In previous years, during the Ghost Festival, the emperor would take the royal family to the Taimiao to worship. However, this year, due to the emperor's health, Leng Yu and the Minister of Rites discussed and decided that they would just worship at the royal ancestral hall, the Sage Pavilion.
The worship ceremony was not too complicated. In addition, there were few people in the royal family. Apart from Leng Yu's family, Leng Ming, Yu Qiaoqiao and Xiaobao, there were also some concubines in the palace.
After the worship, everyone retreated. The emperor ordered Leng Yu and Leng Ming to stay. He sat in front of them, looked at his two sons standing with their hands hanging down, and breathed a long sigh of relief.
"In the past, when we went to the Taimiao to worship our ancestors, there were so many people from other families that I thought the royal family was thriving. However, this time when we were worshipping our ancestors in the Sage Pavilion, I looked at these children and suddenly felt a little worried. If this continues, the royal bloodline will be cut off. Therefore, I order you two brothers. Leng Yu, marry a few more concubines and give birth to more children for the royal family. And Leng Ming, tomorrow I will have the Ministry of Rites start looking for a marriage for you and find a few concubines. I will marry both the main wife and concubines. Our Leng family must have a thriving population."
Leng Yu's eyebrows were instantly twisted into a knot at the emperor's sudden words.
He clasped his hands together and replied simply:
"Father, your Majesty, my son, Prince Yu's Mansion, already has three children..."
"How can three children be enough? Besides, only two of the three children are yours, and they were born in the same womb. Go back and ask Luo Lan if she is willing to have another one. If she is, the matter of marrying a concubine can be postponed. If not, then I will let the Ministry of Rites find a suitable candidate. If that doesn't work, you can take Luo Lan's twin sister Liu Luoxue as your concubine!"
These words not only shocked Leng Yu, but also made Leng Ming's face instantly gloomy.
Leng Yu noticed the sudden change in Leng Ming's expression and hurriedly explained.
"Father, Liu Luoxue is Lan'er's biological sister, and I also regard her as my own sister. You must not randomly match us up..."
"Then you should let Liu Luolan give birth to a few more children, otherwise I'm afraid this palace will be very deserted in the future..."
Leng Yu held his forehead helplessly, Leng Ming snorted softly.
"Father is in good health, why doesn't he allow the concubines to have more children?"
His words instantly darkened the emperor's expression. He glared at Leng Ming, pointed at him, and asked angrily:
"Are you talking to your father? You're truly lawless! You're the one who disappoints me most. Your mother has always had issues with her character. She didn't discipline you well since you were a child, and you've become practically useless. I've tried to arrange marriage for you several times, but you refused. What do you want? Do you want to become a eunuch like Liu Xi?"
The emperor's words were harsh enough, and Leng Ming was so angry that veins popped out on his face. Not only did his father say bad things about his mother, he also called him a useless person in front of Leng Yu and said that he wanted to be a eunuch. How could he not be angry?
He clenched his fists tightly in his sleeves and was about to get angry and argue, but Leng Yu knew Leng Ming's feelings for Luo Xue very well and was busy trying to smooth things over.
"Father, please don't worry about Ming'er's marriage. Perhaps he already has someone in his heart, but it's not convenient for him to tell you now. He will satisfy you when the time comes."
"Sweetheart? Humph, a woman who is not of the right social status cannot marry into the royal family. Who would be interested in him, a lady from a noble family? Besides, how can a member of the royal family choose his own sweetheart? He has no skills, but he has a lot of ideas. I think he is a useless person who is idle all day and does nothing. You really disappoint me."
When the emperor saw Leng Ming, he thought of his mother, Concubine Chang, the woman he hated so much, so he vented his anger towards Concubine Chang on Leng Ming for no reason.
"Haha! Father is disappointed in me? Where did that come from? When did Father ever have any hope for me? From childhood to adulthood, you have never looked at me straight in the eye. Everything I do is wrong. Since I left the palace, you have summoned me only a few times. You said that my mother didn't teach me well, but at least she was with me during my childhood. Even if she had ten thousand faults, she is still my mother, the one who gave birth to me and raised me, the woman who shared your bed. Now she has been ruthlessly imprisoned in the cold palace by you. You won't let me see her. I don't even know whether she is alive or dead, and you are still slandering her? You have also disappointed me..."
"You are so outrageous..."
The emperor was furious and slapped the armrest of the chair heavily. His chest kept rising and falling because of his anger. Liu Xi saw this and hurried forward to pat his back and comfort him.
"Your Majesty, please calm down. You haven't recovered yet, so you can't get angry."
The emperor took a few deep breaths, pointed at Leng Ming, and angrily scolded him:
"Get out...get out of the palace, don't let me see you again."
Leng Ming glanced at him, narrowed his eyes slightly, pulled the corners of his mouth, sneered disdainfully, then flicked his sleeves and turned away.
His father's words today really made him angry.
As he walked out of the gate of the Sage Pavilion, he suddenly sneered at himself.
He had already suffered a setback at the hands of Leng Yu, and now he was being insulted by his father. It seemed that he had already been labeled as idle and doing nothing, and it would not be easy to get rid of it.
He looked up at the sky and raised his hand to block the glaring sunlight. He suddenly missed his mother very much and didn't know how she was doing.
I don’t know when I will be able to enter the palace next time, so I might as well take this opportunity to visit my mother and at least know how she is doing.
Thinking of this, he clenched his fists and walked forward with big strides.
The cold palace is the most remote place in the imperial palace. It is home to concubines who have made mistakes. Those who come here will eventually die in depression.
Leng Ming had already found out where his mother was imprisoned, but he just didn't dare to go and see it.
When he came here with heavy steps and looked at the locked door, he felt a little melancholy in his heart.
At this time, there was a shouting from inside. He frowned and listened carefully. It was his mother's voice.
"I don't want to eat anymore. The buns are all rotten, the soup has gone bad, and the vegetables don't even have a hint of oil. How can I eat them? I'm tired of eating this pig food all day long. I'll feed these to the dogs."
"You really don't want to eat? Then I'm really feeding it to the dogs. I told you long ago that you are no longer Concubine Chang. You are an abandoned concubine who was banished to the cold palace. The emperor has long forgotten you. It's my bad luck that I was assigned here to guard you, a living dead. Humph! If you hadn't given birth to a son for the emperor, you would have been killed by now. How could you still be alive? You still don't want to eat, right? You don't want to eat, right?!"
As she spoke, the maid came forward and grabbed Concubine Chang's chin tightly, stuffing a piece of steamed bun into her mouth. As she stuffed it, she laughed hatefully and said:
"If you don't want to eat, I'll serve you..."
"Hahaha……"
“Mmmmm…”
The sound coming from the yard made Leng Ming's heart twist into a knot. He slammed the door hard and shouted loudly.
"Open the door, Mother, Mother..."
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