Everything starts from Menghualu

Chapter 424: The Letter of Allegiance and the Reluctant Shen Jie
"Eunuch Huang, I don't want to do this either, but if I don't do this, I'm afraid the Queen Mother won't want to see me. Please report this to the Queen Mother."

"Just say that I am waiting here, waiting for her to summon me." Cao Cheng said directly
After hearing this, Huang Renli knew that he could not persuade her any longer, so he could only nod and turn back.

"What did you say? Not leaving? He actually won't leave? Fine, fine, fine, since he doesn't want to leave, let him wait there. I'll see how long he can wait!" The Queen Mother said coldly.
Huang Renli wanted to say something after hearing this, but he didn't say it in the end. Time passed slowly, and Cao Cheng stood outside the Cining Palace without any movement.

Apart from shouting a sentence from time to time, there was no other action, and it was because of his occasional shouting that the Empress Dowager became extremely annoyed.

Every time she was thinking about taking a break, she would hear this voice. Although the voice was not very loud when it reached her, who could blame her for being in such an advanced age?
Normally when she was resting, everything around her was quiet, but now there was suddenly some noise, and she couldn't rest even if she wanted to.

"Asshole, this is outrageous, outrageous! Go, go and call him in. I want to hear what he is going to do!" the Queen Mother said angrily.
After hearing this, Huang Renli naturally hurriedly bowed and turned to go outside. Not long after, Cao Cheng followed Huang Renli to the bedroom and met the empress dowager.

"Your Highness, I am Cao Jianwei. I pay my respects to the Empress Dowager." Cao Cheng bowed as soon as he came in.
"Alright, forget it. If you stay here any longer, I'm afraid I won't live long. Tell me, why are you so anxious to see me? What do you want to say?" The Queen Mother said directly
"Your Majesty, I do not want to take a concubine, so I beg you to take back your decision." Cao Cheng said
"What? You don't want to take a concubine? Cao Cheng, do you know what you are talking about? Have you told Duke Dingguo about your idea? Does he know your idea?" the Queen Mother questioned.
"To answer your question, Queen Mother, my adoptive father doesn't know because I didn't object." Cao Cheng said
"Well? Since I didn't object at the beginning, why did you come to me today? If you can give me an answer today, I can consider revoking my order." The Queen Mother said
"Your Majesty, the reason I came here is entirely because of Her Royal Highness. Your Majesty, you may not have met Her Royal Highness, but I have, and I feel very distressed."

"When my foster father talked to me about this matter before, I just wanted to repay him for his kindness in raising me over the years. So even though I knew it was impossible, I didn't object."

"Because I was saved from death. If my adoptive father wants to take it back now, I will just give it to him. Everything was fine before."

"But when I saw Your Highness, I changed my mind, because I couldn't let her down, I couldn't let down this person who cares about me, so I came to see you today."

"I beg you to take back your order and give Jiang Xuehui the reward to other people." Cao Cheng bowed and said
After hearing the reason, the Queen Mother was obviously stunned. Her expression was complicated and she didn't know how to start the conversation.

After all, Zhiyi was also her flesh and blood, her biological daughter, how could she not feel sorry for her? But for the Xue family, she had to do this and felt sorry for her daughter.

"Child, go back and tell that girl that you have to let her down this time. Let her be more open-minded. Born in the royal family, you always have to pay something, and this time is the payment." The Queen Mother said helplessly.

After hearing this, Cao Cheng was stunned for a moment. After all, she never thought that the Queen Mother would say such words to him. It was normal for her to feel sorry for her daughter, but this was the first time she addressed him by name.

"Queen Mother, is there really no solution at all?" Cao Cheng said with some reluctance.

"No, if there is any other possibility, why would I do this? Zhiyi is also my child, the child I gave birth to after ten months of pregnancy." The Queen Mother said in a deep voice.
After hearing this, Cao Cheng understood what the empress dowager meant, so he bowed and left the bedroom, and soon left the Cining Palace.

When Cao Cheng returned to the princess's bedroom, he learned that his wife had been called to the imperial study.
So he went directly to the imperial study, and when he arrived he found that his wife was indeed there.

