Chapter 122

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The fifteenth prince seemed to have grown up overnight, and there was no childishness in his eyes. Li Huairou felt distressed and helpless when she saw it. Although she also knew that this was an inevitable process of growth, she still felt distressed.

After the fifteenth prince accidentally saw her scarred hands, she was not allowed to use needles and thread anymore. Li Huairou didn’t know what to do, so she had to rack her brains to make some delicious food. The fifteenth prince also began to accept the services of other palace servants. Li Huairou simply got into the kitchen of Yongshou Palace.

The first dish to come out was the “ten thousand taels of gold” that the fifteenth prince was thinking about. However, when the fifteenth prince saw it, he didn’t recognize that it was ten thousand taels of gold, because Li Huairou had made sugar-glazed sweet potatoes.

The fifteenth prince liked the taste of these sweet potatoes and said that they were delicious. So Li Huairou made another series of sugar-glazed potatoes, sugar-glazed yams, sugar-glazed bananas, and sugar-glazed apples. Li Huairou didn’t stop until she got the imperial physician’s vague reminder that eating too many sweets was bad for his teeth.

Then she started to make french fries and then started to make fried chicken wings, fried chicken legs, fried rice cakes, and so on.

Every time the emperor came to Yongshou Palace, he would smell the aroma. At first, the emperor was still holding himself back, thinking that they were new dishes made in Consort Ling’s palace, but when he ate, he found that they were all ordinary dishes, nothing new. He was somewhat unhappy–why did Consort Ling still eat alone!

Consort Ling couldn’t help but explain that they were snacks that the fifteenth prince’s maid had made in order to coax him.

The emperor said with a stern face, “As a prince, how can he pay so much attention to his appetite for food and drink?”

Consort Ling saw that the emperor was probably greedy, and, with a wink, Qing Xin immediately, quietly retreated. “Your Majesty, please don’t say any more. This concubine also likes to eat snacks made by Huairou. Why doesn’t the emperor try it with this concubine?”

The emperor agreed reluctantly.

Presently, Qing Xin also came back with snacks.

After eating, the emperor also commented, “The appearance is average. The taste is acceptable.”

Then, at lunch the next day, the emperor came again.

The emperor had lunch in Yongshou Palace for seven days in a row. Later, the emperor was busy in court, and he had no time to come to the harem. Fortunately, Consort Ling was kind and understanding, and she ordered Qing Xin to send Li Huairou’s dishes over every day.

After hearing what was going on, the consorts and concubines followed suit. Every day, the front of the Hall of Mental Cultivation was filled with maids who’d come to deliver snacks of various colors.

When Consort Ling saw this, she did not send the dishes anymore.

The emperor was so troubled that he reprimanded the empress, saying that she had trouble managing the six palaces, condoning the concubines in spying on court matters.

As soon as these words came out, the concubines didn’t dare to do anything.

After the emperor was busy for a while, when he went to Yongshou Palace, Li Huairou’s attention had shifted from various snacks to bone soup. She boiled all kinds of bone soup every day, and then made sure that the fifteenth prince drank it.

They hadn’t seen each other for some days, and the emperor found that the fifteenth prince had gained weight, and it seemed that he’d also grown taller.

When he asked about the homework again, the emperor nodded with satisfaction. Not bad; during the recovery period, he hadn’t fallen behind on homework.

On Consort Ling’s side, her injuries were healed, and she was able to serve in bed.

In the morning, after sending the emperor away. Consort Ling sat in front of the dressing table and touched her lower abdomen. Unexpectedly, this child had come so quickly. It seemed that some plans had to be advanced.

As for the previous incident–at that time, the emperor had not dealt with anyone, except those who had served the fifteenth prince. But, these days, the emperor had never called on Noble Consort Chun and Noble Consort Jia.

Noble Consort Chun and Noble Consort Jia also calmed down a lot. Previously, when the concubines and consorts were scrambling to send things to the Hall of Mental Cultivation, even the empress had taken action as well. She’d ordered her momo to send ginseng soup over. Only Noble Consort Chun and Noble Consort Jia were quiet. It made the emperor feel a little satisfied with them.

