After the whole family was swept away, I lay down flat

Chapter 1116 The first and fifteenth day of the lunar month
Haitang's wedding date is not far away, and she will marry Jin Jiashu soon.

As a royal relative, she will have many opportunities to interact with other royal relatives in the future. Even if she is not afraid, she still needs to do intelligence work in advance, so as not to fail to recognize people when they meet in the future, or accidentally violate taboos and make a fool of herself. Therefore, after the Chinese New Year, she has collected a lot of information in this regard. Whether it is her grandfather Hai Xiya, her second uncle Hai Chang'an, her brother Hai Jiao, or her cousin Xie Wenzai, they are all her sources of information. Now, she not only knows the situation of the major princes' and princesses' palaces in Beijing, but also has a general understanding of the situation of each family.

She knew that Prince Ping was the younger brother of the previous Emperor Deguang, and that when he fought for the throne, he was just a little prince with an obscure maternal family. When the previous Emperor ascended the throne, he was only a teenager and had no power. He could only follow Prince Ji and Prince An as a small follower who waved flags and cheered for him, but he didn't have time to offend the previous Emperor's crown prince. After the previous Emperor ascended the throne, he gave priority to dealing with his old rivals Prince Ji, Prince An, and the Chang family, and didn't care about him at all. He "happened" to fall off his horse, broke his leg, and became disabled. From then on, he shrank in the palace and kept shouting that his leg disease had recurred. He refused to come out to seize power and cause trouble. How could the previous Emperor treat him with the same attitude?
During the reign of the previous emperor, Prince Ping had always been a prince of a county. He married a woman from an aristocratic family as his principal wife and a beautiful woman from the common people as his concubine. He had several children and asked for his eldest son to be named the crown prince. He only appeared at palace banquets or clan gatherings and rarely asked about state affairs. His children were also honest and low-key, and he had a low presence in the clan circle.

In the late reign of the previous emperor, because he was dissatisfied with the intervention of the princes of the royal family such as Prince Ji and Prince An in the government and their collusion with powerful officials, he wanted to select a few honest and steady people from the royal family to fill the scene. He selected Prince Ping, promoted his title from Prince of a County to Prince of a Royal Family, and appointed him as the Right Clan Director of the Imperial Clan Court to do some work. Although Prince Ping often complained about his leg disease and asked for leave every two or three days, his family's presence was much higher than before. His honest work style and his non-command for power also pleased the previous emperor, and he was often rewarded.

He had never participated in the palace turmoil between Prince Ji and his son. Although he had a good relationship with Prince An, he rarely got involved in messy things. After the new king came to power, he respected him very much and gave him many gifts during the New Year. As a positive example in the royal family, their family was highly regarded by the outside world.

Haitang knew that his prince married the niece of Princess Ping, a cousin of the prince, and they had been married for seven years before they had a daughter. Princess Ping was injured during childbirth and had to recover from the illness. She had no children since then. But Prince Ping and his wife loved each other very much. He had no intention of taking a concubine, nor was he anxious about having children. His two concubines were Kailian, a maid who had served him since he was a child, and a maid arranged by the princess as a dowry. Neither of them had children.

However, Prince Ping had many children. His wife had two sons and one daughter, and his concubines and maids also had several princes and princesses. He did not have to worry about the lack of successors. The fact that the prince and his wife had no children would not affect the inheritance of the title of the prince's mansion, so Prince Ping was not in a hurry. At most, Princess Ping was a little worried.

It would not be surprising if the daughter of the Zhang family knew that the Prince of Ping had no children and the Princess was sick and weak, and wanted to replace him. But even if she really had this idea, there was no need to rush to act at this time, right? The Princess of Ping was still alive! Even if the Prince of Ping wanted to marry a girl from the Zhang family as his second wife after his wife died, he had to wait until his wife died first!

