Red Mansion and Crimson Pearl

the other side.

She carried the zither back to the palace, put on a respectful smile, and followed the eunuch to pay her respects to the Empress and reply to her questions. Then she hurried back to Fengzao Palace in the northeast corner of the palace where Jia Yuanchun was.

A virtuous concubine, who had no children but was promoted three times in one year to the position of concubine, was extremely popular and envied by everyone. However, she was sent to a remote area close to the palace wall by an imperial edict from the empress. The emperor, who seemed to love and value her the most, turned a deaf ear to her. Instead, the retired emperor and the empress dowager, who moved to Taiji Palace two years ago, summoned her from time to time and rewarded her continuously.

All these things caused rumors and gossip to spread in the palace.

Jia Yuanchun grew up with her grandmother Jia since she was a child. She is intelligent, steady, and thoughtful. Naturally, she doesn't take gossip to heart and just wants to live her life peacefully.

But Baoqin and others who served her did not have such strong character. When they were bullied outside, they would hide and cry when they returned to the palace, and then go forward to serve her with swollen eyes.

Now that the family was in trouble again, Baoqin had a lot of conversation with the Empress Dowager, and returned to Fengzao Palace crying, changed her clothes, washed her face, and came to report to Jia Yuanchun.

After saying this, Jia Yuanchun's face became even more indifferent. After a long while, she asked in a low voice, "Grandma, don't you have anything to say to me?"

"...No. Yuanyang even asked me what was going on!" Baoqin started crying again when she said this, "I really don't know what the Madam was thinking! You had it so hard in the palace, and you finally got some improvement, but she sent someone to pass on some evidence to His Majesty!

"You don't know, just now Su Ma Ma asked me in front of so many people how much money my family gave me this time. How come the imperial court should send half of the salt tax last year to the Empress..."

The imperial salt tax...

Jia Yuanchun endured the pain in her heart, and a faint smile appeared on the corner of her mouth: "Sister Lin is the smartest one. Hasn't she already handed all the family property to the Palace Supervisor? The Queen's words are wrong."

"Where?! The Palace Supervisor is only in charge of the Lin family's assets in Beijing, but there is no telling how many properties his family has scattered around the country. Just at the Lin family's old house in Gusu, there are thousands of acres of fertile land!

"Miss Lin is just using the cover of the Palace Supervisor to prevent Master Lian from checking the accounts..." Baoqin was anxious.

Jia Yuanchun glanced at him coldly, and Baoqin was frightened and immediately fell silent.

"As many as the Lin family has, they are all surnamed Lin. My Jia family only knows how to give money away, and I have never heard of anyone trying to take over the family property of my aunt! Whoever came up with this idea is a bastard who ruins the family and the business! He should be kicked out immediately!"

Jia Yuanchun spoke sternly, and finally looked at Baoqin biting her lip with tears in her eyes, sighed faintly, and said slowly, "I know it's hard for you to suffer here with me."

Baoqin burst into tears, covering her face and shaking her head: "It's not the slave who is suffering, it's the young lady who is really suffering!"

"Life is full of suffering. Isn't it all self-inflicted..." Jia Yuanchun smiled bitterly, stood up gracefully, and said in a gentle voice, "Fetch me some water. I want to wash my hands and play the zither."

The palace walls are like a cage and the palace ladies are like birds. No matter how high you look up, you can only see a corner of the sky.

Only the two people sitting on the dragon and phoenix chairs can freely climb up to the heights in this palace and look far into the distance to see the misty world.

Because the founding empress loved to watch the sunrise and sunset, the Emperor Kangxi built a three-story building in the Kunning Palace where the empress lived, which was called Liao Pavilion. It was only slightly lower than the tallest Lingyan Pavilion in the palace.

Nowadays, Queen Wan also likes to climb high places, especially when she is in a very good mood. For example, now, she is leaning comfortably on the highest point of Liao Pavilion to enjoy the sunset.

The head palace nanny Su Hong standing behind him laughed quietly and said, "As the saying goes, the sun sets in the west! No matter how much you stir up trouble, what is meant to sink will sink!"

