After the replacement marriage, I was forced to fight at home

"Listen to me, it's not like that. Fourth sister went after Hong Zhe not because she still had feelings for him or wanted to do something. She was just angry and wanted to ask Hong Zhe why he did that."

Zhou Yu snorted, "Why are you asking? He's already engaged to Miss Meng, shouldn't we just get as far away from each other as possible?"

"Can you please listen to me carefully? This is not the point I want to talk about."

Zhou Yu looked at Su Qing with an unhappy face, chuckled, walked forward, put the roasted chestnuts on the plate with a pair of tongs, reached out to peel them, but was scalded, and quickly put his hands on his ears.

Su Qing pulled Zhou Yu's hand and looked at the two white marks on it. "You are so old, but you don't have this common sense."

Zhou Yu looked at Su Qing blowing gently on his fingers, and his heart was like a lonely boat drifting in the sea that finally found the harbor.

"Did Hongzhe try to coax her with words again?" Zhou Yu's voice was so gentle that it seemed to drip water.

"That's not the point. The point I want to tell you is that when the fourth sister went after him, he was with two people."

"Who?"

"One should be the young master of the Hong family. Fourth sister doesn't know him, but he looks like the third master Hong. The other one is a nobleman whom I have never seen before."

"My dear son?"

"Yes, with a bright yellow belt."

"What? That's not, isn't it?"

"Yes, we suspected it was a member of the royal family, maybe he went with Prince Jing. Now that I think about it, I suspect it was Prince Rui. Considering what happened to Sister Qi this time, it was all done by the Hong family, and Meng Juan's mother fanned the flames."

Zhou Yu gently rubbed the burned finger. It didn't hurt but was a little numb. "That's right. They want Prince Rui to dislike Meng Qi. Only if Meng Qi loses face in front of Prince Rui will Prince Rui dislike Huainan Marquis Mansion. Then your Huainan Marquis Mansion will have to rely on Meng Hai for support. In the future, Huainan Marquis Mansion will have to obey any decision made by Meng Hai. Because I am useless, not even a prince, and Meng Qi does not please Prince Rui. Haha, what a good plan, they have laid such a big net, it's really hard for them."

"Then tell me, if you are so cautious, why did you let the Emperor arrange a marriage for Sister Qi?"

"Because it was not Prince Jing who asked the Emperor to arrange the marriage, but Prince Duan."

"Prince Duan? The second prince born to Concubine Xiang?"

"Yes, to be more precise, it is Concubine Xiang."

Su Qing was puzzled. What was going on?

"Before being favored by the Emperor, Concubine Lian was a female official in Imperial Concubine Xiang's courtyard. At that time, Imperial Concubine Xiang was still a concubine in Prince Jing's palace. Imperial Concubine Xiang was known for her kindness but cruelty. How could she accept that the Emperor made Concubine Lian pregnant and gave birth to a son? I heard that when Concubine Lian was pregnant with Prince Rui, if it weren't for the late Queen, then Princess Jing took the pregnant Concubine Lian to her courtyard, and it's unclear whether Prince Rui could be born safely."

This was the first time Su Qing heard about all this. She stared at Zhou Yu without blinking. She was a little confused. Before Emperor Jing'an seized the throne, he was Prince Jing. When he was in hiding, he had a principal wife, two concubines and three concubines.

The principal wife was the former queen, the biological mother of the crown prince. The concubines were Noble Consort Xiang, who gave birth to the second son, Prince Duan, and Consort Xian, who gave birth to the fourth son, Prince Jing.

The current Empress was only a concubine of Prince Jing at that time, and gave birth to the fifth son, Prince Cheng. The reason why she was promoted to Empress after the death of the previous Empress was because the Gao family made great contributions in the battle for the throne of Emperor Jing'an, and also lost two sons. This is also the reason why there is only one Gao Yang in the third generation of the Gao family.

Next in line was the sixth son, Prince Rui, born to Concubine Lian. In between, there was a concubine who gave birth to a third son, who died at the age of three.

The above-mentioned princes are the children born before Emperor Jing'an ascended the throne, of course, they also include several princesses.

Waiting to gain the throne, he naturally expanded his harem, but because Emperor Jing'an was injured when he seized the throne and he was also old, he only had two sons, the eighth prince and the ninth prince, who were young and had not been made kings, and three princesses, including Princess Yong'an and Princess Fanghua.

Su Qing listened to Zhou Yu's introduction of the relationship between the royal family members and curled her lips. Otherwise, the feudal system should be abolished. With so many children, each son has a mother, and each mother has eight hundred scheming people behind her. It would be strange if there were no conflicts.

