mtl008 Chapter 124: He tricked others and got himself into trouble too.
Chapter 124: He tricked others and got himself into trouble too.
"A wooden sword!" Lu Tingsong excitedly raised his head. "Is it like the wooden sword that Seventh Imperial Uncle has?"
"Of course not. Yours is definitely ten times better than Lu Yuyao's!" Since I'm not the one doing it, I can make it as difficult as I want!
Lin Shiming spoke with complete composure and without a trace of guilt.
"Really!" Lu Tingsong completely believed Lin Shiming's lie, his eyes sparkling as he looked at Lu Yuxi. "Uncle, can Tingsong really have one?"
After silently watching Lin Shiming, who refused to meet her gaze again after "being generous with his husband's money," Lu Yuxi finally nodded helplessly, fulfilling the promise made to this ancestor of Lin Shiming.
"Okay, Uncle will start making it for Tingsong this afternoon."
As she spoke, Lu Yuxi grasped Lin Shiming's free wrist and gently stroked it. This mischievous girl, she just loves to tease me.
Lin Shiming guiltily withdrew his hand and touched his nose.
But the naive Lu Tingsong was still immersed in happiness and eagerly raised a new request, "But Seventh Imperial Uncle's sword has a tassel on it, Tingsong wants that too!"
Sword tassel?
Lu Yuxi glanced at Lin Shiming and suddenly chuckled, "This uncle won't know. You'll have to ask your uncle."
Husband and wife should share weal and woe!
"You're talking nonsense!" Lin Shiming glared angrily. "How could I possibly!"
Lu Tingsong blinked his big eyes and looked at Lin Shiming pitifully, "Uncle, you don't know how... But Tingsong really wants it."
"..."
Lu Yuxi chuckled again.
Lin Shiming glared at him fiercely, but he still succumbed to Lu Tingsong's dog-like gaze. "...Uncle can learn too."
*
He tricked others and ended up getting himself into trouble too.
In the afternoon, Lu Yuxi was diligently whittling wood in the courtyard, while Lu Tingsong excitedly circled around him. Lin Shiming, on the other hand, sat on the veranda, heartbroken and in a daze, pondering the pile of yarn.
The eunuchs and maids beside him were also giving him a long, detailed report on what had happened in the palace recently.
"...Yesterday, Princess Ping went to the palace to pay her respects to the Empress Dowager and stayed in Shou'an Palace for a full hour."
Lin Shiming paused in his fiddling with the ball of yarn. "Princess Ping?"
Her grandfather had just been slashed twice and was almost dead, yet she still had the mind to curry favor with the Empress Dowager?
After thinking about it for a while, Lin Shiming still felt that it was probably because Prince Ping and Yue Linghan had kept the news from him in order to protect the child.
"Yes. Princess Ping is more than seven months pregnant, but she is still able to travel."
“The day before yesterday, the Prince Ping’s residence sent a message to the palace, saying that the Princess Consort of the Prince Ping is about to give birth and is not able to go out. She is afraid that she will not be able to enter the palace for the next few months, so she specially went to the palace in advance to pay her respects to Consort Shen Wanyi. This is reasonable and justified, so we servants agreed.”
Lin Shiming usually delegated such minor matters directly to his subordinates, because it was only natural for his daughter-in-law to pay her respects to his mother, and there was no reason to stop her. Therefore, as long as the reason was sufficient and the number of visits was reasonable, she could enter the palace after submitting her nameplate.
These servants did what was perfectly reasonable; there was nothing wrong with allowing Princess Ping to enter the palace to pay her respects to Shen Wanyi.
Lin Shiming nodded, signaling the servant to continue.
"But I didn't expect that after entering the palace yesterday, Princess Ping did not leave the palace and return home immediately after meeting Consort Shen Wanyi. Instead, she went to Shou'an Palace and said that since the Empress Dowager was there, she should also pay her respects and let the child in her womb meet her great-grandmother."
