Chapter 179 Meeting the Crown Prince

Chapter 179 Meeting the Crown Prince

About a month after the war ended, Jiang Yuan finally got another vacation.

This time he brought back the rewards issued by the imperial court. Although it was only a small amount of silver, silk, wine and medicine, Jiang Yuan did not mind at all.

Because these were all imperial gifts personally delivered by the Crown Prince to the border to reward the soldiers.

As Chang Yao's confidant and a promising young junior officer who had risen rapidly to the rank of Qianzong due to his military achievements, Jiang Yuan was also on the list of people personally rewarded by the Crown Prince.

Unlike the ordinary soldiers who were merely toasted with a cup of wine by the Crown Prince standing on the high platform, Jiang Yuan was fortunate enough to occupy a corner seat at the banquet where Chang Yao entertained the Crown Prince.

He secretly told Xie Wanniang, "So the Crown Prince and the Heir Apparent are related."

Xie Wanniang was both surprised and curious, "What kind of family relationship?"

"Lady Hou is the Empress's cousin. I heard from an old steward in the Prince's residence that when Lady Hou was a young girl, she had the best relationship with the Empress."

"Her Majesty the Empress has no full sisters, but she has many half-sisters and two cousins, but her relationship with them is very ordinary."

The old steward also said that when their Lady Hou was still unmarried, the Empress's half-sisters and cousins, out of jealousy, often made underhanded moves against her. However, their Lady Hou was very clever and capable, and she swiftly and decisively retaliated against all the open and covert attacks directed at her.

Lady Hou's maiden name was Dou Hengzhi. She came from a family of military generals, while her cousin, Empress Pei, came from the Ding'an Marquis's mansion of the previous dynasty.

Her marriage to the founding emperor of the dynasty was arranged by her birth mother while she was still alive.

After her birth mother passed away, her father withstood the pressure from his elders and did not remarry. However, without warning, her grandmother tricked him into taking two concubines.

Taking advantage of her own son's drunkenness, she personally created an opportunity for her niece from her maternal family to climb into his bed, thus consummating the relationship. It's something that probably few mothers throughout history would do.

Empress Pei's father never dreamed that his own mother could be so insane. On the contrary, his deceased wife's half-sister, who moved in under the guise of taking care of her niece, saw through the trick and took the opportunity to climb into her brother-in-law's bed as well. Together with the old lady's cousin, she became attached to Empress Pei's father.

He had just taken a nap in his room when he woke up to find two young women, whom he only vaguely remembered, sobbing incessantly beside him. Then his mother and father-in-law forced him to take responsibility for the two women who had ruined his reputation. He felt more wronged than Dou E.

Given the unstable political situation at the time, the Marquis's family was in an awkward and precarious position, and it was really inappropriate to spread any more scandals and give others a handle to use against them. In the end, Empress Pei's father reluctantly chose to put the overall situation first.

However, he insisted on not marrying her formally. His father-in-law and mother-in-law were both unwilling to let the other's preferred woman take her place. So in the end, all three parties compromised, and the two girls entered the house together and became his two concubines.

Because they were all concubines, and Empress Pei's father insisted on not remarrying, the power to manage the Marquis's household was taken over by the second wife.

This woman was also short-sighted and only interested in petty gains. Compared to her sister-in-law, her situation was worlds apart from that of Empress Pei's mother.

Therefore, she harbored deep jealousy towards Empress Pei's biological mother. Even after the mother's death, she did not immediately let go of her resentment, but instead vented it on Empress Pei and her siblings.

During the years she was in charge of the household, she embezzled a lot of public funds and also found ways to deduct the allowances from Empress Pei and her siblings, as well as from all the concubines and illegitimate children in the household.

Because Empress Pei's mother and father had a very close relationship, her grandmother always treated her mother as a vixen who had stolen her son. Even after her mother died, Empress Pei and her brother were not well received by the old lady of the Pei family.

They suffered in silence, and not only did Madam Pei not stand up for them, she even scolded them for disrespecting their elders, for making such a fuss over such a trivial matter.

Empress Pei and her brother suffered a lot of injustice during those years because their only support was their father, who was preoccupied with the fate of everyone in the household and had little energy to spare for them.

Fortunately, they had a feisty aunt, who was the mother of Lady Hou Dou Hengzhi and the older sister of their deceased mother.

Unlike their biological mother, who was a typical sheltered young lady, their aunt was rebellious from a young age. Not only did she follow the neighbor's aunt in practicing martial arts when she was young, but she also resolutely tried to marry into a military family after she grew up.

She herself has a fiery personality, and her children are all very capable.

Empress Pei's grandmother, aunts, half-siblings, and their respective birth mothers—after being thoroughly tormented by her and her children, they no longer dared to put on airs or act arrogantly in front of her.

There's no way around it, this woman is really shameless and ruthless.

Even though the Pei family was a noble family, they still had to cover up their shameful acts on the surface, even though their insides were completely rotten.

Moreover, they are pampered and always fight in secret, unlike this woman who, if you say something she doesn't like, won't even bother to reply, but will just pull a long face and start hitting you, either smashing things or beating you up.

You can threaten her to expose what she did, but she won't be afraid at all, because she can turn around and expose all the dirty secrets of the Marquis's mansion.

The main message is, "You want to embarrass me? Fine, come on, let's hurt each other. I want to see who's more embarrassed."

Such a reckless and unruly person was completely beyond the control of the women in the Marquis's household. So whenever she brought her children to visit her nephew and niece, everyone in the Marquis's household would behave themselves and dare not cause any trouble in front of Empress Pei and her siblings.

Even if she leaves and returns to her own home, the people in the Marquis's mansion will still be more polite to Empress Pei and her brother because they fear her threats and madness.

Empress Pei began learning martial arts from Lady Dou Hengzhi when her aunt first came to support her and her brother.

Dou Hengzhi was younger than her, but she was able to easily subdue those who bullied her, making them cry for their parents and flee in a sorry state. This made Empress Pei want to learn martial arts from her aunt and cousin.

Fortunately, her father treated her and her brother very well. He not only agreed to let them start learning martial arts from that time, but also agreed to let their aunt take them away to be raised for a period of time.

Empress Pei and her cousin Dou Hengzhi established a deep friendship during that time.