The Queen's Pepper Room
The eunuch knelt on the ground and told in detail what he had seen and heard in the Prince of Yun's mansion today.
After he finished speaking, he lowered his head to the ground and dared not move.
After a long while, I heard the Queen's voice from above: "Go down!"
"Yes!" The eunuch didn't dare to say another word. He lowered his head, stood up, and walked backwards. When he caught a glimpse of the door frame behind him, he turned around and left in a hurry.
Your Highness, sitting on the chair in the middle is a woman who looks to be about 40 years old and has a dignified look. This is the current Queen Zhu, the mother of Crown Prince Pei Luoan, and the most honorable person in the entire harem.
Although she is a little older, she has maintained herself very well. It can be seen that when she was young, she must have been a rare beauty, but at this moment her eyebrows were tightly furrowed.
Sitting next to her was a woman in her thirties, dressed gorgeously. Seeing that the Queen was silent, she smiled and said, "Queen, it seems that His Royal Highness the Prince is not satisfied with this Fourth Miss Qu!"
This is Concubine Xiang, who was conferred the title by the Emperor. Although she is a concubine, she does not have a title and is not a big deal in the harem. She has always been dependent on the Empress, and because she has no children, she does not have to follow the Empress' taboos, so they can get along well. Every time she comes to ask about her well-being, she will stay and talk to the Empress.
She has a very good personal relationship with the Empress Dowager, who trusts her very much. Even the Empress Dowager's nephew married Xiang Fei's niece, so the two are relatives. The most important thing is the interest relationship between the two families, which is closely linked together.
Everyone in the palace knows that this kind of interest relationship is more reassuring than emotional ties.
When there are some things that are inconvenient for the Queen Mother, Concubine Xiang can help. Of course, when Concubine Xiang goes too far, the Queen Mother can still speak up to protect her.
In short, not only are the two people closely related, they are also tied together. As for the marriage between the two families, only a few people know about it.
"Are you really dissatisfied, or is there something else going on?" The queen's brows were still furrowed, and her words sounded more like she was talking to herself.
"Empress, don't think too much. His Royal Highness the Prince of Yun is a very good person. If he likes her, he can just tell the Emperor. Is it possible that the Emperor will disagree with him? As long as he opens his mouth, the Emperor will definitely issue an order. Then the Fourth Miss Qu can just go into the palace. Even if he really has intentions, others can't calculate anything."
Concubine Xiang said indifferently.
She sincerely didn't think that the Prince of Yun would be such a gentle and compassionate person. The fact that the fourth young lady of the Qu family had been "favored" by him seemed to bring more troubles than blessings.
After hearing what she said, the Queen Mother's brows relaxed a little and nodded: "It seems that the fourth young lady of the Qu Mansion must have been picked up by him casually."
She left the palace that day in the name of Ji Hanyue and Prince Yun.
Let’s first talk about the funeral of the Crown Princess. The Queen, remembering their past affection, specially proposed to the Emperor to go out of the palace to see the Crown Princess off. She also said that she was grateful to the Crown Princess for saving the Prince, but in the end she even lost her life. Although she was the elder, she must go to the coffin in person to thank the Crown Princess.
Then he mentioned the marriage of Prince Yun and said that this was a good opportunity.
He said he wanted to pick out some young ladies for the Prince of Yun. In the past, it was not convenient to see them in the palace, and those young ladies were too reserved.
It is really hard to tell what kind of personality they have at first glance. Taking advantage of the rare opportunity to leave the palace, I invited several young ladies to the East Palace, and hid away to see each other, so that I could see more clearly.
Of course, the most important thing is to let Prince Yun come over and see her in person, without letting the ladies know. The Empress will assist by their side. If Prince Yun is interested, she will decide and return to the palace to discuss it with the Emperor.
Although the timing was not right, considering that the Queen Mother usually would not leave the palace, and it was for the marriage of Prince Yun, and the matter was kept secret, the Emperor eventually agreed. Pei Luoan's marriage was something he was particularly concerned about, so he notified Pei Luoan and asked him to go to the Prince's Mansion.
The Queen Mother dressed lightly and left the palace. Her purpose was certainly not to find a princess for Pei Yuanjun. Her main purpose was to choose a suitable princess for her son.
What the Queen didn't expect was that Pei Yuanjun came to the Prince's mansion, but bumped into the fourth young lady from Minister Qu's mansion. It was said that he even injured the person, and then hurried back.
When she arrived at the Prince's Mansion, she didn't see her at all. There were some things she had wanted to propose to the Emperor about Pei Yuanjun's matter, but now she couldn't say them.
The fourth young lady of Minister Qu's mansion has caught the attention of the Empress.
The Queen Mother sent people to investigate. It was found that Miss Qu Si had been in the care of her stepmother Yu after her biological mother passed away. When she was young, she suffered eye burns due to Yu's "carelessness" and developed an eye disease. After that, the Lady Dowager decided to send her to a farm to be raised, where she had been for many years.
I heard that she was not good-looking, had not received much education, and was probably only able to recognize the characters, and also had an eye disease. How could such a woman fall into Pei Yuanjun's eyes? The Queen was the first one who didn't believe it.
