The daily life of a concubine's daughter

Chapter 269 Kneeling as punishment

Since Shi Mingzhu married the Fourth Prince Zhou Shao, Concubine Ning only summoned her into the palace once, which was very undignified. After all, she was Zhou Shao's only woman at the moment, even though she was only a concubine.

The reason she entered the palace was to pay respects, but in reality, it was because her bad reputation had implicated Zhou Shao and caused him to be criticized, so Concubine Ning deliberately made things difficult for her and ordered her to kneel for an hour as punishment.

In the end, Zhou Shao begged her to kneel with him. Concubine Ning felt sorry for her son and asked her to stand up.

Such a big thing happened in the capital yesterday. The candidates acted together and almost surrounded Jingzhao Prefecture, which must have alarmed the entire court.

Since it is related to Zhou Shao, Concubine Ning who is deep in the harem must have received the news early on.

Shi Mingzhu didn't want to enter the palace and didn't dare to enter the palace. She did set a trap for Zhou Shao on purpose.

For some reason, Zhou Shao was deeply obsessed with her in this life, doing whatever she said and looking down on Shi Yao. However, Imperial Concubine Ning, who was so gentle to her in her previous life, made things difficult for her everywhere and would not dispel her suspicions about her just because of a few words from her.

Therefore, she hesitated, saying that she needed to wash and change her clothes so as not to be disrespectful to Concubine Ning.

The old nanny in Concubine Ning's palace said with a fake smile, "Madam, please hurry up. The Queen is waiting for you. It's been a long time since we last met. The Queen misses you very much and wants to chat with you.

You know, our queen is favored, and His Majesty will visit her at Lanhua Palace at any time. If His Majesty knew that the queen had been waiting for Madam for a long time, I am afraid that everyone would be embarrassed. "

"Madam, please wait a moment. I will go into the palace after I get dressed." Shi Mingzhu's heart sank.

Compared to Concubine Ning, she dared not provoke the old emperor.

Before the old emperor died in his previous life, he personally issued an order to have several concubines in the palace buried with him. This meant that when he went to the underworld, there would be people to serve him.

He also poisoned the Queen, Xiao Cao, and said that Xiao Cao volunteered to be buried with him.

Now that I think about it, perhaps the old emperor realized that Crown Prince Zhou Yi's death was ignominious, and in order to protect Zhou Shao and Concubine Ning, he took away the concubines who might pose a threat to Zhou Shao.

The people from the palace broke into the bedroom with a covetous look in their eyes, staring at Shi Mingzhu as she changed her clothes and jewelry, and combed her hair again, and kept urging her.

Zhou Shao was summoned to the palace by the emperor early in the morning. When the time could not be delayed any longer, Shi Mingzhu waited for him to come back for a long time, so she could only get on the carriage nervously and enter the palace with the palace servants.

When we arrived at Lanhua Palace, the sun was already high in the sky.

The old lady went in to report.

After waiting for a while, the old nanny came out, walked to Shi Mingzhu, and said calmly: "Madam Shi, the imperial concubine tossed and turned last night and woke up early this morning. She waited for you for two hours and couldn't bear it anymore. She went back to sleep now. Otherwise, you can greet her outside?"

Shi Mingzhu knew that Concubine Ning was deliberately embarrassing her. She looked around at the strange looks from the palace maids and eunuchs, and became angry and humiliated, but there was nothing she could do.

She is just a concubine now. Otherwise, if she becomes the king's principal wife, Concubine Ning will give her some respect to save her son's face.

And a concubine is not worthy of representing the face of King Cheng.

Shi Mingzhu wanted to kneel down in the corridor, but the old maid stopped her and said with a smile: "The flowers in this garden are full of fragrance. Madam, please pay your respects here."

Shi Mingzhu clenched her back teeth and slowly knelt down. Her knees hit the stones and it hurt so much. She kowtowed three times quickly and said "Long live the imperial concubine".

