The new king delayed the princess for half a year before naming her queen on the grounds that he wanted to mourn the late king and it was inappropriate for the country to hold a grand ceremony with great fanfare.
The princess thought that after all her hardships, her situation would get better and she would have more power to punish Xiaohong.
However, he did not expect that shortly after the establishment of the country, the emperor immediately made Xiaohong a noble concubine. The same rank as the deputy concubine was half a head lower than her.
The queen was very angry. Her queen was very alive and had three sons. Why was she made a noble concubine? Let her love her.
After waiting in the palace for more than a month, she didn't even wait for the king to come to her palace. She couldn't help but rush to Qinzheng Hall and questioned the king for doing this.
"The noble concubine has done a lot of merits and is very prestigious in the country. She has always been virtuous, so she deserves it." The king looked at his queen calmly, without any emotion.
"Xiande? I don't remember that she is my legitimate wife?" The queen was a little out of control, and she almost shouted those words.
The king was unhappy, "Of course he remembered, so I begged him to make me his queen. He has already made me his queen. Why am I dissatisfied?"
Over the years, Xiaohong has been accompanying him and doing things for him. If he didn't reward her, how would the people in the country view him?
Are you just going to take care of my emotions and face, and just become an unscrupulous fool in the eyes of everyone?"
Those words were a bit serious. The queen noticed her rudeness and even bent down to salute, "I don't agree with that, it's not the custom. If the queen is in the palace, she won't be given the title of concubine, because the position of the concubine is regulated.
The rights of the concubines are somewhat in conflict with the rights of the concubines.
I am worried that if there is a conflict of opinions between the queen and the imperial concubine, the situation will become embarrassing, so I came to ask for a meeting with the emperor, because it is not at all for the sake of the stability of the harem."
Does she mean that there is no room for two tigers in one mountain? The matter of becoming a concubine is a foregone conclusion and cannot be changed.
You can ask the king to take away the management power of the imperial concubine and make the imperial concubine a concubine in name only. This can be regarded as the queen's forbearance.
It must be said that the Queen was somewhat blindly confident about her position.
Her father was the ceremonial official of Fuxi State, and he was inevitably influenced by the etiquette mentality from an early age. He believed that concubines should not be messed with. If she was not a queen, her status would certainly be higher than that of Xiaohong, a concubine.
That kind of thinking is a bit too rigid, and it fails to take into account that people's hearts are not that simple. Outside the rules, there will inevitably be partiality and cruelty.
The third prince's heart is now completely biased towards the presence of the concubine, who is well-behaved, sensible and beautiful, and has brought him great help. Faced with the queen's self-assured and unclear attitude, he is getting tired of it.
"I don't have to worry about that. The imperial concubine told Gu half a month ago. The country of Xi has just experienced war, with countless casualties and a large number of resentful souls in the country. Over time, it will cause harm to the country.
She is a cultivator and cannot bear to see those lonely ghosts suffering in the world. She is willing to go to the temple mountain to pray on a moonlit night and participate in rituals for three years. She wishes those who died to rest in peace at an early date.
Gu agreed, she will not live in the palace permanently in the future, and I don’t have to worry about her endangering my power and status."
The queen did not realize that the king's tone had become stronger when he spoke of "power and status". She asked doubtfully: "My sister, please stay away from the palace for three years and live on Temple Mountain?"
Wouldn't that mean she gave up the fight for favor and was tantamount to banishing herself from others? What was she planning?
The king replied expressionlessly: "No." There was no need to tell the queen the other details. She would know by then to avoid bad things.
"Since my sister has such a kind heart, my concubine also agrees very much and will prepare everything for her in the temple."
Bungan Xiaohong had no idea, so she begged to leave the palace so that she could never come back and cut off her desire to be favored.
That turned out to be quite satisfactory to the queen. She came angrily and left happily. Unexpectedly, after she turned around and left, the king immediately showed a disgusted expression.
"Call the engineer to come." The engineer is responsible for the construction of various projects, ranging from water conservancy and transportation, prayers and sacrifices to temples, to minor palace repairs.
Soon after, the engineer entered the Qinzheng Hall and listened to Wang Zai's instructions.
"Gu begged to build a palace near the Temple Mountain, specifically for Gu to pray for blessings and offer sacrifices. To show respect to the god, I begged to build a larger palace, merge it with the Summer Palace, and rename it Yongfu Palace.
Starting from this month, corvées will be collected from all over the country, and those who pretend to be false, those who delay, and those who desert the military service will be severely punished."
The new ruler of the country wanted to build a large-scale construction project and did not dare to neglect it. "No, I will prepare the draft first and ask your Majesty to review it later."
The king waved his leg and said, "Go ahead." The new palace will be smaller than the royal palace, so he built it for the noble concubine.
In fact, he wanted to make Feng Xiaohong his queen, so he delayed looking for opportunities for so long.
Maybe those old officials seemed to have figured out what he was thinking, and the queen mother and grandpa didn't agree either, so they deliberately didn't mention the matter, so that he could just give up.
But he will not wrong his cruel person, and will definitely ask her to live a better life than the queen. If she does not get the fame she deserves, she will get the fulfillment she deserves.
**
Since those confinement months, Tang Yue has lived a very leisurely life. Xiaohong is very busy and has little time for classes and cultivation, so Tang Yue has been idle.
Tang Yue knew that there was no need to rush into those things, so he could take his time and wait for the development and changes of things if he really wanted to understand Xiaohong's psychological changes.
Anyway, regardless of the environment she created, after everything is over, it won't be more than half a month outside, so it's not too much of a waste of time.
She just treated it as a vacation, and it wasn't boring to go shopping in Yeqing every month and read the books on techniques and Taoist scriptures in her lap.
Xiaohong's progress in climbing to the pinnacle of power also surprised her. Not only did she move into the Summer Palace, the king also built and expanded the palace for her, hoping to rival the royal palace.
In the past, if a concubine wanted to go to the summer palace, she could follow the king. No concubine ever went to the summer palace alone.
Not only that, after Xiaohong went to the Summer Palace, the king actually moved to the summer palace to live, and all political affairs were handled there, leaving the entire harem in the palace.
Of course the queen was very angry because she was wrong about that. She didn't expect the monarch to have such thoughts. He only let Xiaohong leave the palace because no one would disturb the imperial concubine.
In this way, no one can miss the imperial concubine outside the palace. It is difficult to see the king, and there is nowhere to fight for favor.
But the queen didn't dare to use any tricks. Her father was sent as an envoy to another powerful country. Ruming had no backer and didn't dare to act rashly.
Although none of the concubines have any children till tomorrow, they will have children sooner or later if they live together like this every month. When the time comes, with the pampering the concubine receives, will he and his children have a chance of survival?
In the midst of anxiety and fear, the queen fell ill. Her mother went to the palace to visit her, and soon brought in a woman who was extremely beautiful.
She said to the queen: "There is no other way now. I will sacrifice her here and let her share that woman's favor. That is my only way to survive."
The queen, who was in the hospital bed, looked at the woman unwillingly, "Is that all that can be done?"