The Legend of the Concubine in the Harem

"She should have met Xue by now, right?"

In Shouning Palace, Xie Yuzhen lay leisurely on a low couch, and sitting opposite Xu Baolin, who had already changed out of his gorgeous clothes, Xu Baolin nodded and replied, "As expected, sister, Meng Ronghua is very easy to be led astray by other people's words, and she likes to judge others by herself... I'm afraid she has now determined that I intend to betray sister and have a conflict with sister, and deliberately instigated her to attack you."

Xu Baolin, who had changed out of her fancy clothes and was now wearing a light blue skirt embroidered with magnolia, was combing her hair, looking like a delicate and frail lotus emerging from the water. Her words were filled with a hint of grievance: "She thinks everything is as she wants it to be, which really makes me feel uncomfortable."

How could I be at odds with my sister, or even have rebellious thoughts about her?

"You and I are on good terms, so we can just keep it to ourselves. She is just an insignificant person, so there is no need to care too much about her thoughts." Xie Yuzhen smiled and comforted Xu Baolin, then remembered something, "Speaking of which, the methods of this Concubine Dowager remind me of an old friend."

"Oh? Anyone who resorts to such tactics is probably not a good person." Xu Baolin looked over curiously.

Xie Yuzhen nodded and said, "They are indeed not good people, but when it comes to targeting pregnant women, their methods are very similar, as if they were taught by the same ancestor."

"Either they give pregnant women a lot of tonics to make the fetus bigger and harm the mother, intending to make the pregnant woman unable to give birth to the baby because it is too big, or die in childbirth; or they frequently make trouble for the pregnant woman, not letting her take good care of the fetus, but instead making her work hard and mentally, which is detrimental to her mind and spirit..."

These were all experiences Xie Yuzhen had gone through before. The various oppressions and dangers he had experienced in the past had passed. Now when he recalled them again, all he could feel was cold sarcasm: "Madam Wuwei and her daughters-in-law are very good at this. They once asked servants to pretend to be ghosts to deliberately scare me, but they never thought that I was brave enough to prevent them from doing so."

The one who had the servants pretend to be ghosts and harm people was the third young lady of the Wuwei Marquis's Mansion. She was now under house arrest. The servants who pretended to be ghosts were beaten and two of them died. Xie Yuzhen then advised the emperor to have the bodies of the two men hanged in the third lady's yard, and they should still be hanging there now.

"This method is really vicious." Xu Baolin did not think that Xie Wei's revenge was too cruel. Instead, he felt that the Wuwei Marquis's family was full of filth and disgusting.

She quickly put her hair up and said, "Whenever I think of the suffering my sister has endured, I wish I could slap them in the face myself!"

Xie Yuzhen burst out laughing, not caring at all about his shameful past: "Thank you for your concern, Yuan. But I have already slapped them. I am still keeping them now. First, because their evil deeds did not reach the level of asking the whole government to pay with their lives, and second... I think this kind of half-dead life is more suitable for them."

"Speaking of which, why do these women from aristocratic families always feel that if someone gets pregnant, they can just scare them and the pregnant woman will fall into fear and worry?" Xie Yu really didn't want to understand their logic, but if one of her assumptions was true, then... she had to understand it, analyze it, and then make use of it.

"Maybe, it's because they all think that women are supposed to be delicate and weak-minded. As long as they put a little pressure and coercion on us, we will accept our fate and follow their wishes." Xu Baolin recalled some unpleasant memories, and when he inserted the Huasheng into her bun, he moved a little harder and pulled out a strand of hair.

But she didn't care, and continued to ask Xie Yuzhen for help: "Are those two midwives really okay?"

This is what she is most worried about now.

Xie Yuzhen touched the jade bracelet on his hand and said, "On the surface, Doctor Sun is not right. If I replace her, there is a 90% chance that the lady will directly replace me with someone who is really problematic. However, her inappropriateness is too obvious, and it has overshadowed Doctor Zhou."

She sighed softly and said, "Dr. Zhou's slight abnormality led me to discover the inappropriateness of Dr. Sun, which made me think that one of them was a nail she had planted, but she also prepared a real nail waiting for the one who seemed to have the biggest problem to move..."

"And if I didn't fall for her trick and kept Doctor Sun, she would have a real, seemingly innocent backup plan waiting for me..." Xie Yuzhen lightly said this somewhat confusing calculation, "It's a coincidence that the murderer of this female doctor Zhou's mother is the Xiang family, who once had a feud with me."

"When the Xiang family was convicted, the one who contributed the most was none other than Meng Ronghua's father."

"If I am really just a person who entered the inner palace from a commoner's alley and knows nothing about the affairs of the court, then I am afraid that I will be plotted against by them this time."

She spoke calmly, but Xu Baolin was shocked: "So Doctor Sun seems to have problems, but he is actually innocent, and Doctor Zhou seems to have no problems, but she is secretly connected with the Meng family... and she has also made a backup plan... Sister, this person is really thoughtful."

In fact, she was still very confused. These days, except for the princesses of the royal family, few women were involved in political affairs. Even the ladies outside the royal family who were responsible for the social responsibilities of the ladies mostly obeyed the orders of men to decide which women to befriend and which to distance themselves from.

Even if the concubines in the harem occasionally need to deal with various government offices, most of them are arranged indirectly through the Shanggong Bureau - and this can only be done by concubines who hold high positions and power in the palace. The only duty of ordinary low-ranking concubines is to serve the emperor and produce offspring for the royal family.

Xu Baolin was curious about how Xie Yuzhen found out about the events of the previous dynasty, but she also knew that it was not a good question to ask.

Xie Yuzhen looked at her and didn't intend to explain. The two of them skipped the topic in tacit understanding. Then Xie Yuzhen said, "No matter how complicated the arrangement is, now that we know it, the next direction is not up to them."

She ordered Xu Baolin to confuse Meng Ronghua's mind, and through the relationship of Xiaoxi's aunt - who had now taken over the position of chef - she mobilized a palace maid in the Shanggong Bureau who was frustrated and had the same surname as Xue Zhuo, who was exchanged for a daughter by her uncle's family and raised as a girl, to completely divert Meng Ronghua's thinking.

Is it a big deal that you planned to make me have a difficult childbirth?

Xie Yuzhen picked up the makeup brush, dipped it in rouge, and drew a lotus flower on Xu Baolin's forehead: "Since they are so troublesome and put so much effort on me and the child in my belly, how can I not return the favor?"

Scheming for a woman's childbirth is really an understatement, how about doing something bigger - confusing the royal bloodline?