Lu Jifei endured the pain of vomiting blood and returned to the Regent's Mansion. When she heard that the Regent had finished handling government affairs at the front, she ordered someone to invite him back to the backyard to talk.
"Your Majesty, I am guilty." The regent knew that his step-concubine was not an unreasonable person and would not disturb him rashly unless she had something serious to do. He went there after hearing the words. As soon as they met, Lu Ji-concubine knelt down and shed tears, saying, "I shouldn't have been focusing on recuperating Zhen'er's body and neglecting the prince's marriage, so that the Dou family went to ask Her Royal Highness Princess Dongxing to scold me and the prince in public for not feeling sorry for the prince, the eldest son of his wife!"
The regent's face turned ugly: "What did the Dou family do? Who did it?"
"I don't dare to ask, but I have just promised to Her Highness the Princess of Dongxing that when I come back, I will show you a noble lady from a famous family." Concubine Lu Ji bit her lip. As a stepmother, she has a biological son. She will look at the first wife in front of her. The son who came down was still granted the title of Crown Prince, which was definitely not very pleasing to the eyes.
But she was truly aggrieved for delaying Gong Xiangxiao's marriage.
Because as early as the year before last, she had tentatively mentioned this matter to the Prince Regent.
Of course, her purpose was to find Gong Xiangxiao a daughter from a family whose appearance was actually of no use.
Anyway, this prince cannot be supported by a truly powerful wife clan.
In the end, the regent was lucky. He said, "The prince is still young and has no promising moves. We will wait two years before talking about it."
This was not her biological son, and he was a bit of a thorn in the flesh. His biological father didn't care about him, so Lu Jifei was happy to pretend to be confused.
Therefore, the marriage between Gong Xiangxiao and Gong Xiangxiao was left hanging. If it were an ordinary family, and the biological father and stepmother would ignore it, there would always be other relatives who couldn't bear to mention it.
But the direct descendants of the two generations of the Gongxiang family were in decline, and the emperor had too much time to take care of himself. His nominal grandmother, the Empress Dowager, was not a relative, and it was too late to feel sorry for his mother's family. How could he care about a cheap grandson's marriage
The side branches are all working as vassal kings in local areas, and they can't easily reach the imperial capital.
Even if you come to the Imperial Capital, you will probably have to look at the regent's face, and how dare you interfere in the regent's palace's business.
In this way, Gong Xiangxiao's marriage was postponed in such a weird way - now that the eldest princess of Dongxing mentioned it, most of the blame fell on Concubine Lu Ji!
Concubine Lu Ji felt bitter and couldn't help but take the eldest princess with her when she told the regent, "Her Royal Highness the eldest princess said that when the time came, she would have to take care of the eyes herself. If she was not a truly pampered daughter of a famous family, she would not agree. of."
"She is a married woman, meddling in so many other things?" The regent said with a sullen face, "You don't have to worry about this matter, I will handle it."
Concubine Lu Ji looked at his face and said cautiously: "Actually, the prince is indeed old, and it's time for him to look good. But if the eldest princess of Dongxing kindly reminded us and told us in private, how could we still delay the child? She had to do it in front of us. It’s okay for me to be ridiculed in the presence of so many people. I’m afraid that this move will make people even arrange it with you, the prince. The eldest princess is also our aunt after all. I really can’t understand what I’m doing. .”
"What can't you understand?" The regent snorted and said, "It's just that I think Chunjia's child is a rare commodity, and I want to use him as a raft... The Wei family was also a famous family in the past, but it has declined a lot in the past two years. Now it's out With such a beautiful face, you can stand in the palace next to the virtuous concubine, and you think you can start shaking?"
With a sullen face, he asked a few more details, then turned and left, saying he would go ahead and discuss it with his staff.
Concubine Lu Ji sent him away and sent someone to deliver a letter to her parents' family. She asked for advice on what to do about this matter.
"My dear, don't worry. If the prince really cares about the prince, why haven't you said anything to him yet?" A confidant maid brought tea and persuaded her to relax, "Look at what the prince said just now. , they all blame the eldest princess and the Dou family for looking for trouble... Even if there is no pressure on the eldest son to choose a wife this time, he will probably pick one at random."
"Anyway, the prince is usually so busy. Since he doesn't care about the prince, can he still worry about it himself? I won't let you make the decision at that time."
And if Concubine Lu Ji gets the advice of the regent to arrange the marriage for Gong Xiangxiao, then there will be more room for maneuver.
I'm not afraid of trapping this eldest son.
"Oh, why am I worried about this one thing?" Concubine Lu Ji frowned slightly. Although the eldest princess of Dongxing was irritating, she was only embarrassed for that moment. Even the eldest princess, whose power is actually not as powerful as the regent's palace, could still rush to the palace. Come to the palace to teach her a lesson
What she was worried about was the fact that her adoptive father, Lu Chuncao, had been stripped of his title.
And the battle between the regent and Chunjia behind this, who will win and who will lose
Concubine Lu Ji's background was actually not bad, and she was also the daughter of an official family. However, before she grew up, things went wrong in her family and she became a slave. Later, she was lucky enough to be spotted by Lu Chuncao, and she was raised as an adopted daughter. By some strange combination of circumstances, she became the regent's step-concubine. Because she had lost the glory and wealth she was born with, she couldn't stand being down again. .
