Among the princes and princesses who came in a hurry, the prince was not the only one who showed hostility towards Huang Qiong. Except for the King of Song who was the concubine of Virtue, he still looked at Huang Qiong with seven points of contempt and three points of hostility. Huang Qiong's eldest sister in this life, Princess Jincheng, the emperor's eldest princess, also cast a cold look at Huang Qiong.
After meeting Huang Qiong for the first time and learning Huang Qiong's identity from King Shen next to him, he frowned. Looking into the eyes, let alone not having the half-sister to see her brother's affection, there was actually a bit of disgust. As for Huang Qiong, who had been accustomed to this kind of gaze since leaving the palace, he pretended not to see the gaze that his eldest sister looked at her.
This eldest princess, who is more than ten years older than Huang Qiong, is the oldest among all the princes and princesses of her emperor. Although she and the prince were not born from the same mother, she was the actual eldest daughter of the emperor. As the emperor's first child, he was quite favored by the emperor. Even more than the prince and all the other sons.
This Princess Jincheng was imprisoned along with her four sons when the middle palace was deposed. There were countless concubines in the harem who were in the same bad situation. She even took on the heavy responsibility of taking care of her younger brothers. King Teng and King Ji were almost all brought up by him. Even King Yong, King Shen, and the deceased King Zhao also received a lot of care from her.
Among the grown-up princes, sometimes words are even more effective than those of their mothers and concubines. Although he no longer interferes with the affairs of the palace after getting married, his influence among the princes and concubines in the harem is not that great. Even the concubine De, who was accustomed to being arrogant and domineering, did not dare to have any outburst in front of Princess Jincheng.
But for Huang Qiong, this eldest sister has no influence. And this eldest princess, who was quite influential among the other princes, treated him no differently whether she treated him or not. Therefore, Huang Qiongquan pretended not to see the eldest sister looking at him with disgust. As for the different looks in the eyes of other brothers and sisters, they also ignored them.
When the empress of the dynasty dies, there are naturally many people who will serve in front of her. Not to mention officials at all levels, the concubines of various palaces, as well as other princes and princesses, are all busy. Naturally, it was not the turn of Huang Qiong, a concubine, to follow Shenhe here. What's more, Huang Qiong, who has never even met the queen, doesn't want to pretend.
In addition to keeping vigil in the palace as ordered, Huang Qiong became a cold bystander during the funeral. Every day, I looked at my brothers, sisters, and the flowers and plants in the harem of my emperor, and came to the queen's funeral at regular intervals and pretended to cry.
As a concubine, he had to become one of these people according to etiquette, whether he wanted to or not. In addition, the only thing Huang Qiong can do every day is to chat with the various princes and ministers who also need to take turns to come to watch the funeral. Listening to the compliments that were either sincere or the comments about the political situation.
Of course, those involving romantic affairs and the like were things that could not be discussed at home, let alone in the palace, and everyone consciously avoided them. Otherwise, if the caring person brought it up, who could guarantee that the emperor, who was grieving over the death of the empress, would not deal with it seriously and quickly?
After several days of vigil, Huang Qiong had recovered from his serious injuries, but due to excessive grief, Huang Qiong was unable to recover from his injuries. Being unable to return home, having to kowtow regularly, cry bitterly, and barely being able to rest, I feel somewhat overwhelmed.
However, although it is a bit overwhelming. But after a few days of vigil, Huang Qiong unexpectedly got to know the ministers in the court a lot better. As early as Huang Qiong was assassinated, and the emperor himself stayed overnight at the Prince's Mansion, and even skipped the morning court session the next day, these courtiers were no longer able to hide or hide from the prince whom they had once looked down upon. Avoid it if you can.
Just like when Chen Yao passed away, there was an endless stream of ministers who came to express their condolences. During the vigil in the palace, many ministers were looking for trouble and rushed to talk to Huang Qiong to make up for their regret of not seeing the King of England during the condolence ceremony. None of these ministers are fools. If they don’t establish friendship with this upstart at this time, when will they do it again?
The performance of these ministers made Huang Qiong's ministers around him the most among the kings who came to watch the mourning in Beijing these days. But Huang Qiong, who didn't want to arouse some unnecessary suspicion from the emperor at this time, and didn't want to replace the prince as a thorn in the eyes of some people, could say as little as possible to these ministers who were rushing to talk to him.
It is said that funerals are the most tedious, although apart from kowtowing and crying, there is no need to worry about anything else. But after seven consecutive days of funerals, Huang Qiong felt extremely exhausted. In the first few days, I reluctantly persisted because I was a little curious about the funeral ceremonies of ancient emperors and empresses. But in the next few days, Huang Qiong, who had not regained her strength, felt more and more unable to hold on.
It's just that etiquette is difficult. If I take leave at this time to go back to recuperate, I'm afraid that a big unfilial hat will be slapped on my head. Although the Queen of the Middle Palace is not Huang Qiong's biological mother, in this era when the aunt is greater than the biological mother, people only recognize you as your aunt. What's more, although she is only a queen, she has the same status as a monarch and minister like Huang Qiong.
