It was already evening when Concubine Yi woke up.
She did not feel relieved after fainting, but had a long nightmare.
There was no Ye Jun in the dream. Instead, Yao Xiang, who had died long ago, was still alive and gave birth to the fourth prince named Ning Yuyan.
Her son Han quarreled with Yao's son and had his legs chopped off by a group of killers disguised as bandits. He became a cripple and died of depression.
Her condition was not much better. After the death of the third prince, Yao became the queen and secretly ordered people to drug her food, making her mentally confused. One night, she smashed a teapot and cut her wrists with broken porcelain pieces, bleeding to death.
When she woke up, Concubine Yi was sweating all over, and she did not forget to check whether her wrist was cut.
"Your Majesty, Your Majesty, you're finally awake. How do you feel? Do you want to ask the imperial physician to come and see you?" Yunxiu hurried over with red eyes.
Concubine Yi took a few breaths in a state of anxiety before she calmed herself down a little.
Finally, he remembered something, grabbed Yunxiu's hand and asked.
"Where is the Third Prince? Where is the Third Prince? I had a nightmare, it was really scary. Go and call Han'er."
Yunxiu looked at her with sad eyes, but couldn't say the words.
Seeing the maid's appearance, Concubine Yi's heart slowly became numb, her ears were buzzing, and the images that flooded into her mind were all of her son's embarrassment before he left.
With her thoughts swirling, Concubine Yi finally couldn't help but cover her face with her hands and burst into tears.
"Han'er, my Han'er, Your Majesty, you are so cruel! Ye, you have caused my mother and I to end up in such a state, I will make sure you die a miserable death!"
Concubine Yi's eyes were filled with hatred, and she didn't even notice when her long nails pinched her palms.
"My lady, I have followed you for many years. Please listen to my advice and don't make any more mistakes. You have already lost the Third Prince, but if you make another mistake, it will implicate the entire Wu family!"
Yunxiu fell to her knees with a thud, tears also streaming down her face.
"Even a tiger won't eat its own cubs. The emperor has always been lenient. Now the Third Prince has only been demoted to a commoner and imprisoned in Yanqing Temple. He hasn't lost his life. This is already a sign of the emperor's kindness. You are still a concubine, and the Wu family has not been implicated. It was the emperor's help. Your Majesty, do you still remember what your Majesty said? Your Majesty asked you to take care of yourself!"
Concubine Yi couldn't stop sobbing, but after listening to Yunxiu's words, her clenched fists loosened a little.
Seeing this, Yunxiu quickly took out a handkerchief and bandaged her injured palm.
Looking at her own hands, Concubine Yi's tears dried up.
Yes, she not only has a son, but also a family, and the lives of dozens of people in her mother's family are tied to her.
Thinking about the terrible situation in the dream, it’s better now.
At least the third prince was still alive and well, so she wasn't so miserable.
At this point, Concubine Yi had to accept the fact that she had lost.
Maybe it's because I felt I wouldn't lose from the very beginning, so it's so hard to accept.
But when she thought carefully about these years, Concubine Ming was really stable in her position and had never taken the initiative to attack her and her son. On the contrary, she was the one who always made small moves.
I couldn't help but laugh at myself. Perhaps, the imperial concubine was just so confident that she didn't bother to do anything.
Thinking about it this way, it turned out that she and the third prince were the less confident ones from the very beginning.
Because they were afraid of not being able to win, they chose to use underhanded means, which led to their complete defeat.
Yunxiu felt a little worried when Concubine Yi didn't speak.
He called softly, "My Lady..."
"I'm fine, don't worry. I won't do anything else. For the Wu family, and for Han'er to survive in Yanqing Temple, I will live a stable life." Concubine Yi whispered.
She took a deep breath and continued, "Go tell the emperor that I didn't teach my son well. I know I am guilty of a serious crime and I am not worthy of being a concubine. Please punish me. But the Wu family was not involved in this matter. Please forgive my father and brother for the Wu family's efforts for the country over the years."
Yunxiu nodded and left.
He came back soon and brought back the emperor's oral instructions.
Concubine Yi was a bad parent and was unworthy of her position, so she was demoted to Wanrong and stripped of her title. The Wu family was not implicated, but only one of the father and son was allowed to serve as an official in the court, and the other was dismissed from his position.
There is no need to think about this. Naturally, Lord Wu resigned and left the opportunity to be an official to his eldest son.
The next Concubine Yi was Wu Wanrong. Ning Chen still showed mercy to her and did not demote her to a government lady. Instead, he restored her to the position she had when she first entered the palace.
After going around in circles, everything returned to where it was, and vaguely a lot had been lost.
On the carriage back to Beijing, Wu kept thinking that maybe she shouldn't have entered the palace, or maybe she shouldn't have been so ambitious after entering the palace.
But there is no maybe in this world. What happened has happened, and we can only try our best to preserve everything we have left in the future.
After all, I didn’t celebrate the Double Ninth Festival on the grassland.
Ning Chen was worried about Ye Jun's internal injuries, and thought that there would be more imperial physicians to treat him and more medicinal herbs in the palace, so he hurried back.
By the time I returned to the palace, it was only the third day of October, which was half a month earlier than expected.
At that time, the third prince had already been imprisoned in Yanqing Temple, so everyone roughly knew what had happened to the Jasak.
The third prince has fallen, and among all the princes, only the fourth prince and the sixth prince are eye-catching. Both of them were born to Concubine Ming, so it is certain now that Concubine Ming will definitely be the future empress dowager.
Of course, some people also thought that since the Fifth Prince had the great Confucian Qi family behind him, he might have a fighting chance. However, the attitude of Concubine Qi and the Qi family told everyone everything: they would not fight.
The Qi family is loyal to the emperor, they only consider the emperor's wishes. After experiencing the incident of being tortured by Zasak, Concubine Qi does not want to be involved in these dirty things.
The Sixth Prince is still young, so even though Ning Chen hasn't said it explicitly, everyone can basically see that the Fourth Prince will undoubtedly be the future Crown Prince.
And Ning Chen had indeed made up his mind.
On the second day after returning to Beijing, he called the Fourth Prince to Jiuchen Palace and explained the matter to Ye Jun in front of him.
"I know that you are a smart and kind child. You cherish the blood relationship with your brothers and sisters, but you are also decisive in distinguishing right from wrong. I appoint you as the crown prince. I hope you will stick to your original intention and take over the heavy responsibility of the country from me in the future."
The Fourth Prince looked solemn and knelt down to kowtow.
"I will live up to my father's trust and protect every inch of Nanqi's territory!"
A hint of relief emerged in Ning Chen's eyes, and he personally helped the Fourth Prince up.
Finally, he turned and walked towards Ye Jun. The determination and tenderness in his eyes made people's breathing become a little tense.
"My dear, please be my queen. I am willing to marry you into the palace with the same ceremony as I would marry my first wife. I want to stay with you until we grow old, and treat you as my equal."
Ye Jun met his gaze in a daze, and her heart skipped a beat.
She had never thought that Ning Chen would say such words. It was because of her last refusal that this time, Ning Chen wanted to abandon the constraints of ethics and marry her as his queen with the same etiquette as he married his first wife.
This sincerity is really heavy.
"Mother, please agree to it quickly." The Fourth Prince's eyes were bright and he urged in a low voice.
Ye Jun blushed, took a deep breath, walked forward, held Ning Chen's hand, and nodded gently.