Chapter 339

Chapter 339

Qin Jiu's eyes sparkled as she urged. "Is there anything else?"

Feeling that she was missing a plate of melon seeds to snack on as she listens to these juicy rumors, Qin Jiu ordered a maidservant to get her a plate of melon seeds, pine nuts and some more nuts.

Seeing Qin Jiu listening happily, Du Ruo secretly sighed: Although her young miss was already at that age, but she was still after all, a child.

On the other hand, Du Ruo was also inwardly disdainful, there were many noble clans and imperial clans in the capital but she hasn't heard any of them spreading rumors like this nor making an uproar about such things, after all, it's not like they were seen going to Hualouzi Pavilion to pay for a girl. So, could it be that this Qin Xin was making such a fuss because she was afraid that the second prince would marry a consort!?

Concurrently, Qin Jiu quickly nibbled on the melon seeds given by the maidservant.

"Kachak, crack..."

As the melon seeds peel piled up more and more on the ruyi small square table Qin Jiu suddenly clapped her hands as if she remembered something. The last time she returned to the Marquis's Mansion, Old Madam Qin also said that Qin Xin looked very unhappy.

According to this rumor, this shouldn't be the case!

So, where did it go wrong?

Qin Jiu ate the melon seed with relish, hoping that the melon seeds would give her some more inspiration.

Du Ruo peeled the pine nuts as she cast a meaningful glance at Qin Jiu, and just like this, the white-jade-like pine nuts fell one by one on the white porcelain plate.

And unknowingly, Qin Jiu ate a plate of melon seeds and pine nuts but still didn't come up with anything.

So, she sent another maidservant to ask around again when someone came to report that someone from the palace had come.

The one who came was Xiao Kouzi from Fengluan Palace, she was ordered by Empress Wei to invite Qin Jiu to enter the palace.

Qin Jiu was dressed comfortably at home, without any jewelry or accessories so she had to change quickly and hurriedly followed Xiao Kouzi into the palace.

"Xiao Jiu." Empress Wei affectionately pulled Qin Jiu to sit down beside her and casually plucked a petal that had fall down on Qin Jiu's hair. "Young Miss Fang... is the daughter of Princess Yongle, so I invited you here in the palace today to meet her. In the future, Young Miss Fang will be raised here in the palace, and since you two are not much different in age, you can hang out together during the weekdays."

Empress Wei was the person who knows the emperor the best and at the moment, she knew the emperor was feeling guilty towards his eldest sister. So, having his eldest sister's daughter, his niece, here in the palace was something he wanted to do, so that he could put every effort to make up for his dead sister, and since husband and wife were one, Empress Wei thought the same.

Qin Jiu obediently replied, "Empress aunt, I will often come to the palace to play with her in the future."

Empress Wei rubbed the top of Qin Jiu's hair, feeling that her niece was very caring and considerate, she then added. "Miss Fang's name is Hanjun, and she is the only daughter of Princess Yongle. However, her life in Yuzhou has not been satisfactory. She only brought two carts of luggage to the capital this time, and only had about ten servants with her, even wearing some old clothes from last year."

Empress Wei has never seen a nobleman treat his own daughter so unfairly, and because of this Empress Wei disdains Dongping very much in her heart, regardless of past grudges or grievances, Fang Hanjun was still his own daughter!

Surging with emotions, Empress Wei couldn't help but rail more to Qin Jiu.

"Princess Yongle is really unfortunate, according to the laws of Daqi, the son-in-law of an imperial family cannot take concubines, but Dongping relies on being far away from the capital and having the support of Wang Yu, getting and doting on his concubines, and neglecting his wife."

"Princess Yongle is of course very angry and couldn't bear this humiliation but before the late emperor passed away, he issued an order not to allow Princess Yongle to divorce, nor to return to the capital."

"Ai, Princess Yongle doesn't want to cause trouble for the emperor so she has been living in Yuzhou all these years. She wanted to live in a separate mansion with Dongping but her husband doesn't want her to be happy and disagreed."

As she said these, Empress Wei seemed to remember some past events and sighed with regret, "The eldest princess was such a proud person in the past, she was the eldest daughter of the late emperor, and was once loved by the late emperor the most..."

But no matter how much he loves this daughter, the late emperor still couldn't resist Concubine Fang Shu's pillow talk, disregarded Princess Yongle's wishes, and married her to Dongping.

As Qin Jiu listened attentively, she felt a little sympathy for the eldest princess whom she had never met. The late emperor was definitely a scumbag father!

Qin Jiu said, "In the future, Young Miss Fang will be favored by the Empress Dowager and the Emperor, so it can be considered a good turn for the better."

Empress Wei's expression became more subtle as she said, "Empress Dowager heard some rumors, and mentioned to the emperor yesterday that once Hanjun's mourning period is over, why not marry her to Gu Jing as his consort, saying that they are cousins."

The empress knows that the emperor would not want Fang Hanjun to marry Gu Jing, and she also knows that the emperor didn't want to argue with Empress Dowager and even if Empress Dowager would definitely compromise in the end, the emperor would not be happy.

Thinking of the abashed expression when the emperor talked about Empress Dowager Liu last night, Empress Wei couldn't help but feel sorry for the emperor being in a difficult position.

Empress Dowager Liu was Fang Hanjun's maternal grandmother, so of course, she loves her granddaughter but good intention could also lead to bad things.

Empress Wei said with a complicated expression. "When the late emperor favored Concubine Fang Shu, the empress dowager was then the empress, she was stepped on by Concubine Fang Shu and was humiliated frequently. And in order to protect Princess Yongle and the emperor, the empress dowager suffered a lot, she once kneeled outside the imperial study whole day and night to intercede for the emperor causing her to have a high fever for several days, and stayed sick for a long time."

"So, the emperor has always felt sorry for the empress dowager who suffered for so many years. After the emperor ascended the throne, he told people in the palace that he wanted the empress dowager to live a carefree life and follow everything the empress dowager wants."

Perhaps because the emperor couldn't do anything about Princess Yongle, he almost doubled his filial piety to Empress Dowager Liu for Princess Yongle's sake.

Remembering those past events and the passing of Yongle, Empress Wei was also feeling heavy, even the air inside the hall became slightly gloomy.

To put it bluntly, all those sins were committed by the later emperor!

"...." Qin Jiu finally understood.

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