Read Novel Full The Empress’s Blessing in the Qing Dynasty Chapter 15
Chapter 15
After the Emperor departed, Li Mu grew increasingly perplexed by the current turn of events. First, the Imperial Household Department had failed to prepare consort uniforms for Lady Tong. Then, despite all the other concubines currently holding the rank of Sub-Mistress, the Emperor actually intended to take Lady Zhao Jia’s child and give him to a foster mother. In the past, Lady Ma Jia had been allowed to raise her many children herself; there seemed to be no reason why Lady Zhao Jia should be denied the same.
Furthermore, she noticed that the Emperor was becoming easier to talk to by the day, and the way he looked at the other concubines was becoming harder for her to decipher.
If I don’t understand it, then I don’t understand it, Li Mu thought, taking a deep breath. “As long as I feel I’m on the right track, it’s fine.” She had never intended to pin all her hopes on the Emperor from the very beginning.
“Your Majesty…” Snow Lotus looked at Li Mu with concern. Lately, her mistress seemed more and more focused on the Emperor. Now that Sub-Mistress Zhao Jia had given birth to the Third Prince, Snow Lotus wondered how complicated the Empress’s feelings must be. She must surely be suffering…
“Snow Lotus, what are you worrying about? If the Emperor says so, he must have his reasons. We don’t need to interfere. Getting involved only invites trouble.” The Emperor had mentioned taking Lady Zhao Jia’s offspring away. With so many Sub-Mistresses in the palace, and although Noble Consort Niuhuru held a higher rank, neither she nor the Emperor had considered giving the child to her. They would have to choose from among the Sub-Mistresses.
Li Mu was entirely unaware that she and Snow Lotus were talking on two completely different wavelengths. She smiled and gently swung the infant Prince’s hand. “For the next while, I don’t want to go out, nor do I want to summon any concubines. I’ll just take Yinreng to visit his Grand Imperial Grandmother and Imperial Mother.” It was high time the child bonded with them.
Setting aside the messy affairs of the harem, Li Mu was in a rather good mood. She couldn’t let someone else’s business make her unhappy.
For the following period, Li Mu lived a simple, routine life. She was either at the Cining Palace visiting the Empress Dowager and the Grand Empress Dowager, in the Kunning Palace playing with her son, or occasionally seeking out the Emperor to ensure the child saw his father at least once a day to foster their relationship.
She was finally able to ignore the harem’s trivialities and enjoy playing with her child. Meanwhile, news that the Emperor had personally ordered a foster mother for the new Prince spread like wildfire. Barely half a month after Lady Zhao Jia had given birth, while she was still basking in the joy of her hard-won child, Liang Jiugong arrived with the imperial decree.
Lady Zhao Jia was full of joy, looking expectantly at the powerful Chief Eunuch. Ordinary concubines rarely saw Liang Jiugong; his appearance usually meant an order from the Emperor.
She hugged her child tightly, her heart fluttering with delight. “As expected, the Emperor has me in his heart.”
She was secretly gloating. It seemed the “favored” Empress wasn’t that important in the Emperor’s heart after all. Even a lowly Sub-Mistress like herself could slight the Empress and still win back the Emperor’s favor through a son. After all, the Hesheli woman only became Empress because of her status as a Manchu noblewoman. If they were of equal status, she, a Sub-Mistress, might not have lost to her.
…Hmph. I heard the Empress was born of a concubine, far inferior to my status as a legitimate daughter.
Lady Zhao Jia was privately triumphant. The other concubines living in the same compound came out as well. Lady Ma Jia and the Guo Luo sisters ignored the fact that Zhao Jia was still in her confinement period and crowded around Liang Jiugong. Of course, Liang Jiugong didn’t care; he was only there to deliver the Emperor’s message.
Liang Jiugong glanced at her and declared:
“The Emperor decrees: Sub-Mistress Zhao Jia is of a frail constitution and fears she lacks the strength to care for the Eighth Prince. The Eighth Prince shall be raised in the Prince’s Quarters, and a foster mother shall be chosen with due deliberation. As the biological mother of the Eighth Prince, Sub-Mistress Zhao Jia has rendered merit to the Imperial Family and is hereby rewarded with one hundred taels of silver…”
The rest of the words never reached Zhao Jia’s ears. She was stunned, only reacting after a long moment. “Eunuch Liang, you must be joking. The Eighth Prince is my biological child; of course I can raise him well!”
She held the Eighth Prince in a death grip. Liang Jiugong gave a cold, superficial smile. “Sub-Mistress Zhao Jia, by acting this way, are you intending to disobey an Imperial Command?”
“Hurry and bring the little Prince here. If he is harmed, I will not let you off,” he barked at the maids behind him. The maids, terrified by his glare, rushed forward to take the child.
Zhao Jia never expected things to turn out this way. “What do you think you’re doing?! I am the Prince’s mother! You dog servants! How could the Emperor have the heart to take my child away? When the Emperor comes, I’ll make you pay!”
How could she give up the son she had worked so hard to bear and protect? The Grand Investiture was approaching; she would fight with her life to keep the Prince. Her biological son was her only hope for future status and favor. To give him up and let another Sub-Mistress benefit? Never!
The leading maid didn’t care for her protests. The little Prince was weak; if Zhao Jia accidentally hurt him, they would be the ones to pay with their lives!
