Children of Loulan

Concubine Ru sat gracefully on the chair, her slender fingers gently stroking the exquisite beads on her bracelet, but her eyes were always fixed on Eunuch Aji in front of her, with a smile on the corner of her mouth.

Ah Ji leaned forward and said carefully, "Your Majesty, this girl is a commoner's daughter, and this time she was only given the title of concubine."

Concubine Ru raised her eyebrows slightly, with a barely perceptible surprise in her tone: "Oh? Such a lowly identity... I am a little surprised. However, Eunuch Aji, your vision in selecting people is becoming more and more unique now."

Ah Ji lowered his head quickly and continued, "Although this girl is of ordinary origin, from her words and actions, I know that she is definitely not an ordinary person. She is a very ambitious person."

Concubine Ru snorted lightly, expressing her agreement: "Well, a woman without background and power who wants to gain a foothold in this deep palace does need some means and scheming. If she is smart and knows how to rely on me, she can be used."

Ah Ji smiled flatteringly and replied, "That's right! If you show me some more favors, I will definitely be loyal to you and obey your orders in the future."

A shrewd look flashed across Concubine Ru's eyes: "That being said, I am not someone who trusts others easily. Even if I want to recruit her, I have to test her before I can know if she is really capable."

Ah Ji nodded repeatedly and said: "Your Majesty is wise! If this woman is incompetent, wouldn't it be a waste of your painstaking efforts?"

Concubine Ru nodded with satisfaction and called her maid, Yadi, who carefully took out an exquisite purse from her sleeve and gently handed it to Aji. Aji happily took the heavy purse, and the smile on his face was as bright as a blooming spring flower, almost covering his teeth.

He knelt down and kowtowed with tears of gratitude: "I thank Her Majesty Rufei for her generous reward! I will not bother Her Majesty anymore." Aji said humbly.

Concubine Ru nodded slightly to show her agreement: "Well, go ahead!"

Aji bowed quickly and slowly left the room. After he left, Artie walked up to him and asked softly:

"My lady, the person that Ah Ji is talking about must be the one who gave him money. Is such a person trustworthy?"

Concubine Ru smiled faintly and said thoughtfully: "A woman from an ordinary family, who has never experienced the open and secret struggles between the aristocratic families, knows that the first thing to do after entering the palace is to bribe the eunuchs. Not only that, she can also accurately find the chief steward of the Lisi Bureau as her target. How do you think she compares to other concubines?"

After hearing this, Artie was startled at first, then she suddenly realized something and responded with a smile: "After all, I am still a little dull, far from being as smart as your majesty."

Concubine Ru sighed and said, "That's true. You have followed me into the palace for many years, but you still haven't learned this. Well, I'm a little tired, so let's take a rest for a while." After that, she lay down on the couch, closed her eyes and rested.

Hanguli was led by a maid to Yunhe Hall. After entering the hall, she saw several maids cleaning the courtyard. Dar stepped forward and bowed, asking, "Welcome, sisters. We are the newly-ennobled Liliang people and will live here from now on. We have come here to pay our respects to Madam Zhao."

One of the maids, who was about fifteen or sixteen years old, responded with a greeting, "It's Li Liang, Madam Zhao is not in the palace at the moment. Before she left, she said that several masters would move in here today and asked us to entertain them well. If you want to see us, please take a rest for a day. After all, you are tired from traveling all the way. It won't be too late to see us tomorrow."

Dar heard this and said, "That's great. Could you please take us to our residence? We are new here and are not familiar with the rules of the palace. We are afraid we may accidentally enter a forbidden area."

The young palace maid smiled and nodded, saying, "Of course. Please follow me, Miss Li." Then she led the group towards the inner court.

Along the way, the little palace maid walked and enthusiastically pointed at the palaces along the way and introduced them one by one: "This side is the main hall, where Madam Zhao usually receives distinguished guests; that side is the side hall, which is used for the masters' daily living..." Her voice was clear and pleasant, and her attitude was humble and polite, which made Hanguli and others, who were originally a little nervous, gradually relax.

"This is Madam Zhao's main hall. In the past, Madam Zhao was the only one living here, but now our palace has four more masters. In this way, Madam Zhao will have a companion in the future." As she spoke, a faint smile appeared on her face.

After hearing this, Dahl spoke again: "It sounds like this Madam Zhao is very easy-going!"

The young maid nodded repeatedly and said, "Who said it wasn't true? Madam Zhao has always been very kind and friendly to us servants. Even if we make mistakes occasionally, she only scolds us and rarely punishes us."

Dar couldn't help but ask curiously, "Then Madam Zhao, isn't she worried that being too lenient and kind might lead to evil slaves bullying their masters? After all, I have witnessed similar situations before. Some masters were too kind and were almost murdered by vicious slaves!"

The young maid quickly comforted her, "Miss, you are worrying too much! Everyone in our palace is grateful to Madam Zhao. Who would be willing to serve those masters who are hot-tempered and beat and scold servants at will when they can live a stable and comfortable life here? If there are really people who are not satisfied with such good treatment and have evil thoughts and want to harm the kind master, then they are truly guilty of a thousand deaths!"

Dahl frowned slightly and said with emotion: "It's hard to predict what's going on in the world! What's more, people's hearts are hard to predict. Who can say for sure?"

The young palace maid beside her responded nonchalantly: "That doesn't matter. Our Madam Zhao and Concubine Xian have always had a close relationship. If anything really happens, Concubine Xian will definitely help."

