ebookland Chapter 508 A Dream of Red Mansions - Wang Xifeng 35
Chapter 508 A Dream of Red Mansions - Wang Xifeng 35
"It's not too late now. Looks like we have to find a way to send a message to Feng Ge'er in the palace and ask her to find Yuanchun to form an alliance."
Wang Ziteng never stepped down from the role of "controller". Wang Xifeng had been in the palace for such a long time, and her status and rank were higher than his, but in Wang Ziteng's heart he still always thought that Wang Xifeng was still the little girl who could be arranged by him at will.
Before Wang Ziteng's letter was delivered to Wang Xifeng, it was intercepted by the emperor's men.
The emperor never trusted Wang Ziteng. Even though he was the first noble to betray the retired emperor and join him, the emperor still did not trust him.
This distrust is beneficial to Wang Xifeng's favor to some extent. At least when the emperor wants to test Wang Ziteng's purpose or wants to confuse Wang Ziteng, he will choose to express it by favoring Wang Xifeng first.
But at the same time, this distrust is the biggest restriction on Wang Xifeng. Even though she has given birth to a daughter for the emperor and is pregnant with another one, even though she is no longer Wang Ziteng's niece but the biological daughter of a first-rank official, the emperor is still unwilling to give her the position of imperial concubine, leaving her humiliated by being pinned down by Jia Yuanchun.
It's a pity that Wang Xifeng couldn't understand all of this. Without the suppression of Wang Xi's main consciousness, Wang Xifeng's original character had been revealed too much over the years. Even though she was still as beautiful as before and was proficient in observing people's words and expressions, she still made the emperor dislike her.
Fortunately, Wang Xifeng did not do anything to collude with people outside the palace. In addition, because Wang Ziteng was too prominent, the Wang family had some estrangement with the group of four kings and eight dukes to some extent, and was marginalized. The emperor saw it clearly, so he naturally chose to let the Wang family off temporarily.
However, Wang Ziteng was not satisfied with the current situation. After learning that Jia Yuanchun was made a concubine, his ambition began to stir again.
"Wang Ziteng has been in frequent contact with Rongguo Mansion recently. It seems that even though he has been promoted to the first rank, his appetite is still not satisfied!"
The emperor was looking through the report handed over by the person sent to monitor Wang Ziteng. It clearly recorded all the communications between Wang Ziteng and Mrs. Wang since Jia Yuanchun was made a concubine. Not only that, even the content of each communication was recorded clearly.
"Humph, already having two heirs is not enough, and they are still thinking about having another prince of the Jia family. These people are really..."
“Nothing has changed at all!”
The emperor looked at the content of the correspondence recorded in the records, and either asked Jia Yuanchun and Wang Xifeng to form an alliance against other concubines, or asked them to help each other and try to give birth to a prince.
The emperor was not surprised at all. These people did the same thing when he was just an ordinary and unpopular prince. Now that he has ascended the throne, these people still want to do the same thing.
Do they think that there is nothing wrong in betting on both sides and sitting on the fence, leaning to whichever side the wind blows?
Before, they bet between the crown prince and the retired emperor, and later they bet between the retired emperor and Prince Zhongshun. Now they even want to bet between the Wang family and the Jia family. It's ridiculous.
The emperor is different from the emperor emeritus. The emperor emeritus has true feelings for the former heirs of the four princes and eight dukes, so he can forgive their behavior of betting on both sides, but the emperor does not. His temperament is much purer than that of the emperor emeritus. In the eyes of the emperor, wavering is betrayal, and betting on both sides is infidelity, and they should be punished!
After the imperial edict to visit her parents was issued, Wang Xifeng wanted to return home in glory like Jia Yuanchun in her previous life. However, as the baby in her belly was older and she had difficulty moving, there was a high possibility of accidents if she rashly left the palace.
In addition, in the previous life, the Rongguo Mansion spent a huge amount of money to build a garden for Jia Yuanchun to visit her parents. Wang Xifeng was not sure that her uncle Wang Ziteng would spend so much money for his own face, so in the end Wang Xifeng chose to apply for not to visit her parents on the grounds of the child in her belly.
"Oh, my beloved, do you mean you don't want to visit your parents?"
The emperor was very surprised after hearing Wang Xifeng's request. He had already seen through Wang Xifeng's character clearly these days. He knew that she liked luxury, loved to wield power and compete for favor, and was extremely concerned about her reputation. Now, when he heard that Wang Xifeng actually did not want such a "face-saving" opportunity to visit her parents, he suddenly realized that she did not want it.
"Don't you miss your parents and relatives, my beloved concubine?"
Did she discover the problem?
"I came to the capital at the age of six and was raised and taught by my uncle and aunt for ten years. Now I have been in the palace for five years. Naturally, I miss my uncle and aunt."
"But I am already seven months pregnant. I am more concerned about the baby in my belly than going home to visit my uncle and aunt this time."
"I beg your Majesty to forgive me. This has failed your kindness."
Wang Xifeng was telling the truth and her attitude was sincere, so the emperor didn't find anything wrong. Although he didn't want to miss out on the Wang family's gold and silver, he still agreed considering the child in Wang Xifeng's belly.
On the other side, Jia Yuanchun also found something wrong with the imperial edict for this visit, but unlike Wang Xifeng, she dared not refuse the emperor because she had the child in her belly as a bargaining chip. She could only smile and express gratitude for the emperor's "kindness".
Ever since Jia Yuanchun climbed onto the emperor's bed a year ago, she has completely lost her freedom. No matter what she does or where she goes, there are people watching her. They say, "After serving the emperor, you are his person, and you cannot live without someone to serve you."
Jia Yuanchun lived under heavy surveillance for nearly a year. She was not able to receive any of the news that Mrs. Wang specially paid people to send her. She lived a suffocating and painful life.
Even though the emperor had recently appointed her as a noble concubine, Jia Yuanchun could not be happy, because her situation had not changed. She just changed her residence and her identity. The people following her were still the same, monitoring her life in all aspects and not giving her any freedom at all.
Under such circumstances, how could Jia Yuanchun believe that the emperor was giving them the opportunity to go home and visit their families out of kindness?
"I just hope that no matter what the emperor means, I can save the lives of my parents and relatives after this visit."
Many concubines in the palace also discovered something was wrong. Most of the concubines who were not in the emperor's target received hints from Eunuch Su and obediently refused to visit their parents.
After the matter of visiting the parents came up, it seemed that it would take a long time to think about it, but in fact it only took a few days to finalize the list of people to visit the parents, and the virtuous concubine of Rongguo Mansion was on the list.
Upon learning that Jia Yuanchun was going to visit her parents, everyone in Rongguo Mansion felt that it was a great honor. Grandmother Jia specially sent Jia Lian out to inquire about the plans of other concubines' families. After learning that Concubine Wu's family was planning to build a garden for the visit and that Concubine Zhou's family was also planning to build a garden for the visit, they immediately decided that their Rongguo Mansion should also build a garden for the visit.
"Our queen is a noble concubine with a title. Noble Consort Wu and Noble Lady Zhou are both rebuilding their gardens. How can the Virtuous Consort fall behind?"
Jia She initially proposed to connect the courtyard where Jia Yuanchun lived in her childhood behind Rong Xi Tang with the back garden, and renovate and decorate it as a place for her to stay when she visits her parents. However, he never expected that his proposal was rejected by Mrs. Wang as soon as it was proposed.