Her gaze sharpened. She took a white cloth and pressed it over Zhao Jia’s face. At first, Zhao Jia struggled, but soon her eyes rolled back and she fainted. The other maids carefully took the infant Prince.
The Prince was taken away. Seeing their mistress fainted, the maids of the house were left in tears, frantically calling for the imperial physician. Lady Ma Jia watched this scene, her mind racing. A Prince without a mother…
Although she was confident she could have her own sons, having an extra bargaining chip before the Grand Investiture wouldn’t hurt.
The younger Lady Guo Luo still wore a playful smirk. In her view, Zhao Jia simply didn’t have the fate for such a blessing. Even if she was lucky enough to conceive and give birth to a Prince, what did it matter? It would only benefit some other consort.
Of course, for the sake of a Prince, she wouldn’t mind becoming his foster mother.
Even the seemingly dull elder Lady Guo Luo couldn’t help but fix her gaze on the direction where the child was taken. It could be said that the allure of a Prince was too great, even if he wasn’t one’s own.
An hour later, Li Mu returned, carrying Yinreng, who was laden with various precious jade bracelets he had essentially “demanded” from the Grand Empress Dowager and the Empress Dowager. Yinreng was still looking back longingly at the direction of his two elders, making Li Mu laugh in exasperation.
“Yinreng, my little Crown Prince, why are you so money-grubbing? The moment we reached the Cining Palace, you wouldn’t stop staring at your Grand Grandmother’s bracelets. When you grow up and remember today, won’t you be too embarrassed to leave the house?”
Li Mu playfully tapped the forehead of the child buried in her neck. Unaware of the teasing, the child thought his mother was playing. He giggled and rubbed against her, looking adorably oblivious.
Nanny Zhou laughed. “Your Majesty, the Prince is showing his filial piety. He made the Grand Empress Dowager and the Empress Dowager roar with laughter. Who else has such talent?” To them, the Crown Prince was extraordinary, and his love for jade was surely a sign of a refined, gentlemanly heir.
“Fine, fine,” Li Mu said, kissing his round cheek. “I must tell the Emperor this story so he can see how much his son loves these jade trinkets.”
The goal of bonding at the Cining Palace had been achieved, but she couldn’t neglect the Qianqing Palace either. Li Mu’s eyes remained clear beneath her smile as she continued to play with the child.
Cining Palace
As the Empress left with the Prince, the Empress Dowager’s smile faded slightly. She said with some melancholy, “The Empress has raised the Crown Prince well. It’s a pity I can’t see Yinreng more often.”
The Empress was filial, and the Prince was too. They often thought of her and the Grand Empress Dowager. But the Empress couldn’t stay in the Cining Palace forever; otherwise, the palace would have been filled with the joyful sounds of a child long ago.
“Qi-qi-ge, when there are more children in the palace, you won’t lack for company,” the Grand Empress Dowager said calmly, still holding a bracelet. She was genuinely happy that the Empress had brought the Prince, and she had even prepared gifts the Prince liked. However, as the Grand Empress Dowager, she couldn’t show her favoritism too obviously.
“Mmh,” the Empress Dowager nodded faintly, though she lacked confidence. The Emperor had lost so many children; currently, only the Fifth Prince and the Crown Prince seemed likely to survive. The newborn Eighth Prince was still a question mark. She still preferred the Crown Prince.
The joy of seeing their grandson finally settled, and the Grand Empress Dowager turned to serious business. “I heard the Emperor no longer intends to welcome Lady Tong into the palace. He even told Tong Guowei to find a husband for his daughter.”
Originally, the Grand Empress Dowager had tacitly approved of the Tong girl entering the palace. Now that the Emperor had changed his mind, she didn’t care much, as there was already an heir. However, not long ago, when Qi-qi-ge was unwell, Tong Guowei’s wife had somehow found out and suggested her daughter enter the palace to “serve” the Empress Dowager.
The word “serve” sounded simple, but with so many concubines in the palace, why would an unmarried girl be needed for service? Furthermore, in terms of rank, the only one qualified to formally serve a mother-in-law was the Empress, the only “true” daughter-in-law. If the Tong girl claimed she had no other intentions, the Grand Empress Dowager wouldn’t believe a word of it.
But lately, she had seen the Emperor’s growing affection for the Empress—to the point where he rarely visited other consorts. This had significantly displeased her. As the Empress, failing to advise her husband to spread his favor and instead monopolizing him reminded her too much of the late Consort Donggo.
Therefore, when Tong Guowei’s wife made her request, the Grand Empress Dowager thought it wouldn’t hurt to give the Tong girl a chance—even though she knew perfectly well how an imperial cousin would affect the Empress’s status.
However… hearts can change. Lately, she had watched the Empress bring Yinreng to see her and Qi-qi-ge every day. While ordinary concubines showed fear in their presence, the Empress’s smiles were sincere. She came at the same time every day, and the moment Yinreng saw the two elders, he would wave his hands in delight. That scene had truly softened her heart.
Having lived so long, she could distinguish who was being sincere and who was putting on an act.
Forget it, she thought. A Tong girl entering the palace with such deliberate intent likely didn’t have a good temperament. It wouldn’t be good if she influenced the Crown Prince. She would have Qi-qi-ge advise the Empress later; the Empress was a good child and would surely understand her meaning.
“Tell that person that the Empress Dowager is recovered and has no need for anyone to serve her,” the Grand Empress Dowager said flatly, returning to the detached manner she showed the outside world.