Chapter 738, Support
Daohua walked with her head down behind Old Lady Yan and Madam Li, and followed the ladies of various families towards the Cining Palace.
Soon, they arrived at the Cining Palace.
Looking at the magnificent Cining Palace, Daohua's eyes flickered, and the scene of her first meeting with Grandma Gu and Gu Jian flashed involuntarily in her mind.
At that time, my mother-in-law and the master lived in a dilapidated courtyard in the temple. The courtyard had nothing but shelter from the wind and rain, and it didn't even have any decent furniture. The most common objects she saw were medicine jars.
Even the later Taohua Temple is not comparable to the Cining Palace in front of us.
Stepping into the Cining Palace and looking at the endless stream of ladies of honor and palace maids coming in and out, Daohua witnessed the glory and pomp that Empress Dowager Jiang enjoyed as the emperor's nominal mother.
Thinking of my mother-in-law buried alone in Taohua Village, I felt extremely sad.
Afterwards, Daohua, Old Lady Yan, and Madam Li, along with other ladies of honor, entered the hall, bowed and knelt before the Empress Dowager and the Queen, and then sat aside in an orderly manner.
The empress dowager sat high up in the main seat, able to see everyone below clearly. After seeing the women of the Yan family, her gaze paused on Daohua, then she shifted her gaze away indifferently.
Afterwards, the Queen Mother spoke to the ladies of each family one by one, except for the Yan family.
Seeing the Queen Mother like this, everyone present had their own thoughts and they all distanced themselves from Old Lady Yan and the other two.
In the hall where everyone was talking and laughing, the Yan family was excluded from the excitement.
In response to this, Old Lady Yan, Madam Li, and Daohua all looked calm. They had already made various preparations before coming.
Daohua secretly glanced at the empress dowager.
Compared with the graceful, comfortable and leisurely Empress Dowager Jiang, the disfigured Granny Gu looked much older. Especially after being tortured by illness for many years and forced to be separated from her children, there was always a trace of heart-wrenching sadness in Granny Gu's eyes.
Looking at all that the Empress Dowager was enjoying, and thinking about all that her mother-in-law had silently endured over the years, Daohua felt a surge of injustice in her heart, unable to express it, and feeling extremely uncomfortable.
"Your Majesty, the eldest prince has come to pay his respects to you, along with all the other princes, princesses, and princess consorts." A palace servant came to the palace to report.
Hearing this, the Queen Mother immediately smiled and said, "Let them in!"
Soon, the princes, princesses and princesses, led by the eldest prince and his wife, entered the hall.
"Grandson (granddaughter-in-law) pays respects to the Imperial Grandmother!"
Looking at the princes and princesses who were kneeling at the feet of the empress dowager in an orderly manner and with admiration on their faces, Daohua felt a little short of breath. She took a deep breath in secret and finally expelled the turbid air from her chest.
"I wish the Imperial Grandmother a happy Dragon Boat Festival. This is a gift from your grandson."
The princes and princesses began to compete to express their filial piety.
The ladies present were also very discerning and praised the prince and princess for being filial and the empress dowager for being blessed.
"Grandmother, has Princess Shengping arrived? Call her out so we can take a look and see if she is really worthy of cousin Yeyang?" The eldest princess suddenly spoke with obvious contempt in her tone.
The Queen Mother smiled without saying anything, her eyes just falling on Daohua.
Daohua thought to herself, what was to come has finally come. This eldest princess must be the one that the Queen Mother pushed out to embarrass her.
According to the information Xiao Yeyang gave her, the eldest princess's biological mother was of humble status and died shortly after giving birth to her. After that, the eldest princess had been dependent on the queen mother for her life and had spoken for the Jiang family on various occasions.
Under everyone's attention, Daohua calmly stood up and said, "Shengping greets everyone."
The eldest princess took a look at the rice flowers, smiled and said to the queen mother, "It is indeed a beautiful color."
The Queen Mother smiled and said, "What Yeyang likes is naturally good."
They chose the person themselves, instead of having the elders in the family make the decision. This is a secret that the two of them are secretly deciding to spend their lives together.
