Jin Wang Dotes on His Concubine

Although Yan Ge’er was a bit more mature and restrained than other children of the same age, he was still a child. He told Xiaobao about the situation.

Xiaobao, after listening, patted his chest and said that he would take care of it.

Actually, this matter was not difficult to handle. In short, it was all about power.

No one dared to bully you if you had power, whether it was your own power or if you borrowed power from others. If you could make use of it, it was your power to use.

Take Lu Wang as an example. Who doesn’t know about his infamous temper and disagreeable character? However, like Qing Wang, Lu Wang’s mother, Imperial Concubine Chen was not of high status. This can be seen from how she was only conferred the title of Imperial Concubine after giving birth to a prince.

A son is valued because of his mother, and a mother is valued because of her son. Since ancient times, their status has always complemented each other. Without a noble maternal family, being a prince may be glamorous in the eyes of outsiders, but to survive in the palace, they would need to be incredibly quick-witted and work extra hard.

Lu Wang has always had a rebellious character, always stirring up trouble. But even though he was often scolded and punished by Emperor Hongjing, ever since he was young, no one in the entire court or harem dared to take Lu Wang lightly.

Everyone knew that the emperor cared about Lu Wang. Otherwise, Emperor Hongjing wouldn’t have bothered to give him all those punishments, much less spare him a glance. Qing Wang was the best example of this.

So the Ministry of Internal Affairs dared not provoke Lu Wang, knowing that he had a huge temper which would explode at the slightest provocation. If he got angry and caused a commotion, even the emperor would be at a loss for what to do with him.

Naturally, Xiaobao wouldn’t let Yan Ge’er follow the same path as Lu Wang. Besides, Yan Ge’er was still young, and he himself was also young, so the only thing he could do was to take Yan Ge’er to the Qianqing Palace more often, and let Yan Ge’er have more exposure in front of the emperor.

After Yan Ge’er was led away by the eunuch, Emperor Hongjing looked at Xiaobao and said, “You’ve been bringing him to me a lot lately. Is there something you want to tell me?”

Emperor Hongjing was not a fool. He understood hidden meanings better than anyone else. When he saw Xiaobao accidentally tear Yan Ge’er’s sleeve, he then remembered how Xiaobao had been finding excuses to bring Yan Ge’er to him recently, he understood what was going on.

Xiaobao didn’t hide anything and scratched his newly grown hair. “Grandfather Emperor, you could tell? Xiaobao didn’t do it on purpose. Father told me before that you are very busy and can’t be disturbed by small matters. But Yan Ge’er has encountered some problems, and we can’t solve them because we’re too young. So we thought we could ask Emperor Grandfather for help.”

“What’s the problem?” Emperor Hongjing pretended not to know.

As soon as he heard this, Xiaobao boldly leaned over and climbed onto Emperor Hongjing’s lap. Recently, he has become very familiar with this move, so it was very easy for him.

After sitting on Emperor Hongjing’s lap, he told him what Yan Ge’er had told him, using simple words and a tone that was appropriate for his age. Then he added, “Seventh Uncle is not at home, and Seventh Aunt is busy taking care of Yan Ge’er and Zhuzhu. The servants in the Ministry of Internal Affairs are bullying Seventh Aunt because she’s a woman and Yan Ge’er is too young to handle it. So this grandson wanted to ask Grandfather Emperor for help, but didn’t know how to say it.”

“So you tore Yan Ge’er’s sleeve?”

“That was an accident. This grandson didn’t expect Yan Ge’er’s sleeve to be so fragile. But this just proves that the people of the Ministry of Internal Affairs are bullying Seventh Aunt and the others.” Xiaobao was not at all embarrassed and said everything straightforwardly.

Emperor Hongjing tapped his nose and chuckled. “You little rascal, you understand quite a lot.”

Xiaobao immediately puffed out his chest and nodded proudly. “Of course, Grandson is no longer an ignorant child after studying. Reading helps one understand the world. I now understand many things.”

Emperor Hongjing laughed, “Then tell me, what do you understand?”

“This grandson understands that we should have compassion for the weak and not bully orphans and widows.”

Emperor Hongjing was taken aback. He then glanced at Li Dequan. “See, even this kid knows what’s right, but Lu Hai doesn’t. Go talk to him and tell him that if the Ministry of Internal Affairs does such a thing again, Zhen will dismiss him.”

“This old servant will go right away, Your Majesty.”

Lu Hai was the Deputy Head Minister of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, and Li Dequan was the Head Minister. However, Li Dequan was only a nominal head minister since he served by Emperor Hongjing’s side. Lu Hai was once an attendant for Emperor Hongjing too, but because he couldn’t compete with Li Dequan, he was transferred to the Ministry of Internal Affairs.

But the Ministry of Internal Affairs was a lucrative place. Only the emperor’s trusted aides were allowed to handle matters there.

“In the future, don’t worry about such things. Don’t learn from your father.” Emperor Hongjing said to Xiaobao after Li Dequan left.

Xiaobao’s eyes turned, wondering why his father was brought up again. He then remembered the relationship between Qing Wang and Jin Wang and somewhat understood Emperor Hongjing’s meaning.

It seemed that Emperor Hongjing didn’t just simply dislike his seventh uncle, but he also didn’t know what his uncle had done to provoke his displeasure. No wonder the Ministry of Internal Affairs dared to act so blatantly. There must be a reason behind it.