Consort Fan’s words toward Lady Lu had always been harsh, and she never hesitated to use the greatest malice to speculate about the Lu family and Crown Princess Lu’s thoughts. She finished speaking with a cold laugh, then raised her head to look at her son: “Why are you so listless?”
The Jiangxi case had been nearly completely tried. All told, it had taken less than a month—this could already be considered extremely efficient. Even Emperor Jianzhang had praised him once, and had just assigned him a position in the Ministry of Justice. The Ministry of Justice was a good place. Even Chen Dezhong, the advisor his father had forcibly assigned to him, couldn’t help but sigh once: “Although you’ve offended officials from the southern faction, with this foundation, Your Highness hasn’t come away empty-handed.”
A good place was a good place, but it was extremely busy. As a newcomer, and having listened to Qian Ying’s advice to try his best to do good work and be a prince who accomplished real things, the tasks at hand had suddenly multiplied. Counting it up, the case files he’d recently reviewed were perhaps nearly equal to all the books he’d read in all these years. It truly exhausted one’s mental and physical energy.
Hearing his mother ask this now, he smiled bitterly and shook his head, only then returning his attention to the conversation with his mother. Frowning, he asked: “Mother, you mean the Lu family wants to send another girl to be his Crown Prince Consort? But what about the Song family?”
The Lu family had originally risen through military merit, following this dynasty’s founding emperor to establish the realm and pacify the northern tribes, killing their way to a family fortune through blood. It was only later that the founding emperor grew wary of meritorious nobles, and the Lu family had committed an offense, so their iron certificate with vermillion writing was confiscated and their title temporarily stripped. The Lu family then simply moved out of the capital and had remained peaceful all these years. Were they now seeing that their family had produced an empress and a crown princess and thinking of competing? Zhou Weiqi felt somewhat like laughing and clapping—the Song family was no pushover. If the Lu family truly had such intentions, would Empress Lu and Crown Princess Lu help or not? If they helped, there was nothing to say—could they possibly make Sixth Miss Song a secondary consort? How could that be possible?
Great Lady Fan clearly thought along the same lines as him, the corners of her lips carrying a trace of mocking smile: “If they really want to send another daughter into the palace as Crown Prince Consort, that would truly be too wonderful.”
One family wanting to produce three empresses—the censors and remonstrating officials would probably not rest until they had impeached the Lu family to the very bottom. She truly hoped this matter would succeed. If it did, not to mention anything else, the Crown Prince’s disgust toward the Lu family would probably rise another level, and he would become even more distant from the Crown Princess and Zhou Weizhao. And the Song family couldn’t possibly be willing to let their legitimate daughter suffer and make way for a Lu family daughter. Oh my, calculating it this way, the Lu family’s return to the capital this time really came at just the right moment. She felt quite schadenfreude, truly hoping that Lady Lu would agree to her family’s request for the sake of her maternal relatives.
Especially after Nanny Fang came in with news she’d gathered, saying that the flower banquet the Empress would hold in a few days had also invited the Lu family young lady, the smile at the corners of her mouth deepened: “I wonder what the Song family will think when they find out.”
The Song family people clung to the Crown Prince so much—this time they’d probably be thoroughly disgusted.
Although Zhou Weiqi also enjoyed seeing the scenario his mother envisioned happen, he had after all spent much time with Qian Ying and his thinking had normalized somewhat. He knew that with Zhou Weizhao’s intelligence and methods, he absolutely wouldn’t do something that would displease the Song family, so he didn’t hold much hope. Instead, he was somewhat worried about his own marriage: “Mother, this time when selecting a consort for him, they’ll probably select one for me as well.”
But they hadn’t heard even a whisper about candidates, which was truly unsettling. Consort Fan pondered for a moment. It wasn’t that she had no worries about this matter, but now things were different from before. She didn’t even dare show her face before Her Majesty the Empress. As for the Crown Prince… she could only rely on the Crown Prince. She sighed softly: “In this matter, Mother is now powerless. When you’re free, go to your father more often. He was willing to ask your opinion before—he certainly won’t just accept whoever Her Majesty the Empress decides without question.”
After speaking, she fell silent for a moment, thought for a bit, then said: “Among those entering the palace this time, besides Sixth Miss Song from the Song family, there’s also a young lady from the Shangqiu Shen family and Elder Du’s young granddaughter. The Cen family’s young lady is also included. If I’m not mistaken, your choice will be made from among these.”
If truly choosing from among these young ladies, there was really nothing to complain about. Each one was extremely good—at least in terms of status, all were excellent. The Cen family girl was the legitimate granddaughter of the Minister of War’s family. Elder Du’s family needn’t be mentioned. As for Shangqiu Shen… if he could marry a girl from Shangqiu Shen, that would be even better—her brother currently worked under Guo Huaiying, and Guo Huaiying’s legitimate wife was Shen Yang from Shangqiu Shen.
Zhou Weiqi understood his mother’s meaning and stopped worrying so much. That’s right—although his imperial grandmother didn’t like his mother, she treated him, her grandson, quite well. Counting Prince Gong’s side, his imperial grandmother had only four blood grandsons in total. How could there be any reason not to value her grandson?
After Consort Fan finished speaking, she asked about her son sending people to find Chen Mingyu. Unknowingly, her eyes carried a hint of murderous intent: “You should pay more attention. Have you instructed this matter carefully? It must be done cleanly. We’ve failed too many times already. Getting to where we are now is already Heaven’s blessing. If anything else goes wrong…”
Thinking about it, Consort Fan felt actually nothing could go wrong. Right now the Chen family had fallen like a tree with scattered monkeys—they had no power at all. Chen Mingyu and Maiden Aunt Chen were just two women without the strength to truss a chicken. What could they do? They were just fish on the chopping block waiting to be slaughtered.
Zhou Weiqi naturally also knew this matter was important. The people who came forward to handle it were specially selected by Qian Ying—each one was cautious. With so much silver involved, Qian Ying couldn’t be more cautious. If not for fear of exposing his identity, he would have wanted to go personally. With him overseeing things, the people this time were all reliable. Wei Yansheng had also repeatedly guaranteed these people were all loyal and trustworthy.
“Don’t worry, Mother.” He estimated the time and narrowed his eyes: “Calculating the time, word should be coming back soon.”
To be completely at ease—how could it be that simple? Until Consort Fan saw the seal, that weight in her heart would never lift. She nodded and instructed her son: “If you receive word, come tell me as soon as possible.”
This kind of matter still couldn’t be delayed—it needed to be resolved quickly. She wasn’t afraid those two Chen family women would stir up any trouble. She was just afraid they would truly encounter mountain bandits on the road or someone with greedy intentions.
Zhou Weiqi still needed to report to his father about the documents the Ministry of Justice had processed these past few days, and also inquire about the Empress’s intentions. He agreed while standing up.