area51novel Chapter 362 Du Cai Ren
Chapter 362 Du Cai Ren
Du Xiurong was extremely unwilling. She was the first person to accompany the emperor, and she was the only concubine in the Prince's mansion back then.
She gave birth to the Emperor's eldest son and eldest daughter, bearing him three children. If it weren't for Shen Shixi's domineering behavior in court, and if it weren't for the Emperor's favor, would the Duke of Xin's family, being imperial relatives, have bothered to collude with the likes of Cui and Liang?
"Your Majesty the Empress is indeed cunning, keeping the former Empress alive to deal with me. Now that I am in such a miserable state, are you pleased with yourself, Your Majesty?"
Chao En was about to reprimand him, but Shen Shixi waved his hand to stop him, picked up his teacup and took a sip.
"Du Ruowan, what makes you think you deserve to let me be so smug?" Shen Shixi said. "Did I force you to drug Pei Linghua? Was it wrong of me to keep Pei Linghua alive?"
Did the Duke of Xin serve the late emperor and the current emperor? Or do you think that the Duke of Xin's family's lack of opposition to his ascension to the throne constitutes a merit?
Du Xiurong said, "Didn't Pei Linghua try to deal with you? She kept Chen Shi alive in the first place precisely to deal with you. If you hadn't been lucky, your face would have been ruined long ago."
Shen Shixi said, "That's true, but so what? Should I kill her to save you from this calamity? Why should I draw my sword for you?"
Du Xiurong was so jealous that she was going crazy when she saw Shen Shixi, who had given birth to twins, still looked the same as when she first entered the palace. Now, sitting on the throne of the empress, enjoying exclusive favor and controlling the court.
"Since you say so, why do you resent me? When you entered the palace, I did not compete with the Pei family or help you. Why do you resent me?"
Isn't this the reason why the Emperor is dissatisfied with me from the Duke of Xin's mansion? Your Majesty, if you slander my Du family before the Emperor today, another favored concubine might slander Shen family in the future. Does Your Majesty think you can maintain your current favor for the rest of your life?
Shen Shixi smiled and said, "I have never thought about this, nor do I need to think about it; you don't need to sow discord between me and the Emperor, at least not now."
"You look like this, yet you dare to come see the Emperor? It must have been quite an ordeal for you! Tell me something useful!"
Shen Shixi glanced at her indifferently, perhaps disgusted by the wrinkles on her face and the age spots on her neck. Her eyes showed a hint of disgust, which made Du Xiurong wish she could die on the spot.
Li Yuanke still met with Consort Du, because she found her way to the Imperial Garden, knelt on the ground and refused to leave, which the princess happened to see.
Li Yuanke didn't want to give his daughter a bad impression of disrespecting the elderly and caring for the young, so he had no choice but to meet her.
"Father, old nanny, old nanny!" Xihe, who was better at expressing herself, pointed at Du Xiurong and shouted.
Du Xiurong wished she could rush up and strangle Xihe.
Li Yuanke spat out a mouthful of tea. Good heavens, what is he now?
He can't let his daughter call him grandfather!
"If you want to plead for the Duke of Xin's mansion, there's no need. Treason is a serious crime that cannot be tolerated."
Du Xiurong had come prepared. "Your Majesty, everything requires evidence. Isn't it too ruthless to destroy an entire Duke's mansion based solely on the testimonies of Cui Fangli and Liang Ji?"
She cried, "Your Majesty, I have served you for over ten years! Can't you please show leniency for my sake? My father is very old; sending him to such a desolate place would be suicide. Will the Du family ever have a chance to rise again?"
The key point is that the fourth prince has lost his eligibility to vie for the throne!
She cried so hard that Li Yuanke couldn't empathize with her at all.
He had long tolerated the Duke of Xin's mansion, and now that he finally had the chance, when would he ever be so unruly?
Are we saving them to oppose the Crown Prince in the future?
As for whether he will ever rise above his circumstances, what does that have to do with Lao Tzu?
Li Yuanke asked, "What do you want me to do?"
Consort Du saw a glimmer of hope and gazed at Li Yuanke with deep affection. "Your Majesty, the Du family is the maternal family of Prince Min, the eldest princess, and the fourth prince, as well as my maternal family..."
Li Yuanke ruthlessly interrupted her, "Do you still remember your place?"
Du Xiurong was taken aback.
Li Yuanke coldly replied, "You are a concubine, a mistress. The princes and princesses only have one maternal family, the Shen family. Where do concubines have a maternal family? The Empress is kind and rarely imposes any restrictions on you. Don't you even understand basic etiquette?"
When the prince and princess got tired of playing, they climbed onto their father, leaning on either side of him with practiced ease.
Li Yuanke held them in his arms, glanced down at them, his eyes softening with tenderness, and his voice instantly became gentle, "Want to sleep?"
"Father, sleep!" The Crown Prince's pronunciation wasn't very clear, but he pronounced "Father" very accurately, mainly because Li Yuanke had been teaching them and they had heard and practiced it a lot.
"Go to sleep, Daddy's holding you!"
Li Fude quickly came over, and the child was covered with a small cloak to hide his face and fell fast asleep.
Seeing that the child was asleep, Li Yuanke got up to leave. Du Xiurong rushed over and tried to hug Li Yuanke's legs, but Li Fude quickly intervened, blocking him, "Your Majesty, this is unacceptable!"
"emperor!"
Du Xiurong let out a scream, like a pig being slaughtered, which unsurprisingly woke the Crown Prince and Princess. The two children were so frightened that they hugged their father's neck and cried loudly.
Li Yuanke was furious. If this concubine hadn't looked so beautiful that he was afraid of kicking her to death, he really would have done it.
"Get back inside! Without my decree, you are not to step outside the palace gates!"
After Li Yuanke issued the decree, eunuchs and palace maids came and dragged Du Xiurong away.
Li Yuanke had no choice but to sit down and comfort the two children. Seeing their pitiful state after their initial fright, his heart melted, and he was filled with regret. He shouldn't have let that old hag come over; she had scared his children so badly.
That night, the two children developed a fever after being frightened.
First, the princess developed a high fever. Twins usually sense this, and soon the prince also developed a fever. The couple could no longer sleep, so they quickly got up, summoned the imperial physician, and ordered him to cool down with cold water.
Shen Shixi was worried that Li Yuanke was too tired, as he had to get up at dawn to attend the morning court session. So he said, "Why don't you go to sleep first? At least take a nap so you don't fall asleep in court and get called a tyrant."
Li Yuanke glanced at her. "If I weren't guarding this place, you could have just slept right there and wouldn't care about them."
[This bastard is getting more and more unreasonable. He's not even old yet, how come he's already so senile? What an ungrateful wretch!]
"Okay, you watch over me, I'm going to sleep!"
"You can sleep?" Li Yuanke asked in disbelief!
"With you here, how could I not sleep?" Shen Shixi yawned, tears welling up in her eyes. "We've done everything we can, just waiting for their fevers to break. What's the point of staying by their side?"
Li Yuanke dared not; how could he feel at ease if his child's fever didn't break?
He was furious, but he couldn't do anything about Shen Shixi, so he issued an imperial edict: "Issue the decree that Du Shi plotted to harm the Crown Prince and the Princess. She shall be demoted to the rank of Consort and placed in a remote place."
Ah this!
Caught off guard, Li Fude asked, "Your Majesty, what about the eldest princess and the fourth prince? Who will raise them?"
"That's a question," Li Yuanke asked. "How old are the eldest princess and the fourth prince?"