ebookland Chapter 452: Legend of Zhen Huan - Nian Shilan 56
Chapter 452: Legend of Zhen Huan - Nian Shilan 56
The Empress Dowager was seriously ill, and the Imperial Noble Consort refused to come on the grounds of illness. The concubines who were serving her had different reactions to this. The old people in the palace who knew the inside story sighed, feeling both for the Imperial Noble Consort's true nature and for the women in the harem who had no control over their lives.
However, the new concubines and others who were unaware of the inside story could not help but start spreading rumors that the Imperial Noble Consort was unfilial and disrespectful to the Empress Dowager. The Empress took the opportunity to contact ministers outside the palace and jointly wrote a letter requesting the Emperor to demote her to Nian Shilan.
"As a concubine, the Imperial Noble Consort refused to attend to the Empress Dowager when she was seriously ill. This is unfilial and unworthy of the title of Imperial Noble Consort. Please, Your Majesty, punish the Imperial Noble Consort."
After receiving the news from the Queen, Lord Guarjia thought this was an opportunity, and hurriedly wrote a letter to the emperor without even finding out the truth. The Emperor was already worried about the Queen Mother's serious illness, and he was even more annoyed to see that someone was still scheming at this time.
"The Imperial Concubine is not feeling well. There are many concubines in the palace. Why do you have to ask the Imperial Concubine to drag her sick body to serve the Queen Mother?"
"Besides, this matter is originally a matter of the harem. How did Lord Guaerjia know the whole story? Why did he have to report this matter to the court?"
"Could it be that my Imperial Censor, instead of spending his days inspecting the officials and counties, has nothing better to do than to monitor the affairs of my harem?"
Lord Guaerjia was sweating profusely after being questioned by the emperor. He kept swallowing his saliva and trying to find a suitable excuse, but before he could organize a reason, the emperor waved his hand impatiently and sent someone to drag Lord Guaerjia out.
After the court session, the emperor was still angry. He turned around and asked Su Peisheng, "How is Qi Chang doing on weekdays?"
Su Peisheng's brain was quick, and he immediately understood that the emperor was angry with Qi Changzai because of Lord Guaerjia. He rolled his eyes and thought of a way to speak in an instant, "I know very little about Qi Changzai. I just heard that Qi Changzai doesn't interact much with the concubines in the harem, but has a closer relationship with the queen."
"Your Majesty, why don't you go to Jingren Palace? I'm sure the Empress knows a lot about Concubine Qi."
"Yeah." Su Peisheng meant that Qi Changzai was the Queen's person. When the Emperor heard this, he guessed that today's events were more or less related to the Queen. The Emperor's mood became even worse when he thought about the Queen colluding with court officials.
"I gave the Queen the title of Queen because she was Chun Yuan's only sister, and even spared her from punishment for killing the royal heirs and concubines. I never expected the Queen to be so ambitious."
The emperor has become suspicious of the queen, and he plans to meet her in person to hear her explanation.
"Su Peisheng, go to Jingren Palace!"
"Yes, Your Majesty."
In Jingren Palace, Concubine Qi was talking to the Queen. But Concubine Qi was too stupid, and her words always hurt the Queen accidentally. The Queen felt a headache listening to Concubine Qi's superficial flattery.
"Alright, alright, Concubine Qi, I understand what you mean, but the Queen Mother is seriously ill right now, so I don't want to hear you say any more."
"How is Third Prince doing lately?"
Concubine Qi was disappointed by the Queen's rejection, but when she heard the Queen mention the Third Prince, she became excited again, "The Third Prince has grown taller recently, but the Emperor rarely comes to Changchun Palace, and the Third Prince hasn't seen the Emperor for a long time."
"If the emperor doesn't go to Changchun Palace, can't we ask the third prince to go to Qianqing Palace to pay his respects to the emperor?"
"The Third Prince is not young anymore. Growing taller doesn't matter. Studying is more important." The Queen felt a headache when she heard Concubine Qi say that the Third Prince had grown taller again. Growing taller, taller. How old is the Third Prince and he's still growing taller?
