I thought that after what happened to the Queen, the Queen Mother would stop having concubines take care of her when she was sick, but I didn't expect that she still didn't say anything.
However, lots of good medicinal materials were sent to Fengqi Palace like water, which managed to shut some people up.
The Queen attached great importance to this hard-earned first child. She was originally afraid that power would fall into the hands of others, but now, in order to take care of the fetus, she took the initiative to give up the power to manage the six palaces.
Now, the three people in charge are Concubine Shu, Concubine Wende and Concubine Jing. The Queen has closed the door to take care of her pregnancy and has ignored everything.
Lin Xiurong was filled with hatred. Thinking of her lost child, she wished she could give the queen a pot of safflower soup so that she could also taste the pain of losing her son.
In comparison, Concubine Jing seemed much calmer, as if she had truly come out of the pain of the past.
The most nervous person was Yang Cairen.
She was originally promoted by the Queen to bear a child through surrogacy. Now that the Queen herself is pregnant, why would she still want her child
For a moment, she was panicking as she held her belly which was about to give birth in a month.
However, the queen was not able to take care of these minor details at the moment. She was only focused on having a good pregnancy and had completely forgotten about Yang.
However, the Queen Mother did not say anything, but the Duke of England outside the palace was getting restless.
There were already rumors that the empress dowager took advantage of her seniority and dragged all the concubines to take care of the emperor's illness, leaving the emperor with no one in the harem, which was not conducive to the reproduction of royal heirs. Now there was news that the empress was so exhausted from taking care of the emperor that she had a miscarriage.
With two pronged approaches, one fire is burning after another.
On the fifth day after the Queen announced her pregnancy, the Duchess of England's letter requesting an audience was delivered to the Cining Palace.
The empress dowager has always valued her mother's family, so naturally she would not miss them. She summoned them to the palace the next day.
The wife of the Duke, Wang, did not come alone, she also brought with her the concubine's daughter, Chen Suzhi, who was born to Concubine Su in the mansion.
This was naturally not Wang's own will.
The Duke of England has always doted on Concubine Su. Now that his illegitimate son Chen Xianyi has passed the imperial examination and is able to serve as an official in the court, he is highly appreciated, which makes his own legitimate son, who has no ability, look even less glorious. Now the Duke of England wants her to bring Chen Suzhi into the palace, and his intentions are obvious.
"Your Highness pays his respects to the Empress Dowager!" Wang and her concubines kowtowed politely.
The Queen Mother changed her clothes and smiled. She leaned on the pillow and waved, "Sister-in-law, please get up. Is everything okay at home?"
"Thanks to the good fortune of the Majesty, everything is fine." Wang stood up, "It's just that the Majesty is ill, and the Duke is always thinking about her. Previously, he was afraid of disturbing the Majesty's recovery. He thought that the Majesty should be better in a month and have some energy, so he asked this concubine to come to the palace to pay her respects."
The empress dowager felt comforted by these words.
She and Duke of England Chen Lisong had a harmonious relationship since childhood, and as they were brothers, they had a deep friendship.
Now that she is older and staying in this cold palace, she longs for the warmth of family affection even more. However, Ning Chen does not have a good relationship with her, which makes her cherish the warmth of her mother's family even more.
"Sister-in-law, please sit down. I have the imperial doctors in the palace to take care of me. Everything is fine. Tell my brother not to worry."
Wang nodded and sat down obediently, her eyes narrowed, "Your Majesty is fine, we are at ease outside the palace, but the master has something to tell you."
"What?" The Queen Mother frowned.
"What the Duke meant was that the Madam is ill and should be rested in peace. Although it is filial piety for the concubines to take care of her, it is not good for the Madam to have close servants to serve her. Moreover, the Emperor's harem is not rich, and the concubines should focus on serving the Emperor and helping him to have children. The Emperor will be in a good mood when he has someone he likes to take care of him, and he will be closer to you, Madam, right?"
