Although the lingering illness in the palace has not lasted for a year or two, and since the beginning of summer this year, she has fallen into a coma from time to time. During this period, in fact, it has reached the point where the oil is exhausted. Both the emperor and everyone in the palace knew that that day would happen sooner or later. According to the customization, the Queen Daxing used nanmu coffins, which have been completed and placed somewhere in the palace.
But when that day came, it was still difficult for the emperor to accept it. After all, they were a couple in trouble for more than 20 years. Regardless of whether the emperor had true feelings for the queen or not, the bond between husband and wife for so many years was still there. What's more, when he was a prince, because he was not favored by Emperor Sejong and the prince, no one in the court was willing to marry their daughter to him.
Not only people with high official positions tried their best to find ways to get rid of the marriage. Even those low-level officials would rather marry off their daughters hastily than marry their daughters to the then emperor. Of course, Huang Qiong's imperial grandfather didn't pay much attention to his son's marriage, which he had forgotten about.
Finally, with the repeated efforts and persistence of the old prince from Zongzheng Temple who had some sympathy for the emperor, and Huang Qiong, the best friend of the emperor's grandmother. Only then did he propose a marriage to Huang Qiong, the emperor, among the officials who had daughters.
His father-in-law, who had a low official position, did not dare to disobey the imperial edict even though he was full of reluctance. He could only marry the bride who was waiting for marriage without a betrothal gift, without any of the things and etiquette that a prince should have when marrying a wife, and even when there was only a date of marriage stipulated in the imperial edict.
Although they got married hastily, they didn't get any treatment that a prince's wedding should have. They were just carried into the palace of Prince Shou in a small sedan chair. However, the queen did not have any dissatisfaction. Instead, she was diligent and frugal in managing her family, taking care of her husband and raising her children, and survived the most difficult years of the year with the emperor.
Although we can't call Qin Se and Ming Ming, they can definitely be regarded as a couple in need. Even in the most difficult years of the emperor's life despite being a prince, he has always been the emperor's support in his once difficult life. Especially after Huang Qiong's imperial grandmother passed away shortly after the emperor left the palace and returned to the palace, the empress almost became the emperor's only support.
Now that the empress is on the move, the emperor is undoubtedly the one who suffers the most. The emperor, who only woke up from his grief after repeated calls from Huang Qiong and Gao Wuyong beside him, did not push away Huang Qiong's hand supporting him this time. Under the leadership of the eunuch who announced the funeral, he hurried towards the queen's palace.
When the emperor arrived at the queen's palace with the support of Huang Qiong and Gao Wuyong, there were already cries inside and outside the palace. Although this queen who has lost everything at once is just ordinary in appearance. But her temperament is still mild, and she is never harsh towards the people in the palace and other concubines.
Although it cannot be said that he treats everyone with respect, he is still a kind person, so he is still very popular in the harem. At least she was much more loved by the people in the palace than the virtuous concubine who temporarily took charge of the harem affairs on her behalf because of her serious illness. Now that the queen is doing well, no matter whether it is true or false, everyone in the palace is crying bitterly.
Of course, among these people who cry bitterly, there are also many who are hypocritical. Just like the concubine who was organizing the funeral of the queen. Although she looked very sad, Huang Qiong, who arrived later, could clearly see a hint of excitement at the prospect of becoming the queen in the corner of her eyes.
At present, one of the emperor's two queens has gone to the West. The other one has long since been deposed and is listening to Xuexuan not interested in world affairs. Even though the wall that originally sealed Ting Xuexuan has been demolished, it has never left Ting Xuexuan. At present, the entire harem has her as the highest authority, and with the queen's death, it can be said that the entire harem is headed by her.
He also has strong support from his maternal family. His disciples are all over the government and the public, and he is a senior member of the three dynasties. He does not even need to speak, as long as he is alive, he is enough to influence the situation of the government. The conditions are extraordinary. With such a favorable background and support, who else could be the next queen instead of her?
Obviously feeling the ambition in the heart of this noble concubine, Huang Qiong couldn't help but sneer in her heart. The Concubine De really thought that with the queen's success and the support of her powerful maternal family, it would be her turn to be the next queen. This idea was too naive.
Huang Qiong can conclude that after the queen's success, if the emperor wants to establish a new queen. Anyone can be successful, but the Concubine De is the most hopeless. What became the biggest obstacle for her to become the new queen was the proud family background of the Imperial Concubine.
I don't know if it was affected by my grandfather's affairs. As the emperor, I took extremely strict precautions against the possibility of my relatives interfering in politics. This point, from the relatives the emperor found for his son, is enough to tell the emperor's thoughts. Except for the King of Shu, almost all of his sons married concubines who were from noble families or from the prominent families of the dynasty.
But the Crown Princess and the Princess of Shu are two special exceptions. Although the crown princess at that time could not be said to be from an ordinary family, in terms of family background, her father was only a sixth-grade official. After marrying her daughter to the prince and becoming the crown prince of the current prince, or even the future queen, she was only given an empty official position of second rank, not even a title.
