In the mourning hall, Crown Prince Pei Luoan cried on a large chair at the side. He looked haggard and obviously ill. His red and swollen eyes were fixed on the coffin in the middle, and it was obvious that he was reluctant to leave.
Accompanying him were the second prince, Prince Jing Pei Yusheng, the third prince, Prince Wei Pei Qingmin, and the fourth prince, Prince Yan Pei Yanxun.
The Prince of Wei was in poor health. Even though he had reached adulthood, he only went occasionally while other princes were attending court and would fall seriously ill from time to time. The Emperor also turned a blind eye to his attendance at government affairs. He was born to Concubine Zhu, who was not very favored in the palace. In addition, the Prince of Wei himself was in poor health, so it was unlikely that he would have a chance to compete for power.
Since there is no possibility of a power struggle, the prince has always been concerned about him. At this moment, he let him sit on a chair at one side and had someone serve him carefully, for fear that this weak brother would fall ill again if he was not careful.
The fourth prince, Prince of Yan, Pei Yanxun, had an even lower status. It was said that his biological mother was just an ordinary palace maid, and had no status when she gave birth to Prince of Yan. She later died of dystocia. But there was another saying that Prince of Yan's biological mother was a guilty palace maid, so she had no status after giving birth to Prince of Yan, and later died of depression. Prince of Yan was still young at that time.
These words all came from the palace, and ordinary people have no way of verifying them, but one thing can be confirmed, that Prince Yan's biological mother was of humble status and died early.
The Prince of Yan had been lonely since childhood, so the Emperor sent him out of the palace and sent him to the Prince of Yun's Mansion, asking his uncle, the old Prince of Yun, to take care of him. When he grew up a little, he returned to the palace to live with Pei Yuanjun. When he was young, he was almost Pei Yuanjun's follower. In fact, the Prince of Yan is a little older than Prince of Yun Pei Yuanjun, but he is lower in seniority.
Because he grew up with Pei Yuanjun, his relationship with him is different from that with the others.
Later, when he grew up, he set up a government office and officially became the King of Yan.
Prince Yan grew up with Pei Yuanjun. The lineage of Prince Yun's Mansion admires martial arts, so Prince Yan also practiced martial arts since he was a child. It can be said that he has the best martial arts among the princes.
He is no longer the pale and thin appearance of his childhood. Standing beside the prince, he looks dignified and has a bit of the fierceness of a military general. He looks mighty.
He also followed Pei Yuanjun to the battlefield several times.
At this time, he and King Jing were standing behind the Crown Prince's chair, talking in low voices, and both of them looked a little heavy.
Ji Youran and Qu Moying arrived at this time and stood behind Ji Youran. Qu Moying raised his eyes to look at the coffin being lowered. His eyes were calm as he watched quietly as the large coffin symbolizing the Crown Princess was lifted up.
There was crying in the mourning hall.
Ji Youran also began to wipe her tears and knelt down. No matter how powerful she was in the Eastern Palace, she had to kneel down at this time and face the coffin of the main wife as a concubine.
Qu Moying also knelt down. She was the cousin of the Crown Princess and her status was much lower than hers. This was why Ji Youran asked her to come and accompany him.
They had a close relationship, but their status was also low, so they had to kneel down to greet each other.
Each of them was accompanied by a maid, who knelt down to greet them.
After the coffin was taken down, the prince stood up tremblingly, holding the hand of a young eunuch beside him. The equally pale-faced King Wei also stood up with him, also supported by a eunuch. He was able to force himself to come together because of the funeral etiquette of the Crown Princess.
"Third brother, just sit down."
Pei Luoan also saw it and whispered to him.
"Prince, it's okay, I'm fine, but you... be careful." Wei Wang Pei Qingmin advised in a low voice with a gentle expression.
He looks good, but seems a little weak. Fortunately, he has a pretty face, but he just looks a little sickly and thin.
"You better be careful... I can't take care of you now..." Pei Luoan looked up at the coffin, his eyes turned red again, and his voice choked.
"Crown Prince, please accept my condolences. Although the Crown Princess is gone, she did it for your brother. If your brother continues to be so sad, the Crown Princess will not be at peace even in the afterlife." Pei Qingmin advised again in a low voice, with a slight redness in his eyes. He was originally softer than the others, and at this time he was giving sincere advice.
"I know... but I..." Pei Luoan was speechless, tears welled up in his eyes, and he quickly turned his head to wipe them away.
Ji Youran, who was kneeling on the ground, saw the scene in front of him and lowered his head slightly to hide the jealousy on his face. When Ji Hanyue was alive, he couldn't compete with him, so what could he use to compete with him after he died
In order to cover up the emotion she had just felt, she picked up a handkerchief and began to sob.
The maid kneeling behind her was kneeling beside Qu Moying. She gently reached out and pushed Qu Moying, signaling her to go and persuade her a few times.
Yu Dong knelt down and took a step forward, pushing the maid aside, separating the maid and Qu Moying, and glared at the maid fiercely.
The maid was bewildered by the glare. She just wanted Miss Qu Si to step forward and persuade them. At a time like this, she, as a maid, was not allowed to speak.
