Chapter 94: Taking the First Step
After listening to the Queen Mother’s words, several people looked at each other in thought and did not immediately reply to the Queen Mother’s words.
Cui Xiu thought to himself, since Mrs. Qiu has been sitting here for a long time, she must have known everything about what happened last night.
In this case, there must be no suspense about the ridiculous thing Princess Wanning did. However, the Queen Mother specifically asked her to stay, and she must have wanted to deal with it.
When Mrs. Qiu came, she definitely didn’t want Li Cheng to marry Princess Wanning. After all, Princess Wanning was “famous” and it could be said that no mother-in-law would want to have such a daughter-in-law.
Princess Wanning has never liked to be disciplined, and the emperor has only one younger sister, so naturally he is particularly doting on her and dotes on her to the point of being lawless.
People who don’t even care about the Emperor and the Queen Mother, if Li Cheng really marries Princess Wanning in the future, how can she, an old lady of the country, take care of it? It's almost impossible.
So this is why Mrs. Qiu rushed to Rende Palace to stop this ridiculous thing from going on.
She knew that the Queen Mother might not like her son. After all, Li Cheng's reputation was not very good.
Although the Queen Mother has lived in the harem for a long time, she does not know all the officials and families in Kyoto City, but at least knows most of them. She must not want Princess Wanning to marry into their Duke Xu's mansion.
Mrs. Qiu had gotten wind earlier that the emperor had originally intended to pair up Princess Wanning with the young general Cui Chu of the Cui family. It happened that the young general of the Cui family was of the right age, had just made military exploits, and had not yet married a wife.
Everyone knows that this general of the Cui family is the second brother of Concubine Cui Xiu of the Imperial Concubine Jia. Everyone knows the purpose of asking Cui Xiu to stay today.
Of course, except the Queen.
The reason why the Queen is here is just because the Queen Mother wanted to keep a helper. After all, the Queen has been in charge of the palace for many years, and she can handle all the big and small things in the palace well.
The Queen Mother saw it in her eyes and took it to heart. She knew that the Queen was also sensible and she could listen to this matter.
The reason why Concubine Yun was not called was because Concubine Yun and her stepmother, Mrs. Qiu, had always been at odds with each other. Besides, Concubine Yun also came from Duke Xu's residence and was friendly with Cui Xiu. She really didn't say anything fair.
"The Ai family and the emperor have discussed it several times before, and they have decided on the candidate for Wanning's consort."
"Concubine Jia, is your second brother free these days?"
The Queen Mother said and looked at Cui Xiu. She didn’t even plan to tell Cui Xiu what happened to Wanning last night. The meaning of these three or two sentences was that she still wanted her second brother to marry Wanning County. host?
This is a little too ridiculous.
Cui Xiu thought to himself, as expected, like mother, like son, and what kind of son is like what kind of mother. The emperor was so unreasonable back then that when Li Qun was on an expedition and couldn't get away from killing the enemy on the battlefield, Ask the late emperor to grant her a marriage and make her his concubine.
Li Qun, who was far away at the border, knew about this, but he could not come back immediately, because if he came back, he would be disobeying military orders and abandoning thousands of soldiers.
The dignified young general of Xu Guogong's mansion bears the reputation of Xu Guogong's mansion and is burdened with the lives of thousands of people on the border. In comparison, the personal relationships between his children seem inconsequential.
Li Qun couldn't come back, and Cui Xiu couldn't leave, because once the decree of self-imposed marriage was drawn up, the city of Kyoto was already monolithic. If she escaped from the marriage, the Cui family would resist the decree.
Since ancient times, those who resist the imperial decree and her family have no good end.
Cui Xiu's parents and siblings supported her in pursuing her beloved, but Cui Xiu's father also told her that if Cui Xiu eloped with Li Qun, there would be no more people in Kyoto in the future. There are General Cui's Mansion and Xu Guogong's Mansion. The royal family's anger will burn on both of them, and it will also pester them to death.
Cui Xiu knew what her father said, and she also understood that the emperor's family was cold-blooded and ruthless, and would often use any means to get what they wanted.
After repeated weighing, Cui Xiu chose to give up the idea of going to Li Qun. At that time, Li Qun was still fighting on the battlefield. If he knew these things, it would inevitably affect him.
This battlefield is never a child's play. If there is even the slightest deviation, your life may be lost.
Once the engagement was finalized, there was no room for maneuver. Before her wedding to Li Xiuhuai, Li Qun returned to the court with his army commander. He witnessed her put on a red wedding dress and marry his best brother.
Li Qun wanted to do something, but he couldn't because at that time he had almost no way out.
The late emperor was critically ill, so even if he didn't like Li Xiuhuai, he would consider the stability of the Li family and asked her to marry Li Xiuhuai as a concubine, in order to tie the Cui family to Li Xiuhuai's side.
Li Xiuhuai has the support of Xu Guogong, General Cui and other civil servants and military generals. Even if other princes have the idea of taking the lead, they will only bow to the powerful power that Li Xiuhuai has almost monopolized.
In the matter of competing for the throne, the prince who has supporters, power and money has the most say.
The remaining princes who were "missing arms and legs" either stood aside to save their lives and lived the lives of idle princes in the vassal territory, or they put all their efforts into fighting with Li Xiuhuai, winning the throne and losing their lives.
In the end, the late emperor died and Li Xiuhuai won. He relied on his father-in-law and brother-in-law to successfully ascend the throne.
Thinking of this, Cui Xiu felt that in this world, except for true strength, nothing else worked.
Li Xiuhuai was able to successfully proclaim himself emperor, in the final analysis, it was because Li Xiuhuai was thick-skinned and dark-hearted. He married one woman after another. Some were doted on by him, while others were wasted because of him. That precious life.
Cui Xiu feels that she is the latter, but she is also glad that she is the latter, because she does not care about a love that everyone can get.
Cui Xiu also figured out that since he, Li Xiuhuai, was so unkind and unjust, she didn't have to keep any virginity for him. He could have three wives and four concubines, and a harem of three thousand beauties, and she could also pursue her own love.
Everyone should live their own lives, which is a good choice.
"Returning to the eldest lady, my second brother has just got married in the past few days."
"Now I am on my way to my hometown with my future sister-in-law."
< br>After Cui Xiu learned from Concubine Yun that the emperor wanted to marry on the fingertips of the family and messed up the mandarin duck book, she immediately wrote a letter to her family, asking her second brother to return to her hometown first to avoid the limelight.
Coincidentally, her second brother Cui Chu already had someone he liked, and the two were engaged to be married. This sister-in-law was Cui Xiu's second sister-in-law in her previous life.
If Cui Chu hadn't been delayed by fighting outside every day, he might have got married long ago.
Now that Cui Chu is back, he will naturally speed up the progress.
As soon as Cui Xiu said these words, the empress dowager's kind face changed, and her face did not look good.
(End of this chapter)