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In this era where men are superior to women, men always prefer women who are virtuous, gentle and obedient.
Therefore, Emperor Deqing has never been very fond of Chen Zhirong, because although Chen Zhirong is charming, intelligent, talented and beautiful, he always gives people the impression of being calculating and proactive, and Chen Zhirong has never bothered to hide this, so His performance is naturally inconsistent with the values of the vast majority of men in this era.
In fact, if it weren't for Chen Zhirong's stunning appearance, most men would stay away from Chen Zhirong.
Even though Zhao Junchen's ideas are very different from those of men of this era, he does not have much confidence in controlling Chen Zhirong, and always deliberately keeps a distance from Chen Zhirong.
Now, after learning about the secret tryst between Chen Zhirong and Zhao Junchen, Emperor Deqing disliked Chen Zhirong even more, and even felt a little disgusted. He only felt that Chen Zhirong could not even abide by the most basic women's ethics. Not only did he actively support Zhao Junchen Junchen, and even knowing that Zhao Junchen was going to marry Cui Qianxue, he had a secret tryst with Zhao Junchen. It is not an exaggeration to say that this behavior is "self-degrading"!
However, Emperor Deqing's favor towards Li Jiamin was growing, and Li Jiamin was begging again and again. Emperor Deqing would not refuse easily. He just said slowly: "This matter... let me think about it..."
Emperor Deqing's performance was a little perfunctory. Li Jiamin also knew that Emperor Deqing didn't like Chen Zhirong, so she took Emperor Deqing's arm and said softly: "Your Majesty, you are the emperor and the common ruler of the world. Zhao Junchen is absolutely I dare not go against your will, not to mention that the two of them were originally in love with each other. If you are willing to grant marriage to Zhao Junchen and Sister Chen, can this matter be done? All I need is your golden words... Your Majesty, you For my sake, please help Sister Chen."
Emperor Deqing glanced at Li Jiamin, with a slightly helpless expression, and said: "How can this matter be as simple as you think? With Zhao Junchen's powerful position today, even I cannot arbitrarily appoint a marriage for him, everything must be done It depends on his own choice. Now that he has announced that he will marry Cui Qianxue, I cannot force him to go against his will... What's more, in my opinion, although Cui Qianxue is more immature than Chen Zhirong, he is still a good match. Well, when I heard about the incident where she risked her life to protect Zhao Junchen, I was very moved."
Obviously, Emperor Deqing liked Cui Qianxue more than Chen Zhirong.
Of course, this is also because Cui Qianxue has now been kicked out of the Cui family, and marrying Zhao Junchen will not bring any benefits to Zhao Junchen - Zhao Junchen's current power has gradually approached the bottom line of Emperor Deqing's heart.
If Zhao Junchen marries Chen Zhirong, then Zhao Junchen will get the support of a group of distinguished families, which is something Emperor Deqing absolutely does not want to see.
Li Jiamin didn't particularly understand Emperor Deqing's thoughts, but Chen Zhirong had already explained everything to her.
In Chen Zhirong's plan, it would be best if Emperor Deqing was willing to directly grant marriage to Zhao Junchen and Chen Zhirong, then Chen Zhirong could directly steal Cui Qianxue's position as the head wife!
But if Emperor Deqing is unwilling to do this, then Chen Zhirong has the next best option.
Now, after seeing that Emperor Deqing was unwilling to forcefully change Zhao Junchen's choice of wife, Li Jiamin no longer pressed, and said: "If Your Majesty is really unwilling to grant a marriage to Sister Chen, then there is another way to make Sister Chen I finally got married to Mr. Zhao."
Emperor Deqing was stunned for a moment and asked, "Oh? Is there any other way?"
Li Jiamin whispered a few words in Emperor Deqing's ear.
After hearing Li Jiamin's words, Emperor Deqing's face flashed with surprise. He looked at Li Jiamin in disbelief and said, "Oh? Chen Zhirong is actually willing to do this for Zhao Junchen?"
Li Jiamin nodded repeatedly and said: "Sister Chen has always been infatuated with Mr. Zhao. As long as she can stay with Mr. Zhao forever, she doesn't care about anything... By now, Your Majesty, you should have understood that Mr. Zhao is willing to be with Chen. If my sister has a tryst, she must also like Sister Chen. If Your Majesty takes the opportunity to help them, Mr. Zhao and Sister Chen will definitely be grateful for Your Majesty's kindness for the rest of their lives."
