Because the marquis's mansion was hosting a funeral, the eunuch who came from the palace to deliver the message did not make a big fuss, and no other place received the news except Ci'an Residence.
The old lady thought that the Queen must have heard that Xiu'er was the real daughter of the Duke of Zhenguo, so she wanted to call people to take a look and compare to see which one is better.
The old lady had not attended the banquet held at the Duke's Mansion a few days ago, so she didn't know what the Jinping County Lady looked like. She was worried that Xiu'er would be outdone by her and the Empress would look down on her because of this.
Although Xiu'er is the daughter of the Duke's Mansion, she has lived in the Marquis' Mansion for more than half a year. The old lady thinks that if she becomes the Crown Princess or the Queen in the future, it will be more or less beneficial to the Marquis' Mansion. So she wants to dress her up well to make a good impression on the Queen.
Everyone in the mansion was now wearing white mourning clothes, and Xie Nanjia was no exception. The old lady took this as an excuse to give the eunuch who delivered the message some money for his hard work, and asked him to sit in the flower hall for a while until Princess Jinping changed her clothes.
The eunuch took the money, smiled and went to the flower hall to drink tea. Nianci and Aunt Hua quickly pushed Xie Nanjia into the inner room and helped her change clothes and put on makeup.
Xie Nanjia had a bewildered look on her face, and had not yet recovered from the surprise of being summoned by the Queen. It was not until the old lady came in and explained to her in detail the rules to be followed when entering the palace that she slowly came to her senses.
She knew all the rules for entering the palace, so she didn't listen to the old lady's instructions seriously. Her mind was full of thoughts about why the Queen suddenly summoned her.
Based on her previous understanding of the Queen Mother, she was a woman who attached great importance to face and power. She did not think that the Queen Mother wanted to compare her with the Princess Jinping. On the contrary, she smelled a hint of danger.
Will the Empress insist on letting the Crown Prince marry the Princess Jinping for the sake of the Eastern Palace's reputation, and at the same time put pressure on the Duke's Mansion to not allow her real daughter to marry her
In order to prevent future troubles, would he simply let her disappear forever
If this is true, then today's trip to the palace is likely to be disastrous and there will be no return.
Thinking of this, Xie Nanjia stood up with a start. Nianci was drawing her eyebrows, and as soon as she stood up, the eyebrows were ruined.
"What happened?" Nianci was startled and said regretfully, "You didn't even say hello when you got up. Look, the painting is ruined."
"It's not important." Xie Nanjia said anxiously, "Old Madam, please send someone to deliver a message to the Duke's Mansion as soon as possible, saying that the Queen has summoned me to the palace. In addition, I want to see the Second Young Master, so please send a maid to invite him over quietly."
The old lady was also startled by her. Seeing her serious expression, she became alert: "What's wrong? Is there something wrong?"
"I can't really explain it, but I feel that things may not be as simple as the old lady said." Xie Nanjia said, "To be cautious, let's tell the Duke's Mansion!"
"Okay, I'll send someone to tell him right away." The old lady hadn't come to her senses yet, but out of trust in Xie Nanjia, she immediately sent someone to the Duke of Zhenguo's Mansion.
"But why do you want to see Yu'er? Does this matter have anything to do with him?" the old lady asked again.
Xie Nanjia said vaguely: "The Second Young Master is very intelligent. I want to hear his opinion."
The old lady didn't think much about it and sent someone to call Zhao Jingyu.
Xie Nanjia sat down again and asked Nianci to trim her eyebrows, thinking about how to deal with the situation when she entered the palace and met the queen.
After a while, the little girl who went to find Zhao Jingyu came back and said that the second young master had been sent by the Marquis to supervise the repair of the tomb.
The old lady then remembered that Marquis Dingyuan had mentioned before that Yu'er was unwilling to cry for Qin, so in order to avoid gossip, he was sent to the cemetery to supervise, which was actually to let him hide away in peace.
Because Qin treated Zhao Jingyu harshly, the old lady felt that Zhao Jingyu's behavior was not appropriate, but out of love for him, she could not bear to force him, so she acquiesced to Dingyuan Hou's approach.
"The eunuch is still waiting in the flower hall. It may be too late to go to the cemetery to call Yu'er back now." said the old lady.
Xie Nanjia knew it was too late, so she had to give up, finished dressing up, changed her clothes, and left with the eunuch.
The old lady was afraid of being seen by others, so she specially asked someone to prepare a sedan chair to carry her out of the house.
As soon as she set off, the old lady's people passed the news to the Duke's Mansion.
The Duke's Mansion was worried about her. They were reluctant to leave her in the Dingyuan Marquis Mansion, but they didn't dare to disobey the Queen's order. After discussing it for a long time, they couldn't come up with a perfect plan. Now, when they heard that she was summoned into the palace by the Queen, they were immediately at a loss.
"The Queen said that we are not allowed to acknowledge the child, but now she has summoned him into the palace. What is her intention?" Sheng Qingyun said anxiously.
"Who knows." Su Xian said, "After thinking it over, could it be that you still don't want to wrong the Crown Prince and want to see each other before making a decision?"
"If that's the case, then you don't take our family seriously at all." The old Duke said unhappily.
"He is the king and we are his subjects. Why should he take us seriously?" The old lady said, "Anyway, no matter what, we were at fault first. We will give the prince whoever he wants to marry. We have to keep our opinions to ourselves."
"I don't agree." Sheng Qingyun was quite dissatisfied with her mother-in-law's attitude. "Even if we are subjects, we are not insignificant subjects. We still have to have the backbone we should have. How can we let her squeeze us? In my opinion, the emperor may not know about her decisions at all. Your husband should go and ask the emperor in person what he thinks!"
