The Legend of the Concubine in the Harem

Xie Yuzhen's unconventional approach stunned the brother and sister of the Marquis of Anguo Mansion.

Nowadays, the higher the status of a person, the more he cares about his face. Even if he wants to break the other person's bones in his heart, he still has to appear to be friendly on the surface. Revealing one's true feelings at every turn, or expressing like or dislike for someone too directly, is considered very disrespectful in the eyes of many upper-class families.

You should be thoughtful and elegant in what you say and do, even if you have to swallow your anger for the time being, in order to preserve your own and even your family's dignity.

Especially when a conflict arises between the two parties and the other party takes the initiative to show weakness, as the stronger and more reasonable party, even if you are about to vomit blood and die from anger, you must appropriately show your magnanimity and let the other party go lightly. Only then can you become a "virtuous man" and "virtuous lady" praised by everyone.

In the past, Xie Yuzhen suffered greatly from this.

As a daughter-in-law of a commoner origin, in the Wuwei Marquis's Mansion, she had to be more strict in breaking her natural nature, conforming to this set of "rules" and learning their "decency".

If he did not extinguish his own nature, he would be met with countless contempt and ridicule from "noble people"; but when Xie Yuzhen broke through the difficulties and no longer compromised for their so-called "dignity", he suddenly realized that he could live a happier life if he followed his heart, instead of being like a living dead, a wooden puppet, sickly and weak, doing what those people wanted him to do, and finally killing himself with cowardice.

They use the rules and respectability that they have been immersed in for many years to constantly ridicule and attack the lower class people who spend all their time working hard to make a living. Either they completely break and tame them, so that they dare not think of resisting again; or they use this set of rules to convince them and finally assimilate them into a member who also wants to maintain this set of rules.

In this way, the powerful and noble families will continue to exist in the world from generation to generation.

But for Xie Yuzhen, who was a rebellious person, the loud sound of a slap in the face was more helpful in making his thoughts clear than having to face the devil.

As long as one's position is high enough, no matter whether it is the noble families who regard this rule as a golden rule, or the broken rule itself, it is nothing more than another toy in the palm of one's hand - this is one of the things Xie Yuzhen learned from the emperor. Ever since the two of them almost had a showdown, her true nature has been exposed even more unscrupulously.

She is already the person closest to the imperial power. The respect she wants to give is respectability, and the rules she doesn't want to follow are no different from rags.

"Although the prince of Anguo Marquis has just admitted that he was at fault first, I don't know what happened between you two. That's why I asked Xia Zhi to find you. After all, everyone has different opinions on the same thing, and I'm not the kind of person who only listens to one side of the story." Xie Yuzhen glanced at Lu Xianqiong, who was sitting on the chair angrily but comfortably, and turned to look at the two siblings who had been kneeling on the ground for quite some time and whose knees were beginning to tremble.

"Don't worry. As long as the truth is found out, I will mediate the dispute for you fairly and impartially." As Xie Yuzhen said this, the teardrop-shaped pearl hanging on his forehead swayed from side to side, unable to find the most balanced position.

"Young men, there is always a time for quarreling."

Looking at Concubine Zhao, who was sitting on the main throne with a beautiful face and a kind smile, Ruan Xiang'e shuddered unconsciously. She had been complaining about Xie Yuzhen's obvious favoritism for a long time, but she didn't dare to speak out rashly. This was not only because she could see that even if it was not her brother and sister's fault today, and it was just that the second princess unreasonably whipped her brother, Xie Yuzhen would certainly not treat him fairly as she said, but also because Ruan Xiang'e herself knew that what happened today... was originally her brother and sister who were more unfair to the eldest princess.

But...Ruan Xiang'e bit her lip. But cousin Zeng was so innocent. She had lost her biological mother, and after Doctor Zeng married a new wife, he also became her stepfather. Cousin Zeng was a young girl whose family had long been destitute. If she got married in the future, how could she find a better husband than her own brother?

The eldest princess is a princess after all, born into a golden family, high and mighty. Why can't she lend a helping hand to her cousin who is also a woman?

That cousin born to Zeng's stepmother, although his mother was very annoying and he had a bad reputation in the past, what he said did contain some very novel truths - women in this world have a harder life than men, so they should be friendly to each other and help each other, instead of judging people by their status. If the eldest princess was willing to live in harmony with her cousin Zeng, instead of being jealous of the same man, then why should she and her brother be so worried and scheming?

Thinking of this, Ruan Xiang'e couldn't help but slightly raise her head, looking at the graceful "Empress Zhao" sitting high above, and an idea appeared in her mind uncontrollably - she originally thought that this woman who entered and left the government hall and intervened in government affairs would be different from those vulgar women of the time. Today, she was just a person who could only abuse power and oppress others with power. She looked arrogant. I'm afraid that even if she knew about her cousin Zeng's situation, she would not be willing to sympathize with herself and others, let alone help persuade the princess to accept her cousin Zeng as a concubine...

Fortunately, when I heard her story before, I admired her as a heroine who was as decisive and resourceful as men. However, she had no empathy for me as a woman, and embarrassed me like this in public. Her level... was just like this.

Feeling dissatisfied, Ruan Xiang'e turned to look at Ruan He, hoping that her brother could say something to reverse this unfavorable situation.

Ruan He's face did not show the same superficial and changeable emotions as his sister. He was more cautious: "Today's incident was indeed caused by my brother and I. The Second Princess was just indignant for a moment, so... she did nothing wrong. Madam Zhao Fei, I am willing to accept the punishment. I only hope that Madam Zhao Fei will let my sister go this time because she is still young. I will also bear her punishment."

As the eldest son of a marquis and an official of the imperial court, Ruan He enjoyed privileges in many cases. For instance, even though he had little knowledge and knew nothing about archery or horse riding, he did not have to take the imperial examination but could directly become an official. For another example, as the heir to the Marquis of Anguo, even if he made a mistake of accidentally hurting others, as long as he showed an attitude of apology and admitted his mistake, he could be easily forgiven - those who were higher in status than him would be respectful to each other due to the rules, and those who were lower in status than him had to act as if they were willing to forgive him even if they did not want to.

Right now, the most important thing for Ruan He is not how Xie Yuzhen will punish him, but... as the future consort of the eldest princess, he had an affair with other women before marriage and got pregnant. If it is possible not to expose it, it is better not to expose it!

"What is Prince Ruan doing? Since I said I would handle this fairly, there is no reason for me not to get to the bottom of this." Xie Yuzhen looked at him as if he was looking at a small insect spinning in the palm of his hand, although he still didn't fully understand what had happened to make Lu Xianqiong so angry.

But Xie Yuzhen was not the kind of person who would side with justice instead of relatives. Moreover, compared to Lu Xianqiong, her lovable "daughter" who hurt people for no reason, she would rather assume that Ruan He, the man who spoke unclearly, was guilty!