Changsheng: Peak at the Beginning

Chapter 144: Legend of Zhen Huan 16

The emperor brought several princes in. As expected, they heard the imperial physician Liu Bei, who was specially invited by Concubine Hui, announce that Concubine Hui was one and a half months pregnant. The emperor was so happy that he directly called Concubine Hui "Mei'er" and said that he would promote her to Concubine Hui when the child was three months old. All the women in the room felt jealous, and even Concubine Wan, who had always been very close to Concubine Hui, secretly felt a little jealous and depressed.

Seeing the Emperor so happy, Concubine Hua became even more hostile to Concubine Hui and Concubine Wan even more, even though she knew that Concubine Hui was pregnant with a fake. The look she gave Concubine Wan and Concubine Hui was as if she were poisoned. However, Concubine Jing found that there was something wrong in the way Concubine Cao looked at Concubine Hui, but she could only be secretly frightened, because her relationship with Concubine Hui was just like that, and even everyone in the palace knew that Concubine Hui made her lose face as soon as she entered the palace.

As soon as Princess Wen Yi was brought out, the Emperor saw at a glance that the exquisite and luxurious necklace worn around the princess' neck was from Concubine Duan's dowry. This realization made Concubine Cao change her expression slightly, and made Concubine Hua hate Concubine Duan even more.

However, Concubine Wan was keenly aware of the emperor's different feelings towards Concubine Duan, otherwise how could she have easily recognized Concubine Duan's dowry?

So on the way back, she took the initiative to pull Jingpin aside and ask about Concubine Duan.

Although Jingpin had never thought of leaning towards Wanpin, she also had never thought of making an enemy of Wanpin, so when Wanpin asked about Concubine Duan, Jingpin told Wanpin all the information she knew:

"Empress Duan is two years older than the Emperor, and was one of the first people to serve the Emperor in the Qiandi Palace. When Empress Hua entered the Qiandi Palace as a concubine, she became very close to Empress Duan, who was also a military officer. But when Empress Hua was more than five months pregnant, the pregnancy-preserving medicine Empress Duan gave to Empress Hua somehow turned into a bowl of safflower soup that caused abortion, causing Empress Hua to abort her five-month-old child, which was already obviously a prince!"

"So Concubine Hua dragged her uncomfortable body and directly gave Concubine Duan a bowl of safflower soup in return. Concubine Duan happened to be having her period during those days, so both of them got sick from then on, and Concubine Duan was bedridden for many years."

"Later, a large number of servants disappeared from the Qiandi Palace, and because the emperor was at a critical juncture in his bid for the throne, no one explored the truth behind it."

Although Wanpin and Hui Guiren, one of them is in the capital, her father has a low official position and the other is from another place, so they cannot imagine how dangerous the fight for the throne was. However, Wanpin analyzed from Concubine Duan's position as a concubine and learned that the bowl of safflower soup that Concubine Hua had received from Concubine Duan's hands that day, but the source was most likely outside the palace, and Concubine Duan was simply implicated.

When she returned to her residence, Wanpin could no longer hold back the expression on her face. She had learned from Jingpin's words that the emperor felt not only guilty towards Duanfei, but also towards Huafei for losing her son. That was why the emperor was so tolerant of Huafei and even ignored the fact that Huafei had caused Concubine Hui to fall into the Thousand Carp Pond.

In this case, if they want to defeat Concubine Hua, they can only have hope after they have overthrown Nian Gengyao in the previous dynasty.

This realization made Wanpin very upset, but although she and Huafei were not at loggerheads, it was indeed difficult for them to reconcile. Besides, she had never thought about reconciling with Huafei.

The Queen Mother, who was far away in the palace, once again stopped the Queen from using her methods against Yi Xin. Coupled with her increasingly unwell body, she no longer had the same patience for the Queen as before.

The Queen Mother raised her hand and knocked the medicine bowl that the Queen was holding down. Without caring about the Queen's face, she made her kneel in front of her bed.

The queen did as she was told with a sullen face, but her straight back showed clearly that she was not convinced.

The Queen Mother let out a long breath of frustration and calmed down. "Do you want all the Emperor's descendants to die?!"

The queen reminded the queen mother without changing her expression: "I already have the third prince in my hand."

The Queen Mother began to feel a headache, "Hongshi is indeed a filial child, but he is filial to his biological mother, Concubine Qi, not you, his legal mother! If you want to get rid of the mother and keep the son to control Hongshi, you have to see if the royal family will agree to this incompetent waste you chose!"

"The struggles of the previous dynasty are not something that a mere woman like you can handle with some harem tricks. You can't even defeat me, and you still want to be the Empress Dowager Xiaozhuang?!"

The Queen said nothing, but the Queen Mother knew that this niece was useless. She only cared about her own power and status and didn't think about Ulanara or the Emperor at all. She was wrong. She shouldn't have concealed the cause of Chun Yuan's death for this evil creature, and she shouldn't have allowed her to grow to this point step by step!

The Queen Mother thought of Yi Xin and said with a smile, "I have tried to stop you from killing Concubine Jin several times, but Fu Cha's men have already reached Concubine Jin. You'd better not give Fu Cha any handle, otherwise, I will wait for your bad end."

The queen was very confident in her methods, and even looked up at the queen mother and chuckled, "As long as mother doesn't do anything, no matter how powerful Fucha is, the best result will be to give me a prince."

The Queen Mother was so angry that she laughed: "Okay, okay, I will wait for your good news."

After sending the queen away, the queen mother could no longer hide her pain. Aunt Zhuxi quickly stepped forward to calm the queen mother down, saying, "Your Highness, please listen to my advice. The Ulanara family has been spoiled by you and the queen. This family is useless. How can it maintain its dignity after you and the queen are gone?"

It's not that the empress dowager didn't understand this, but the men of the Ulanara family just couldn't be helped, so she could only stare at the emperor and urge him to keep the empress's position for Chun Yuan's sake, so that the glory of the Ulanara family could continue for another ten or twenty years.

Aunt Zhuxi didn't intend to stop there, but continued to mention the Fourteenth Prince: "Have you forgotten that the Fourteenth Prince is still suffering in the Imperial Mausoleum? Could it be that the glory of the Ulanara family is more important than the safety of the Fourteenth Prince?!"

The empress dowager burst into tears. Of course, she was very concerned about her youngest son, but she could not change the emperor's mind no matter what. Instead, her health deteriorated. She even felt that she might only be able to sacrifice her life in exchange for her youngest son's return to Beijing.

But the Ulanara clan had taken up too much of her efforts. When she was most helpless, it was the Ulanara clan that supported her and brought her to where she is today. So she also regarded the glory of the Ulanara clan as her own glory, even sacrificing her eldest son and countless grandchildren. She couldn't stop...