Marrying a concubine and swallowing her dowry? The mistress turns around and marries a high-ranking

Chapter 346

When the news reached the Changguo Marquis's residence, the Marquis's wife immediately collapsed to the ground and fainted.

After waking up, she broke down in tears.

"My lord... I beg you to save him... you must save him... I only have this one son, he can't be exiled for the rest of his life..."

Marquis Changguo gritted his teeth and roared, "Didn't I try to save him? He confessed to his crime himself! He was determined to die, who could save him!"

Lady Changguo cried her heart out: "We can't just send him to exile like that! The northern border is such a harsh and cold place, how could he possibly survive for more than a few years while serving hard labor there!"

Marquis Changguo said bitterly, "If he doesn't want to live, then let him die! I'll do as he says and pretend I never had this son!"

He wasn't completely inhuman; he did have some fatherly affection for his son, Chu Tianming. But Chu Tianming himself had already given up on him, so what else could he do?

Are we supposed to break him out of prison and forcibly bring Chu Tianming back?

Lady Changguo could not accept it and kept crying and making a fuss. Marquis Changguo was extremely annoyed and simply ignored her and turned to leave.

Outside, a subordinate rushed up to Marquis Changguo and reported, "My lord, news from the palace: Consort Xue has given birth! She has given birth to a little prince!"

Consort Xue was one of the two legitimate daughters from collateral branches of the Chu family that were sent into the harem by the Marquis of Changguo at the beginning of this year.

Consort Xue was exceptionally beautiful, intelligent, quick-witted, and resourceful. After entering the palace, she quickly gained the emperor's favor, and her pregnancy was remarkably successful. She became pregnant after only a few nights with the emperor and is now more than seven months along.

Although it was a premature birth, both mother and child are safe and sound. Most importantly, the baby was a prince.

Marquis Changguo's feelings were very complicated at that moment.

Surprise, regret, worry, ambition... all came rushing in at once.

Consort Xue gave birth to a prince with the blood of the Chu family, which was certainly good news. However, he had originally sent these two daughters from collateral branches into the palace to serve Empress Chu, but now Empress Chu had been banished to the Cold Palace.

However, this is not without a solution. He could proceed with the original plan, first eliminating the mother and keeping the child, entrusting Xue Pin's child to another concubine to raise, supporting him to inherit the throne in the future, and then eliminating the concubine who raised him, bringing Empress Chu out of the cold palace so that she could still become the Empress Dowager.

Of course, all of this is predicated on the Chu family having the strength to contend for the throne.

Recently, the Marquis of Changguo has been in close contact with the Western Qi, selling a lot of military and political secrets of the Northern Yi to the Western Qi at high prices. The financial crisis of the Marquis of Changguo's mansion has been resolved, and it is now much richer than before.

But this is certainly far from enough. The Chu family hasn't even returned to the level it was a few years ago. Chu Tianming used to have a large army under his command, but now Chu Tianming is also useless.

Consort Jing has another prince, and behind him is the Shen family. If it really comes down to it, they simply can't compete with the Shen family, who control a large army.

Marquis Changguo frowned, deep in thought, when another trusted subordinate stepped forward.

He whispered in my ear, "My lord, an envoy from Western Qi requests an audience."

Marquis Changguo was taken aback.

"An envoy from Western Qi?"