These two were old players who’d served the emperor since the time they were in the prince’s mansion, and they understand the emperor’s temperament very well. This time, she’d managed to press them down with the help of the emperor’s hand. But, if they were given some time, it wasn’t impossible for them to turn over again.

She had to hit them with a single strike.

Consort Ling called Qing Xin over and whispered a few words in her ear.

Qing Xin took the order. She spread Consort Ling’s words through the layers of her acquaintances.

Wei Qingtai received the news and immediately made the arrangements.

It didn’t take long for rumors to spread in the court about the emperor’s intention to set up a crown prince.

The eldest prince had fallen out of favor, the second prince had died early, and the third and fourth prince were the oldest among the other princes. The two princes were born as royals, so it was natural for them to have designs on the throne. For fear of falling behind, they began to reach out to courtiers, one after another, to speak on their behalf.

Among them, the fourth prince was the first son born after the emperor ascended the throne. His biological mother, Noble Consort Jia, had three sons, and he had many supporters and was the most active.

In the face of a series of small actions by the two princes, the emperor turned a deaf ear, instead confirming that the matter of the crown prince was true. The two princes racked their brains and began to express themselves.

The wisdom of Noble Consort Chun and Noble Consort Jia was within the harem, and they did not know about the affairs of the court. The third prince and the fourth prince had already left the palace to build their mansions. Mother and son could only meet once every month, and it would only take half an hour. Therefore, although they knew what their sons were doing, they were not very clear on it.

They could only kneel in front of the bodhisattva, pray for their sons, and at the same time have some vague expectations in their hearts. They hoped that their sons could be established as a crown prince. In that case, even if they couldn’t be empress, they could be empress dowagers in the future!

The matter of the crown prince had not yet come to an end, and Consort Ling was found to be pregnant. The emperor was delighted, and he ordered the head of Taiyuan Hospital to give Consort Ling miscarriage prevention, and he bestowed countless rewards on her. According to the news from the Hall of Mental Cultivation, the emperor said that the matter of establishing the crown prince had been postponed.

Noble Consort Chun and Noble Consort Jia groaned in their hearts. Did the emperor attach so much importance to the son in Consort Ling’s womb? Was it because he wanted to wait for Consort Ling’s child to grow up, delaying the establishment of the crown prince?

Noble Consort Chun and Noble Consort Jia were overwhelmed by their jealousy and anger, and they decided to cooperate to solve the serious trouble of Consort Ling first, and then they’d rely on their own abilities.

A month later, Consort Ling had a miscarriage. The imperial physician said that Consort Ling had injured her womb, and she would not be able to get pregnant again in the future.

The emperor was furious, and, while ordering a thorough investigation, he ordered the matter to be concealed from Consort Ling, and Consort Ling was never allowed to know about it.

As a result, all kinds of clues pointed to Noble Consort Chun and Noble Consort Jia.

The emperor hadn’t yet decided what to do with Noble Consort Chun and Noble Consort Jia when there was another accident in Yongshou Palace. When Noble Consort Jia had come to visit, she’d accidentally had a slip of the tongue and revealed that Consort Ling could no longer bear children. Consort Ling immediately collapsed and fainted.

Noble Consort Jia Gui hadn’t expected Consort Ling’s reaction to be this big, and she was taken aback.

Then she learned that the emperor already knew about this and was rushing to Yongshou Palace.

Noble Consort Jia’s combusting brain only calmed down at this time, and her cold sweat immediately wet her underclothes. She didn’t know what was wrong with her. She was smart as a rule, so how had she become so muddled now?

[Cong ming yi shi, hu tu yi shi (聪明一世，糊涂一时): A man who is wise all the time can become foolish and make miserable mistakes]

She made a prompt decision. She knelt outside Yongshou Palace, and took off her hairpin to confess her crimes.

[The etiquette of the ancient empresses and concubines making a major mistake and pleading guilty. Generally, the hairpins and pearls are removed, the hair is loosened, they change from luxurious clothes to plain clothes, and they kneel down to beg forgiveness. It is an insulting punishment]

The emperor didn’t even look at her. He went straight in.

After being treated by the imperial physician, Consort Ling was already awake. When she saw the emperor, Consort Ling not only did not cry, but instead pulled herself together to comfort the emperor. “It is also good like this; this way, this concubine can serve the emperor wholeheartedly.”

