Chapter 319 Conflict in the Harem Initiated By Fifth Princess
Actually, Emperor Zongwen did not want his Fifth Princess to marry Bai Yichen. She had been by his side for many years and was the daughter of the Empress, which naturally meant that she should be used to maximize the interest of herself and the imperial family. If she was to marry, she should definitely marry Bai Yihao, the Crown Prince. The two families were relatives, to begin with, and the marriage between two cousins would naturally strengthen the relations between the two families. When the next Crown Prince of Yan Kingdom was born, his bloodline would be closer to the Qin Kingdom, greatly benefiting the Qin Kingdom.
However, it seemed that only he was interested in this matter. His sister, who was born from a different mother, never requested for her son to marry the Princess of Qin Kingdom. However, she did send in a letter requesting the First Prince to marry Fifth Princess instead. Emperor Zongwen knew that something was amiss and that this matter was probably related to the woman in Cining Palace.
Hence, he paid no attention to Yan Kingdom First Prince’s request for marriage. If Bai Yichen appeared too desperate, he would just send a random princess over for marriage as he did not want to satisfy the desires of the Yan Kingdom and that woman in Cining Palace. He was sure that there must be a devious plan being plotted behind his back. As the woman in Cining palace was his birth mother, he could not act as he wished as well.
However, he did not expect Fifth Princess to fall into a scandal herself and ruin her reputation in front of everyone, especially Bai Yihao. With the Bai brothers both in the know of the affair, it would never be possible for Bai Yihao to marry her while Bai Yichen would insist on the marriage. There was no other way other than to marry Fifth Princess to Bai Yichen.
However, Emperor Zongwen was not as naive as Fifth Princess, for he smelt the scent of conspiracy. He identified the plotter as Bai Yichen.
Who would benefit the most from this matter?!
The answer was undoubtedly the First Prince of Yan Kingdom. If not for this matter, Emperor Zongwen would never marry Fifth Princess over to him. If there was a need to marry a princess over to him, there were plenty of concubines’ daughters in the harem for the Emperor to choose. All of them were less prestigious and irreplaceable than Fifth Princess.
Emperor Zongwen’s mood turned gloomy at the thought of being tricked by Bai Yichen.
On the second day following the scandal, a bunch of palaces next to Cining Palace was set on fire. Even though Cining Palace was unaffected, Empress Dowager was so terrified that she fell sick. Immediately, fleets of imperial doctors were sent into Cining Palace, afraid of any slight injury that Empress Dowager would have. The Emperor sent orders that any untreated mishap to Empress Dowager would mean the death of the doctors.
Compared to the bustling Cining Palace, Tianfeng Palace was like a deserted land.
The Emperor’s orders came early, chiding its owner for her lack of virtues that caused disarrangements in the harem, with the heavens even damaging Empress Dowager’s Cining Palace. The order was for the Empress to write a reflection letter, and to let Consort Su and Consort Wen help her with harem affairs, citing sympathy on her heavy workload as an excuse.
The true reason was to constraint the monopoly of power that the Empress had in the harem by using Consort Su and Consort Wen to restrict her power in the harem. That was a slap to the face to the Empress’ family.
Everyone knew that disarrangement in the harem and anger of the heavens were all excuses made by Emperor Zongwen to punish the Empress for Fifth Princess’ matter. Since she was to be married to the Yan Kingdom as a representative of the Qin Kingdom, one could not naturally be impolite about the matter. Since a fire erupted in the palace, he naturally blamed that on the Empress.
Silently, the Empress kneeled and received the order before sending her lead eunuch to lead the Emperor’s eunuch Liu Xi away. Placing the script that wrote the Emperor’s orders on the table, she read the words one by one, grinding her teeth out of hatred. In this round, not only did she lose, she lost the love of the Emperor and her only daughter. The thought of Xueyu marrying far away made her heart twitch in pain.
Tianfeng Palace was all silent as all the eunuchs and servants knew that their master was unhappy. They would be looking for death if they sought trouble then.
