Work overtime

Chapter 785

Concubine Lu's father, Lu Zhaohou, had been promoted to the third rank prefect of Shuntian Prefecture at this time. He was originally a member of the Ministry of Rites. When he heard that his son particularly liked the other girl, he used all his life's knowledge and savings to try to make the marriage perfect without any flaws to satisfy the Empress Dowager and the Emperor.

The remaining sons were dumbfounded. They had emptied the family fortune, and they were not sure whether they would be able to find a wife in the future. They could complain and worry, but that was just talk behind closed doors. They still had to do what needed to be done. After all, their elder brother was the top scholar.

The operation was as fierce as a tiger, and all the family members took part in it. They were all exhausted and all the family wealth was gone.

One of the parties was smiling foolishly, and the other was laughing foolishly. When the two families saw the two children's happy faces, they became more excited as if they had been injected with chicken blood.

After all, it was the number one scholar getting married to his own sister, so Jiang Yuebai was naturally present, and so was the emperor. They had to come both for official and private reasons.

When the Lu family saw Jiang Jinshu's dowry, they were almost blinded. There were 100,000 taels of silver notes alone, plus a teahouse in the capital and two silk shops.

The family that was originally planning to eat dirt suddenly felt revived. They felt like they had married a goddess of wealth. She was a kind and gentle girl who spoke softly, served tea and water to her parents-in-law and sister-in-law without any airs, and had two dimples when she smiled.

Lu Zhaohou felt that his son had found a treasure, and he reminded his son every day to be nice to others.

The wedding night of the two lovers was perfect, especially perfect. Jiang Jinshu admired Lu Changlin for his knowledge of poetry, erudition, and noble character; Lu Changlin admired Jiang Jinshu for her gentleness, kindness, love of laughter, liveliness, and understanding.

You know, after working in the Hanlin Academy for a period of time, he found that he had a low emotional intelligence, was dull, didn't understand the ways of the world, wasn't good at dealing with people, and wasn't very good at solving various government issues smoothly and comprehensively.

Moreover, after he went to the library, he found himself immersed in the joy of reading. Various questions worthy of study kept emerging in his mind, and he continued to come up with theories that had never been proposed by his predecessors.

It became increasingly clear that his ambition was to compile books and do research, not to become an official.

After all, most people took the imperial examinations and got good grades in order to become officials and gain power and high positions. If he just stayed in the Hanlin Academy to study, it would only be a low-paying job with no room for promotion. Compared with his status as the top scholar, he would be a bit like everyone else.

He told Jiang Jinshu about his idea with trepidation, but received strong support from his newlywed wife. She said that she had long seen his uniqueness, sharp thinking, and noble sentiments. Moreover, it was good to do research without getting involved in the twists and turns of officialdom.

When Lu Changlin heard these words, he hugged his newlywed wife tightly and was so moved that he almost shed tears. In one's life, no matter whether one is talented or not, rich or poor, the most difficult thing is to meet someone who supports and understands oneself unconditionally.

With such a passionate love, embracing the woman who loved him deeply, he poured out all his love, endlessly.

In the eleventh year of Taixing, the fourth eldest princess of Concubine Xie was sixteen years old. The emperor arranged her marriage to Zhao Yuhang, a poor boy of the Minister of Agriculture. The wedding was held in August to thank him for his contribution to the development of Chinese agriculture over the years. In this way, Zhao Yuhang had a family background with the support of the Xie family's Huguogong Mansion.

In early September, good news came from the Anbei Protectorate that the second princess gave birth to Bater's eldest son, weighing eight kilograms. Bater was very happy.

On December 17, Jiang Li went into labor suddenly when she was nine months pregnant. She gave birth to twin boys for Qi Ming, each weighing five pounds. She suffered from postpartum hemorrhage and died. She was eighteen years old that year.

Before dying, Jiang Li said two ambiguous words to him with a smile, "If you love me, I will be your Ah Hua. Remember to tell my aunt that I love her."

Qi Ming held Jiang Li and shed tears, feeling regretful in his heart. Before he could express his feelings to Jiang Li, she left in such a hurry.

She choked up and shook Jiang Li's hand, saying, "Ali, I'm sorry. I was wrong. I have always hurt you. I fell in love with you, not her."

It's a pity that Jiang Li couldn't hear it. Actually, it's best not to hear it. If she heard it, she would feel uncomfortable no matter how she thought about it.

When the emperor and the empress dowager heard Qi Ming's last words, they both felt from the bottom of their hearts that although Qi Ming fell in love with the same person, no one could tell whether this was a betrayal.

Jiang Yuebai cried bitterly for the second princess. Why is it that the gods always envy lovers? A pair of lovers became a couple, but they were separated by death. But she still couldn't tell the secret, and her heart was very painful.

Except for the Queen who was eight months pregnant and due in February of the following year, no other concubines in the harem were pregnant.

