Chapter Thirty-Four

  Only the empress dowager, dressed in dark red golden brocade with a crimson agate hairpin on her left and a five-branch coral and gold filigree phoenix hairpin on her right, walked slowly into the room with the support of the gentle eunuchs beside her. Her whole body shone with jewels and treasures, revealing her noble status. Following closely behind her were two beautiful young women and a group of palace maids who had accompanied her.

  All the ladies saw the empress dowager enter and hurriedly knelt down to pay their respects, saying "Greetings, Your Majesty, may you live for a thousand years."

  The empress dowager slightly raised her head, with an air of arrogance, walked straight to the upper seat in the grand hall and sat down. Looking down at the people kneeling all over the ground, she said, "All of you, rise."

  "Thank you, Empress Dowager."

  After all the noble ladies had paid their respects, the Empress Dowager had already yielded her position and stood aside. The Empress then stepped forward a few steps, slightly bent her knees to pay her respects: "Your son pays his respects to you, Mother, may you be blessed with good fortune." Both her expression and words were perfectly proper, and she performed the rituals flawlessly, leaving no room for criticism.

  The empress dowager smiled slightly and said, "No need for formalities, sit down."

  "Thank you, Your Majesty." The Empress Dowager straightened up and stood beside her. The maid standing next to her had already considerately arranged for a new chair to be brought over and placed on the right side of the Empress Dowager.

  The queen sat down steadily with great dignity, but in her heart she was secretly on guard: the empress dowager came over at this time, and it is unknown what idea she had, she must be careful.

  As soon as the empress sat down, the dowager empress smiled and looked over at her. "Empress, I heard that Jin'er is getting married. This is a good thing, after all. That child has always been one that I liked. Now that she's already twenty, it's about time she had someone by her side who understands her."

  The queen heard this and immediately felt uneasy, her red lips slightly parted as if she was about to speak.

  The Empress Dowager interrupted, "I have personally selected two women with both talent and beauty. They are the eldest daughter of Wen Weng, a second-grade official in charge of civil administration, and the eldest daughter of Gao Yang Jun Gong. Their appearance and family background are all top-notch. Giving them to Jin'er as his wife and concubine is just right."

  After finishing speaking, he waved his hand at the two women standing beside him and said, "Don't you all come over to let the empress take a look? From now on, we'll be one family."

  Two beautiful girls looked at each other, and both walked elegantly to the front of the queen, one was bright and charming, the other was fresh and beautiful. They were two kinds of beauty with different styles, each having its own merits.

  The two of them moved in unison, bowing their heads and paying respects to the empress, saying "Greetings, Your Majesty, may you live for a thousand years."

  "You may rise." The queen said stiffly.

  She hasn't even agreed yet, how can they become a family?

  This empress is really shameless, she just crossed out several people arranged by the other party in the selection list. This meeting secretly can't get through, and actually wants to come openly, directly face-to-face handing over people to her. Isn't this Wen gentleman and Gao Yang Duke also one of the empress's party, marrying their legitimate daughters, what's the difference between marrying an insider?

  The empress dowager looked at the two women brought by the empress with great satisfaction, seemingly unaware of what was on the empress's mind. She said directly, "Empress, don't you think these two girls are quite good? After they get married and go over to serve Jun'er in a few days, they will definitely be able to take good care of her."

  This means that this matter is settled. The queen hummed in her heart, with her around, don't even think about it.

  The queen's eyes lightly flowed and turned to look at the empress dowager, "Motherly Empress, this is indeed a coincidence. I was just discussing Ji'er's marriage with the other ladies."

  The empress dowager listened with a slight narrowing of her eyes, seemingly somewhat displeased, and looked at the various noblewomen below "Oh? And what was the result of your discussion?"

  The Empress Dowager's question was hastily answered by the anxious Madame Rongguo, "Your Imperial Majesty, I have already spoken to Her Majesty the Empress about this. We are willing to marry our daughter from the Rongguo Duke's estate to the Qingwang estate."

  She saw that the Empress Dowager was about to settle this marriage with someone else, then she wouldn't get this generous betrothal gift. Just as she was anxiously getting flustered, the Empress Dowager asked a question, and this was her great opportunity to grab back the marriage. She immediately spoke out without care.

  The empress's face sank, and she gave the Madame of Lu State a cold glance. "So, Madame of Lu State is willing to marry off your legitimate daughter to him?" The emphasis on 'legitimate daughter' was heavy in her tone.

  This made the lady of Rongguo's forehead sweat, and she stiffened her scalp to say "Yes, yes, it's the concubine daughter of the mansion. But since childhood, she has been raised as the eldest daughter." The voice was even lower at the end, almost inaudible.

  The empress coldly snorted, "After all, she's just a minor concubine-born daughter. At most, she'll be a concubine for Rong'er. She dares to covet the position of legitimate wife? I think you've been blinded by being the Lady of the State of Lu, and don't even understand the rules."

  The Lady of Lu Guo was startled and hastily knelt down to kowtow, saying "Your Majesty, please calm your anger, it was I who overstepped."

  The rest of the noblewomen in the great hall also saw this and were so frightened that they did not dare to speak.

  The empress dowager glanced at her sideways and merely said, "It's good that you understand your own status."

  The Emperor turned his face to the Empress and said, "Your Majesty, Jin'er's status is noble, how can he marry a concubine? The two children I have chosen are both excellent. Let us not delay, I will issue an imperial decree immediately..."

  The two words "imperial marriage" had not yet been spoken, when the Empress Dowager interrupted, "Mother, do you really think that Jin'er should marry a noble-born daughter?"