However, someone came knocking at the door just past noon. The little eunuch at the front door came in and reported the person to be a servant from Consort Su.
“Why did she send someone here?” The Empress smiled sternly as a cold simmer flashed across her eyes. “Could she be here to humiliate me due to my defeat? No, Consort Su is not so stupid. It is too soon for her to be arrogant as she is a subtle person.”
“Send her in!”
Her reputation would be further tarnished if she rejected the servants from Consort Su and Consort Wen immediately after orders were given for them to work together. She had to act humble and low-key to survive now.
“Empress, our lady heard about the fire at Cining Palace that caused Empress Dowager’s poor health. We would like to request for the Empress to initiate a prayer session with all the concubines in the harem for Empress Dowager’s health and prosperity.” The woman speaking was a servant of Consort Su. After bowing, she asked politely. However, her eyes resembled Consort Su, and seemed to be hiding a simmer of arrogance, making the Empress uncomfortable.
Suppressing the anger in her heart, the Empress smiled gently. “It is truly my fault that Empress Dowager suffers poor health now. It’s a great idea that Consort Su wanted to pray for Empress Dowager. However, Fifth Princess is about to get married, which is a big matter between the two nations. I have too many things on my hands now, please tell your lady to help arrange this matter.”
Since Consort Su wanted to please that old woman, there would be no need to stop her. The Empress knew all the actions that Empress Dowager did behind her back since the two came from the same family. In her family now, her brother was the one in power. Empress Dowager would be less close to her brother than she was, and hence she knew all about Empress Dowager’s actions within her family.
The elders in her family favored Empress Dowager. However, her brother in power naturally favored his sister.
The Empress analyzed the situation and decided that the only possible way of discovery for Fifth Princess’ matter would be the fact that her brother utilized his men to help. Since Empress Dowager had a huge influence in Ding General Manor, she would know this situation and hence she would know what happened that night.
Therefore, she was ready to strike…
Fifth Princess’ affair was indeed shameful to the royal family. However, she would still be married to the Yan Kingdom and Bai Yichen would not complain about it. Everyone would be careful to conceal the matter and even though she was at fault for her not teaching the Princess well, she would not be chided harshly. Since Fifth Princess was to get ready for her marriage, the Emperor would not be willing to shame the Empress at this point in time, which would reduce the matter to nothing.
She did not expect a fire to erupt near Cining Palace, spreading even to the palace itself, scaring the sly Empress Dowager in the process. The Empress did not believe in such lies as she decided that Empress Dowager planned the whole matter so that the Emperor would not dote on her and chide her instead, preventing King Yan Feng Yulei, the prince she supported, from gaining power.
When she thought that her defeat was all due to the plans of Empress Dowager, the Empress couldn’t help but feel rage burning in the heart.
She would wish for the old woman to die! She would never pray for her, as her death would be a blessing to her!
“My thanks to Your Highness. Your Highness is the mother of the world and naturally had many things to take care of. Such small things should not bother you and my lady had the intention to settle this matter. Since you gave us her permission, my lady would have the right to plan this event. I shall retreat and report to my lady.” The servant replied cleverly, stating that her lady thought that she must obtain permission from the Empress, as if the Empress would have been dissatisfied with the decision of the Emperor.
The Empress smiled. She was in a bad mood then and was tired of acting benevolent. Waving her hand, she signaled the servant to leave.
Consort Su immediately grasped on the power once she got chided, creating more distance between her and the Emperor. In the morning, the Emperor’s order came. In the afternoon, she sent someone over, seemingly to signal her respect for the Empress, but actually to imply that the Empress was unsatisfied with the Emperor’s orders.
“My lady, don’t bother being angry for them. You think that you would be hopeless since Fifth Princess was to be married to Yan Kingdom. However, look at Empress Dowager at Cining Palace, she married her daughter to Yan Kingdom too and gained the support of an entire kingdom, securing her position as Empress Dowager. This matter is far from settled and there’s no need to be angry, my lady.” Seeing that the Empress’ expression turned more gloomy, Yan Miao came forth to comfort her.
