Concubine Mei led Prime Minister Xia and Madam Linglong into the palace.
Mei Fei walked in with small steps and knelt on the ground: "I pay my respects to the Empress Dowager. May the Empress Dowager live a long and healthy life."
After Concubine Mei finished her greetings, Prime Minister Xia brought Madam Linglong forward and said, "I have specially brought Madam Linglong to the palace to pay my respects to the Empress Dowager. May the Empress Dowager be blessed with good health."
The Queen Mother narrowed her eyes and looked at him. "Is the Prime Minister here? Get up quickly."
Prime Minister Xia knelt down and suddenly burst into tears, "I dare not, I am guilty!"
The Queen Mother was startled. "What's going on? Why are you crying?"
Madam Linglong kowtowed, her face also covered with tears, "Your Majesty the Queen Mother, please understand. I have come to the palace with my husband to apologize today."
The Empress Dowager exclaimed, and asked in surprise, "What kind of crime are you asking for?"
Prime Minister Xia's face was covered with snot and tears, and he said sadly, "Empress Dowager, it's about my daughter Xia Zi'an regretting her engagement to the King of Liang. I really don't know how she dared to do this. Before the wedding, I asked her, and she said she was willing, so I dared to start the wedding. Who knew that she would regret her engagement right before the bridal sedan arrived, and even made a scene with nonsense. After investigation, I found out that it was her biological mother Yuan who came up with the idea. Yuan was jealous, and she was jealous that Linglong gave birth to a son and a daughter for me, while she herself had no children, so she instigated Zi'an to take revenge on Linglong and me. I am guilty. I couldn't manage my own family affairs, and brought disaster to His Royal Highness the King of Liang, causing His Royal Highness to lose face. I really deserve death!"
The Empress Dowager was somewhat shocked. "This matter of breaking off the engagement has indeed caused a great uproar in the city. How could Yuan Shi be so absurd? I heard that she was a talented woman in the past. It shows that it is true that a woman's virtue lies in her lack of talent."
The Queen Mother had her own conclusion about what happened that day, but she was puzzled because so many days had passed and the Queen had not pursued the matter. Why did they come to the palace to apologize so eagerly
She paused and asked, "By the way, Prince Liang told me before that he would marry the second daughter of the Xiangfu, Xia Wan'er. Why did it become Xia Zi'an later? Did Yuan agree to it after Xia Zi'an was replaced?"
Madam Linglong cried and said, "Excuse me, Queen Mother. It has been a long time since Madam has disliked me in the palace. I have been tolerant, but she is still not satisfied and wants to drive me out. This led to this regretful engagement. At that time, it was Zi'an who begged us, saying that she wanted to marry the King of Liang and had long admired him for a long time, and asked Wan'er to give her this marriage. She was obviously willing, but in the end she said in front of the King of Liang that she was forced. I don't blame Zi'an. She is just a child and was just used by her mother."
After hearing this, the Empress Dowager hesitated for a moment and looked at Concubine Mei, "Do you know about this matter in the Prime Minister's Mansion?"
Mei Fei smiled and walked forward, asking Eunuch Sun to leave. She personally served tea to the empress dowager, "Empress Dowager, I know a little about the affairs of the Xiangfu, and the two daughters of the Xiangfu occasionally come to the palace to pay their respects to me. After the marriage was decided, Zi'an also came. At that time, I asked her if she was willing to marry the King of Liang, and she said yes."
The Queen Mother looked at her calmly, "So, it was Xia Zian and Yuan Shi who came up with the idea of breaking off the engagement? Why did she do this?"
Mei Fei handed over the tea and sighed softly, "The Queen Mother doesn't know. That Yuan is conceited about her talent and is arrogant. She thinks she is a person who is out of this world and that everyone in the world is vulgar. She looked down on Linglong before because Linglong was a widow. She was married once, so she looked down on her from the bottom of her heart. Later, she saw Linglong's painting level was higher than hers. From then on, she began to oppress Linglong with her power as a lady. In order to tolerate it, Linglong swore a poisonous oath not to paint again, so she was allowed to be quiet for a few days. However, Linglong gave birth to twins and had children before her. The Prime Minister's Mansion was always in chaos because of her jealousy. In the process, her temperament became increasingly twisted and became weird. When guests came to the house, she would chatter with others and say bad things about Linglong. This is a well-known fact. And this time, she made a careful plan, and her purpose was to take revenge on the Prime Minister and Linglong."
After hearing what Concubine Mei said, the Empress Dowager smiled faintly, "In your mouths, Yuan Shi is truly an unforgivable wicked person."
Prime Minister Xia said with a sad face: "Perhaps I am not virtuous enough, which is why my son is unfilial and my wife is unvirtuous."
The Queen Mother looked at him and asked, "So, are you coming to the palace this time to ask for forgiveness or something?"
Upon hearing this, Prime Minister Xia was unsure of the Empress Dowager's attitude and looked up at Concubine Mei. Concubine Mei reproached him, "You should apologize if you should. You will have to accept whatever punishment the Empress Dowager and the Queen give you."
Prime Minister Xia prostrated himself and said, "I beg the Empress Dowager to punish me!"
The Empress Dowager was still puzzled. "Don't rush to punish me. If there is a crime, it will be punished naturally. I don't understand. You said that Yuan wanted to take revenge on the Prime Minister and Madam Linglong. Doesn't she know that if she breaks off the engagement on the spot, her daughter Xia Zian will be implicated as well?"
Mei Fei sighed and said, "How could she not know? In fact, Zi'an is also very pitiful. Although she is Yuan's biological daughter, Yuan often beats and scolds her, and does not treat her as her own daughter at all. If the Queen Mother does not believe it, you can order someone to check Xia Zi'an's body. Many of her old injuries were caused by Yuan. I said before that Yuan's personality has been twisted, so she knew that letting Zi'an break off the engagement would definitely implicate Zi'an, but in order to overthrow the Xiangfu, she has already ignored it."
Although the Empress Dowager had a preliminary understanding of the matter, she knew nothing about Yuan.
She initially thought that Concubine Mei was just speaking for Prime Minister Xia, but now she heard that Xia Zian had old injuries, which could not be false.
Could it be that Yuan really wanted to use even her own daughter
She called Eunuch Sun over, "How much do you know about Yuan?"
Eunuch Sun replied, "In reply to the Queen Mother, Yuan has been living in seclusion for many years and has rarely appeared in public. No one outside knows her current personality. However, she was indeed a talented person who was admired by many people in the past."
"I know this. The second son's silly boy doesn't even marry, but just stays with her for her," said the Queen Mother unhappily.
The Empress Dowager was dissatisfied with Yuan. Of course, she knew that it was not Yuan's fault. It was the second son who was infatuated. Ever since he saw the thirteen-year-old Yuan at the age of sixteen, he declared that he would not marry anyone else. At that time, everyone thought that he was just a child. Who knew that he would really never marry for the sake of Yuan.
When Prime Minister Xia heard the Empress Dowager's words, he looked a little unnatural. The thing that bothered him most in his life was that Yuan was already his wife, but there was always a group of fanatical followers outside the gate.
He spent a lot of effort in pursuing Yuan, but after she came into his family, she seemed to no longer be the talented woman with a famous reputation, which disappointed him.
(End of this chapter)