Rebirth and Marriage: I am the Mistress of the Palace

Xiao Qingxi turned away: "Anyway, I just don't like those concubines, and I don't like the children born by concubines. Shen Wantang must be just like her concubine, eloquent, good at argument, and hypocritical, so she fooled you around."

"Do you think I've lived in vain all these years? Can't I even tell whether she is truly filial or not?"

Princess Ning advised her earnestly: "Don't worry, Shen Wantang has a good character. You should know that there are not many people who can tolerate your brother, but she can control your brother and manage the entire palace in an orderly manner. This is enough."

"I don't care. Anyway, her background is not worthy of my brother. I will not recognize this sister-in-law."

Princess Ning had no choice but to put the matter aside for the time being, because she had something more important to ask her daughter: "Don't worry about your brother and sister-in-law's affairs for now. What's going on between you and Yun Zhou? You were the one who cried and insisted on marrying him at the beginning, why do you want to divorce now?"

When Xiao Qingxi mentioned this, she felt very aggrieved: "When I got married, Yun Zhou swore that he would only have me in his life and would not take a concubine or have a maid. But it's only been two years and he wants to take a concubine. He is a treacherous villain. I won't live with him anymore."

"Isn't it common for a man to have concubines? Your father has several concubines, and I am not divorced from him."

"That's different. You were the one who decided to take in all of my father's concubines. He didn't care about them. It made no difference whether he had one or not. But Huo Yunzhou insisted on taking in a concubine. Moreover, he even knelt down in front of me in order to take in a concubine."

As Xiao Qingxi spoke, she couldn't help crying: "He knelt down for another woman. Isn't this stabbing me in the heart?"

"He said the woman was very pitiful and asked me to be kind and generous. He wanted to give her a home and protect and take care of her in the future."

"Mother, am I unkind for not letting him take a concubine? I just don't want to share my husband with other women. What's wrong with me?"

Princess Ning hugged her daughter distressedly: "My Xier is right, it's Huo Yunzhou who is wrong! It's only been two years since you got married, and you followed him to the northwest to guard the border. He doesn't love you well, and even wants to take a concubine. Just wait, when he comes back, I will call him and scold him severely to vent your anger!"

Xiao Qingxi cried out of breath: "Mother, it may be useless for you to scold him. He is determined to take a concubine. My heart is broken."

"I've been away from home for the past two years and I've missed home and you all the time. It would be great if you were by my side. That way, I'd have someone to cry to when I'm wronged."

"I'm alone in the northwest. Huo Yunzhou leads his troops away for a month or two. On weekdays, only the maids are there to talk to me."

"The wind and sand there are very strong, and the food, drinks, clothes and daily necessities are not as good as those in Beijing. I was able to survive there for two years because of Huo Yunzhou."

"But after the last battle, he brought back the sister of some good friend of his and knelt down to beg me to allow him to take her as a concubine."

"Mom, I felt like the sky was falling. I fell ill and didn't even want to take medicine. I just wanted to die like this."

The more Princess Ning listened, the more heartbroken she became. She also started to cry: "My poor daughter, you have suffered so much! You must not commit suicide. If you commit suicide, how can I live? I only love you and your brother. I cannot live without either of you!"

When Xiao Qingyuan came in, he saw his mother and sister hugging each other and crying.

A feeling of sadness welled up in his heart, and he remembered that in his dream yesterday, he jumped into the river and committed suicide for Chu Yanluo.

In the dream, after the mother learned that his body was gone, she vomited blood and cried until she fainted. She looked ten years older in an instant.

At this moment, he listened to his mother's sobbing voice and felt that if he really died, his mother would be like in reality as she was in his dream.

But fortunately, it was just a dream and he would not commit suicide.

He walked forward and whispered, "Mother, Qingxi, please stop crying."

Xiao Qingxi turned her head and looked at her tall, handsome brother, and cried even harder: "Brother, I want to divorce Huo Yunzhou! He doesn't like me anymore, he likes another woman now!"

Xiao Qingyuan clenched his fists: "I heard it outside just now. Huo Yunzhou is going to take a concubine, right? When he married you, he promised me that he would protect you for the rest of his life and would never have another woman! He broke his promise, and we should divorce!"

"Brother, do you agree that I should divorce him?"

"I agree. Why not? Not only do I agree with your divorce, I'm also going to beat him up!"

Xiao Qingxi was extremely moved: "Brother, you are still good to me!"

Princess Ning felt very relieved when she saw that her son and daughter were still as close as before even though they hadn't seen each other for a long time. She also felt very relieved when she saw that her son knew to protect his sister just like when he was a child.

Except for his poor taste in women, my son is excellent in everything else.

As she was thinking, she suddenly heard her son speak: "Mother, I took Ye Lingyun to the prison to see County Magistrate Ye today. I gave Zhuo Shixin 800 taels of silver and he has helped me release County Magistrate Ye. I want County Magistrate Ye to stay in our palace temporarily. Where do you think he should stay? Or should I go to Shen Wantang to arrange these things?"

Princess Ning felt as if someone had a basin of cold water poured over her head in the middle of winter. Her vision suddenly went dark and she almost fell over.

Zhuo Shixin is the illegitimate son of Zhuo Mingbai, the Minister of Justice. He has always been a bit idle, but no matter how lazy he is, he would not be so stupid as to let the serious criminal Ye Chongli go without permission after receiving the benefit of 800 taels of silver!

What's more, Prince Ning had already told her that Ye Chongli's case was not only being watched by the Ministry of Justice, but also by the Dali Temple and the Embroidered Uniform Guard, because the emperor had ordered that the one million taels of silver that he had embezzled must be recovered.

With so many people watching, let alone Zhuo Shixin, even if Zhuo Mingbai came in person, it would be impossible to get the person out so easily!

It was obvious that Ye Chongli was released on purpose, and Xiao Qingyuan was just someone else's pawn!

Princess Ning now had no time to care about her daughter's divorce. Divorce was at most a family matter, but releasing a severely punished corrupt criminal and bringing him home was a state affair!

She even changed her tone of voice: "You, you, you, are you crazy? How dare you bring him back to the palace?! Go find your father and hand Ye Zhongli over to him!"

In fact, Xiao Qingyuan himself also felt that it was not appropriate. It was fine to take in Ye Lingyun, but it was really unreasonable to take in Ye Chongli as well. The Ning Wang Mansion was not a restaurant or inn.

But Ye Lingyun kept kneeling and begging her, and his heart softened and he agreed somehow.