in2ebook Chapter 121 Marriage
Chapter 121 Marriage
Chapter 121: Marriage
Empress Dowager Li did not dare to tell the Li family about that matter. Although she had said in front of Ye Wenyan last time that a daughter who is married off is like water spilled, those were all said in anger and could not be counted.
In fact, she was very dependent on the Li family. When she became the queen, in order to avoid suspicion and to make a gesture, all the official members of the Li family resigned from their posts to show their determination to the late emperor: foreign relatives would never interfere in politics!
But that was just superficial work. The Li family had not done nothing over the years, nor could they do nothing without an official position. The Queen's family was the uncrowned king, and they could do whatever they wanted.
If they don't want to be officials, they will take other paths, such as the trade route. For example, the female guards used by Empress Dowager Li in recent years were all secretly trained by the Li family. The silver used by Empress Dowager Li was also given by the Li family.
She and the Li family complement each other and rely on each other. Unless neither of them wants to live, no one can live without the other.
Queen Mother Li fell into deep thought. In a short time, she thought of many things, such as the smashing of Prince Su's Mansion and the fire in Prince Su's Mansion on the night of the 15th day of the twelfth lunar month. There was also news that came into the palace in the past two days, that there was a big commotion in Prince Ren's Mansion. Not only did the wall of the mansion collapse, but even the room where the Third Prince slept collapsed.
Apart from the one from Yanhua Palace, who else in this world has such great ability?
What's more, on the day Ye Wenyan came, Lian Shi had already said that just because of her words about killing the fourth young lady, their Li family must be implicated.
She was prepared, but she didn't expect it to be this big...
The destruction of the ancestral tomb is a serious matter of bad feng shui. Although she is not sure whether the tomb collapsed on its own or is related to the incident with Ye Wenyan, she must not tell the Li family about Ye Wenyan's incident.
Otherwise, even if the matter with the ancestral tomb was not done by the person in Yanhua Palace, the Li family would definitely think about it that way, and then they would believe that it was her who did not handle things properly in the palace and brought trouble and disaster to her mother's family.
Empress Dowager Li calmed down and asked her brother, "How is the mausoleum guarded in Li County?"
Li Zhiyuan was also helpless: "The purpose of guarding the mausoleum is to prevent intrusion. Although we check the mausoleum's solidity every day, if there is a crack from the inside, it cannot be seen from the outside. Anyway, it has collapsed. My family would like to ask you for advice. Should we repair it on the original site or move the tomb directly?"
Empress Dowager Li felt relieved. Fortunately, her brother took the initiative to find an excuse for the collapse of the ancestral tomb, which saved her from having to worry any more.
So he pretended to be serious and gave advice: "It's better not to move it. First of all, moving the tomb will cause too much noise. The late emperor just passed away, and it's not good for our family to be involved. Second, it's almost the New Year, and moving the tomb during the New Year is never a good thing. Also, when our Li family chose the site for the tomb, we also asked someone to calculate it. It's a precious land and it's not suitable to move it."
Li Zhiyuan nodded, "Okay, I'll tell my family about your idea later. They still listen to you."
Empress Dowager Li did not say anything else. In fact, she was not considering the late emperor and Da Nian at all. She clearly felt that no matter where they moved to, as long as the emperor had the idea, the Li family's ancestral tomb could collapse even if it was built at the ends of the earth.
Rather than letting the Li family notice something unusual and suspect her, it would be better not to move the ancestral tomb. If it collapses again, it will be a geological problem, or the foundation was not laid well when the tomb was built.
In short, she must be removed from the matter, and she must not have anything to do with this matter.
After talking about the ancestral grave, Li Zhiyuan had no intention of leaving. He sat in the chair and stared at Li Xiaohan.
Empress Dowager Li frowned, "Brother, is there anything else? Things are different now. The emperor is not ours, and I am not the only one who makes the decisions about the harem, so it is still too conspicuous for relatives to enter the palace. If you are fine, go back early! We also have to focus on the things in Li County and try to finish the repairs before the New Year so that the Li family can have a good New Year."
Li Zhiyuan shook his head. "It's unlikely that the tomb will be repaired before the New Year. You didn't see that it collapsed completely. The clan members in Li County are cleaning it up. I hope they don't damage the bones in the coffin. Otherwise, it would be too unlucky."
Empress Dowager Li was panicking, and she was more and more certain that Yanhua Palace must have been behind this. There had been no earth dragons turning over recently, and the ground hadn't trembled at all, so how could the ancestral tomb collapse completely?
"Sister, what are your plans?" Li Zhiyuan no longer mentioned the matter of the ancestral grave, but asked her this question.
Empress Dowager Li was upset because Quan Ji had asked her the same question just now. So she got excited and blurted out, "What do you mean by what are your plans? Why are you asking me what are my plans?"
Li Zhiyuan heard the conversation and asked, "Who else asked?" "No one." She shook her head hurriedly, "Brother, just talk about your business."
