifth brother, you are still embarrassed. The Crown Prince cousin is not an outsider, why are you so shy?"

Nie Luming had the look of a playboy and amorous young man, but at this moment his face was completely red and he looked as if he was really in love.

"Alright! Stop talking!" Nie Luming glared at Nie Yuke again and said, "What does this have to do with you? You are ruining the reputation of others for no reason."

Nie Yuke wanted to say more, but Wei Shiqing had already guessed what Nie Yuke was going to say. He said calmly, "Cousin, please be careful with your words."

At the words "be careful with your words", Nie Yuke froze.

Her eyelashes trembled slightly, and her expression changed to a gentle and submissive one: "Okay, I'll listen to my cousin the Crown Prince."

However, deep in her eyes, which were slightly covered by eyelashes, the fire of jealousy ignited again.

…

The garden was covered with snow, and it was still early for the banquet, so Xingxing accompanied Empress Nie to drink tea in the warm pavilion.

Ever since Empress Nie took the hit on behalf of Emperor Jiazheng on the Wanshou Festival, she has occasionally had difficulty breathing. Xingxing and the imperial physician have examined her, but there is no other good way to treat her except to walk around more often and take good care of herself.

But it was the middle of winter, so in order to allow Empress Nie to rest conveniently when she went out for a walk, Emperor Jiazheng had the Ministry of Works spend a lot of effort to convert many pavilions in the palace into warm pavilions.

Once the warm curtain was put down, it blocked most of the wind and snow outside, leaving only the viewing side.

The warm pavilion has a full range of tea and snacks, and the charcoal fire is made of the best golden charcoal, so it is very comfortable.

Xing Xing was talking to Queen Nie about some things to pay attention to in winter health preservation when she saw a palace maid running over in a hurry and kneeling outside the warm pavilion: "Queen, please save our princess!"

As he spoke, he kowtowed continuously.

Queen Nie frowned and asked someone to call the palace maid into the warm pavilion.

The palace maiden's forehead was stained with mud mixed with melted snow, and she looked extremely ferocious.

Queen Nie frowned, "I remember that you were a maidservant beside Princess Mingyi? What's the matter? What happened to Mingyi?"

The maid knelt before Empress Nie, and when she saw that she still remembered that she was Ming Yi's friend, she burst into tears even more fiercely: "Empress Nie, ever since our princess was confined, those villains who flatter the powerful have come up to abuse our princess and deduct our princess's share. I wanted to talk to the Empress, but our princess said that it was her inconsiderateness that caused the Empress to be injured... Now it is winter, and those villains actually deducted our princess's share of charcoal, and even distributed the lowest quality charcoal that was full of smoke!"

"Our princess was weak to begin with. After all this suffering, she developed a high fever at night and was boiling hot all over. But those villains locked the door tightly, saying that our princess was pretending to be sick every few days and would not let us go to ask for the imperial physician. I had no choice but to crawl out through the dog hole. I heard that the queen was here, so I risked my life to come here."

The maid kowtowed again, her forehead turning purple, and she begged, "My Queen, my Queen, please save our princess!"

When Queen Nie heard this, she slammed the table in anger and said, "What a rebellion! The princess was only confined to reflect on her mistakes, but these people dared to humiliate her like this!"

The palace maid kept wiping away her tears.

Queen Nie stood up and said, "I will go to Ming Yi to take a look!"

The nanny beside Queen Nie hurriedly helped her put on her cloak.

Xing Xing also stood up: "My Lady, I will go with you."

Queen Nie nodded to Xing Xing with satisfaction: "Good child."

Queen Nie took Xingxing to the Wan'er Palace where Princess Mingyi was under house arrest, and asked someone to find the imperial physician.

Wan'er Palace was quite far from Yu Garden, so Queen Nie and Xingxing walked for a while before they got there. There was a big copper lock hanging on the top of the palace.

It turned out that the key to the big copper lock was in the possession of a maid, and that maid had gone out to drink. If one wanted to find the spare key, one had to go to the Ministry of Internal Affairs to look for it.

Queen Nie had a frosty look on her face and ordered her men to chop off the big copper lock.

Wan'er Palace has been closed for some time, and there is a desolate and decadent atmosphere in the palace.

The palace maid opened the door of the main hall for Queen Nie, and a cold wind blew directly on her face.

The maids beside Empress Nie all changed their expressions and shouted, "Hurry up and prepare a charcoal brazier!"

Queen Nie frowned and walked into the gloomy main hall. After walking around several dusty screens inside, she could see the small bed with a curtain hanging on the top.

Empress Nie took two steps at a time and stepped forward, drawing aside the curtain. She saw little Mingyi lying inside, his cheeks red from fever, and he was unconscious.

Queen Nie was furious!

It is so cold in this hall that it is uncomfortable to even stretch out a hand. Mingyi is weak to begin with, and it would be strange if he doesn't get sick in such an environment!

The imperial physician had not arrived yet, so Xing Xing hurriedly took Princess Mingyi's pulse and found that she was suffering from a high fever convulsion caused by a cold.

