usatvline Chapter 144: Competing for Favor with the Queen
Chapter 144: Competing for Favor with the Queen
"You haven't seen it, so it's difficult for us to investigate. After all, the capital has a population of over 100,000, and it will take some time to check everyone. You two should send Prince Yan to the prison of the Imperial City Bureau to reunite with his family first. After I have investigated it clearly, I will send someone to the prison to inform you." Dou Wen was too lazy to perfunctory and waved his hand to let the bailiff take the man away quickly.
"What do you mean? I'm the prince of the Southwest." Yan Xu struggled to prevent anyone from touching her.
Dou Wen sneered, "Now even the Southwest Prince's Palace is about to be destroyed, so how can there be a Southwest Prince? If General Gu had moved faster, you could have gone there now and reunited with your family."
Dou Wen was too lazy to talk nonsense with Yan Xu, so he waved his hand and asked the bailiff to take the person out quickly.
When Gu Jianbai led his troops to Siyi Pavilion, the Princess of Southwest, who had received the news, was packing up her valuables and preparing to sneak away through the dog hole in Siyi Pavilion. The princess disguised herself as a palace maid and was caught red-handed by Gu Jianbai as soon as she crawled out of the dog hole.
The servants in the Southwest Prince's Mansion were in chaos, but fortunately Gu Jianbai arrived in time and arrested all the people in the Southwest Prince's Mansion and sent them all to the Imperial City Division for interrogation.
As for the few staff members who had fled earlier, Gu Jianbai had already ordered a city-wide search.
There were constant messages from flying eagles delivering the latest news from Lingnan.
Xie Ci'an has been busy dealing with Lingnan affairs these days and has not come to Kunning Palace for several days. Gu Jianchu is happy and at ease. Every day in the palace, he either reads storybooks or eats melons.
Tongzi took her to eat almost all the melons in the Southwest Prince's Mansion, from the Southwest Prince to the servants below, so that Gu Jianchu was so disgusted that she couldn't eat anything.
Tongzi: [In fact, the maidservant that the King of Southwest's third son slept with was his biological sister.]
[The entire CP in the Southwest Palace is a mess now, even the orthopedics department has been established. What's the matter with sleeping with his own sister? ]
System: [This matter all began with the Southwest King's lack of restraint. He got drunk and slept with a maidservant. Fearing the princess would kill her, the maidservant lied to everyone else, claiming the child she was carrying was her cousin's. Anyway, this matter had already been established throughout the palace. Regardless of whether it was the Southwest King's child or not, the princess no longer cared. The maidservant took advantage of this opportunity to give birth to a daughter.]
[This little maidservant's fate was a bit unfortunate. Not long after giving birth to a daughter, she fell ill and died. The daughter was then raised by the old nanny in the mansion. Before, the maidservant always said that the child in her belly was her cousin's, but the old nanny didn't know it was the King of the Southwest, so the little girl naturally didn't know.]
[The little girl grew up in the stables and accidentally ran into the Southwest King's third son. They immediately fell in love and started dating. It was only later, while sorting through old things, that the old nanny stumbled upon a blood letter left by the maidservant for her daughter, and only then did she realize that the little girl was actually the Southwest King's daughter.]
[She is currently involved with the Southwest King's third son. This son's mother is the daughter of a general under the Southwest King and holds considerable power within the palace. If the Third Madam were to discover this, the little maid would surely be killed. Then, the old nanny would take advantage of the dark of night and wind to secretly take the little girl away from the Southwest King's palace and live in seclusion in the countryside.]
[However, the third child took relationships very seriously. When the little girl disappeared, he searched for her for many days and even thought her mother had deliberately hidden her.]
[I really didn't expect that there would be pure love in the Southwest Palace. What's the follow-up to this Tongzi story?]
Tongzi: [I guess there won't be any follow-up. The Third Brother is still searching Lingnan. However, the people the Emperor sent to Lingnan are traveling by water, so they should arrive in a few days. The entire Southwestern Palace will probably be uprooted, and the Third Brother will be brought back to the capital as well.]
I had forgotten about this matter.
Just after finishing a melon, Zhu Xia came in from outside and said, "Send it to Wen Zhaoyi."
Today, my elder sister sent two boxes of chestnut cakes. Thinking that Concubine Wen sent cakes to her every day, she asked the palace servants to give half of them to Concubine Wen.
"Second Madam Wen has entered the palace. When I went over, Consort Wen was talking to Second Madam Wen. I didn't disturb them and hurried back after leaving her alone." Zhu Xia poured a cup of tea and placed it in front of Gu Jianchu.
"Is Madam Wen II in Consort Wen's palace?" Gu Jianchu looked doubtful.
Although concubines in the harem were allowed to meet with their family members, it was only a quick meeting in the meeting room beside the corridor. If family members wanted to enter the palace, they still needed permission from the empress dowager or the emperor or empress.
Concubine Wen never came to see her, and it probably wasn't the Emperor who let Second Madam Wen into the palace, so it could only be the Empress Dowager.
Ever since Concubine Shu was sent to a nunnery to practice Buddhism, the entire Annan Marquis's Mansion was almost ruined, and the Empress Dowager was silent for a while. It was just unknown when the Empress Dowager got in touch with the Wen family again.
The system's mechanical voice sounded again, [We just got in touch not long ago.]
The Shu family currently has no girls of marriageable age. Although there are two unmarried girls of marriageable age in Anyuan's hometown, people have heard about the Shu family's situation in the capital. Everyone knows that Empress Dowager Shu is not the Emperor's biological mother, and a falling out could occur at any time.
After much deliberation, they rejected the Empress Dowager's proposal. Firstly, they didn't want their children to be sacrificed in the palace. More importantly, they feared Empress Dowager Shu would continue her actions and implicate them. As long as they didn't send their daughters to the palace, they could easily disown Empress Dowager Shu.
I thought the Shu family was full of fools, but I didn't expect there were a few smart people.
After being rejected by her family, Empress Dowager Shu began to search for noble ladies in the capital, but all attempts failed. After all, the Emperor is no longer the pushover he was when he first ascended the throne. Over the past six months, he has eliminated many forces, and now even the King of the Southwest has suffered. Everyone is now choosing to stay put.
The Empress Dowager has set her sights on the women already in the harem. The other concubines are too low-ranking. Concubine Wen has a good relationship with you and has repeatedly made her presence known to the Emperor without causing him much annoyance. The Empress Dowager also feels that using Concubine Wen to counter you is the most appropriate choice.
The Wen family is now in decline and not valued by the court. They sent Consort Wen to the palace to seek benefits. Now that the Empress Dowager has offered them an olive branch, they will surely gladly accept it.
[Neither of them needs much, these two just get together and do something unfaithful.]
Last night, the eldest son of the Wen family took advantage of the second son's absence to sneak into Second Lady Wen's courtyard. After the two of them had a passionate affair in bed, the eldest son of the Wen family suggested to Lady Wen that she go to the palace to persuade Consort Wen to compete with you for your favor.
[This Second Madam Wen has always been partial to the eldest son of the Wen family. She entered the palace early this morning under the Queen Mother's arrangement.]