Li Zhiyuan did not ask any more questions, and only said to her: "Now that things have been decided, you have to think more open-mindedly, and you still have to live your life. What my family means is that it is unlikely that the court will be overturned. Even if it is overturned, based on your current relationship with the Ye family, it will be difficult to get the old generals and the generals' former subordinates. But the family still has to develop, and we can't just let it go, so why don't we choose another relatively safer and more natural path."
Queen Mother Li frowned, having a bad feeling, "What road?"
"Marriage." Li Zhiyuan said, "Send a girl from the Li family to the palace to be the future queen."
"A girl from the Li family?" Empress Dowager Li laughed. "Among the younger generation of the Li family, the most outstanding one is my brother's daughter! Do you want to send your daughter to the palace and marry the current emperor?"
Li Zhiyuan nodded, "Yes! But it's not my decision, this is the family's decision." "What about me?" Queen Mother Li asked him, "The Li family has a new queen, what about me?"
"You are still you, and your status as queen mother will not change."
"That's different." She shook her head. "Brother, that's different. Forget it. You won't listen to anything I say now, and you blame me for Lu'er's problem. So do as you please! But the emperor is only sixteen years old, and he will only be seventeen after this year. There is a rule in Northern Qi that men must be eighteen before they can get married, so you still have to wait! Besides, although the new emperor is young, he is also a man with his own ideas. In addition, his biological mother is in charge of the six eastern palaces. It is not up to me to decide whether he is willing to marry the girl of the Li family."
Li Zhiyuan left. He didn't care whether he would wait or not, and he didn't care whether his sister had the final say or not. As long as Li Xiaohan nodded, the Li family could make this happen. As for whether the emperor was willing to marry, it would depend on the ability of the Li family and his daughter.
Empress Dowager Li remained sitting there, and did not move until Li Zhiyuan had been gone for a long time.
Later, Baochan changed the tea, and she asked, "What do you think of what the Li family said just now?"
Baochan sighed, "No matter how I look at it, it's useless. The Li family wants to do this, and they will do it even if you don't give the nod. We can't turn against the Li family now. After all, we still have to rely on the Li family for support. Your Majesty has a hard time in the palace."
"It's too difficult. All ten female guards are gone. I have to ask the Li family for more people."
"Then why didn't you mention it to the Li family just now?"
"We can't mention it. Once we mention it, the fact that the Li family's ancestral tomb collapsed won't be hidden anymore."
She had to make a choice. The Li family had already started planning for the future, and she had to plan for her own future as well.
Although the Li family was going to send her own niece to the palace, a niece is not as good as a biological son. If the young couple had a good relationship in the future, they could get rid of her in the blink of an eye.
The Li family wanted to be the father-in-law of the emperor, so it was not so important to whom he was the father-in-law. She would just listen to Quan Ji's words. After all, he was her own flesh and blood, and she would always be the legitimate queen mother.
"Brother, you forced me to do this." She murmured.
Baochan didn't hear clearly, "What is the queen saying?"
Queen Mother Li shook her head, "Nothing."
……
The New Year is coming soon, and the royal family has begun preparing for the palace banquet.
There is a major funeral this year, so the palace banquet cannot be prepared as festively as in previous years, but it still has to be lively and the people who should be invited still have to be invited.
The court received a report saying that an envoy from Guiyue Kingdom would enter the palace before New Year's Eve, and a princess would be accompanying him.
Quan Qingcheng calculated that the envoys from Guiyue Kingdom would be able to enter the capital before New Year's Eve, which meant that they had entered the territory of Northern Qi at least several months in advance. It was probably decided when the late emperor was still alive.
He didn't know about this before, because he was just a little mute at the time and the court affairs had nothing to do with him.
Now that he has ascended the throne and proclaimed himself emperor, receiving the envoys from Guiyue has become the first diplomatic act of his reign.
Quan Qingcheng was a little nervous, especially when he thought that there was a princess traveling with him, he had to think carefully about the purpose of Guiyue's envoy's visit.
He shared this thought with Wu Fei, who saw it more clearly than he did: "Now that both countries have mourned, both countries have new emperors ascending the throne, and the hostages have been returned, there is no previous relationship between them, and they have to re-establish constraints. But I heard that the new monarch of Guiyue Kingdom has not yet married, so the exchange of hostages is not feasible. So besides exchanging hostages, the only other way for the two countries to establish diplomatic relations is marriage."
Quan Qingcheng shuddered, "You mean, they want me to marry that princess?" He shook his head desperately, "No, no, how can I marry someone else's princess? I'm only sixteen years old, not even old enough to get married!"
"They can wait if they are not old enough." Wu Fei said, "Your Majesty, you have no better choice. Being an emperor does not mean you can do whatever you want, nor does being an emperor mean you can casually refuse things you don't like. On the contrary, if you were just a prince now, you would have many choices in life. Unfortunately, you are the emperor. Once you sit on the throne, it is like an arrow shot from a bow. There is no turning back. You are destined to make many personal concessions for this country, including marrying a wife and having children, and surrounding the former dynasty and the harem. This is a compulsory course for a monarch. I failed to explain it to Your Majesty in detail before."
Quan Qingcheng was silent...