Fifty thousand taels of silver was nothing to her family. However, "I want you to write me a guarantee. Once you become the side concubine of Prince Wen in the future, you must make Prince Wen help our Li family become imperial merchants. If you can't do it, then there's no need to talk about today's matter."
Miss Zheng looked at Li Qinglian in disbelief. She never thought that her own mother would try to take advantage of her.
"Fine, I agree." Despite the resentment in her heart, Miss Zheng still wrote the guarantee. After signing and sealing it, Miss Zheng took the fifty - thousand - tael silver note and left home.
One day, she would surely kill all those who had bullied her, leaving not a single one alive!
On the other side, after Concubine Hua gave birth to a child, the Grand Empress Dowager left dejectedly and began to arrange the selection of an empress for Emperor Yuan Yuchuan.
"Your Majesty, this is the picture album sent by the Grand Empress Dowager. She said these are the candidates for the empress." The senior eunuch beside Yuan Yuchuan walked in holding a stack of portraits.
"Candidates for the empress? I'm afraid the ones she chose are all easy to control," Yuan Yuchuan said sarcastically, looking at the portraits in the eunuch's hand.
"Your Majesty, in this servant's opinion, it is indeed a good idea for you to choose an empress. In this way, there will be someone to manage the harem, and you will have more time to handle government affairs." It had to be said that to be a senior eunuch, one must have an extraordinary mind. This sentence directly hit Yuan Yuchuan's mind.
Yuan Yuchuan thought for a while and found this method quite feasible. He asked the senior eunuch to open the portraits one by one for him to look at. But after looking, he found that they were all daughters of officials below the third rank.
"Why are the family backgrounds of these people all below the third rank? Isn't there anyone of a higher rank?" Yuan Yuchuan looked at the senior eunuch and asked.
"Your Majesty, these are the people selected by the Grand Empress Dowager. She said that if the family background is too powerful, Your Majesty may not be able to control them." When the senior eunuch said this, he was trembling all over, afraid that the emperor would be unhappy and have him beheaded.
Yuan Yuchuan was indeed unhappy after hearing this, but he didn't take it out on the senior eunuch. Instead, he looked at the portraits on the table with a gloomy face and sneered sarcastically.
"Go and find portraits of all the eligible young ladies from the families of ministers above the third rank." What in this world couldn't he, the lord of the country, control?
Soon the news that the emperor was going to select an empress spread. All of a sudden, the royalists and ambitious ministers were excited. This was a great opportunity. As long as their daughters were selected, they could rise to power and prosperity.
In less than three days, the portraits Yuan Yuchuan wanted were sorted out. Yuan Yuchuan looked at the people in the portraits. They were all very beautiful. But if he had to choose one as the empress, he could only say that their family backgrounds were still a bit lacking. In the end, Yuan Yuchuan chose the second miss of Prime Minister Feng's family.
Although something had happened to the eldest miss of the Feng family, which offended the Regent Prince, it wasn't him who was offended. "It's her. Tell the Feng family to make preparations. Then inform the Ministry of Rites to choose an auspicious day. I'm going to marry the empress."
"Yes, then... Your Majesty, what about the remaining people?" The senior eunuch had long seen the greed in Yuan Yuchuan's eyes. Sure enough, father and son were the same. They were both lechers.
"Send all those with a clean family background and easy to control into the palace. I'll bestow titles on them when I'm free."
That meant these people would have to stay in the palace without any official status. As for when they would get a title, it would depend on the emperor's mood. Sure enough, the younger generation outdid the older one. Yuan Yuchuan was even more ruthless than the late emperor. To follow him without a title, they were even worse off than a maid.
However, the senior eunuch didn't say anything. What did the affairs of the royal family have to do with them? As long as they could make money and stay alive, it was already good enough.
After the Feng family learned about this, the whole family was excited. Prime Minister Feng even led the whole family to kowtow and thank their ancestors in the ancestral hall.
"Since our second daughter is going to become the empress, can we go and bring Qiao'er back?" Qiao'er must have suffered a lot outside. It was all that Regent Princess's fault. Was she really that fussy?
"Mother, these are two different things. We can't mix them up." Prime Minister Feng had already given up on Feng Qiao. Now he just had to cultivate his second daughter well.
"How are they two different things? Qiao'er is also a member of our Feng family. Her younger sister is going to be the empress, but she still can't come back? Besides, now we are the emperor's in - law family. Are we still afraid of a Regent Prince?" Old Lady Feng said seriously, leaning on her walking stick.
"Second daughter, what do you think of this matter?" Seeing that no one paid attention to her, Old Lady Feng turned her attention to the second miss of the Feng family.
"Grandson doesn't dare to make random remarks. I'll follow the instructions of the elders." The second miss of the Feng family said obediently.
Old Lady Feng looked at Miss Feng II with satisfaction. "This is the bearing of a great family. You should all learn from her in the future. And when you become the empress, bring your eldest sister into the palace too. Let her serve the emperor with you."
"Mother! What are you talking nonsense about!" Fortunately, Prime Minister Feng was still relatively sober. He scolded Old Lady Feng angrily. She was quite shrewd when she was young. Why was she getting more and more muddle - headed? How could a person like Feng Qiao enter the palace?
He was even afraid that it would implicate the whole Feng family.
"What's wrong with me? Her second daughter has risen to power. Shouldn't she help the family?" Old Lady Feng said unhappily, looking at Prime Minister Feng. "Don't you forget how filial Qiao'er is, how smart and clever she is. She used to help you solve a lot of troublesome matters."
Prime Minister Feng looked at Old Lady Feng with a disappointed look on his face and sighed helplessly. "One thing is one thing. With her current status, how could she enter the palace to serve the emperor?" She still had a chance before she didn't enter the brothel, but now it was completely impossible.
"I didn't necessarily say that she had to enter the palace to serve the emperor." Seeing that Prime Minister Feng was getting angry, Old Lady Feng softened her attitude. "But Qiao'er should come back. Otherwise, if others know that the empress's elder sister is a maid in someone else's mansion, it would be so embarrassing."
"Fine, I know. I'll handle this matter. In the next few days, you should all help our second daughter prepare for her marriage. The things must be of the best quality. After all, she's going to enter the palace. We mustn't be careless." After Prime Minister Feng instructed everyone, he left.
Old Lady Feng was right about one thing. Their family was about to become the emperor's in - law family. Why should they be afraid of the Regent Prince's mansion?
Prime Minister Feng took a carriage and went all the way to the Regent Prince's mansion.
"Prime Minister Feng, congratulations. There will soon be an empress in your family." After Yuan Yuhan perfunctorily said congratulations, he stopped talking.
Prime Minister Feng sat there awkwardly. It was obvious to everyone that the Regent Prince didn't welcome him.