"Hongshi always makes the emperor angry every time he sees him, so..."
Concubine Qi knew that the emperor liked the princes to study, but the third prince did not like to study, and there was no way to force him. Every time the third prince saw the emperor, he was like a mouse seeing a cat, and he wanted to hide away from him. Asking the third prince to take the initiative to go to the Qianqing Palace to pay respects to the emperor, wouldn't that embarrass the third prince?
When the emperor came in, he happened to hear the queen blaming Concubine Qi for being too pampered to the third prince, and asked the third prince to come to Jingren Palace to pay his respects to her and receive her instructions.
"The Third Prince is the Emperor's eldest son. If he is spoiled like this, how can he share the Emperor's worries in the future?"
The emperor could no longer listen to what was said afterwards. He only knew that the queen's ambition was already obvious. He did not go in any further and turned to leave Jingren Palace.
"Li, Hongshi, Xia Wei, Jiang Zhongmin, Guaerjia; concubines, the eldest son of the emperor, bannermen, the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Manchu ministers..."
"I didn't expect that my queen had colluded with so many forces behind her. Together with the royal family, they would support Hongshi to ascend the throne after my death. The Li family is stupid and cannot compete with the Ulanara family at all."
"Someone, go check on the queen."
I want to know what the queen has done over the years.
The Queen Mother was seriously ill, Nian Shilan took sick leave, and the Yiku Palace was closed. In fact, everyone had already left the palace and returned to the Nian family. Not only did they see Nian Xialing who was still alive, but even Nian Xiyao, who had been serving as an official in another place, had returned.
Although Nian Shilan has not made much moves in recent years, as the head of the Nian Mansion, he naturally sees the personnel transfers and financial transactions in the Nian Mansion more clearly than others. Especially after the rally at the beginning of last year, Nian Shilan's power grew so obviously that Nian Xiyao immediately discovered something fishy.
After receiving the information that Nian Shilan was going home, Nian Xiyao and Nian Xialing stayed in the study waiting for Nian Shilan. They wanted to ask Nian Shilan in person what he wanted to do by bribing so many people over the years.
Originally they all thought that Nian Shilan was trying to compete for power with the Queen, but when they saw that Nian Shilan had been favored and had already been promoted to the position of Imperial Noble Consort but still did not stop, they realized that things were not that simple.
Now, even if Nian Gengyao, Nian Xiyao and Nian Xialing got together, they still couldn't figure out how many people Nian Shilan had under his command. On the surface, Nian Xiyao was the head of the Nian family, but in fact, most of the servants and even the officials under him only obeyed Nian Shilan.
"Father, brother, I'm back."
Nian Shilan left the palace again at night this time. She wore a cloak and rode on horseback all the way to the back door of the Nian Mansion. After getting off the car, she went straight into the study without even drinking a sip of water.
"Shilan, you're back!"
Even though they knew Nian Shilan would come back, both Nian Xialing and Nian Xiyao were still very excited to see her in person. They hadn't seen Nian Shilan in more than ten years, since she participated in the talent show.
Now when he saw Nian Shilan, he felt that she had grown a lot compared to when she just came of age. She was extraordinarily beautiful and lived up to the reputation of being the most beautiful woman in the Eight Banners of Manchuria and Mongolia.
After the pleasantries, we got down to business.
"Shilan, what are you planning to do?" Nian Xialing looked at Nian Shilan worriedly and asked.
"Father, what do you think Se-ran will do?"
Nian Shilan did not answer directly, but asked back. Nian Xialing looked at Nian Shilan's expression and sighed sadly, "Shilan, you, you are committing treason!"
Seeing that Nian Xialing had guessed it, Nian Shilan smiled and said, "Since father has guessed it, there is no need for your daughter to explain."
"As for treason or something like that, I am just following the experience of my ancestors and walking the path of my ancestors again. How can I say that I am treasonous?"