"Your, Your Majesty..." Hearing this, the empress was stunned. She didn't know how to respond on the spot. Had she understood his intentions wrongly? Then why did the emperor sigh when he saw the report on Jing Shao's success before? She still had some sense at least, and knew that this was something she could never ask aloud.
Emperor Hong Zheng glanced at her. The last time the Ministry of Revenue embezzled funds from the military, she had been implicated. Although the investigation wasn't carried out to the end, all the evidence vaguely pointed to the Fourth Prince. After the emperor punished those officials, the empress and Jing Yu seemed more anxious than ever. In the past, when Jing Shao was mentioned, it would be all praise or admonishment, but now, the slander was more and more obvious.
The empress snapped out of her thoughts and stole a look at the emperor's expression, and her heart couldn't help but thump. "It is this consort who was confused." She then knelt on the floor to kowtow.
Emperor Hong Zheng ignored it and sat on the bed.
The empress quickly got up and went over to him. The palace servants had already retreated since the quarrel. She half-knelt and personally helped the emperor take off his shoes. In a voice choking with emotion, she said, "Chenqie is just a woman. I only think about Your Majesty and the children every day. Jing Yu is young and doesn't even have a son or daughter. My only hope is that his three brothers can help him as members of the imperial family to spread his influence; I never expected this to affect the court."
Emperor Hong Zheng didn't speak; who knew if he had heard or not.
"My muddle-headed brother heard from someone that the Cheng Wang Fei had a dispute with Chenqie previously, and also didn't know that the emperor had allowed the Wang Fei to go with the army, which is why he said that. Your Majesty, please do not bother with him." Then the empress took out her handkerchief and sobbed into it.
"Get up." Emperor Hong Zheng's voice remained unchanged; one couldn't hear if it held joy or anger. "This is the end of the matter. Don't throw out such terrible ideas in front of Jing Yu in the future." After all, this was the empress; he still had to take into consideration the dignity demanded by her status.
The empress quickly agreed in a soft voice. When she got up, she was already covered all over in cold sweat.
The next day, Jing Shao waited until the afternoon before he personally took the carriage to pick up Consort Qiu at the North Marquis's residence.
"Jun Qing drank too much last night. This morning, his throat was hoarse and he refused to take medicine. He only said that he wanted to have the pear jam made by his mother," Jing Shao said helplessly, but his voice was suffused with doting. "He's not feeling well, so Benwang decided to personally pick up Secondary Furen to come over."
For pear jam to soothe the throat, it had to be eaten while it was hot. It wouldn't help if it was made and then brought over, and Consort Qiu was now already a secondary wife and could go out on excursions herself.
Put like that, the North Marquis naturally wouldn't stop them, but his perception of the extent to which Mu Hanzhang was favored rose to a new level.
Using the explanation supplied by his Wang Fei, Jing Shao successfully picked up Consort Qiu.
It was the first time that Consort Qiu Shi had met Jing Shao. Because of all kinds of rumors, she thought he was a coarse man, but he was actually so handsome and noble.
"Greeting Your Highness Cheng Wang!" Consort Qiu went forward to make her salutations. Before she could kneel, she was helped up by Jing Shao.
The carriage was surrounded by people from the North Marquis's household, so Jing Shao couldn't say much. He just said with a smile, "We're all one family, there is no need for such modest courtesies. Madam, please enter the carriage."