Haitang said to her brother, "Even if the head of the Zhang family is worried about his daughter's life and hopes that she can marry a noble and respectable woman, there is no need to be so anxious, right? The Princess of Prince Ping is only seriously ill, she is still alive! Can't they be more patient? The daughter of the Zhang family is just of marriageable age, it won't be too late to wait another two or three years to discuss marriage. Why do they have to make a fool of themselves at this time?"

Hai Jiao said with a smile: "If the head of the Zhang family wants to find a decent and noble marriage for his daughter, he will have to spend more time on it. It is a great effort for them to find the candidate, the Prince of Ping. They could have waited a little longer until the Princess of Ping could no longer hold on. I heard that the Princess has been ill since she had a difficult childbirth and has not recovered for more than five years. She is already at the end of her strength. It will not be this year or next year, and it will not exceed two years. She has no sons, only one daughter, and she has been weak and sick since childhood. I heard that she is not very smart. After her death, the Prince will definitely remarry, and he will not marry her sister from her mother's family.

"The Zhang family originally had the support of the Prince An's Mansion, so it was not difficult to marry into the Prince Ping's Mansion. There was no need to rush, but there was a rumor that the Prince Ping's Consort had personally selected a suitable successor and vowed to find a kind, virtuous and virtuous stepmother for her only daughter, so that her daughter would not be tortured by the stepmother after she passed away. The Princess of Ping is the Prince's Consort's aunt, and she has always loved her and has agreed to her request. The Prince of Ping and the Prince of Ping have no intention of objecting. If the Zhang family is really interested in the position of the Prince Ping's Consort, they can no longer sit idly by and watch. They must seize the initiative no matter what."

The Zhang family arranged for their eldest daughter to contact Prince Ping privately. Taking advantage of the opportunity that Prince Ping went to the temple to pray for his sick wife, she showed herself in front of him. With her beauty, she created a kind and beautiful personality and successfully impressed Prince Ping.

Prince Ping was once known for loving his wife, but the princess had been ill for too long, and no matter how deep their childhood sweetheart love was, it could not withstand the test of time. He took a maid as his concubine in the second year when his wife was seriously ill, and took his wife's maidservant as his concubine in the third year. Although he had a reputation for being devoted to his wife, he never treated himself badly in private. Now, he met the daughter of the Zhang family, who was of noble birth and outstanding talent and appearance. Seeing her admiring eyes and listening to her sweet words of love for him, how could he resist?

He had known for a long time that his wife would not live long, and he had even chosen his successor. Since he was destined to remarry, he naturally had no intention of remaining faithful to his wife.

However, Prince Ping was thinking that he would propose marriage to the Zhang family after his wife passed away. He didn't care about the candidate for the second wife chosen by his wife, but the daughter of the Zhang family was also gentle and kind, no worse than the original candidate for the second wife. He thought his parents would accept his idea. But he didn't want his wife to worry about it when she was seriously ill, so he planned to hide it from her first. Anyway, he married a second wife a year after his wife passed away, so it would be in time to change the candidate after the funeral.

But the plan of Prince Ping and the Zhang family does not mean that others will do as they wish.

Hai Jiao heard the inside information and knew more: "Although Prince Ping's wife is sickly, she is a person with a temper. How could she sit by and watch others covet her husband? The girl of the Zhang family is not an easy person to deal with! Prince Ping and the girl of the Zhang family acted in secret, and the fact that they were exposed so quickly was inevitably fueled by the prince's wife. Now Prince Ping can still hide in the palace to avoid shame, and come out to see people after a year or two, but the reputation of the daughter of the Zhang family's direct lineage has been ruined. If she doesn't want to be asked by Princess Ping to marry her as the prince's concubine and be a concubine for the rest of her life, she will probably have to find a marriage quickly and get married in a hurry."

Haitang took a breath of cold air: "Is this the plot of Prince Ping's wife? She is quite powerful." You do the first day, I do the fifteenth, I will never give in, and I will not tolerate any mercy. It's a pity that this princess is physically exhausted, otherwise she would not be an ordinary person.