Spoiled Wife - C58
Of course, there was also the empress dowager herself. Although she felt that it was a pity to let her son travel so far in the new year, she also knew that it would be hard for him to do it.
When the empress dowager found out, she would inevitably complain to the people around her. The main reason was that she couldn’t bear to see her son travel so far, so the common mama could only slowly persuade him. Of course, she didn’t dare to say anything else.
But Aunt Ning had some other thoughts. Lan Xin’s movements were not restricted, and of course, she was able to contact Aunt Ning. Especially during the New Year celebration, Shen Qi even gave some people in the residence a break to let them relax.
Of course, she really did have an awkward position in Lan Xin’s heart. Although she didn’t want Lan Xin to walk such a arduous path, she still had to think of a way to help her.
Thus, she continued to comfort the empress dowager by suggesting, “It’s not like the prince has gone out on one or two trips already. Empress Dowager, you can rest at ease, but if you really don’t feel safe, let the prince bring along someone who knows him and wait on him with him. Although he has a guard, there’s no woman to guard him.
Although she didn’t directly ask for Lan Xin to follow her by name, but apart from the wangfei, there was only one other person in the mansion that could be considered worthy of her title. The wangfei definitely couldn’t leave, so Lan Xin was the only one left.
Besides, Lan Xin had been sent to Prince Duan’s side by the empress dowager. She also had a set of excellent culinary skills and was proficient in medicine. No matter how she looked at it, Lan Xin’s interest was unharmed.
In the beginning, it could be said that he needed to recuperate due to his weak body, but after four or five months, he still hadn’t seen any movement. It was as if he had forgotten about someone like Lan Xin.
She had even thought of taking advantage of the fact that Princess Consort hadn’t reached her prime yet to be pregnant with a child and a woman to stabilize her footing. If things went on like this, she would have to wait until the next few years? As a result, she was very worried when she talked to Aunt Ning and begged him to speak up for her in front of the empress dowager.
Not only would he be able to stay away from the eyes of the Queen Mother, he would also be able to be alone with the Prince for a long time. At that time, the Prince would only have this kind of woman by his side, a man, as long as he had some normal needs, then the Lan Xin opportunity would come soon.
With such a period of time, if Lan Xin took the opportunity to conceive a few girls, then Lan Xin’s position would be completely secure. Even an imperial concubine wouldn’t be able to do anything to her.
Although she did not say it out loud, no one was an idiot. She definitely wouldn’t be able to hide her intentions from the empress dowager, and it was not certain that she would attract her loathing.
The empress dowager naturally thought of this as well, but she still felt that Aunt Ning’s suggestion wasn’t bad. Although she had her own selfish motives, Lan Xin was the one who had sent her to King Xian’s side, so it was natural that she would be biased.
“This Dowager will tell Jing Ze about it later. Normally, this sort of thing shouldn’t be spoken of by This Dowager. If Princess Wangfei was sensible, she should have arranged this beforehand.” As he said that, he started to become dissatisfied with Shen Qi.
common mama glanced at Aunt Ning with a complicated expression. Normally, one would be upright and smart, but he wouldn’t care about anything for his goddaughter.
“Esteemed empress dowager, isn’t esteemed wangfei still young? How can you be so considerate when it comes to matters like these? You can just teach her more in the future.”
The empress dowager nodded her head. “They should be taught a lot. They should be old by July this year. When that time comes, they must show the aura of a matriarch. At the very least, they shouldn’t mess up Jing Ze’s backyard.”
The common mama and the Aunt Ning agreed. The empress dowager didn’t say who the candidate was, but she did know that she couldn’t say anymore. Otherwise, the empress dowager would really hate it.
But thinking about it, he also sighed. That was all he could do to help. In the future, he would have to rely on Lan Xin’s good fortune. Who asked him to owe her that?
No matter what, before leaving, Duke Xian had to enter the palace to accompany the empress. This time, he had to bring Shen Qi along to enter the palace.
When she came in, she immediately started to pull Prince Duanren along, mainly expressing her unwillingness to part. At this time, Shen Qi had nothing to do with it, but when the empress dowager said, “Jing Ze, when you leave, bring Lan Xin along to serve you, I don’t need to worry.” Shen Qi almost smashed the empress dowager’s face with the teacup in his hands!
If this old woman didn’t stop him for a whole day, it would be difficult for her to continue living. Shen Qi was so weak that he would have no strength to retort, but on the surface, he remained calm and sat to the side without uttering a word.
