Chapter 89 Side Concubine

Empress Chen gently put the emperor's unfinished fold on the other side, and took out a plate of four-color pastries from the food box she brought, put it on the table and said: "The emperor has watched the folds for so long, but I'm afraid that he will feel hungry, so you might as well use some pastries first and use them at the same time." While listening to the concubine speak slowly. ”

The Emperor hummed and grabbed a piece of mint cake and put it in his mouth.

"Keyi's character, Your Majesty, you are clear, it is Brother Cheng'er's own brother, and Pingsu also let her, but today Brother Cheng left Keyi alone in the palace of the concubine, so the concubine was also curious about what Brother Cheng was doing, so she secretly followed Brother Cheng, but she didn't expect Brother Cheng to go to the Mansion of Liang Guo. ”

The emperor swallowed the piece of mint cake and said: "The Mansion of Liang Guo is also regarded as Brother Cheng'er's foreign home, and now it is the New Year, and it is not inappropriate for Brother Cheng to go to it, that is, Brother Yuan, as long as he has time during the New Year, he will also go to the Chengwu Marquis Mansion." ”

Empress Chen was silent for a while, Lu Yuan went to the Chengwu Marquis' Mansion, in fact, most of the time it was to win over the Chengwu Hou, Concubine Qing is the sister of the Chengwu Hou, although the power in the palace can be regarded as a cover, but because she has had a bad relationship with her brother since she was a child, and Mrs. Chengwu Hou is the eldest princess, she doesn't need to reconcile with the palace to consolidate her power, but it was the incident in the last draft that made Chengwu Hou lose his beloved eldest daughter, Chengwu Hou seems to have a great tendency to fade out of the court over the years, but Lu Yuan has made extensive friends with courtiers since the fifteenth year of Longqing, how could he give up such a big tree as Chengwu Hou？

Besides, even if Chengwu Hou has never liked Concubine Qing, but after all, they are all from the Li family, and the Queen Mother is still there, so she will not tear her face, so it is not far from Chengwu Hou being pulled over by Lu Yuan.

But out of selfishness, she didn't want Chengwu Hou to become the mainstay of the eldest prince's camp, although she was a queen, but she had too much to help herself. At that time, she was able to enter the palace from the last of the three concubines and never had a pregnant inconspicuous concubine Wen was established as the successor, largely because her father Lao Si Guogong had died, and her brother Chen Hao took over the position of Si Guogong, but only the ability to keep the family was powerless, but she was unable to make the power of the Si Guogong Mansion as strong as in the past, but the more important reason was that she had no children. After becoming the queen, every time the emperor stayed in Fengqi Palace, she would drink a bowl of child-avoiding soup on the second day.

As for who will inherit the country in the future, although she is a staunch royalist, she usually acts impartially and steadily, but she still hopes in her heart that it is not Lu Yuan to inherit the throne, just because Concubine Qing has become more and more arrogant over the years, relying on her own son and daughter, and the support of the Queen Mother, more and more no one in her eyes, if Lu Yuan ascends to the throne in the future, although she is also the queen mother, but I am afraid that once Concubine Qing is on an equal footing with her, the position she has struggled to maintain over the years will collapse again.

So he thought about it and said: "Brother Cheng went to the Duke of Liang Guo's Mansion today, and the concubine originally thought that it was just going to celebrate the New Year, but she didn't want the people sent by the concubine to tell the concubine that Brother Cheng also rewarded the people of the Duke of Liang with a lot of things, and nothing else, that is, it was awarded to the concubine's aunt, the old lady of Liang Guo was Wu Daozi's true work "Queen Xi", the concubine is really strange, since it is the New Year, you can reward anything, why did Brother Cheng also reward Mrs. Bai with a volume of figure paintings?"

In fact, long before she came, Empress Chen had already figured out the joints of this painting, but at the moment, she had to pretend to be confused with understanding, and the point was up to the end, as for whether the emperor could understand it, it would depend on the will of God.

When the emperor heard that Lu Cheng had given Old Madam Bai a volume of "Empress Xi", his brows were furrowed, and he said after a while: "Does the Duke of Liang Guogong have any daughters who match the age of Brother Cheng?" I only remember that Liang Guogong's concubine is still less than ten years old, although the tiger father has no dog daughter, but unfortunately the concubine is really a little younger. ”

Empress Chen thought about it carefully for a while before she said: "The concubines have been looking at the roster of this year's draft for several days, the old Liang Guogong has two sons, the eldest son Liang Guogong, and the second son Guanju Sipin, and has two concubines, both of whom happen to be among the drafts this year. ”

The emperor also thought about it, but he didn't have a deep impression of Liang Guogong's younger brother, so he only sighed and said: "The daughter of a fourth-grade official, her status is still a little low, if she is a side concubine of the prince, she is still qualified, if she is a concubine, I am afraid that it is...... Brother Cheng shouldn't understand this truth, Queen, are there any other girls in the Liang Guogong Mansion?"

