The Self-cultivation of a Salted Fish Concubine

The eighth prince caught a glimpse of the silver threads in Concubine Jingde's hair and suddenly felt distressed.

He was furious: "My son taught Xiao Lian a lesson on behalf of my mother. He is not worthy of being my son!"

"If Mother is truly not partial, then Xiao Lian is unfilial. Mother will only be heartbroken for half of it, and the other half must be kept for your son!"

Concubine Jingde was amused by the Eighth Prince's words and was at a loss whether to laugh or cry.

She punched the Eighth Prince, tears streaming down her face.

Finally, she held the Eighth Prince in her arms, "Hu'er, is mother really wrong?!"

In fact, Hu'er always says that she is biased, and she is not wrong.

In the early years, because Xiao Lian was raised by her first and was registered under her name first, the relationship between them was always a little different.

At that time, she just felt that the emperor would not allow her to keep raising two princes.

Hu'er will be raised by someone else sooner or later, and she has to be careful about what she does because she is afraid of hurting her in the future.

Although there is no difference in treatment, some difference will always be revealed in words and actions.

Children are extremely sensitive and will always be dissatisfied when they notice any difference.

That's why the two children quarrel and fight every few days.

Later, the emperor never held a beauty pageant, and there were no new concubines in the harem. She developed feelings for Hu'er and tried hard to make up for it.

But perhaps due to what happened in her childhood, Huer loves to compare and strives to be the first and have more in everything.

Every time, she would shout, "Mother, please do not show partiality. Whatever Xiao Lian has, your son must have too."

For this reason, she also felt that Hu'er had a bad temper, was too sharp, and easily hurt others and herself.

Who could have thought that the child she favored would hurt her unscrupulously, while the child she had once treated favorably would always respect and love her as her biological mother.

Concubine Jingde burst into tears and hugged the Eighth Prince, crying, "I was wrong, I was wrong!"

The Eighth Prince cried bitterly, "Don't be sad, Mother. I won't fight with Xiao Lian anymore. I just ask that you take care of yourself."

"Xiao Lian doesn't want to marry Sister Yinong, but my son does!"

"Sister Yinong is quiet, virtuous, intelligent, and elegant. My son has always admired her, but she is the apple of his uncle's eye, so I dare not try to get close to her."

"Now that Xiao Lian can marry her, then his son can too!"

"I will definitely treat Sister Yinong well and respect my uncle and aunt... Mother, please don't cry. I feel bad for you!"

In Fengyi Palace, Xie Run heard that the Eighth Prince and Concubine Jingde hugged each other and cried bitterly, and Concubine Jingde's illness had improved a lot, so he finally breathed a sigh of relief.

Unexpectedly, I heard the news early the next morning.

"The Crown Prince also beat the Seventh Prince and forced him to kneel at the gate of Yongning Palace to apologize."

Xie Run: “…”

Sometimes, raising a child is a profound subject that you can never fully grasp in your lifetime.

The incident involving the Seventh Prince caused quite a stir, but in the end it came to nothing.

He is now old enough to get married and have children. The emperor can scold him and beat him, but he cannot really remove the Seventh Prince from Concubine Jingde's side.

After all, this is his own son.

After this incident, Concubine Jingde became disheartened and went to see the emperor, asking him to choose a princess for the seventh prince.

Concubine Jingde was a person of strong character. She had experienced many ups and downs in the palace and suffered countless blows, but in the end she was able to stand up straight.

The incident with the Seventh Prince certainly hurt her heart, but fortunately, the Eighth Prince was by her side, so she was able to breathe a sigh of relief.

After she regrouped, she no longer cared about the Seventh Prince's affairs, pretending that he never existed, and focused on choosing a wife for the Eighth Prince.

"My son wants to marry Sister Yinong!"

When the eighth prince got the news, he ran to Yongning Palace and shouted.

Concubine Jingde said calmly, "Mother knows that you were just angry that day, and you were just trying to appease me."

"Your sister Yinong's marriage will be arranged by someone else. Mother feels bad for your aunt and uncle, so she plans to choose a good husband for her in the future."

"You must not get involved. If your father knew about this, he would mistakenly think that she was promised two favors, which would be even more harmful to her."

The Eighth Prince lowered his head and said, "I will obey you, Mother."

Suddenly, the Eighth Prince looked up and said, "Xiao Lian thought that his mother asked him to marry Sister Yinong in order to raise the profile of the Duke's Mansion and strengthen the relationship between the Duke's Mansion and the royal family."

"But my son knows that's not the case."

"If mother really wanted these things, she would have let sister Yinong participate when the crown prince was choosing a crown princess. Even if she couldn't win the position of principal wife, a concubine would be easy to get."

"If you want to support the Duke's Mansion and marry into the royal family, being the Crown Prince's concubine is much more useful than being Xiao Lian's princess."

"My uncle and aunt may not have achieved much, but they do love their children very much. They have a good family tradition and harmonious family life. They will never bring any burden."

"The Duke's Mansion is not without support. There are many outstanding talents among their descendants. Brother Wuyang, who is by the side of the Crown Prince, has a bright future."

