Chapter 225 The Candidate for the Crown Princess

Empress Dowager Gu thought about it for a while, and then ordered, “As for this year’s holiday for preventing sunstroke… Weizhou, you will take charge of it!”

Prince of Zhou was stunned, “I…” Since it had been a custom to spend a holiday at a summer resort for the royal family and everyone was familiar with it, so according to common sense, it could be arranged according to the old routine, which was not difficult.

However, he could imagine that the Empress would not let him pa.s.s the test by just following suit! Besides the days for preparation, the journey to Mount Dizi would take a few days, so it couldn’t be accomplished in an action. It involved a wide range of manpower, departments and ware. It was not easy to do that!

Seeing his hesitation, Empress Dowager Gu yelled angrily, “What are you afraid of? Since the Empress hears that you are going to take charge of the summer holiday, she will let the Seventh Prince show up! You think you’re the only one to be sabotaged?”

The maid mediated, “Your Highness, you don’t have to worry. Although you are the one in charge, the Empress Dowager will send people familiar with this matter to a.s.sist you.”

Hearing this, Prince of Zhou felt calm, “As you say, grandma!”

The Empress Dowager gave some advice to him, and then waved her hand to make him retreat with flagging interest, “Go and discuss with your staff. The day of the summer holiday is coming. People in the palace have already been preparing for it. You can take it over now and get the fruits of others, but you have to do something by yourself to convince the officials.”

After Prince of Zhou left, Empress Dowager Gu sighed in disappointment, “The third prince is too far worse than the second prince. He is a few years older than the Seventh Prince, but he loses to him again and again! Alas! In the past few months, although the officials have not made a clear statement, I think and know that Xue Chang’s group must be biased towards the Seventh Prince!”

The maid said in a low voice, “The Prince of Zhou is obedient to you and he is so filial. While the Seventh Prince…”

“Yeah.” Empress Dowager Gu pondered for a while and said with a sneer, “The Seventh Prince’s mother’s family is not brilliant. The emperor has so many sons and daughters, but only he gets the t.i.tle as the smartest prince. No matter how great he is in the study, the teachers of them are not fools, so how will they spill the beans? It can be seen that he is not an easy man as he is so scheming. Jiang supports the Seventh Prince now, while she may be entrapped by him in the future before I handle her!”

Every prince and princess grew up in the palace. Even if you didn’t pay much attention to their disposition before, you could know well about that after asking the servants.

Chu Weisang might not be the smartest among the princes, but he must be the boldest!

When the court and the commonalty knew that neither the Empress Dowager nor the Empress would allow the emperor’s heirs to show up with great talents, he actually dared to ask his teacher to spread his smartness for him, and he succeeded finally. If he had not been chosen by the Empress, what would have happened to him?

Even if he was useful at this time, he might make a false countercharge in the future as he was such a bold person!

So, Empress Dowager Gu definitely didn’t want to use this grandson. Among her younger generations, she had had enough of Empress Jiang!

Since Chu Weisang had no military strength, it was easy to control him no matter how scheming he was. But what would happen in the future was uncertain. After all, the world was of the Chu Family.

After thinking about it for a moment, the Empress Dowager raised her head and said to the maid, “What do you think the Princess of the third prince?”

Last fall, Prince of Qi, the eldest prince, married Jiang Qiyun. At the end of the year, Prince of Yan also married Tang Xinyao, the daughter of Changping Princess and the granddaughter of Tang Zimo, the deputy prime minister.

At this time, it was time to arrange the marriage for Prince of Zhou. After Prince of Yan chose Tang Xinyao as his princess, Princess Shou’an was the guaranteed Princess Zhou. But Gu E’nuo had instructed Qiu Nie and others to spread rumors on the pretext of the earthquake, forcing the Empress Dowager and the Empress to abandon their original candidates for the Crown Prince because she hated Prince of Yan for not choosing her, which made the Empress Dowager had a bad impression of her.

So, their marriage was delayed then tacitly.

