The daily life of a concubine's daughter

Chapter 354 Zhuzhu Wants to Remarry

At night, Ganlu Hall was brightly lit.

The old Duke stared at the Madam taking the tonic medicine before answering her: "Zhuzhu met the eldest brother today and told him that her prophetic dream was different from yours and her sisters-in-law. She dreamed of the whole family of Shi being executed.

She turned into a fierce ghost and was trapped in the palace. On the day when Shi Yao was crowned as the queen, the fifth prince rushed back to the capital and killed the fourth prince and Shi Yao.

The fifth prince was deeply in love with Zhuzhu and never regretted it. He did not marry a queen or a concubine. Instead, he married her corpse and slept with her at night. He lived a mad life all his life.

The Madam was shocked and asked with a pale face: "Zhuzhu and the Fifth Prince have no connection, so how can she be so deeply in love with him? Even before she wanted to get engaged to the Fourth Prince, the two of them strictly followed the etiquette and never spent time together alone."

The old Duke sighed and said, "I don't quite understand it either. Zhuzhu said that when she entered the palace at a young age, she met the Fifth Prince once. At that time, the Fifth Prince was not favored, and the palace servants bullied him and snatched his share of mooncakes during the Mid-Autumn Festival.

Zhuzhu felt sorry for him, so she gave him half of the mooncakes that the Queen had given her. From then on, the Fifth Prince kept her in his heart, paying attention to her silently, and as his love blossomed, he fell deeply in love with her.

Madam: “…”

The old Duke said, "Zhuzhu also said that her eldest brother escaped the disaster, and then he and the fifth prince fought back to the capital, took back the title, married a second wife, took a concubine, and had more than ten sons. He gave one to each of his younger brothers and one to Zhuzhu so that Zhuzhu could enjoy the incense for generations."

The lady felt a little comforted. It turned out that the Shi family still had an heir. She couldn't help but shed two tears of gratitude: "Then why are you angry at the eldest brother today? Is it because the person who finally took the throne was the fifth prince?"

The old Duke smiled bitterly: "You can't hide anything. Zhuzhu hates Zhou Shao so much that she can't stand being his concubine again. She discussed with the eldest brother and decided to support the fifth prince to ascend the throne."

The lady gasped in shock, grabbed his sleeve and asked hurriedly, "Did the boss agree? He can't be so foolish, right? How can he do such a thing as confiscating the family property and exterminating the clan?"

"After two generations of extermination, we should understand that we should not touch what we should not touch. The imperial power is not so easy to divide. If the ministers touch it, it is equivalent to making enemies with the world! Don't care whether the emperor is good or bad, his Zhou family is the orthodox one."

The Daxing Dynasty has not yet run out of steam, and attempting to undermine the imperial power at this time would be tantamount to courting one's own destruction.

"Yes, I have discussed the pros and cons with the eldest brother. But the eldest brother has been very angry recently, and he has done a lot of tricks behind my back. I have written to the second brother, asking him to keep an eye on him and not let the eldest brother reach out to the military camp or to the fifth prince."

The Madam asked with red eyes: "Support the Fifth Prince, what can you do? Our family is in such a situation, being ostracized by the court and outside, can't he see clearly that it is the Majesty who is afraid of and indulges us? What does Zhuzhu want to do? Does she still want to remarry?"

The old Duke touched his bald head and said bitterly, "Today, Zhuzhu had another dream. She dreamed that she was sixteen years old again, from the life when the Shi family was executed. She used 'Shi Yao' to ruin the reputation of the Fourth Prince, cut off ties with him, and married the Fifth Prince instead.

Later, the fifth prince ascended the throne, Zhuzhu became the queen, and she was the only one favored by the six palaces. She gave birth to eight princes in one go. She lived a smooth life, and our Shi family had power over most of the court.

Therefore, she became more and more certain that the Fifth Prince had the wisdom and strength to reach the top, and she was determined to remarry, continue to be the queen, and lead the Shi family to rise again.

The eldest brother heard that the fifth prince had been emperor for two lifetimes and that it was destiny. He was already angry, and now he was even more determined to support the fifth prince. "

The old lady was completely disappointed with the surprise that Shi Mingwu had left for the Shi family in his previous life. Tears suddenly fell and she pounded on the bed anxiously: "What on earth are they going to do? Are they trying to destroy the Shi family?"

A gleam of light and fierceness flashed across the old Duke's eyes, and he comforted him, "Don't cry in a hurry. Today, the boss exposed his thoughts to me, and wanted to ask me for the list of spies planted in various places.

My intuition is that he was targeting the Crown Prince, and wanted to emulate his previous two lives. At this critical juncture, the entire court is watching our Shi family, how dare I touch the Crown Prince?

If I don't give him the manpower, I'm afraid he will use all means to ask his subordinates for the list, and if one or two are exposed, he will probably get all the information.

The eldest brother has not been in good health these days, and he has been taking medicine secretly, and did not dare to tell us. I have ordered the housekeeper to put something in his medicine that will not harm his body, but will only make him sleepy and show symptoms of a cold, and he can take it back later. "

The lady was shocked and asked hurriedly, "How did you come up with such an idea? Is it really harmless? These days, we have been hiding in the mansion, and the years are peaceful. Only the eldest son has to face the ups and downs outside. Don't be too harsh on him. If you can persuade him to come back, you can persuade him slowly."

The old Duke shook his head: "If I could persuade him to come back, I would not resort to such a desperate measure."

The lady was worried: "It's not a good idea to keep him asleep all the time. First, it's not good for his health. Second, there's no one in the court. What about the second son?"

In recent years, the Duke of Zhenguo has been staying in the court, supervising every year, so that the Northwestern Army can get its military pay on time, not a penny less.

Otherwise, according to the practice of previous years, after being exploited at every level, the military pay would be transported to the northwest and would fall into the hands of the soldiers, with very little left.

For example, when the imperial court returned grain and fodder to the Xie family, the Shi family did not dare to embezzle even a pound of it and returned it all to the Xie family. In the end, less than half of it ended up in the hands of the Xie family.

An army of two hundred thousand strong needs food, drink, clothes, weapons, and if they are injured they need medicine and plasters. The expenses are huge, and the Duke of Zhenguo's Mansion does not have the money to spend on them.

They have no place to appeal, and dare not offend anyone too badly, so they can only exploit the poorer people in other places.

If the military pay could be fully distributed to the officers and soldiers, who would be willing to do such an immoral thing that would anger both God and man?

Everyone inside and outside the court said that the border was bitter and cold. The emperor also said that the soldiers had worked hard, but everyone wanted to suffer more in this bitter and cold place.

The old Duke gently held the old lady's hand, with a hint of nostalgia in his eyes. The past fifty years or so, from their youth to their old age, flashed through his mind. After a while, he said:

"Let's do this for now, and wait until we can come up with another solution. Fortunately, the second son's wife is not stupid, and has agreed to write a letter to the second son, asking him to check the entire camp and find the fifth prince, so that he can sever his relationship with the fifth prince in time."

If there is really no other way, one can only observe mourning.

Abandoning all power, he is left with an empty title of viscount.

The old Duke was extremely heartbroken.

He was reluctant to give up the power and wealth he had fought for with his life, but he was forced to this point and had no choice but to do so in order to preserve the incense.

His descendants are ambitious, and now that he is old, all he can do is to let them mourn for him.