However, the speaker may not mean it, but the listener may take it seriously. The maid's casual words stunned Hanguli as if she was struck by lightning. She turned to look at Dal, with a hint of doubt and uneasiness in her eyes. Dal immediately caught the change in Hanguli's expression and instantly understood what she was thinking.

So, Dahl walked up to her and chatted with her as if nothing had happened. He pointed to a palace in the distance and asked curiously, "Sister, who lives in that palace?"

The young palace maid looked in the direction of her finger and replied, "Oh, that, I'm not sure at the moment. Anyway, it's where the concubines who came into the palace with you today live. Our Yunhe Palace is quite large, with a main hall and four side halls. I heard from others that it seems that the four side halls have been arranged for the masters to move in today."

Upon hearing this, Dal couldn't help but show a look of surprise, and said with a smile: "Wow, our Yunhe Temple will be lively in the future!" There was some anticipation in her words, but deep in her heart she was secretly thinking about the complicated situation that might be faced next.

The little palace maid nodded slightly, expressing her agreement: "That's true! From now on, if you are free, you can go with Madam Zhao to accompany Concubine Xian. Since the second prince moved out of the palace and set up his own residence, Concubine Xian has often been in a bad mood."

Dar nodded thoughtfully and said, "In that case, Concubine Xian loves our Madam Zhao very much."

The little palace maid smiled softly and responded, "Yes, in this palace, the person closest to Madam Zhao is the Concubine Xian."

Dar's eyes wandered, and he asked curiously, "I wonder how long you have been serving Madam Zhao?"

The young palace maid thought for a moment and replied, "I have been in Yunhe Palace for more than half a year..." The two of them chatted as they walked, and before they knew it, they arrived at the West Wing Hall.

The little maid stopped, turned to face Dar, and said with a smile: "Mrs. Liliang, we have arrived. You will live here from now on."

Dahl stepped forward and held the maid's hand again. At the same time, he took out a few pieces of silver from his sleeve and carefully put them into the maid's hand. The maid noticed something strange in her palm and looked down. It was silver. She looked at Dahl in astonishment. But Dahl just smiled gently and held the maid's hand tightly, as if telling her not to be surprised.

"Sister, you have served in Yunhe Palace for a full six months. I believe you should be quite familiar with Madam Zhao's personality and behavior, right? However, I think it is best not to let Madam Zhao know what you said to Li Liang today. After all, she is the high and mighty master! And we are just lowly servants. If Madam Zhao finds out that we dare to discuss so many things behind her back, I am afraid she will be suspicious and mistakenly think that we are not satisfied with her so we dare not say it to her face, but gossip about her behind her back..."

After listening to this, the little palace maid pondered for a moment, then nodded and responded:

"Okay, I understand. Thank you very much for your kind reminder, young lady. I will never mention this to anyone again. But about the silver..."

Seeing that the maid seemed to be planning to return the silver, Dar hurriedly spoke first:

"This is just a token of gratitude from Li Liangren. Just consider it as a way of thanking you for leading the way just now."

Hearing this, the little maid stopped refusing and bowed respectfully: "In this case, I would like to thank Lady Li first."

Dahl smiled and waved his hand: "Sister, you are too polite."

The little palace maid then said, "In that case, you ladies should continue to take care of your own affairs. I have something else to do, so I will go ahead."

Dahl took two steps forward and said politely, "Well, take care, sister. I won't see you off for long."

After seeing off the little maid, Dal walked quietly into the room and his eyes fell on two maids who were packing luggage - these two people were sent by the queen.

Dahl whispered, "You two go to the small kitchen and see if there is any food available. Lady Liliang is a little hungry." The two maids followed his orders and quietly left the room. After the two left, Dahl sent the young eunuch away and told Bayer to guard the door to prevent anyone from eavesdropping.

Dar lowered his voice and said to Hanguli: "My dear, we... seem to have entered the nest of the virtuous concubine." It turned out that Hanguli had heard everything that Dar had just said to the young maid. Fearing that the three newcomers who were assigned by the queen might do something bad, Hanguli specifically ordered them to follow from a distance. At this time, Hanguli's face was solemn, and she responded with a wry smile:

"Who said it wasn't true? I never expected that my luck would be so bad. Whatever I feared, it would come true."

Dar came up with a plan and suggested, "How about we just go and seek refuge with the Queen?"

Hanguli shook her head and retorted: "We are in the sphere of influence of Concubine Xian. If we go to the Queen at this time, wouldn't we be walking into a trap?"

Dal frowned and said, "If there is no other way, then we may have no choice but to follow Concubine Xian..." Her voice was full of helplessness and worry.

Hanguli shook her head slightly and replied calmly: "I'm afraid she won't accept us." This was not out of a negative or pessimistic mentality, but based on a clear understanding of the reality.

Recalling Xilin's indifferent attitude towards Gu Lixian and her condescending attitude towards herself, Hanguli knew that Concubine Xian didn't take small people like them seriously at all. Not to mention the two thrilling crises encountered on the way, all of which made Hanguli deeply aware that there was an unbridgeable gap between herself and Concubine Xian.

However, despite this, Hanguli did not feel desperate. On the contrary, she faced the difficulties with a more resolute determination. She knew that the road of life is always full of twists and turns and challenges, but as long as she maintains her inner tenacity and courage, she will always find her own way out.