Empress Chen waited for the emperor to ask this sentence, and she was overjoyed, but said quietly: "Then there is the granddaughter of Old Madam Bai, the eldest daughter of Old Madam Bai is Mrs. Gong Changbo, and she has a concubine with Gong Changbo." For the rest, the Bai family doesn't have any daughters. ”

The emperor seemed to feel a little dry, picked up the teacup and took a sip gently: "Gong Changbo's concubine is also in this draft? ”

"Your Majesty, Gong Changbo's concubine is only twelve years old this year, and she has never reached the age of the draft, and Her Majesty has not noticed it, and her cousin is the eldest princess that Your Majesty pointed out to Brother Yuan. The last time there was a chrysanthemum banquet in the palace, the concubine saw this girl, it was the second sister who brought her here, and at that time I only felt that this little girl had clear eyebrows and beautiful eyes, but her temperament was very calm, and in addition, there were not too many characteristics. ”

The emperor was silent for a long time before changing the topic and said: "In this year's draft, it is bound to be given to Brother Yuan'er Cheng'er and Brother Tan'er to refer to the side concubines, the three princes and the side concubines, can the queen have someone in her heart?"

"There are a few candidates in the concubine's heart, but I don't know what kind of side concubine His Majesty wants to give to the third prince, so I can only list all the candidates in the concubine's heart for the holy counselor. ”

With that, he picked up the pen on the table and wrote down a few names.

When the empress put down the pen, the emperor squinted his eyes and looked at the piece of paper, and his gaze was fixed on the last line: "Zhu Yunjia, what does it have to do with her?"

The queen nodded, and her expression darkened: "Yes, this Miss Zhu is the niece of Concubine Tian, she looks good, she looks very much like Concubine Tian, and her personality is also very good, the fly in the ointment is that she is a concubine, and this time it has been so many years since the concubine Nian was in that matter, and the Zhu family has made great contributions to us, but the Zhu family has only two concubines, the eldest daughter has been married, and now she is the wife of the prince of Sui'an, but the second daughter is still young, so this time the Zhu family broke this case." ”

The emperor closed his eyes again, tilted his head, and Empress Chen didn't see two lines of tears flowing from the corners of the emperor's eyes: "What happened back then, I couldn't stand Concubine Tian." The Queen Mother is kind to me, and I can't shake Concubine Qing's position in the palace, so I can only sacrifice Concubine Tian. ”

The queen was happy in her heart, the emperor would rarely say such things to the concubine, and now she is willing to say such things to herself, this is trusting herself, right?

The emperor didn't speak anymore, in fact, the second princess Lu Ruyi looked very much like her biological mother Concubine Tian, and she was the most beautiful one among the princesses, but because of this, every time the emperor saw her, he would think of Concubine Tian who made sacrifices in order to balance the power of the harem, and when he remembered that he was not full of wings when he was on the throne at that time, he would be depressed in his heart, so he didn't hurt Lu Ruyi, but he didn't dare to face this daughter.

"This Zhu Yunjia, let's be a side concubine for Brother Cheng, and the rest, the queen is in charge of herself, if Concubine Qing personally goes to ask for a side concubine for Brother Yuan, the queen must report to me to know, and also, Brother Yuan'er's side concubine, the status must be higher, but not higher than the eldest princess. ”

Empress Chen nodded as if she didn't understand, what kind of medicine was sold in the emperor's gourd, what kind of thoughts were in her heart, even if she had been his pillow person for so many years, it was difficult to figure it out thoroughly, but she understood that the emperor didn't do anything for his own reasons, even if she couldn't figure it out, as long as she remembered to do it.

After the empress retired, the emperor sighed in his seat, looked at the request that gave him a headache and punished the soldiers in Tanzhou, Lingzhou and other places, hesitated for a long time, and rejected it.

The old eunuch Kang Quan walked in with a cup of tea and replaced the tea on the table that had been slightly cold for the emperor, but was stopped by the emperor.

The emperor supported his forehead with one hand, and unconsciously scraped the rim of the cup with the lid of the cup with the other hand: "Kangquan, the second prince has been going to Tanzhou for more than a year." ”

Kang Quan is a eunuch who has followed the emperor since he was ten years old, followed the emperor from the palace to go out to open the palace, and then the emperor was made the prince to return to the East Palace, and finally waited until the emperor boarded the treasure to serve in Yanqing Palace, compared with ordinary palace people, it is naturally very different: "Your Majesty, Your Highness was sent to Tanzhou in the winter of the previous year, and occasionally His Highness summoned His Highness back to the imperial capital once or twice in the middle, and His Royal Highness has lived in Tanzhou for more than a year and a month. I don't know if Your Majesty wants His Highness to ......"

The emperor shook his head: "The barracks in Tanzhou is a good place to hone people, Brother Cheng'er always brought a little bit of his mother's weakness in his personality before, and he went to Tanzhou for more than a year, and I saw that he was a little more rigid than before, but I don't know how well he has been trained in governing the country." ”

Kang Quan saw the fine beads of sweat on the emperor's forehead, and carefully wiped it off for him with a handkerchief, before he said: "Your Majesty is the Son of Heaven, and all the princes are the destiny of heaven, so naturally it will not be bad, but the old slave thinks that His Majesty has favored His Royal Highness in the past two years, and it seems to be ...... Some of it has passed. The court is crazy and it is said that the position of the prince in His Majesty's heart is His Royal Highness. ”

The emperor raised his head suddenly, and a chilling light shot out of his eyes: "You think so too?"

Kang Quan knelt down and kowtowed: "The slave is in vain, Your Majesty forgives your sins, Your Majesty forgives your sins." ”

The emperor waved his hand and said, "Okay, I know you, but you still have to be careful next time you speak." By the way, I want to reward the families of the generals on the border, you go and draw up a list and give it to the queen for review. Also, you can also send someone to inquire about the situation of the women who are married at the right age in the families of the border generals in Tanzhou, Lingzhou and other places, and you must be informative. ”

"Yes, the old slave understands. ”