Chapter 573: Battle for the Succession

Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios

They were all on good terms. How could Yu Zongzheng not know that this Concubine Ye was originally Lord Tang’s distant cousin? As her family had fallen into foster care, the two of them had already had an affair long ago.

After Madam Tang married into the family, he took a noble concubine and doted on her.

Madam Tang’s personality was not gentle either, so Matriarch Tang naturally liked her niece more. Madam Tang had suffered a lot.

Yu Zongzheng understood. “Lord Tang has been suspended in name, but everyone knows that once he leaves, his life will be in danger. How long he’ll be suspended depends on the emperor. Even if he can’t return to the Hanlin Academy, he also can’t stay in the Teng library all the time. When the news of the fraud dies down, we’ll definitely have to reorganize. We won’t lack the help of Lord Tang and the Yue family.”

The Court Official’s Residence was famous, so the court officials were willing to give them some face.

A few days ago, Yu Youyao received a letter from Fifth Miss Tang. She had mentioned this in her letter.

At the same time, she also said that Tang Yunmeng, the eldest daughter of a concubine, who used to rely on her father and grandmother’s love to abuse power in front of her, had been grounded by Matriarch Tang because the concubine was sent to the manor.

What Matriarch Tang meant was that Tang Yunmeng was not young anymore. She had already arranged a marriage last year and planned to marry her off as soon as possible.

Yu Youyao opened her mouth. “Has Ning Yuanbo been convicted?”

Old Madam Yu tilted her head to look at her eldest granddaughter. In the past two years, as long as the family did not talk about some unspeakable private matters, they basically did not avoid her.

Often, her granddaughter hit the nail on the head.

Today was no exception. As she and Eldest Son were familiar with the Zhenguo Marquis Residence and the Tang Residence, it was inevitable that they would say a few more words. However, she was paying attention to Ning Yuanbo, the instigator.

Yu Zongzheng shook his head. “Not yet. Although Ning Yuanbo was sent to jail for cheating in the examination, since he’s in jail, it’s impossible for them to only investigate this case. He has to be investigated for all his previous crimes before he was convicted. Ning Yuanbo is a noble. There’s still time needed to investigate.”

When Yu Youyao heard this, she understood. It was good to pull out the radish and bring it out of the mud, but in the end, she still couldn’t avoid a partisan conflict. She also felt uneasy.

Ning Yuanbo still had a concubine in the palace. Although Concubine Lu had been sent to the cold palace, she had given birth to a son and two daughters.

At the thought of this, Yu Youyao’s heart skipped a beat.

The emperor was obsessed with Taoism and had not selected a successor for many years. Other than a son who had already died prematurely, there were only three princes in the palace at the moment.

Among them, the Eldest Prince was originally born by the Empress and died before the month was up. He did not have a son in the Central Palace and his second son was raised by Concubine Lu. Without the word “first wife” pressing down on him, he became “eldest son.”

The second prince was the eldest son of the second wife of the Great Zhou Dynasty and had always been favored by the emperor. He had heard that the second day after Concubine Lu was sent to the cold palace, the emperor had even praised the second prince’s article in the imperial study.

It was obvious that Concubine Lu’s loss of favor did not affect the father-son relationship between the emperor and the Second Prince.

The Third Prince’s biological mother was Consort Xu.

Other than the empress, who was the master of the harem, the four concubines had the most important statuses.

A superior first-grade Imperial Noble Consort was sealed with a treasure. Her status was second only to the Empress, and she was almost equivalent to a wife. However, she was always inferior in the Central Palace because of the title “first wife.

Next were the noble consorts, Consort Xian, and Consort Shu.

Among them, the imperial concubine was the number one concubine. As it wasn’t often that the imperial concubine appeared, the imperial concubine was indeed the “head of the concubines”. She also had treasures.

Imperial Consort Lu had been demoted to Concubine Lan. Among the princes, the Third Prince of Imperial Consort Xu was the most important.

The Fourth Prince’s biological mother was said to be a little palace maid who had climbed into the emperor’s bed. No one knew if this little palace maid was lucky or unlucky to be pregnant after sleeping with him once. She was about to give birth to an emperor’s child and wealth was at hand, but she died because of the difficulty in giving birth.

The Fourth Prince’s biological mother’s status was so low that he was overlooked for the time being.

But!

The emperor had yet to appoint a crown prince. Concubine Lu’s second prince was the eldest son, while Concubine Xu’s third prince was the most precious son.

Ning Yuanbo’s case also involved the harem and even the struggle for the position of heir. It was far from being settled so easily.

Yu Youyao was in a trance.

The case of cheating in the examination had finally stopped, but the undercurrent in the harem and the royal court had just begun.

Was this her cousin’s so-called sword dance?

It was probably more than that!

From April 6th onwards, all the grain shops under the name of the Yu Residence and Yu Youyao had set up porridge sheds. They even gave away three days of porridge. The porridge was mixed with millet and braised rice.

The commoners finally had porridge to eat.

No one felt that the Yu Residence was unkind.

During the new year, a bag of rice would only cost about 40 to 50 copper coins.

However, in recent years, the price of rice had already increased to 100 copper coins a bag. Ordinary families could no longer afford to eat rice.

The Yu Residence was still willing to build a porridge shed to give out. This was not for the sake of gaining a good reputation, but because they were really kind.

At this moment, a low-key carriage stopped on Zhengyang Street.

The interior of the carriage was rather luxurious. The man, who was about seventeen or eighteen years old, was wearing a purple python robe, but he had a jade dragon-head scale belt around his waist. He leaned against the carriage with an unhappy expression.

Not long after, a feminine-looking and thin young man entered the carriage.

The man frowned. “Why is the road blocked in front? Have they found out everything?”

The young man’s voice was sharp. “Master, in front of us is the rice shop of the Left Assistant Minister of the Ministry of Official Personnel Affairs, Lord Yu.

Old Madam Yu is paying respects to Buddha. In a few days, it’ll be the Buddhist Festival. The rice shops under the Yu Residence have set up porridge sheds and are giving away porridge. This year, the weather isn’t good. When the commoners heard that the Yu Residence was giving up porridge, they ran over to eat it. As there were too many people, they blocked Zhengyang Street.”

Hearing his companion mention the Yu Clan, the man first thought of the glory of being one of the top four scholars in the Yu Clan three years ago. His father’s intention to place the Yu Clan in an important position was obvious.

Then, he thought about it. Lord Yu was the Assistant Minister of the Ministry of Official Personnel Affairs, a third-rank official. The Ministry of Official Personnel Affairs was in charge of the appointment, dismissal, examination, promotion, and transfer of officials in the country. He was the head of the six ministries.

In addition, Master Yu, Yu Zongshen, was the Minister of Revenue and the Grand Secretary of the Imperial Library. He was the second-in-command of the cabinet and would take over as Xia Yansheng’s Grand Secretary.

Seeing his master’s thoughtful expression, his servant felt a little flustered. “Master, do you think they can’t finish giving out the porridge in a short period of time? Should we take a detour?”

“Take a detour?” The man glanced up at him. “When did I say we were going to take a detour?”

The accompanying servant knew that he had said something wrong and quickly tried to salvage the situation. “Then why don’t I make a trip to the Military Department of the Five Cities and ask them to temporarily chase away the commoners who are eating porridge? It’s better than letting Master wait..”

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