Since the Empress Dowager asked this again, the maid knew that she had changed her views. Otherwise, since the engagement was not announced, it would be okay to change a Princess for Prince of Zhou. The Gu Family was different from the Jiang Family. The Gu Family relied on the Empress Dowager to become prominent, but Empress Jiang dared to fight for power with Empress Dowager relying on the Jiang Family.

Gu E’nuo was recognized as Princess Shou’an, while Empress Dowager still could handle her whatever she liked!

“Princess Shou’an is smart and alert, while Miss Tang is gentle and obedient.” The maid thought for a while and said cautiously.

“The children of the Tang Family are all obedient. But they are too obedient to be flexible.” The Empress Dowager thoughtfully said, “Shou’an… I thought she was wild before! But now, look at Weizhou. n.o.body by his side can make the decision for him…”

Prince of Zhou had been repeatedly beaten by the Seventh Prince in the past few months, which had annoyed Empress Dowager Gu obviously.

In terms of staff and backstage, the Empress Dowager thought that what she gave Prince of Zhou was as good as what the Empress gave the Seventh Prince.

But in the direct contests between them, Prince of Zhou had been losing more and winning less. If it just had happened once or twice, they could have muddled it through. But now… The crowds who didn’t know the truth outside the palace could be fooled, but those who had a say in the selection of the Crown Prince could not be fooled so easily!

However, the Empress Dowager didn’t intend to change her candidate, because it could mean that all she had done for Prince of Zhou would be in vain, and it was also equivalent to admit that Prince of Zhou was inferior to the Seven Prince. Wasn’t that mean that she didn’t have a sharp eye in choosing people? That couldn’t happen absolutely.

So, in this case, it might be a remedy to let him marry a lady who was scheming.

What was more, Gu E’nuo was different from Empress Jiang. She was a member of the Gu Family which relied on the Empress Dowager to be n.o.ble, so Empress Dowager Gu herself was Gu E’nuo’s biggest backer. Gu E’nuo could entrap Prince of Yan and Tang Xinyao, but she dared not set up the Empress Dowager. The Empress Dowager thought that it was impossible for Gu E’nuo to become the second Empress Jiang. After all, Duke of Guangyang did not control the army.

In terms of government affairs, the influence of the Duke of Guangyang was not as good as Xue Chang!

“We’ll choose Shou’an then.” The Empress Dowager finally made up her mind, “As for Changping… Let Xinqiong be a concubine of Weizhou, and before Xinqiong gives birth to her eldest son, Shou’an…”

It would not only comfort her biological daughter Changping Princess and knock down the restless granddaughter Princess Shou’an, but also caused the son of the concubine to be born before the one of the Princess. They would get something more from Gu E’nuo then in the future.

The maid was sincerely convinced, “As you say!”

Knowing that Empress Dowager Gu was going to make Prince of Zhou get married, Empress Jiang also began to consider choosing an official wife for the Seventh Prince.

“The nieces are all married. In the younger generation, only Zhi of the first branch is the right age. But even if we don’t care about seniority, it is not a good idea as well.” Empress Jiang said when she discussed the candidate with Marquess Qin, “Especially, Jiang Qiyun is just Princess Qi. So, let’s pick from the in-laws?”

Marquess Qin knew that his daughter said so because she tried to take down the first branch.

But he didn’t intend to expose her. After all, no matter how partial he was to Jiang Tianao, he couldn’t completely ignore the feelings of his other children.

So, he asked, “Almost all girls entered the palace to greet you. Who do you think is suitable?”

“What do you think of the daughter of Cousin Yelan?” Empress Jiang said bluntly, “Zhuang Mo’s youngest daughter is also good. But I’ve asked the servants and they said that she was a bit like Madame Zhuang…”

“Then she is not suitable for the palace!” When Marquess Qin heard that Zhuang Man’s personality was just like Madame Zhuang, he immediately rejected, “She will only put you in trouble!” Marquess Qin didn’t like his second daughter-in-law not just because of Jiang Yadan but more because of Madame Zhuang’s domineering and arrogant disposition. Well, to be honest, it was natural for such a daughter-in-law not to please her parent-in-law.