Then he felt that this Fourth Miss Qu was quite capable, as he heard that she had run into Prince of Wei Pei Qingmin before, and now she had run into Pei Yuanjun.
If there was only one such incident, the Queen would think it was a real accident, or that Pei Yuanjun had other plans. But it just so happened that Miss Qu had actually run into King Wei before, and Ji Youran said that this was also an accident. Two accidents are definitely not accidents.
The Queen Mother felt that the Fourth Miss Qu was a scheming woman. She must have known that she was having a hard time in the Qu Mansion, so she deliberately caused such a thing. Her purpose was of course to curry favor with the rich and powerful. Both the Prince of Wei and the Prince of Yun were of royal blood and extremely noble.
It would be a good thing if such a woman were sent to Prince Yun.
Since the Prince of Yun used her as a shield casually, she could be won over by herself. Maybe she would be a chess piece to infiltrate the Prince of Yun's palace in the future.
From this point of view, the Queen Mother thought this was a good thing. After thinking it through, her eyes relaxed slightly and she nodded, "Since the Prince of Yun mentioned this Fourth Miss Qu, she will definitely enter the Prince of Yun's mansion in the end."
This was the first time that Pei Yuanjun agreed. As long as she was the daughter of a noble family, the emperor would definitely approve her. Since she was not the principal wife, he could just let a concubine in first. This would open a door, and the matter of the principal wife would be easier to discuss in the future.
"Your Majesty should make friends with him." When Concubine Xiang heard what the Queen said, she immediately understood what she meant and said with a smile.
The Queen also smiled and looked at Concubine Xiang: "It's not very convenient for me to do this right now, how about asking my sister to do it?"
The emperor also followed Pei Yuanjun's advice and decided to wait and see.
The person has been decided, but whether Pei Yuanjun will really want her in the end is still unknown. In other words, Pei Yuanjun has the final say on Qu Moying's status. He really doesn't think much of her. He thinks she is just a concubine thrown into a corner, just like the palace has one more person to support.
But right now, nothing has been decided. The Queen is of noble status, so of course she cannot say or do anything.
"Empress, I know." Concubine Xiang smiled slightly. She understood in her heart, and a smile flashed in her eyes. Her status was a little higher than that of the Fourth Miss Qu, but the Qu Mansion had someone in the palace. Although it was a little far away, fortunately, no matter how far away, they were still members of the Qu family.
"Is this sent from the palace?" Qu Moying looked at the gift in front of him in surprise.
Another pile of gifts were presented to him. Each one was extremely exquisite and one could tell at a glance that they were not ordinary items.
"Yes, the Madam said that it was awarded by Concubine Qu in the palace, and she specifically mentioned the Fourth Young Lady, so she asked an old servant to deliver it, and also brought an aunt from Concubine Qu's family." Wu Ma said with a smile.
"Concubine Qu?" Qu Moying raised her watery eyes and said in surprise. There was no such a concubine in her memory. There were actually people from the Qu family in the palace
"Yes, it's Concubine Qu. Although Concubine Qu has little relationship with our family and is not from our branch, she was actually adopted as our godparent many years ago. So, the fourth young lady should call Concubine Qu her great-aunt." My nanny explained.
Qu Moying pondered for a moment and finally understood the relationship with this person. They were very distant, so distant that they were no longer from the same branch. They just had the same surname and were related many years ago. They might even have the same ancestor, but it must have been a long time ago and no one might have taken it seriously.
Over the years, I have never heard of any contact with this Concubine Qu.
"Concubine Qu, there is no Xinning Temple?" Qu Moying asked.
It is no secret in the capital that the concubines of the late emperor who did not give birth to children eventually went to Xinning Temple to practice.
"Concubine Qu had a daughter in the past. When the late emperor passed away, the girl was still very young. But when the late emperor passed away, the little princess could not be kept. At that time, the Empress Dowager took pity on her and let her live in the palace." said Wu Ma.
So that's how it is. No wonder there's still Concubine Qu in the palace. But this Concubine Qu must be very low-key. She had never heard of her in her previous life.
"Concubine Qu said that she would invite the third and fourth young ladies to the palace in a few days to meet the descendants of the Qu family." My nanny said with a smile.
Although Concubine Qu has no real power in the palace, the Qu family has connections in the palace and can be of some use. This is only beneficial to the Qu family and has no harm at all.
Qu Moying had just been broken off from engagement, and no one had come to propose marriage to her yet. The old lady was so worried that she couldn't sleep at night. Now the invitation from Concubine Qu was really great. It was possible that with Concubine Qu's status, she could help Qu Moying find a good marriage. This was why my nanny was also so happy.
The lady can finally rest assured.
"Miss Fourth, these pieces of satin are very good. Madam wants the sewing room to make a few sets for you first, and you can wear them when the time comes." Aunt Wu said with a smile, pointing at a few pieces of silvery-white brocade.
The sunlight came in through the window, and the light white brocade with a silver gleam flashed, stinging her eyes...