Concubine Pang walked out of the Cining Palace, looking a little tired. Aunt Cui hurried over to support her and asked with some concern, "My queen, is the queen mother okay?"
If the Empress Dowager is really ill at this critical juncture, will the Empress Dowager's Centenary Ceremony be held next month
She paused, and seeing that no one was around, she asked again, "Or is the Empress Dowager putting pressure on the Emperor's eldest grandson?"
From the time Xiao Heng's identity was proven until now, he had always maintained an attitude of keeping people at a distance. Emperor Yuanfeng was obviously still not excited about this grandson who came out of nowhere. Even though Xiao Heng's attitude was bad and he was particularly twisted, Emperor Yuanfeng didn't seem angry at all.
With Emperor Yuanfeng having such an attitude, the Empress Dowager wanted to have a good relationship with the Emperor's eldest grandson even more. However, the Emperor's eldest grandson was no different from a cow. No matter how the Empress Dowager tried to show her goodwill, he just pretended not to know.
This time the Queen Mother suddenly fell ill, and many people had the same idea as Aunt Cui.
Concubine Pang shook her head and waited until she returned to her Fengzao Palace before she said, "This time it's not because of Xiao Heng, I'm really sick. Princess Fenyang is making a fuss about divorcing Prince Fenyang."
Aunt Cui, who was taking tea from the palace maid, opened her mouth wide in disbelief: "How can you say that? Prince Fenyang and the Princess already have grandchildren, and they are so old."
Even if there is any dissatisfaction, at this age, you shouldn't make such a big fuss.
Besides, judging from the way they usually get along with each other, they don’t seem to have a bad relationship.
Concubine Pang smiled and took a sip of hot tea to slow down. She then said with some emotion, "It may not be that they really want to divorce. I heard that Su Rong's case is due to the corruption of the entire Chengde officialdom. They colluded with each other and wanted to embezzle military pay and frame the bandits."
As the favorite concubine in the palace with power over the six harems, Concubine Pang has always been well-informed, especially since her maiden family is the Duke Ping's mansion, and the Duke Ping has countless old subordinates. For news involving military troop movements, the Duke Ping gets the news very quickly.
He knew, and Concubine Pang naturally knew it quickly. Now that she had connected the dots, Concubine Pang curled her lips, exhaled, and asked Aunt Cui, "Where's Xiaowu?"
Aunt Cui's worries became even heavier, and she said softly, "He went to Chonghua Palace again. Speaking of which, our Fifth Prince is really a kind man."
There was no expression on Concubine Pang's face.
She was kind-hearted. The Pang family was at its peak and she herself was a favorite concubine. But at that time, the second prince and the third prince were fighting the most fiercely. In order to protect her son, she could only teach the child in this way, hoping that he would not be a threat at all.
Now it seems that this decision was right, but sometimes when I think about it, I feel helpless and unwilling.
Thinking of what Lady Pingguo said when she came into the palace, Concubine Pang lowered her eyes and said lightly, "It's just that they are destined to be uncle and nephew, so that's all."
The Fifth Prince was watching Xiao Heng practice swordplay at the martial arts arena of Chonghua Palace. It was a freezing season and he felt cold even with his cloak on. However, Xiao Heng was only wearing a single piece of clothing. In the icy and snowy ground, he danced with the sword so beautifully that it was dazzling.
The Fifth Prince was about the same age, not much older, but he couldn't help but exclaimed in admiration. Just as he finished speaking, he saw a group of people running towards him from a distance.
When he saw the person coming, even he was a little surprised: "Eunuch Chen, why are you here?"
Before being promoted to the Imperial Stables, Eunuch Chen had been the Fifth Prince's companion. Now that he had seen the Fifth Prince, his eyes narrowed in delight: "Your Highness, I am here to invite His Highness the Grandson of the Emperor to come to the Taiji Palace to see the Emperor."
The fifth prince said "oh" and called out to Xiao Heng loudly: "Ah Heng!"
Xiao Heng put away his sword and came over. The fifth prince said hurriedly: "Father has summoned you. Go with Eunuch Chen."
In fact, when Xiao Heng was still Song Heng, the Fifth Prince got along very well with him, and the relationship between the two had always been good. Although Song Heng later became his eldest nephew, he felt awkward for a while, but soon accepted it, and felt that Xiao Heng was very hard-working and came to him every day.
Xiao Heng glanced at Eunuch Chen, who smiled at him hurriedly. He was very cautious but also very worried. Now everyone in the palace knew that the emperor's eldest grandson was a troublemaker, and it was extremely difficult to get any tasks done regarding him. Therefore, even a powerful eunuch like him was nervous, fearing that this eunuch would suddenly cause trouble for others.
But what was rare was that Xiao Heng did not act like a demon today. He turned around and went back to change his clothes, then threw the sword in his hand to the young eunuch who was serving him, and said, "Let's go!"
Eunuch Chen felt as if he had been pardoned and smiled gratefully at the Fifth Prince. The Fifth Prince waved his hand, and Eunuch Chen hurried to chase Xiao Heng.
All the way to the Taiji Hall, Xiao Heng remained silent, and Eunuch Chen did not dare to say anything either. When they arrived outside the study and exchanged a glance with Eunuch Xia, he breathed a sigh of relief, finally getting rid of this hot potato.
Eunuch Xia was also polite and measured to Xiao Heng. Eunuchs like them who could get in front of the emperor were already the smartest of the smart, and would never blindly flatter. Seeing Xiao Heng coming aggressively, he smiled and led Xiao Heng to the steps: "Your Highness, please come this way."
Emperor Yuanfeng was in the East Side Hall today, but not in the Imperial Study. Instead, he was in the banquet hall next to it. Hearing the noise, he called Xiao Heng in, "Sit down."
Xiao Heng sat down as he was told and looked up at Emperor Yuanfeng: "Why did you call me here?"
Seeing this again, Emperor Yuanfeng felt helpless. He waved his hand and asked them to leave. He said straight to the point, "I have something to tell you. I'm sure you would like to know."
Seeing Xiao Heng looking up, Emperor Yuanfeng raised his eyebrows and pushed a memorial on the table in front of him: "Take a look."
Xiao Heng hesitated for a moment, but he finally picked it up. After reading it at a glance, he couldn't help but sneered, "You can't sit still so soon."
He laughed: "Su family, who's next? Mrs. He, right?"
He said it so clearly that Emperor Yuanfeng had no choice but to say, "The officialdom in Chengde is corrupt. Su Rong got into trouble this time purely because he happened to disrupt someone's way of making money, which led to this disaster."
"Really?" Xiao Heng sneered at this statement: "Your Majesty, you are so smart, do you really believe this? I don't believe there is such a coincidence. You helped me one foot, and then you ran into such a big thing and almost lost your life... Only storytellers can have such a coincidence."
Emperor Yuanfeng was silent for a moment.
Xiao Heng pointed directly at the three characters "King of Fenyang" on the memorial: "In Chen Dong's memorial, Jin Dong and Lao Liu both confessed that King of Fenyang was the mastermind, and there is both human and material evidence."