The Gilded Cage - Chapter 135

Warning – More Blood Will Be Shed. (1)

The Crown Prince gave way. The East Palace harem was really empty.

The matter of choosing a new concubine for the Crown Prince was finally brought up again, and every day after the political discussions, someone would always say a word or two.

If it were in the old days, there would be countless people who wanted to marry their daughters to the Crown Prince, but now there were only a few old ministers who had a deep friendship with the Crown Prince.

But their expression, it seemed, was only for the sake of past favors, not any sincere intention to marry.

This situation was both forced by the situation and deliberately done by Xiao Yu, in order to make the Zhao family’s affairs logical – there would be no one he could choose but Zhao Yue, who came from a privileged background but was a widow.

The only way to choose a widowed woman was to have his circumstances be the same.

The Zhao family had military power, and the Qi family, even if they didn’t like military generals, had to be wary. Qi Mu almost rose to refute this on the spot, saying that Zhao’s widow was not worthy of being the prince’s consort.

Xiao Yu, of course, had already prepared his own argument, saying that he had already had a wife and had no choice but to separate, and was not qualified to dislike Zhao’s position.

The reason why the prince was so anxious to have a concubine was to have an heir as soon as possible, and that Second Lady Zhao had raised a little girl during her marriage to the Cheng family, but when the girl was six months old, she was caught in the rain on her way to Buzhou and died of a wind chill.

So, he just plugged Qi Mu’s words, and after several days of argument, the matter finally fell on Xiao Kezhi’s hands.

As the son of heaven, and an elder of the prince, should make the final decision.

Qi Mu and Xiao Yu, both put their hopes on him.

He listened patiently to the arguments back and forth, and finally, under the gaze of dozens of pairs of eyes, he said lightly, “Just for the sake of passing on the lineage and continuing the bloodline, indeed, Lady Zhao is very suitable. Since the Crown Prince is also willing, I, as an uncle, will not oppose, if the Zhao family agrees, this matter may be settled.”

“Your Majesty!” Qi Mu was so shocked that he could hardly believe his ears.

He had previously thought that the young emperor, although flamboyant, knew what was at stake, but now he was condoning the marriage between the prince and the Zhao family.

Xiao Yu also felt incredulous.

He originally thought that Xiao Kezhi would not easily agree to the marriage.

Somehow, he always felt that it all came too smoothly, except for Chu Ning’s sudden departure from the established trajectory, everything else was so smooth that he was a bit frightened.

But the arrow was on the string and had to be fired, so he just had to press down the dissension in his heart and answer it in public.

“Okay.” Xiao Ke Zhi expressionlessly swept the crowd, his gaze swept over Qi Mu’s expression full of shock and dissatisfaction, and continued, “Today’s discussion ends here.”

Saying so, he stood up and left the Taiji Hall.

……

In the afternoon, when the chambermaids sent the monthly allowance to each courtyard of the Guizhen Temple, the nourishing medicines that Xiao Kezhi had prepared were also sent to Chu Ning’s house.

“My Lady, these are the nourishing medicines that His Majesty has instructed Feng Yu to personally select. They are all prepared according to the old recipe. Daily use can warm My Lady’s meridians and disperse cold, invigorate blood, and resolve silt.”

Chu Ning smiled and took them with her own hands, asked Cuihe to make tea for the visitors, and let them rest for a moment in the room.

After the people left, Cuihe came back and took out the medicines, looked at the prescriptions one by one, and said, “The Emperor treats My Lady well indeed, and takes such things to heart.”

The previous delivery of contraceptive pills, Liu Kang said, was only with temporary medicine, and the physicians looking for more permanent solutions was not a joke.

Chu Ning faintly hummed, absentmindedly remembering the many details of the past six months with Xiao Kezhi—the political intrigue, the general situation.

“Yes, the Zhao family will naturally agree, I think, in less than three months, the marriage will be completed.” Chu Ning put the roasted tea into the tea mill to carefully grind, “By that time…”

At that time, after everything was confirmed, Xiao Kezhi would take action to capture Xiao Yu and the Zhao family all together.

The rest of this sentence, she did not say out loud, but Cuihe understood.

“When things pass, have you thought about what you want to do afterward?”

“Do you really want to waste half of your life in a Taoist temple? This maid thought that His Majesty treated my lady with sincerity…”

Chu Ning’s hand sifting through the tea ends paused, then let out a light sigh and did not answer.

She did have the thought of spending the rest of her life in the Taoist temple. After all, being able to leave Xiao Yu was beyond expectation. But thinking about Xiao Kezhi, she did seem to have her heart set on him.

Only, about the future, he did not mention it, and she did not ask. Exactly how it would be was still unknown.

……