Daohua pretended not to understand the empress dowager's hidden meaning and simply ignored all the looks falling on her.
The eldest princess continued, "I heard that the Yan family comes from a farming family. We don't know much about farming. Why don't you ask the County Lady Shengping to tell us about farming? We are all bored now anyway."
As soon as these words were spoken, everyone looked at Daohua.
The eldest princess's request was essentially no different from what Madam Jiang had done before, when she asked Princess Shengping to perform in public at Princess Huijia's residence. Both were for fun.
Before, Princess Shengping confronted the two wives of the Jiang family. Now, in front of the Empress Dowager and the Queen, does she still dare to do so?
Everyone looked at Daohua curiously, trying to guess her reaction.
Rice Flower glanced at the eldest princess with a calm expression: "What does the eldest princess want to know about the farmers?"
The eldest princess laughed and said, "I heard there's a saying among farmers that the humbler the name given to a child, the easier it is to raise. I heard that Princess Shengping's nickname was Rice Flower. Is that the reason?"
Rice Flower: ".It's just something I picked at random."
The eldest princess smiled and said, "I thought the elders of the Yan family thought 'Rice Flower' was cheap and easy to feed, so they gave you this nickname." Then she looked at the Queen Mother and said, "Speaking of 'Rice Flower', she is really cheap. Even a cat or a dog could trample 'Rice Flower' into the mud."
Rice Flower was silent for a moment, suppressing her anger. She looked directly at the eldest princess and said, "Princess, if you think Rice Flower is worthless, do you normally eat rice?"
The eldest princess's expression changed slightly, but she didn't say anything.
Rice Flower continued, "First there were rice flowers, then there were rice grains, and finally there was rice on our table."
The eldest princess curled her lips and said, "The Yan family is indeed a farming family. They know everything about rice flowers and rice grains."
The rice flowers looked at her and said, "The eldest princess was born into a royal family. She has enjoyed a life of luxury since she was born. Naturally, she doesn't understand the lives of ordinary people. The blooming rice flowers mean a good harvest, which means she can have enough food and clothing, and she can survive."
"So, Princess, please stop calling 'rice flowers' cheap. The very things you despise support millions of ordinary people. It is through the support of these millions of ordinary people that you, Princess, can enjoy a life of luxury."
The eldest princess could not accept this. Her father loved the people and attached great importance to agriculture. If she were to use the "Rice Flower" to lower the salary of Princess Shengping, it would definitely make her father unhappy if he heard about it.
Seeing that the eldest princess was speechless, Madam Jiang II cursed her inwardly, "Waste!" Then she smiled at the Queen Mother and said, "Queen Mother, I was right, wasn't I? The Princess of Shengping has a powerful tongue."
The empress dowager looked at Daohua and said "hmm" lightly. She didn't want to lose her status in front of so many ladies, so she waved her hand and signaled Daohua to leave.
Old Lady Yan and Madam Li looked at Daohua worriedly. Daohua smiled and indicated that she was fine.
Afterwards, the empress dowager spoke with the ladies and led everyone out of the Cining Palace and walked towards the palace where the banquet was to be held.
Because of the Empress Dowager's displeasure, Old Lady Yan, Madam Li, and Daohua were isolated and left last.
After arriving at the palace where the banquet was held, everyone took their seats in turn.
During this period, Old Lady Yan, Madam Li, and Daohua were as low-key as they could be, but even so, there were still people who would not let them go.
"Princess Shengping, since the emperor has granted you and the young prince a marriage, why don't you come and meet your mother-in-law?" Concubine Ma suddenly spoke, drawing everyone's attention back to Daohua.
Daohua looked at Mapin expressionlessly: "My lady, you have lived in the palace for a long time, I am afraid you don't know much about the affairs of Prince Ping's mansion. My mother-in-law did not enter the palace today."
This answer was very blunt, indicating that he did not recognize Princess Ma as his mother-in-law at all.
Princess Ma looked at Daohua with anger on her face: "Does Princess Shengping think that I am unworthy of being your mother-in-law?"
Daohua looked indifferent: "It's not the same in the first place, so how can you say you are not worthy?"
Upon hearing this, everyone's faces changed.