"Jianwei, you are finally here. If you don't come, I will be annoyed to death by this girl. Come on, persuade her and stop causing trouble for me." Shen Lang said directly
"My dear, don't listen to your brother's nonsense. How are you doing? What did the Queen Mother say? Did she not embarrass you?" Shen Zhiyi asked

"Madam, it's okay. Look, I'm fine. But the Queen Mother didn't agree to my request. I still failed." Cao Cheng said in a deep voice.
"It's okay, it's okay, it's just Jiang Xuehui, isn't it? It's no big deal. I asked Ningning before, and she told me a lot about her sister."

"So you don't have to go anymore. Sit down quickly, brother. Why don't you have someone bring a chair over? Don't you know that he has been staying at the Queen Mother's place for several hours?" Shen Zhiyi said anxiously.
"Girl, fine, fine, I'll get someone to get it right away. I don't know who you are. You were so desperate before, but now you're so generous." Shen Lang said
After hearing this, Shen Zhiyi blushed a little, but soon recovered.

Soon Wang Xinyi brought in a chair, and Cao Cheng bowed and sat down.

"Jianwei, you don't know, if I hadn't stopped her, she would have run to the Cining Palace long ago, and I'm afraid it would have been even worse by then."

"Okay, now that you're back, take this girl away quickly. She's been annoying me for the past few hours. Let her go back as soon as possible." Shen Lang said
After hearing this, Cao Cheng naturally knew that there were some things that the princess was not convenient to say, so she asked him to go back first. So he stood up and said, "Your Majesty, I obey your order. I will take my leave now."

Seeing this, Shen Zhiyi, who was standing by, also gave a perfunctory greeting, and then happily followed Cao Cheng away. Watching their departing backs, Shen Lang also smiled.

He was still very satisfied with today's scene. No matter what Cao Cheng and the Queen Mother said, as long as this big thing was accomplished, Cao Cheng would never have any second thoughts.

He will have a powerful helper in the future, which makes him very happy.

At this time, Cao Cheng and his wife had returned to Shen Zhiyi's room. Shen Zhiyi was chasing Cao Cheng and telling her what happened in the Cining Palace.

"Madam, that's about it. I'm sorry, I didn't succeed either." Cao Cheng said
"What are you talking about? This matter cannot be blamed on you. Everyone wants you to take a concubine, how can you possibly do anything about it? It's okay, I understand."

"Okay, husband, let's not talk about this anymore. It's just Jiang Xuehui. Can't I control her? Don't worry." Shen Zhiyi said

"Madam, you really make me at a loss for words." Cao Cheng said excitedly.

"Okay, okay, now you're taking a concubine, shouldn't you be happy? Isn't this what you men dream of? Why are you still like this?" Shen Zhiyi said

"Madam, how could you think of me like this? You make me so sad." Cao Cheng said
"Oh, okay, okay, my husband. I was just kidding you. It's getting late. You should go back soon. Don't think so much and don't worry about me." Shen Zhiyi said, "Okay, then I'm leaving, madam. I'll come to see you in a few days." After hearing this, Cao Cheng stood up reluctantly and then left.

After he left, the smile on Shen Zhiyi's face disappeared. That's right, she was not happy at all. After all, who would be willing to share her husband with another woman?

And since she was a princess, she was even more unwilling. But there was nothing she could do. Her mother, her brother, and her uncle all wanted to share her with others.

Ziran was no match for them. The only thing that made her feel relieved was this man's resistance. This might be the thing that made her happiest.

In fact, when she thought about it carefully, the appearance of this man seemed to have really brought her good luck. She no longer had to marry far away like other princesses.

This alone is enough to make people envious. What else should I be unsatisfied with?
At this moment, Cao Cheng had no time to consider his wife's thoughts. He was in his adoptive father's study room, and neither the father nor the son spoke first.

"Foster father, I just came back. If you don't have any other instructions, I will take my leave first and come to pay my respects to you tomorrow." After saying this, Cao Cheng wanted to leave.

