Hongli didn't dwell on their little schemes, but turned to Tongya and said gently, "Fourth sister, tomorrow your thirteenth aunt will be coming to the palace to see you and sister Tongxuan."
Tongya, forgetting her initial restraint, immediately brightened up and exclaimed, "Really? Brother Hongli, are you serious?"
Because she had several older brothers in the household, Tongya always referred to the princes in the palace as Brother Hongshi, Brother Hongli, and Brother Hongzhou to distinguish them.
Upon learning that her mother would be entering the palace the next day, Tongya's gloomy mood, which had been building up for days, finally improved.
It's been a long time since Mother has visited them in the palace. She said that because Tongya is a princess now, she can't just meet with her mother outside the palace. Her imperial mother is the empress now, and it would be impolite for her to meet with her own mother every day.
Tongya was very sad about this and didn't want to call anyone else "Mother," not even the Empress.
Because the Empress Dowager was always eccentric. On the surface, she treated them well and cared about everything, but they just couldn't feel much closeness. Only her fourth uncle liked her and her second sister. Her fourth uncle even said that they could call him Fourth Uncle in private, but in front of outsiders, they could call him Emperor or Father Emperor.
Therefore, Tongya always called her fourth uncle "Your Majesty" in front of outsiders, and in private she just called him "Father Emperor". Occasionally, to show intimacy and to please him, she would call him "Father Emperor".
Hongli curled his lips: "When has Brother Hongli ever lied to you? I heard it from Su Anda, who is by Father Emperor's side. He will send someone to find you soon."
Tongya cheered and ran back to Jiangxuexuan.
As soon as she left, Hongli's face darkened instantly, and he glanced at Hongzhou with cold eyes.
Hongzhou noticed Hongli's sharp gaze and lowered his head guiltily, as if his fourth brother knew something.
As expected, Hongli coldly said, "You are Father Emperor's son. Remember what you should and shouldn't do. Fourth Sister is young and doesn't know any better. Don't you know any better either? If something happens, Father Emperor will forgive Fourth Sister, but he won't forgive you."
Seeing that he knew from the tone of his voice, Hongzhou's face fell, and he muttered, "I never really intended to take her with me."
"That would be best." Hongli's expression softened a bit. "You often spend time with your fourth sister. She can be silly and playful, but there are some things you need to keep an eye on to prevent her from causing any trouble. Otherwise, you'll be the first to be blamed. After all, your fourth sister is just a girl, and you are a prince. You should know the importance of things."
Hongzhou nodded sullenly, then pouted and said, "Speaking of which, besides my sixth brother Fuhui, Father Emperor dotes on Tongxuan and my fourth sister the most. It's one thing to be sorry about my sixth brother, but Father Emperor treats Tongxuan and my fourth sister better than we do. I haven't seen Father Emperor like my second and third sisters much either. It's really infuriating."
Hongli glanced at him with amusement: "Why are you jealous? After all, Sister Tongxuan and Fourth Sister are Thirteenth Uncle's daughters. Father Emperor will always treat them differently. Besides, they lived in the Prince's Mansion for a while. They are practically his own daughters."
Hongzhou nodded: "That's true. But Consort Nian is about to give birth again. If she has another prince, she'll probably compete with Father Emperor for his favor. No, even if it's a daughter, Father Emperor will still dote on her. Will he still love Sister Xuan and Fourth Sister the same way then?"
Hongli pursed his lips, a dark glint flashing in his eyes, but he said, "Who knows? Consort Nian has always been in poor health."
He Yue was overjoyed to receive the imperial decree.
Because she was worried that gossip would affect Tongxuan and Tongya's lives in the palace, Heyue tried her best to restrain her desire to go into the palace to see them.
This also meant that he/she was spared the need to pay his/her respects to the Empress Dowager.
It's more comfortable staying at the mansion.
Now that she could finally see her two daughters again, and with the emperor's decree, she could openly and legitimately visit them, Heyue was naturally overjoyed.
