As the winter solstice approaches, Beijing is gradually becoming lively.
The Winter Solstice is an important festival in the Dayong Dynasty. This year, Emperor Jingyuan attaches even more importance to it and plans to hold a banquet in the Plum Garden in the palace.
The palace servants started cleaning and decorating for the grand banquet early in the morning, and even the inner palace was busy. The Imperial Household Department made many new palace costumes and sent them to the palaces of the various concubines.
Among them, Consort Yun's was the most luxurious.
But now she sits in front of the mirror with a gloomy face, unable to feel happy at all.
As soon as the door opened, a gust of cold wind swept in, and Pei Xi walked in carrying a box of pastries.
"Mother, here's some newly made plum blossom cakes, please try them."
Consort Yun glanced at the words on the oiled paper and frowned.
For some time now, Pei Xi had developed a great fondness for Qi Shunzhai's pastries. Every two days, he would send a eunuch to buy them, not so much to eat as to fear missing out on something.
However, at the moment, Consort Yun had no time to dwell on these matters; she was quite depressed.
Recalling the past few days, when Pei Xuan sent troops to besiege the general's mansion, causing much discussion among the people and prompting the officials to impeach him, she was quite pleased.
After all these years, she finally witnessed Pei Xuan's mistake.
This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, how can we miss it?
At that time, she wanted to take advantage of the situation to completely remove Pei Xuan from his position as Crown Prince.
She specifically asked Pei Xi to contact ministers who were on good terms with her maternal family, and to jointly impeach Pei Xuan in court.
But just two days later, things took a turn for the better.
Pei Xuan's actions, which had shifted from imprisoning noblewomen to protecting meritorious officials, were not only correct but also meritorious.
Even if Consort Yun was dull-witted, she could see that Emperor Jingyuan was deliberately protecting her.
It seems that challenging Pei Xuan's position as crown prince is as difficult as ascending to heaven.
She felt frustrated and regretted her actions.
Pei Xuan was intolerant of any impropriety; with just a little investigation, she could easily identify which of the court officials who impeached her were her people.
If he were to truly succeed to the throne one day, he would certainly not spare himself.
Consort Yun had no appetite for pastries and didn't even bother to look at the clothes sent by the Imperial Household Department.
"Tell your father tomorrow that I am not feeling well and will not be attending the Winter Solstice banquet."
She sighed.
"I just had a falling out with Pei Xuan, so it's best to avoid him for now."
"Why not go?" Pei Xi tossed a piece of pastry into his mouth and looked at Consort Yun's worried face. He said bluntly, "To tell you the truth, I didn't ask those court officials to impeach my brother, the Crown Prince! We have no grudge against him, so you don't need to worry."
"What?"
Consort Yun suddenly stood up.
Watching her son carefree as he ate his pastries, she was momentarily at a loss for whether to scold him for his disobedience or be glad that he was disobedient.
She pondered for a moment, then shook her head.
“Who is the Crown Prince? Even if you didn’t have the court officials impeach him, I still whispered in your father’s ear during those days. There are no secrets in the palace, he will definitely know.”
Pei Xi curled his lip: "I told you long ago that going against the Crown Prince would end badly, but you wouldn't believe me."
Consort Yun glared at him, and was about to reprimand him when she heard Pei Xi speak again.
"There is now a way to ease tensions with the Crown Prince. Would you like to consider it?"
Consort Yun asked, "What method?"
"Do you remember the things Song Lin left here before?" Pei Xi leaned closer and whispered a few words in her ear.
Consort Yun's expression immediately changed: "This is inappropriate!"
"The Yuan family has already been sentenced to exile. Even if their crimes are compounded, what good will it do us?"
She lowered her voice.
"Besides, your father never wanted to see the Song and Jiang families divorce; this would overturn the late emperor's will! This has nothing to do with us, so why should I go looking for trouble with him?"
Pei Xi replied, "This matter is indeed unrelated to us, but it is related to the Crown Prince. Didn't Mother Consort hear that the Crown Prince declared at the General's Mansion that he would uphold justice for Lady Jiang?"
“I have received news that Lady Jiang is preparing to publicly reveal Lady Yuan’s past crimes at the palace banquet on the winter solstice and request a divorce.”
"If Mother can produce the evidence she has to help Jiang get a divorce, the Crown Prince will definitely remember this favor."
Consort Yun hesitated for a moment: "Really?"
Pei Xi popped a piece of pastry into her mouth, nodding as she ate, her mind racing.
Today, Jiang Wan used the pastries from Qi Shunzhai to send him a message, asking him to return the thing that Song Lin had left there before. She also mentioned her plan to ask for a divorce at the Winter Solstice banquet.
Pei Xi could have simply given the items to Consort Yun without her knowledge.
But after thinking it over, he decided it would be better for his mother to handle the matter.
Jiang Wan is, after all, a party involved, and it is inevitable that she will be questioned when she provides evidence on her own.
However, his mother and he were complete outsiders. If they could produce evidence of Yuan's crimes, they could directly shut up the mouths of others.
Just as the Empress Dowager said, Yuan Shi has already been sentenced to exile, and adding another death sentence would do them no good.
However, his mother wouldn't help Jiang Wan without a reason, so he had no choice but to bring up Pei Xuan.
Sure enough, Consort Yun said, "That's not difficult."
If the Crown Prince helps Jiang Wan get a divorce, it will most likely succeed. She is just going with the flow and can also curry favor with Pei Xuan, so she is naturally happy to help.
What puzzled her was why the Crown Prince would go to such lengths to push for Jiang Wan's divorce.
Based on her years of experience in the palace, this matter must be quite complicated.
Just as I was about to ask Pei Xi a couple more questions, I saw that he had already walked away with the pastry box in his hand, grinning from ear to ear.
Consort Yun had no choice but to give up.
Before we knew it, the winter solstice had arrived.
The wintersweet is just beginning to bloom, its delicate buds adorning the cold winter.
As was customary, Jiang Wan first went to the Empress's palace to pay her respects.
The Empress treated her with the same warmth as always. Pei Tang was happily gathered around the stove, poking at the roasted chestnuts with a silver skewer, and playfully teasing the palace maid beside her, creating a lively and warm scene.
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