Chapter 284 Where is the prestige?
At this moment, the palace gate was about to be locked, and the prince hurried into the palace without even having dinner.
Your Majesty is currently at the Queen Mother's place, having dinner with her.
The eunuch came in and reported, "Your Majesty, Queen Mother, the Crown Prince has entered the palace and is waiting outside the palace now."
When the Queen Mother heard that her grandson had arrived, she immediately said happily, "Let him in quickly."
Then the Queen Mother smiled and said to the Emperor, "Zi Yu, this kid, left the capital just after he had his poison removed two days ago. I went to visit him at Prince An's mansion but came back empty-handed. It's strange that he came to the palace on his own initiative today."
In fact, the emperor knew the whereabouts of the prince very well. He also knew that the prince left the palace to save Qianhuan. As soon as the prince brought Qianhuan to Beijing, someone came to the palace to report the news to the emperor.
The emperor was also very curious as to why the prince did not go to accompany his beloved little peasant girl but instead rushed into the palace.
The emperor picked up the dishes slowly while responding to the queen mother's words, "I am also curious, this kid came to the palace at this time today, I am afraid it is not a good thing."
At this time, the prince had already come in. He saluted the emperor first, and then saluted the queen mother, "Meet the Empress Dowager."
The Queen Mother said enthusiastically, "No need to be polite, Zi Yu, you haven't had dinner yet, come, come, come and sit next to me. I will ask someone to add another set of bowls and chopsticks, and you can have dinner here with me and the emperor."
The prince refused and said, "Thank you for your kindness, Grandmother. I have already eaten and will not eat in the palace."
The Queen Mother did not force him. She smiled and asked, "I heard that you were poisoned and have taken the antidote. Have you recovered fully now?"
"Thank you, Grandmother, for your concern. My grandson has fully recovered and is no longer feeling unwell."
The Queen Mother was very relieved after hearing this. "That's good. When your father learned that you were poisoned, he was very worried and rushed back to the capital from the northwest. I was also worried every day. Now that I see you have recovered, I am relieved."
At this time, the emperor spoke up, "Why are you rushing into the palace at this hour? Is there something important?"
"I do have something to ask of you, Your Majesty."
"Oh, then tell me about it."
"I only like Princess Jingrou in my heart. I would like to ask Your Majesty to withdraw the previous imperial decree of marriage and grant another marriage between me and Princess Jingrou."
The emperor did not expect that the prince had rushed into the palace just for this matter. He spoke in a dignified tone, "The imperial decree to grant marriage was requested by your father himself. I have spoken, so how can I take it back? Since you like Princess Jingrou, I will make the decision to grant Princess Jingrou to you as a concubine."
"But I don't want to let her down. I only want to marry Princess Jingrou in this life. Please grant my wish, Your Majesty."
With a "bang", the emperor threw his chopsticks on the table and said angrily, "First there was the eldest princess, and now it's you? You were the ones who came to the palace to beg me to grant you a marriage. I issued an imperial decree, and you came to the palace to beg me to withdraw it. You all want to grant me a marriage, and you don't want to. Do you treat my decree as a joke?"
The prince had long guessed that the emperor would not easily withdraw his order, but he still insisted, "Your Majesty, the imperial decree was requested by my father, and I was not aware of it. If I had known, I would certainly not agree. Please, Your Majesty, grant me the favor and let me marry Princess Jingrou."
"There is no room for negotiation on this matter. I have spoken my mind. If I withdraw my order at will, how can I have any prestige in front of the ministers in the future?"
Then the emperor ordered the chief eunuch, "Li Dequan, send the prince out of the palace immediately."
"Yes, I obey the order."
Then Li Dequan stepped forward and said to the prince, "Prince, please come in."
The prince had no choice but to bow to the emperor and the queen mother, then took his leave.
After the prince left, the queen mother complained to the emperor, "Emperor, although you and Prince An are not brothers from the same mother, you and Prince An were both raised by me, so your relationship is naturally different from that of others. After all, Ziyu is your brother's only legitimate son, so you can't be too harsh on him."