However, after the initial joy, Heyue began to have doubts.
The Emperor never asked Heyue to come to the palace to see her two daughters. Heyue would only catch a glimpse of them from afar when she came to the palace. The scene of being forced to kneel by the Emperor last time was still vivid in her mind. She wondered what the Emperor was planning.
However, her doubts were fleeting, as Heyue's heart was already filled with the joy of seeing her daughter.
The next day, before dawn, Heyue got up, dressed, and went to the palace.
Now Heyue is wearing the attire of a prince's wife, which is terribly cumbersome, but there's nothing she can do about it; she has to wear clothing that represents her status when entering the palace.
He entered the palace at Chenshi (7-9 AM), and as usual, paid his respects to the Empress Dowager and the Empress before going to see his daughter.
The Empress Dowager's illness worsened, showing no signs of improvement.
He Yue heard that yesterday, when Consort Nian was attending to the Empress Dowager, the Emperor suddenly arrived, had another disagreement with the Empress Dowager, and took Consort Nian away again.
Later, the Emperor had another unpleasant argument with Consort Nian outside Cining Palace, and Consort Nian almost miscarried after returning to the palace.
Tsk, the Empress Dowager is really unlucky to be stuck with such a little brat. She can't hit him or scold him, after all, she's carrying a dragon's seed in her belly. One wrong move and it could cost her her life. And he's the Emperor's offspring, the Empress Dowager's own grandson.
Despite her troubles with the emperor, the empress dowager still cared about her grandson.
Whether Consort Nian did it intentionally or not, the Empress Dowager's mood would definitely not be good with her serving her.
You're having a fight with your eldest son, and now his favorite concubine is showing up in front of you. Didn't you see that even the Empress doesn't dare to show up? She's afraid of upsetting the Empress Dowager.
Even if the emperor is angry with the empress dowager, they are still mother and son. If he makes the empress dowager's condition worse, the emperor will also be angry.
It was fortunate that it was Consort Nian; if it were anyone else, it wouldn't be the Emperor and Empress Dowager having a tantrum, but rather the Emperor scolding his own woman. Since he couldn't vent his anger on the Empress Dowager, the concubine would have to suffer the consequences.
This also shows that the Emperor truly loves Consort Nian.
Otherwise, Consort Nian wouldn't have gone to see the Empress Dowager knowing the Emperor's decree, and wouldn't have been able to defy the Emperor's orders without any consequences.
This is what they call being spoiled and pampered.
In layman's terms, they've been spoiled.
However, this imperial concubine was quite interesting. For some reason, she was perfectly fine when she came out, but in the blink of an eye, she angered the emperor and almost caused a miscarriage.
Sigh, Heyue couldn't help but lament, "Fourth Brother's life is so hard."
It's one thing for the Empress Dowager to be indifferent, but she caused trouble in the court right after ascending the throne, which upset the Empress Dowager and caused the Consort to be upset as well.
Nothing is going right.
As expected, being an emperor doesn't necessarily bring comfort; even more troubles will come knocking.
As for the Empress, ever since the Fourth Prince's wife became Empress, she has maintained a very high and mighty demeanor, exuding an air of superiority and befitting a mother of the nation.
After meeting Heyue, the previous superficial intimacy disappeared, replaced by a greater distance and formality.
Heyue could no longer laugh and joke with her sisters-in-law in front of the Empress as she used to.
Now that you're the Empress, who would still want to be your sister-in-law? If you continue like before, wouldn't the Empress be lowering her status?
Someone as status-conscious as Ulanara would never do such a thing.
After exchanging a few simple pleasantries, Heyue took her leave. She didn't have time to put on a show with the other party; she was too tired. She didn't want to make things difficult for herself, and she just wanted to follow the proper etiquette.
Then, led by the eunuch, Heyue went straight to Jiangxuexuan to see her daughter.
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