If Huang Qiong really asked for leave, there would be no need to wait for him to return to the house. I'm afraid the label of being unfilial would have been slapped on him. If someone is labeled as unfilial these days, that person's reputation will be completely ruined. Besides, several brothers younger than me were insisting, so how could I have the nerve to ask for leave and go home to rest? In desperation, Huang Qiong could only bite the bullet and persevere.
According to the Daqi ancestral system, the queen of the main palace will have a small meal on the day of her death and a big meal on the seventh day. Except for the three-day mourning period for the emperor, all the kings in Beijing should keep vigil for twenty-seven days. During this period, the kings were not allowed to return to their homes and could only rest in the reed sheds built outside the Queen's mourning hall in the palace. Officials of rank five or above also have to take turns entering the palace to keep vigil. This is the ancestral system, and even the emperor cannot violate it.
After seven days of almost sleepless vigil, not eating well or resting well, Huang Qiong, who was already recovering from a serious injury and was looking pale, lost even a trace of blood in his face. In fact, Huang Qiong doesn't care much about the quality of food. But this inability to rest made Huang Qiong really miserable.
Seeing the room full of eunuchs and maids busy making money for the queen, Huang Qiong couldn't help but wailed in her heart: "It's only been seven days, and there are still twenty days left. How can I survive this?" It wasn't Huang Qiong. There are many things, but for him, this is the first time he has experienced this kind of thing even in his two lifetimes.
Coupled with the physical weakness caused by the initial recovery from a serious injury and the loss of vitality, Huang Qiong felt really uncomfortable. It was only on the night of the queen's wedding, just after the kings had kowtowed. A person who appeared unexpectedly suddenly made Huang Qiong, who thought he could no longer hold on, immediately became full of health again. This is none other than Huang Qiong's mother.
When Huang Qiong's mother walked into this temporary funeral palace, almost everyone who knew her couldn't believe their eyes. At this moment, there was only a suffocating depression in the entire hall. The prince and the king of Shu, who were kneeling in front of the soul, were also stunned when they saw Huang Qiong's mother walking in.
If it is said that he was deposed together with the Zhonggong and was imprisoned, the King of Shu was still young and could not remember the appearance of Huang Qiong's mother. But the prince, who was already ten years old at that time, had a very deep memory of Huang Qiong's mother. Seeing Huang Qiong's mother walk in, the prince, who obviously had a deep memory of the past, stood up to stop her as if he had been insulted.
When Huang Qiong saw the prince walking towards his mother, he was afraid that he would hurt her mother. Without saying a word, he stood up quickly and walked towards his mother. But just as the prince arrived at his mother's side and was about to stretch out his hand to stop him, her mother seemed to have not seen her at all. She gave a faint but firm tone of voice and made the prince stop.
Amid the calmness, there was a majestic tone, the aura exuding from his body, and the cold eyes he looked at the prince. Not only did the prince's previous angry posture disappear completely in an instant, he stopped trying to block him. He even stood aside honestly, not even daring to fart.
After learning the identity of the visitor, the King of Shu also wanted to stop him. Although they were fighting openly and secretly with the prince, at least there was no difference between the two brothers in their previous opinions on Huang Qiong's mother and son. But when I saw Huang Qiong's mother's cold eyes, I felt extremely stressed. The prince calmed down, and he involuntarily stopped his steps.
Huang Qiong's mother ignored these two people and walked directly to the coffin in the middle palace. After lighting a stick of incense, she stood there quietly without saying a word. It's just that even though the mother just stood there quietly, the prince and the King of Shu on the side felt endless pressure.
Not only was the previous momentum gone, there was even a faint trace of cold sweat on his forehead. Especially for the prince, the scene when he first met the woman who had taken the throne from his mother more than ten years ago could not help but come back to his mind.
It's not that the prince is too arrogant, but that the scene left a deep impression on him. Huang Qiong's mother was like this back then. She stood quietly in front of their mother and son without saying anything. But when he looked at him, those two eyes that looked like unsheathed swords brought him invisible pressure that the prince could never forget.
The prince at that time had never felt that a person's eyes could make people so fearful. Now more than ten years have passed, and Huang Qiong's mother's eyes are no longer as sharp as before. But the glances that came over still frightened the prince, who had always called Huang Qiong's mother and son a bitch and a scoundrel in private.
Looking at the scene in front of him, Huang Qiong, who was also facing her mother's back and felt even more stressed, could only shake her head. A mother is a mother when she wants to show off her aura. Not to mention the prince who is probably harboring evil thoughts at the moment, but his biological son also feels a lot of pressure and doesn't even dare to express his anger? It's not even as good as a mouse seeing a cat.
The mother did not pay attention to the thoughts of these people around her, or her own sons, or those who probably regarded her as enemies in her heart. He stood there quietly, watching the fragrance burning faintly. The prince and the king of Shu didn't even dare to fart, and the other princes and ministers present didn't dare to express any opinions.
