In order to eat, I signed a contract with the system

Chapter 489 A Dream of Red Mansions - Wang Xifeng 16

In order to avoid being killed by her mother-in-law, Li Wan plucked up the courage to write a letter and sent it back to the Li family, asking her father to take her home. However, she never expected that her father not only did not come to pick her up, but also wrote back asking her to remain faithful to Jia Zhu.

She also threatened that as the daughter of a scholar, she must abide by the code of conduct for women and keep her chastity. If she did anything unchaste, her father would come and beat her to death without anyone in the Jia family having to do anything.

Although Li Wan had long been aware of her father's character, that he was pedantic, stubborn and only cared about his reputation, she had never thought that her father did not care about his life at all.

After receiving the reply from the Li family, Li Wan was completely disheartened. Now her only motivation to live was to give birth to a son and raise him well, so that when she was old, she could maybe move out with her son and live her own life.

The death of Jia Zhu not only changed Li Wan's life, but also changed Jia Yuanchun's mind. Although Jia Yuanchun had originally agreed to participate in the selection and enter the palace to plan for the Rongguo Mansion, she was still very worried in her heart, and occasionally she would hope that her brother Jia Zhu could get better and support the Rongguo Mansion.

Now that her brother Jia Zhu is dead, Jia Yuanchun has no way out and can only grit her teeth and move forward. To this end, she studied the rules even harder, did not slack off on her talents, and even learned some of the methods used by women to win favor.

It's just that Jia Yuanchun grew up under the guidance of Grandmother Jia and Lady Wang for the first fifteen years of her life. Both Grandmother Jia and Lady Wang taught her the methods of being a legal wife, which was very suitable for Jia Yuanchun's already dignified face.

But it would be bad if these happened to concubines.

She could neither please her husband nor make the legal wife feel at ease. If she gave up her dignity, she would destroy this dignity. If she didn't give up her dignity, she would not be able to attract the emperor's attention. It was no wonder that she had to struggle in the palace for so many years before being named a concubine.

Part of it is indeed related to family power and the other part is that Jia Yuanchun herself is not suitable to be a concubine. This is a good evaluation, but it is the worst evaluation when she originally planned to enter the palace in order to win favor.

Time never stops because of Jia Zhu's death. After the new year, it was the festival of beauty contests, which was the one Jia Yuanchun was going to participate in.

But after the Chinese New Year, everyone in the Jia family waited and waited but in vain did not receive the imperial decree for the beauty pageant. Grandmother Jia handed a sign into the palace and asked Concubine Zhen, and got the news that "because the emperor has been unwell recently, this beauty pageant is cancelled and will be held again in three years."

Three years later, Jia Yuanchun was already nineteen years old. There were regulations for the selection of girls, which required that the girls be between thirteen and sixteen years old, and no older than eighteen. After three years, Jia Yuanchun was over the age limit, both in terms of her actual age and her virtual age, and could not participate in the selection.

Wouldn't that mean all the previous plans would go down the drain?

Grandmother Jia sighed and decided to accept her fate. Jia Yuanchun didn't know what to feel in her heart. She just felt empty, relieved and confused.

But Mrs. Wang was not going to accept her fate. Not long ago, Aunt Zhao gave birth to a concubine's daughter, who pleased Jia Zheng. After Jia Zhu's death, Mrs. Wang only had two children, Jia Yuanchun and Jia Baoyu. Compared with letting Jia Yuanchun marry, Mrs. Wang hoped that Jia Yuanchun would become a palace concubine to support her.

So she put Jia Yuanchun's name on the shortlist without telling Lady Jia. When Lady Jia received the news, there were only two days left before Jia Yuanchun entered the palace as a maid.

In desperation, Grandmother Jia had to go to the palace again to ask Concubine Zhen for help. Concubine Zhen herself had relied on the emperor's favor to get to where she was today, so how could she be willing to help Jia Yuanchun enter the palace and gain favor?

Although Jia Yuanchun was not prettier than Concubine Zhen, she was much younger than Concubine Zhen, so Concubine Zhen had to be on guard against her.

But in front of Lady Jia, Concubine Zhen naturally nodded in agreement, and also accepted many gifts from the Jia family. So after Jia Yuanchun was selected and entered the palace, Concubine Zhen used her connections to transfer Jia Yuanchun to work in a bookstore far away from the harem.

Not long after, the emperor fell seriously ill and began to fear the power of Concubine Zhen and Prince Zhongshun. In order to prevent Concubine Zhen and the others from killing him and making way for his son, Prince Zhongshun, the emperor made an unexpected move.

That was to abdicate and become the emperor emeritus, and push his adopted son, the fourth prince, to the throne of the new emperor.

After the fourth prince "took advantage of the opportunity" to ascend the throne, the retired emperor still held on to power. The new emperor had to find a way to snatch power from the retired emperor. In order to paralyze the retired emperor, the new emperor specifically asked the empress to promote Jia Yuanchun to a female official. The four kings and eight dukes and other nobles were all the retired emperor's people. As Jia Yuanchun was the representative of Rongguo Mansion, the emperor's move was to show his loyalty to the retired emperor. It was similar to saying that although I am already the emperor, I am still the retired emperor's son, and I have no intention of snatching power from the retired emperor.

The new emperor could tolerate it, but the current Concubine Zhen and her son Prince Zhongshun could not tolerate it. They began to contact the Zhen family outside the palace and the four major families that were on good terms with the Zhen family, intending to seize the throne.

As the son-in-law and grandson of the Zhen family, Prince Beijing would naturally be involved in it. Because the situation in the capital changed too quickly, neither Wang Ziteng nor Prince Beijing, who had already married Miss Zhen, thought of Wang Xifeng this year, which allowed Wang Xifeng to spend a peaceful year.

Wang Xifeng is now thirteen years old, and she only has one year left before she marries Jia Lian in her previous life. The thirteen-year-old Wang Xifeng still has a little baby fat on her face, but overall she already has the charm of a peerless beauty.

Ever since the new emperor ascended the throne, Wang Ziteng began to waver. On the one hand, he felt that it was right to continue working with Prince Zhongshun. After all, the Wang family was too deeply involved in this, and it would not be easy to get out of the hole now. On the other hand, he felt that it would not be a bad idea to switch to the new emperor. After all, the new emperor's status was already determined, and the emperor emeritus was old after all.

Wang Ziteng is different from Jia She, Shi Xiangyun's biological father, and Jia Jing. He had not had contact with many noble forces before, and he was not a core candidate. He had little dealings with the new emperor, the first four princes. Unlike Jia Jing and others, who went too far at the beginning and offended the new emperor long ago.

"With Feng'er's face, she should be a queen in the palace."

The new emperor has few children and only one grown-up son, which makes him much more likely to have a harem than Prince Zhongshun. What's more, the previous empress dowager was not favored, and the new emperor was only the empress dowager's adopted son. He had no power to support him, and the women he married were all of ordinary family backgrounds. If he switched sides to the new emperor and adopted Feng Ge'er under his name, the new emperor would have to ask Feng Ge'er to enter the palace to appease himself.

When Fengger enters the palace, she will definitely be given the position of a concubine because of her status. If Fengger is favored and gives birth to a prince, perhaps their Wang family can even imagine becoming the mother's family of the next emperor.

The more Wang Ziteng thought about it, the more excited he became. He felt that being the emperor's grandfather, or Duke Cheng'en, would bring him much more benefits than working for the Zhen family.