bayedsolid Chapter 329 Three more concubines?
Chapter 329 Three more concubines?
"After traveling thousands of miles to bring the princess here, how can I return her intact?" The Sixth Prince expressed some heartache. "Could it be that the Emperor of the Yu Dynasty is unwilling to accept the kindness of our Xia Dynasty?"
The Sixth Prince originally came on a diplomatic mission, and calling the Emperor of the Xia Dynasty was just an official title.
Now that he was anxious, he even called out to his father.
The emperor's smile remained unchanged. "How could that be? It's just that I'm quite satisfied with the queen and have no plans to take in anyone new for the time being."
The Sixth Prince smiled and said, "My Third Sister has been married far away in the Yu Dynasty for many years. I'm afraid she often misses her family back home. Now that she has two younger sisters to accompany her for life, I'm afraid she can't wait to be happy."
The queen couldn't even muster a perfunctory smile. She looked at the Sixth Prince with a clear and cold gaze, and there was a cold murderous air in her eyes.
"If you really cared about me, why didn't you send it to me a few years ago? Now I have become a citizen of the Yu Dynasty, and I haven't dreamed of my family for many years. Now I can't even remember what my sisters look like."
The Queen looked at the Sixth Prince with a cold gaze: "It has been so long, and Sixth Brother is very different from what he was back then. If you hadn't been sent as an envoy, I would have hardly recognized you."
The Sixth Prince pretended not to hear the coldness in the Queen's words and smiled shamelessly: "Because of this, the Third Princess will feel more comfortable and at ease with two sisters by her side."
The emperor lowered his eyes, hiding the emotion in them: "This is about the marriage between the two countries, and it will cause great trouble. I still need to consider it."
"It's natural."
After all, he was sent to arrange marriage, so the Sixth Prince did not dare to force him too much.
If the emperor of the Yu Dynasty refuses outright, he will fail to complete his mission and will be punished when he returns to the country.
Today's banquet stole the Queen Mother's limelight because both the Rakshasa Kingdom and the Xia Dynasty offered their daughters at the same time.
However, the empress dowager also keenly noticed something, but she did not dare to say anything dissatisfied, and even secretly asked the emperor.
"Yuan'er, tell me quietly what your plans are for the Xia Dynasty."
"You've always favored the Queen. Now the person the Xia Dynasty is sending to marry is the Queen's own sister, and you just rejected her outright. Aren't you afraid that it will make the Queen look bad?"
The empress dowager suddenly became smart and even learned to test the emperor with words.
The emperor looked at her with some surprise.
The Queen Mother was still racking her brains: "How come I remember that the Queen's sister was married years ago? Could it be that I remembered it wrongly?"
"The Xia Dynasty suddenly sent two more princesses. I'm afraid they want to use them to give birth to a prince for the queen to raise."
"Emperor, you can't let him do what he wants. If the Yu Dynasty emperor were to inherit the blood of the Xia Dynasty royal family, how would I face the Xiao family's ancestors after I die?"
The Queen Mother's thoughts in some aspects are still very traditional and conservative.
At this moment, she even wondered whether she should muster up the courage to ask the emperor to come out and stop it?
The emperor suddenly asked curiously, "Does Queen Mother care about the opinions of the Xiao family's ancestors?"
The Queen Mother choked and said angrily, "Rebellious son, what do you mean by that?!"
In private, the empress dowager often scolded the emperor for being a rebellious and unfilial son to satisfy her urge to do so.
The emperor didn't take it seriously and wiped his sleeves calmly, "It's my son who talks too much."
The Queen Mother hummed with satisfaction, but she had forgotten her original purpose of visiting the Emperor.
After the Empress Dowager's birthday banquet, everyone inside and outside the palace was waiting for the Emperor's reply.
There was a wave of protest from the previous government, but many others chose to support it.
The envoys from the Rakshasa Kingdom and the Xia Dynasty also stared at the emperor, waiting to see what kind of response the emperor would give.
"It would be fine if His Majesty doesn't accept the two princesses from the Xia Dynasty. But if he does, how to give them positions will be a big issue." Xie Run was peeling the newly delivered lychees.
The newly dyed red nails broke the lychee shell and fell on the bright white flesh, which looked particularly beautiful.
Concubine Lu was curious about the emperor's attitude towards the two princesses of the Xia Dynasty, so she went to the gate of Showa Palace early in the morning.
Xie Run said slowly: "No matter how powerful the Xia Dynasty is, its national strength cannot be compared with a small country like Luosha."
"The princess of Luosha Kingdom must be given the title of Li Fei, and the princess of Xia Dynasty cannot be lower than the rank of Concubine. In order to show the diplomatic relations between the two countries and to save the face of the Queen, I am afraid she can even be given the title of First Rank Concubine."
"What?" Concubine Lu opened her mouth in surprise, "So there will be three more concubines in the palace?"
If this is the case, there will probably be major changes in the Six Palaces.