Upon seeing that Consort Ling was so sensible, the emperor felt bad.

The emperor promptly decreed that Noble Consort Jia had not been careful with her words and deeds. She was stripped of her title and demoted to consort. Then he decreed that Consort Ling would be made Noble Consort Ling.

Noble Consort Jia–no, it should be Consort Jia–fainted in front of Yongshou Palace after hearing it, and she was directly carried back.

After the fourth prince learned that his biological mother had been demoted, he was so anxious that he contacted the courtiers to write a letter to intercede for his biological mother.

Immediately afterward, another decree came. The emperor was giving the fourth prince to Prince Lu for adoption on the grounds that Prince Lu had no heirs.

After hearing the news, Consort Jia fainted again. After waking up, she knelt in front of the Hall of Mental Cultivation and pleaded with the emperor. Her forehead was wounded from the bowing, and the emperor never saw her.

After hearing this, Noble Consort Chun felt relieved. It seemed that the Jia family had been stupid and implicated the fourth prince. In this way, her third prince was the most suitable candidate for crown prince.

But before Noble Consort Chun got to feel happy for too long, the emperor reprimanded the third prince in front of the courtiers, saying that the third prince was unfilial and could not inherit the great lineage.

These words directly ruined the future of the third prince, and they also showed that the emperor had rejected the third prince.

Noble Consort Chun immediately fell ill and died of a serious illness. The emperor was not good for anything for a period of time.

Things happened, one after another, and the whole harem lived in fear. Even the empress couldn’t help but be frightened, and she beat the people around the twelfth prince, over and over again.

Then, she still felt worried and went to Shoukang Palace to ask to see the empress dowager.

The empress dowager wholeheartedly prayed to the Buddha and ignored common affairs. No matter how the consorts and concubines in the harem were jealous and made a lot of trouble, the empress dowager didn’t care about it. After all, that was how she’d come to this position. It was just that the princes were involved, and the empress dowager couldn’t ignore it. Especially when two princes had fallen at once!

The empress dowager asked the emperor to come to Shoukang Palace to speak. When the matter was brought up, the emperor directly ordered the evidence to be placed in front of the empress dowager. “However jealous they are, as long as they don’t cause too much trouble, they may as well be invisible. But now, they actually stretched out their hands to the front court, trying to sway me and establish a crown prince!”

The emperor came up and brought the matter to the front court, and the empress dowager had nothing to say.

The harem was not allowed to interfere in politics; this was the rule!

The empress dowager also understood that the emperor was determined, and it was not good to say more. However, she was slightly dissatisfied with Noble Consort Ling, feeling that all the trouble had come from her and that she was an ominous person. And she was unable to bear children. For the sake of the emperor’s heir, she wanted to make the emperor favor other concubines more in the future.

However, the emperor said that Noble Consort Ling had been deprived of her qualifications to be a mother for no reason, and she was the most innocent person. And the matter of Noble Consort Ling’s infertility could not be widely known. Otherwise, how would the people view the harem? Therefore, not only did Noble Consort Ling need to be favored, but she also had to be favored.

One of the manifestations of bestowing favor on concubines was fertility. The imperial doctor had determined that Noble Consort Ling could not give birth! The empress dowager was puzzled.

The emperor said that he could change the fifteenth prince’s jade plate.

When the empress heard it, she just thought it was absurd. The empress dowager thought it was pure self-deception. The mother and son parted unhappily.

The empress dowager was embarrassed by her son, and her expression was a little awkward, but her son was the emperor, and the emperor would definitely not be in the wrong. Even if the emperor was at fault, that was because the people around him had failed to persuade him properly. But the empress had been chosen by herself, and Noble Consort Chun was ill, and Consort Jia had fallen out of favor. The empress dowager sifted through and could only put her anger on Noble Consort Ling.

Noble Consort Ling was still in the middle of seclusion, and it was not easy for the empress dowager to take action directly, as not to damage her Buddha-like image, so she had to endure for the time being.

And Li Huairou was stunned by Wei Qingxue’s series of dazzling operations. She hadn’t expected that Wei Qingxue would be so cruel. Too cruel!

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