In order to eat, I signed a contract with the system

Chapter 468: Legend of Zhen Huan - Nian Shilan 72

In April of the fifth year of Yongzheng's reign, the third selection of concubines after Yongzheng ascended the throne was held as scheduled. In this selection, the empress dowager had died and the empress was in name only and was confined to Jingren Palace and was not allowed to leave. Therefore, the emperor was the only one responsible for reviewing the selection and making decisions. Given the emperor's pickyness and preferences, the number of people finally selected into the palace was far less than in the previous two selections.

Including Caiping arranged by Prince Guo, there are only four people in total, namely Ying Changzai Fang Caiping, Sun Da Ying (the cousin of Sun Da Ying who is the lunatic who doesn't know what the world is in the plot), Wang Changzai, the daughter of Lord Wang who took over the position of Xia Wei in the Xia family, and Li Da Ying, a beauty from Jiangnan.

All four of them are the type of beautiful and graceful people that the emperor likes. It is obvious that this selection is for offspring, but the emperor still chose women with slim and slender figures. It has to be said that in the face of beauty, royal heirs do not seem to be that important.

After the newcomers entered the palace, the emperor quickly began to favor them. The old ladies were just like the former Concubine Jing and they didn't care at all and just lived a Buddhist life.

However, the emperor had been trying for half a year but had never heard any news of pregnancy. Gradually, the new woman began to fall out of favor. After comparison, the emperor found that the new woman could not understand his feelings as well as the old woman, so he slowly began to favor the old woman again.

When Caiping first entered the palace, she was favored and soon became Concubine Ying. However, before she could get involved, she fell out of favor. Concubine Ying, who had fallen out of favor, often went to the Imperial Garden to enjoy the flowers and play the piano to kill time.

Coincidentally, the palace where Concubine Ying lives now is Changchun Palace where Concubine Qi originally lived. When the Third Prince misses his biological mother, he sometimes comes to Changchun Palace alone.

After a few interactions, the Third Prince and Concubine Ying became familiar with each other. It was obvious that the Third Prince was interested in Concubine Ying. When Concubine Ying found out, she was terrified. When she was about to distance herself from the Third Prince, she received an order from Prince Guo.

"Make friends with the Third Prince and tell him that it was the Queen who instigated Concubine Qi to commit suicide, so that the Third Prince will hate the Queen."

It was not a difficult task, and Concubine Ying completed it quickly. However, she underestimated the Third Prince's filial piety towards Concubine Qi. After learning that Concubine Qi had killed the Fourth Prince and then committed suicide because of the Queen's instigation, the Third Prince completely hated the Queen.

He went to Jingren Palace specifically to pay his respects to the Queen, wanting to hear her explain in person why Concubine Qi died. However, he didn't expect to hear the Queen talking about him to Jianqiu in the inner room of Jingren Palace.

"Once Concubine Qi dies, the Third Prince will be completely in my hands."

"As long as I wait until the Third Prince ascends the throne, I will definitely be able to get out. By then, the Imperial Noble Consort and Zhen Huan will all be defeated by me."

"Grounded?"

"As long as I am still the queen, what does house arrest mean?"

"Concubine Qi is too stupid. I just tried to scare her, but she couldn't stand it and ended her life."

The Third Prince was no longer in the mood to listen to the rest of the words. He only knew that his biological mother was indeed killed by the Queen. He was immediately filled with rage and wanted to avenge his mother!

The Third Prince rushed into the inner room, walked around, picked up the vase by the door and smashed it towards the Queen. Jianqiu, who was standing by to protect her loyally, stepped forward to block the attack, but was hit on the head by the vase and fainted on the ground with blood all over his body.

The queen was panicked but she did not forget to yell at the Third Prince to stop, "Stop, Hongshi, what are you doing!"

"I am the queen, your legitimate mother. It is unfilial of you to attack me!"

