After the whole family was swept away, I lay down flat

Chapter 538 Birthday Gift
The fact that the news of the seventh prince spread at the birthday party of the Duke of Zhenguo is inseparable from Zhou Xuejun's father, General Zhou.

He and his wife celebrated his mother's birthday, and the specially prepared birthday gift just happened to be delivered home today, and it happened to be delivered to the Duke of Zhenguo's wife during the banquet. Mrs. Zhen Guogong opened her son's letter and gift list in front of so many guests. Inside, there was a birthday gift from the seventh prince to her elder in his own name. The news naturally spread immediately.

The person responsible for delivering the birthday gifts to Chang'an was the confidant of General Zhou, but among his companions there were also members of the Imperial Army. It was the latter who clearly told the story of the Seventh Prince in public, and also announced the fact that the Empress Dowager Zhou had protected the Seventh Prince for many years and was grateful to the Emperor for giving her aunt a special title. The imperial edict was issued at the beginning of the month. The team that delivered the birthday gift left the capital on the second day after the imperial edict was issued, and had first-hand information on the matter.

Not to mention how shocked and excited the people at the banquet were when they learned that the Wu family still had a prince's grandson alive, nor how everyone learned that the Empress Dowager Zhou had been honored for her role in protecting the emperor's heir. How happy the clan was. When Zhou Huajun went to find Wu Qiong, he only heard a few comments and was so shocked that he couldn't say a word.

She also pulled Wu Qiong and asked, "How come Sister Wu never told us about such a big thing?!"

Wu Qiong was already stunned and didn't react for a long time: "I...I...I don't know..."

Although she heard her mother mention it, she thought her mother was just talking in her sleep...

Zhou Huajun couldn't wait to pull her to ask her clearly, and became anxious when he saw her dissatisfied look. But Mrs. Zhen Guogong and Mrs. Saturday both glared at her and refused to let her go crazy at the main table. She had no choice but to find an excuse to drag Wu Qiong back to the garden, avoiding other people's detailed questioning.

Wu Qiong was dragged all the way by Zhou Huajun. Now he was out of breath, but his spirit had stabilized: "It's useless for you to ask me. When I was in the palace, I never knew that there was a seventh prince in Cining Palace. Me and I Mother has been staying in the small courtyard. The Queen Mother has repeatedly asked us not to wander around. The Queen Mother is not the only one in Cining Palace, there are also several concubines, concubines, and palace servants. All of them are reliable. The Queen Mother is afraid that some of them will be bribed by Concubine Sun and will be harmful to us, so she keeps a close eye on us..."

However, her cousin Wu Ke was a few years older and was arranged to live elsewhere. Maybe he knew about it, otherwise he wouldn't be so taciturn every time he came back to visit her and her mother. Even trivial matters such as what the new residence looked like, where it was located in Cining Palace, who was waiting around, and so on. I don’t want to disclose it anymore…

Wu Qiong hesitated to tell the story, but did not mention what his mother might know. Zhou Huajun did not raise any suspicion, and just sighed: "The Queen Mother kept it a secret! We are her natal family, but we don't know a word about it."

Zhou Xuejun had been silent just now. When he heard this, he couldn't help but raise his head: "My grandparents may not know about it. After my parents came to Beijing, they learned the news. There is no reason not to write back and tell my grandparents."

Zhou Huajun was puzzled: "How do you know?"

How did she know?

Zhou Xuejun pursed her lips.

Of course she knew that the birthday gift from her parents to her grandmother had arrived at home three days ago. She had seen it with her own eyes and touched it with her own hands. She even knew exactly what patterns were engraved on the box containing the birthday gift. Her mother also wrote her a handwritten letter and prepared a delicate little gift for her, which is the new bracelet she is wearing on her hand today. She just didn't know what was in the specially sealed red box. As soon as the things were delivered to their four-bedroom yard, my grandfather immediately sent someone to take them away, along with the person who gave the gifts.

The so-called seventh prince's news, his grandparents knew about it at least three days ago. The drama of "son traveling thousands of miles to send gifts to celebrate his mother's birthday" was staged in front of people today, just to make the existence of the seventh prince known to the public.