"Madame Su is wrong! Who the hell is she? How can she be compared to the sun?" The head maid Zhu Ying looked at Empress Wan's expression and winked at Su Hong.

Queen Wan stood up from the couch, straightened her chest and stared at the setting sun, which was only a dazzling scarlet. She uttered a few words from her thin lips, which were painted with thick ochre lipstick: "I'm just borrowing the afterglow of the setting sun..."

borrow?!

Doesn't that mean...

Su Hong and Zhu Ying looked at each other, their faces changed unconsciously, and they looked around quickly, and only breathed a sigh of relief when they saw that there was no one else around.

Su Hong took a half step forward and changed the subject with a smile: "It's cold, and your Highness is wearing too little today, why don't you go back?"

Queen Wan hummed, turned around and went downstairs, strolled into the bedroom, and asked casually, "Where is your majesty today?"

"The weather is bad this year, with poor harvests in various places and unrest in the nine borders. I heard that the emperor asked several ministers from the Grand Council to stay overnight. I'm afraid he wants to discuss important matters." Zhu Ying replied in a low voice.

Queen Wan frowned worriedly, "Do we have to stay up all night again? Send someone to bring the tonic, and I will stew it myself. Send it over in an hour and persuade him to take a rest."

"Yes! Your Majesty truly loves Your Majesty." Zhu Ying complimented with a smile.

Queen Wan sighed distressedly: "I am his wife, if I don't love him, who will?"

There were many palace maids and eunuchs standing in the corridors and at the entrance of the main hall, but they all looked like wooden figures, with their heads slightly lowered and not moving at all.

Su Hong waited until Zhu Ying helped the queen into the bedroom, then she stood at the door, looking around with disdain, and snorted, "Serve the meal in a quarter of an hour."

Royal study room.

Tao Xingjian, the palace supervisor, respectfully invited several ministers to have their meal next door: "My lords, please take your time. We will be busy for a long time after dinner."

While watching, he watched people bring in four dishes and a soup for the emperor.

The Prime Minister of the Cabinet, the Grand Secretary of the Military Affairs Council, the Grand Secretary of the Wucheng Palace, the Minister of Chancellery, and the current uncle of the Emperor, Prince Yu, looked at the food plate and couldn't help but sigh: "The Emperor is too frugal! How can this be possible?"

Immediately, someone followed suit and expressed their sadness and distress.

Tao Xingjian glanced at Prince Yu and the man, lowered his eyes and said, "Your Majesty usually only takes two incense sticks to eat, so please hurry up and serve!"

The four of them left calmly, yielding to each other.

After glancing coldly at their backs, Tao Xingjian entered the imperial study.

The person sitting on the throne was the man who had watched Lin Daiyu from afar through a telescope on the day she entered the capital, the current Emperor Zhaoming.

Emperor Zhaoming has already started eating with his head down.

Do not talk while eating or sleeping, this rule was strictly enforced when Emperor Zhaoming was alone. So Tao Xingjian just stood quietly by the side, waiting for him to finish eating quickly, and then stepped forward to help him rinse his mouth and wash his hands.

"What did they say again? Why do you look so unhappy?" Emperor Zhaoming looked at him with amusement on his face.

Tao Xingjian snorted and whispered, "What a weird person! It's as if everyone has to put on a show to eat with him. How important is it to be himself?"

Emperor Zhaoming understood immediately, narrowed his eyes, raised one corner of his mouth and smiled, saying: "He is the Prime Minister, so it is important...

"Of all the uncles and aunts who fought with my father in the past, this one is the only one left now and has become an important minister entrusted with the care of the young emperor. Yet you treat him as a vegetarian. This is first of all your fault!"

"What do you mean by entrusting an orphan to someone else? Your Majesty has already ascended the throne, so why would you need to..." Tao Xingjian blurted out in anger, but then he realized that it was inappropriate, and he stopped talking angrily, turned around and shouted:

"Where's the tea? Do we have to wait for the emperor's order? You are all sitting there doing nothing, acting stupid and foolish, are you looking for death?"

Emperor Zhaoming watched him lose his temper with a smile, shook his head, and looked relaxed.

However, there was a murderous look in his eyes!