"My son knows everything. Only Xiao Lian is stupid and arrogant. He could hurt Mother's heart."

"My son is truly willing to marry Sister Yinong because he envies the family tradition of the Duke's Mansion and also wants Mother to have no worries."

In a trance, Concubine Jingde seemed to see Concubine Xi chatting and laughing with her in the boudoir.

They say a son resembles his mother, and she had to admit it.

Xiao Lian looks very much like Wu Baolin, and Hu'er looks very much like Xi Chongrong.

Concubine Jing Shu burst into tears, "It's all fate, it's all fate!"

But Concubine Jingde had forgotten about it. When she looked in the mirror, she found that the Eighth Prince looked exactly like her.

Although the Eighth Prince said nice things to appease Concubine Jingde, she still did not agree to the marriage.

She chose a new princess for the eighth prince and devoted herself to arranging the wedding.

However, the emperor was busy with official duties and it took him half a year to arrange a marriage for the seventh prince with the granddaughter of the Minister of Revenue.

The seventh prince was not very satisfied with this marriage, but he did not dare to plead with the emperor.

He hasn't seen the emperor for half a year since he was scolded in the Purple Palace.

People around him advised him to surrender to Concubine Jingde. If Concubine Jingde could plead for him, there might be a chance for a turnaround.

But the Seventh Prince felt uncomfortable when he thought about giving in to Concubine Jingde.

"My mother killed my biological mother. She is my enemy. Now she wants me to bow to her. How can this be called logic?!"

The people around him could hear that the Seventh Prince was moved, but he couldn't hide it and refused to bend down. He probably wanted Concubine Jingde to bring it up first.

Even though it was their own master, the palace maids felt that it was too much and it was difficult to persuade him anymore.

The seventh prince also learned Wu Baolin's stubbornness. Even though he didn't like her, he still married the granddaughter of the Minister of Revenue.

After the marriage, it was discovered that the granddaughter of the Minister of Revenue was willful and domineering.

The two started arguing and ended up fighting, and in the end the Seventh Prince was suppressed. Not only did he suffer bullying every day in the palace, he was also unwelcome in the palace.

Concubine Jingde also inquired about this matter later.

It turned out that the emperor disliked the seventh prince for being weak and cold-hearted, and was afraid that he would cause trouble in the future, so he deliberately found him a princess with a bad temper.

After asking around, he finally found the granddaughter of the Minister of Revenue.

Who would have thought that the granddaughter of the Minister of Revenue was not only short-tempered, but also extremely tough.

When she fought with the Seventh Prince, she could beat him until his head was bleeding.

Unfortunately, this marriage was specially arranged by the Emperor, so it is not easy to say too much. I can only ask the Empress and Concubine Jingde to give some advice.

But the Seventh Prince was already despised by everyone in the palace.

Concubine Jingde didn't want to get involved, so the Queen just mentioned it a few times but didn't take it seriously.

The prince was very concerned and would go to teach his "younger brother" every now and then.

Because of this incident, the Seventh Prince hated Concubine Jingde even more.

After the emperor's death, the prince ascended the throne.

Later, the Seventh Prince contradicted Concubine Jing. The Emperor tried the case on the spot, reprimanded the Seventh Prince for being unfilial, demoted his throne to that of a Prince of a County, and sent him away to a remote fiefdom.

The emperor kindly fulfilled the seventh prince's filial piety and allowed him to be registered under Wu Baolin's name again, so that he could completely recognize his biological mother.

He traveled all the way to his fiefdom, where the local governor held a banquet to celebrate.

While drunk, I suddenly heard someone talking next to me.

"Who is this prince? Why haven't I heard of him before?"

"It is said that he is the current seventh brother."

"Shouldn't the emperor's younger brother be a prince? How did he become a county prince?!"

"I heard he was a deeply unfilial person. His biological mother was the lowly Baolin, who was only a beauty when she died. He was raised by Concubine Jing from birth, but when he grew up, he refused to acknowledge her and repeatedly defied her, showing disrespect for his filial piety. The Emperor then demoted him to the rank of a prince and restored his name to his beautiful biological mother."

"You are a prince after all. The governor dared not offend the emperor, so he reluctantly dragged you and me to this banquet."

"Is there really such an idiot in this world?! I heard that Concubine Jing was the late emperor's virtuous concubine, born into a distinguished family and renowned for her virtue. He was raised by Concubine Jing, so it would be fine if he didn't acknowledge his adoptive mother, but he insisted on acknowledging a lowly beauty as his biological mother?!"

"exactly."

"Hearing this, I'm afraid this prince takes after his lowly birth mother. He's truly ungrateful. The governor thinks too highly of him. A son of Baolin, a lowly and insignificant person, is not worth mentioning!!"

In a daze, the Seventh Prince's blood boiled with anger. He clenched his fists and wanted to slam the table and stand up, but he just didn't have the courage to do so.

The resentment and regret in my heart piled up like a river.

He couldn't tell whether he felt more resentment or regret.

(Finish)