The concubine is extremely cautious

The chief maid Shanhu said anxiously, "My Lord, His Majesty favors you, and everyone in the palace can see it. Why do you have to deliberately anger His Majesty?"

"I don't want to make him angry, but it makes me uncomfortable to think that he doesn't believe what I said." Concubine Zhuang lowered her eyes, a trace of loss flashing in her eyes.

"Master, if you get angry with His Majesty, you are giving others an opportunity," Shanhu said worriedly.

Concubine Zhuang had a hint of melancholy in her eyes. "Who he likes has nothing to do with whether I give him a chance or not. No matter how well I do, he will still like me. If he has me in his heart, he will protect me even if I get angry with him."

“Like today…?” Coral asked.

Concubine Zhuang was stunned, and her anger instantly disappeared.

She stopped talking about the emperor and turned to Shanhu and instructed, "Tell Madam Heping that you should be careful about the princess's diet in the future."

"Yes." Coral accepted the order and said with emotion:

"Master, you usually seem to dislike the princess, but I didn't expect you to be so angry today that you beat up Concubine Shu. It turns out that you care about the princess very much..."

"When did I care about her!" Concubine Zhuang retorted with a cold face.

But because the princess was poisoned, she had no intention of attending the palace banquet tonight and took sick leave.

……

Concubine Shu returned to Jingxi Palace.

The imperial physician took her pulse and prescribed medicine for her. She was seriously injured and should rest in bed for a few days.

But there was a palace banquet tonight, so after taking her medicine, Concubine Shu forced herself to wash and get ready.

"Master, this Concubine Zhuang is truly lawless..." Zhenzhu said angrily.

Concubine Shu sneered, "If it weren't for the Emperor's protection, a fool like her would have died eight hundred times. I didn't do anything to her before, just to let the Emperor feel at ease. Since she is seeking death, I will send her off."

Concubine Zhuang is not to be feared; the real trouble is the emperor.

It needs to be done cleanly without leaving any trace so that the emperor won't notice.

She needs to think carefully about this matter and make good arrangements.

"Has everything been arranged for tonight's palace banquet?" asked Concubine Shu.

As the emperor was in mourning for three years, there were no banquets in the palace.

This Mid-Autumn Festival family banquet was the first royal family banquet since the emperor ascended the throne. As the person in charge of the six palaces, the organizer of this palace banquet naturally had to be thorough and not let anyone find any fault.

All the royal family members will know that she is the true Uncrowned Queen.

(The longevity banquet is organized by the Ministry of Rites)

"Everything has been arranged. Most of the royal family members have arrived, except... Prince Yu has not come yet." Zhenzhu replied.

Prince Yu...

Concubine Shu's eyes flickered slightly.

Among the princes of the late emperor, in addition to the Crown Prince and the King of England, there were also some princes of noble status.

The third prince, Prince Yu, was one of them.

His biological mother was Consort De during the reign of the previous emperor, and his wife was the legitimate daughter of Duke Xue, the younger sister of the previous crown princess.

He is a brother-in-law of the late crown prince and is the late crown prince's right-hand man.

If the current emperor had not ascended the throne, he would have been the most powerful prince in the royal family.

Even if there was no former crown prince, as Prince Yu, he was originally more noble than Helian Qi.

Having said that, most of the previous emperor’s princes had better births than Helian Qi.

Prince Yu always followed the lead of the Crown Prince and had always looked down on Helian Qi. When Helian Qi ascended the throne, he was the one who was most dissatisfied.

At the last birthday banquet, he was not in the capital because he was inspecting the border.

I just returned to Beijing some time ago.

Who knows, there might be some good show tonight.

When Concubine Shu thought of this, she felt much better.

Suddenly I became even more looking forward to tonight's palace banquet.

……

After the bell rang, members of the royal family took their seats.

However, the first seat in the row of royal family members was still empty.

"Who is this? How dare he be late?" Tang Miaoling looked around curiously.

She sat behind Ning Wanyin.

When Xiao Guizi saw that it was her master's cousin who was asking the question, she immediately lowered her voice and reminded him, "This is the seat for His Royal Highness Prince Yu."

Ning Wanyin recognized the absent person at a glance.

The person who can sit in the first seat is the one with the longest ranking in the royal family.

