Chapter 120:

The follow-up of the matter was that Princess Diwa married into the Zhou family quite openly and honorably. Strangely enough, Young Master Zhou didn’t seem reluctant at all.

Actually, aside from the facts that she was neither a virgin nor in love with Zhou, the princess was still quite desirable.

She had a prestigious background and was exquisitely beautiful.

However, those two missing elements were indeed crucial.

Yet all of these were no longer important. What mattered now was that Princess Diwa was willing to marry into the Zhou family, and the Zhou family was willing to accept her.

When everything finally settled down, more than a month had already passed.

Counting the months, it was almost nine months since the beginning of the twelfth lunar month.

Emperor Jing was concerned about the health of the pregnant La Yue, so he visited her daily. Because of this, others were envious beyond measure.

At the same time, however, they were secretly resentful. Since Consort Chun’s pregnancy began, she had not participated in the emperor’s nightly companionship. They had such a unique advantage, yet failed to seize it, which was quite frustrating.

But then again, people turned their resentment toward Consort Hui, since Emperor Jing had almost exclusively favored Consort Chun since her pregnancy.

The records in the Palace of Rites were filled with her name.

Yet all of this was unknown to La Yue. If she had known, she might have blushed. Although she couldn’t attend to the emperor in person, didn’t they know there were other ways?

Early morning, in Zhuxuan.

Consort Hui had already risen and was quietly sitting there, while Yunlan was dressing her.

“My Lady is truly beautiful!”

After finishing the makeup, Yunlan praised.

Fu Jinyao gave a slight smile. Since the emperor summoned her last night, she was like a flower that had just been watered, exuding charm from her very bones.

Actually, Fu Jinyao had also been anxious lately, longing for a child. Yet despite the emperor’s frequent visits to her quarters, her belly showed no signs of life.

At this thought, she sighed again.

Yunxue tidied up the bed.

“My Lady, is something troubling you?”

Looking at Yunlan and Yunxue standing nearby, Fu Jinyao said, “Why haven’t I conceived yet?”

The two senior maids exchanged glances and comforted her, “My Lady, don’t worry. It will happen eventually.”

Fu Jinyao slammed the ornament in her hand heavily onto the table, startling the two maids.

“Worry? How can I not worry? This year will be the selection again. Thus, who knows how many more fresh young women will enter the palace. Then my favor will inevitably be divided further, making it even harder to conceive. Also, according to my mother’s plan, my younger sister Jinyan will also enter the palace. If that happens and the Fu family no longer supports me unconditionally, how will I manage?”

The third day of the third lunar month, when Lady Fu visited the palace, the maids were present and naturally heard her words.

“My Lady is the legitimate daughter of the Fu family and already the Honored Consort. Even if the third young lady enters the palace, what can she amount to? She will still have to start from the lowest rank. Moreover, after all, she was born to a concubine. How can she compare to my Lady? Not to mention, regardless of the master, the third young lady and the eldest young master share different mothers. How would the eldest young master support her?” Yunxue consoled.

Fu Jinyao lowered her eyes, “How could my brother help me? He has always adored my eldest sister the most. Since he found out that it was I who harmed her, how could he genuinely assist me? Look at the beginning when I entered the palace. How much of the advice he gave me was actually useful?”

Seemingly growing angrier with her thoughts, she swept the jade hairpin off the table onto the ground. The hairpin made a crisp sound as it shattered.

“My Lady…” Yunxue hesitated but finally said nothing.

“I didn’t do it on purpose. I really didn’t. Why don’t they believe me? Why won’t they forgive me?” Fu Jinyao bit her lip fiercely.

“My Lady, please don’t do this. You might hurt yourself. Please let go,” Yunxue pleaded.

Fu Jinyao looked at the broken hairpin on the ground. It was a gift from her sister. Was it true that everything could never return to how it once was?

She hadn’t meant to do it. Back then, her sister was the Empress, pregnant and often summoned her to the palace for conversation. Though she was young at the time, she gradually fell in love with her brother-in-law. At that time, he had just ascended the throne, busy every day, yet still made time to visit her sister. Seeing his gentle smile made her heart flutter.

But this matter inevitably became known to her sister. She had thought that since her sister loved her so much, if she told her, they could both serve the emperor together. After all, he was the emperor and would inevitably have many consorts. Wouldn’t it be good if she entered the palace?

Unexpectedly, her usually magnanimous sister severely reprimanded her.

Recalling the past, Fu Jinyao thought. At that time, she was young and angry, wanting to teach her sister a lesson. Who would have thought her sister would suddenly go into labor, leading to the subsequent tragedy.

At that time, she was simply too immature, anxious every day, and within a few days, her father had already found out the truth from her.

Thinking about what happened afterward, from then on, her father had never been as affectionate toward her again?

And her brother, who had been indifferent every day.

She really hadn’t meant it. Why wouldn’t they forgive her, why not? She had already become the Honored Consort. She could also protect the Shen family. Why did they still insist on bringing Jinyan into the palace?

