Emperor Mu sat alone in the Qinzheng Hall for a while, flipping through the memorials on the case. There were three important events in the past few days, one was the establishment of the crown prince, the other was the Shuozhou disaster case, and the other was Chunwei.
Yes, there is also the Chunwei hosted by the Ministry of Etiquette.
Rong Cang went to investigate the case, and he had no time to choose someone for the Spring Palace. However, this year the Ministry of Etiquette was responsible for presiding over the Spring Palace. The examiner was Uncle Xie Daguo, and two of the four deputy examiners were selected from the Ministry of Rites.
When Rong Cang came back, the palace examination had not yet begun.
He can be allowed to sit in on the palace examination in June. At that time, a few outstanding students with similar temperaments will be selected from among the students selected this year to work with Rong Cang.
Over time, these people naturally became Rong Cang's confidants.
Emperor Mu leaned back in the chair, his eyebrows slightly furrowed, and he felt melancholy, guilt and self-blame for no reason.
He did not expect that one day he would personally pave the way for the person he wanted to be the crown prince.
Before selecting a prince, the reigning king will not worry about which prince does not have enough support. Instead, he will worry about their too many party members and too much power. They will also worry about their relatives interfering in politics, which will hinder the prince's decision-making after he ascends the throne.
The influence of relatives is too great, and the superposition of the merits of Conglong is definitely not a good thing for the newly ascended emperor. It is also common for the king's power to be suppressed.
Therefore, over the years, he has allowed all parties to restrain each other and never allowed one family to become dominant. He has been delaying the establishment of a reserve government as long as he can, and has been delaying it until now.
But at this moment, Emperor Mu suddenly remembered the child that the queen had lost.
Over the years, he often comforted the queen, treated her with as much respect as possible while she was behind closed doors, and did not allow anyone to disrespect her.
But he knew in his heart that he felt guilty towards her.
If the child was still alive, he would be the same age as Rong Cang, and he would be the only legitimate son of the royal family, making him uniquely noble among the princes.
If nothing happens to him, he will be the natural crown prince, and nothing will happen to the other princes. After all, the Xie family is very powerful, and they cannot just watch the emperor appoint other princes as princes, while abandoning the most legitimate legitimate son.
Emperor Mu held his forehead and closed his eyes slightly, feeling a sharp pain in his heart. For more than 20 years, he deliberately avoided this question and did not think about everything in the past.
But now he had to admit that he still had to worry about the country and the country of Chu. He was still worried about his relatives interfering in politics, and he was worried that the prince who sat on the throne was not capable enough, and the country that had finally been stabilized would once again stir up turmoil.
After twenty years of observation and waiting, I originally thought that King Chen was the most suitable candidate for the crown prince, but I didn’t expect...
King Chen gave up his wolfish ambition and chose Rong Cang, a prince with no backing, who would eventually drag the Xie family into it.
What an inexplicable irony.
It was as if everything he had been prepared for had become a joke.
"Your Majesty," Yang Dexi reminded from the side, "Do you want to drive to Zhaochen Palace?"
Emperor Mu suddenly came to his senses, quickly collected his emotions, stood up and walked out: "Show me the Zhaochen Palace."
"yes."
Concubine Gu spent some days recuperating in Zhaochen Palace.
After the strange abdominal pain that day, there was no reaction in the next few days. Because of this, every time she thought of Ji Ziyi's words about "the art of witchcraft", Concubine Gu couldn't help feeling a chill in her heart.
The art of witchcraft.
Most people with a guilty conscience will always be extra sensitive. When she heard these four words, she thought of Qianqi and wondered if Qianqi had done something to her.
Every time she thought of this possibility, Concubine Gu eagerly wanted to see King Chen and ask him to interrogate Qian Qi and ask him if he had poisoned her.
But Concubine Gu found that she couldn't even get out of the Zhaochen Palace.
The uneasiness and hatred of knowing nothing about the outside world made her gradually lose control of her emotions.
Several maids in the Zhaochen Palace were transferred to other places one after another, which gave Concubine Gu a premonition of an ominous outcome, and this sense of uneasiness reached its highest point uncontrollably the moment after Emperor Mu arrived.
