Salted Fish Lady Loves to Eat Melons

Chapter 198 The Political Situation Is Clear
After the emperor and empress reached a consensus, the emperor announced tiredly: "I am not feeling well, so I will not drink with you, my dear ministers. The empress and the four concubines will stay to help the princes choose their concubines. The choice of the crown princess will be decided by you, my dear ministers."

The emperor left the table early after he finished speaking. The ministers also understood that the emperor was not feeling well, and as long as the selection of concubines continued, they did not necessarily want to keep the emperor.

The Queen, along with the Imperial Concubine, the Virtuous Concubine, and the Good Concubine stayed behind to celebrate the festival with the ministers and their families, and also to meet the concubines for the various princes.

Defei's mind and eyes were all on the emperor. When she saw that his majesty was not feeling well, she immediately stood up and supported the emperor and left together.

Wen Qingwan looked at the backs of the Emperor and Concubine De, and sighed in her heart: It's no wonder that the Emperor loves Concubine De so much.

She took so much pains to pave the way for the mother and son. Concubine De really loved the emperor so much that she even thought it was more important to accompany the emperor when her own son was choosing a concubine. No wonder she died for the emperor in her previous life.

Everyone says that there is no family affection in the palace, only fighting, but that is not entirely true. Although they may be jealous of each other.

But it also depends on whether the emperor, who is jealous of his concubines, can keep things fair. If he can keep things fair, nothing will be too chaotic.

If the emperor is a tyrant who is blinded by lust, the court and the harem may be in chaos.

The longevity of a dynasty depends on the ability and strategy of its leader.

The Dasheng Dynasty had several generations of wise rulers with clean government and treated all officials equally. This is the fundamental reason why the Dasheng Dynasty has been so glorious till now.

A wise ruler will be able to identify treacherous ministers, unite and consolidate with loyal ministers, and force those treacherous ministers who have not yet matured to either follow the right path or go to hell.

The empresses and four concubines of the Great Sheng Dynasty were all noble ladies carefully cultivated by aristocratic families. Their words and deeds were of superior quality, and they were able to tolerate others.

The Queen treats all the royal children equally, and the other four concubines also have good family education and will not harm others maliciously.

For the sake of the great family of the previous dynasty, the emperor did not dare to openly favor his beloved woman.

He liked Concubine De so much, but he only gave her the title of Concubine De, which was a lowly title.

It’s not that there were no vicious women in the harem of the Dasheng Dynasty, but no matter how vicious a daughter was, she couldn’t cause any trouble under the control of the queen and several concubines.

Unlike the Prince’s East Palace, the concubines there are obviously daughters of wealthy families, but it’s a pity that the Prince doesn’t know how to keep things tactful.

Faced with day after day of disappointment, even the most well-educated woman will lose her original nature and become vicious.

Wen Qingwan looked at the prince and couldn't help but be shocked. If he wasn't so obsessed with Wen Mingzhu, he would have repeatedly contradicted the queen.

Even though he is not smart and is very lustful, with more shortcomings than advantages, he may sit on the throne in this life just like in his previous life.

After all, he has the support of the Queen and several aristocratic families behind him. Perhaps the Emperor in his previous life had also thought of deposing the Crown Prince.

Just because she silently endured all of the prince's abnormal anger, the prince was not so out of control in front of others.

It’s not that Wen Qingwan is narcissistic. You see, if she hadn’t married into the Eastern Palace in this life, the Crown Princess would have been angered to death by the Crown Prince and Wen Mingzhu long ago.

In his previous life, the emperor wanted to depose the prince, but he couldn't find any major faults. In addition, the major families tried their best to protect him, so the emperor was powerless.

The third prince had always wanted to dethrone the crown prince, but the emperor secretly supported the fifth prince, so the crown prince took advantage of the situation and became the emperor.

In this life, the prince contradicted the queen, causing her to give up on him first. The princess consort died early, and the major families no longer bothered to protect the prince.

The emperor still has two years to live, and it is only a matter of time before the crown prince is deposed. Choosing a daughter now would be like walking into a fire pit.

