Selling wife for fame? Kick out the scumbag and marry the new emperor to enjoy the harem of favors

Chapter 248

"The Sixth Prince."

In Jingming Palace, Xie Jiu sipped his tea, listening to the news coming from below, his expression remaining calm.

If you get pregnant, you should give birth. There's a chance you'll have a boy, so don't worry about it. In Xie Jiu's eyes, boys and girls are the same.

"Have you inquired about it? Should we prepare a congratulatory gift?"

Zhao Xingjin had previously stated that Consort Chen had plotted against Consort Wei, but because she was pregnant, she was temporarily confined to her quarters until after the child was born, at which point she would be punished.

If this is to be punished, then there's no need to prepare a congratulatory gift.

Qingfang said, "Today is the day of the palace examination. The court is still busy. The emperor has not yet gone to Xiefang Palace to see Consort Chen. However, the sixth prince has been taken away by the Empress Dowager."

Xie Jiu looked up, a hint of surprise in her eyes, "The Empress Dowager took her away?"

"Yes, the Empress Dowager and the Empress were guarding the Xiefang Palace together. They took the baby away as soon as it was born, and I don't know if they intended to raise it in the Fukang Palace."

"The Empress Dowager does indeed dote on her grandson." Xie Jiu withdrew her gaze. "If this sixth prince were truly raised under the Empress Dowager's care, his future life would likely be much more stable and comfortable."

Chunrong gently fanned her from the side and chimed in, "Yes, Consort Chen is now implicated by her family's sins and her background is not honorable. Furthermore, because of her plot to harm Consort Wei, she is not innocent herself. If the Emperor allows her to raise the Sixth Prince personally, then that would truly mean he despises the Sixth Prince."

Consort Chen understood this principle, which is why she did not try to stop the Empress Dowager from keeping the Sixth Prince by her side.

She has to think about the children.

However, the Empress Dowager's decision to take the Sixth Prince away directly displeased the Empress.

The Empress naturally preferred that the Sixth Prince stay with Consort Chen, since that way she could control both Consort Chen and her son.

Moreover, the Empress Dowager's actions made the Empress feel that she was being guarded against, which made the Empress very uncomfortable. After all, she had never harmed the Empress Dowager, and even Consort Jiang had never thought of making a move against her.

Now that things had come to this, the Empress naturally couldn't ask the Empress Dowager to hand over the child. She could only wait and see how Zhao Xingjin would deal with Consort Chen.

in the afternoon.

The affairs of the previous dynasty were finally finished, and the new top three scholars (Zhuangyuan, Bangyan, and Tanhua) were all selected, with a total of 112 new Jinshi (successful candidates in the highest imperial examinations).

The number of people admitted is quite large, but this is also because this is the first time Zhao Xingjin has held the imperial examination since he ascended the throne. Previously, many corrupt officials had been killed in the court, so there were indeed many vacancies.

After finishing his work, Zhao Xingjin did not go to Xiefang Palace.

Instead, an imperial edict was issued, demoting the beauty Chen to the rank of talented woman and confining her to the Xiefang Palace, where no one was allowed to visit her.

Just as the Empress had predicted, she gave birth to a child. The Emperor wouldn't take her life, but being demoted to a lower-ranking concubine was a harsher punishment than the Empress had expected, though still acceptable.

Anyway, it wasn't the empress who was punished.

The others cared even less; now they were all focused on Zhao Xingjin's whereabouts, hoping to gain his favor and, like Chen, give birth to a prince.

Especially newcomers.

Apart from Guo Cairen and Jiang Cairen, Zhao Xingjin has not visited the other three to this day.

With the palace selection concluded today, the autumn imperial examinations are over, and the autumn hunt will begin in five days. If there are no further changes during this period, the remaining newcomers will truly have no chance to leave the palace to accompany the emperor.

The newlyweds are anxious, and so are those who want them to stand out.

And so, in the Imperial Garden, Zhao Xingjin witnessed Consort Zhuang hitting someone.

The person being beaten was none other than the pitiful and endearing Lu Cainu.

