Marrying Gold and Jade

Emperor Xianzhen went to Chonghua Palace to meet Xu Jinxuan. This was a rare occasion. Even though they could not hear what they said, the palace people speculated that there was no overnight grudge between father and son, and that the two would eventually reconcile.

When the eunuch beside Mingyuan came to report this, he was sitting under the window of the side hall. He thought for a moment and said, "Let's find a chance to let the Queen know."

Now that Pingyao has made a contribution, he should have taken his time to overthrow the prince and the queen, but since Xu Jinxuan was anxious, he could only follow.

"You said that Lao Wu invited His Majesty to Chonghua Palace today?"

"Yes, he said he wanted to have lunch together."

"Do you know what they said?"

The eunuch below replied, "Your Majesty only brought Chief Steward Li today, and I was unable to follow him."

The queen's eyes were empty.

Emperor Xianzhen only brought Li Quan with him, obviously not wanting anyone to know what was said today.

"Go back."

The young eunuch withdrew in response.

As soon as he left, the queen's body, which was leaning against the beauty, tilted and she almost slipped down. Fortunately, Liang Rui beside her caught her in time.

"Your Majesty must stay calm at times like this." Liang Rui also noticed that since the fifth and seventh princes returned to the palace, the queen had become more and more worried.

The woman sat still with difficulty, shaking her head and said, "Liang Rui, have you seen that woman? The emperor was dazzled by that woman, and now her son is the same, her son is the same..."

In order to get rid of Concubine Ling and her son, the Queen had already lost several lives. If Xu Jinxuan exposed those old stories in front of the Emperor today and forced the Emperor to punish him, then...

"Don't worry, Your Majesty. The princess has made great contributions. Even for the princess's sake, Your Majesty must respect Your Majesty."

While the people in the palace were worried, a palace maid outside suddenly came to report: "Madam, His Majesty is coming to Kunning Palace!"

Kunning Palace and Chonghua Palace were close to each other, so the empress had no time to compose herself and got up hastily to welcome the emperor.

The emperor looked extremely unhappy. After he arrived, he sent all the palace people out and left only the queen in the palace.

"Today, Lao Wu invited me over and talked about many things." As he spoke, he sat down in the main chair.

The queen's face turned pale after hearing this. She did not sit down with the emperor, but stood in front of everyone and said, "It must be those old stories."

She was originally panicking, but now that she thought that the emperor knew everything, she was able to calm down.

"He has a grudge against you in his heart."

Hearing this, the queen suddenly raised her head and met the master's secretive gaze.

After being married for decades, this look meant that the emperor was blaming her.

"I think Your Majesty is also resentful of me," she said, her dignified face almost numb after having lived in fear for a long time. "If it weren't for my desperate efforts to stop him, Your Majesty would have dismissed the harem and lived a life of deity with Concubine Ling and her son for the rest of their lives."

Emperor Xianzhen had a big quarrel with someone in Chonghua Palace and was already holding a grudge, but he didn't expect that the Queen would do the same today and suddenly started to bring up old grudges.

He could only patiently reply: "I later accepted your advice, and you are still my queen."

"But after that, Your Majesty and I became estranged, right? Your Majesty and I were originally husband and wife, but after the arrival of Concubine Ling, we became just monarch and subject."

The Queen had always been unwilling to admit that, apart from the fact that "dismissing the six palaces" was an intolerable thing, she was actually jealous of Concubine Ling.

She was the queen and prided herself on being tolerant. After her first child was born, she arranged for Rong Fei and Xian Fei, who entered the palace on the same day, to sleep with her in turn. As a result, the three princes were even born in the same year.

She was very happy at that time. The emperor treated everyone equally and did not favor anyone, which also earned her a reputation as a virtuous queen.

Later, he wanted to visit the northwest and the south of the Yangtze River to inspect the people's conditions, and she agreed.

Until he brought the woman back from Jiangnan.

She was so arrogant that she didn't even look like a woman. At first, people thought it was just a new version of "treating everyone equally". After all, there were only three women in the emperor's harem, which was not a lot. What difference did three make from four?

But when they first met that day, he was standing outside the Palace of Heavenly Purity with Concubine Rong and Concubine Xian. The woman raised her eyebrows, pointed at him and asked the emperor: "Are these all your concubines?"

Despite the aggressive questioning and lack of respect, the young Emperor Xianzhen remained humble and even ignored the presence of his concubines.

She once again showed the magnanimity of a queen, stepped forward and tried to comfort her softly, but she didn't expect that the woman would not listen.

"You lied to me and said you were an official in the capital, but you turned out to be an emperor with three palaces and six courtyards."

After saying this, she turned and left.

As the emperor chased after him, he kept calling "A Lan".

The three people on their side are the Queen, Rong Fei, and Xian Fei, but she is A Lan.

It was not until that day that the Queen realized that there was no such thing as equal treatment, but that none of them had the Emperor's favor.

No one knows what Emperor Xianzhen talked about when he chased the two people that day, but not long after, he canonized that person as a spiritual concubine. There was no canonization ceremony, but there was an imperial decree.

When Concubine Ling was seven months pregnant, the emperor accompanied her every day. One day, he suddenly said that he wanted to dismiss the six palaces.

She would always remember her mood that day. Anger and humiliation were not enough to describe it. Her arms hidden in the sleeves of her palace dress trembled constantly, and a ball of anger was colliding between her internal organs.

She suppressed these inappropriate reactions and asked, "Is it for Lingfei?"

The emperor replied, "Yes."

She asked again: "Does this include me?"

Emperor Xianzhen didn't even look at her. After a long time, he responded with "yes".

Of course the ending was failure. Due to intervention from many parties and Ling Fei's premature birth, he had no choice but to compromise.

It was also at that time that the young queen had the intention to kill someone.

Before entering the palace, she only wanted to be a good wife to the emperor and never thought that she would be so cruel and ruthless. But that day, she just thought about it.

In order to prove to the court officials that he would not be controlled by a woman, the emperor took in a new concubine, a senior maidservant by her side, a discarded child who was ready to die for her at any time.

She succeeded, but Concubine Ling could not wash away the stigma and died with hatred in Chonghua Palace.

Her son was young and she could control him at will.

It was an old event, but now when she recalled it, it seemed like a lifetime ago. Even the queen herself could hardly believe that she had actually done that.

"I asked Your Majesty why he liked Concubine Ling, and Your Majesty said that Concubine Ling was smart, popular, and straightforward."

"Later, I thought about it for a long time. When I was still waiting to be married, wasn't I the same person? But the Ministry of Rites had thousands of rules, one by one, which forced me to become the queen."

At this point, the queen's eyes turned red, and her well-maintained face suddenly looked a little old.

"I just don't understand. I have followed all the rules you gave me. Why do you want to disband your harem for such an unruly woman..."

"It makes my life of following the rules look like a joke!"