Eight Treasures Trousseau

84

Chapter Eight-Four: Catching Fish in Muddy Waters

After the Empress had gone to Zhu Que Palace, the Crown Princess had seen red. Thankfully, the grand doctors had arrived in time and the baby was kept. However, the Crown Princess had to go on bed rest for a few days to prevent bleeding again.

The rumors about the Empress were already wild in Jing, and with this incident of the Crown Princess bleeding, everyone's discussions became even more heated. How could there be such a coincidence in this world? The Empress just went to visit the Crown Princess, and the Crown Princess started bleeding?

Who knew if maybe the Empress had done something to cause the Crown Princess to start bleeding?

Someone said that the Crown Princess' child was the only child of the Crown Prince, so the Empress would treat her with the greatest of care. How could she bully the Crown Princess?

Once someone said this, many women came out to speak their opinion. The relationship between daughter and mother-in-law was the biggest problem. Some mothers-in-law treated their daughters-in-law as their own daughters, yet others were harmonious on the surface but at odds in private. Just a few extra looks could cause conflict.

Also, it wasn't much of a secret that the Empress had been discontent with the Crown Princess in the past. Many noblewomen had seen the Empress slight the Crown Princess in public. This showed that the Empress, the mother-in-law, was very harsh towards the Crown Princess. Now that the Crown Prince was gone, it might be that she did not feel happy and took it out on the Crown Princess.

The rumors outside were so detailed it was as though they were true. The Empress became the archetype of the evil mother-in-law, and the Crown Princess was the pitiful, innocent white lotus that had been treated badly.

When Hua Xi Wan heard the versions of these rumors, she gaped. She had finally experienced what the power of speech was. She might not have a high opinion of the Empress, but the Empress was not someone so brainless. Even if she disliked the Crown Princess' child very much, she would not be in such a rush to kill the child that she would do it just after she left. The Empress was not that stupid.

But people were always beings who liked to think the worst of people. They would only be interested when they were talking badly of others. Who was interested in discussing the good qualities of others?

The reason that gossip was welcomed was because it would satisfy people's curiosity. Bad news was usually more welcome than good news. So regardless of the truth of the matter, the Empress' decades-long good reputation was finally ruined among the people.

"Since this matter is so popular, why don't we add some more fuel to fire?" Yan Jin Qiu slowly drank tea and said to Hua Xi Wan, "This Crown Princess is really skilled." There were many people who were targeting the Crown Princess from inside and outside the palace, but even now, she was able to protect the child. Just this was proof that she was not as innocent and kind as the rumors said.

"What do you want to do?" Hua Xi Wan looked suspiciously at Yan Jin Qiu. She kept on feeling that if Yan Jin Qiu participated in the matter, the effects would multiply.

Two days later, the content of the gossip had changed. That was, no matter how evil of a mother-in-law the Empress was, and even if she wanted to bully her daughter-in-law, she would not want to even kill her grandson. Then why was the Empress so impolite to the Crown Princess?

Was it because the Crown Princess' child wasn't the Crown Prince's, so that was why the Empress was acting so?

Then people said that before the Crown Princess had married, she had been in love with Sheng Junwang. She had even gone to pray in a monastery for Sheng Junwang. But fate was a tease, and so one of the pair married the daughter of the Hou Family and one married the Crown Prince. The love had been there, but it had been forced to end.