The true concubine of the King of Shu also had a similar life experience. Even though they were a couple in trouble with the empress of Daxing, after she took control of the power, the empress's maternal family only gave her an empty title and not even the slightest bit of real power. The emperor's meaning was very clear. As a family member of the current empress, it was okay to enjoy glory and wealth, but it was absolutely impossible to gain real power.
From these two points, it can be seen that the emperor is not generally wary of his relatives and harem interference in politics. What's more, this Concubine De is not only from a strong family background, but also has a strong personality. Even if her own son, King Song, ascends the throne, I am afraid that the Virtuous Concubine will never give up her ambition to interfere in the government affairs.
Whether it's because of his own personality or his family background. With the emperor's usual mentality of guarding against certain aspects, there was no possibility that the Concubine De would ascend to the position of empress. Even her only son, King Song, had no hope of inheriting the throne unless all the emperor's sons died.
As for why the emperor had such a mentality, it was because his mother had such a great influence on him that he still resisted the rat to this day. Huang Qiong didn't know whether it was because he had read too much history books and the tragic disasters caused by his relatives' interference in politics in the past generations made him deeply hate his relatives or the harem's interference in politics.
It was precisely after seeing this that Huang Qiong dared to assert that there was almost no chance of becoming a queen for this highly ambitious concubine. Moreover, Huang Qiong believes that after the queen's success, she now firmly holds the power. The emperor is no longer needed to stabilize the political situation, and she may not necessarily appoint a new queen.
It's just that although Huang Qiong has already understood that the Concubine De has already been destined to have a happy ending, she doesn't show it at all on her face. Seeing things through but not telling them all is what a truly smart person does. As for now, let this concubine be complacent for a while.
Besides the proud concubine, other concubines, princes, and princesses came to greet the emperor and Huang Qiong. And when the prince looked at Huang Qiong, his eyes were half resentful and half jealous. Huang Qiong has never bought the Queen's palace, and has never even seen the Queen.
Now he came in with the emperor, and he knew with his toes that his ninth brother, at least before coming here, must be with the emperor. And as the prince, he has not been summoned by the emperor alone for several years? How could this narrow-minded prince not be jealous?
Feeling the murderous gaze of the prince, Huang Qiong just said a faint greeting and stopped talking to his eldest brother and prince. The emperor's teachings just now were still in my ears, and I couldn't afford to fight with this overly arrogant and narrow-minded prince at this time and on this occasion.
As for his own assassination, Huang Qiong already felt that the matter was not as simple as it seemed on the surface, and there was no need to act like an enemy who was extremely jealous when meeting the prince. Of course, Huang Qiong didn't know yet that the prince had really issued a kill order for him. But in the end, before he had time to take action, someone took action for him.
If Huang Qiong could remain as calm as he is now knowing this, that would be a mistake. However, he, who had just been taught a lesson by the emperor, at least would not cause any trouble with the prince at this time. Huang Qiong knew better that at least in the short term, the prince would not have too much energy to cause trouble for him.
Now that the middle palace, where the couple had been in trouble, passed away, the most saddened person was of course the emperor. And this prince's mood will not be so good. The death of his mother was only one aspect. The death of Zhonggong also caused the prince to lose one of his most favorable supports.
Huang Qiong knew very well that the current death of Zhonggong had made the already weird court situation only become even weirder. And this battle for the crown prince is about to begin a more cruel scene. Some people who used to have some taboos may no longer have any scruples now.
The prince, who had the support of the central palace and a group of die-hard supporters in the court, was often at a disadvantage in the fights with his brothers who were from the same mother. Now that the Central Palace has left, the inner circle of the Central Government has been completely cleaned, and the prince, who has lost almost all his support, is probably too busy to take care of himself.
Naturally, Huang Qiong, who was already familiar with the prince's hostile gaze, wouldn't pay too much attention to it. But in this palace, in addition to the prince's gaze that looked like he wanted to eat him, Huang Qiong always felt that there was another gaze like a poisonous snake, always peeping at him.
Huang Qiong didn't pay much attention to the prince's hostile gaze. But the gaze that lurked in the dark and drifted over from time to time made Huang Qiong a little uneasy. After secretly searching for this person who was spying on him several times to no avail, Huang Qiong could only scratch his head helplessly, thinking that he was being suspicious.
At this time, the room was full of officials and eunuchs. Under the command of the officials from the Ministry of Rites who had received the emperor's imperial decree, they were busy arranging the mourning hall and funeral ceremonies. The Queen's great success is a big event in any dynasty. How dare those officials of the Ministry of Rites and the eunuchs in charge of the palace dare to neglect?
At this time, the prince and the king of Shu, who had been relying on him and refused to leave after returning from his own land under the pretext of serving his mother's illness, were crying loudly, looking benevolent and filial. The other princes and princesses who came over, even if they didn't have any feelings for the Daxing Queen, were trying hard to at least appear in front of the emperor as if they were extremely sad for the death of their aunt.
