Uncle from a poor family

Chapter 105: Happy Marriage without Joy (Sixth Update, Please Subscribe)
Forbidden City.

Qingning Palace.

When the emperor came to pay his respects to her before the New Year, Empress Dowager Zhou specially invited Zhu Jianshen to stay for lunch. After lunch, she asked her son to sit down and have a long chat with him.

"The prince is not young anymore. It's a bit late for him to get married now. Why are you rushing into it?"

There was some dissatisfaction in Queen Mother Zhou's words.

Zhu Jianshen asked in return: "Hasn't your mother always hoped that the prince could get married soon? What's wrong with that?"

Queen Mother Zhou shook her head and said, "Don't think I don't know. The one in Anxi Palace is ill, and her condition is very serious. You want to use the wedding of the Eastern Palace to cheer her up."

"Nothing."

Zhu Jianshen stood up suddenly and paced back and forth, with a hint of annoyance in his tone, "Someone must have been talking nonsense in front of my mother. If I find out who is gossiping, I will break his legs!

At this point, Zhu Jianshen slowed down his tone, "Wan Shi's illness is far from being incurable, and there is no need to resort to the method of bringing good luck... and that is a folk practice, how can it be applied to the royal family?"

Queen Mother Zhou looked at her son with a hint of speechlessness.

It was a kind of helplessness, and then he shook his head and smiled bitterly: "That's good, I think the selection of concubines this time should be slowed down, and there is no need to rush.

"I heard that the preliminary selection will be completed before the end of the year, and the selection will not even extend beyond Northern Zhili. Even the ladies from the remote counties of Shuntian Prefecture may not be able to make it to the capital in time... What are they so anxious to do?"

Zhu Jianshen disagreed and asked, "Mother, is there any difference between selecting from hundreds or thousands of people?"

"Of course there is a difference... When your father was choosing a concubine for you, he was not so hasty. Because there were too few candidates, he issued an order that all the girls of marriageable age in the country must not hide. But why are they going so far today? They are all your flesh and blood, why do they have to favor one over the other?" said the Queen Mother Zhou.

Zhu Jianshen was usually very filial, but this time he argued, "I didn't treat anyone badly on purpose. There was an earthquake at Mount Tai, and since you said that the Crown Prince should see the emperor, then we should do it quickly. This way, we can give an explanation to the warning from heaven."

Queen Mother Zhou sighed, "Since you have made your decision, I have nothing to say. How many days will it take to reach the stage of palace selection? Send the person to me. I want to see him in person."

Zhu Jianshen cast his eyes on Tan Chang, who was bowing his head, and asked, "When?"

Tan Chang replied respectfully, "There will be a preliminary selection before the New Year, and a reselection on the first day of the New Year. On the second day of the New Year, all the candidates will be sent to the palace. At that time, you can send them all to the Empress Dowager... If everything goes well, on the third or fourth day of the New Year, you can invite the prince to come and settle the marriage."

"Is this considered forcing us to do something?" Queen Mother Zhou frowned when she heard the plan. "In order to give an explanation to the heavens, can't we wait even a day longer?"

Zhu Jianshen said, "Mother, if you care about the prince's marriage, I will do my best to satisfy you. As for whether it is hasty, you don't have to worry too much. If the prince has any objections, let him come and tell me."

Queen Mother Zhou shook her head helplessly: "The Crown Prince came to pay his respects to me recently, but he never mentioned anything irrelevant other than paying his respects, let alone choosing a concubine for him... You Tang is a filial child, why don't you give him a little more chance to prove to you that he is a qualified crown prince?"

Zhu Jianshen sneered: "The prince is very filial, but apart from filial piety, does he have any other merits? Mother, do you really think that with his character and talents, he can protect the Ming Dynasty and the foundation of his ancestors in the future?"

Queen Mother Zhou said: "The Crown Prince is well-behaved and never does anything out of line. In the future, he will follow the rules and not dare to go beyond the rules of his ancestors, so as to maintain the long-term stability of the Ming Dynasty.

"Others don't understand this principle, don't you understand it too?"

The general idea is to remind the son, think about your father, he was a man of talent and courage, right? Look at what he did.
You are still able to sit here and talk to me now, it's all God's mercy. Zhu Jianshen still had a resolute look on his face: "I don't want to talk about the prince, and mother, please don't mention it anymore. As for the selection of concubines in the East Palace, everything has been arranged, and everything will go according to the process. If mother wants to meet the candidates, it's all up to you, but please respect my choice. I'll take my leave first!"

……

……

Zhu Jianshen took Tan Chang away.

Queen Mother Zhou sat there alone sulking. After a while, Chen Gui came in and bowed to her respectfully.

"In Shuntian Prefecture, has the preliminary selection of concubines for the Eastern Palace been completed today? How's the progress?" asked Empress Dowager Zhou.

Chen Gui said, "In reply to the old ancestor, Shuntian Prefecture has listed the list of candidates and conducted a preliminary screening. I heard that more than a hundred people have passed the preliminary selection and will go to the Ministry of Rites for the second round of selection, that is, the re-selection, the day after tomorrow, which is the first day of the first lunar month."

Queen Mother Zhou frowned: "Have all the candidates never shown their faces?"

Chen Gui said helplessly: "There are too few people. Maybe they think it's unnecessary... When the re-election comes, they will show their looks and figures together with the candidates from all over the country. That's probably it."

Queen Mother Zhou's breathing became heavy, and she slammed the table and stood up, "This is simply nonsense. Shuntian Prefecture only has more than a hundred people, and this is still under the emperor's feet. How many people can be sent from other places in a hurry? In the end, there are only two or three hundred?"

"Maybe... there will be."

Chen Gui saw that Queen Mother Zhou was furious and had to deal with it carefully.

Queen Mother Zhou said, "And that's not even counting the crooked ones... Even if we select a group, I'm afraid there won't be many suitable ones. Can't we wait a little longer and issue an imperial decree to have all the people of the right age from all over the country sent here?"

It is obvious that Empress Dowager Zhou attaches much more importance to the selection of a concubine for the crown prince than the emperor.

Just like when she was choosing a concubine for her son, she did not consider the ladies who participated in the selection.

Historical records:

"…During the Chenghua period, women of high rank entered the court. The wife of Shangshu Shi Chun was very beautiful. The Empress Dowager stared at her for a long time, and then looked around and said, 'When you were selecting concubines, why didn't you choose this woman?'"

Her daughter-in-law, Concubine Shao, who would be honored as the Grand Empress Dowager because her grandson became the emperor, spoke of the sufferings of women entering the palace:

"When a woman enters the palace, she will not be able to enjoy the company of ordinary people. She will not be able to eat, drink, sleep or sleep freely, as if she were imprisoned. From now on, when selecting women to enter the palace, no one will go to the south of the Yangtze River. This is my great favor to the women of the south of the Yangtze River."

This is for those who are selected as concubines. If they are not selected, they can only be sent to the palace to serve others, and their fate will be even more tragic.

But it is obvious that when the royal family considers issues, everything is based on protecting their own interests first.

Queen Mother Zhou looked at the trembling Chen Gui, and seemed to know that it was useless to blame Chen Gui. She sighed quietly, "My grandson is also unlucky. I wanted to leave him a few more maids in the palace, but I was afraid that someone would interfere. After the wedding, they just assigned an irrelevant woman to bring good luck. How sad."

The sixth update! I continue to ask for subscriptions and monthly tickets, brothers and sisters, come on!
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(End of this chapter)