"Paying respects to Grandmother?" Lin Shiming sneered. "I remember the Empress Dowager vomited blood just two days ago and is still ill, isn't she? Princess Consort Ping, aren't you worried that your illness might affect the baby in your womb?"
"This...this servant does not know."
He wasn't unaware; he simply dared not speak.
The Empress Dowager was so angry with Lin Shiming that she vomited blood and was bedridden. It wasn't because she actually caught a cold as the public claimed. How could she have been sick to pass on to someone?
How could a servant like him dare to say such things outright? He wasn't as reckless as the Empress Dowager.
Several palace maids lowered their heads and remained as quiet as chickens.
However, they were worrying too much. As long as their situation wasn't as special as the few palace servants who used to serve the Empress Dowager, or if they crossed Lin Shiming's bottom line, Lin Shiming wouldn't bother with such trivial matters.
Minor, insignificant matters can be easily let go; being magnanimous is never a bad thing. Otherwise, you might needlessly cause resentment, which can be quite troublesome.
"Alright." Lin Shiming tidied up a few more wires, doing something pointless. "Tell me, what did they talk about?"
On the very night the original palace servants of the Empress Dowager were beaten to death, Lin Shiming personally selected replacements.
The servants in Shou'an Palace now all know who their masters are, and there's even one who came from the Tingyun Army. It's easy for him to overhear the gossip among the women in the inner quarters who don't know martial arts.
"Upon meeting the Empress Dowager, Princess Ping performed a full kneeling bow, saying that the Empress Dowager was incomparably noble, and as her granddaughter-in-law, it was her duty to observe filial piety and pay her respects with such a grand gesture. The Empress Dowager was very pleased and immediately rewarded Princess Ping, saying that since Princess Ping was so sensible, her children would surely be..."
"What should we do?"
The servant bowed again, saying, "It is beyond measure."
Lin Shiming glanced at the servant with disdain, "That's it?"
That's ridiculous. Does she still think she's a powerful empress dowager who can influence the court? Or does she think she's some kind of nun who can tell fortunes?
And it's ridiculously expensive. Doesn't she even know how much she's worth?!
"All the Empress Dowager can say is this utterly useless stuff." She didn't even bother to acknowledge her. Lin Shiming chuckled, then looked down at his threads again. "Anything else? She can't have only said this one sentence in an hour, can she?"
"Princess Ping was extremely grateful and immediately begged the Empress Dowager to bestow a name upon the child in her womb. The Empress Dowager said that Princess Ping's child was His Majesty's most honorable eldest grandson, so she readily agreed, saying that the name would be bestowed after the birth."
The eldest grandson of the emperor.
Is this as if Lu Tingsong doesn't exist?
Lin Shiming's temper flared. How dare you ignore my precious eldest son! I've been too nice to you!
"Send someone to ask the Empress Dowager if she is plotting to harm the eldest grandson of the Emperor and is determined to eliminate the late Crown Prince's legitimate son, which is why she ignored Tingsong and said that the child of Princess Ping is the eldest grandson of the Emperor!"
"Summon a few imperial physicians to examine her thoroughly and prescribe plenty of medicine to treat her brain condition!"
"The slave obeys."
"Another imperial decree is issued: Princess Consort Ping—"
Lin Shiming suddenly paused.
Princess Ping was pregnant after all, and he couldn't bring himself to harm a pregnant woman.
"Alright, let her off the hook for now. We can deal with it after the baby is born."
Lin Shiming stood up and looked at Lu Tingsong, who was happily frolicking around Lu Yuxi in the courtyard.
"Furthermore, have someone relay this to the court: tomorrow morning, I want to hear someone impeach the Empress Dowager and Prince Ping for treacherous intentions. I also want to hear the petition to appoint the eldest grandson, Lu Tingsong, as the Crown Prince!"
Tingsong has grown up; it's time to remind everyone that Crown Prince Huamin had such a clever posthumous son, lest they treat Prince Ping's offspring as if they were the future emperor.