Prince Zheng is truly an outlier in the capital. He is a loner, and unlike other princes, he has no wife or family in the capital. He also has a bad reputation because of his previous unfaithfulness to Ming Yuyou.
He was not a powerful vassal, and few people came to curry favor with him.
Things got better after he returned to Beijing this time - Emperor Longqing clearly showed that he was favoring him, and his subordinates all knew how to read the wind.
But recently his reputation for being unfaithful and heartless has spread far and wide again, and more people are keeping their distance from him. In addition, with the incident of the King of Chu, officials in the capital are basically terrified when they hear about the vassal kings, and he has not received any visiting cards for many days.
This time I heard that someone came specially to invite me, but there was no signature at the bottom, which made me feel a little strange.
He felt strange, so he threw the note aside. After everything was ready, he went to the Dingbei Marquis Mansion on the day calculated by the Imperial Observatory.
The stone lions at the gate of Marquis Dingbei's mansion were covered with red silk, and even the four large gold-plated characters on the plaque seemed to shine brighter and brighter in the sun. Although it was a midsummer day, Prince Zheng felt a slight chill on his back. He stared blankly for a moment before he stepped into the door.
He wanted to recognize Ming Yuyou's daughter, and was accompanied by officials from the Ministry of Rites, including Mr. Wei Er, a Yuanwailang. All the members of the Wei family came out to greet him.
He waved his hand and said no, and met Old Madam Wei and exchanged a few words. Old Madam Wei then complimented him on the great grace of heaven and said, "After August, I will go to Yunnan. Since you have acknowledged your daughter, your Highness, don't you have any other words to express your gratitude?"
Several officials from the Ministry of Rites looked at each other, but no one said anything.
His Majesty only asked him to acknowledge his daughter, but everyone knows that Prince Zheng is unfaithful and heartless, so how could he really be willing to do so
King Zheng coughed, then nodded and said, "Of course, of course..."
After Wei An had formally performed the ceremony and kowtowed, he said, "In that case, you should kowtow a few more times on behalf of your mother in Yunnan. When you return from Yunnan, you can stay at the palace for a while."
Wei An responded softly.
King Zheng had sent something the day before.
None of them are usable. It was because Ming Yuyou did not forget her children even when she was displaced, and she sewed clothes for the children in great detail. Perhaps because she did not know the genders, she made clothes for both boys and girls in all colors and styles. The clothes for girls were especially delicate, with all the threads hanging outside the clothes, for fear that the threads on the clothes would get stuck on the children.
Those are all the expectations and love a mother has for her children.
Wei An could almost imagine the mixed feelings of despair and expectation that Ming Yuyou had when she did all this. She had exactly the same thoughts about her unborn child.
She sat holding the things all night long and did not close her eyes at all. As soon as she closed her eyes, she saw the portrait of Ming Yuyou and the face of Princess Changning, with the face of her own child, who was drowned in the bathtub by Peng Caichen when he was just born, mixed in between.
It made her heartbroken.
She still felt pain in her chest every time she breathed in, and when she thought about the jewelry that King Zheng had also sent her, she felt a little at a loss.
In my past and present lives, I have never known how to write the word "fatherly love". I could still imagine it for my mother, but with the birth of Wei Yangqing, I didn't have such deep feelings for my father. It was not until now, when I saw King Zheng's eyes, that I suddenly felt a little wronged.
She hasn't dared to feel wronged for a long time.
In her previous life, Princess Changning was often said to be mean, jealous, and unable to stand others doing well. She felt that even expecting the same things as Wei Yulong was a huge mistake, and gradually she dared not to feel wronged. Even if she wanted to cry, she felt that people would point at her nose and accuse her of being pretentious, so she had to endure it.
But in fact, it is useless to endure it.
She had endured all her life in her previous life, and even after she married Peng Caichen and was squeezed out of the position of original wife, she still did not dare to feel aggrieved. But it turned out that even if she tried hard to hide her jealousy and resentment, no one would appreciate her tolerance.
She didn't want to endure it in this life, but her grandmother, the only one who could indulge her, the old Princess Zhennan, had gradually become estranged from her. And there had been a rift between them for more than ten years, Mrs. Wei. She didn't know who she could rely on to stop enduring it.
Today, when she saw King Zheng's eyes, she finally understood the meaning of the word "cherish".
The King of Zheng felt sad at her look, but he endured it again and again, then looked away and said with a double meaning: "From now on you are my daughter. The emperor said that you will be given a title and everything. You will no longer be bullied by others."
After having lunch at the Wei family at noon, the ceremony was over. Everyone knew what the emperor meant. Since Wei An was just a nominal daughter, there was no need to take it too seriously. Many procedures could be omitted. She wrote a memorial to report the next day.
A few days later, another decree came from the palace, saying that they wanted to see Wei An and asked Wei An to enter the palace on the seventh day of the seventh month.
July 7th is the Qiqiao Festival, a good day. Queen Fang leaned on the couch and watched the palace maids play with the green fruits and carved flowers. At the same time, she raised her eyebrows to Madam Chen and asked, "What do you think about Mianmian's situation?"
Among the vassal kings, the most restless and the one most feared by Emperor Longqing, the King of Chu, had already committed suicide. The first one left was the King of Linjiang. His fiefdom was in Xunyang, and it was said that there were floods every year and bandits were rampant, so it was very unstable. During the reign of the previous emperor, he had 20,000 guards, which exceeded the regulations for vassal kings by nearly half. At first, it was not conspicuous because of the King of Chu in the front, but now it was obvious after his death.
As she was married to Emperor Longqing, she naturally understood his intentions - the next one would be Prince Linjiang.
But Madam Chen was stupid enough to set her sights on the Prince of Linjiang and wanted to marry her daughter to Chu Jingxing.
He is simply blinded by greed.
Mrs. Chen was a little worried: "It was my mother's idea..."
"Aunt is confused!" Queen Fang frowned. "It's like an iceberg. It will melt at any time. She is confused, and you are confused too? You even sent your daughter to that place! Could it be that the family that is going to sell their daughter has not done it?"
Chen Mianmian has been calling her aunt for so many years, and they are also cousins. Empress Fang has always valued this daughter of Madam Chen. She herself has no children, so she is extremely good to Chen Mianmian and the others. She strongly disapproves of this matter.
Madam Chen's voice became smaller and smaller: "I heard that... Princess Linjiang asked the wife of the Earl of Shoushan to tell mother..."
Princess Linjiang... ..
Queen Fang sneered.
The aftermath of the King of Chu's incident had not yet passed, but they had already started thinking of a way out.
She pulled up the blanket on her knees, touched her belly and glanced at Mrs. Chen: "Don't always think about leaning on anything. How many feet do you have? How many boats can you stand on steadily?"
Mrs. Chen's secret thoughts were exposed. She lowered her head in shame, holding the hem of her clothes without saying a word.