Emperor Jing'an didn't think about it. He defeated his brothers to get to the throne, but now it was his son's turn and he had to deal with so many things. The prince still had no mother, his uncle's family was not prominent, and he was said to be in poor health. Wouldn't this just make his brothers jealous?

"So, why do you have so many sons? They are causing everyone to fight over them. Brothers are not brothers, sisters are not sisters. Hey, it's the same everywhere in the world, from the palace to the lower classes, you see, even your family and my family can't escape it."

Zhou Yu looked at Su Qing with disdain and interrupted with a chuckle, "I don't know how these roasted chestnuts are, are they cooked?"

Su Qing picked up one and peeled it gently. The chestnut exuded the aroma of the original roasted food.

Zhou Yu felt very proud as he watched Su Qing peel out a whole yellow chestnut.

But while he was waiting, he saw Su Qing put the chestnut meat into his mouth and ate it slowly, and he did not forget to comment, "It's ripe, very sweet, and delicious."

Zhou Yu was so embarrassed by Su Qing that he opened his mouth and couldn't say anything. Seeing his expression, Su Qing chuckled.

"You, you really are..." Zhou Yu thought about it and started laughing.

Su Qing peeled another one and put it in his palm and handed it to Zhou Yu, "Here, let you try it."

Zhou Yu looked at the plump chestnut in Su Qing's fair little hand. The faint chestnut fragrance rushed into his nostrils. He gently lowered his head, moved closer to Su Qing's hand, and stretched out his tongue to roll the chestnut into his mouth.

Then, it was quiet, as quiet as if there was no one in the room, until the chestnuts on the stove made a popping sound, and the two of them came back to their senses.

Su Qing took out a handkerchief awkwardly and wanted to wipe her hands, but stopped. She was afraid that Zhou Yu would misunderstand that she disliked him again.

Zhou Yu held the chestnut in his mouth but seemed to have forgotten to chew it. He smiled at Su Qing like a silly boy.

Su Qing suddenly felt at ease. It would be good if she could get along with Zhou Yu like this in the future. She had greater confidence in managing this marriage.

"You haven't finished yet? Why did Concubine Xiang whisper in the emperor's ear and ask Prince Rui to marry Meng Qi?"

Zhou Yu swallowed the chestnut meat, picked up the cup and drank a sip of tea and continued, "Since the emperor ascended the throne, Concubine Lian has hardly been in front of the emperor. She has been in her own palace for many years, and only shows up at major celebrations or festivals. Everyone is used to her non-competitive character. Even the first two marriages of Prince Rui were decided by the Empress, and she never expressed her opinion.

"Prince Rui married two wives in five years, had two sons, and lost two wives. It seems that he has no feelings for Concubine Lian. The relationship between mother and son is not cold, but it is true that they are not close. Because Prince Rui has not been close to Concubine Lian since he was a child.

"So, naturally, such a Concubine Lian is not a threat to any other consort in the palace. It's just that the Emperor's headaches have become more frequent since three years ago, and this disease is still a legacy of the struggle for the throne. By the way, it was at that time that the Emperor reprimanded your grandfather, and brought up the fact that your great-grandfather had never stood on his side and even accidentally leaked the news to the Emperor's biggest rival at the time. That attack was so severe that he not only slapped your grandfather in the face, but also almost demoted the Huainan Marquisate to a baronial residence."

"Was it Master Fang Zhi who asked Grandmother to take Fourth Sister to the West Residence when Grandfather was sick?"

"Yes, it was not long after that that I heard that your grandfather was ill and in critical condition."

So that's how it is. She had never asked about the reason for this incident. Now it makes sense. Meng Changfeng was reprimanded by the emperor, and the emperor's headache would occur at any time. Even if he didn't reprimand her every time it occurred, he would do so once out of three times.

Therefore, Meng Changfeng was afraid. At this time, Meng Hai won military merits and the emperor personally conferred him the title of General Zhongwu. Since Meng Hai got this official title, the emperor seemed to have never targeted the Huainan Marquisate again, although the Huainan Marquisate was still not taken seriously.

This also explains why Meng Changfeng knew that the Liu mother and daughter were messing up the Meng family. The reason was simple: he needed Meng Hai, a bastard, to stabilize the position of the Huainan Marquisate in the emperor's mind.

Therefore, the Meng family could only follow Meng Hai's direction. Meng Changfeng had to follow whoever Meng Hai supported. He would send his own daughter if asked to do so, and would make friends with the Hong family if asked to do so, because he had no other choice. Who knew if the emperor would demote the Huainan Marquisate to a commoner when he brought up the old accounts again?