After hearing what Li Jiamin said, Emperor Deqing's impression of Chen Zhirong improved slightly.
Emperor Deqing was misled by Li Jiamin and thought that Zhao Junchen's secret meeting with Chen Zhirong tonight was just a tryst. Thinking about Zhao Junchen's frequent private meetings with Chen Zhirong during this period, he mistakenly thought that the two were indeed two people. Love each other. The reason why Zhao Junchen wants to marry Cui Qianxue now is probably just to repay Cui Qianxue for saving her life.
Then I think about the fact that I am about to build a palace imitating the Jiangnan garden style. This matter will require Zhao Junchen's strong assistance, especially Zhao Junchen's secret move of a large amount of money from the Ministry of Household Affairs, and Zhao Junchen is obviously a little bit concerned about this matter. Reluctantly, it would be in Emperor Deqing's interests if Chen Zhirong's matter could be used to further win over and appease Zhao Junchen.
The most important thing is that Chen Zhirong's current requirements are indeed not high...
Thinking of this, Emperor Deqing finally stopped his perfunctory attitude and began to consider it seriously.
After a long time, Emperor Deqing finally made up his mind and said slowly: "If this is what Chen Zhirong really thinks, I can help them both."
Seeing that Emperor Deqing finally agreed to the matter, Li Jiamin suddenly smiled and said softly: "Thank you, Your Majesty!"
On the second day, while the officials attended the morning court, many things happened in the harem.
At about a quarter of the hour, a young eunuch came to the Jingguo Duke's mansion and announced that it was Concubine Shu who wanted to summon Chen Zhirong for a talk.
Li Jiamin often summoned Chen Zhirong to the palace for talks. After all, Li Jiamin had little foundation in the capital, and Chen Zhirong was the only person she knew, so no one was surprised.
However, not long after Chen Zhirong entered the palace, bad news suddenly came. It turned out that Chen Zhirong and Li Jiamin accidentally collided with the queen while they were talking. The queen was furious, and even the concubine Li Jiamin lost face. Come on, insist on punishing Chen Zhirong severely!
No one knew the details of why Chen Zhirong offended the queen, because it related to the secret of the palace, and no one dared to get to the bottom of it. They only knew that this matter was related to disrespect, and maybe even the entire Duke of Jing State was involved. The Chen family will all be implicated.
It is said that after Emperor Deqing comes to court, the queen will personally complain to Emperor Deqing and ask him to severely punish Chen Zhirong and the Chen family of Jingguo Gong!
Seeing that Emperor Deqing was about to go to court, if the queen waited until she complained to Emperor Deqing in person, the entire Chen family of Jingguo Duke would be in disaster. Suddenly, the entire Jingguo Duke's palace was in panic, even Chen You, the Duke of Jingguo. He was also frightened and eager to find the seventh prince Zhu Hejian for advice, but at this time Zhu Hejian had already entered the palace to pay his respects to the imperial concubine Wan, and could not be contacted at all!
But at this time, Chen Zhirong's maid who stayed in Jingguo Duke's Mansion suddenly found the housekeeper Chen Fu and gave Chen Fu an idea.
The idea is to have Duke Chen You of Jing State drive Chen Zhirong out of the Chen family before Emperor Deqing convicts him, and to completely disassociate Chen Zhirong from the Chen family of Duke Deqing. In this way, Emperor Deqing will have no reason to express his anger. The Duke of Jing's family is in Chen's family.
What kind of master there is, what kind of servants there are, Chen You is a narrow-minded person, and Chen Fu is naturally a person who is greedy for utility and self-interest.
After Chen Fu heard this suggestion, his eyes suddenly lit up. He immediately stole the idea as his own and hurriedly told Chen You, Duke of Jing, without mentioning his name at all, as if he had thought of this idea alone. of.
After hearing Chen Fu's suggestion, Chen You was inevitably a little hesitant. After all, Chen Zhirong was still useful to the seventh prince Zhu Hejian, but seeing that the time for Emperor Deqing to go to court was getting closer, the Chen family of the Duke of Jing would be implicated at any time. , at that time, even the seventh prince Zhu Hejian could not protect the Chen family, and Chen You himself disliked Chen Zhirong very much, so he finally gritted his teeth and kicked Chen Zhirong out of the house, and the two parties completely broke off the relationship!
After making this decision, Chen You hurriedly reported the matter to the queen, hoping that the queen would not anger the Chen family because of Chen Zhirong.
