Qing Dynasty: The Imperial Concubine is Pregnant Again

Chapter 132:

Inside the Hall of Supreme Harmony.

The Minister of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, Ortai, looked serious and stepped out first: "Your Majesty, the harem is empty. There has been no imperial concubine for nearly three years. I request Your Majesty to select concubines to fill the harem!"

Yinzhen, who was sitting at the top, had a gloomy face and fiddled with the ring on his hand without saying a word. People who knew Yinzhen well knew that the emperor was angry.

Longkodo had a daughter who was a favored concubine in the harem, so he naturally had the same idea as Yinzhen. He snorted coldly and stepped out:

"Humph, Ortai, the emperor now has seven princes and six princesses, a total of thirteen princes. Moreover, the emperor has only been on the throne for less than a year, and you are thinking about the emperor's selection of concubines. What is your intention?"

Ortai was not shaken at all by the accusation put upon him by Longkodo. Now the harem belonged to the favored Tonggiya clan, who was extremely powerful and had eight sons. If this continued, it would definitely shake the foundation of the country.

"Your Majesty, I am making this suggestion for the sake of the Qing Dynasty. The Tonggiya clan has already produced two queens in a row, so we must not have a third one!"

Yinzhen's face became increasingly gloomy, and the cold light in his eyes seemed to become a sharp sword that would pierce through Ortai. He paused for a moment in fiddling with the ring.

"Oh? Then in your opinion, who is more suitable to be the queen?"

Ortai instantly thought that Yinzhen had the same idea as himself, and immediately expressed his opinion respectfully:

"Your Majesty, the queen is the mother of a country. Her family should not be too powerful, and she should not be an important official in the court, so as to avoid having delusions. I think the daughter of the second branch of the Fucha Maqi family is suitable!"

The Fucha Maqi family belonged to the Bordered Yellow Banner of the Manchu Army. There were many people in their family who served as officials in the court, but they were all in low positions. At this time, they were named by Ortai and came out in the middle of the queue with a plop.

"Your Majesty, I have no such thoughts!"

Originally, he had not thought of himself. The daughter born to his wife had already been married to the twelfth son of the late emperor, now Prince Lu, as his wife. Unexpectedly, Ortai was talking directly about his brother's legitimate daughter.

Longkodo bowed again and knelt on the ground: "Your Majesty, Concubine Shu is a noble person. Although I, as the father of the Concubine, am suspected of standing on the side of the Concubine."

"But I still want to say that the Imperial Concubine has not made any mistakes in the palace since the late Emperor granted her marriage. She has been very diligent and conscientious since entering the harem, serving the Emperor for more than ten years. We must not allow any grudges to arise from this!"

Longkodo also knew his family's situation. His sister, Empress Xiaoyiren, was not made queen until Kangxi became seriously ill and was dying, because of her powerful family.

She became queen for only one day before she died of illness.

Yinzhen looked at the three people kneeling below, his expression so calm that no one could tell what he was thinking. He said, "In that case, let's arrange a general election this year."

Longkodo was shocked, wondering whether Yinzhen really intended to choose a queen or just wanted to shut Ortai up.

When the ministers saw that the emperor had made the decision, they all knelt down and said, "Your Majesty is wise!"

Yinzhen was the first to leave, and Su Peisheng behind him shouted slogans to withdraw from the court.

After he returned to the Qianqing Palace, he looked at the huge palace and felt extremely lonely inside, but someone broke this loneliness the next second.

"Your Majesty, the Imperial Concubine is here."

At this time, Yinzhen was still wearing court clothes. Looking at the woman coming in from outside the hall, a smile appeared on his face. He stepped forward to stop Tong Nuanyan from saluting.

"How come Yanyan is here? I told you that you don't need to bow to anyone from now on, including me."

Tong Nuanyan smiled and followed Yinzhen's force into the hall.

"Your Majesty, I heard from Su Peisheng that Your Majesty has had a poor appetite recently, so I asked Ji Bing to prepare a lot of food."

