The Legend of the Concubine in the Harem

"I heard that in the New South Kingdom, women are in power, and even the army is full of women."

"Oh my god, if women there can go to the battlefield, what about the men? It's really..."

"Well, never mind. How can a group of female soldiers defeat the strong men of Dasheng? I'm afraid they will collapse at the first blow!"

These days, the streets of Dasheng Imperial Capital suddenly saw many people talking about the war with the New South.

Both inside and outside the court, the emperor's intention to use military force against the New South Kingdom became increasingly clear.

This time, the emperor did not clamor to go there himself as he did last time when he attacked King Danzhu's tent. It seems that compared with the cold wind in the northern border, the mysterious and changeable insects, snakes, venomous miasma in the southwest can play a more dissuading role in this regard.

Ruan He and his sister have been living a very depressed life these days.

Ruan He, who had hardly ever ridden a horse, was dragged to the outskirts of the capital for training before dawn every day by Marquis Anguo. Ruan Xiang'e was ordered by him to be locked up in the mansion to copy the Four Books for Women. During this period, she only met the nanny sent by the eldest princess once. The nanny Ruan Xiang'e asked about Zeng Suqiu's whereabouts and said that Lu Yanzhen was willing to take care of this unfortunate woman. This made Ruan Xiang'e, who was originally depressed, feel much better.

As soon as the nanny left, he began to write letters to Zeng Fu secretly again.

But she didn't know that her letter fell into the hands of Mrs. Dong Er as soon as it left the courtyard.

After reading the contents of the letter, Madam Dong sneered twice, and then asked the servants to send the letter intact to the southwest - the wife of Marquis Anguo only gave birth to the two of them, brother and sister, and Marquis Anguo had no other concubines or illegitimate children, but he had a lot of his own...

The master of the second branch of the Marquis of Anguo's Mansion was away all year round, stationed at the frontier, and Madam Dong was rarely with him, and the couple's relationship was not very harmonious. Also, because her family members were not productive and were often greedy for money, during the time when Madam Dong was in charge of the internal affairs of the Marquis of Anguo's Mansion on behalf of Madam Dong, she had no idea how much she had subsidized, and at the same time, she became more and more tempted by the wealth of the Marquis' Mansion.

As they were both of the same bloodline of the Marquisate, while her husband was guarding the border outside, the Marquis of Anguo could stay in the capital and enjoy a good life. Although her uncle was so magnanimous to her because he felt sorry for his younger brother, Madam Dong still felt it was not enough. In her opinion, the dumber the two children of the first wife were, the better. It would be best if they killed themselves, so that her children would have a chance to inherit the Marquisate.

Seeing that Marquis Anguo had to ask for permission to go to the southwest to suppress the bandits in order to atone for his unfilial son's actions, and that he had to take Ruan He, the troublemaker, with him, Madam Dong knew that her husband would definitely be transferred back to the capital - how could two brothers in the same family lead troops outside?

"As long as those two die outside, there is nothing to be afraid of the remaining girl. Although the master and I don't have much affection, who can resist the wealth of the Marquis's Mansion? Not to mention, the two brothers are not completely unaware of what I have done in the mansion over the years. They just think that I am a woman who only stays in the inner house and cannot cause any big waves, so they don't care much..." Madam Dong II summoned her confidant to whisper to him. The confidant immediately obeyed the order and sneaked out of the Marquis's Mansion, but he didn't know that his actions had been seen by someone with ulterior motives.

Princess Lu Yanzhen, who had been keeping an eye on the Marquis of Anguo Mansion, soon got the news: "I have heard before that Madam Dong's family originally moved from the south, but I didn't expect that her family actually has connections there?"

The palace attendant who reported the news asked cautiously, "Your Highness, do you want to warn the Marquis of Anguo in advance?"

"Why should we warn him in advance?" The eldest princess curled her lips and smiled, "Tell our people to keep an eye on them. Later, you go and send a message to the lady at the Duke's Mansion, asking her to mobilize the old subordinates at the Duke of Ying's Mansion and have them secretly stop Madam Dong's tricks, so as not to let Marquis Anguo and the Crown Prince die."

First, she would hold the evidence of Madam Dong's guilt, and wait for the Marquis of Anguo and his son to return seriously injured. Then she would take the initiative to ask for permission to get married, pretend to be loyal and steadfast to that useless thing, win the trust of that family, and then take advantage of the situation to get pregnant with a child - it doesn't matter whose child it is, as long as she has it after marriage.

The eldest princess planned that as soon as she had a child, she would take the evidence of Madam Dong's crime against Marquis Anguo and bring down the second wife as well. She would then use her status as a widow and the last bloodline of the Marquis Anguo in her belly as bargaining chips to completely take over the Marquis Anguo Mansion.

She placed a dark piece on the chessboard, and Lu Yanzhen sighed: "Xianqiong still refuses to pay attention to me?"

"...I'm afraid the Second Princess is really furious."

Lu Yanzhen lowered his eyes, shook his head slowly and said: "Well, when people grow up, they should walk their own paths. I want to walk my path, and she... just live well."

After sighing a few times, Lu Yanzhen smiled again: "Is there anything new in the palace today?"

The palace maid breathed a sigh of relief and quickly replied, "When I came back, I saw that Shouning Palace had sent someone to Yongjia Marquis's mansion to deliver a reward!"

"Oh?" Lu Yanzhen asked curiously, "What reason did our queen use to reward us this time?"

"I heard that someone came from Concubine Zhao's maternal grandfather's family. He is a young man who has not even been crowned yet, but he has already become a juren!"

Lu Yan was really surprised: "So young?"

"Marquis Yongjia is smart and clever at a young age, and my fifth sister seems to be much more clever than ordinary children. Now, there is a scholar who is less than 20 years old... God really favors Empress Zhao, and even my father..." Lu Yanzhen thought of Xie Yuzhen's frequent and swaggering behavior in the past year or so, entering and leaving the Lizheng Hall.

I couldn't help but wonder if I could have done this if my mother were still alive.

After thinking it over, she came to no conclusion, so she could only continue to shake her head: "Forget it, we still cannot confront her head-on now, but I think my father is planning to make her the queen, and I don't know what kind of trouble will arise then."

As he said this, Lu Yanzhen couldn't help but stand up and look towards the direction of the Cining Palace. "I don't believe that my father and my grandmother can't see the ambition of Concubine Zhao. It's okay for my father, but what does my grandmother think?"

Empress Dowager Hu’s idea was simple.

She is old and has worked hard for this family all her life. It is time for her to enjoy her life. Her family is in such a bad state anyway, and there is no need for her to plan anything for those people. At her age, she just wants to lie down and rest.

It's just that his adopted son always likes to run to the Cining Palace these days, and his words are all about how capable he is. He is simply too outstanding. How can a mere concubine be worthy of the emperor's most beloved woman? He wants to make her the queen!

Empress Dowager Hu did not want to become a tool for the emperor to show off his "love", so she just casually said: "As the saying goes, how can you let others sleep peacefully beside your bed? I know that the emperor is not an ordinary person, but if you put a tiger beside your bed, you must be careful that the tiger will hurt you."

"I don't want to get involved in your affairs, but I'm a little worried that you might start fighting in bed and hurt others."

The emperor was very calm: "Don't worry, mother. I know my limits. Besides, not everyone has the courage to sleep on the same bed with a ferocious beast."

His attitude was very arrogant. Empress Dowager Hu was speechless and thought that she should not say such a word. She should go back and pack up the good things in the storehouse, pick out some interesting ones, and give them to her clever and cute granddaughter, who was a hundred times more lovable than her parents.