Shen Shen Shen doesn't pursue men, only money

The next day, Kunning Palace. As soon as the morning hour arrived, the concubines from all palaces arrived at Kunning Palace on time to pay their respects to Queen Mu.

Today, Mu Yanran, who was already the mother of two princes, was still wearing her usual bright red brocade dress as the queen. She wore a phoenix crown on her head and sat in the main hall of Kunning Palace with a sharp look in her eyes to accept the audience with the concubines.

His Majesty, Zhu Haochen, is over 40 years old and in the prime of his life. He is not particularly fond of women, so most of his concubines are political marriages, and none of them are taken into the harem because of his own preferences. Therefore, there are many concubines, and they are equally shared. Only when he was the crown prince, on his wedding day, he was deeply amazed by the stunning appearance of his own crown princess, Mu Yanran, one of the two beauties in the capital. After that, other women were just like that to His Majesty.

After all the concubines had bowed politely, she opened her red lips and said in a light voice, "Please sit down." She glanced at the concubines and said to one of them, who was currently in the emperor's favor and looked completely different from herself, "Sister Zhuang, His Majesty has been staying in your Chuxiu Palace recently. You must serve him wholeheartedly and get pregnant with an heir as soon as possible so that the royal family can have more children."

The woman named Zhuangpin immediately stood up and saluted: "I will follow the instructions of the Queen."

"No need to be so polite." The queen motioned for her to sit down.

Then, Queen Mu asked the eldest princess's mother, Concubine Liu, and the second prince's mother, Concubine Zhang, about the diet and daily life of each prince and princess. Both of them answered Queen Mu respectfully one by one.

The birth mother of the eldest princess, Concubine Liu, was a personal maidservant who followed Zhu Haochen in the palace before he was appointed as the crown prince. After being favored, she gave birth to the eldest princess. Because she was the first child of Emperor Huaisheng, the eldest princess was more favored by her father. After ascending the throne, the birth mother's status was too low, and being named a noble lady was the limit of the emperor's favor for the old relationship. Fortunately, she had a favored eldest daughter by her side. The eldest princess had found a good husband and a son-in-law, and lived in the princess's mansion in the imperial city. Less than a year after the marriage, she became pregnant and gave birth to the eldest grandson. Emperor Huaisheng was very happy and said that this was a good omen for the continuation of the royal heirs. Because Concubine Liu relied on the eldest daughter and grandson, the servants in the palace who were used to flattering the powerful and bullying the weak did not dare to make things difficult for her.

Zhang was originally a restless woman. She was brought into the Prince's mansion half a year after Mu Yanran entered it. Her father was a clerk in the Ministry of Justice. Taking advantage of the fact that there were only the Crown Princess and her personal maids serving in the mansion, she used all kinds of tricks and finally gave birth to the second prince before Mu Yanran, who was also the Crown Prince's eldest son. She thought that she could be made a noble concubine when the Crown Prince inherited the throne, and even coveted the position of the Crown Princess.

Unexpectedly, Mu Yanran was a ruthless character who played the pig to eat the tiger. She directed all the firepower of the concubines who came to the palace to Zhangpin, pretended to be weak and quietly served the prince. After she got pregnant, she quietly took care of the fetus. After she successfully gave birth to the third prince, the prince ascended the throne smoothly. Mu Yanran was made the queen. From then on, Queen Mu began to show her iron-blooded methods. The first one was to suppress Zhangpin to death. Even though she had a concubine's eldest son, she was only given the title of concubine. There was no possibility of promotion in this life, and there would be no heirs.

At this time, the concubines realized how terrible the queen was. From then on, the harem was firmly in the hands of Queen Mu, and the concubines were honest and obedient. Emperor Huaisheng had fewer family worries and appreciated Mu Yanran even more.

After paying respects, several concubines who were on good terms with Mu Yanran wanted to stay and talk with the queen, but were turned away: "My niece wants to come to the palace to talk to me today, you can go first."