Whenever Tong Nuanyan returned to the Qianqing Palace, she would call the emperor "Your Highness" in a businesslike manner and refer to herself as a concubine, and Yinzhen would also cooperate and call himself "I".

Yinzhen looked up at Su Peisheng in the distance, which frightened him so much that he lowered his head. Then he smiled and said, "I thought it was you, Yanyan, who did it yourself. Yanyan doesn't care enough about me."

Tong Nuanyan sat on the soft stool and couldn't help but give him a blank look, while Yinzhen reached out to help Tong Nuanyan take out the dishes from the basket.

"Your Majesty is now in a high position with great power, how come he is not as stable as Hong Zhao? Hong Zhao feels that he has grown up and will not act like a spoiled child with me anymore."

Although Tong Nuanyan said this, she was still busy picking up food for Yinzhen.

While eating, Yinzhen would occasionally pick up some food and feed it to Tong Nuanyan.

Hearing Tong Nuanyan say this, he paused slightly, thinking of the scene in the court where he ordered the selection of concubines, and for some reason he suddenly felt guilty.

"Yanyan, I have some news to tell you, please don't be jealous when you hear it."

Tong Nuanyan's eyes flickered slightly. She had the huge information network of 805 and psychic powers that covered the entire Forbidden City. She immediately guessed what Yinzhen was going to say.

"Today, the ministers suggested that I select a queen. I agreed, and it will be arranged in a few months."

What he didn't say was that he didn't really want to make someone else the queen, and now was just a delaying tactic.

"The ministers are also doing this for the country. I am the emperor's concubine, and I understand."

Seeing that Tong Nuanyan's expression did not change at all, he, who should have been pleased with her virtuousness, felt upset and his original guilt turned into anger.

The expectant look in Yinzhen's eyes slowly turned cold, and he stared at the person in front of him without moving away.

Tong Nuanyan hid the coldness in her heart and served food to Yinzhen as if nothing had happened: "Your Majesty, please eat more. The food is getting cold."

Yinzhen pushed Tong Nuanyan's hand away, his tone as cold as winter ice: "No need, go back to the palace."

Tong Nuanyan did as she was told and turned to leave the Qianqing Palace. Qiuyu, who was waiting at the palace gate, came forward to support her.

"Have you told the Emperor?"

Tong Nuanyan shook her head, frowned slightly and looked back at the magnificent palace: "Go back, it doesn't matter whether the emperor knows or not, and don't send anyone to tell him."

Two months later.

Yinzhen hadn't been to the Yikun Palace for two months. When he wanted to see his children, he would only go to the Qianxi Four Houses. When faced with questions from the children, he would turn his face cold and say:

"Let your mother figure out why."

He didn't know what he was being so serious about. He found out that Tong Nuanyan didn't seem jealous at all after he welcomed her. He was so angry that Tong Nuanyan didn't come to comfort him?

The eunuch in charge of the Imperial Household Department had been there since the previous emperor's time, and he didn't know much about the new emperor's habits. In this harem election, Concubine Shu did not interfere, and let the Imperial Household Department handle the entire process.

They can do the preliminary screening, but the final palace selection must be discussed with the emperor. The problem is that after the emperor gave the order for the selection, he just ignored it as if nothing had happened.

He also realized that the Emperor didn't want to hold the beauty contest at all and was just sulking with the Imperial Concubine!

Su Peisheng saw him outside the palace and asked, "The emperor is in a bad mood. Tell us what you want to say."

The eunuch of the Ministry of Internal Affairs said with a bitter face: "Eunuch Su, the palace selection will be held tomorrow. Will the emperor choose or not?"

When Su Peisheng heard this, his face stiffened. His heart skipped a beat, and he signaled him to wait outside while he turned and went into the inner hall.

"Your Majesty, I am the eunuch in charge of the Ministry of Internal Affairs. I am here to select a concubine for the palace. I am waiting outside. Would Your Majesty like to see him?"

