At night, Meiyi hugged her pillow and climbed onto Meijuan's bed. The two sisters lay opposite each other. Meiyi said in a panic, "Sister, is mother overthinking? Even Cheng'er reminded me to be on guard, but no one really touched me. Those girls were about my age, and I was taller than them... I just avoided Chen Lanyan, and my feet slipped and I fell into the water!"
Meijuan nodded: "Mother and Cheng'er may really think too much - it's very comfortable in the ice spring pool, right? I see you are reluctant to come up!"
"It's freezing! It's several times colder than the pool at our villa. If it weren't for mother taking us there every year to play in the water, we would have been so embarrassed this time. The clothes we were wearing were so thin, and you didn't bring a large handkerchief earlier!"
"As soon as I saw you fall, I started looking for the handkerchief. I had to ask several palace maids before I found it!"
Meijuan thought about the situation at that time. The maids around the Queen were calm and at ease, looking at Meiyi in the pool with indifference, not panicking at all. Only a few maids around the Queen Mother who were unaware of the situation helped her find the handkerchief and ran to the pool with her to help Meiyi ashore.
Someone did it on purpose. She had observed carefully: the place where the palace maids took the girls to play in the water had not cleared the moss on the rocks, and the thick moss was wet, which made the place where Meiyi slid down even more suspicious. She wanted to pull her brother to see, but the prince fell down, and her brother didn't care about them at all, so he had to give up.
Others might not have noticed what the Queen had done, but my mother saw it. My mother simply disdained the position of Crown Princess. She only wanted her child to be safe, and as for the rest, the Queen could do whatever she wanted!
Meiyi will be sad and upset, but what can she do? Meijuan believes her mother's words: If she fights against the queen and forces her way into the palace, she will still be controlled by the queen in the future, and she may suffer a lot. She will also have to compete with many women for the prince's favor, and there will always be times when she will be ignored. In comparison, this little hurt should not be a big deal, right
In the days that followed, Meiyi was cautious. Whenever the prince came to visit her, she no longer dared to be as casual as before. She met and spoke to the prince in a proper manner. Even if the queen summoned her to the palace, she had to be accompanied by her mother and sister. Only in this way could she be safe and sound and nothing would happen. Just when the emperor was about to get rid of the impression that she was naughty and restless, the queen mother held a birthday celebration in early winter, and the prince was injured again for Meiyi - he took Meiyi and several girls into the stone forest to look for a bird with a broken wing, but he fell from a snow-covered stone slab and not only broke his bones, but also had a fever and fell into a coma for several days!
This time the situation got out of control too much. The queen was filled with hatred and pain. She ran to the queen mother and cried for a long time. Then the mother-in-law and daughter-in-law worked together again, and asked the director of the Imperial Observatory to match the horoscopes of the prince and Meiyi three times in front of the emperor. They were barely matched each time. The queen mother said, "These two children are definitely not a good match. Xu Meiyi is not destined to bring good luck to her husband. Not only can she not support the prince, but the prince has also been hurt frequently because of her. How can this girl be the crown princess? Don't harm my grandson!"
The emperor was in a dilemma: "But...but I have already agreed with Lord Xu that we will marry our children to each other!"
The Queen cried, "Your Majesty! You have so many sons, you can be kind enough to give him another prince!"
"Queen, you also know that the Crown Prince and Meiyi have loved each other since childhood..."
The queen snorted in her heart: the vows made between adults can be broken in the blink of an eye, what does a little kid know about loving each other? They haven't seen each other for a year or so, and now the prince has a lover for his wedding, let's see if they still love each other
"Your Majesty, they are still so young, but they love each other like brothers and sisters!"
The Queen said cautiously, "Besides, now Xu Hou holds a large army, has high power and prominent position, and all his sons are outstanding. Last time, Xu Jikang alone defeated several of our sons... If Meiyi becomes the Crown Princess, will the Emperor really feel at ease?"
The emperor looked at the queen coldly: "In front of the queen mother, the queen seems to have forgotten the rules. Women are not allowed to discuss state affairs. I don't want to hear you mention such things in the future!"
The queen lowered her head and said, "I know I was wrong!"
The Queen Mother said: "The Queen is just reminding the Emperor. In my opinion, the Xu family's children are indeed not well educated. They don't understand the etiquette between the monarch and his subjects at such an age!"
"Alright, alright! Do we need to remember a fight between two kids for so long? Junying and I fought each other when we were kids! If I don't trust Xu Junying, then there's no one else I can trust! I keep my word, my sons and daughters must be married, but the Crown Prince and Meiyi... I don't understand, since they are incompatible, you guys can handle it as you wish!"
So the Queen Mother and the Empress each used their own magical powers and sent girls from their own families to the palace from time to time to meet the Prince by chance, in the hope of deepening his impression.
Meiyi never got the chance to enter the palace again, and the prince was recuperating in bed, unable to move. The only person they relied on to pass messages and give each other small gifts was Ah Heng, who came to the palace every day. From time to time, Ah Heng was sent by the queen to do some inexplicable things, and when he talked about it with the prince, both of them were confused.
In the warm spring, the prince recovered from his injury but was still forbidden to leave the palace. The empress, on the orders of the queen dowager, organized another palace flower show. All the daughters of officials above the fourth rank aged between twelve and fifteen were invited to the palace to enjoy the flowers. This time, not only a concubine was selected for the prince, but also a principal wife for the second prince.