Zhou Xuejun was clear in her heart, but she didn't dare to reveal a word to Zhou Huajun at this time. Because Mrs. Zhen Guogong, her grandmother, had told her not to tell others, her parents' birthday gifts had been sent to Chang'an three days ago. Zhou Xuejun remained silent, but Zhou Huajun wanted to know the answer. Haitang saw this and helped explain: "The Queen Mother will hide such a big event from other people, but she may not hide it from her closest brothers. It's just that the matter is so important that even if Zhen Guogong and his wife knew about it, they wouldn't know it. You wouldn’t just mention it to the juniors at home, would you?”

Zhou Huajun thought about it: "You are right. We have become familiar with Ma Shangyi these days, but she has never mentioned a word about the seventh prince. She is from Cining Palace, how could she not You know? It's just a secret from us. But Grandma must know it! Ma Shangyi often goes to Grandma's place to talk."

Haitang blinked: "However, since this matter is a secret, how could it suddenly be made public now? The seventh prince will use General Zhou's people to give birthday gifts to Madam Zhen Guo, just to communicate with relatives. Does that make sense? The emperor also gave her a special title because of her merits in protecting the seventh prince. Isn’t this too sudden? "

She couldn't understand why the emperor would do such a thing? Didn't he decide to make the eighth prince the crown prince? To this end, he also won the support of the Zhou family of Queen Mother Zhou's natal family, hoping that the Zhou family would become the support of the Eighth Prince. Now that he has pushed the Seventh Prince out again, isn't he afraid that the Zhou family may have other ideas? After all, the seventh prince is still the biological grandson of the old aunt of the Zhou family, and the eighth prince's biological mother has only been a palace attendant for the Queen Mother Zhou for a few years. With such a clear relationship between family and alienation, how could the emperor be so sure that the Zhou family would continue to support the eighth prince instead of turning to the seventh prince?
Even though the seventh prince has been invisible to the outside world since he was born, he is after all a direct descendant of the royal palace. The emperor had never issued a decree to depose Empress Wu. As the seventh prince was born to Empress Wu, his status was naturally higher than that of any other prince. With him here, why would others support the young and concubine Eighth Prince to become the crown prince? !

The appointment of the eighth prince as heir apparent has not yet been announced. The emperor wants to find a strong competitor for him. Is it because he is afraid that his heir apparent will be established too quickly and too smoothly, and he will experience too few twists and turns? !

How can Zhou Huajun answer these questions? He could only look at Wu Qiong.

Wu Qiong couldn't explain clearly. All she knew was the news mentioned by the soldier who was giving birthday gifts at the banquet just now: "The emperor disclosed the news about the seventh prince to the ministers at the beginning of the month, and also led the seventh prince and the eighth prince to summon the important ministers of the court, and also The Ministry of Rites was ordered to draw up a title and said that the two princes would be crowned kings. "

Haitang blinked: "Mr. Sun Ge didn't say anything?"

Wu Qiong shook his head: "That person didn't mention it. The Duke and his wife didn't ask either."

Even if Mr. Sun Ge wanted to say something, it would probably be meaningless, right? The emperor did not want to immediately designate any prince as heir apparent, but he was just preparing to designate them a king. Isn’t it natural for a prince to be crowned king? Can the courtiers object?

However, Mr. Sun Ge originally strongly advocated that the emperor should recognize the successor Prince Ji back to the royal family and appoint him as the crown prince. The reason was that "the young master is suspicious of the country" and "the country depends on the long-term king". The eighth prince was too young. But with the seventh prince, this reason is no longer valid.

The seventh prince was born in the 20th year of Deguang, and is now fourteen years old. Although he is not very old, he is not a child like the Eighth Prince. Not to mention that the emperor seems to be able to hold on for a few more years. Even if he can't hold on, a young emperor of fourteen or fifteen is not too young.

He is still the direct descendant of the palace.

With such a legitimate prince here, and the emperor having two sons under his knees, why should the courtiers bring up Prince Ji's son to return to the clan?
No matter whose family the reserve eventually goes to, it has nothing to do with the person who succeeds him.

(End of this chapter)