Yi’an’s pupils involuntarily contracted when she heard this.
No, it wasn’t her imagination. The queen dowager actually rejected her?
She had originally meant to come tattle to the queen dowager. It was also best if she could persuade the queen dowager to give the order and arrange for her to join the crown prince consort’s team tomorrow.
At that time, no matter how much the crown prince consort was unwilling, would the crown prince consort still be able to make things difficult for her when she had the queen dowager’s decree?
As long as she had more chances to meet with His Highness the Crown Prince, allowing him to perceive her gentleness, grace, and beauty, then her future still had hope.
But right now?
The queen dowager actually rejected her!
Could it be that she had done something wrong for the queen dowager to truly loathe her?
Commandery Princess Yi’an could not make heads or tails of it, nor was there anything she could do about it. The queen dowager had already given the word, so she could not keep pestering her lest it further provoke the queen dowager’s disgust.
After she left, Feng Gu censured uncontrollably, “I had not discovered that the commandery princess was such a pretender in the past. Looking at her now, her act is really too exaggerated.”
“Is that not so. The crown prince consort had evidently rejected her help already, yet she still dared to come and request for Her Majesty to step in.” Nanny Zhong was also very indignant. “Who does she think the queen dowager is? If Her Majesty the Queen Dowager really did promise her and shove her into the crown prince consort’s party, what would the crown prince consort think?”
The queen dowager sighed as she lamented with a shake of her head, “I still remember back when she was young, she was only nine years old when I brought her into the palace. At that time, she was such a small and skinny ball, like a small, excessively frightened creature. She would lose her head out of fear whenever she saw someone.”
“For a full six months, she would wake up in the middle of the night from nightmares.”
“That is right, Your Majesty the Queen Dowager personally brought her to your bedchamber and attended to her carefully for more than half a year…” Feng Gu declared while gritting her teeth, “Yet who knew this would produce a thankless wretch who would poison Your Majesty the Queen Dowager.”
“This old servant still thinks that it is best to send the commandery princess far away, or perhaps marry her off quickly.” Nanny Zhong also added in a cold voice, “You must know that there will always be a second time after the first instance. Since she can frequently enter and exit Your Majesty’s bedchamber, who knows if there will be another poisoning attempt.”
The queen dowager exhaled a long sigh as she set down the clippers while looking at that wilting jasper begonia. “These flowers become no good after blooming for some time. The same applies to humans, turning crooked as they grow up. Yet I have no idea when it happened.”
“Do not worry, Your Majesty. This jasper begonia can still be rescued. This servant will post a mission in the city tomorrow and invite the best gardeners to the palace.”
The next day.
The crown prince consort woke up bright and early. Afterwards, she brought along twenty junior royal maids and eunuchs and headed toward Xiluo Street with the crown prince in a grandiose manner.
The accompanying one thousand royal guards were there to maintain order.
When they reached the beginning of Xiluo Street, the group of junior royal maids and eunuchs started to set up shop. Their actions were quick with their division of labor.
Two junior eunuchs stood in front of several rice barrels to await orders, while two others were at the ready to record the amount of grains distributed in the account books they were holding.
Soon, a line formed at the beginning of Xiluo Street.
As the team leader of the royal guard maintained order, he continuously reminded those commoners in line, “You’ve all seen the public notice right! No matter male or female, anyone older than 55 years old or younger than 16 years old can receive five liters of rice.”
“Do not shove each other, and do not cut in line! Should I find you causing a disturbance, I will cancel your qualification!”
Everyone was in a fervor as they excitedly whispered to each other with all sorts of comments.