Yinzhen, who was originally reviewing memorials, sat at the desk, feeling a little uneasy. He listened to Su Peisheng's words and was silent for a moment:

"Let him in."

The eunuch in charge of the Imperial Household Department came in with his head bowed and eyebrows lowered, and bowed deeply: "Your servant, the eunuch Fang Xingyan, the chief eunuch of the Imperial Household Department, comes to see the emperor. Long live the emperor!"

Yinzhen put down the memorial in his hand and asked as if he didn't care:

"Did the Concubine ask you to come?"

Fang Xingyan trembled with fear and replied cautiously: "The Imperial Concubine did not ask about the selection of concubines."

Yinzhen's originally good mood vanished at this moment, and his tone became stiff: "Since you haven't asked, you must let Concubine Shu go to Jiaotai Palace for the palace selection tomorrow!"

Then he sent Fang Xingyan away and sulked at the desk. The more he thought about it, the angrier he became: "Can't you even coax me a little?"

The next day, Jiaotai Hall.

Yinzhen was sitting at the top wearing a dragon robe, and on his left sat Imperial Concubine Shu Tong Nuanyan who was wearing a dark red imperial concubine's auspicious dress.

Tong Nuanyan stroked her belly inconspicuously. Her slightly bulging belly under the loose wedding dress was not noticed by anyone.

Seeing that she was still so calm, Yinzhen became even angrier inside.

"let's start!"

A row of beautiful ladies, dressed simply, with their hair braided into pigtails, walked in from outside the hall with lowered brows and a submissive look.

The eunuch in charge of the selection, bearing the low pressure from the two men, tremblingly shouted: "The daughter of Fucha Mawu of the Manchu Bordered Yellow Banner comes forward to pay homage!"

A beautiful girl, about fifteen or sixteen years old, stepped out and knelt down gracefully.

Yinzhen was not in a good mood, and he was upset. He said, "The Fucha family has been well-educated and is quite dignified."

Fucha was a little surprised. She originally thought that she would at most marry one of the princes, but who would have thought that her uncle would come back from court with shocking news that the emperor wanted to choose a queen.

Tong Nuanyan suppressed her body's reaction and quickly took out a sour plum from her sleeve and ate it.

"Your Majesty, I think Fu Chanu is dignified and polite, and she will definitely manage your harem in an orderly manner, ugh..."

I wanted to say a few more words and ignore Yinzhen's gloomy and dark expression, but I didn't expect my stomach to churn.

Yinzhen didn't even think about it, he just stepped forward and stroked her back, and yelled at Qiuyu behind him: "How do you serve the imperial concubine? Why didn't you ask the imperial physician to see her when she was unwell?"

This was the first time Qiuyu was treated so angrily by Yinzhen. She felt a little scared. She knelt on the ground, looking at Tong Nuanyan, whose face turned pale due to nausea and retching.

"Your Majesty, the Imperial Concubine is in good health..."

Yinzhen didn't understand what was going on yet and was furious: "How can you vomit when you are healthy?"

Qiu Yu felt a little sad: "Your Majesty, the Queen is pregnant again, and it's been four months!"

At this moment, the entire Jiaotai Hall was silent. The concubines were extremely surprised. They heard that Concubine Shu was already 26 years old this year, but they did not expect that she could still be pregnant.

All of Yinzhen's dissatisfaction with Tong Nuanyan was now overwhelmed by surprise: "Why didn't you tell me? If you told me..."

There is no way I can continue the draft and be angry with you.

Tong Nuanyan finally suppressed her retching reaction, and said in a somewhat aggrieved tone: "The emperor wants to hold a general election, and the three palaces and six courtyards are also selected by the emperor. I dare not resist!"

Yinzhen directly took her into his arms, turned his head and looked at the concubines in the palace: "Let's end the selection today, and discuss it later. I will never choose a queen!"