jdhmnovel Chapter 134 Strong
Chapter 134 Strong
Consort Qin rolled her eyes at Consort Song with disdain: "You're a jinx! If it weren't for you, my son wouldn't have run away from home! You swore to me that as long as you went to the Northwest, my son would be moved by your sincerity and would definitely come back with you. I believed you, overcame all difficulties, and supported you in going to the Northwest. And what did you do to repay me? You actually scared my son away again!"
Now, where he is, whether he's safe or not, nobody knows! You're a jinx, a scourge, a disaster! If I'd known this would happen, I wouldn't have let you in! My poor son, where have you gone, are you still alive! Oh, I miss you so much!
Now, Consort Shu has been demoted to a low-ranking concubine, and the Song family is being suppressed by the Emperor. Consort Qin is filled with regret; she's kicking herself! If only she hadn't agreed to Consort Shu's request, she would have followed her son's wishes and allowed him to grant Shangguan Zisu the title of a concubine!
Now that our son has run away, what good is it to find a suitable daughter-in-law? The most important thing right now is to find our son. Otherwise, we'll be laughed at to death by Madam Lu!
Consort Qin didn't sleep all night, racking her brains.
The next morning, she went to the Protector General and asked to see Zisu.
Zisu was teaching her younger brother to read when Xiangli came to report: "Miss, Prince Duan's mother has arrived and says she wants to see you!"
Zisu didn't even look up: "I won't see you!"
After a while, Xiangli came again: "Miss, Prince Duan's mother refuses to leave. She says she won't see you today and will stand at the gate of the General's Mansion."
Zisu: "Tell the gatekeeper to close all the gates, big and small, and ignore her!"
Xiangli ran to the front gate and said to Consort Qin, "You should leave now. My young lady doesn't want to see you, and there's no need for her to see you!"
After saying that, he instructed the gatekeeper: "Close all the doors, big and small, and do not open them no matter who comes!"
The small door refers to a small door next to the main gate, which was the door through which the masters usually walked in and out. The main gate refers to the two large doors, which were used by the masters when they traveled in and out by carriage.
Even with the main and side doors closed, family members can still enter and exit through the side or back doors.
"Hey, how dare you! My mistress is the Imperial Concubine Qin!" The Imperial Concubine Qin's personal maid stepped forward, intending to scold Xiangli, but the door was suddenly slammed shut, almost flattening the maid's nose.
No one paid any attention, and everyone in the general's mansion kept silent.
Consort Qin was furious and waved her hand, saying, "Let's go! I won't see you then!"
The group left in a huff.
Upon learning this, Zisu couldn't help but sneer.
Why did she come to see her? She angered Prince Duan, who has now disappeared without a trace. To be honest, Zisu was very angry and very worried. Prince Duan was a very good person. If it weren't for his high status and his difficult mother, she might have chosen him in the first place.
Even though they couldn't be husband and wife, Zisu still cherished this friend in her heart. She also hoped that he could live a happy and fulfilling life. However, things didn't go as planned, and Prince Duan was forced to leave for distant lands by his own mother.
Zisu's impression of Consort Qin naturally worsened.
Now, they've actually come knocking on our door. What do they want? Zisu didn't bother to guess, nor did she want to know. The mere thought of this person disgusted her. Meet? What a joke! Absolutely not!
Zisu would never meet someone like that!
When Consort Qin returned to the Prince's residence, Madam Lu, surrounded by maids, servants, and her children and grandchildren, greeted her joyfully. Upon seeing Consort Qin, she couldn't help but exclaim with a flamboyant smile, "Oh my, sister! I heard you went to the Protector General's residence. How was it? Did you see Princess Yulin? Was everything alright?"
The Dowager Consort Qin was furious at Lu's ambiguous smile and immediately raised her right hand to slap Lu hard across the face: "You wretch, are you secretly overjoyed to see me unhappy?!"
"Ouch, that hurts! Sister, what are you doing? Have you gone mad?!" Caught off guard, Madam Lu's ears were ringing from the blow.
Lu's eldest son, Xiao Xiang, glared angrily at Consort Qin and said without any politeness, "Mother, what are you trying to do? My second brother ran away from home because of you. Now you're taking your anger out on my aunt. What kind of behavior is this?"
The Dowager Consort Qin was furious. She immediately pointed her finger at Madam Lu and said, "Fine! Fine! Fine! You're ruthless! I'll give you three days. After three days, you'd better get out of the palace and never let me see you again!"
Xiao Xiang: "I'm sorry, we can't do that! Even the Prince's brother didn't kick us out, and this manor was left by my father, and I am also his son. Before he passed away, my father left a will saying that we can stay in this manor as long as we want, and no one is allowed to kick us out!"