I didn't expect that Miss Qu Si was not smart, and the maid who followed her was also not smart. She thought she could do whatever she wanted.
Ji Youran's maid glared back at Yu Dong helplessly, but ignored Qu Moying.
Qu Moying was of course aware of the little changes between the two maids. She picked up a handkerchief and gently pressed the corners of her eyes. She couldn't cry. She only felt a cold depression pressing on her chest, which made it almost impossible for her to breathe, and a fishy smell rolled in her throat.
The hand holding the handkerchief was exerting force, and the sharp nails pierced the palm.
It hurt a lot, but what hurts more is her heart. All the strong sarcasm and so-called deep affection in front of her are just pretending for others to see, but she has ruined everything for this pretense.
How could she not hate
Her eyes were cold beneath the veil, and her whole body wanted to tremble uncontrollably. She could only force herself to behave herself by clenching her hands tightly.
Pei Luoan stepped forward and lit some incense, then placed it in front of the incense burner in front of the coffin. Not only the incense burner, but also all the funeral rites of the Crown Princess would be buried with her soon.
The prince stepped aside, and the coffin moved forward, carried by eighteen men.
Ji Youran and Qu Moying knelt on one side. When the coffin passed by them, Qu Moying suddenly called out in a low voice: "Cousin!"
His body went limp and he fell backwards.
Yu Dong reacted very quickly and hugged Qu Moying, whispering anxiously: "Miss, Miss."
The coffin moves forward.
"What's wrong?" Ji Youran looked at Yu Dong unhappily, pulled her dress that was pressed tightly against her chest, and asked in a low voice. She wanted to stand up and throw herself into the coffin to cry again, but Qu Moying held her skirt down. Although Qu Moying had fainted at this time, his knees were still tightly pressed.
The pressure.
The coffin moved slowly past.
“Concubine Ji, please ask the imperial physician to come and treat our young lady. She is so sad that she…she fainted.” Yu Dong begged in tears.
Ji Youran was angry and annoyed. She looked up at the coffin that was almost passing by, her face ashen with anger. If she had rushed out and knelt in front of Ji Hanyue's coffin and cried loudly, and then fainted, many people would have praised her for her deep sisterly love.
But now this sisterly love has been snatched away by Qu Moying, and if she does it again, people will think she is imitating someone else.
He couldn't control the expression on his face for a moment and glared at Qu Moying almost viciously.
The coffin was moving forward. There were only the two masters on this side, and the other servants in the mansion were kneeling. She was not afraid of being seen.
“My Lady Concubine, the Crown Princess has always been very kind to our young lady, and our young lady was very grateful. Now that the Crown Princess is gone, and Ling Anbo is also... our young lady has been sad in the mansion every day, so... that’s why she can’t bear it all of a sudden.” Yu Dong wiped her tears and supported Qu Moying.
When the coffin passed by, the princes on the other side were startled by the noise on their side. They looked over and saw Ji Youran with a somewhat angry look. Pei Luoan, who was in the lead, narrowed his eyes, showing some displeasure, and his face darkened. Last time, Ji Youran was a little out of control about Ming Xianer's matter.
Pei Luoan was embarrassed by the incident involving Ming Xian'er in front of so many people. He even heard that some people thought that he was not so affectionate towards Ji Hanyue. In the past, he told others that there were no concubines in the Eastern Palace, only a few educated palace maids sent from the palace, who had no official status. But after Ming Xian'er made a scene that day, people knew that Ming Xian'er was a concubine of the Eastern Palace.
This made Pei Luoan very unhappy, and he scolded Ji Youran afterwards. But at this moment, Ji Youran wanted to make a fuss about something. Looking at Fourth Miss Qu who fainted in the arms of the maid, her weak appearance told him that Ji Youran was making some kind of fuss again. No wonder the Queen Mother repeatedly said that Ji Youran was too petty and not suitable to be the principal wife.
"What's wrong?" the prince asked in a hoarse voice.
Ji Youran didn't expect the coffin to pass by so quickly. He knew something was wrong and lowered his head hastily, suppressing the anger on his face. "Your Highness, Fourth Miss Qu is not feeling well and has fainted."
"Since he has fainted, help him down to rest." Pei Luoan said impatiently, holding the hand of the young eunuch and walking out. Since he was "deeply in love", how could he not send him out of the house at this time!
Several brothers followed closely.
The Crown Prince is the most respected. Even though some of you are princes and emperors, you cannot compare with the Crown Prince.
"She is the fourth young lady of Minister Qu's mansion?" The last one, Prince Yan Pei Yanxun, seemed to be somewhat surprised as he stood in front of them and asked curiously in a low voice.
"Our young lady is the fourth young lady of Minister Qu's mansion." Yu Dong answered while hugging Qu Moying.
Pei Yanxun looked Qu Moying up and down for a few times, and suddenly said: "Doesn't your fourth young lady look like she is not useless? What a pity, what a pity!"
After saying that, he shook his head, turned around and left behind everyone.
As for the words "what a pity" he said, everyone was surprised. They didn't understand what the prince felt sorry about. Was it his eye disease or something else
Or is there some other hidden meaning here