As Wang spoke, she looked at the Queen Mother's expression and saw that she did not look very happy.
However, she also knew that although her sister-in-law was not a very smart person, she listened to her brother very much and would not disobey.
As expected, the Queen Mother lowered her eyes and thought for a while before she said calmly, "I know what's going on. Just tell my brother not to worry."
"Your Majesty is of extraordinary intelligence, but it is inevitable that she will be negligent during her illness. The Duke is closest to you, so he must think more about you. Please don't blame me." Wang stood up, bowed, and said a few words to comfort him.
The Queen Mother felt much more comfortable, "It's okay, brother is just worrying about me."
After all, she had been sitting in an honorable position for many years. No matter how obedient she was, she did not like to be manipulated or pointed out her mistakes. Wang's words also maintained the face of the empress dowager.
After the aunt and sister-in-law finished their idle chat, the empress dowager finally noticed the girl next to Wang.
The girl was seen wearing a goose yellow brocade cross-collared long dress, with a bun made of vines, a few velvet flowers and two or three butterfly tassel short hairpins, and a pair of pearl pendants on her ears. She stood quietly behind Wang with her hands hanging down.
"Who is this girl?"
Even though she hadn't seen her face yet, the Queen Mother felt that the girl must be extremely beautiful.
Wang's eyes darkened, she suppressed her displeasure and said with a smile, "The Empress Dowager has never seen this. This is the second girl born to Concubine Su. Her name is Suzhi. She is two years younger than Concubine Chen and she is fourteen this year."
"Your servant pays her respects to the Empress Dowager." Although Chen Suzhi was a little nervous, she still followed the rules when performing the ceremony.
The Queen Mother knew the key to this, and after looking at the girl below for a few times, she said, "Raise your head and let me see it."
"yes."
Chen Suzhi responded, slowly raised her head, and looked straight ahead, slightly below the empress dowager's line of sight to show respect.
The Queen Mother looked at her carefully and was satisfied.
The girl has an oval face and fair skin. Her eyebrows are thin and thick. Her almond-shaped eyes are lively and cute, playful yet dignified. Her nose is not very high, but the tip of her nose is small and round, making her look a bit naive. Her cherry lips are rosy and plump, and she is lively and beautiful.
The Empress Dowager remembered Aunt Su. Su herself was extremely beautiful, the kind of beauty that was pure and charming.
She was full of spirit when she was young, and as she grew older, she became more and more charming. It seems that this girl Chen Suzhi is exactly like her mother.
To be honest, Chen Suyu is indeed not as pretty as Chen Suzhi.
So that day, after having lunch in the Cining Palace, Wang left alone, while the second daughter of the Chen family, Chen Suzhi, was kept by the empress dowager on the pretext of attending to her illness.
It was also because of her that the Queen Mother told the concubines in the harem not to come to take care of her when she was sick.
In Yaoguang Pavilion, Concubine Chen remained silent for a long time after hearing this.
Chen Suyu is fourteen this year, and will be sixteen when the selection is held the year after next, which is just the right age for her to enter the palace. Her family will certainly not give up on her as a legitimate daughter, so the purpose of sending a concubine's sister into the palace is to help her.
But she knew very well whether she needed to be favored and whether there was any favor that could be consolidated.
If I really enter the palace, I'm afraid I'll just waste my whole life.
It was too obvious that the Queen Mother wanted to keep the second daughter of the Chen family in the harem. Ning Chen hated this practice very much, but he couldn't say anything.
You can't stop people from tending to the Empress Dowager, right
I can only find a way to avoid it in the future.
But Ye Jun no longer cared about these things. If one was fighting, then two were fighting too. Moreover, with Ning Chen's attitude towards the Chen family, it would be in vain for the Chen family to send a few girls in.
What she cared about was that she had finally escaped and taken care of the illness.
Besides, her birthday is just a few days away.