I swept the harem by pretending to be weak

The emperor was obsessed with Liu Zhirou for a long time before he went to see Ai Ziyi under Liu Zhirou's persuasion.

Liu Zhirou knew that the emperor was not completely confident in her. To be more precise, as the emperor, he would not give his full trust to anyone. Even though Liu Zhirou looked fragile and harmless, and foolishly lost her first child to someone else, and had no mother's family to be afraid of, she was just an ordinary chess piece that could be disposed of at any time, and posed no threat to him.

After all, the emperor is a man who has walked out of numerous dangers, and he will never let down his guard just because a person looks harmless.

This choice not only fulfilled Liu Zhirou's loyalty and righteousness, but also quietly alienated the feelings of the two sisters, preventing them from joining forces and working together to cause trouble for the emperor.

Ai Ziyi was not a particularly reckless person. Although this period of waiting really made her anxious, she did not reveal any flaws that could be easily caught. Moreover, since she had listened to Liu Zhirou's persuasion, she would not doubt easily.

So although she was a little worried during these days, she always followed Liu Zhirou's instructions and created the image of a weak and powerless little white flower.

So the moment the emperor entered the door, he saw a very beautiful scene.

The girl, with a slightly pale face, leaned against a vermilion lacquered pillar, her eyes staring straight ahead.

The girl was none other than Ai Ziyi. She was wearing a white crescent-shaped skirt embroidered with bamboo leaves, a light blue brocade ribbon tied around her waist, her hair tied up in a bun, and she wore a red gold filigree hairpin inlaid with gems and a ruby ​​hairpin.

She looks very wealthy, but this outfit makes the girl look so lonely and desolate... like an abandoned animal.

Next to the young lady stood a girl with delicate features, about seventeen or eighteen years old, wearing a goose yellow silk dress, with two buns on her head and a red gold hollow carved plum blossom hairpin inserted diagonally in the buns. She held a round fan in her hand, gently fanning her mistress, and her fanning movements were very graceful.

"My lady, you have been here for an hour. I think you should go back. You just got sick. Are you in good health?" The girl looked around and said in a low voice when she saw that no one noticed.

Little did they know that the emperor had already made a circle and walked behind them, but the emperor ordered all the servants to remain silent, so no one dared to remind them.

"I'm just a criminal who has lost the emperor's favor. It doesn't matter whether I'm sick or not." Ai Ziyi looked as if she was disheartened.

"But, young lady..." The maid was about to say something but stopped herself. Suddenly, she caught a glimpse of a bright yellow figure walking towards her from the corner of her eye. She quickly stood up and wanted to salute. Ai Ziyi was also startled by her abnormal behavior. She quickly turned around and looked in the direction where the emperor was coming, muttering, "I am not dreaming..."

"Your Majesty, I greet you. May your Majesty be safe and sound!" Ai Ziyi suddenly squatted down, lowered her eyes and dared not look again, but her tone was so excited that it was almost trembling.

"My beloved concubine has suffered." The emperor sighed. Even though he was a man with a heart of stone, when he saw such a peerless beauty who was heartbroken for him and obsessed with him, he couldn't help but feel a sense of pride.

Even though he didn't usually take Ai Ziyi seriously, and didn't think this woman would be of any help to his future career, but seeing that she loved him so much that she even abandoned her sick body, he still felt a sense of pity for her.

"Please stand up quickly. What do your men do? Your young master is already in such a state, why don't you invite him in?"

The emperor pretended to scold the servants around Ai Ziyi, then took Ai Ziyi's hand and walked into the house.

After a night of vivid and colorful entertainment, the next morning, the emperor announced that Lady Lan would be promoted to Concubine Lan and rewarded her with a large amount of gold and silver as compensation. By this point, the well-informed people in the palace understood that Lady Lan, who seemed to be neglected by the emperor, had stood up again and might even climb higher, so they could not help but go to flatter her.

Ai Ziyi herself was very rational. She knew that this favor was just an illusion. If she couldn't keep her position, the emperor would abandon her for any reason in the future. So she was very low-key and cautious, trying not to give people any chance to talk about her.

But the problem is that there are some things that she can't avoid just by wanting to. Even if she can use her poor health as an excuse to refuse the visits from the lower-ranking concubines,

Different from Ai Ziyi's side who looked impressive and majestic, Liu Zhirou was quite deserted with only a few released servants following her.

The reason was quite simple. She was on her way to Shoukang Palace to serve the Queen Mother. Although theoretically, the Queen Mother's palace was also in the harem, it was still far away and even taking a sedan chair would take a long time.

The Empress Dowager is not the Emperor's biological mother, so it's inevitable that the Emperor doesn't care about her. Living with the Empress Dowager is basically the same as being abandoned. To put it bluntly, it's no different from being banished to the cold palace.

Even if she really earned the reputation of being filial, what achievements could she make if she lost the emperor's heart? Girls' youth only lasted for a few years, and they couldn't afford to waste it. After all, the honor and favor of these concubines still depended on the emperor. Even Biyun, the maid who had left Liu Zhirou's palace, only kowtowed to her before leaving.

Now, the important thing for these people is not to please a concubine who is destined to have no influence in the harem within a few years, but to find a way to keep up with the concubine who temporarily has influence on the emperor, consolidate their own position, and strive to become the emperor's favorite concubine.

Liu Zhirou had no intention of commenting on their actions. To her, these were all unimportant people.

Moreover, the choices they made seem short-sighted. But who can really know what is going on? Everyone knows that adding flowers to a brocade is far less effective than sending charcoal in the snow, but people are busy adding flowers to a brocade, and no one is willing to send charcoal in the snow. Why?

Because they don’t know whether the person they are helping or close to is a soaring dragon or an unknown ant.

Or did those people really achieve a high status later? Would they really remember this small and insignificant favor?

Not necessarily. Human nature is very complicated. After some people become successful, the first thing they do is to get rid of those who have seen how miserable and miserable he/she is.

Since there is no guarantee of getting the expected rewards for the risks they take, why should they take risks for something that is almost uncertain in this cruel place?