Chapter 70: That little rebellious grandson dares to skip school?
When Mrs. Lu heard this, her heart skipped a beat and she wondered if she had done something wrong.
But she had no choice but to resort to this desperate measure. This old man was too cruel. He even executed the entire family of Li Shanchang, who had followed him through life and death for decades and was hailed as the first meritorious minister of the founding of the country. What else could he not do?
If this old guy really does what I say and asks me to be buried with that dead guy, wouldn't the past ten years of my life have been in vain?
Old Zhu could naturally see through such a clumsy drama, but he didn't say anything.
If not for anything else, just for the sake of his two imperial grandsons, Zhu Yunwen and Zhu Yunxi, he would tolerate Lu's cleverness.
"Go back with peace of mind. We will think about this matter first and then send someone to the East Palace to convey the order!"
"promise!"
"My daughter-in-law is leaving!"
After Lu left, Zhu left the sedan chair aside, strode towards the front court, and then vented all the anger he had suffered from Lu on the civil and military officials in the court.
Anyone who made typos in a memorial would be fined three months' salary, and anyone who dared to delay government affairs would be dragged down and beaten with thirty sticks, and then fined another three months' salary.
His gloomy mood did not ease until he paid back the money for the little rebellious grandson's morning meal.
The morning court ended quickly. Zhu returned to the Qianqing Palace and considered it again and again. Then he drafted an imperial edict and ordered someone to take it to the Prince's Mansion to read it out.
When Mrs. Lu returned to the Prince's Mansion with her youngest son in her arms, she was always worried, fearing that the old man would obey her and approve her request to be buried with him.
It was not until the beginning of the 9th hour that she heard a shrill voice.
"Your Majesty has ordered!"
When Lu heard this, she immediately ran out of the palace with the concubines and palace maids of the Prince's Mansion and knelt to greet him.
"The Emperor of Fengtian Chengyun issued an edict: Reject Lu's request and allow other concubines in the Crown Prince's Mansion to be buried alive with the emperor. Anyone who requests to be buried alive with the emperor, regardless of their rank, will be buried with the ceremony of a concubine. If their fathers and brothers have official titles, they will be promoted three levels..."
As soon as this imperial edict was issued, some people in the Prince's Mansion were happy while others were worried. Some who had poor mental strength were so frightened that they fainted on the spot.
Lu was the only one who was happy. The old man really spared her life for the sake of the emperor's grandson!
Although Lu was overjoyed, she quickly reacted and cried and begged the eunuch who delivered the imperial edict to tell him that he would convey her determination to die with the emperor no matter what.
How could the eunuch dare to agree to this? He could only bite the bullet and say a few words of comfort.
"Princess Consort, please accept my condolences. You still have to raise the emperor's grandson for the Ming Dynasty. How can you just follow the Crown Prince and die like this..."
After hearing this, Mrs. Lu performed for a while, and then brought a group of concubines who were in tears to thank His Majesty for his grace.
But except for her who was sincerely thanking, the others wanted to tear up the imperial edict.
After sending the eunuch away, before Lu could say anything, Li, the prince's most beloved concubine, stood up immediately and pointed at Lu and cursed her angrily.
"Ms. Lu, you are such a sinister and vicious woman. Didn't you tell us before that this was just a symbolic memorial and would definitely be rejected by His Majesty?"
"Now, except for yours being rejected, all ours have been approved!"
Another concubine also cried and complained.
"It's fine for us, the concubines without children, to be buried alive with the emperor. But why should Sister Wang, Sister Liu, and Sister Zhang also be buried alive with the emperor?"
The so-called Sister Wang is the biological mother of Princess Jiangdu, Wang, a very cautious woman.
Even when she heard the imperial decree to bury her alive with the dead, she just wiped away her tears secretly and didn't even dare to cry out loud.
When Li heard this, he immediately questioned.
"that's right!"
"We are not blessed enough to bear children for His Highness, so we should be buried alive with him. But why should Sister Wang, Sister Liu and the others be buried alive with him as well?"
"If they die, what will happen to the daughters they leave behind?"
Lu said confidently after hearing this.
"My dear sisters, please relax. I will definitely treat all the princesses as my own daughters!"
"Daughter?"
Li sneered immediately and ruthlessly exposed Lu's hypocritical mask.
"How lucky you are to say that! We all saw how you treated Zhu Yunhuan!"
"You dare to treat the former Crown Princess's legitimate son in one way and in another way. You must have eaten those princesses who have no title alive!"
When Mrs. Lu heard this, her pretty face turned pale with anger and she pointed at Mrs. Li and scolded her.
"Li!"
"Don't think that just because you don't have children, you can criticize me so recklessly!"
"Don't forget, you still have a father and brother outside the palace!"
"If you dare to refuse to be buried alive with me, your whole family will die!"
The reason why Li dared to roar like that was, firstly, because she was young, and secondly, because she had no children, she was not afraid that Lu would use her children to force her.
