Chapter 221: No One Is Willing to Take Sides with the Crown Prince
Li Lingling said, “Consort Qi, Zhou Sisi is now Consort Huai. What do you mean by saying that?”
Although Li Lingling didn’t want to make Qiao Jinniang happy, she didn’t want to hear this even more.
When Lu Chen was young, he gave all his tenderness to Zhou Sisi. She was also his cousin, but he was only kind to Zhou Sisi.
Qiao Jinniang couldn’t help but feel a little annoyed when she heard this, but then she realized that Lu Chen was kind to Zhou Sisi because he took her as his sister. If she was jealous because of this, she would just be making a fuss.
Anyway, Zhou Sisi was Consort Huai now.
The wedding banquet was very lively. Watching the liveliness of the wedding banquet, Li Lingling recalled how she hastily married into the imperial mausoleum, which made her extremely unreconciled.
Zhou Sisi was angrily smashing everything she could see in the room, making a mess on the ground.
Prince Huai entered, and seeing this scene, he narrowed his eyes and ordered all the maids and the servants to retreat.
After the door was closed, Zhou Sisi yelled angrily, “Don’t come over. You know I don’t want to marry you!”
Prince Huai grabbed Zhou Sisi’s neck with one hand and said, “But you are marrying me, as ordered by the imperial decree!”
Zhou Sisi cried bitterly. “Imperial Cousin, I only want Imperial Cousin!”
“What’s so good about Lu Chen? No matter how well he treated you when he was young, he has chosen Qiao Jinniang over you now!
“Forget about him. I can give you the highest status in the Prince Huai Mansion, but Lu Chen doesn’t even care about your life.
“Do you still want to be obsessed with Lu Chen?”
Prince Huai wiped Zhou Sisi’s tears and said, “Although we mistakenly become a couple, I promise you I’ll love you as much as I can, and will let you ascend to the highest position, and at that time I’ll made Lu Chen and Qiao Jinniang kneel at your feet, kowtowing to you and begging for your mercy!”
Zhou Sisi looked up at Prince Huai, and in his eyes, she saw the tenderness that Lu Chen had not shown her for a long time.
…
Qiao Jinniang was a little drunk today, so she went back to the carriage of the East Palace and waited for Lu Chen to come back.
When she closed her eyes for a nap in the carriage, she heard some whispers outside.
“I really didn’t expect that Zhou Sisi would marry the Eldest Prince in the end. I had thought that the Eldest Prince was already finished after being driven to guard the imperial mausoleum.
“But after he returned, he married Li Lingling of Earl Cheng’en Mansion as his wife, Fourth Miss Qin of the Duke Wu Mansion as his concubine, and now the only daughter of Duke Wu as his ‘Equal Wife’.
“Every dog has its day. Earl Cheng’en used to take sides with Prince Mediocre, but now Prince Mediocre is a commoner, yet the Eldest Prince is more and more powerful.”
“The Crown Prince is really stupid!”
“Shh, how dare you say that? Do you want to die?”
“But I’m telling the truth. Although the royal family forbade anyone from talking about what happened in the Wild Goose Pagoda that day, everyone in Chang’an knows what had happened. If the Crown Prince married Zhou Sisi, he could have secured his connection with the Zhou family, which would have been greatly beneficial for him!
“But he was so stupid that he would rather watch his beautiful cousin jump down the pagoda than marry her!”
“Wasn’t that stupid?”
“It’s a pity that Prince Huai is only interested in beautiful sceneries and paintings. I remember that ten years ago, he was very intelligent and capable, and was quite good at handling state affairs.
“His mother, Imperial Concubine Li, was also very favored by His Majesty, but unfortunately, he was not born by the Queen! ”
“I’m afraid now many courtiers will have to reconsider which side they should be on.” The lady whispered, “The Crown Prince is so cold-hearted to his loyal supporters. Which courtier is still willing to support such an unsympathetic man?”
In the carriage, Qiao Jinniang’s eyelashes moved slightly, and after two quarters of an hour, Lu Chen entered the carriage.
