Golden Branch

"Heng pays homage to Her Majesty the Queen, may Her Majesty be blessed with good health and happiness!"

Wang Heng knelt down and saluted with a very respectful attitude.

"Get up!"

Queen Li was in her forties, but she was well maintained and looked only about thirty years old.

She has a beautiful appearance and graceful temperament. She kneels upright in the main seat, showing the honor of being the mother of the country.

Queen Li looked at Wang Heng with a smile, her eyes full of admiration and even a hint of gratitude.

When Concubine Jiang returned to the palace, she was given the task and was explained in detail about "returning home to visit relatives".

Among them, Concubine Jiang mentioned a section:

Not long after they left the capital, they were spotted by the King of Chu's spies.

Those people did not notice Shiyi Niang and Xiao Sanlang, but wanted to capture Jiang, Yang Chong's favorite woman.

Therefore, from then on, Concubine Jiang and her entourage always encountered "bandits".

Mountain bandits, water bandits, horse bandits, and even "rebel soldiers" hiding in the mountains and forests, repeatedly ambushed and killed her, forcing Concubine Jiang to flee in panic.

They rushed all the way to Yizhou, and just as they were about to arrive in Hedong County, they were harassed by bandits.

The situation was extremely critical, and Concubine Jiang was ready to sacrifice herself to save Eleventh Lady and Little Sanlang.

Just at this moment, Wang Heng arrived in time and saved everyone.

In a sense, Wang Heng is the savior of Shiyi Niang and Xiao Sanlang.

However, the truth about Concubine Jiang's "return home to visit relatives" cannot be made public, so Wang Heng's contribution can only be erased.

Unable to reward openly, Empress Li tried every possible means to compensate.

This was the reason why she proposed that the sage confer the title of imperial concubine on Jiang and tacitly agreed to the sage's decision to confer the title of princess on Jiang's daughter out of love for her.

Although she gave the reward, Queen Li was still grateful to Jiang and her daughter.

Eleventh Lady is her youngest daughter, and Sanlang is the eldest grandson.

They were well protected and unharmed.

After returning, there was no sign of the gloom caused by "escape". Instead, they were all healthy and lively. As a mother and grandmother, Queen Li was very pleased.

Concubine Jiang was really smart and knew her limits.

Even this pregnancy was controlled within the range that Queen Li could allow.

The sage was already in his forties, and the prince was in his twenties, approaching thirty.

Queen Li's other two sons also grew up.

Even though Concubine Jiang gave birth to a prince, it was already more than ten or twenty years late.

Without worrying about breaking any taboos, even a saint might not live to see Concubine Jiang's son marry and have children.

The country depends on its long-term ruler.

If something happens to the saint, even if Concubine Jiang is favored again, her son will not be able to inherit the throne.

A bastard who is younger than his own grandson is really not a threat.

Instead, it can become a royal mascot that shows friendship, kindness, and generosity to future sons (grandsons).

Although this child of Concubine Jiang was the first born after the Saint ascended the throne, it was quite a "good omen".

However, considering all these reasons, Queen Li still tolerated it generously and gave her sincere blessings.

Because in addition to these reasons, Queen Li also realized:

It’s not that Concubine Jiang is unable to give birth, but she knows very clearly when is the right time to give birth.

Just because of this intelligence and rationality, Queen Li was willing to live in harmony with Concubine Jiang.

Because of her love for Wang Heng and her love for his family, and because she saved her life, Queen Li was also very kind and loving to Wang Heng.

She waved at Wang Heng, "Come, sit here with me!"

Wang Heng raised her head, sensing Empress Li's kindness, and obediently stood up: "Thank you, Your Majesty, for the opportunity to sit down!"

She came to the foot of Queen Li and knelt down respectfully yet gracefully.

The fifteen-year-old girl is slender and graceful, with well-controlled behavior.

She lowered her head slightly, revealing her fair and slender swan neck.

A bright red dress is very picky.

However, Wang Heng was born with fair skin, so white that it glows. Such a bright color does not look tacky at all, but instead gives people a breathtaking beauty!

The beauty in red, even though a little young, is still so stunning.

Queen Li looked at her carefully, not missing Wang Heng's delicate face that was not that of an ordinary person.

What a peerless beauty!

As expected of being the daughter of the most beautiful Concubine Jiang, she inherited all of her beauty.

There's even a hint of the disciple surpassing the master—

Well, I heard that Concubine Jiang’s ex-husband, Wang Lin, was also a handsome young man from a noble family.

Although his character is poor and he is stupid, his appearance is really good.

Although he was a second-married woman, he was still able to attract a girl from the Cui family to marry him, which shows how beautiful he was.

"She is indeed Ajahn's daughter, as beautiful as she is."

"I still remember that when she entered the mansion, she was only twenty-two or twenty-three years old."

He was young and still frightened, like a frightened deer.

Innocent, pitiful, and lovable.

When Queen Li saw this, she couldn't help but feel pity for him, and there was no jealousy or envy at all.

She was the saint's cousin, and had a loving relationship with her husband as a wife, and was also loved by his elder sister.

Queen Li treated her husband's concubines as mere toys to make him happy, no different from cats and dogs.

This is the mentality of the mistresses of the Dayu Dynasty.