After Chen Zhirong lost the support of the Chen family, Duke of Jing, there was no way he could survive the Queen's wrath.
So, following the Queen's decree, Chen Zhirong was thrown to the Clothing Bureau for punishment.
The Laundry Bureau is one of the eight bureaus that serve the palace. It is ranked after the imperial kitchen and is dedicated to providing laundry services to the emperor's relatives and relatives in the palace. It is the only eunuch agency among the 24 yamen of the inner court that is not in the palace. It will be retired if it is committed. He served as a palace servant and was actually responsible for punishing the palace ladies. Often, palace ladies were beaten to death in the clothes-dressing bureau.
After hearing the news, Chen You, the Duke of Jing, felt a little complicated. He was relieved, but also a little regretful. After all, he had spent a lot of effort to train Chen Zhirong over the years, and now Chen Zhirong was thrown into Huanyi. In this situation, I'm afraid I'm going to suffer a lot of torture and narrowly escape death.
Although Chen You does not like Chen Zhirong, and even hates Chen Zhirong extremely, but Chen Zhirong has not yet fully utilized his value, Chen You naturally feels that he has suffered a loss.
From that day on, the world never heard of Chen Zhirong again.
From Chen Zhirong entering the palace, to Chen Zhirong clashing with the queen, to Chen Zhirong being driven out of the Chen family by Chen You, to the queen throwing Chen Zhirong into the laundry bureau for punishment, these things are complicated to say, but they only lasted more than two hours.
During this period, Zhao Junchen had been attending the morning court and was naturally unaware of these things.
There were quite a lot of disturbances in the early morning of this day. First, Zhao Junchen presented the newly compiled agricultural book of the Ministry of Household Affairs to Emperor Deqing, requesting the imperial court to publish this agricultural book to the local government, and also asked the local government to follow the new book. The contents of the agricultural books guide the people under the rule in farming.
This matter may not seem like a big deal, but it is still opposed by many officials. They believe that the people already have their own farming habits, and if they are forced to change it, it will not only waste people and money, but also cause a lot of trouble.
In the end, Zhao Junchen spent a lot of effort to convince the officials to accept his opinion. In the end, because of Zhou Shangjing's secret support, Zhao Junchen's proposal was finally passed reluctantly.
Then, Huang Yourong, the imperial envoy who was far away in southern Zhili, wrote a memorial to Emperor Deqing, detailing the results of his raids on Su Changzhen, his cronies, and a group of smuggling traders.
When the officials learned that Huang Yourong had seized nearly nine million taels of silver in a series of house raids, they were all excited and their eyes were gleaming.
Then, the Ministry of War began to cry for poverty, the Ministry of Personnel began to cry for poverty, the Ministry of Rites began to cry for poverty, the Ministry of Punishment began to cry for poverty, the Metropolitan Procuratorate began to cry for poverty... Of course, Zhao Junchen's Ministry of Household Affairs and the Ministry of Works also cried for poverty. Obviously, all the yamen were eyeing this money. , want to get more benefits.
This naturally led to another massive debate and criticism, which delayed more than an hour, but there was still no conclusion on how the money should be used.
Finally, seeing that noon was approaching, Emperor Deqing was a little tired and did not want to see the officials arguing anymore, so he announced that the matter would be postponed for further discussion and went to court directly.
After leaving the court, Zhao Junchen was preparing to leave the Forbidden City, but was suddenly summoned by Emperor Deqing.
Zhao Junchen did not dare to neglect and rushed to the imperial study room to meet the emperor.
Originally, Zhao Junchen thought that Emperor Deqing was also eyeing this money and wanted to make Zhao Junchen prefer internal funds.
However, Zhao Junchen only guessed part of the facts.
Emperor Deqing was indeed eyeing the money, but he did not say it outright. He just hinted at Zhao Junchen and ended the topic with a few words.
Emperor Deqing believed that with Zhao Junchen's understanding, he would naturally know what to do after hearing his hints, and there was no need to specify it. In fact, Zhao Junchen had never let him down in this regard.
After talking about the silver, Emperor Deqing suddenly changed the subject and asked about Zhao Junchen's marriage.
"I heard that you have already planned to marry Cui Qianxue as your legal wife?"
After hearing Emperor Deqing's inquiry, Zhao Junchen respectfully replied: "That's it. I plan to marry Cui Qianxue on the seventh day of next month, and I want to report this to His Majesty. Speaking of which, I met Cui Qianxue. , and it’s all because of your Majesty’s help.”