When the Ji family was still there, the regent and Chunjia had many disagreements, but they finally compromised with each other in the face of the common enemy.
But now that the entire Ji family has been wiped out, the few remaining fish that have slipped through the net cannot make any waves at all. How can the fragile alliance between the royal uncle and nephew continue
The regent was already at the end of his prime, but he still had no reliable successor who could give his subordinates confidence. However, Chunjia was rising like the rising sun. He was also the heir to Xiaozong from Zhengerbajie, and he had legal inheritance rights recognized by the government and the public.
This made Lu Jifei very worried. Everything she had came from Lu Chuncao and the regent. If these two were defeated in the court battle, then she and her son...
"How about we arrange a marriage for Zhen'er?" Lu Jifei even came up with the idea, "Although Zhen'er is still young, we can make a decision first... choose a marriage that can keep Zhen'er safe even if something happens to the palace in the future. No.?"
... The step-concubine is troubled here, but the one who is even more depressed is the prince Xiangxiao.
He didn't even know that the eldest princess of Dongxing was "grieving" for him, so he was called to the study by the regent and scolded, saying that he was worthless and had no future, and didn't know how to work hard and make progress. Even his uncle's family was confused. If you meddle in other people's affairs and don't know how to comfort them, they will only bring trouble to the palace!
I scolded him and told him to get out!
All this was done in front of many servants and guests. Some of the guests could not see it and tried to persuade them, but failed to do so. This made Gong Xiangxiao feel more and more humiliated. He clenched his eyes with red eyes. The fist left.
After leaving, he returned to his residence and asked Dou Su to go to Dou's house to find out who was looking for Princess Dongxing
But everyone in the Dou family said there was no such thing.
Although Dou Su's surname was Dou, as a dowry son of Princess Dou, he was raised as a servant to Gong Xiangxiao, so of course he was standing in Gong Xiangxiao.
After he finished his report, he quietly expressed his speculation: "I don't dare to say anything because the prince will get angry."
Gong Xiangxiao also thought the same. He sneered and said: "Although I know they have some small intentions in doing this, my father and step-concubine have not cared about my life-long affairs for so long. At least my uncle's family asked my aunt for help... Sure enough, if you have a stepmother, you have a stepfather!"
A few years ago, he felt that his status had declined after his step-concubine entered the family, and it continued to decline again and again.
But this was the first time that I expressed my thoughts directly.
Even if there was Dou Su standing in front of him, he couldn't help but cry and persuade him to calm down: "I know that the prince has suffered, but I really can't say this. Otherwise, if the prince hears it, he may have to... "
"What can he do to me?" Gong Xiangxiao said angrily, "Is it possible to kill me? Or deprive me of my position as the heir apparent and give it to Gong Xiangzhen?!"
Dou Su couldn't think of anything to say to persuade him, so he had an idea: "Your Majesty, there was news from Mr. Qi two days ago, saying that Mr. Qi has been recovering much better these days and can already get up and walk around. Why don't you go and see him? Tell him about this? Maybe Mr. Qi has a good idea?"
"... Brother Xinyun is like that now, why should I ask him to worry about it anymore?" Gong Xiangxiao shook his head without any hope, but because he was suppressed by the regent and his wife, he didn't have many people under his command. Now that I feel uncomfortable and have no one to talk to, I decided to go see Qi Jiulu after much thought.
When he went there, he just thought about it, so he went to visit. He could only chat a little bit, and he wouldn't let Qi Jiulu talk about anything that was bothering him.
However, Qi Jiulu had been taught by Yun Fenghuang since he was a child and had the ability to observe people's emotions. He noticed it not long after they met, so he dismissed his surroundings and asked, "The prince seems to have something on his mind?"
"It's a trivial matter, not worth mentioning." Gong Xiangxiao evaded, "Let's talk about this tea. You don't know, this is a new tribute from the south..."
He wanted to change the topic, but Qi Jiulu didn't cooperate and said gently: "Is the prince going to meet me?"
Gong Xiangxiao hurriedly said something that didn't exist: "Brother Xinyun is still injured, so let's not talk about it now."
"My injury is no longer serious, but it is very boring to be bored in the house all day long." Qi Jiulu said, "If I can relieve the prince's worries, I will feel better. Besides, when I first came to the Imperial Capital, it was all because of the prince's support. Now What does it mean to sit back and enjoy the prince's thoughtfulness even though he knows that he has something on his mind?"
It means that if Gong Xiangxiao still doesn't say anything, then he will be embarrassed to enjoy the favor of the prince, and we will forget about it in the future.
If this method of retreating is used to deal with Yun Fenghuang, it will be useless at all, and he will be tortured by her 10% of the time - but it is enough to deal with Gong Xiangxiao.
After some struggle, Gong Xiangxiao finally explained the whole story to him, and finally said with a sad smile: "I wanted to fight before, but now I think about it, it was really naive. I don't have the power now." I have no reputation, my mother's family is in decline, and the title of Crown Prince is still the one my father originally gave me... Now that he doesn't like me, what can I fight for?"
Qi Jiulu listened quietly, looked up at the sky for a while, and suddenly asked: "If the prince has a chance to fight now, will he be willing to fight? How willing?"