Madam Lu: "That's right, sister. Before my husband passed away, he did leave such a will. You were there, the Prince was there, and the Emperor was there too. If you insist on driving us away, I'm not afraid to lose face and appeal to the Emperor!"
"Are you kidding me? Leaving the Prince's mansion? Only a fool would do that! Living here, her family doesn't have to pay a single copper coin for daily expenses. Plus, they get a generous monthly allowance—two hundred taels for herself. Leaving the mansion, not only will she have to pay for her own food and clothing, but she won't even get a single tael of that two hundred taels a month."
The smug smile on Consort Qin's face froze instantly. She gritted her teeth and said resentfully, "Fine, you don't have to move out, but you'll have to pay for your own daily expenses. Also, you'll have to pay your own monthly wages. I'm not going to be that stupid again! You're all a bunch of ingrates. My money is like water that makes a splash!"
"What? We have to pay for our daily expenses ourselves? And you won't even give us our monthly allowance?! No way, absolutely not! I absolutely refuse to agree! We have a share in all the property our husband left behind, you can't do this!" Upon hearing this, Madam Lu immediately became indignant and started shouting.
Consort Qin coldly looked at Madam Lu: "For so many years, the only reason you could still eat and use my things was because my son was soft-hearted. If it weren't for my son's insistence, I would have long since given up on you! You ate and drank my food, yet you still opposed me and made me suffer every day! Now that my son is missing, I'm no longer willing to be a sucker! Yes, the Prince's estate was left by Hao'er's father. But your son is an illegitimate son; dream on if you want a share of the estate!"
According to ancestral rules, your two sons will receive at most a few thousand taels of silver; you are not entitled to anything more! It's only because my son is kind-hearted that he would have driven you away long ago! Go and ask around, which family's illegitimate son is married with children almost ten years old, yet still clings to his legal wife's house and refuses to live independently?"
The Lu family was speechless at the words of the Dowager Consort Qin. After a long while, Madam Lu finally managed to argue, "I don't care, my husband has a will, so you can forget about kicking us out of the Prince's residence!"
If they don't move out of the Prince's Mansion, her grandson will still be the young master of the Prince's Mansion; if he moves out, he will be nothing. And her granddaughter, when she grows up, if she chooses a husband as a daughter of the Prince's Mansion, she will certainly be able to choose a son from a prestigious family. But if she moves out of the mansion, she can only choose a son from an ordinary family and marry into an ordinary family.
Besides, where would she get so much money to buy a magnificent mansion after moving out of the Prince's mansion? Having grown accustomed to the mansion, she wouldn't be comfortable living in a small house. As for food and daily necessities, she could pay for them herself. Since she was staying in the mansion, once Prince Duan returned, all she had to do was cry to him, and given his magnanimity, he might restore their previous ways.
The son and daughter-in-law of the Lu family thought the same thing.
Consort Qin, unaware of the family's inner thoughts, thought she had won gracefully and turned away triumphantly. In her heart, she kept muttering: "Hmph, fine, don't move out then. As long as I cause you trouble every day, I'll force you to leave one day!"
A few days later, it was Shangguan Mufeng's day off. When Consort Qin learned of this, she led a group of people to the General's Mansion to request an audience with Shangguan Mufeng.
Shangguan Mufeng refused twice, but Consort Qin insisted on seeing him. Unable to refuse again, Shangguan Mufeng reluctantly invited her into the reception room.
"What brings you here?" Shangguan Mufeng asked directly, not wanting to beat around the bush with this annoying woman.
Consort Qin: "I actually came to tell your daughter that I intend to ask her to be my son's concubine!"
Shangguan Mufeng sneered: "A concubine? My daughter is the dignified Princess of Yulin. Do you think the title of a concubine is worthy of my daughter?"
Consort Qin: "You're not satisfied with the concubines? How about a secondary consort instead?"
Shangguan Mufeng slammed his fist on the table and stood up: "My daughter will absolutely never become a concubine!"
Consort Qin was also angry, and said arrogantly, "You're not satisfied with the concubines? Hey, don't be so greedy! Let me tell you, the concubines are my bottom line. The position of the principal wife is reserved for my niece from my maternal family!"
Before Shangguan Mufeng could speak, Madam Yu rushed in from outside: "Get out of here! Don't even mention a concubine, my daughter won't want even a principal wife! The man my daughter marries must not have any concubines! Your family already has a concubine, my daughter will not marry your son, so get out of here right now!"
Zisu stood outside the window, a little figure inside her heart, rolling around with joy.
Mother, well done! Mother, you finally showed some strength!
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