Fu Jinyao grew more and more furious, stepping hard on the broken hairpin several times.

Yunxue quickly signaled to Yunlan. The two of them rushed to hold their mistress back.

“My Lady, please don’t do this. If you hurt your feet, what shall we do?”

Fu Jinyao stomped for a while, seemingly having vented her anger.

She slowly closed her eyes and slumped into the chair.

“Why can’t I have a child? When will I finally have a child?”

Her voice was filled with bitterness.

Unbeknownst to them, their every action had been witnessed by someone at the door.

At Huici Palace.

Madam Gui, having received the palace maid’s report, hurriedly came to the Empress Dowager and relayed the content of the report without omitting a single word.

After listening, the Empress Dowager’s lips curled into a smile, her gaze shifting to the painting on the wall. Her tone was oddly cheerful: “She wants a child? What a pipe dream.”

Madam Gui nodded: “She’s not even a tenth as good as her elder sister.”

“Fu Jinyu and Fu Jinxiu are the pride of the Fu family, the eldest son and daughter, personally educated by their father, naturally outstanding. Fu Jinyao is the youngest daughter, raised and cherished by Lady Ning, spoiled and willful by her elder siblings, so it’s normal for her to be capricious and immature. Now I’m curious, what kind of person is this third daughter Fu Jinyan, born of a concubine. I hope she doesn’t disappoint me.”

“It is said that although she is born of a concubine, the Chancellor Fu does value her highly. She is also a sensible girl.”

Madam Gui naturally knew what her mistress was thinking.

The Empress Dowager gazed at the painting for a long time: “Ah Gui, although I am old, I cannot forget, I cannot forget his betrayal, my cousin’s treachery. He schemed to have me sent to the emperor for power. Does he really think I won’t take revenge for reaching this position today?”

Madam Gui held the Empress Dowager’s hand: “My Lady, why torture yourself? I know, my Lady won’t do that.”

The Empress Dowager shifted her gaze from the painting and sighed: “Yes. I won’t. I merely watch their sisterly rivalry as a joke. Now, besides my two sons, there is no one else worth my concern. No one.”

Seeing the Empress Dowager’s state, Madam Gui comforted: “The Emperor and the Sixth Prince will be fine, they will be.”

If she had truly let go, how could she spend every day gazing at that portrait? It was nothing but self-deception.

But after all, doesn’t a person always need a little delusion to comfort themselves?

“I don’t know how much longer my deteriorating health will hold out. I’m not too worried about Che’er. But for Lie’er, he has spent half his life wandering, and still has no one close to care for him. How can I feel at ease? I even fear that after I am gone, Che will not spare him.”

The Empress Dowager also had her own worries.

Madam Gui quickly consoled, “No, although the Emperor is cold towards the Sixth Prince, he would never harm him. Take the recent matter of Princess Diwa as an example. The Emperor did not force the Sixth Prince, did he? Brothers are like limbs; my Lady need not worry too much. As for the matter of a consort for the Prince, my Lady can select a suitable one for him tomorrow, wouldn’t that be good?”

The Empress Dowager sighed, “This stubborn child, I only mentioned it once before, and he immediately refused. Now he is already in his twenties, yet he still has no children. Sigh.”

Madam Gui hesitated for a moment and cautiously spoke, “My Lady, the person we had stationed in the Sixth Prince’s mansion reported something before the New Year, but before I could investigate, Princess Diwa arrived in the capital, and all these events happened, so I forgot about it.”

“What happened?”

“You may recall that at the time, Chen Yulan falsely accused Consort Chun of having an affair with her cousin, which ended up exposing the fact that the eldest son of the Yue family was actually a woman.”

The Empress Dowager nodded to indicate she was aware.

“The report we received was that the Sixth Prince seemed somewhat interested in this eldest son of the Yue family and often visited him. However, the young master of the Yue family remained extremely cold towards him.”

As soon as she finished speaking, the Empress Dowager’s face turned cold: “Nonsense.”

Not to mention that the eldest son of the Yue family had grown up dressed as a male and appearing in public, but even if she had been raised delicately in a secluded chamber, she was still the daughter of a merchant family.

How could she possibly be worthy of my Lie’er?

“Does the person in Qing’an Palace know about this?”

The Empress Dowager asked about Shen Layue, her expression obscure.

Madam Gui shook her head: “I specifically asked Xiao Dengzi about this matter. It seems that Consort Chun should be unaware. She only has one secret channel connected to the Shen family, and she uses it very sparingly.”

“And now?”

Madam Gui shook her head again: “Since the matter of Princess Diwa at the beginning of the year, this matter has been dropped. I just thought of it now because Your Majesty mentioned it.”

The Empress Dowager thought for a while and sighed: “I think Lie’er probably doesn’t really want to get close to the young lady of the Yue family. It’s more likely that since the young lady of the Yue family is close to Consort Chun, Lie’er is probably trying to provoke Che’er.”

These two sons, truly, were hard to feel at ease about.