"Yes, I'll take my leave." Several trusted concubines immediately said goodbye to the queen and left.

Empress Mu sat under the beauty couch by the flower window, drinking the sweet-scented osmanthus, tangerine peel and blood bird's nest cup that had been slow-cooked for six hours in the kitchen of Kunning Palace. After she finished drinking, Zitan took the bird's nest cup, and Youlan immediately stepped forward to help the empress rinse her mouth and wash her hands.

Queen Mu asked: "Zitan, when will Chuchu come to see me?"

"To reply to Your Majesty, I estimate that we will be there soon." The clepsydra showed that it was almost 9 o'clock.

"Go and tell the two princes not to come to me after school at the Grand Tutor's. I will send someone to look for them after Chuchu leaves the palace."

"The slaves obey."

Not long after Zitan left, she heard the palace maid waiting outside the palace whisper, "Your Majesty, Miss Mu is here."

Youlan saw Queen Mu nodded and said, "Please invite Miss Mu into the palace."

As soon as he finished speaking, a top beauty came in, wearing a cloud-like satin brocade dress with colorful flowers and flying butterflies, with a plain belt outlining her beautiful figure. Her face was lightly powdered, and she looked 50% similar to Queen Mu.

"Your servant Mu Chuchu pays her respects to Her Majesty the Queen and wishes her good health and longevity." Mu Chuchu knelt respectfully before Her Majesty Mu, performing the etiquette of a junior.

Looking at her stunning niece, Empress Mu, who had been silent all morning, smiled a little, and her voice softened a bit: "Get up. Youlan, give Miss Mu a seat."

After Mu Chuchu sat down, Queen Mu said with some doting dissatisfaction: "Chuchu, how long has it been since you came to the palace to see me? Do you still remember that I am your aunt?"

Hearing the queen's words, Mu Chuchu felt relieved. Yesterday, her mother caught her and asked her for a long time whether she had offended anyone or done anything wrong, and asked the queen's personal maid to come and tell her to come to the palace, which made her nervous and she didn't sleep well all night.

"Aunt, you are the current queen and you handle the complicated affairs of the palace every day. I heard from my father that you are so busy that you don't even have time for lunch. How dare your niece disturb you every day? I can only pray for your health and your cousins' academic success in the Duke's Mansion every day."

"You are a child who always knows how to please me. Well, Youlan, bring the pair of vases with gold thread and white flowers that His Majesty gave me a few days ago. I will give them to Chuchu. Oh, and bring her a cup of the bird's nest cup that I drank just now. Let her have a taste."

Mu Chuchu showed a look of joy, and hurriedly stood up and saluted: "Thank you, Queen, for your reward, and thank you, Aunt, for your kindness."

"No need to be polite. Take a seat."

After a while, Zitan, who had returned to the palace, carried the swallow's nest into the main hall and placed it in front of Mu Chuchu's table.

"Try it."

"Yes, aunt." Mu Chuchu raised the bird's nest cup, took two sips slowly and quickly put it down, waiting obediently for what Queen Mu was going to say next.

"Does Chuchu know the second daughter of the Marquis of Anbo?"

"The second daughter of the Marquis's family...Auntie, are you asking about the Second Miss Shen?"

"Exactly."

"I know him, but I'm not very familiar with him."

"Tell me what you know."

Mu Chuchu looked puzzled, but still recalled: "I have only met her a few times at banquets in various mansions. She is introverted and not good at speaking. Because she is as fat as sea scales, her facial features are squeezed so that you can't see her eyebrows and eyes. I am very disrespectful to say that she is fat and big-eared."

Empress Mu listened to her niece's description with a look of surprise, and asked in confusion: "How could she be such an ugly and vulgar woman? Why did Prince Zhu of Prince Zhong's Mansion ask to marry the second daughter of the Marquis' Mansion?"

"Snapped."

The bird's nest slid from the exquisite corner table to the floor of Kunning Palace, making a crisp sound.