"Wait, Cheng'er, your father knows everything you did today. You were wronged this time, and your father knows that too. So, do you have any other requests?" Xue Yuandao
"Foster father, I told the Queen Mother today that my life was given to me by you. Without you, I would have been beheaded long ago. So over the years, I have always been very grateful to you."

"So after you said that before, I agreed directly. What happened today was because my wife was so sad. It hurt me to see her."

"Godfather, I have been dreaming about what happened back then every time I wake up in the middle of the night. That dark and narrow space back then has always lingered in my mind."

"It's only with her, Her Royal Highness the Princess, that I can get a moment of peace. Since we got engaged, I have rarely dreamed of the scene that night."

"So, I don't care what happens to her, but she doesn't. I will do my best to get what she wants. That's why I did this today." Cao Cheng said seriously.

After hearing this, Xue Yuan didn't know what to say for a moment, because he could hear that his adopted son was extremely serious at this moment.

So he didn't dare to speak, for fear of saying something wrong and causing unnecessary trouble.

"Godfather, no matter what you have done, you will always be my godfather. But from now on, I hope you will not get involved in the affairs between me and His Royal Highness Prince Linzi." After saying this, Cao Cheng turned around and left.

Looking at Cao Cheng's departing back, he shook his head helplessly. If possible, he didn't want everything to go to this point, but there was no other way, he could only do this.

At this time, Shen Jie, the other party in the incident, was drinking with Yan Lin.

"Yan Lin, tell me, tell me what I should do? What should I do? My mother wants me to marry Xue Shu, but I only have Miss Jiang in my heart."

"I have fought before, I have tried hard, but what is the result? In the end, I still lost. I am unwilling to accept this. I am unwilling to accept this." Shen Jie said
"You're not willing to accept it? If you're not willing to accept it, then you have to fight for it. If the Queen Mother's side doesn't work, don't you still have Cao Cheng's side? You can go to Cao Cheng, or go to Her Royal Highness the Princess."

"There will always be a chance. I don't know about Cao Cheng, but Her Royal Highness the Princess is definitely unwilling. In this case, why can't we find a way to cooperate?" Yan Lin said
"Yes, I can go find Cao Cheng, I can go find my sister, yes, you are right, I will go right now, I will go right now." Shen Jie said and was about to get up and leave.

"Wait a minute, wait a minute. Don't you see what time it is now? Can you still enter the palace? I will arrange a room for you now. You can rest here."

"It won't be too late to go tomorrow morning. Why would you go now? What can you get if you go? You are already drunk as a ghost." Yan Lin said
In the end, it was Yan Lin who helped Shen Jie into the guest room. Soon it was the next day, and after getting ready, Shen Jie went straight into the palace.

Shen Zhiyi was prepared for the arrival of her second brother, so she went out directly to greet him.

"Second brother, how come you have time to come to my place today? Is there something going on?" Shen Zhiyi asked

Zhiyi, I have something else to tell you, let's go in first. "Shen Jie said
Shen Zhiyi was sure that her second brother wanted to say something to her, but he still led him to a pavilion and dismissed the people around him.

"Brother, just tell me what you want to say, but let me make it clear in advance that if it's about Jiang Xuehui, you'd better not tell me." Shen Zhiyi said

"Zhiyi, why don't you want to say it? Do you want Cao Cheng to have another concubine?" Shen Jie asked
"Second brother, of course I don't want that. Which wife wants to share her husband with other women? Don't you know the current situation?"

"Do you know what my prince consort did yesterday? He stood outside the Cining Palace for several hours before my mother agreed to see him. But what was the result? Was it useful?"

"Oh, by the way, I also went to ask my brother, but the result was the same, it still didn't work. What do you want me to do? What else can I do now? Tell me what else I can do now?" Shen Zhiyi said

"I know, I know this is difficult right now, but should we just not do it because it's difficult? We can't just accept it like this, right?" Shen Jie said.
"Second brother, tell me, if we don't recognize you now, what can we do? Who can we turn to? Who can really help us and shake our mother's decision?" Shen Zhiyi asked
(End of this chapter)