As soon as he entered the carriage, Qiao Jinniang hugged him and threw herself into his arms. “I’m sorry.”
“Why are you saying sorry? Are you drunk? Let’s quickly go back to the East Palace and have the maids make a hangover soup for you. It’s better not to drink soup outside.”
Qiao Jinniang whispered, “Lu Chen, I will make a lot of money for you to buy soldiers and horses and win popular support.
“If no one is willing to support you and they are all on the side of Prince Huai, I will buy them back to support you!”
Lu Chen chuckled. “You’re drunk.”
“I’m not drunk. I mean what I say!” The candlelight was reflected in Qiao Jinniang’s eyes.
Lu Chen whispered in her ear. “Then I’ll have to trouble the Crown Princess to earn more money to raise me.”
Qiao Jinniang blushed and said, “Um, I will make a lot of money.”
…
On the second day after Zhou Sisi married, she should enter the imperial palace to thank the Empress Dowager and the Queen according to the rule.
Qiao Jinniang should have been present, but she was drunk last night and now had a terrible hangover in the morning.
Seeing Qiao Jinniang so uncomfortable, Lu Chen, who came back from the levee, said, “Then don’t go there. It doesn’t matter.”
Qiao Jinniang shook her head and said, “After all, I’m her sister-in-law now.”
Yuyan came in and said to Qiao Jinniang, “Your Highness, Nuomi sent a letter to you.”
Qiao Jinniang opened the envelope and read the letter. And then she couldn’t help frowning and said to Lu Chen, “Nuomi sent a letter saying that this time, there were a lot less ingredients shipped from the South because it has been raining for nearly two months in all parts of the South.
“This letter had just arrived, and it took ten days for the letter to arrive at Chang’an. A lot of places were already flooded ten days ago. The river in front of Myriad Taste in the South was almost level with the road, and it was still raining.
“Lin’an is upstream, so it rarely floods. If it is flooded, it must be after a hurricane.
“It’s not even the rainy season, so there shouldn’t be a hurricane. I think the flood situation will get worse when the rainy season comes.”
The last flood was the year when Lu Chen was rescued.
But even in that year, Myriad Taste was not flooded.
Lu Chen took a look at the letter and said, “I’m going to report this to my father. It’s been raining hard in the South but I haven’t seen any memorial that reports on this matter. If what Nuomi said is true, it would be better to conduct flood control and disaster relief as soon as possible. I’m afraid the flood will be more difficult to tackle after the rainy season comes.”
Qiao Jinniang nodded and said, “Yes!”
After Qiao Jinniang was dressed up, she went to the Queen’s palace, and Prince Huai and Zhou Sisi were already there, but Li Lingling, who always came first in the past, was absent this time.
Zhou Sisi still pretended to be retarded. After all, she couldn’t afford the crime of deceiving the Emperor.
Zhou Sisi was obediently lying beside Queen Zhou as usual, calling her Auntie.
However, Queen Zhou’s eyes were much colder, and soon she asked Prince Huai and Zhou Sisi to leave but asked Qiao Jinniang to stay.
Qiao Jinniang asked with a smile, “Mother, do you want to eat wontons? May I make it for you in the kitchen of your palace?”
“I kept you because I wanted to tell you not to care about the gossip outside.”
Queen Zhou said, “Connections made by marriage bonds are a double-edged sword, which can be good and bad. Chen’er doesn’t need to rely on the Duke Wu Mansion, so you don’t have to feel guilty about it.
“Those who defected to Prince Huai for this reason didn’t support Chen’er sincerely to begin with.”
Qiao Jinniang was so moved and looked at Queen Zhou emotionally. Zheng Xiao would probably not have said these words to her.
Zheng Xiao would only persuade her to consider Lu Chen.
Even Qiao Jinniang felt that Lu Chen had sacrificed too much for her, but only her mother-in-law told her not to feel guilty. She treated her as well as her adoptive mother in Lin’an.
Qiao Jinniang’s eyes were wet and she said, “Thank you, Mother.”
Queen Zhou continued, “By the way, remember to put more green onions in the wontons.”
Qiao Jinniang: “…”