Love brain?

Your heart and eyes are filled with only your husband and illusory love?

does not exist at all.

Queen Li didn't know how to please her husband herself, so she asked her concubine to do it.

She is more of a mistress and a partner of her husband in clan, career, etc.

There is emotion, but it is not everything.

Queen Li was truly not jealous nor did she hate Concubine Jiang.

Unless she is not smart enough and insists on competing with me for the rights that belong to the legal wife, and allows her children to fight for the property that does not belong to them.

Fortunately, Concubine Jiang is very smart.

She knew very well which side she should choose between her husband and the mistress.

After nearly ten years of living together, with so much cooperation in interests and the affection of "entrusting the orphan to one's care", Empress Li is now truly friendly with Concubine Jiang.

When talking about their past, Queen Li couldn't help but sigh and miss them!

Wang Heng listened with a smile.

The grievances and love between the elders are not something that a junior like her can casually comment on.

“…Ajahn is excellent, I love him very much!”

Empress Li recollected the situation briefly and then turned her attention back to Wang Heng: "Langya, you are also very good!"

Eleventh Lady and Little Sanlang saved her and took care of her like an elder sister.

Although Empress Li did not see it with her own eyes, she could guess it when she heard Eleventh Lady always mention "Ajie" after returning to the palace.

Wang Jiu must be very sincere to Shiyi Niang.

Children are the most intelligent and perceptive. They can sense whether others are sincere to them or not.

Perhaps, they cannot express the specific "good", but they will mention it all the time. When they mention it, they are happy and joyful, which can explain everything.

Queen Li spoke slowly, mentioning the eleventh princess.

Upon hearing this, Wang Heng couldn't help but soften her expression. "Princess Changning is wonderful, innocent, kind, and noble!"

Although she is young, the little Loli is really cute.

In the village in Hedong, the little guy always followed her, calling her "Sister" all the time.

Riding a pony, sitting in a cart pulled by a deer... Princess Changning would be satisfied and happy with these simple things.

When she was taken away, the little princess was even more reluctant to leave.

Even now, Wang Heng's mind would still flash with the pitiful image of the little princess with tears in her eyes.

Cute, soft... What a pity, she is now Princess Changning, and her fiefdom is the place where the saint started his army. She has a fief of 1,500 households, the most among all the princesses.

The only one who had more fiefdom than Princess Changning was Princess Jincheng.

Jincheng was able to receive this honor because of her outstanding military achievements, not simply because of "imperial favor".

Changning is a pure saint and the queen's favorite.

The little princess, who was only three or four years old, already owned many houses and farms, and was as rich as a country.

Even her title was reselected.

Originally, the Eleventh Princess' title was Anyang, and she was conferred the title of Princess Anyang by the Emperor.

After the saint ascended the throne, he should have continued to use this title and promoted her to Princess Anyang.

However, the Eleventh Princess encountered a series of accidents on her way back to Beijing.

The emperor and empress invited several masters to read the fortune of the eleventh princess, and were told that she needed to "defy the will of heaven and change her fate."

It is impossible to change your fate, but changing your title can play a certain role.

So, Anyang became Changning.

Although it was just a title, it could be seen from it that the emperor and empress valued this little daughter.

As for the word Anyang, it was "snatched away" by Concubine Wang Shu and given to her daughter with her ex-husband.

In a sense, Princess Anyang was Princess Changning's "stand-in", protecting this precious little princess from disasters.

Of course, these are royal secrets and are not known to outsiders.

Even among the relevant parties, only a very small number of people know about it.

For example, Princess Changning didn’t know this section.

In her heart, her favorite sister is still the plump and beautiful sister who bravely rushed over on horseback at the critical moment.

"Sister! Where's sister?"

The little princess came running to the side hall of Ganlu Palace, bowed hastily to her mother, and then shook her little head from side to side, looking for her ball, oh no, it was her elder sister.

"Princess Changning, I'm here!"

Although they were not related by blood, Wang Heng could accept Princess Changning's call of "Sister" because of her title of princess.

"what?"

Hearing the voice, the little princess looked at Wang Heng.

Her eyes widened and her red mouth opened into an O shape. "Are you my older sister? The one with the little deer, the little brain axe, and the iron-eating beast?"

"That's right! My sister said that after we move to Beijing, she will build a big zoo at home. The zoo will be filled with ponies, deer, bears, little brain axes, and chubby iron-eating beasts!"

Wang Heng smiled sweetly and coaxed the little princess patiently.

"Yeah! That's right, that's what my sister said when we parted!"

The little princess' eyes lit up, "You are my sister!"

Then, the little princess tilted her head, looked carefully again and again, sucked her fingers, and said puzzledly: "But, sister, why have you changed?"

No longer round, no longer fleshy, but, but——

The Queen listened quietly for a long while, and only then did she interrupt with a smile: "Ji Nu, your sister has been exhausted from tending to your grandmother and father. She is the most filial and kind-hearted person!"

The Queen's words were not only to explain to her little daughter, but also to "clear her name" for Wang Heng.

She, Wang Heng, also known as Wang Jiuniang, was personally recognized by the Queen as a filial person.

With this golden signboard, the Wang family, including Wang Lin, could not easily kidnap her...