The late Crown Prince was the eldest son, Prince Ying was the second, Prince Yu was the third, Your Majesty was the fourth, and Prince Fu was the fifth. These princes were of similar age.

The next six princes, Yi and the Duke, are all under the age of twenty and have not yet come of age.

After the emperor ascended the throne three years ago.

Ning Wanyin specifically checked the origins of these princes.

Prince Yu is a member of the Prince's party, and Prince Fu is a member of the King's party. In comparison, the current emperor is a compromise option between the two dukes.

"Dangdangdang——"

The bell rings nine.

The eunuchs sang, "Here comes the Emperor! Here comes the Empress Dowager!"

Helian Qi attended the event with Queen Mother Xue.

Everyone stood up and saluted. "Your Highness, long live the Emperor! Your Highness, long live the Empress Dowager! May the Empress Dowager live forever!"

"Stand up." Helian Qi sat down in the main seat.

Everyone stood up and sat down, and the empty seat was particularly eye-catching.

At this moment...

A young man in a brocade robe with four claws of a dragon entered the hall and saluted to the emperor and the empress dowager.

"I pay my respects to the Emperor and the Empress Dowager! Today is the Mid-Autumn Festival, the night of family reunion. I was thinking of my brother, Crown Prince Kang Ren, and drank a few more cups. I got drunk and woke up late for the banquet. I beg Your Majesty and the Empress Dowager to punish me!"

This person is Prince Yu.

The whole house was silent.

Are you drunk and late? You are obviously late on purpose to embarrass the emperor.

Moreover, he deliberately mentioned the former crown prince.

Queen Mother Xue said with a look of relief, "You miss your brother. Brothers are friendly and respectful to each other. What's wrong with that? Go back to your seat."

"Your son bows to thank the Queen Mother for her grace!" Prince Yu lifted his robe, stood up and returned to his seat.

Helian Qi didn't have time to say a word during the whole process. Empress Dowager Xue and Prince Yu had already echoed each other and given him a warning.

It was the day when he held his first grand banquet for his clan members.

"When my royal brother was still alive, he had the best relationship with Prince Yu. Prince Yu reminded me of this. Tomorrow I will ask Prince Yu to go to the imperial mausoleum to guard the tomb of Crown Prince Kangren for three months to comfort the relationship between brothers." Helian Qi said slowly with a kind face.

The smile on Prince Yu's face froze instantly.

"There's no need to do this on purpose..." Queen Mother Xue chimed in.

Helian Qi looked at Queen Mother Xue, "Mother, do you think it's too much trouble to go back and forth in just three months?"

Do you think three months is too short?

The emperor left room for maneuver.

Three months is not a long time, and the Xue family can accept it and will not cause a big quarrel with the emperor over it.

If the dispute continues, both sides will suffer losses.

"The emperor's arrangement is very good." Empress Dowager Xue swallowed her words back.

Prince Yu was unhappy in his heart, but he didn't show it on his face. He stood up and said:

"The minister obeys the order!"

After this confrontation, the night banquet began.

After three rounds of drinking, the guests were toasting each other, singing and dancing were in full swing, and string music was pleasant to the ears.

Prince Yu suddenly raised his voice and asked, "Who prepared today's palace banquet?"

"Thanks to your majesty's grace, I will host the palace banquet tonight." Concubine Shu didn't expect him to suddenly ask this question.

Prince Yu glanced at Concubine Shu and sneered, "No wonder it was so badly done, it turned out to be you who arranged it."

"Brother Prince Yu, why do you say that? I think this palace banquet is good in every aspect." Prince Fu tried to smooth things over.

"This wine is not good. I don't like this kind of sweet wine the most--" Prince Yu casually swept the wine glass in front of him and overturned it, saying:

"When my palace holds a banquet, the princess will prepare wine according to the guests' preferences, and both the host and the guests will be happy. But Concubine Shu can't even prepare the wine properly..."

"But this can't be blamed on Concubine Shu. After all, Concubine Shu comes from a poor family and has never seen a big occasion. If you let Concubine Shu host a palace banquet, wouldn't that just be a sham?"

"Your Majesty, please appoint a noble lady from a prominent family as the empress as soon as possible, so as to avoid someone who is unworthy of the position and bring shame to the royal family."