Fierce Consort

Chapter 131

The matter of the second prince was spreading like wildfire in court.

It seemed to become more and more excessive, with some officials even directly arguing in court. The crown prince's faction was on the side of tradition and naturally pointed out the second prince's violation of the ancestors' decree, not leaving for his vassal state after coming of age. The second prince's faction remained quiet until the crown prince's side became more and more overbearing before raising objections.

They generally used the second prince's recent marriage as an excuse. Regulations were important, but they couldn't have his majesty toss his newly married son out of the capital. How would outsiders view his majesty? The love between father and son was what should be proper. Of course, this reasoning was preposterous, but there were quite a lot of people who agreed with it.

Actually, the so called debate was just a performance for Emperor Xi. As long as he didn't express his opinion, the officials wouldn't quiet down.

On this day, Emperor Xi finally gave a response.
His general opinion was that with the third prince's marriage approaching, his older brother was going to attend before leaving the capital. Furthermore, the second prince's vassal state was being chosen and the results should be out soon.

Emperor Xi's words served to put an end to the matter.

The crown prince's side was naturally smug and overjoyed. The second prince's side was dejected and disappointed.

However, this outcome was to be expected. Emperor Xi was currently in his prime. How could he pick a side so early? He wasn't too satisfied with the crown prince, but ultimately it wasn't easy to switch out the successor. The second prince's side wanting to overturn the crown prince's stable position with this pretext wasn't really rational.

Xu Xiang Rong naturally hadn't been the one to encourage the officials to argue on behalf of the second prince.

In his opinion, they should have remained silent. The more arrogant and overbearing the crown prince's side was, the more Emperor Xi would be biased towards the second prince. This sort of bias wouldn't be apparent in the short term, but there were boundless benefits to be had in the future.
Wasn't this the strategy Senior Concubine Xu's faction had employed all along?

However, they now had the second prince's old father-in-law, the Chengguo Duke, who always loved jumping out and making a fuss!

The issue was that he couldn't be cast aside. This was an alliance by marriage. Although there were benefits, the drawbacks were something that needed to be dealt with as well.

After Xu Xiang Rong met the Chengguo Duke a couple of times, he no longer bothered with him much. Regarding the Chengguo Duke jumping around making a fuss, he merely watched without commenting.

Every faction had its leader. The Chengguo Duke wasn't satisfied after seeing Senior Concubine Xu's younger brother. He felt there wasn't anything good about Xu Xiang Rong, who didn't even hold a proper posting. How could he lead the officials who sided with the second prince to greatness? Therefore, using his identity as the second prince's father-in-law, the Chengguo Duke often made decisions on the second prince's behalf outside.

When the crown prince's faction used the matter of the vassal state to attack the second prince, Xu Xiang Rong's initial strategy was to remain steady like a mountain. Unexpectedly, there was a lot of dissent towards the end. They were all from the Chengguo Duke's party. Since the Chengguo Duke was willing to make a fuss, Xu Xiang Rong decided to let him do so. Now, he finally stopped fussing.

Afterwards, Xu Xiang Rong made a trip into the palace. It wasn't clear what the siblings discussed. Regardless, Senior Concubine Xu called the second prince over and thoroughly cursed out the Chengguo Duke. She told the second prince to have him mind his own business more in the future.