The fact that the Empress Dowager asked Feng Sui to pretend to be Jiang Changning to seduce her made Emperor Xuanzhi realize that keeping the concubines in the palace was a huge hidden danger.
If a dignified emperor were to be plotted against by someone, how could he save his dignity
Besides, he had no intention of favoring those beautiful girls, so why should he keep them in the palace
Emperor Xuanzhi handed Jiang Changning a note, "Ningning, thank you for arranging marriages for these six people."
Jiang Changning took the note, glanced at it casually, and said with a smile: "Okay."
Feng Sui was not among the three beauties who were arranged to be married off.
Jiang Changning didn't ask any more questions, but she knew that Feng Sui would not be kept in the palace.
However, Feng Sui is somewhat similar to her, and Emperor Xuanzhi will not arrange a marriage for her casually. I wonder how he will arrange for her
In addition to asking Jiang Changning to arrange marriages for three beautiful girls whose families had reached a consensus, Emperor Xuanzhi also said at the morning court: "My queen is virtuous and has given birth to three excellent legitimate sons for me."
The civil and military officials didn't understand why their emperor suddenly started praising the queen, but that didn't stop them from joining in.
In their words, Jiang Changning was born into a noble family, dignified and gentle, chaste and thrifty, suitable for family life, and a model of female virtue.
Fortunately, Jiang Changning was not in the hall at that time, otherwise she would have thought that she was dead. The officials were writing obituaries for her, with so many beautiful words piling up for her.
When Emperor Xuanzhi heard them praising Jiang Changning, the smile on his face did not fall. When they ran out of words to praise her, Emperor Xuanzhi said solemnly: "I followed the Queen Mother's instructions and selected the concubines to enter the palace, but I am busy with state affairs and have no time for the harem. Besides, I already have the virtuous queen by my side, which is enough for my life."
When the ministers heard that he was going to disband the harem, someone immediately jumped out to object, "Your Majesty, this is not allowed. Disbanding the six palaces is against the ancestral system."
"I don't want to abolish the six palaces. I still have Zhaoyi, concubines, beauties, noble ladies and selected concubines in my harem." Emperor Xuanzhi said.
Although these people are in name only, they are still there.
Prince De stepped out and said, "Your Majesty is kind and cannot bear to see the beautiful ladies waste their youth in the harem, so he allows them to leave the palace and marry someone else. This is a great blessing from heaven, and we should obey His Majesty's will."
"Your Highness, what you said makes sense. I second the opinion." A minister stepped out and said.
"I second the motion." A few more people came out.
Under the arrangement of Emperor Xuanzhi, the concubines will leave the palace soon.
The Queen Mother was furious when she heard this.
They selected the show with great fanfare, but none of them stayed in the palace. This was clearly a trick to fool her.
Some people can easily forgive their own children but are harsh on other people's children.
The Queen Mother did not blame Emperor Xuanzhi, she blamed Jiang Changning and believed that it was Jiang Changning who was causing the trouble.
She was furious, dressed in a full set of empress dowager's attire, and went to Qiyuan Palace to settle accounts with Jiang Changning.
"No need to report." The Queen Mother sternly stopped the palace servants guarding the gate of Qiyuan Palace.
Jiang Changning was in the east hall, chatting with Shun Zhaoyi and the others. Today happened to be the day when the concubines came to pay their respects to her.
When the Queen Mother barged in, Shun Zhaoyi and the others were startled. After Jiang Changning calmly saluted the Queen Mother, they came to their senses and said, "Greetings to the Queen Mother."
"You guys step back." Although the Queen Mother was furious, she never thought of humiliating Jiang Changning in front of the concubines.
No matter how curious Shun Zhaoyi and the others were about the relationship between the mother-in-law and the daughter-in-law, they did not dare to stay and left quickly with their heads down.
After dismissing the maids, Jiang Changning asked the Queen Mother to sit down in the main seat. "If there is something going on, just ask someone to summon your daughter-in-law. Why did you come here in person?"
