The Legend of the Concubine in the Harem

Concubine Zhang moved to Zhaohua Palace.

When Xie Yuzhen learned the news, he confused Zhaoyang Palace and Zhaohua Palace for a moment. After thinking about it carefully, he remembered that Zhaoyang Palace was where Zhu Guipin, now Zhu Xianshi, lived; while Zhaohua Palace was where the only surviving Chen Guipin lived.

Chen Guipin lost her son first and then fell out of favor. Although she asked Qian Xianhui to take the blame at the Mid-Autumn Festival banquet, which made Chen Guipin want to eat her alive, after Qian Xianhui was banished to the cold palace, Chen Guipin seemed to have come out of the situation where she was blinded by the pain of losing her son, and did not chase her to the cold palace for revenge like Xie Yuzhen did.

Apart from paying her respects every month, Concubine Chen rarely stepped out of the gate of Zhaohua Palace. Even when she went to Kunning Palace to pay her respects, she remained silent and became increasingly cold and aloof.

This time, Concubine Deng arranged for Concubine Zhang to go to Zhaohua Palace. As the mistress of Zhaohua Palace, she did not show up to help. When Concubine Zhang asked for an audience, she refused to see her. She only set up a Buddhist temple in her own palace, chanted scriptures and burned incense every day, praying that the innocent child who died young would ascend to heaven soon.

"It smells so strong of fireworks. No wonder Your Majesty doesn't want to come." Pei'er supported Lady Zhang and walked towards the courtyard where they moved. "It's better for her not to see you. I heard that some incense and candles are mixed with drugs, which are harmful to pregnant women."

Concubine Zhang's belly was not yet visible. She held her waist gently with one hand and walked very carefully. "Yes, the most important thing for me now is to give birth to a prince for His Majesty... Although Zhaohua Palace is a little deserted, it is peaceful. Concubine Chen is not a troublemaker, and Jin Xiaoyuan from Silla seems to be a decent person."

She said with a lot of emotion: "It's nothing like Chonghe Palace. Although it has a good location and the sisters inside are bustling, there are not many favored ones. They always like to gossip about trivial matters, which gives me a headache every day."

There is no main seat in Chonghe Palace. Those living there are all low-ranking concubines who were not favored in the previous dynasty, were not favored in the harem, and were already quite old. Concubine Zhang is already the one with the highest rank in Chonghe Palace.

"Hasn't it been determined who put the thing in our room earlier?" asked Lady Zhang.

She did find something harmful in a vase in the house, so she simply added some more to it and set up a trap for the emperor to see. At that time, she also wanted to get the emperor to help her investigate the case. However, the emperor just asked her to change her residence and left the investigation of the case to the Disposal Department.

If there were no special instructions from the emperor, empress, or queens above, the investigation department would always be slow, and by the time they found out something, it would be too late.

Concubine Zhang had no choice but to investigate it privately.

"Is Ling Shuang, who was sent by Nanny, any good enough to use?" Concubine Zhang finally got in touch with Nanny Meng. On the second day after moving, she got in touch with a newly-assigned maid named Ling Shuang.

Pei Er nodded, with some admiration in her expression: "Aunt Ling Shuang is indeed trained by Nanny Meng. She is much more efficient than me. She personally watched the layout of the house and personally instructed us on how to arrange it. She also found out a lot of mistakes. After this, everyone is convinced by her."

Lady Zhang's eyes darkened. "Well, I was born a palace maid, so I can only live with those noisy people in Chonghe Palace. The only person serving me is you, Pei'er. The other palace maids are just pretending to be respectful because Your Majesty favors me. In their hearts, they don't really obey me, a palace maid who serves tea. They always pretend to obey but secretly disobey and play tricks. Now that I have the help of Nanny, my life is more peaceful. I just don't know how she manipulated it to let Concubine Xian move me here... Alas, this is probably the benefit of having a good mother's family."

"Meng Ronghua is useless. I'm afraid that the maids...are also attracted by your favor..." Pei'er said in a low voice.

Lady Zhang nodded: "Now the Meng family has no daughter of marriageable age to enter the palace, so they need my helper. It is still unclear what will happen in the future. Well, it is just mutually beneficial. I will deal with them. If I can use the power of the Meng family... except for Lady Xie..."

"Madam?!" Pei'er was shocked. "Why do you say such a thing?"

Concubine Zhang raised her hand and pressed her chest. "Whenever I think of her, my chest feels so tight. Pei'er, she gives me a very dangerous feeling. If she had lived, I would have to kneel at her feet and live a miserable life. I spent so much time and effort to finally become a concubine from a little palace maid who was bullied by everyone."

She took a deep breath. "I don't want to be like before, like I am now, always looking down on others, constantly begging for mercy... I can be like this, but my son is also a noble, how can he have a mother who is trampled under the feet of others?!"

"If she doesn't fall out of favor and is not eliminated, she will sooner or later become a demon in my heart." There was a hint of ruthlessness in Concubine Zhang's eyes.

In Shouning Palace.

Xie Yuzhen sneezed for no apparent reason.

"Are you cold, madam?" Chunfen asked.

Xie Yuzhen shook his head: "No, maybe someone is talking about me again - His Majesty has allowed me not to attend the New Year's banquet on the first day of the new year, but mother will come to the palace to pay her respects. Please check the place where mother lives in the right hall of our palace."

Chunfen received the order.

Xie Yuzhen couldn't help but fall into deep thought.

I am getting older, and in a few days, the Palace Bureau will send over the wet nurses, midwives, and palace maids and eunuchs who have been selected in advance to be assigned to the crown prince.

Because the emperor firmly believed that the daughter in Xie Yuzhen's belly was the reincarnation of Xuannv, the number of people he arranged for his daughter exceeded the regulations for the princess, and Jinghua Tower could not accommodate so many people.

Fortunately, Xie Yuzhen only gave birth in Jinghua Building, and would move to the main hall after her confinement, so the palace servants had already started to prepare.

Xie's mother was going to come to the palace to accompany her in childbirth, and Xie Yuzhen didn't want to treat his mother badly, so he asked the palace servants to clean up the right side palace, and let his mother live with Xie Yi, while his daughter would live alone in the left side palace.

Shouning Palace covers a large area. In addition to the three main palaces, it also has pavilions and towers, and even a Jiangnan-style garden with a shallow pond in the garden. Xie Yuzhen plans to have someone fill in the pond and plant plum trees in it in the spring of next year. When the plums bear fruit, he can take his children to pick the fruits together.

Just when Xie Yuzhen was thinking about the layout of various places in Shouning Palace, Li Zong came to run errands for the emperor again.

This time, in addition to the usual rewards such as silk, jewelry, gold and silver that one must bring to Shouning Palace, Li Zong also held a tray in his hand, on which were several pieces of red paper with gold sprinkled on it, and on which were written ink words.

Li Zong held up the tray with a flattering look on his face. "I greet the talented lady and congratulate her. His Majesty has written a few words for the young prince. His Majesty originally wanted to choose with her, but an urgent matter suddenly came up in the court, so he couldn't leave. So he asked the servants to bring it here, and please choose first."

"I was so presumptuous. I took a closer look on the way. They were all very good words."