Empress Jiang also knew this, so she mentioned Zhuang Man just to make a comparison, “The girl of the Ou Family is beautiful, but she is even more shrewish than Zhuang Man! Those two daughters of Chancellor Dou are so honest, but they are too gentle to be a Crown Princess. What’s more, neither of Princess Yan and Princess Zhou is easy to handle. While Fubing is generous, thoughtful and flexible. So, I think she is suitable for this position.”

Anyway, she didn’t want anyone from the first branch, whether her surname was Jiang or Dou!

Marquess Qin understood what his daughter meant then. Xin Fubing, Sir Jibei’s granddaughter, was very close to the Jiang Family, and she was indeed a good girl, so he nodded, “The prince’s marriage is in your charge. It’s up to you.”

The Empress breathed a sigh of relief and secretly thought, “Sir Jibei does not have many heirs, so he cherishes the boys and girls so much. Although Xin Fubing is only his granddaughter, she has always been regarded as a pearl in the palm by Sir Jibei and his wife. After she marries Weisang, we can have a closer relations.h.i.+p with Sir Jibei then.”

The younger generation could also influence Marquess Qin, but compared to his brothers of the same generation, his inferiors couldn’t influence him so much.

Although Sir Jibei always followed Marquess Qin’s words, while Marquess Qin also had to consider Sir Jibei’s words carefully at critical moments.

Empress Jiang was well aware that Jiang Tianao, the eldest son of Kui Xiannan, held a high place in her father’s heart. She didn’t expect him to fall out of favor all of a sudden, but she had been trying to make him to be in disgrace with her father. Choosing Xin Fubing this time was just one of the ways.

After the Empress and Marquess Qin made the decision, Marquess Qin went out of the palace and went to the Mansion of Sir Jibei in person to tell his brother about it.

Sir Jibei was not very in favor of the decision, “I will let my daughter-in-law ask her about her feelings. Anyway, there are so many in-laws in our family, so we have to pick a girl who is willing to marry into the palace. If she felt unhappy after marrying into the palace, we would also feel sorry for that.”

“That’s fine.” Marquess Qin knew that he had only one granddaughter and he didn’t want to upset her, so he said, “I have discussed this matter with the Empress only, so n.o.body else knows it. If Fubing is not willing, we’ll pick another girl then. The Seventh Prince is just 15, so it’s not urgent.”

Sir Jibei nodded and entrusted the matter to his daughter-in-law Mi then. In fact, he should have let Madame Ou do that, while Madame Ou had always been so strict with the younger generations, so everyone in the Mansion of Sir Jibei was afraid of Madame Ou more than Sir Jibei. Sir Jibei also knew about this. He was worried that his wife would frighten his granddaughter, so he felt that it was more appropriate for his daughter-in-law to do that.

It should be alright, but Sir Jibei didn’t know the conflict between Mi Yinyin and Xin Fubing about Jiang Yalan.

After all, he and Madame Ou had been in the north before. They just came back in the autumn of last year. After they came back, they caught up with the fight for the status of the crown prince. He had so many important matters related to the rise and fall of the Jiang Family to worry about, so how could he have the time to care about the trivia among his grandchildren?

While Mi knew about that certainly.

She had no grudge against Xin Fubing, and she knew that her son had an unrequited crush on Xin Fubing. But Mi Yinyin couldn’t help worrying about that, and Jiang Yalan was not a fool, so how could he not notice that? He had been so regretful that he could not marry Xin Fubing who he liked, and Mi Yinyin, who he thought gentle and considerate, was so narrow-minded. Jiang Yalan was disappointed.

So, within a few months of their marriage, Jiang Yalan married two concubines and rarely spent the night with Mi Yinyin. So how could Mi, who deliberately married her niece to her son, hoping to further strengthen the relations.h.i.+p between her natal family and her husband’s family, not be anxious?

“It’s a good chance.” After receiving the task from her father-in-law, Mi felt excited, “Hope Xin Fubing can get married quickly! After that, Yinyin can get relaxed, and maybe she can be reconciled to Yalan then.”