Pepper House
The Empress was sitting in the middle, and on one side was Concubine He. Concubine He would occasionally intervene in the palace affairs. Although she did not do so for everything, it made the Empress feel aggrieved. She secretly wished to tear Concubine He and her son into pieces. The two of them were fighting like black-eyed chickens.
However, no matter how fiercely they fought in private, Concubine He was always smiling in front of others, and the Empress also looked peaceful.
Everyone in the palace is waiting for the next chapter of the fight between the two wives and concubines. It is obvious that the lineage of Prince Jing now has a considerable advantage.
Concubine He was there, along with two or three other palace concubines, chatting and laughing with the two of them, and everything was very peaceful and harmonious.
They were waiting for Qu Moying to come over, but no one mentioned the Princess of England yet. Neither the Queen Mother nor Concubine He mentioned Qu Moying in their words.
"If your Royal Concubine has something to do, please go and do it first." The Queen said lazily, glancing at Royal Concubine He.
"I don't have anything to do, so I just happened to be here to see you in charge of things. I dare not disobey the emperor's order." Concubine He smiled and waved the fan in her hand. She was in a good mood. The Empress had suffered a setback recently, so her life had become much better.
Things that you couldn't interfere with in the past can now be interfered with with justification.
The Empress paused with her hand on the teacup, raised her eyes, narrowed them, and said indifferently: "Does the Imperial Concubine feel that I have disobeyed the Emperor's orders?"
Concubine He smiled softly and waved the fan in her hand: "I dare not. I just want to learn more from you, so that when the emperor asks, I won't know the answer and make him angry."
Her voice was gentle and smiling, and even though she was not young anymore, her manner and actions made people feel that she was much younger than the Queen.
But in fact she is older than the Queen.
The Queen Mother took a sip of tea, but the warm feeling not only did not calm her down, but instead made her feel furious. That bitch named He always knew how to make her angry.
She didn't want Concubine He to get involved in today's matter at all. As long as Concubine He was there, she couldn't ask any questions, but she couldn't get rid of her. In the past, Concubine He would have left by this time, and she would just go through the motions, but today she refused to leave and couldn't be driven away.
Needless to say, you should know about summoning the British Princess.
Sure enough, after Concubine He got involved in these palace affairs, she became more informed of some news.
"Since the imperial concubine wants to see it, then go ahead and take a look. However, this is a matter that the emperor has specifically instructed me to do, so the imperial concubine should not say too much at that time, so as not to delay the emperor's important event, which the imperial concubine cannot afford." The queen sneered. She really didn't want to see the imperial concubine He's pretty face.
Every glance is disgusting.
The emperor didn't know how he was bewitched by this vixen and actually believed her so much.
"Don't worry, sister. I'll just watch from the side. I won't say anything, and I don't dare to say anything. Just watch how you handle things, and you can learn from me in the future."
Concubine He said with a smile, as if she was unaware that the Empress hated her so much.
The Empress seemed to have swallowed a fly, unable to spit it out or swallow it down. She was extremely helpless in the face of Concubine He's soft and hard tactics. In the end, she could only snort coldly: "It's good that Concubine He knows this, so that she won't have to explain to the Emperor later."
Concubine He smiled and didn't respond this time.
This made the Queen's face look slightly better.
She calmed down a bit, picked up the teacup in front of her and took another sip. She really didn't want to pay attention to Concubine He, and she didn't want to pay any more attention to Concubine He.
A maid came in and reported: "Your Majesty, the Princess of England is here."
"Call her in." The Queen straightened herself, glanced at Concubine He indifferently, and said in a deep voice that this was the real business she had to deal with today, and the previous matters were just routine matters.
The palace maid went downstairs and came back with Qu Moying after a while.
Qu Moying came in and bowed to everyone above him. He was not surprised that Concubine He was also in the Pepper Palace. It seemed that Concubine He was much more "informed" now than before.
This so-called "knowledge" is not to say that she didn't know about it before, but she knew it in secret. Concubine He didn't dare let anyone know. After all, she was just a concubine and did not manage the palace affairs. How could she know everything and understand everything? The Emperor would be the first one to reprimand her.
Others might not know why she was so favored in the harem, but how could she not know
If she really did something wrong, the emperor would definitely not protect her.
The reason why Concubine He has been able to sit firmly on the position of the favorite concubine for so many years is, firstly, because of the Empress Dowager, and secondly, because she herself is sensible. Knowing something secretly is one thing, and expressing that you know it is another.
It's different now. The Emperor wants Concubine He to be in charge of some affairs. Although not much, she can be more informed. Knowing that the Empress wants to summon her to the palace is not a big deal. Knowing such a thing happened, how could Concubine He not come
The fact that Concubine He came here openly showed that she had received some information.