"Kneel down." said the Queen Mother in a deep voice.
"Mother, I'm pregnant. You asked me to kneel. Please don't feel bad if your grandson is hurt." After knowing what happened in the morning court, Jiang Changning expected that the Queen Mother would come to see her.
Emperor Xuanzhi's actions made her happy, and she didn't want to confront the Empress Dowager head-on.
The Queen Mother's eyes fell on Jiang Changning's belly. She attached great importance to her son's offspring, so she could only hold back her anger and said, "You, you sit down and talk."
"Thank you, mother." Jiang Changning raised the corners of his lips slightly. Sometimes it is good to overcome hardness with softness.
The Queen Mother waited for her to sit down, then said sternly, "The Emperor wants to drive all the concubines out of the palace. Was it your idea?"
The Queen Mother didn't believe it and stared at her suspiciously, "If it wasn't for you, why would the Emperor drive all the concubines out of the palace?"
"Mother, the heart of the emperor is unpredictable." Jiang Changning smiled, "Your Majesty must have his own intentions for doing this. If you want to know, why not ask your Majesty?"
The Queen Mother snorted, "You are so good at pushing everything away."
"It's not that I'm trying to shirk my responsibility, but the husband is the most important person in the world. When you are at home, you obey your father. When you are married, you obey your husband." Jiang Changning said respectfully.
"You want to remind me that the husband dies and the son follows, right?"
Jiang Changning said angrily, "Mother, you really like to overthink. Your daughter-in-law doesn't mean that."
"Okay, just take good care of your baby." The Queen Mother stood up and left.
If Jiang Changning was not pregnant, she could do a lot of things to waste her time. Now, she could only wait for Jiang Changning to give birth to the child.
"Farewell, mother." Jiang Changning escorted the empress dowager out of the palace and watched her get on the phoenix chariot and return to Ciren Palace with a grand procession.
Half an hour later, Emperor Xuanzhi entered the Qiyuan Palace.
In order to appear diligent, some emperors of previous dynasties were not interested in women and would not turn off the lights or enter the harem.
Emperor Xuanzhi was more casual. When he was busy, he could go without entering the harem for several days. When he was free, he would often come to Qiyuan Palace.
Jiang Changning didn't seem surprised to see him coming so early. She sat on the couch and drank her milk. "I haven't been wronged. Your Majesty, don't worry."
"You little heartless girl." Emperor Xuanzhi sat down beside her.
Jiang Changning took the handkerchief and wiped the sweat off Emperor Xuanzhi's forehead. "I pushed everything onto Your Majesty, but my mother let me off and said she would settle the score with Your Majesty. Your Majesty, please be careful."
"I heard that the Queen is gloating over other people's misfortune."
"No, I'm worried about Your Majesty." Jiang Changning pretended to be Xishi holding her heart.
Emperor Xuanzhi smiled and reached out to touch her belly. "Have you been well behaved today, my girl?"
"She's only three months old, it's hard for her not to be well behaved." Jiang Changning said with a smile.
The couple snuggled together, chatting about this and that.
At the same time, Zhao Xifang was packing some things to send to her parents' home.
She used to be the Princess of Yu, and her family supported her. Now her husband is only a fifth-rank official, so she has to win over her family so that they can support her husband.
As soon as she took the things out, her husband came back, looking as pale as death.
"Master, what happened?" Zhao Xifang still knew how to read people's expressions.
"I was demoted," said the man.
Zhao Xifang was shocked, "What went wrong with the Master's mission?"
"I'm just copying a book, how could I make any mistakes?" the man said unhappily.
"Don't worry, sir. I'll go back to my parents' home and ask." Zhao Xifang said quickly.
"Thank you, ma'am." The man's expression relaxed.
Zhao Xifang changed her clothes and hurried to Zhao's house.
But the Zhao family was also in chaos at this time.
Zhao Xifang was startled and hurried to look for her mother.