"In the Queen's opinion, who would be more suitable to raise the eldest prince?" Ning Chen continued.
"I think that Concubine Shu and Concubine Jingde are both good candidates. They have enough experience and have raised children."
The queen immediately brought out the two highest-ranking concubines in the harem.
Ye Yun and Yi Shunyuan below are definitely not considered.
These two already have healthy princes, and they have good family backgrounds and are favored. Wouldn't it be a huge upheaval if they had another prince
Moreover, once it is given out, it may be difficult to get it back.
Although she doesn't expect the eldest prince to be raised by her and become the future crown prince, it's better to keep him as a favorite for now.
After having a child, the prince will naturally come more often. Only with more comings will he have the opportunity to have one of his own.
Ning Chen thought for a moment and said in a deep voice, "Shu Fei's temper is not good. It's okay to raise a daughter, but raising a son requires more stability."
I hope her sharp tongue will make the eldest prince even more crooked.
"Princess Jingde is quite good." Ning Chen pursed his lips.
The second prince has a very good personality, which shows that Concubine Jingde’s way of raising children is desirable.
The Queen also nodded immediately. "The ages of the eldest and second princes are not very different. It would be good to raise the two brothers together."
Just when they were about to make a decision, a palace maid suddenly came with a message that Concubine Jingde's rosary had arrived.
"Why did you come at this time? Is there something wrong?" The queen frowned.
The little palace maid replied, "She said that Concubine Jingde is ill, so she came to ask for leave from you. I'm afraid she won't be able to come and pay her respects for a while."
"Call someone in." Ning Chen said.
The palace maid who delivered the message nodded and brought the person in after a moment.
"I pay my respects to the Emperor and the Empress." As soon as Nianzhu came in, she bowed first.
The Queen waved her hand and said, "Forget it. How could Concubine Jingde fall ill out of nowhere? She looked fine when she came to pay her respects this morning."
"To answer the Empress, Consort De had a stomach upset yesterday. She felt dizzy after paying respects today. She didn't feel better after a nap, so she called the imperial physician to see her. She had a fever at that time. She thought she would get better after taking medicine, but her fever has not subsided. She is curled up on the bed and has no strength. I am afraid that paying respects will pass on the illness to the Empress, so I sent this servant to ask for leave now."
Nianwen explained the whole story very fluently.
Although it was somewhat coincidental that he became ill at this time, there was no apparent flaw.
This was something the queen had not expected.
But a sense of hope also arose in my heart.
Since Concubine Jingde is ill, she certainly doesn't have the energy to take care of two children at once. In that case, the eldest prince doesn't need to go through all this trouble and can just let her raise them.
"Then let Concubine Jingde take good care of her illness. Suqin, pick out some good medicinal herbs from my storehouse and send them to Xiefang Palace tomorrow." The Queen ordered.
After finishing his work, Rosary didn't stay long and left quickly.
The couple were the only ones left in the room again.
The Queen tentatively spoke, "The Defei is ill and can't get up. If the eldest prince is sent there... I'm afraid he won't be able to take care of the two children for a while."
Ning Chen's brows were tightly furrowed, and after a moment he let out a long breath and whispered.
"Then let's leave it to Hui Zhaorong to take care of for the time being. She has been with me for many years, has a gentle temperament, and knows the rules very well. The second princess is also in good health."
"Yes, Hui Zhaorong is also good." The queen replied dryly.
There was a hint of disappointment in his eyes.
I didn't expect that Hui Zhaorong would get the advantage in the end, but it doesn't matter, just take it one step at a time, it's just a process.
So in the end it was decided that Hui Zhaorong would raise the eldest prince.
The next morning when she paid her respects, the Queen told her about this matter.
"Hui Zhaorong now has two children, so you need to spend more time on them. Once the children are well raised, with your qualifications, you will be crowned as a consort in no time."
"I would like to thank the Emperor and the Empress for their trust. I will do my best to raise the eldest prince."
Things have come to this point, and she has already been notified, so there is no right for her to refuse.
Even though she was unwilling, she had no choice but to take on this job.
But on second thought, he had no son, and if he raised the eldest prince well, it would give his daughter an extra support in the future, so it wouldn't be so painful.
After paying their respects, Ye Jun walked for a distance with Hui Zhaorong.
"Sister, you must be more careful in the future. Whoever is in Fengqi Palace wants to raise a child so badly that she will inevitably do something to the eldest prince. Sister, don't become a stepping stone for others."
Hui Zhaorong sighed, "Hey, I know what you said, but there are two more queens above me, and I don't know how it fell to me. I can only ask more people to keep an eye on it."
Ye Jun narrowed his eyes slightly and whispered.
"The Defei didn't come to pay respects today. Didn't the Queen say that she suddenly fell ill yesterday? In my opinion, it's too coincidental. I'm afraid she's hiding."
"To be honest, sister, the emperor wanted me to raise the eldest prince yesterday afternoon, but I refused. This Shufei is so noisy, she will definitely not be asked to raise a boy, so there is only Defei. Defei's illness has put the pressure on you, sister."
After hearing her analysis, Hui Zhaorong's face became even more worried.
One by one, they were hiding from her. The queen wanted it, but the emperor wouldn't give it to her, so she had to take on a hot potato.
Seeing that she was very worried, Ye Jun spoke to comfort her again.
"After all, the eldest prince is still young. He can be raised well with proper teaching. Sister, don't worry too much. Just keep a close eye on everyone around the eldest prince to make sure they don't accidentally take advantage of him."
"Okay, I understand. Now we can only take it one step at a time." Hui Zhaorong nodded.
The two of them went their separate ways at the fork in the road.
When she returned to her residence, Hui Zhaorong found that the eldest prince and his servants had just been brought in.
Now that she was named Zhaorong, she moved from Yimexuan to Yongning Palace. The place was spacious, so she arranged for the eldest prince to live in the east wing hall.
The second princess was still young and slept in the side room on the left side of the main hall.
Hui Zhaorong and the eldest prince had no interaction at all. The eldest prince didn't even look at her while nestling in his wet nurse's arms.
So he did not see the child alone, but called the servants around the eldest prince over, asked them what they needed to ask, and scolded them what they needed to scold.
After basically understanding the situation, I stopped taking any action for the time being.
At least get familiar with it for a few days first.
The custody of the eldest prince in the harem has finally been settled, and the imperial edict of the previous dynasty's imperial examination has also been posted.
Ye Huai lived up to everyone's expectations and made it to the list, and his ranking was quite high.
The next five days of rest will be the final palace examination, where Ning Chen will give questions on the spot and select the top three.
No matter what the final result of the palace examination is, Ye Huai will definitely be able to enter the court and become an official.
This last battle will determine how high he can reach when he first enters the officialdom.
Of course, there are those who make the list and those who don’t.
For example, Yao Xin, the only legitimate son of the Yao family, failed the exam for the third time this year.
Yao Xiang had just recovered from his illness when he was almost angered by his second brother again. In the end, he could only write a letter back, implicitly telling his father to train his eldest brother Yao Xu's son well.
It is also good if the legitimate grandson is more promising than the legitimate son.