Speaking in the softest tone, she uttered the most vicious words.
Consort Liang's eyes widened: "Jiang Xinyue, for the sake of that bastard child, you would harm the eldest princess who considers you a friend?"
Among the children in the imperial harem, the eldest princess, the second princess, and the third prince all adored Concubine Zhen. Even though their mothers forbade them from associating with her, the children would often secretly sneak to Hexi Palace to play with Concubine Zhen.
The reason Consort Liang felt so confident in taking action was because she knew her daughter had a good relationship with Concubine Zhen and wouldn't fall victim to her poison.
She never expected that today, Concubine Zhen would be willing to harm the eldest princess for the sake of a bastard child.
Jiang Xinyue stared at her: "The 'bastard child' Consort Liang speaks of is now my son. He is under my protection, and I have a responsibility to safeguard his physical and mental well-being. In our conflicts, you can come at me directly, and I'll face whatever you throw my way. Even in gangland vendettas, they know not to harm wives and children. It was you, Consort Liang, who broke the rules first, so don't blame me for showing no mercy."
Even hypocrites weren't this hypocritical.
She was allowed to bully the fourth prince, but couldn't handle retaliation?
Jiang Xinyue knew this was merely an attempt to sow discord. Even if the Emperor wanted to severely punish Consort Liang, he couldn't. Behind her stood her father, one of the highest-ranking frontier commanders among the nine in the Great Yan Dynasty, overseeing military and civil affairs in both Guangdong and Guangxi provinces.
The Emperor needed the Gu family backing Consort Liang. Unless she committed a grave error, her position was unshakeable.
With this in mind, Jiang Xinyue walked up to Consort Liang, deliberately provoking her: "I heard from His Majesty that at the end of the year, the Prince of Fusang will be coming as an envoy to Great Yan. This Fusang Prince is in the prime of his youth, only twenty-eight years old. I hear his princess consort passed away last year, and this year he wishes to seek a princess from our Great Yan to take back to Fusang. Looking at our options, it seems only the eldest princess is of a suitable age for the Fusang Prince."
What utter nonsense!
Consort Liang was so enraged she wanted to curse out loud. Fusang was just a tiny country – was her eldest princess supposed to go there and smell fish all day?
The eldest princess would only be ten years old by the end of the year, while the Fusang Prince was already twenty-eight and a widower. He was old enough to be the eldest princess's father, and yet still in his prime?
Blatant lies.
Jiang Xinyue, pretending not to see Consort Liang's fury, continued: "Perhaps I should mention it to His Majesty, to let the eldest princess..."
"Shut your mouth!"
"Ah!"
Consort Liang could no longer tolerate Jiang Xinyue's arrogant attitude. She reached out to push her away, only wanting her to move back and stop whispering such heartless words in her ear.
Unexpectedly, with this push, Jiang Xinyue fell backwards, crashing into a nearby table. Her belly hit the corner of the table, and she collapsed to the ground, moaning in pain.
"Blood... Concubine Zhen... Concubine Zhen is bleeding!"
Jiang Xinyue had planned this collision carefully. When she hit the table, she used her palm to cushion her belly, bursting the thin membrane filled with pigeon blood hidden in her trouser leg to create the illusion of bleeding.
Before dawn, Jiang Xinyue had already felt contractions in her belly.
Her due date was within these few days.
But she knew that contractions were just the prelude to actual labor, and there was still some time before the real delivery would begin. So she had endured silently, only informing Yan the Imperial Physician and Yan Xinyi.
She had planned to notify the Emperor and Empress if the contractions continued and became more frequent in the afternoon.
On the way to Shunan Palace, the contractions had become more noticeable, but with Consort Liang's repeated attempts to harm her, she couldn't pass up this opportunity to strike back decisively.
As she fell to the ground, Jiang Xinyue felt a "pop" in her belly, and her lower body instantly became soaked: "Xinyi, my water has broken."
In Chengqian Palace—
The Xuanwu Emperor paused for the fifth time while reviewing memorials, his eyes constantly drawn to the heavy rain outside the window.
Wang Dequan approached with a cup of warm tea: "Your Majesty, perhaps you should take a break. This rain is quite distracting, making it difficult to concentrate."
The Xuanwu Emperor set down his brush and took a sip of the warm, fragrant tea, which helped alleviate some of his irritation.
"The two Guangs are crying poverty again, asking me to allocate funds to repair their waterways. I already provided a sum last year, and not only have they used it up so quickly, but there's also been no progress on the waterway repairs."
The capital frequently experienced heavy rains and river flooding, yet the officials from the Ministry of Works managed to construct channels between fields and rivers to divert floodwaters into farmland without spending excessive amounts of money. Why were the two Guangs always incapable of doing the same?
Wang Dequan dared not respond to this. If he did, it would be seen as a eunuch interfering in politics, and he would be criticized to death by the ministers and censors.
The Xuanwu Emperor wasn't expecting a response anyway and continued: "In the end, it's because the officials aren't dedicated. They're all thinking about lining their own pockets, and not a single one is doing any real work."
If everyone could be like Lord Jiang, fulfilling their duties and governing effectively, would he as Emperor need to personally attend to every matter?
Although Lord Jiang came from a civil service background, since his promotion to Minister of Punishment, he had solved several major cases in the capital.
He even reopened and retried cases of wrongful convictions caused by his predecessor's acceptance of bribes.
Now, the common people in the capital all praised Lord Jiang as an upright and just official.
Most impressively, in the face of public adoration, Lord Jiang didn't hog all the credit. He rewarded his capable subordinates based on their merits, and whenever victims came to thank him or offer gifts of food or goods, he always refused.
He would explicitly state that his ability to uphold justice for the people in the Ministry of Punishment today was all thanks to the Emperor's wisdom in selecting the right people and never shielding corrupt officials. This gave him the courage to disregard the interests of corrupt officials and stand up for the common people.
The Emperor's confidential city patrol officers had recently reported that the cohesion among the capital's citizens and their respect for the dynasty had increased significantly compared to before.
When mentioning the Emperor, there was no one who didn't praise him as a wise ruler.
If the officials in the two Guangs could be like this, how could the world not be at peace?
It was precisely because Jiang Yankun's conduct and work ethic deeply resonated with the Emperor that he had summoned several low-ranking clerks from the Ministry of Rites this morning.
Yes, not the Minister of Rites, but the lowly clerks who normally would never have a chance to meet the Emperor. He asked them about Jiang Yanxi's usual conduct and his ability to handle problems.
These clerks spent their days organizing documents in the government office and had never seen an official higher-ranking than the Minister in their lives. They answered the Emperor's questions truthfully, not daring to exaggerate or lie.
Jiang Yanxi, having received guidance from Jiang Yankun, was already known for his kindness towards both the Minister and the low-ranking officials, treating them equally.
Sometimes, when the Minister made mistakes, Jiang Yanxi would point them out and not let the lower officials take the blame. This often led to arguments with the Minister in the office.
As Jiang Yanxi was appointed by the Emperor, the Minister couldn't do anything about him and could only make things difficult for him in official matters. But Jiang Yanxi never complained and diligently performed his duties.
The Xuanwu Emperor was now thinking about when he could remove the Governor-General of the two Guangs and replace him with Jiang Yanxi.
As for Concubine Zhen's father, a second-rank official was not the end of what the Emperor had in mind for him.
After a few more years of tempering, there would be even better positions than the Governor-General of the two Guangs.
"Your Majesty! Your Majesty! It's terrible! Concubine Zhen is about to give birth!"