May is a month of blossoming flowers. The date of the prince's wedding has finally been set. The Duke Ding's mansion is decorated with lanterns and colors. Sun Meifu gets her wish and is married into the palace in her best attire. However, Xu Meiyi, the fifth daughter of the Xuhou mansion, who has always thought that she is the appointed crown princess, locks herself in her boudoir and refuses even the concubines to enter. She is silent, does not cry, and does not make a fuss. Xu Junying and his sons in the corridor are anxious and surround Meimei and ask:
"Why is the child so quiet? Is there anything wrong?"
"How about we kick the door and take a look?"
"Mother, your son pried open the window and jumped in?"
In fact, Meimei was also very worried. Meiyi was different from Meiju, she was more enthusiastic and generous, and she was sincere in her relationship with the prince. But things had come to this point, she had to get over this hurdle, and she had to get over it on her own. Her relatives could only watch and protect her from the side, but they could not help her!
In the palace, the prince, dressed in a bright red wedding gown, knelt before the emperor in a daze: "I am getting married today, and I am an adult. Father, please consider that I am an adult and grant my request!"
A trace of pity flashed across the emperor's eyes, and he turned to look at the queen: "Whose family is the girl who is going to be the prince's concubine?"
"It's Chen Lanyan from the Chen family and Ling Bingyu from the Ling family."
"Ling Bingyu? But she is the daughter of Ling Qiuyu, the son-in-law of the Chen family and the Minister of the Ministry of Rites?"
"Yes, three days after the Crown Prince's wedding, two concubines entered the palace at the same time!"
The emperor helped the prince up from the ground: "Replace Chen Lanyan, Xu Meiyi and Ling Bingyu will both be the prince's concubines!"
"That won't do!"
"Um?"
"Your Majesty, have you forgotten the Second Prince? The wife he has his eyes on is Xu Meiyi!"
The prince's face turned pale instantly, and the emperor sighed slightly: "Hasn't the decree been issued yet? Just do as I say - it's your good intention, and become the prince's concubine!"
"But… "
"No buts!"
The emperor left a word and stormed off, leaving the queen standing there in a daze - if Chen Lanyan was replaced, wouldn't the empress dowager tear her apart
At Weiyuan Marquis's residence, Zhao Jie excitedly told Ah Kang the news: "Sister Meiyi can still marry the crown prince. The emperor has made a solemn promise: Xu Meiyi and Ling Bingyu will both be the crown prince's concubines!"
Ah Kang crossed his arms and snorted. Zhao Jie asked curiously, "What's the matter? They can be together after all. Sun Meifu is so fat, and Ling Bingyu is even more ridiculous, like a little bean sprout. The prince doesn't like them. After entering the palace in three days, the prince will only be good to Sister Meiyi!"
Ah Kang threw his hand and gave him a poppy: "Bullshit! If it were better, she wouldn't have asked my sister to be a concubine. What is a concubine? Aunt, concubine, my mother hates the most. Instead of asking my sister to be a concubine, it would be better to let her become a nun!"
Zhao Jie touched his forehead and said unconvincedly: "Why are you hitting me? It's not me... The royal family is not like you, a concubine will become a noble concubine in the future. There are four major concubines below the queen, virtuous, virtuous and quiet. Sister Meiyi must be the first!"
"So what? If you don't sit in the main seat, you're still a concubine!"
"… "
The two boys were sitting on the fence under the corridor and talking, and they didn't notice that at the end of the corridor, a slender figure was standing against the wall, motionless. The night wind lifted her skirt, and under the faint moonlight, they could vaguely make out a pink halo surrounding her.
Late at night, Xu Junying and Meimei came to see Meiyi, and were surprised to see their daughter coming out the door with no special expression on her face. She threw herself into her mother's arms and refused to leave, just as if she had been wronged as a child. The maid brought the fish porridge that Meimei had specially asked the kitchen to cook, and asked her father to feed her before she would eat it. The couple had no choice but to pamper and coax her, fed her, and talked with her for a while. Meimei personally bathed and changed clothes for the two daughters, and asked Meijuan to bring a pillow to sleep with her sister. The couple left with peace of mind, thinking that children are just children, and they don't understand true feelings yet, so this hurdle is relatively easy to get over.
The next day, Meiyi and Meijuan came to Tsinghua Court early to pay their respects to their parents. The family sat in the dining room to have breakfast. The brothers tried their best to accommodate her and asked her about her well-being. However, Meiyi still took care of her youngest siblings as usual, and her words and laughter were no different from usual. The whole family was relieved. No one saw her eyes filled with tears when she hugged her two little sisters who had caught a cold.
The whole country celebrated the prince's wedding, and the court officials took a three-day break. Meiyi said to A Kang, "It's boring in Beijing. Why don't we invite our cousins and Min'er and Jie'er to go out of the city and play in the farm!"
The beautiful wife said, "Yes, how about going to Guiyun Villa? Go grass skiing, pick strawberries..."
Meiyi said, "Why don't we go to our Bishui Villa? There is a grass slide and water play. We can also see big ships when we pass by the river!"
"That's fine, but it's only May now, it's not suitable to go into the water yet, and my mother won't allow it!"
"Yes, the spring water in our village is warmer than that in the imperial village. We used to go there to play in the water at the end of May!"
A group of children went to discuss with Xu Junying and Meimei. The couple also thought that it would be good for Meiyi to go out of town to relax, but the two little girls were not in good health and their parents could not leave. So Ah Heng led the older children to ride out of the city to their own Bishui Villa. Baoju accompanied the guards of the Hou Mansion. Before leaving, Xu Junying and Meimei took turns to tell them: playing in the water is not allowed, but grass skiing and picking wild fruits are allowed! (To be continued. If you like this work, you are welcome to vote for recommendations and monthly tickets on Qidian. Your support is my greatest motivation.) (To be continued)