Sitting silently for a while, a cold glimmer flashed across the Empress’ eyes. Standing up, she commanded, “Even though I am not the one settling Empress Dowager’s praying session, I shall not let others look down on my filial piety. Go and prepare a few precious Buddhist statues and send them to Consort Su’s palace. Inform her of my wishes and remind her not to fail my expectations.”
“My lady, we don’t have many Buddhist statues here as we sent all of our best statues to Empress Dowager’s palace since she loved that. We could no longer find any more good ones now.” Yan Miao complained as good statues were usually sent into Cining Palace at once, and no precious statues could be found now.
“My lady, maybe we can send those inferior ones?” She suggested.
“No. Send a message to Ding General Manor and ask them to find a few precious Buddhist statues for me. Tell them I need to pray for the health of Empress Dowager.” The Empress replied calmly as her eyes lay on the corner of a tall wall. That wall was not near to her but she could see the structure as the building was too magnificent.
That was the real Tianfeng Palace. As for the Cining Palace where Empress Dowager resided in now, ever since Empress Dowager resided there, she did not leave the real Tianfeng Palace to the Empress.
“We’ll not only choose the most precious ones, but also need to tell my brother to spread the news that I will be having a vegetarian diet within Tianfeng Palace for half a month to pray for Empress Dowager, in hope that my filial nature would touch the heaven and give Empress Dowager good health.”
She would join Empress Dowager in this show!
…
The sickness of Empress Dowager and the prayer session for her spread to the ears of various noble ladies, and many heard the news that the Empress was seeking precious Buddhist statues and eating vegetarian dishes for Empress Dowager’s good health. Immediately, such information spread in and out of the palace. Emperor Zongwen was known for his filial nature, and the Empress did show a good example herself. Increasingly, many ladies started imitating her and started praying and eating vegetarian dishes for the Empress Dowager.
Precious Buddhist statues became increasingly difficult to find.
At this time, Mo Xuemin was about to get married!
The date of the marriage was determined long ago, and there was no reason to delay the marriage to pray for Empress Dowager.
Duchess Zhenguo carefully sent her sister to ask Lady of Xian for permission for the marriage. Lady of Xian replied that the Empress Dowager did not want her illness to affect the public. Marriage was a blessed event, and should not be delayed due to her.
The Duchess became contented after hearing the news. However, she discovered new problems while preparing for the marriage.
What should she prepare for the wedding banquet?
Traditionally, fishes and meat were a natural part of wedding banquets, and all food must come from good origins. However, in this case, all the ladies were eating vegetarian food for Empress Dowager, and no one would come and attend a non-vegetarian banquet. Duke Zhenguo’s manor required support from the other nobilities, and this banquet must be held to strengthen their relationship with other ladies.
The servant in-charge was at a loss on what to do, and thus threw the problem to the Duchess Zhenguo.
The Duchess bit her teeth and decided that the banquet for male guests would be as usual, while the banquet for female guests would contain only vegetarian food. She prayed that these ladies would not be here just to take a glance as Duke Zhenguo’s manor required more popularity.
“My lady, if we have a vegetarian banquet for the ladies, would your daughter-in-law feel…” As she had never heard about such a wedding banquet before, the servant asked out of concern.
“She is not the one in charge of this house.” Remembering how Mo Xuemin caused her son to lose his reputation and the Emperor’s favor, Duchess Zhenguo put down her teacup angrily and spoke out of hatred. It would be impossible for that bitch to enjoy a good life in this household, and it would be a blessing for her to even have a vegetarian banquet!
The Duchess suddenly became depressed as she thought about how she had to invite that unlucky woman in with a sedan carried by eight people. It would be best if that little bitch knew her place, as she would teach that woman a lesson if she dared to create trouble.