  The empress dowager was taken aback, though somewhat perplexed, but didn't think much of it, and immediately put on a dignified air. "Of course, Jin'er is the eldest son of the prince, and also your nephew as the emperor's wife. His status is naturally noble beyond words. He must be matched with a noble daughter of equal status. Just like these two children I've chosen."

  The queen smiled and said, "If that's the case, then I wouldn't dare go against your wishes."

  The empress dowager was taken aback, furrowing her brow in puzzlement, what did this mean?

  The empress smiled and said to the various noblewomen in the palace, "You all heard what the empress dowager said. Jing'er's status is precious, which of those minor concubine-born daughters can match up to her? It must be the eldest daughters from your households who will come to discuss marriage with Jing'er. Today, send the portraits and birth dates of the unmarried eldest daughters from your households into the palace." This was the empress dowager's intention, and I can only follow orders.

  The hall was in an uproar, with everyone looking at each other in dismay. Several ladies-in-waiting nearly fainted upon hearing these words. They had been thinking of marrying off their illegitimate daughters to the Prince of Jing's household in exchange for a generous betrothal gift, but now the Empress Dowager had turned the situation around by suggesting that they offer their legitimate daughters for marriage instead.

  The empress dowager was also shocked, almost slapping the table. When did she have this intention? She said that just to suppress the queen and make her nod in agreement to betroth the eldest daughter of Wen Daoren and Gao Yang Jun to Baili Rongjin.

  Who would have thought that the queen would take advantage of this opportunity to let the ladies in the palace send their daughters to discuss marriage. Aren't these people going to hate her even more in their hearts?

  Ignoring the reactions of the noble ladies in the hall, the empress again spoke to the empress dowager, whose face had turned red with anger: "Mother, you are too kind, and I am not worthy of such kindness. As for these two young ladies you have brought, we will need to match their eight characters first to see if they have the good fortune to serve Jing'er."

  Seeing the Empress's furious face, she couldn't help but feel a sense of relief in her chest, wanting to push Jin'er over and see if this aunt would agree or not.

  The empress dowager was so angry that she almost fumed with rage, and the eight characters didn't match. It's strange that this queen could make their eight characters match. Isn't it clear that she deliberately chose these two people to prevent them from marrying into the Jing Wang Fu? Good grief, An Ya Yun has become more and more cunning over the years, and now even she can't grasp her.

  The eunuchs beside the empress dowager saw that things were not going well, and hastily presented a cup of tea to the empress dowager to calm her down. At the same time, they secretly pointed at the more than ten palace maids standing in the hall with boxes in their hands, giving the empress dowager some hints.

  The empress dowager sipped her tea and composed herself, suppressing the anger in her heart. She also followed the hint of the imperial nurse beside her and looked towards the side of the hall.

  She had actually seen those dozen or so palace maids a long time ago, after all, holding so many dazzling treasures, it was impossible for her not to notice. Silently following the atmosphere, the Empress Dowager glared at the Empress with malice in her heart.

  Since you can't even get close to the emperor, it's no wonder you're willing to spend money. Although she has been in a good position on the surface in recent years, she has not been able to intervene in the harem affairs and everything is handled by the empress. She doesn't even have the opportunity to make some extra money. The gold, silver, and jewels offered from all over the country are all locked up in the treasury, and she can't get her hands on them at all.

  Now there is such a pile of rare treasures in front of her, how can she not take them.

  The Empress Dowager's tone was also not very good because of her anger. "Empress, I see that these palace maids are all holding boxes in their hands, filled with so many things, and I don't know what they're used for."

  The queen slightly frowned, did the empress dowager really have such a precious idea?

  She said calmly, "This is the betrothal gift that I had prepared for Jin'er's marriage." She thought to herself, surely he wouldn't dare to take it away from her openly.

  The empress thought for a moment, then smiled and said, "So that's it. It's prepared for Jin'er, is it? Well, as it happens, my niece from the Ai family is getting married next month, so you should also prepare a dowry for her. I don't ask for anything else, just prepare one more set like Jin'er's. We're all family, after all, and we can't let others say that you, as the empress, are being partial and unfair."

  The queen gasped, what's the meaning of being so partial. Not even her own niece, yet she wants to add dowry for her, and also wants the same share as Jin'er. Such words can be spoken, truly shameless.

  With a wave of annoyance, he swept his gaze over the noble ladies below, and for a moment, schemes filled his mind.

  "The Empress's expression remained unchanged as she said, 'Originally, I thought that as a son, I should follow your instructions, Mother. But upon careful consideration, I feel that it is not quite right. I had initially intended to prepare 248 sedan chairs of betrothal gifts for Jin'er, but now that you've mentioned it, I recall that when Rui Wang got married, I didn't prepare such gifts for him. Upon further reflection, preparing betrothal gifts for Jin'er now would indeed be inappropriate. To avoid others saying that I am being partial, it seems that this matter of preparing gifts and adding dowry can only be dropped.'"

  She wanted the betrothal gift, but it was just a dream. It so happened that she had been extremely displeased by the noble ladies in the palace earlier and did not want to add a large sum of betrothal gifts for these people. Just as the empress dowager brought it up, she could conveniently push away the matter of the betrothal gift.

  The empress dowager was speechless for a moment, unable to think of another good solution. She could only stare at the queen with wide eyes.

  The ladies in the palace felt as if the sky was falling when they heard that the Empress had rejected the 248 sedan chairs of betrothal gifts. These 248 sedan chairs were the only comfort left in their hearts, and now they had nothing.

  They had to send their daughter away for a marriage arrangement, and they couldn't even get the generous betrothal gifts that were originally promised. Isn't this like trying to steal a chicken but ending up losing the rice instead? The ladies are so anxious that they're on the verge of collapse.

  Digression

  Everyone, there are a lot of words, so it's been delayed again, sorry about that.