"You are confused. How can you do this if the emperor doesn't agree? The emperor wants his subjects to die. Besides, he only wants you as his daughter. If you ask Xian'er to ask the emperor, isn't that asking him to be scolded?" The old lady was very dissatisfied with Sheng Qingyun's impulsive behavior these days. When she heard her son instigating her son to ask the emperor, her face turned black immediately. "Don't forget, your son is still serving in front of the emperor. If you anger the emperor, it will not be good for both father and son."
"..." Sheng Qingyun was speechless for a moment when he thought of his son.
The old lady continued, "In fact, during this period, Jinping has behaved very well. Regardless of whether she is real or not, her words and deeds, and her way of dealing with people are all very appropriate. No one would doubt that she is a lady from a noble family. On the contrary, Xiu'er grew up in the countryside and is now a maid. We don't know what kind of character and cultivation she has. Instead of worrying about this and that, we should worry about whether she will not know the rules when she enters the palace and offend the nobles..."
Sheng Qingyun couldn't bear to listen any more, so he stood up and left.
She finally understood that her mother-in-law was only thinking about how to prevent the family from being implicated in this incident and didn't take the child seriously at all.
Although she loves children and will cry when she hears that a child is suffering, in her eyes, the overall situation is far more important than one child.
Yes, Sheng Qingyun herself admitted that it was important to consider the overall situation, because it was related to the fate of the entire Su family. However, was her daughter unimportant? Should she be sacrificed for the overall situation
No! She won't allow it!
She angrily opened the curtain and walked out. As soon as she went out, she found that Princess Jinping was standing outside the door.
"Mother!" Princess Jinping called her in a crisp voice, "What a coincidence! Mother came out just as I arrived. I was just about to go in to find you!"
"What do you want me to do?" Sheng Qingyun softened his expression and took her hand.
Even though she was a fake daughter, they had developed feelings for each other over such a long period of time. Besides, it was not her fault. It was Su Xian who admitted his mistake and brought her back from thousands of miles away. Now he wanted her to marry into the palace in his place, and he felt somewhat guilty towards her.
"I'm not doing anything, I just miss my mother." Princess Jinping said, "My mother has been busy these days and hasn't talked to me much."
Sheng Qingyun patted her hands apologetically, not knowing what to say.
Jinping County Lady's eyes flickered, and after a pause she continued, "Mother, I have heard some rumors outside, and I am very worried..."
Sheng Qingyun was stunned for a moment and asked, "What do you want to say?"
Tears welled up in Princess Jinping's eyes, and she said dejectedly, "I have been wandering around with my adoptive parents since I was a child, and I never thought that one day I would be found by my biological parents, and not only would I live a life of luxury, but I would also become a princess and be engaged to the prince, just like in my dreams.
I felt that God was so good to me, and I wished I could kowtow to Him a hundred times every day. But I forgot that dreams always end when we wake up. The good days had just begun, and I went from real to fake.
Mother, if I was fake, why did father and you guys think I was Jinping so firmly? If I was real, why did you continue to look for me even though I have returned?"
As she spoke, tears began to fall. Sheng Qingyun felt very upset and could not help but hold her in his arms, comforting her: "Good child, don't worry, no matter whether you are real or fake, since your father has recognized you, you are our daughter, the county lady is still yours, the crown princess is still yours, and even the name Su Jinping is still yours. No one will snatch it from you, so just wait for your marriage with peace of mind!"
Princess Jinping felt relieved at this moment, wiped her tears and nodded: "I understand, thank you mother for not disliking me."
Sheng Qingyun smiled and said, "Silly child, how could I dislike you? It was your father who admitted his mistake. Besides, you have the same birthmark, the same almond-shaped eyes, and the same experience of being kidnapped in childhood. This shows that we are destined to be together. When Xiu'er is brought back in the future, you two can become a pair of good sisters. I will have two daughters at once. How wonderful it is!"
Princess Jinping was stunned and blurted out, "Didn't the Queen ask you not to recognize her?"
Sheng Qingyun's heart skipped a beat, and he looked at her intently, questioning, "You didn't just arrive, did you?"
Jinping County Lady's eyes began to flicker again, and she quickly confessed: "I, I've been here for a while, mother, I'm sorry, I was afraid you would be angry, so I didn't tell the truth."
"It's okay. It's okay if you know it." Sheng Qingyun put away his smile and said lightly, "Anyway, remember that you will marry into the East Palace."
The reason why the child came to eavesdrop was probably because she was worried about this, she thought, although eavesdropping was not good, the girl's thoughts were understandable.
After receiving a positive reply, Princess Jinping did not stay any longer and left happily.
Sheng Qingyun watched her walk away, and the anger she had just had with her mother-in-law subsided. She turned around and went back to the house. No matter what, Xiu'er had already entered the palace, and the most urgent task should be to find a way to protect her personal safety. As long as she came out of the palace safely, other things could be discussed.
After leaving, Princess Jinping did not return to her own courtyard, but went to the back garden alone, walked to the rockery, and stopped.
"I've already inquired about it. For the sake of face, the Queen doesn't want my mother to take that girl back. My mother also promised me that she would let me marry into the Eastern Palace. But the Queen suddenly summoned that girl to the palace today. I don't know why. Send someone to keep an eye on her. When she comes out, kill her when the opportunity arises to eliminate future troubles. This will be good for both you and me."
"Murder?" A voice from behind the rockery asked in surprise, "Isn't killing someone too risky?"
"It will be even more dangerous if the truth is revealed." Jinping County Lady said, "We are all on the same boat. If the truth is revealed, no one will survive. It's up to you to decide whether she will die or we will die!"
There was silence for a moment, then he said, "Okay, I'll arrange it right away."
(End of this chapter)