PFC Chapter 159 Shackles
Chapter 159 Shackles
Empress Dowager Yuan patted her arm and said, "Why do you seem more sentimental than me? Entering the palace was my own choice, and I will never regret giving birth to Yu'er. Compared to--"
Having said this, she stopped talking.
No matter what, every step she takes now is in the best direction. Fate will not allow her to take a wrong step. Only by walking on the edge of a knife every day can she keep what she wants.
She suddenly asked: "What are you doing now, Qing'er?"
Nanny Zhou's throat was still choking with sobs, and she still spoke with that tone, "Miss Qing'er has been in Beijing for half a month, and is now working in the Dali Temple."
Empress Dowager Yuan seemed to have thought of something and suddenly smiled. "That child is even better than I thought. If he were a man, he would have a great career."
After she finished speaking, she realized that she was wrong, so she changed her words and said, "I am narrow-minded. I am a woman myself, so I naturally know how unfair this world is to women. If Qing'er can break through the cage and overturn the rules as a woman, then things should be different."
She seemed to be talking to herself.
Nanny Zhou perked up, looked around, and quickly pulled her master into the hall.
She quickly closed the door, the meaning of which was self-evident.
Queen Dowager Yuan disagreed, but still did not speak.
There are too many shackles that restrict women in this world.
They are like a lock given by God to men to trap women. At first, women will struggle and try to break free from this bondage.
But later, they changed their way, turning these shackles from tangible to intangible, and infiltrating them into every aspect of life.
These things subtly teach women to abide by the rules, to willingly submit to men, and to only see that small yard.
So what if you enter the palace? You still have to face the square world. The crimson palace walls seem to be stained with blood, and I always feel breathless after dreaming.
There was a look of anger between Empress Dowager Yuan's brows, and her nails were suddenly broken by her.
She was also unwilling, but she could not fight against fate, nor could she fight against this framed world.
So even though she entered the palace, she never deliberately made things difficult for the women in the harem.
Although she gave birth to a son, she kept him by her side since he was young and taught him personally.
Thinking of Wen Chengyu, she couldn't help but sigh, "I was always afraid that Qing'er would be like me, so I tried my best to persuade my brother to let Qing'er show up in the palace less often. After she reaches the age of 15, I should carefully choose a low-class family and recruit a good son-in-law to be her son-in-law, so that I can control her and inherit the Yuan family. In fact, I have selfish motives here. First, I don't want Yu'er to have feelings for her, and second, I don't want Qing'er to repeat my old path. But think about it again, if I hadn't stopped them from meeting each other back then, do you think they would..."
Nanny Zhou naturally knew who she was referring to, so she softened her tone and said, "Master, this matter cannot be forced. Although His Majesty looks filial, he is actually very stubborn. Once he has made up his mind, no one can change it. If you really did that back then, whether it succeeded or not would be secondary. If it failed, it would probably ruin the friendship between our family members."
Wen Chengyu is now 23 years old, and the matter of getting married should have been put on the agenda long ago. However, in the past, Empress Dowager Yuan was concerned about his poor health and the complicated government affairs, so she never dared to bring up the matter.
Empress Dowager Yuan thought back to the past few years.
The only difference was that last time, when she said she wanted to choose a queen from a noble family who could help him manage the affairs of the harem, she looked around but none of them caught his eye.
Later, at the reminder of her sister-in-law, she went to learn about Yu'er's past in detail, thinking that it would never go wrong to find someone based on his personal preferences.
As expected, she found something after searching for a while.
She sent someone to check the girl's background and family background, and the result was very satisfactory to her, except for one thing: the girl loved to wield swords and guns, and although she was well-educated, she did not meet the standards of a virtuous woman in the world.
She turned around and thought of her sister-in-law.
My sister-in-law was also unruly before she got married. She was good at carpentry and swordsmanship. She would do whatever she felt like doing and never cared about other people's opinions or words. She did things according to her own preferences.
Although she didn't understand at the time, she didn't interfere in her brother's affairs. She thought that as long as he was a good person, there was no need for so many rules.
This immediately made her understand.
Yes, it is enough to have a good character and be sincere to Yuer. What she chose for Yuer is a wife, not a dignified and steady mother of a country. So what does it matter what she likes?
So she took the girl's portrait and went to find Yu'er.
I thought it would work this time, but unexpectedly Yuer frowned, closed the scroll, and said that he would not consider getting married in the next few years. Although the girl he chose was good, she was too good, and he was not willing to trap her for the rest of her life.
The matter was eventually left unresolved.
This matter was only passed between the mother and son, so it did not spread outside the palace and did not have any impact on the girl's reputation.
However, Empress Dowager Yuan gave him a deadline: once he was better, he could consider getting married.
Wen Chengyu couldn't persuade his mother and could only agree temporarily.
As a result, there was a steady stream of wandering doctors coming in and out of the Imperial Medical Bureau to study the emperor's illness together with the imperial physicians. Under the imperial order and huge benefits, the doctors became more dedicated.
Now Empress Dowager Yuan places her hopes on Doctor Mu.
There is no rush to get married for the time being. What she wants most is to completely cure her son's health and get rid of the reputation of a medicine bottle.
A few days later, Fang Shuo brought someone to Beijing, saying that it was an official document from the imperial court.
This incident caused a stir not only in the capital, but also in other provincial capitals.
The news spread fastest in the Dali Temple. At this time, Lu Zhao had already appeared and was working in the hall. Yuan Qing sat below him, helping to sort out some case files.
"You said the person is already in the Ministry of Justice?"
The person who came back to report replied, "Yes, the higher-ups specifically asked you to come over to help with the trial. I heard that this time the commotion was quite big, and even the two people in the palace were alarmed."
Although Yuan Qing does not have an exact name, we can guess about 70% of it through inference.
Lu Zhao must have been the same. Although he was not told the content of the conversation in the palace that night, given Lu Zhao's intelligence, he would probably guess it.
But Lu Zhao still pretended to have just learned about it, and stood up immediately in shock, and continued to ask: "Then did Your Majesty assign anyone to investigate this matter?"
The man shook his head and said, "There is no clear order from the palace on this matter, but the person in charge is now idle at home and has not attended court for several days. Now the task of detaining the prisoner has been given to the Ministry of Justice. Our Lord said that he will most likely ask the Censorate and our Dali Temple to participate in the investigation."
This is possible.