However, the empress dowager didn’t wait for Duke Xiang to reply and started to speak to Shen Qi, “Your Highness has been gone for several months, you need to have someone you know and will only be able to rest at ease if you have her by your side. She will go back and properly make arrangements, you are still young, if there are things that she doesn’t understand, she will definitely point it out to you, so you must slowly learn to take care of these matters.
The meaning behind his words was that he was not virtuous, he did not even need to send Duke Xian to travel far, he did not even need to instruct the empress dowager to wait upon him, what else could Shen Qi say?
He stood up and bowed, “This subject’s wife will follow mother’s instructions.” Shen Qi praised her acting skills once again. Ever since she came to the Duke’s Palace, her acting skills had been rising rapidly, especially towards the empress dowager’s elderly self.
“Mother, I am going to do some official business, so how could I bring along a woman as my servant? Moreover, this operation was supposed to keep it a secret from the start, so it would be inconvenient to bring the woman with me. Delaying the trip is one aspect, and it would also make it easier for us to expose ourselves.” It was a rare occasion for King Xian to say such a long sentence.
The empress dowager saw that his expression didn’t seem like he was lying and thought about it. “It’s the same if Lan Xin comes later. There’s always someone to take care of your life in Jiangnan.” Her Majesty was still unwilling to give up.
“There will be someone waiting on us when we reach Jiangnan. Why bring them from Beijing?” King Xian retorted expressionlessly.
However, his words made the empress dowager misunderstand that he was going to Jiangnan to find a few good women to serve him. There was no need to bring a large group of people from the capital to meet so many beautiful women in Jiangnan.
Shen Qi immediately reacted to the empress dowager’s straightforward reply. She didn’t want Lan Xin to follow King Duanren, she only wanted him to have other women by his side.
Then, the empress dowager began to remind Shen Qi to pay attention to the matters on the way and also taught Shen Qi to pay respects to King Duanren. King Duanren and Shen Qi naturally nodded in agreement, because there were still many things that needed to be taken care of, so the empress dowager didn’t keep them at the palace for long, even though she was reluctant to part with King Duanren.
After going through the matters of the palace, Shen Qi had a profound look at Lan Xin. This Lan Xin and the Aunt Ning in front of the empress dowager had a deep relationship, it seemed like staying would become a disaster sooner or later.
However, the people that the Empress Dowager gave him were not people that could be easily dismissed. Shen Qi felt that she should pay attention to her in the future.
At this moment, Lan Xin walked over and bowed to the grand imperial concubine. “Your servant greets the grand imperial concubine.”
Duke Xian waved his hand and turned to look at Shen Qi, “This duke still has some matters to attend to, so I’ll head to the study first.” Seeing Shen Qi’s nod, he left in large strides, not even sparing Lan Xin a glance.
When he thought back to when King Duanren had refuted the empress dowager’s arrangements at the palace, Shen Qi’s mood immediately lightened up. Seeing that Lan Xin was no longer as inconvenient as before, he asked with a smile, “Is there something wrong with Orchid Lady at the moment?”
Lan Xin was slightly hurt by Duke Yu’s attitude, but she still remained calm and collected after hearing Shen Qi’s question, “This servant heard that the Duke was going to travel far away, so I wanted to ask if there’s anything that this servant can do for esteemed wangfei, so I came over to take a look.”
Shen Qi smiled gently, “You are thoughtful. But this concubine is enough.
Lan Xin was stunned when she heard this. This was the first time that the wangfei had spoken to her in such a stiff manner. She was on the verge of saying that she wouldn’t be allowed to wander in front of the prince.
Lan Xin didn’t know what had happened that caused her to change, but she knew that this change wasn’t a good thing for her. She covered her surprise and respectfully bowed. “This servant has disturbed wangfei. If you ignore this servant, then I’ll take my leave first.”
Shen Qi waved her hand while smiling, “Go.” After pausing for a moment, she continued, “Your highness has traveled far. If you need anything in the future, you can come to Cang Lan Yuan to chat with this concubine.” Without waiting for Lan Xin to reply, he brought his servant girl back to Cang Lan Yuan.
Lan Xin didn’t understand what the Princess meant by that last sentence, but she knew that something had happened that she didn’t know about.
Shen Qi’s intention was simple, it was to tell her that your intention to follow the prince to Jiangnan failed. To put it bluntly, she was gloating over her misfortune, how could she have any deeper meaning?