Chapter 1322: Side Story: Little Fu (2)
Little Fu looked at his mother aggrievedly and shouted, "But I can’t take it any longer. I can’t eat my fill and can’t sleep well. They even trip me when I walk. My school bag is all messed up because of them. Mother, can you help me beat them up?"
Little Madam Xia smiled bitterly. "Child, I’m not your Fourth Aunt."
Mu Yangling could beat up the princes because she had raised the Crown Prince before. Furthermore, she was the one who set the rules in the Royal School, so she could beat up the princes whereas Little Madam Xia could not. There was, after all, a difference in status between the ruler and the subjects. The subjects had to submit to the ruler.
However, Little Madam Xia had her own way of dealing with it. Little Fu was her youngest son. With Little An by Qi Haoran’s side, she only had one son left by her side, so she naturally couldn’t bear to see him suffer.
Hence, Little Madam Xia entered the palace that day and asked to see the Empress. After begging her to take care of Little Fu in the palace, she went to Little Fu’s two study companions’ houses without stopping.
It could be seen that the Emperor trusted Fan Zijin very much. After Tiger Head and the others had left the Royal School, the Emperor was worried that the children would neglect their studies, so he recruited study companions for them.
Seeing as Little Fu could have two study companions just like the other princes, this was equivalent to Little Fu being accorded the treatment of a prince.
Indeed, Little Madam Xia could not beat up the princes and could not even express her dissatisfaction with them. However, there were only the princes and study companions in the Royal School, and there were a total of ten study companions. As long as she could rope in a few more to support her son, even if her son would still be bullied, it would be much less severe.
Not only was she Princess Consort An, but she was also the wife of the Cabinet’s auxiliary minister, making her the equivalent of a Prime Minister’s wife. For the sake of her son, she did not mind doing the families of these study companions a favor.
While she couldn’t ask her husband to abuse his power, she could introduce the women in those families to people of her class, so as to expand their connections.