Rebirth of marriage

In Fengyi Palace, the fourth prince came over early.

He pestered the queen, "Mother, can Xie Jiu really become my son's minister today?"

"My mother has lied to you before, but you have to obey orders and don't mess up the plan." The queen warned.

The fourth prince nodded hurriedly, "Don't worry, mother, I will never act recklessly, but she has been a widow before and is one year older than him. I don't want her to be his concubine."

He didn't like to thank Gu Xiao for drinking, but he was unwilling to let Gu Xiao steal the Wu Wanqing he liked, so he wanted to retaliate in kind.

The queen sneered, "She doesn't deserve it."

A dishonest woman, given her status as a princess, it was high praise to give her a concubine.

The fourth prince heard the Queen's words and left with satisfaction.

Not long after, someone in the palace announced that the third prince and his concubine had arrived.

Aunt Qing was the first to say before the queen spoke, "Your Majesty, it's getting late. I'll help you dress up. I've learned a new makeup style, which will definitely make your queen shine without losing her dignity today."

Seeing the tenderness in her eyes, the queen thought that the third prince was not included in today's arrangements, so there was no need to give him any instructions, and the third prince's visit at this time must be an ordinary visit, nothing important.

Then he said to the palace maid, "Let him take the third prince and his concubine to the imperial garden to enjoy the scenery."

The palace maid understood and went to convey the message to the third prince.

The third prince wanted to tell the queen about the emperor's hidden illness. After he went back last night, he thought a lot. At this age, his father still wants to have children. Did he have other thoughts?

Every son of his father will be his competitor, even if it is a newborn baby, so he wants the queen to pay attention. If the emperor recovers his health and the concubine becomes pregnant, he will find a solution as before. Get rid of it.

However, the palace maid heard that the queen was dressing up, and Cao Jingyi had to follow her to pay her respects. It might be inconvenient to speak later, so she thought of waiting for the palace banquet to end, or going to the palace to see the queen tomorrow.

However, he did not have a good relationship with Cao Jingyi, and he had no interest in taking him to visit the Imperial Garden, so he let her wander around by herself while he went to the emperor's bedroom, thinking of appearing at the banquet with the emperor later to avoid being yelled at again. Gu Xiao stole the limelight.

In Fengyi Palace, the maid reported back to the queen that the third prince had already left.

The queen didn't care much because Aunt Qing's hand had already reached into her clothes dishonestly. Seeing this, the palace maid hurriedly left and stood guard outside the palace.

I'm afraid that someone will take advantage of today's palace banquet to come over in advance to see the queen.

"Don't make trouble." The queen grabbed Aunt Qing's hand and gave her an angry look.

Today is not the time to fool around.

"Your Majesty is so beautiful." Miss Qing murmured softly, "Your Majesty is the most beautiful woman I have ever seen. I can't get enough of it..."

She said words wrapped in honey, her hands smoothly opened the queen's collar, and sucked a bright red mark on her collarbone.

The queen frowned slightly, and Qing aunt quickly apologized and said with aggrieved words, "I'm sorry, I'm so beautiful today. I can't help myself for a moment. If I'm not happy, I'll punish you so that I can't get close to you in the future." .”

How is this self-punishment?

The queen laughed angrily, this was obviously a punishment for her.

Now she can't live without Ah Qing even more.

But as a queen, she would not express her thoughts to a servant, so she glanced at Aunt Qing and said, "Okay, let me dress up quickly."

Aunt Qing hurriedly responded and painted her painting very carefully. The queen looked at herself in the mirror and was very satisfied with today's makeup, but this makeup also took a lot of time.

As soon as the preparations were completed, a palace maid came to report that it was time for the banquet, and the emperor had already left.

The queen had no choice but to leave the Fengyi Palace and meet the emperor.

The emperor and empress arrived, and the banquet began.

The queen noticed that the person sitting closest to the emperor was the old lady from the Liaodong Palace, then the old lady beside her, and then Cao Shoufu.

This old lady's other identity is that of Princess Protector and the first female general in Great Xia. She can barely sit in front of her eldest brother, but why is a nun also placed in front of her Cao family?

She couldn't help but frown, but thinking that no one else could make such arrangements at the palace banquet except the emperor, and thinking about today's plan, it would be inappropriate to offend the Liaodong Palace to avoid complications, so she suppressed her displeasure.

Unexpectedly, the emperor said, "Queen, it's time for you to punish the steward responsible for reception at the palace gate. You actually let King Xiao line up outside, which messed up your decency."

As soon as the old lady entered the palace, the emperor ordered someone to invite her to the imperial study to talk.

This aunt was so trusted by Emperor Huizong that the late emperor respected her very much. At that time, the late emperor had forgotten that his son existed, so it was he who approached this aunt and asked her to mention it to the late emperor. The late emperor gave him the title of king and divided the palace.