Just as she was about to imitate Shi Yao's shamelessness and stand up without waiting for anyone to call her, the old maid grabbed her arm and said with a smile:

"Madam, the queen said that since we are here, we should pay our respects. As for what to do after paying our respects, the queen was tired and fell asleep before she could tell us. So, before the queen wakes up, please continue paying your respects."

Shi Mingzhu's eyes were sore.

My eyes were suddenly filled with tears.

She understood that Concubine Ning was deliberately making things difficult for her and forcing her to kneel down.

She had never suffered such humiliation in her past life or this life.

She just couldn't understand. In her previous life, Concubine Ning was extremely kind and gentle. She was always gentle and considerate to her. She kept telling her that Zhou Shao had her in his heart and hoped that they would live in harmony and happiness. She also said that if Zhou Shao dared to let her down, he could ask her for justice.

She was very grateful to Concubine Ning at that time. Every time she went back to her parents' home, she would praise Concubine Ning and tell the Shi family that she was the best mother-in-law in the world.

Later, the old emperor passed away, Zhou Shao ascended the throne, and Concubine Ning became the empress dowager.

Perhaps she was truly in love with the old emperor. She had been ill for some time and her condition had not improved, so Zhou Shao sent her to the palace in Jiangnan to recuperate.

Until Shi Mingzhu's death, he never saw Concubine Ning again.

In her previous life, Shi Mingzhu truly respected Concubine Ning. Through her, she believed that royal men were truly sincere.

When she was demoted to a concubine, she felt the most aggrieved. She even thought about writing a letter to Concubine Ning to complain to her mother-in-law, hoping that her mother-in-law would reprimand Zhou Shao and restore her status as the queen.

But I never get a reply from my mother-in-law.

She had mocked Zhou Shao, saying that he had intercepted the letter she had sent to Concubine Ning, and that she did not dare to let his mother know that he was a heartless person.

Zhou Shao was stunned at first, then he ordered his men to kick her out.

Now think about it, how ironic.

It was not that Ning was stopped from replying the letter, but that she knew what Zhou Shao had done and supported him in doing so.

Shi Mingzhu's knees ached, and her tears finally fell on the gravel road, breaking into countless petals.

It was like the true love she had given in her previous life was trampled and broken into countless petals.

In this life, she is no longer the noble and flawless daughter of the Duke's Mansion. Concubine Ning has changed her face, which makes her see the true hypocrisy of this mother and son.

The old maid kept talking about the palace rules: "Madam is here to pay her respects. We in Daxing are based on filial piety. How can Madam cry out of grievance just for paying her respects?

Madam was once the apple of the eye of the Duke of Zhenguo’s family. She must have learned the palace rules. In the palace, tears are not tolerated, as it is unlucky.

Since Madam has forgotten the palace rules, I will repeat them to Madam, hoping that Madam will remember them and not break them. The first rule of the palace rules is that women are not allowed to interfere in government affairs..."

Shi Mingzhu straightened her back, bit her lips tightly, and her jade-like face turned slightly pale.

The first rule of palace rules is clearly not this.

This was Concubine Ning's deliberate warning to her, accusing her of interfering in government affairs for her behavior yesterday.

After kneeling for half an hour, the old nanny felt dry-mouthed. Zhou Shaofang hurried over, sweating profusely, and rushed over to help Shi Mingzhu up.

"Zhuzhu!"

Shi Mingzhu was staggering, her legs were no longer her own, her skirt was wet, and there were two bloody marks on her knees.

Zhou Shao was immediately heartbroken. He picked up Shi Mingzhu and kicked the old lady over. He shouted, "You don't want to live anymore, right? You actually used these shady methods on my people! Mother has always been kind and loving. You old slaves must have been treating her harshly on purpose!"

The old maid rolled and crawled to her feet, knelt down and bowed, forcing a smile and saying, "His Highness, long live the Lord! Madam came to pay respects to the Imperial Concubine, and she wanted to kneel down of her own accord. The servants did not force her. If you don't believe me, ask Madam Shi."