It was not until the Third Prince, the Crown Prince, stood up and left that the Fourth Prince followed him like a tail. The Qingning Palace, which had just been silent, finally heard a voice again. It was the Queen Mother who asked, "What do you think of the Third Prince?"
The Queen Mother actually asked this. For a moment, the huge Qingning Palace fell silent again. Concubine He naturally wanted to praise her son a thousand times, but in such an occasion, she always felt that it was not easy to speak casually, so she could only quietly go to see Concubine Yu. Concubine Yu thought that she was not the biological mother, and she didn't know much about the third prince. She was also pregnant, so she didn't want to say anything.
The other concubines wanted to flatter the new prince, but since Concubine He and Concubine Yu did not say anything, they couldn't help feeling that they were already the first to say anything, and that such blatant flattering expressions might be inappropriate, so they looked at each other, but no one dared to speak first.
As for the princesses, Princess Deyang wanted to say something nice, but she was not one to rush to the front, so she could only worry in her heart. Princess Yongping did not want to be accused of trying to flatter the prince, so she remained silent for a while. Then, in the silence, someone was the first to speak without a care.
"Of course His Royal Highness is a good prince. If he wasn't, would His Majesty have appointed him as the crown prince?"
When Zhu Ying saw the Queen Mother looking at her, she was clearly laughing, with an expression that said, "I'm not asking you." But she just pretended not to see it and said with a smile, "Although we can't ask Your Highness the Crown Prince not to be happy with things or sad with oneself, but he is not arrogant or impatient after suddenly entering the East Palace, and his actions are still as respectful as usual. Isn't it rare for Your Highness the Crown Prince to have such a calm mind?"
Seeing that Zhu Ying was still as outspoken as before, the Queen Mother thought of how the Third Prince had just bowed and thanked his sister and had deliberately glanced at Zhu Ying. She smiled slightly but did not continue to ask other people. Instead, she said slowly, "After the crown prince is appointed, the custom is to grant amnesty to the whole country, except for the most treasonous criminals. Do you think that Dalang and Erlang should be pardoned since they were expelled from the capital before?"
After these words came out, the concubines and princesses who just wanted to echo Zhu Ying's praise for the Third Prince were all stunned. I don't know how many people suddenly remembered that it was the Empress Dowager who insisted on making the Emperor the Empress Dowager, who is now the Concubine Jing, the Empress Dowager, and the First and Second Princes were the princes who went in and out of Qingning Palace the most. The various rewards given to them by the Empress Dowager were all more generous than those given to any other princes and princesses.
However, when the queen was deposed this time, it was the empress dowager who personally issued an imperial decree, blaming the deposed queen for being unfilial. But now she says this, could it be that the grandmother feels pity for her grandson after all, and wants to take advantage of the amnesty when the crown prince was appointed to bring back the eldest and second princes
Zhu Ying also didn't expect the Queen Mother to suddenly say such a thing, and her face was filled with shock and anger. But this time, the Queen Mother ignored her emotions and asked Princess Yongping, "Mingyue, what do you think?"
The Queen Mother did not address her by her title, but directly called her by her maiden name, which made Princess Yongping feel a little uneasy. She was very reluctant to answer such a question, which was obviously troublesome whether she supported or opposed it, but the one asking the question was the Queen Mother, so she had no room for prevarication. Therefore, she could only think quickly, then made up her mind and gave a clear answer.