Although he was just an idle king, it was much better than his life in the palace. At least he did not die in the palace's machinations. After so many years in the throne, it was because the royal family had the Liaodong Palace behind him that the Cao family did not dare to become more arrogant.

The emperor was grateful to the old lady.

The old lady reported that the reason why the emperor came to Beijing was to visit the bachelor's great-grandchildren and to seek medical treatment for Wen Balang and the princess of Liaodong Prince.

When the monarch and his ministers met, they had some pleasantries. After the emperor asked about the situation in Liaodong, he also asked about the marriages of the bachelors of the Wen family. After answering one by one, the old lady also expressed her concern for the emperor.

In this way, it is inevitable to mention the difficulty of the king. The emperor vaguely mentioned that the Cao family was powerful, and the old lady took the opportunity to talk about the palace affairs. Her words revealed that the royal majesty was inviolable. The Cao family was just a fifth-rank official during the reign of Emperor Huizong. Now he dares to override the prince.

The emperor had an inferiority complex and inevitably compared himself with the previous emperors. Once compared, he became angry towards the Cao family.

That's why he asked the queen at the banquet.

The queen didn't know about the palace affairs yet, but letting Gu Xiao line up with other ministers was her way of humiliating Gu Xiao in the past. Therefore, she said perfunctorily, "Xu is the young king who has entered the palace. These ignorant people have misjudged it. I will punish them later."

The emperor did not go into details and said, "In the future, Prince Xiao must not be allowed to queue up. The prince is the prince."

The matter was revealed.

The queen was not overly concerned. The emperor wanted to save face the most. Now he was in front of everyone, not so much to protect Gu Xiao's face, but to protect his royal face.

However, if Gu Xiao later insulted the dignity of the royal family, he might not be able to kill him in time, just like he did before.

She was in a good mood as she thought about her next plan.

The emperor seemed to be in a good mood and even toasted to her twice.

Seeing the affection between the emperor and the empress, the atmosphere in the entire palace became much more relaxed. Everyone was laughing and enjoying the singing and dancing, and occasionally put a bit of food in front of them into their mouths in a meaningful way.

Halfway through the banquet, the palace attendant brought steamed mandarin fish on a tray. The fish was placed in front of the queen. She looked at the pale fish body and suddenly felt nauseated and retched.

The attentive emperor noticed her discomfort and asked the imperial doctor waiting in the side hall to diagnose the queen's pulse.

After taking the pulse, the imperial doctor knelt down in front of the emperor and said happily, "Congratulations, Your Majesty, the Queen is very happy."

Hearing this, everyone was about to stand up to congratulate, when they heard a "pop." sound, and the sound of a porcelain cup falling to the ground. When everyone looked, they saw the third prince standing up with a pale face.

The crowd's gazes brought the third prince back to his senses. He hurriedly turned to look at the emperor, and saw that there was indeed no joy on his face.

The third prince's face turned pale again. His father had a hidden illness two years ago, but his mother was pregnant.

He didn't dare to think about what his father would do to his mother.

"Your Majesty, what's wrong with you?" the queen's voice sounded.

The third prince did not dare to look up at her and hurriedly apologized to the emperor, "Father, please forgive me. I am just worried about my mother's health. Since my mother is unwell, I will send her back to the palace right now."

The queen frowned. Why did she feel that the third child was particularly unhappy about her pregnancy?

Could it be that he is worried that his younger brothers and sisters will lose his favor in the future?

But the third prince always lowered his head, and she could not clearly see the expression on his face.

However, if she wanted to go back, she couldn't have her third son send her off. She smiled at the emperor and said, "I am indeed a little tired, so let the two daughters-in-law take me back."

The emperor had given her fertility drugs before, but she never expected that she would actually get pregnant at this age. On a day like today, she was still very happy to be diagnosed in public.

If she hadn't been found to be pregnant, she had planned to find an excuse to leave with Xie Jiu in the middle of the banquet. However, she had no previous contact with Xie Jiu and took her away rashly, which instead aroused her vigilance. It's different.

It was perfectly normal for her mother-in-law to leave the party and let her two daughters-in-law see her off.

No matter how bad the relationship between Gu Xiao and her was, she was still his legitimate mother and Xie Jiu's future mother-in-law, so the emperor agreed.

Xie Jiu and Cao Jingyi stood up one after another and helped the queen out of the banquet hall.

The fourth prince coquettishly said he was worried about his mother's health, and also left the table.

The third prince couldn't sit still, and he wanted to get up and leave, but was stopped by the emperor, "Third prince, come have a drink with your father."

When the third prince sat back uneasily, Cao Chengle followed him out of the palace while the people serving the dishes left.