But when Lu mentioned her father and brother outside the palace, she had to give in. However, she was devastated when she thought that she would be buried alive with a dead man in her prime years.
Seeing that she had frightened Li, Lu's eyes became fierce when she looked at the other people.
"This matter has already been exposed. It's useless even if you are unwilling to accept it!"
"If you are sensible, go back and dress up so that you can look pretty after lunch today!"
"If you don't know your own business, not only will you die, but you will also bring trouble to your children, fathers, and brothers!"
"You decide what to do next!"
After saying this, Mrs. Lu flicked her sleeves and left, leaving behind a group of poor women hugging each other and crying.
Although what Lu said was unpleasant, everyone knew that this was their fate.
Whether they want to die or not, they have to die. It's just the difference between suicide and being killed.
What's more, the royal family treated them very well. Whether it was the level of their funeral or the reward of their fathers and brothers being promoted three levels, it could be called an unprecedented grace.
But if given a choice, who would want to die?
While everyone was crying in the Prince's Mansion, Old Zhu was happily talking to his two sons.
The brothers Zhu Chun and Zhu Bo finally entered the palace with their families.
Old Zhu first cried while holding his two young sons, and then asked about the situation on the road.
After learning that Zhu Bo's princess was pregnant and was still being taken on the journey by Zhu Bo, Zhu Bo scolded Zhu Bo again and summoned the imperial physician to treat his daughter-in-law, fearing that something might happen to the unborn grandson.
After the imperial physician examined him and confirmed that the fetus was not paying attention, Old Zhu finally felt relieved.
Even so, he still ordered the imperial physician to prescribe some pregnancy-preserving medicine, and quickly asked Zhu Bo to send the princess back to the palace to rest. Only then was the matter settled.
"Zhu Bo!"
"Send the princess back home later, and remember to come to the palace for dinner!"
"After we finish our meal, let's go and pay tribute to your elder brother together!"
"I will obey my father's orders!"
Zhu Bai led the princess to bid farewell to her father and the queen. On the way out of the palace, Zhu Bai grabbed the princess Wu's hand and whispered.
"I'm sorry to have wronged you..."
When Wu heard that the prince was so considerate of her, her heart was immediately filled with sweetness.
"Your Highness, you are too kind. You and I are husband and wife, so how can we feel wronged?"
Upon hearing this, Zhu Bo gripped the princess' hand even harder, as if he was grasping at the last straw.
He had a special status among the princes. His mother, Concubine Hu Shun, and his maternal grandfather, Hu Mei, were both sentenced to death for their involvement in the Hu Weiyong case.
Although his father did not vent his anger on him, he was still worried that he would cause his father's dissatisfaction again because of some trivial matter.
Therefore, even though he knew that the princess was pregnant, he still brought her to the capital with him, just because he didn't want to give others any excuse to blame him!
After sending Zhu Bai and his wife away, Old Zhu took Zhu Chun to talk for a while, and then sent him to the harem to visit his mother.
Zhu Chun's biological mother was Concubine Guo Huifei. Although she was not the most favored at the time, she had the most special status.
Because Concubine Guo Hui's father was Guo Zixing, the adoptive father of Empress Ma, and even Zhu Yuanzhang's name was given by Guo Zixing.
Because of this relationship, Concubine Guo Hui had a very high status in the palace. Moreover, in addition to Zhu Chun, she also had two sons and one daughter, which made her a very prolific concubine in the palace.
After sending Zhu Chun away, Old Zhu immediately ordered someone to go to the imperial kitchen to pass on the order, asking them to prepare a decent lunch at noon and place it in his Qianqing Palace.
After finishing all this, Lao Zhu suddenly thought of a little rebellious grandson and quickly sent someone to the main hall to invite him over.
I thought that it was rare for the child to see the uncles, and he had forgotten everything after he fell ill, so I would take this opportunity to get to know them again.
However, the young eunuch came back soon and told him that Zhu Yunhuan had escaped!
"Your Majesty, I did not see His Highness Yun Hun in the main hall. When I asked others, they all said they didn't know. Only the second grandson said that His Highness Yun Hun might have skipped school and ran away with Princess Jiangdu..."
When Old Zhu heard this, his face immediately turned dark.
"What?"
"That little rebellious grandson dares to skip school?"
"We really love him for nothing!"
"Come here, gather some people for us. Even if we have to search the entire palace, we must find that little traitor!"
As soon as Old Zhu finished saying this, he suddenly thought of something, which was the imperial edict he had just delivered to the Prince's Mansion.
Could it be that this little rebellious grandson heard some news and ran back to the Prince's Mansion?
When Lao Zhu thought of this, he immediately called Erhu over.
"Erhu, take your men and go to the Crown Prince's Mansion and bring Zhu Yunhuan to us. Don't let him see anything he shouldn't see!"
When Erhu heard this, he was also startled.
The scene of a woman hanging herself is not something that children can watch. They might get seriously ill from the fright!
"I will go right away..."