The Third Prince's anger was initially relieved by Jianqiu's fall to the ground. Just when he was hesitating, he heard the Queen's questioning. Especially when the Third Prince heard the Queen say that he was unfilial, he became even more angry.

"Unfilial?"

"If I can't even avenge my mother, then I'm truly unfilial!"

After saying this, the Third Prince rushed to the Queen, picked up a decoration beside him and smashed it hard on the Queen's head. The Queen was under house arrest, and the palace servants in Jingren Palace had already died or left. The most loyal Jianqiu was now lying on the ground, and the Queen didn't even know whether she was dead or alive. No one could help stop the Third Prince. The Queen tried her best to dodge, but how could an old and frail woman compare to a young and strong man.

The Queen eventually followed Jianqiu's footsteps and fell to the ground with a bloody head. Seeing this, the Third Prince finally realized what he had done. In a panic, he didn't even think of squatting down to check if the Queen and Jianqiu were still alive. He threw away the "murder weapon" in his hand and fled.

Jingren Palace was so bustling that the people sent by the Emperor to monitor the Empress had already sensed something was wrong when they saw the Third Prince, and ran to report to the Emperor, but it was too late.

When the Emperor rushed to Jingren Palace after hearing the news, the Empress had already died from excessive blood loss. Jianqiu was lucky enough to still be alive, and woke up after being rescued by the imperial physician.

Later, the emperor learned from Jianqiu that it was the Third Prince who killed the Queen. For the sake of the Third Prince's reputation, the emperor ordered the imperial physician to silence him. Unfortunately, Jianqiu was too suspicious and did not take the medicine, and successfully escaped.

Jianqiu could not leave the palace, nor did she plan to. She wanted to avenge the Queen, so she contacted the Queen's remaining forces in the palace and hid in the Cining Palace where the Queen Dowager lived before her death.

The Queen is dead, and the Emperor has no effect at all from the medicine he was given. For this reason, the Emperor wishes he could kill the Third Prince. However, the Third Prince is the only healthy son left for the Emperor. In order to not have an offspring and not hand over the throne he worked so hard to get, the Emperor has to hold his nose and cover up for the Third Prince.

Once the court officials learned that the Third Prince had murdered his stepmother, he would no longer be eligible to inherit the throne. However, the Emperor did not expect that despite all his precautions, he still failed to silence the "only" witness, Jianqiu.

"Find Jianqiu quickly. I don't believe that a healthy person could disappear in this palace."

Undercurrents were surging in the harem, and the emperor's men secretly went to search for Jianqiu's whereabouts, but with the help of Nian Shilan, they found nothing.

Nian Shilan knew exactly what had happened in Jingren Palace. Now she was just waiting for the emperor to announce the queen's death and then push herself to the throne. When the time was right, Nian Shilan would give Jianqiu a chance. She thought Jianqiu would not let Nian Shilan down.

It was already summer, and the queen's body was not kept there. The emperor kept delaying, but still failed to find Jianqiu. Finally, he could only announce to the public that the queen had died of a sudden serious illness. From then on, there was no queen in the palace at all.

The Queen's funeral was very simple. The Emperor ordered that the Queen's coffin be placed on the side of Queen Chunyuan's tomb instead of in his own imperial tomb. Nian Shilan came to burn a stick of incense for the Queen, just like she did at the Queen Mother's funeral.

The emperor had not seen Nian Shilan for a long time. When he saw her again, he couldn't help but look dazed. Shilan was still as beautiful and charming as ever, as if time had never stopped for her.

During this period of time, the emperor was unwilling to see Nian Shilan due to health reasons. He always felt that now that he was so old, standing next to Nian Shilan, he would be like Nian Shilan's father, and they were not a match at all.

Out of this inferiority complex, the emperor forced himself to forget Nian Shilan and threw himself into the arms of his new love, but he did not expect that after just one encounter, he would be completely defeated, and the love in his heart for Nian Shilan suddenly burst out.