Emperor Deqing nodded, with a look of satisfaction on his face, and said slowly: "I am very satisfied that you can choose Cui Qianxue as your wife. The fact that Cui Qianxue risked her life to protect you is enough to prove her true love for you. , it is natural for you to marry her into your family now."
Then, Emperor Deqing said: "Speaking of which, this Cui Qianxue was kicked out of the house by Mr. Cui Ge because of you. Now she is helpless and pitiful. Please don't treat her badly in the future."
Zhao Junchen quickly replied: "Your Majesty, please rest assured. After I marry Cui Qianxue, I will treat her with respect and will never treat her badly."
"Okay." When Emperor Deqing said this, he changed the topic and asked: "At the beginning, I personally acted as a matchmaker for you and let you meet the three girls Cui Qianxue, Chen Zhirong, and Su Xiuning... Especially, with Chen Zhirong's appearance She is the smartest and has the closest relationship with you. I heard that the two of you meet often. I originally thought you would choose Chen Zhirong as your wife, but how come you have not chosen her now?"
Hearing Emperor Deqing suddenly mention Chen Zhirong, Zhao Junchen was a little confused, but in such an occasion, Zhao Junchen naturally could not tell his true thoughts, so he used clichés to perfunctoryly say: "Miss Chen's appearance and intelligence are indeed... It’s a one-in-a-million choice... It’s a pity that I don’t have the same personality as her, so we can only be destined to be together.”
Zhao Junchen's words originally did not have any practical meaning, but Emperor Deqing, under the misleading of Li Jiamin, had already preconceived the idea that there was something between Zhao Junchen and Chen Zhirong. After hearing Zhao Junchen's words, He smiled even more, and said slowly: "Oh? We are destined but not destined? That would be a pity."
Then, Emperor Deqing changed the topic again and said: "Speaking of which, Junchen, you are now also a core minister of the temple. Even though you have married Cui Qianxue, there is only one principal wife and one side chamberlain in the mansion. It is really inappropriate. Just two women may not be able to serve you well... Well, my palace has recently recruited a group of maids. I will select one with both talent and beauty from among them and give her to you as a concubine. In this way , I will feel more at ease if you have one more caring person to serve you."
Hearing Emperor Deqing's words, Zhao Junchen frowned subconsciously.
Give yourself a palace maid?
What does it mean? To win over and bribe? Or plant spies?
After Zhao Junchen hesitated for a moment, he refused: "Your Majesty, it is not in line with etiquette to give a palace maid to a minister, and it is enough for me to have a wife and a concubine to serve me..."
However, before Zhao Junchen finished speaking, Emperor Deqing raised his hand in an unquestionable manner and said: "What? Are you still going to refuse my kind gift?"
When Emperor Deqing said this, Zhao Junchen naturally could no longer refuse, so he had to put on a grateful expression, salute and thank Emperor Deqing: "Thank you, Your Majesty, for your grace and concern!"
Seeing that Zhao Junchen finally agreed to his proposal, Emperor Deqing nodded with satisfaction and said: "I will ask someone to arrange a sedan for the palace maid to wait for you outside the palace and return to the palace with you..."
Having said this, Emperor Deqing smiled half-heartedly, with a hint of teasing, and said: "The talent and appearance of this palace maid are one of a kind. I believe you, Junchen, will like her."
Seeing the strange expression on Emperor Deqing's face, Zhao Junchen became more and more confused, but it was not convenient to question Emperor Deqing, so he had to suppress his doubts for the time being and explore the truth later.
Then, after Emperor Deqing talked with Zhao Junchen for a few more words, he asked Zhao Junchen to leave.
After Zhao Junchen left the Imperial Study Room, he went directly to the Meridian Gate without any delay.
Emperor Deqing's arrangement today is really strange, so Zhao Junchen naturally wants to explore it in detail.
Arriving outside the Meridian Gate, Zhao Junchen found that there was a small sedan waiting quietly next to his sedan. Apparently the person in the sedan was the maid given to Zhao Junchen by Emperor Deqing.
Zhao Junchen frowned and came to the small sedan, opened the sedan curtain and looked inside.
In the sedan, a familiar face smiled like a flower. A pair of bright eyes stared closely at Zhao Junchen's face and said: "Master Zhao, the little girl's name is Zhang Yu'er. She will live with Master Zhao from now on. I hope you will, Master Zhao." Please give me some advice!”
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Today I am entertaining guests at home, and there is only one update, five thousand words.
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