Mapin immediately looked at the Empress Dowager and said, "Empress Dowager, look at the Princess Shengping. My sister is the principal wife of Prince Ping, so how can she not be her mother-in-law? Is she disregarding the ancestral etiquette and laws by saying this?"
The empress dowager looked at the rice flowers and secretly hated Xiao Yeyang for not giving face to the Jiang family. She would rather choose the Yan family, who came from a small family, than marry Wanying. Knowing Xiao Yeyang's disgust for Ma, she thought that if the wife he chose offered tea to Ma in public, it would be a slap in his face, so she acquiesced to Ma's statement.
When the eldest princess saw this, she immediately took the lead and said, "Princess Shengping, Princess Ma is the legal wife of Prince Ping, which means she is your mother-in-law. Now, in front of the Queen Mother and all the ladies, you should go over and offer her tea." There was no room for negotiation in her tone.
Daohua took a deep breath, stood up, and knelt down: "Please forgive me, Queen Mother. Shengping can't do this. Shengping only has one mother-in-law, Xiao Yeyang's biological mother."
The Queen Mother was slightly startled, and the others also looked astonished.
It was obvious that the Empress Dowager had tacitly agreed to let Princess Shengping serve tea, but she dared to reject it in public!
After the empress dowager came to her senses, she was furious. Xiao Yeyang disobeyed her and looked down on the girl from the Jiang family. Yan Yiyi was only given the title of county lord because the Yan family donated some medicinal herbs and food, but she dared to disobey her. Did she really think she was kind and would not punish her?
The Queen Mother glanced at the eldest princess.
The eldest princess received the Queen Mother's signal and immediately scolded her, "Princess Shengping, how dare you! Serving tea to Princess Ma was the Queen Mother's order. How dare you disobey?"
Daohua knelt motionless and glanced at the eldest princess calmly: "Please forgive me, Queen Mother."
The Queen Mother's face was completely gloomy. Seeing this, the eldest princess stood up and pointed at Daohua: "Come here, the Princess of Shengping County has committed treason and disrespected the Queen Mother. Slap..."
At this moment, everyone heard the voice of Eunuch An, the chief steward of the Qianqing Palace: "The Emperor has arrived!"
Daohua turned her head slightly and saw the emperor, dressed in a dragon robe and with extraordinary majesty, walking towards the empress dowager.
Wu Ye
Thinking of Granny Gu who was still thinking about the emperor until her death, Daohua felt a sudden pang of pain in her nose.
The emperor walked in and looked at Daohua, who was kneeling on the ground with red eyes and a stubborn look on her face. He smiled and asked, "What happened?"
Mapin immediately spoke up: "Your Majesty, you have come at the right time. This Princess Shengping has dared to disobey the Queen Mother's order. You must punish her severely."
Seeing the emperor looking at her with a smile, Mapin's voice became lower and lower, and finally she stopped talking without even finishing her words.
Although the emperor was smiling at this moment, she instinctively sensed the displeasure in his eyes.
The Emperor ignored Ma and looked at the Queen Mother: "Queen Mother, this little girl Yan is entering the palace for the first time and doesn't know the rules of the palace. You should not bother with her."
When they heard the emperor's address, the expressions of those present changed.
The Queen Mother's eyes flickered slightly, and she smiled and said, "Your Majesty is right." Then she looked at Daohua and said, "Get up."
The eldest princess immediately said, "Father, the Imperial Grandmother didn't mean to embarrass Princess Shengping. It's just that Princess Ma is the legitimate mother of Yeyang's cousin. The Imperial Grandmother only wanted Princess Shengping to offer her a cup of tea, but Princess Shengping refused the Imperial Grandmother twice."
The Emperor looked at the eldest princess indifferently until she lowered her head. Then he smiled and said to the Queen Mother, "Queen Mother, Xiao Jiu is grown up now. We should not interfere in his family affairs."
As soon as these words were spoken, Princess Ma's expression suddenly changed. What did the emperor mean by this?
Does it mean that even if she is the prince's principal wife, she is not qualified to drink tea from Xiao Yeyang and Princess Shengping?
(End of this chapter)
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