Before, the nine concubines lived alone in one palace, but now that they have the position of concubine, of course they have to give it up.
But if those old people were to be governed by a newcomer to the palace, they would probably feel dissatisfied, and who knows what kind of conflicts might arise.
Xie Run pondered for a moment: "That may not be the case."
Lady Lu looked at Xie Run curiously.
Xie Run: "The Xia Dynasty sent two princesses, but only one of them was of a higher rank than Concubine Li. This was considered a courtesy to the Xia Dynasty. Giving two concubines would be an honor. The Emperor would not be happy about it, and the court officials would be even less happy."
There are not many concubines in the harem, and the Xia Dynasty alone has one queen and two concubines. The emperor must have been crazy to make such an arrangement.
By then, the saying that all the emperor's harems were occupied by women from the Xia Dynasty would come true.
What's more, the queen may not agree.
Lady Lu blinked. "Thank you, Sister Xie. I heard that the Queen Mother summoned the Emperor to the Cining Palace. Do you think the Queen Mother also wants to persuade the Emperor?"
"About that." Xie Run shook his head. "If the emperor has made up his mind, no one can persuade him. If he has no idea, then there's no point in trying to persuade him."
If I say a few more words, I'm afraid the emperor will be annoyed.
The Queen Mother is just like that. She never understands the situation, which is why she has become so estranged from her own son.
Speaking of which, Hua Xiuyuan is somewhat similar to her, but Hua Xiuyuan does not have the beauty and luck of the empress dowager to meet a king like the retired emperor who is so devoted to beauties.
Concubine Lu originally took a wait-and-see attitude towards the matter, but when she heard that there might suddenly be three more concubines in the harem, she immediately became nervous.
"Sister Xie, do you think the emperor will agree?"
Xie Run paused, peeled the lychees and fed them to Taotao who had been waiting for a long time, then took the handkerchief handed to him by Dantao and gently wiped his fingers.
"Whether the Emperor will accept the Xia Dynasty princess depends on the Empress."
Although Xie Run is quiet, he has a clear understanding of many things.
Inside Fengyi Palace, the Queen looked very bad.
When she came back from the birthday party yesterday, she vomited blood and almost fainted.
But she didn't dare to faint, so she forced herself to stay strong and asked someone to block the news. Today, she didn't have to pay her respects to the six palaces, and stayed quietly in Fengyi Palace alone.
Mother Li was so angry about the news from yesterday's banquet that she had several blisters on her lips. She kept saying, "How could they do this?!"
"How dare they do this?!"
Mother Li was so angry that she almost cried, "You are the Empress of the Yu Dynasty, not the princess who was bullied in the harem of the Xia Dynasty. How dare they look down on you to such an extent?!"
There was a layer of gloom on the queen's pale face, and her eyes were cold and empty.
Ting He, who was standing by, couldn't help but tug at Mother Li, "Mother Li, stop talking!"
"You think your Majesty isn't suffering enough?"
Mother Li secretly wiped away her tears and dared not speak anymore.
At this moment, someone announced, "Your Majesty, Princess Cirui of the Xia Dynasty wishes to see you."
The queen's originally indifferent eyes suddenly lifted up, and the sharp look in her eyes was as cold as a sword. "Who do you say wants to see you?"
The maid who delivered the message was so overwhelmed by the queen's majesty that her voice trembled unconsciously. "Yes, it's Princess Ci'en of the Xia Dynasty, your sister, the queen."
"She's the only one?"
"Yes."
The queen clenched the quilt, then quietly relaxed it, leaning back in her chair, and said calmly, "Bring her in."
Soon, Princess Ci'en was brought in.
She was tall and slender, wearing a crescent-white dress embroidered with gold thread. She did not have the luxury and nobility of a princess at all. Instead, with her head lowered, she looked a little cowardly and shrinking.
As soon as she came in, she knelt before the Queen's bed and whispered, "Sister..."
The queen said coldly, "All of you go down."
Mother Li and Tinghe immediately took the other servants downstairs.
The Queen then asked, "You've come just in time. I have many questions to ask you."
Princess Ci'en lowered her head and tears fell quietly to the ground.
The Queen pretended not to see it and asked in a cold voice, "Before I married you, my father had arranged for you to be married to General Ba. Over the years, the letters from the Xia Dynasty have all said that you and General Ba are a loving and harmonious couple. Why are you now marrying from the Yu Dynasty?!"
"Could it be that you think that I am the Queen and covet the wealth and power of the Yu Dynasty, so you came here on your own initiative?"
Princess Ci'en suddenly raised her head and looked at the Queen with tearful eyes: "Sister, do you really want to hurt me like this?!"
"It's not that I want to hurt you, but you suddenly appeared in the Yu Dynasty and wanted to enter the emperor's harem. You trampled on more than just my heart."
Princess Ci'en cried, "Please, sister, listen to my argument!"
"Sister, I came to Xia Dynasty because I really had no other choice but to come!"