Li Chengji told Jiang Yuebai that he must wait until the queen gave birth to the eldest son. Presumably, the eldest prince's past experience had left him with a lifelong psychological shadow and trauma.

The tradition of the first month of the lunar calendar still had to be observed. In the first month of the twelfth year of Taixing, Li Chengji favored all six concubines in the harem. This was because Jiang Xian had diagnosed a few months ago that the queen's baby was likely to be a princess. But they were all given contraceptive soup.

On February 18th of the 12th year of Taixing, the queen gave birth to the eldest princess, who weighed 7.7 jin and suffered a lot. Li Chengji asked the queen mother to give her a name, and Jiang Yuebai named her Li Zhihan and named her Princess Beining.

At the beginning of March, Concubine Yi's niece, Li Fangying, was found to be two months pregnant after drinking contraceptive soup. The emperor promoted her to Concubine Xi.

Li Chengji was originally going to let her drink the medicine to induce abortion, but the Queen interceded for Concubine Xi to leave the heir. Jiang Yuebai thought of the miscarriages of Concubine Yi and Concubine Nian, and felt pity for Concubine Xi, so she interceded for her.

In March, the first beauty contest after Li Chengji ascended the throne was held. A total of twelve people were selected, including plump and thin women. Among them were three Mongolian noble women, all of whom were beauties.

When Li Chengji favored his concubines, he still made them drink contraceptive soup.

Although Jiang Yuebai advised Kokozhen to take a full three months' confinement to take good care of her body, the women of the grassland were not so particular and actually started serving his wife as soon as she finished her confinement.

Four months later, in early July, the queen was diagnosed with pregnancy again.

When Concubine Xi was six months pregnant, Jiang Xian found out that she was pregnant with a princess. Everyone was happy and relieved.

The little princess was born to be very cute. Since he had heard his mother talk about Consort Yi since he was a child, Li Chengji had a natural affinity for this child. Li Fangying was just like Consort Yi, a very gentle and kind woman, so Li Chengji felt good about her and named the second princess Li Zhifang, treating her like the apple of his eye.

This year, Li Chengji continued to give contraceptive soup to other concubines. In September, Concubine Meng, the legitimate daughter of Duke Anguo Meng Xin, was diagnosed with pregnancy, but unfortunately she miscarried a month later.

In October, Jiang Yuebai's niece Jiang Pin was diagnosed with pregnancy and was promoted to Hui Guipin.

In March of the 13th year of Taixing, the empress gave birth to her eldest son, Li Hongchang. Emperor Li Chengji was very happy and suspended court for three days to celebrate.

Because several imperial doctors had diagnosed the empress was pregnant with a prince the previous year, Li Chengji stopped allowing the empress and concubines to use contraceptive soup starting from the first month of that year.

This year, concubines began to get pregnant. However, the eldest son died two months later. Although the imperial physician diagnosed that there might be congenital defects, Li Chengji suspected that the queen was murdered and ordered a thorough investigation of Kunning Palace. The investigation revealed that the queen had been poisoned in small doses during her pregnancy. The result was that it was Bater's concubine sister Wu Renhua.

Li Chengji was furious. He sentenced Wu Renhua to death and quickly assembled three groups of troops to encircle and suppress Bater, shooting him to death with arrows.

The throne was inherited by the eighteen-year-old Uritu, the son of Huanhuancher's eldest son Yesiza and Princess Taiping. He was honored as the Khan of Tatar and was named the King of Loyalty and Bravery.

In early May, Li Chengji betrothed his seventeen-year-old sister, the Fifth Princess, to Wuzhitu as the princess, and she got married at the end of May.

Jiang Yuebai was originally against marrying the Fifth Princess.

Although the second princess was a fake, she followed the Mongolian tradition and remarried Wuzhitu with Bater's eldest son. In this way, in name, the Mongolian and Han people were still in a marriage alliance.

But Li Chengji believed that what was fake was fake, and one day it would be exposed and cause great trouble, arousing public indignation in the Mongolian region, which would then be difficult to deal with.

So Li Chengji took the fake Second Princess back to the capital, and soon after, she "died of illness". Bater's eldest son was also taken care of by someone.

After Bater's adoptive mother, Consort Xia, buried Bater's body and set up a tombstone, she cut her own throat in front of the grave and fell on Bater's tombstone. When she was found, she had been eaten by vultures and reduced to a skeleton. The herdsmen buried Consort Xia next to Bater.

When the news reached the capital, Li Chengji came to Kunning Palace, knelt in front of Jiang Yuebai, and said in tears, "Mother, I have finally avenged my sister."

Jiang Yuebai coughed several times, tears welling up in his eyes, "Okay. Yan'er can rest in peace in his grave. How do we deal with Meng, the one who poisoned her?"

Li Chengji lowered his eyes and said, "My son knows his limits."

It turns out that the real murderer of the poison was Meng Hui, who had a miscarriage. She suspected that the unexplained miscarriage in September was caused by the Queen's poison, so she used her father's connections in the harem to murder the Queen's male fetus. Li Chengji was just taking advantage of the conflicts and suspicions between the Mongolian tribes to attack Bater.