The emperor did not participate in the selection of the Crown Princess at this time because he did not want the Shen family to blame him and make things difficult for the Fifth Prince. It can be seen that the emperor had good intentions.

When Wen Qingwan was reminiscing about the past, Gong Yan had a perfect ending, and several young masters from aristocratic families also fell in love with the young lady of their dreams.

Generally, at large banquets, there would be several pairs of young men and young ladies who fell in love with each other, and then the two families would marry each other. Gong Yan was no exception. Not only did the emperor want to choose an excellent daughter-in-law, but the ministers also wanted to choose excellent women as daughters-in-law.

Whether handsome men and beautiful women are a good match or not is not up to them to decide, because in addition to love, marriage also depends on ability and family background.

The next day.

Each family received an imperial decree granting marriage. The youngest daughter of the Shen family was married to the prince as his princess, and An Yurong got her wish and became the prince's concubine.

Xie Wanhua became the fifth prince's wife and they got married one month later. Fan Yuxuan became the fifth prince's concubine and they got married three months later.

Su Xiaomin was still young and no imperial decree had been issued to grant her marriage, but the Queen Mother verbally stated that the Fifth Prince's position as a concubine was reserved for Su Xiaomin.

Duke Su and his children and grandchildren knew that it was the emperor's will, but they did not dare to say anything. Besides, the Fifth Prince was worthy of Su Xiaomin with his noble character and elegant appearance.

The emperor's marriage granting made the ministers realize something, especially the third prince's faction, who pointed their spearhead at the fifth prince.

The most proud one is the Earl Huai'en Mansion. Miss An Liu entered the East Palace, and Miss An Qi and Miss An Ba have always been with Wen Qingwan.

She was favored by the wife of the Minister of Revenue and another lady, who made them the wives of their concubines' sons.

The Shangshu Mansion had officials with real power, so the old lady of the An family was grinning from ear to ear, and she almost went to the door in person to express her gratitude.

Because she had neglected her daughter for several years, Mrs. An was embarrassed to visit her, so she sent someone to invite Aunt An back home for a reunion.

But Aunt An was now fully focused on making money by making clothes, so when the An family sent a letter asking her to return to her parents' home, she only sent her son Xiao Lidong on the trip.

Even her daughter, Aunt An, was reluctant to let her go, saying that she needed to earn money in the mansion.

Aunt An is now confident that she can earn money on her own and no longer needs to wait for her parents' help.

Her three sisters-in-law originally wanted to marry their daughters into the Marquis of Weiwu's Mansion, and now the result is better than they imagined.

So they brought many gifts and personally sent Xiao Lidong back home, holding Aunt An's hand and calling her sister affectionately.

Wen Qingwan had no time to take care of them. She was tasting the braised shrimp, garlic crayfish and spicy crayfish made by Su Xiaomin herself.

Compared to the rough version she had made before, this one was countless times more delicious. After all, she had only eaten it and heard about it in her previous life, but had never tried it.

So what she made was a rough version, but even so, she still made 100 taels of silver a day, and 1,000 taels in ten days.

In rural farms, the normal crayfish season lasts only three months a year, but this year crayfish are selling like hot cakes.

Su Xiaomin suggested that they convert part of the rice fields into shrimp farming fields in the second half of the year.

When Wen Qingwan heard this, she thought it was feasible. There was nothing shameful about making a fortune.

However, with such a plan, the Xiao family’s farm was still not enough, so Wen Qingwan thought of the several villages that the emperor had given to Xiao Jin.

Those villages are not in the suburbs of Beijing, nor on the northern border, but on the southern border.

The southern border is where the Third Prince’s maternal grandfather’s family resides. Wen Qingwan didn’t understand it before, but now she knows.

The emperor had been helping the fifth prince with his plans two years ago, but unfortunately he had worked so hard for the court and his lover that he was physically exhausted and could not hold on for two years.

Otherwise, Zhao Jue would not have been able to become emperor in his previous life.

Since the emperor has thought it through carefully, Wen Qingwan cannot miss the opportunity.