Her watery eyes slowly slid across Concubine He's gentle smiling face and the Empress's solemn face. Qu Moying had already made up her mind. If Concubine He wasn't here, there would be a reason for her not to be here. If Concubine He was here, then there would naturally be a reason for her to be here...
Although this incident has nothing to do with Concubine He, it is easy to make people think that it is referring to Concubine He. The Empress Yuan and Concubine He in the past, and Ji Hanyue and Ji Youran now, history is really similar, and it will be a reincarnation soon. No wonder others say that reading history is like reading oneself...
"Princess Ying, do you realize your mistake?" After Qu Moying finished her greetings, the Queen Mother spoke coldly. She summoned Qu Moying here today just to reprimand her.
"I don't know what crime I have committed." Qu Moying remained very calm. She raised her eyes with some confusion, as if she really didn't understand.
Concubine He gently waved the fan in her hand, leaned to one side, and looked at the Empress and Qu Moying with a smile.
She acted like an outsider. No matter what happened, it had nothing to do with her. She was just a spectator.
Seeing her like this, the concubines looked at each other for a few seconds, but did not speak. They just watched the Queen deal with the Princess of England...
"Don't you know what crime you have committed?" The Queen said coldly, her eyes falling on Qu Moying's face. This face was really unpleasant to look at.
She looks like a vixen, luckily she didn't enter my house...
As the queen of the main house, the queen really disliked that vixen...
"Did Princess Ying interfere with Minister Qu's wedding yesterday?" The Queen asked word by word.
"My father originally entrusted this matter to me. The Qu Mansion had no mistress before, and my grandmother was not in good health. My aunt was in charge of the affairs of the East Mansion and the West Mansion. My father asked me to take charge of it for a few days. Once the new wife marries in, I can let go."
Qu Moying said softly.
Seeing her calmness and how she behaved neither arrogantly nor servilely in front of her, the Queen Mother felt a surge of anger. She was the Queen Mother, the mother of a country. Any woman who saw her had to respect her, bow her head and look up to her. This was her honor and her dignity as a queen.
The British princess in front of her was younger than her, had a much lower status than her, and had done something wrong, yet she dared to defend herself in this way in front of her.
If the person in front of her was not the Princess of England, but any other princess, the Queen would have made her kneel down long ago. How could she allow her to stand and answer
This is the Princess of England, this is the Princess of England, the princess of that evil star. Even if I can't stand her seductive look, for the sake of that evil star, I can't be too excessive...
What she wanted was to suppress the British princess and make her obey her. She didn't really want to break with the British palace and push the British king to the opposite side...
The bitch Concubine He was just sitting there waiting...
After taking a deep breath and then letting it out for a long time, the Queen Mother calmed down a little: "Did you add to the dowry of Minister Qu's wife?"
She made it a little clearer.
"Yes... I added some." Qu Moying looked a little uneasy and bit her lip.
"How much is it if you add some?" asked the Queen.
“Just… not many…” Qu Moying seemed at a loss for words. It must be the Queen Mother’s direct question that made her flustered for a moment. She didn’t dare to push the blame on others, so she could only give a vague answer.
"Not more? Is it really less... Princess Ying, can you give me an accurate answer?" The Queen looked at Qu Moying coldly. She sat on the upper seat, her eyes looking down from high above, overlooking Qu Moying, increasing her suppressive aura.
"Empress, it's really just a few things." Qu Moying hesitated, looking even more uneasy.
"Since you are adding to the make-up, there should be a list. I asked you to bring the list just now, so you should have brought it, right?" The Queen asked with a gloomy face.
When entering or leaving the mansion, some of the receipts must be kept as proof of entry and exit. Otherwise, if something is lost, it would be unfortunate.
"I brought them here, please have a look, Your Majesty." Qu Moying replied, reaching into her sleeves to take out two lists and throwing them upwards.
One of them was the first dowry list that Xie Lian showed her, and the second one was the list after she added the dowry to Xie Lian. When the two lists were put together and compared, the difference was very obvious.
A palace servant took it, presented it respectfully, and spread it on the table in front of the Queen.
The Empress looked down, and Concubine He came over to look at the two dowries that were compared. The first thing she saw was Xie Lian's own dowry. This was prepared for her by the Zhu family. It was indeed not much, just a few simple pieces. The Zhu family has always been noble, and the dowries of the daughters in the family were not much when they got married.
His own daughter was in such a state, not to mention she was an orphan. Even for Qu Zhizhen's sake, he did not add much more. After all, Qu Zhizhen had repeatedly stated before that he would not hold a big ceremony, and just wanted to be simply decent.
The other concubines nearby also looked over here curiously, and then smiled at each other...
Neither the Qu family nor the Zhu family put much effort into this marriage, and the dowry seemed extremely shabby to these concubines...