Rong Fei is not honored

Chapter 631 2 choices

Consort Tongjia never imagined that she could kill all her enemies in one go, but what did it matter?

The worst outcome would be if His Majesty trusted them completely; otherwise, if suspicion arose, it would be as if a hole had been torn open.

No one's position is unshakeable.

Even in the worst-case scenario, Consort Tongjia would not be discouraged. If something like this happens once, it will happen again and again. If it happens too often, the Emperor will not be suspicious.

Even if they become more wary in the future, so what? There are only those who steal for a thousand days, not those who guard against thieves for a thousand days.

Anyway, she has no hope of winning favor, so she has plenty of time to slowly wear them down.

But alas! That damned Wu Sangui.

And that damned Empress!

How did His Majesty find out about this? Without a doubt, it was the Empress's doing. He wondered how much slander the Empress had already smeared against him before he even arrived.

Looking at the silent Tongjia clan, Kangxi's gaze grew colder and colder. He hated being schemed against, and he would not allow anyone to scheme against him.

All he wants now is to go back to the day when he was taken away from the Borjigit clan by the Tongjia clan, and then slap himself.

He thought he was going with the flow, both reasonably avoiding actually having Consort Shen serve him in bed and sowing discord between the Tongjia and Borjigit clans, but little did he know that he was also being schemed against.

Emperor Kangxi leaned forward, pinched Tongjia's chin, and forced her to look up at him.

"You want a child?"

Upon hearing this, Consort Tongjia blushed instinctively, then realized that she might have misunderstood and that the child His Majesty was referring to was the child of Lady Uya.

She's not incapable of having children, so why should she raise someone else's child! But... His Majesty treats her so cruelly, she has to plan for the future and raise a child to protect herself.

"Yes."

Seeing that Lady Tongjia was once again on the verge of tears, Kangxi sneered, "Last time you begged me to give you some face, what is it this time?"

Although she could hear the sarcasm in His Majesty's tone, there was no turning back now. Consort Tongjia could only bite the bullet and say, "It's lonely in the palace. I want a child to accompany me for the rest of my life."

Kangxi released Tongjia, sat up straight, and looked her up and down.

Perhaps, he was wrong from the very beginning. He thought he had drawn a clear line, and that even if Tongjia was dissatisfied, she would have no choice but to obey and become a tool in his hands.

But Kangxi forgot that a real knife has no thoughts or feelings, while people have desires. Even if one path is blocked, driven by desire, people will find another way to achieve their goals.

Tongjia was an ambitious woman. She wanted to move into Kunning Palace and also wanted her child to become the Crown Prince.

That face, so similar to her mother's, extinguished her favor. A concubine who could not serve the emperor was always illegitimate and would never have her own bloodline.

However, Lady Tongjia did not give up. She came up with a plan to have a child through surrogacy. Taking advantage of her guilt, she successfully pushed the palace maid she had chosen onto the emperor's bed.

In these stages, Kangxi was not the one playing the game, but rather a piece.

"can."

These words elicited varying reactions from the crowd.

Empress Niohuru frowned slightly, puzzled but not overly so. In contrast, the palace servants of Kunning Palace reacted much more strongly; if they weren't afraid of losing their lives for disrespecting the emperor, they would have cried out in alarm.

Consort Tongjia was overjoyed, thinking to herself: Just as I expected!

My cousin always kept my aunt in his heart, so even though she fell into the Empress Dowager's scheme, she could never become my cousin's true woman because of her face.

However, every cloud has a silver lining. This decision also made her cousin feel guilty. As long as she didn't go too far, her cousin was willing to forgive her.

The emperor's compensation was enough for her to accomplish many things.

However, when Consort Tongjia looked at His Majesty with emotion, she realized that something seemed amiss.

"Your Majesty, I hate being schemed against more than anything. If you had told me from the beginning that you wanted a child, I might not have refused. But now..."

"Your Majesty, your concubine..."

Consort Tongjia wanted to beg for mercy, but Emperor Kangxi stopped her.

"Now, I'm giving you two choices."

Kangxi coldly said, "Yinreng lost his mother at birth, so I have to make more plans for him."

You are my cousin. Even if I don't acknowledge you, the bond of blood cannot be severed. If you have a child, it's fine as a princess, but if it's a prince, even an adopted one, it will cause many troubles.

"Your Majesty, I dare not ask for so much. I only wish to have a child by my side. I dare not covet the position of Crown Prince, nor do I dare to harbor any ill intentions towards the Crown Prince. Neither I nor the Tong family would."

"I don't believe it."

Consort Tongjia choked, not expecting His Majesty to be so blunt.

Even the Empress, who was standing to the side, turned her head to look. It seemed that His Majesty's dissatisfaction with the Tong family and the Tongjia clan had been brewing for a long time. Although there was some affection between them, it had been completely worn away by the Tongjia clan's repeated self-destructive behavior.

"I'm giving you a choice: give up that child, and you'll remain my Imperial Concubine. But if you choose that child, you'll no longer be fit to sit in that high position, and I won't change the imperial genealogy."

Consort Tongjia looked at His Majesty in disbelief; she didn't want either of these options.

If they were to abandon the child in Uya's womb, it wouldn't be just this once; it's likely that His Majesty would never allow her to have children again. Not only would she have no biological son, but if she didn't even have an adopted son, then even a high position would be nothing but a castle in the air.

Even if her long-cherished wish is fulfilled in the future, the person sitting on the throne will be a son of a concubine who is not close to her. Even if she becomes the Empress Dowager, she will only be a figurehead. She will probably not be as comfortable as the current Empress Dowager in Shou Kang Palace.

Then why did she go to such great lengths and anger the Emperor? Was it to give Uya a child for free?

If that's really the case, she herself would be disgusted even without others mocking her.

But if they chose this child, would His Majesty demote them? To a concubine? Or a lower-ranking consort? Not only would they lose face, but the entire Tong family would be utterly humiliated.

Despite paying such a high price, the child is not even her own. As long as the imperial genealogy remains unchanged, she doesn't even have the confidence to call herself an adoptive mother.

Not to mention, she doesn't even know whether Uya is carrying a boy or a girl. If she goes all in and only ends up with a princess, wouldn't that be a joke?

If she had known, she wouldn't have pretended in front of Liang Jiugong when the imperial physician was taking her pulse, and she would have refrained from asking.

Even if it really is a prince, who knows if the child will have any health problems? After all, he was conceived using a secret medicine, so he can't be compared to a normal child.