"Mother, I don't want to embarrass this child, but the imperial decree has been issued. If I withdraw it at will, how can I stop the ministers from talking nonsense? Besides, you also know that the girl Ziyu likes was born in a peasant family. If she becomes Ziyu's legal wife, it will not be presentable at all. Others will laugh at our royal family. I have to think carefully."
The Queen Mother now knew that her grandson had fallen in love with a peasant girl, and she also felt that the girl's status was too low.
But looking at the look of her grandson, she was afraid that he would have to marry her. As the royal grandmother, she still felt sorry for the younger generation and couldn't help but speak well of Qianhuan.
"If there is a chance, I would like to meet that girl. I heard that she shined at the Five Nations Exchange Conference and brought a lot of honor to our Dayuan. The emperor also made her a county lady. I think she is not a woman without any merits. And I heard that this time Ziyu was poisoned, and the girl went all the way to Dongling Country to ask for Xuefu Fruit in order to find an antidote for Ziyu. Based on this point, I think she is better than many noble ladies in the capital. Since Ziyu likes her so much, I don't think her identity is a big deal. If Ziyu is really insistent, Your Majesty might as well give him a chance and withdraw your previous order first."
In fact, as long as the prince does not marry the daughter of a military general with a large number of troops or a high-ranking civil official, the emperor does not have much opinion on who the prince marries.
The reason why he did this was, on the one hand, because arbitrarily withdrawing the imperial edict would make the emperor's will seem too frivolous and would make him lose prestige in front of his subjects.
On the other hand, because the Crown Prince had made great contributions in suppressing the bandits this time and was poisoned and on the verge of death, in order to show that the punishment is clear, as the emperor, he must reward the Crown Prince well, and promotion is essential.
It’s just that the Crown Prince is already in a high position with great power, and the Emperor really doesn’t want to give him any more power, which led to this dilemma.
The emperor thought that if the prince was sensible, he would use his achievements to ask for the grace of revoking the imperial edict. This would not only leave his ministers speechless, but also make himself appear righteous.
The Emperor said to the Queen Mother, "Your Majesty, what you said is absolutely right. I will definitely give him a chance."
Li Yutong was secretly delighted when she learned that His Majesty did not agree to the Crown Prince's request.
Her personal maid Hong'er also quickly flattered her, saying, "Miss, I have always said that His Majesty will not withdraw the imperial edict at will. Liang Qianhuan is not as good as you in terms of family background, and she is not as good as you and the prince in terms of affection. You can relax, the position of the prince's consort is definitely yours."
Hong'er's words pleased Li Yutong. She took off a golden hairpin from her head and handed it to him, "Hong'er, you have behaved well recently. I will give you this hairpin as a reward."
Hong Er took the golden hairpin with great joy, "Thank you, Miss. Hong Er will definitely serve you more wholeheartedly in the future."
The Crown Prince was not in such a good mood. The Emperor did not agree to his request to cancel the engagement. He couldn't explain to Qianhuan and didn't know if Qianhuan was very angry right now.
The prince knew very well that the emperor said Qianhuan's status was too low and did not allow him to marry her because it was for his own good. In fact, the emperor was very afraid of him and was afraid that he would marry into the family of a powerful minister.
The main reason why the emperor refused to cancel the engagement this time was probably because he wanted me to exchange it for my military merits in suppressing bandits.
Never mind. I now command a large army and have been promoted to the rank of general. I don't care about rewards based on merit. If I can really use my military merits to cancel the engagement, I would be more than happy to do so.
And our Qianhuan, after returning to Jingyuan and having a big meal, immediately instructed Master Cai to find out about the Qian family's situation and buy some gifts according to their preferences. She planned to bring these gifts to visit Commander Qian's home tomorrow to thank him for saving her life.
As for the marriage between the Crown Prince and his childhood sweetheart, although Qianhuan felt very uncomfortable, she did not dwell on it too much.
She always believed that things that truly belonged to her could not be snatched away by others even if they wanted to. If others could snatch them away easily, then that person was not worthy of her love.
Love is never going to be smooth sailing. This can be regarded as another test given to them by God. She also hopes from the bottom of her heart that the prince can withstand the pressure from the outside world this time and firmly choose herself.
As long as your heart is like mine, she will definitely not let the prince down.