Ruyi's Royal Love in the Palace: Fawning

Chapter 161: Even as Concubine Ling, she is still so useless

Jinse's brow furrowed slightly. She hated Ruyi. If it weren't for Ruyi, the Empress Dowager wouldn't have drowned in her grief over her distant marriage. So, while living in Khorchin, she paid no attention to Ruyi's affairs. She only knew that she had fallen from favor and been confined by Hongli, and that while under house arrest, she had given birth to the twelfth prince.

She was a bit surprised to hear Nanny Yun say that Yongqi couldn't speak even at the age of three. On the way back to the palace, Jinse heard the palace maids say that Ruyi was confined by Hongli because she had an affair with a guard. Naturally, she didn't believe it. She had seen Hongli and Ruyi in perfect harmony, a favor her mother had never received.

Nanny Yun: "Princess, you don't have to pity the Queen. I say she deserves it. I heard that when the Queen was still Concubine Xian, she had an ambiguous relationship with the guards. Think about it, what kind of people are the guards in front of the emperor? They are royal relatives, sons of princes and nobles. Who is Ling Yunche? He took the position of second-class guard because he saved the Queen in the cold palace. Concubine Xian was favored at the time, and the Emperor was soft-hearted. It was inevitable that he would be led by the nose. Maybe the two of them had already..."

"Ok?"

Jinse glared at Nanny Yun fiercely. She was frightened by Jinse's eyes and could only lower her head in disappointment, not daring to speak again.

Is this the truth?

Hongli had been desperate to make Ruyi his empress, especially since he knew that woman had killed Langya, yet he still loved her. Jinse was filled with hatred. If this was true, then Yongqi was a bastard, wasn't he?

The sedan chair carried Jinse to Changchun Palace.

When I pushed the door open, I saw Hongli looking at Langya's portrait with his back to Jinse.

Jinse stared at Hongli for a long moment before leaning over, flicking her handkerchief and saying, "Your Highness, I pay my respects to you."

Hongli turned around and wiped the tears from his eyes. He hadn't seen Jinse for many years. She had matured, but he had aged a lot. Jinse and Langya were becoming more and more alike. Hongli approached and personally helped Jinse up from her squatting position. With a hint of sadness in his tone, he said, "Jinse has grown up and looks more and more like your mother."

Jinse smiled and said, "I am the daughter of the Emperor and Mother, so it is natural that I look like Mother."

As she spoke, her expression became a little gloomy. Jinse walked to Langya's portrait and gently stroked the person in the portrait.

"It's a pity that my mother passed away early and never got to see Qingyou."

In fact, Jinse did not have a good life during those years in Korchin.

Initially, Jinse and Sebuteng Balzhuer enjoyed a period of affection, but their relationship began to unravel after Jinse became pregnant upon returning to Khorchin. In the late stages of Jinse's pregnancy, Sebuteng Balzhuer, disregarding Jinse's dignity, brought a woman from outside his home. He then engaged in drunken, abusive behavior, leading to a premature birth. While both mother and child survived, Jinse's health was severely damaged, and the imperial physician warned her that she would never conceive again. Khorchin's Great Khan, Lobsang Gumbu, believed Sebuteng Balzhuer was at fault and ordered him to expel his concubines. He then promised Jinse that Qingyou would be the only one who could inherit the Khorchin throne. To reassure Jinse, he even wrote a will in her presence, which finally relented.

However, her relationship with Sebuteng Balzhuer had long since broken down over the years. If it weren't for Fucha and Qingyou, she would have asked Hongli for permission to divorce her long ago.

Her hand holding the handkerchief paused, her eyes suddenly fierce. She lost her biological mother and had an unhappy marriage. All of this was Ruyi's fault. If Ruyi hadn't coveted the position of empress, how could Jinse, a princess, have been humiliated? Although Ruyi had been under house arrest for many years, she still held the empty title of empress. Did she deserve it?

Hongli patted Jinse's shoulder. He knew that he had let Langya and her daughter down and had harmed Jinse. He secretly made up his mind that he would double compensate Jinse in the future.

He lowered his eyes, vaguely remembering Langya's appearance when she was alive, and said regretfully, "Jinse, it's all in the past. Now that you're back in the Forbidden City, stay at the Princess's Mansion. Bring Qingyou to the palace more often to visit your mother, and also to keep me company."

"Yes." Jinse wiped away the tears from the corners of her eyes and bowed slightly to Hongli.

After chatting with Hongli for a while, Jinse left Changchun Palace.

She was a legitimate daughter, and in her heart, other women except Empress Xiaoxian were just Hongli's concubines, so she naturally would not go to the palaces to pay her respects to them. But the Empress Dowager had to give her some face.

When Zeng Huan heard that Jinse had brought the child back to the palace, she asked Fujia to prepare some of Qingyou's favorite food and toys and had them sent to the princess's mansion.

When she was little, Jinse had always believed she was a legitimate daughter, and Zeng Huan was merely the late emperor's concubine. Even though she was nominally Hongli's mother, she always felt a concubine was unworthy of being her grandmother, and so Jinse never felt close to Zeng Huan. Now that she had become a mother, she understood that without Zeng Huan's status, not only she, but even Hongli wouldn't have been able to become emperor, let alone her status as a legitimate princess.

Jinse sat in the Cining Palace for a while and talked a lot about the past with Zeng Huan. If it weren't for Nanny Yun reminding Qingyou to stay alone in the princess's mansion, Jinse would probably not have been willing to leave tonight.

The Dzungars surrendered to the Qing Dynasty, and Princesses Hengchu and Jinse returned to the court. A series of joyous events followed. Meanwhile, Yongshou Palace welcomed an important guest.

Yan Wan was lying on the couch on her side because of her mobility problems, while Madam Wei was walking around the hall, touching this and that, not hiding the greed in her eyes at all.

Seeing this, Wang Chan hurried forward and said with an apologetic smile, "Madam, are you hungry? How about I serve you something to eat so that I can chat with our Lord?"

But Madam Wei only cared about gold, silver, and jewelry, not her daughter. Her desires were insatiable, never satisfied. She ignored Wang Chan and ran to her dressing table, draping herself with every jewel she could find, muttering, "Yanwan, you're so unkind! You wear all these fine jewelry yourself, yet you don't care about the hardship your mother and your brother are living."

Yan Wan struggled to stand up and said with a wry smile, "Mother, haven't I given enough money out of the palace over the years? If Zuo Lu could be more motivated, I wouldn't have to live in such a precarious situation in the palace."

Madam Wei turned around and rolled her eyes at Yan Wan, saying coldly, "Zuo Lu is a man who is going to do great things. A man needs money in many places. But you, even after becoming the Emperor's Consort Ling, are still so useless that you don't even know how to buy a house for your mother and brother."

Hearing Madam Wei's criticisms, Yan Wan felt deeply wronged. How could she not have to take care of everyone in the palace? She gave most of the money allocated by the Ministry of Internal Affairs every month to her parents' family, yet she was still being criticized by them. What sin had she committed to deserve such a debt from her mother and brother?