Bater seemed to have an innate understanding of how to be a heroic leader. He has demonstrated extraordinary leadership skills over the years, and has gained great popularity among the people on the grassland, with his prestige growing day by day.

The imperial court restricted the mobility of herders through the banner alliance policy, but Bater was able to attract a lot of people through his personal charm. When he gave birth to his eldest son, many herders broke through the restrictions and went to congratulate him, which shows his appeal. Li Chengji had already become wary of him. Therefore, he did not follow the original plan to raise the eldest son born by the "Second Princess" until he was six or seven years old before raising an army to attack.

Under the moonlight, the two of them offered wine to the spirits of the late emperor and the eldest princess in heaven.

The two of them both burst into tears when they mentioned the innocent and romantic Fifth Princess. Being born in the royal family means that there are too many things that cannot be decided by one's will. Jiang Yuebai felt somewhat relieved that his daughter could marry the children of Sister Yi.

She reported to Sister Yi in tears under the moonlight, telling her how much she missed her and praying that she would protect the two children from the heaven.

Thinking about it, it has been almost twenty years since Sister Yi passed away. Time flies.

The sixth princess of Concubine Rui turned sixteen last year. In October, the emperor promised her to the eldest grandson of General Zhao who was stationed in Annan, and married her off to a distant place in Annan.

Taking into account the long journey, the Ministry of Rites chose a good day last year that was neither too far nor too close, and the marriage was scheduled for June of the 13th year of Taixing.

Jiang Yuebai exchanged most of the royalties from Concubine Rui's storybooks for silver notes, and gave the other part to the Sixth Princess, telling her that it was the dowry left for her by her mother. Jiang Yuebai also gave her a few large silver notes, telling her that it was the dowry given to her by herself and several mothers.

Over the years, the Sixth Princess has grown up under the careful care of the Empress Dowager, Concubine Lu, Concubine Huan Wanyi, and Concubine Xuan. From their mouths, she learned that her mother was a particularly interesting, lovely and straightforward woman. Everyone loves her mother very much.

The Sixth Princess put down the banknotes, hugged Jiang Yuebai and cried. She said "thank you" countless times, and "Mother, please take care of yourself" countless times.

Before the Sixth Princess left, Concubine Dowager Xu held Concubine Xuan's hand and cried, "I didn't expect that the three of us are so destined. The two of us became sisters. Then our Liuliu married your eldest nephew. This is a perfect marriage."

Concubine Xuan wiped her tears and drank a glass with Concubine Xu, "Hello, my dear."

"You are also well," Concubine Xu drank another cup with Concubine Xuan with tears in her eyes, "You must tell your family not to bully our Liuliu. If you dare to bully our Liuliu, I will..."

She couldn't think of what to say for a moment, so she fell on the table and burst into tears.

Concubine Xuan patted her on the back and said, "Okay. If he dares to bully Liuliu, I will ask my brother, his father, to break his legs! Just like what is written in the storybook, make him kneel on the ground and beg for forgiveness."

When Concubine Xu heard this, she burst into tears, "I suddenly miss Sister Rui so much. She must be very happy to see Liu Liu getting married."

"That's for sure. She definitely didn't expect that she would become a relative of my family. Come on, come on. Let's have another drink for Sister Rui. Her storybooks have become a masterpiece for all time. I have read quite a few storybooks over the years. None of them can be as heartbreaking and beautiful as hers. Come, I'll recite a passage for you."

"I'll accompany you." Yu Tai Guipin said from the side.

Concubine Xu wiped her tears and smiled as she poured wine for the three of them. The wine spilled out of the glasses. "Hey, stop reciting the sutra. If you continue to recite it, I'm going to cry to death. Drink, drink."

"I, I want to cry." Concubine Xuan poured the wine directly into her throat without even passing her mouth.

Concubine Xuan held Concubine Xu in her arms and sobbed, her tears were so touching and moving that they made people cry. She thought of the fourteenth princess who died young. If she hadn't died, she would have been fourteen this year and it would have been time for her to get married.

Concubine Yu also thought of the third princess who died young.

If she had not died young, she would be seventeen this year and would have been married, and might have had children. Ever since she became pregnant with two children in succession, the late emperor no longer favored her.

So over the years, she didn't have any big ambitions. She just hoped that her son could hold on to her mother, grow up safely, get married, and be an idle prince without having to be too outstanding or show off.

What made her feel relieved was that her belly was strong and she gave birth to two babies in succession. Even if she lost her daughter, she could still have a son. Otherwise, she really didn't know how she would live.

The Sixth Prince was really the biological son of Concubine Yu. Like her since childhood, he was not very good at studying. He did not like to study or play tricks. He did not have any talent to show. But his emotional intelligence was good. He was thick-skinned and got along well with the three prince brothers.