Even more coincidentally, the person accompanying Zhao Xingjin on his stroll through the Imperial Garden was Xie Jiu. "Oh dear, Your Majesty, look, there's something to see!"

Hearing the commotion not far away, Xie Jiu tugged at Zhao Xingjin's hand, held a handkerchief in one hand, and pointed her index finger toward the source of the sound.

Just then, Consort Zhuang strode towards Consort Lu, and then raised her hand high and brought it down heavily. Consort Lu was already bowing, so she was shorter and fell to the ground immediately after being slapped.

The path in the Imperial Garden was paved with gravel to prevent slipping, but now it has become a dangerous weapon.

Lu Cainu had delicate skin, and since it was hot today and she was wearing light clothing, she scraped her skin immediately when she braced herself on the ground. Her eyes were tinged with pink, and glistening tears welled up in her eyes.

Zhao Xingjin saw all of this and was initially somewhat dissatisfied with Consort Zhuang's act of hitting people, but when Xie Jiu's teasing tone echoed in his ears, his mind immediately became much clearer.

Why is it such a coincidence?

Especially Lu Cai Nu's light pink dress, her hair adorned with a pink gemstone tassel hairpin, pearl hair ornaments, a white jade bracelet on her wrist, a pink tourmaline ring on her hand, and even her embroidered shoes with exquisite begonia patterns, made her look like a peach blossom in full bloom, clearly a carefully made-up appearance.

"Consort Zhuang's temperament is still as impulsive as ever." Zhao Xingjin's eyes darkened slightly.

Xie Jiu smiled faintly, "That's right. Consort Lu has already moved to Ninghua Palace, so why bother arguing like this? I wonder what could have made Consort Zhuang so angry."

As she spoke, she looked up at Zhao Xingjin, her beautiful eyes showing no concern whatsoever, only a thirst for gossip.

"Your Majesty, now that we've run into them, shouldn't we go over and hear the reason for Consort Zhuang's anger, and the grievance of Consort Lu being beaten?"

The teasing tone in those words was almost overflowing, but Zhao Xingjin found it pleasing to the ear at that moment.

Because we didn't take him for a fool.

Sometimes, the concubines' schemes and calculations, which they thought were sophisticated, were actually quite clear to him, making him feel like he was being taken for a fool.

For example, at this moment, when Xie Jiu pointed things out, it was indeed a bit...
"No need." Zhao Xingjin didn't bother with it. "Didn't we say we were going to pick some osmanthus flowers to make osmanthus wine? Let's go."

Xie Jiu's eyes were still glancing at the crime scene. When she heard Zhao Xingjin's explanation, she looked somewhat disappointed. She pursed her lips and let out a soft "oh".

Zhao Xingjin turned around and took two steps, but still felt he had to get it off his chest, so he immediately raised his hand and flicked Xie Jiu's forehead.

"You really are something, always looking for trouble."

Xie Jiu took a light, rapid breath, then glared at Zhao Xingjin with dissatisfaction, "Your Majesty criticizes me, but you don't know that you and I are equally incompetent. In the past, Your Majesty has often watched the show, hasn't he? You've even watched my show."

He hummed as he spoke.

These words made Zhao Xingjin feel a little guilty and hesitant to refute them, so he coughed lightly.

"Alright, alright, let's go pick osmanthus flowers, let's not talk about this anymore."

Xie Jiu thought to himself, "If I can't win an argument, I won't say anything more," but he didn't show it on his face. He just nodded and looked happy again.

This caused great hardship for Lu Cai Nu on the other side.

The beauty shed tears, looking pitiful, but only Consort Zhuang could see them.

But Consort Zhuang showed her no mercy and directly accused her of insubordination and disrespect for palace rules, making her kneel in the Imperial Garden for two hours as punishment.

He specifically instructed that if someone fainted from kneeling, they should be carried back, and allowed to return and continue kneeling when they woke up.

Even through the thin fabric of her clothes, the pebbles poked Lu Cainu's knees painfully, making her even more irritable.

What's going on? Why hasn't the Emperor come over? She had just caught a glimpse of the Emperor's procession out of the corner of her eye.