"The Emperor has arrived——"
The feminine and high-pitched singing and shouting suddenly sounded, which made Concubine Gu, who was losing her temper, feel her heart skip a beat, and she almost stood up at a speed that was shocking.
The palace door, which had been closed for several days, slowly opened.
Concubine Gu gathered her emotions and appearance, led Mother Ji and the maids to welcome her out, and knelt outside the door: "I, my concubine, see the emperor, long live the emperor!"
"Ping Sheng." Emperor Mu stepped forward to help her stand up and sighed softly, "Are you feeling better?"
Concubine Gu was startled. She didn't expect his attitude to be so gentle. She lowered her eyebrows and replied, "Thank you for your concern, Your Majesty. I am feeling much better."
"I have been busy with government affairs recently. I have been so busy that I have no time to come and see you. I hope my beloved concubine will not take offense." Emperor Mu held her hand and stepped into the palace door together. "Have you been bored recently?"
Concubine Gu responded respectfully, but she slowly felt strangely uneasy in her heart. She always felt that the emperor's attitude today was very strange.
Entering the palace, she asked the palace maid to make tea, then turned to look at Emperor Mu, lowered her eyebrows and said: "I'm feeling better now. I haven't seen Prince Chen and his wife for some days. I want to invite them into the palace to talk. , I hope the emperor will agree."
Emperor Mu was silent: "This is not urgent. I came here today because I have something to tell you."
The palace maid brought the tea, and Concubine Gu took it with her own hands.
Emperor Mu walked to the main seat and sat down, as if he was a little embarrassed to say: "My beloved, please stay still, don't get too excited, it's important to take care of yourself."
Concubine Gu's hand holding the tea cup tightened slightly, her face changed little by little, and an ominous premonition appeared in her heart: "Your Majesty..."
"Before the end of the morning session today, some post soldiers came to Beijing at full speed to deliver the news, saying..." Emperor Mu sighed deeply, as if he couldn't bear to tell her the bad news, "Your brother committed suicide out of fear of crime."
boom!
The tea cup in Concubine Gu's hand fell down with the sound.
The hot tea splashed onto the hem of her skirt and insteps, but she seemed to be completely unaware and stared at Emperor Mu for a moment: "Your Majesty, you...what did you say?"
Emperor Mu didn't care about her lack of etiquette in front of the emperor. He was silent for a moment and sighed: "Don't be sad yet. I will send someone to find out the details -"
"Your Majesty!" Concubine Gu's eyes turned red, and she knelt down suddenly, "Even if I die, I want to die clearly!"
There was silence in Zhaochen Hall.
Mother Ji and the palace maid were so horrified that their faces turned pale, and they knelt on the ground, not daring to say a word.
The expression on Emperor Mu's face faded, his gaze fell on Concubine Gu's head, and after a long time he said: "Yang Dexi, take them out."
"yes."
Yang Dexi took everyone out, while he himself stayed at the nearest place outside the palace gate so that he could pay attention to the movements in the palace at all times to prevent unexpected situations.
"Concubine, what do you want to know?" Emperor Mu's expression was calm, his tone was even, and no emotion could be heard.
Concubine Gu raised her eyes to look at him, her eyes gradually turning red: "Since Jin Yue did something wrong, the emperor's attitude towards me has become worse day by day. I have no way to teach my daughter. I have accepted the punishment sent by the emperor. But apart from that, I don’t know what else I did wrong, which made the Emperor unhappy and had a cold war with me for so many days.”
Emperor Mu said calmly: "Is there any more?"
"I want to see my son, but I can't see my daughter-in-law and my daughter. Even if I'm not feeling well, the emperor has no intention of letting Princess Chen enter the palace to take care of her illness. Instead, he closes the palace door tightly because I need to rest." In the name of the confinement of the concubines."
Concubine Gu's face was pale, with a sad look in her eyes: "I am not a teenage girl. Even if I don't deliberately try to figure out the emperor's words and deeds, I know that this is my punishment. But I want to ask the emperor , What did I do wrong? Can the emperor give me a clear explanation? "
