Salted Fish Lady Loves to Eat Melons

Chapter 187 Mid-Autumn Palace Banquet
"Father~" Wen Mingzhu saw that the emperor didn't ask her to stand up, so she cried out once but was interrupted by the Prime Minister.

"Concubine Wen, you better kneel down. When Lord Shen finishes speaking, His Majesty will naturally call you to stand up."

"..."

After kneeling down until Lord Shen finished speaking, the old man kept on babbling. Wen Mingzhu was stunned for a moment, and then her eyes turned red.

It has been sixteen years since she traveled through time. When has she ever been punished to kneel before?
When she was in the Wen family, no matter how big a mistake she made, Wen Qingwan was always the one who was punished.

Her legs are hurting now, why should she wait for Old Man Shen’s forgiveness?
When had she ever been wronged like this before? She was already on the verge of tears, what else could she do?
"Prime Minister, what qualifications do you have to punish my concubine? She didn't do anything wrong, why should she be punished to kneel? My father didn't even say anything!"

"I am only speaking the truth. Please forgive me, Your Highness. As for the punishment, I will obey your majesty."

Minister Shen watched as the Crown Prince forcefully protected the murderer who killed his daughter in front of His Majesty and all the civil and military officials.

His determination to follow the prince until death was shaken. Although the prince's eldest son was his grandson, it was still unknown whether he could grow up.

He can't even protect his daughter, so how can he protect his grandson?
The Third Prince's faction was still constantly criticizing the Crown Prince for his immoral behavior, and Minister Shen finally stopped speaking out to defend the Crown Prince.

Under the Queen's instruction, Duke Su had long been secretly assisting the Fifth Prince, but he was an old fox.

He secretly supports the fifth prince, but on the surface he agrees with the third prince's faction. What if the emperor is deliberately confusing the queen?

The emperor sat on his high throne and looked at the prince who was deserted by his friends and relatives. He felt sad but also a little secretly happy.

What made him sad was that he had been training the prince as the heir to the throne since he was young and had spent a lot of effort, but in the end, he did not meet his expectations. He was extremely disappointed.

There was no way he would hand over the people of Dasheng to the hands of a prince who only had eyes for women.

As an emperor, you don't have to be heartless and have no love, but you definitely can't be so ostentatious in favoring only one person.

Everyone will encounter a true love, but the love of youth is like a flash in the pan, fleeting.

For example, when he was young, he wanted to give the best in the world to his beloved girl.

Unfortunately, when power and love conflicted, he couldn't even give her the simplest position of wife!
I still remember that when his mother asked him lovingly who he wanted to marry, he didn't dare to tell her the name of his beloved.

Growing up in the palace, he deeply understood what his mother meant. If he did not obey her, his girl might lose her life!

But his mother understood him and loved him very much, and she married his daughter as a concubine.

He was so ecstatic at that time that he just wanted to pamper her and love her more. Unfortunately, after several life and death separations, he didn't dare to do so anymore!

He didn't dare to give her any love or good things, and he didn't even dare to have more children with her. He just hoped that she would live well by his side.

After becoming emperor, he had to hold a beauty contest and had to get close to the ladies from noble families who had no feelings for him.

When the women in the harem tried desperately to win his heart, he truly understood the situation his father was in.

When he was young, he had stood up for his mother many times, but in the end he became like his father.

Although he had been wary of many ladies over the years and was unwilling to get to know them, he still had children with them.

According to the Zhao family's ancestral precepts, every emperor must give birth to at least seven princes, but there is no regulation on the number of princesses.

He had fathered no fewer than twenty princes in his lifetime, but only seven were currently growing up.

Although he completed the task, he gradually became hard-hearted in the process. During the twenty-five years he was on the throne, he also had unruly girls from wealthy families who were unreasonable and shouted at him to love them.

He was so scared that he didn't dare to have much contact with his beloved, for fear that those crazy women would harm them and their child.

So he would occasionally pamper a concubine to stop the anger of those crazy women.

He eventually grew into a cold-blooded, arrogant emperor who stood at the top of everyone else's world.

As an emperor, he didn't dare to love the one he loved openly, let alone the crown prince.

The prince actually dared to show off his affection so ostentatiously and even arrogantly defended him in public. It would be unjust if he wasn't deposed!
The emperor glanced at Zhao Yi quietly, and the fifth prince was also looking at him. The emperor's eyes meant: Yier, did you see the ending of your brother the crown prince and his beloved?
The fifth prince looked back and said: Father, please stop talking, I understand!

The father and son looked at each other quietly, and then looked away tacitly.

The emperor said tiredly: "I feel very sympathetic for the sudden death of the Crown Princess. Since the Crown Prince has personally clarified that Concubine Wen did nothing wrong, my dear ministers should not pursue the matter any further."

"The ministers obey the order."

Seeing that the emperor looked tired and pale, the ministers could only sneer at those people they disliked.

Every member of the Shen family stared at the Crown Prince and Minister Wen angrily, as if they wanted to skin them alive.

The emperor took the opportunity to punish several young ministers who had come to the fore, such as the eldest son of the Shen family and the talented second son of the Su family...

The emperor banished all of them from the capital and arranged for the fifth prince to see them off.

Although these young officials were banished from the capital, they were not actually demoted. Instead, they were assigned to the southeast, northwest, northeast and southwest of the Great Sheng Dynasty.

The fifth prince then quietly told them to go among the people and learn about their customs and gain experience.

However, for officials in the capital, especially those close to the emperor, even if they were transferred to other places of the same rank, in the eyes of everyone, it was considered a demotion.

Although the prince was wrong, he was the crown prince after all. They openly attacked the prince, which was a contempt for the imperial power.

The emperor's action made those who originally followed the prince immediately change sides.

The emperor did this to secretly suppress the crown prince. He wanted to clear all obstacles for the fifth prince before he died.

Another reason is to prepare for a rainy day, and he also wants every corner of the Dasheng Dynasty to be under the control of the Fifth Prince.

No matter what disaster we encounter, we will not be completely in the dark and be unaware of the devastation and misery of the people.

Wen Qingwan was also very surprised by the sudden death of the Crown Princess. After all, the Crown Princess in her previous life lived two years longer.

But she wouldn't care. In her previous life, the Crown Princess owed her and bullied her, but she never owed the Crown Princess anything.

Compared to the Crown Princess, Wen Qingwan hopes that Wen Mingzhu will continue to commit suicide. If she doesn't, she will definitely find a way to harm her!
As for the Wen family, she didn't even need to deliberately add fuel to the fire. As long as she didn't lend a helping hand, they would automatically go to destruction.

Because of the sudden death of the Crown Princess, the palace did not plan to hold a grand Mid-Autumn Festival banquet. The Emperor only notified ministers above the third rank to bring their families into the palace to celebrate the festival together.

Wen Qingwan is a first-rank lady, so she can bring her family with her if invited.

"Young Madam, how many people do you plan to bring to the Mid-Autumn Festival banquet tomorrow?" Aunt An asked with a smile.

As a concubine, she didn't want to go to the palace to attend the banquet, but her family came to her for help.