She carried medicine for these common children's symptoms. Xingxing took a pill from the sachet on her waist and put it into Princess Mingyi's mouth.

Princess Mingyi's face was flushed red, her eyes were tightly closed, and she twitched from time to time, obviously she was suffering from a severe fever.

Fortunately, the medicine Xingxing brought was really effective. After taking a pill, although Princess Mingyi hadn't woken up yet, at least she stopped twitching.

By the time the imperial physician arrived, Princess Mingyi's high fever had almost subsided.

The imperial physician quickly prescribed some soup and medicine for Princess Mingyi to fight the cold.

Queen Nie had a cold face and asked someone to call Concubine Li.

Concubine Li is the biological mother of Princess Mingyi.

When Empress Nie's people called her over, Concubine Li was still playing mahjong with Zhou Zhaoyi, the senior concubine in the palace where she lived.

When Concubine Li heard that Ming Yi was seriously ill and the Empress had sent for her, she turned pale and stumbled all the way over.

Zhou Zhaoyi and the other two concubines looked at each other, unable to play the leaf cards any more, and hurried over to follow.

Queen Nie was sitting in the main hall of Wan'er Palace. At this moment, eight golden charcoal basins had been raised in the main hall of Wan'er Palace, making the hall warm as spring.

Concubine Li kowtowed to Empress Nie in a hurry and said, "Your Majesty, Mingyi, Mingyi is sick? Can I go see her?"

Queen Nie pinched her brows and asked, "Did you do it earlier?"

Although Mingyi was under house arrest, his mother Concubine Li was not.

Queen Nie thought that Ming Yi was at least being taken care of by his mother, and that confining him for half a year should be a lesson for him, so that he wouldn't be so easily trusting of others in the future.

As a result, it seems that it is not the case at all?

When Concubine Li heard Empress Nie's reprimand, she actually felt very aggrieved.

"Your Majesty, Mingyi has been confined because of his mistakes. I can only deal with him outside. I hope Your Majesty will lift Mingyi's confinement as soon as possible." Concubine Li looked aggrieved and wiped away her tears. "I am of low status and all I can do is to please the main concubine Zhou Zhaoyi all day long..."

When Zhou Zhaoyi came in and heard this, he almost wanted to curse his mother in his heart.

What does this have to do with her?

She was just playing leaf cards!

Zhou Zhaoyi knelt down beside Lady Li and said nothing more. She only said with a bitter face, "Your Majesty, you are wise."

Empress Nie only felt more and more annoyed, and sighed: "Alright! Everyone, get up! ... Lady Li, Ming Yi is still asleep in there, and the palace maids have already helped him take medicine. You go and see him. Zhou Zhaoyi, there is nothing for you to do here, go back."

Concubine Li quickly got up and ran to the inner hall.

Zhou Zhaoyi nodded his head and quickly left.

Queen Nie's once most beautiful face showed a hint of boredom.

Xingxing couldn't help feeling a little distressed after seeing this.

When Empress Nie went to the back hall to visit Ming Yi, Concubine Li knelt down again and cried bitterly: "Empress, you have to make a decision for me and Ming Yi. Ming Yi has never suffered such a punishment before! Now that Concubine De is in charge of the palace affairs, such a mistake has occurred! Someone must be deliberately targeting Ming Yi! Empress, you have to make a decision for us!"

Queen Nie lowered her eyes and looked at Concubine Li without saying a word.

The nanny beside Empress Nie shouted angrily, "How dare you! Lady Li, do you know that Concubine De has handed over the responsibility of managing the six palaces to the Empress a few days ago?"

Concubine Li was stunned, and she looked at Queen Nie in amazement.

She was busy trying to please Zhou Zhaoyi all day long, and naturally didn't know that the power of the six palaces had long since returned to the hands of Empress Nie.

Isn't it that she is being weird and blaming Empress Nie for not taking care of the affairs of the six palaces?

Concubine Li stuttered all of a sudden: "No, I didn't mean that..."

Queen Nie looked cold and indifferent.

She had previously blocked for Emperor Jiazheng and was poisoned, so she had to rest for a period of time. At that time, the palace affairs were handed over to Concubine De, who gave birth to the fifth prince.

During the period when Concubine De was in charge of palace affairs, they were handled in an orderly manner.

Now that Empress Nie has almost recovered, Emperor Jiazheng asked Concubine De to hand over the responsibility of managing the six palaces to Empress Nie.

However, Empress Nie has been thinking about holding a birthday party for her youngest son these days, and she often misses her second son who is meditating in the mountains. How can she have the energy to care about other things?

——I never thought that such a big mistake would happen in an instant!

Queen Nie sighed almost imperceptibly.

When Emperor Jiazheng hurried over, Empress Nie had already returned to the rear hall of Zhaoyang Palace to rest.

Concubine Li was crying with tears in her eyes. She was talking to Emperor Jiazheng about something. Mingyi was thinking about his father when he was talking nonsense.

But after Emperor Jiazheng hurriedly looked at Ming Yi, he went straight to Zhaoyang Palace.