Crossing the Palace Fighting Fox Harem

I still remember Yun Zhen saying that there are four types of crowns for concubines. From top to bottom, they are the Queen Mother's Double Phoenix Crown, the Queen's Phoenix Crown, the Imperial Concubine's Imperial Concubine Crown, and the Imperial Concubine's Imperial Concubine Crown. Concubines have no titles or crowns, and no palaces of their own. But once they are crowned as Imperial Concubines, they can not only get their own palaces, but also have crowns and titles that symbolize their status.

For Ji Anni, this was like a big pie falling from the sky. She thought she was dreaming, and secretly pinched her thigh, gnashing her teeth in pain. It wasn't a dream, was she really named an imperial concubine?

If any other concubine heard the news, they would definitely be ecstatic, but at this moment, Ji Anni did not feel a trace of excitement or happiness. In addition to surprise, she felt an inexplicable uneasiness.

Being a concubine was already enough to attract attention, and now I've been named an imperial concubine so quickly. I wonder how jealous I'll be.

What's more, the Queen Mother and Concubine An deliberately set a plan yesterday so that she could not present her name tag to the Emperor in time. Who knew that regardless of whether she had a name tag or not, the Emperor still insisted on conferring the title of Imperial Concubine on her. I don't know if the Queen Mother knew about this. If she knew, wouldn't she be furious?

Whenever Ji Anni thought of the Queen Mother's angry face, she felt suffocated.

After spending the night with the emperor, she felt a little sympathy for the emperor who had no real power and was controlled by others. If the imperial decree to confer the title of consort was not approved by the empress dowager, the emperor would probably be condemned in the future.

"Your Majesty, please accept the imperial edict." The old eunuch felt a little strange when he saw Ji Anni was in a daze.

Ji Anni said "Oh" and subconsciously raised her hands. The old eunuch respectfully placed the imperial edict in her hands, and then said, "Your Majesty, I am going to crown you now. Would you like to comb your hair?"

Ji Anni then remembered that she had just gotten up, not only was her clothes not properly dressed, but her hair was also messy. She glanced at the glittering jeweled crown on the tray in the young eunuch's hand, and felt a sore neck before she put it on. So she waved her hand to the old eunuch and said, "Forget about putting on the crown. I'll let Die'er help me put it on after I've washed and combed my hair."

As soon as she said this, Ji Anni remembered that Die'er had been transferred to work elsewhere by the Queen Mother a few days ago. From now on, the palace maid serving her would be Hua Rong, who used to be by Princess Tianning's side, and no longer the weak Die'er.

"Your Highness," the old eunuch said with a smile, "Your Highness's things, we have already moved to the right courtyard. When you have finished washing up, I will lead you directly to the right courtyard, okay?"

"So urgent?" Ji Anni felt a headache when she thought about moving. She was reluctant to leave Yizhen. "I want to go back and say goodbye to my friends."

"Your Majesty, there are still many things to do in the Right Courtyard. Why don't you go there first to sort things out and then go back to Concubine's Palace to say goodbye?" the old eunuch suggested.

Ji Anni didn't think much about it and nodded in agreement.

***

After washing and dressing, putting on the newly bestowed crown of a concubine, and having breakfast, Ji Anni was led by the old eunuch to the right courtyard.

The old eunuch's surname was "Hua", and everyone in the palace called him "Eunuch Hua". Eunuch Hua was very thoughtful and had a lot of experience in serving his master. He could think of every little detail. Ji Anni should not have felt uncomfortable with him. But strangely, Ji Anni always felt a little awkward. Maybe she had met too many arrogant ladies like Princess Tianning and Shui Furong who always spoke with thorns these days. Now she suddenly met a humble and cowardly person like Eunuch Hua, and she was a little uncomfortable.

Mr. Hua always called her "Niangniang" and he would always keep his head down when speaking, not daring to look her in the eye.

This respectful attitude made Ji Anni feel her status as a second-rank imperial concubine. It should be a good thing to be respected, but Ji Anni just couldn't get used to it. Compared with the thoughtful and careful Eunuch Hua, Ji Anni liked the little guard named Lai De better. Because when she was with Lai De, Ji Anni said whatever she wanted to say, not at all restrained, but when she was with Eunuch Hua, he was too polite to her, which made her polite and humble.

The entire harem complex is surrounded in layers, with the emperor, empress and queen dowager's bedrooms at the center, the four palaces of the imperial concubine outside, the eight courtyards of the imperial concubine outside, and all the other scattered ancillary buildings outside, such as the concubine's palace, the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the imperial workshop, the imperial workshop, the imperial kitchen and so on.

According to the principle of north at the top, south at the bottom, west on the left and east on the right, the right courtyard was built in the east, close to the east palace of Concubine An.

On the way to the right courtyard, Ji Anni happened to pass by the East Palace of Concubine An. She couldn't help but sigh and complained in a low voice: "This emperor, doesn't he know that Concubine An and I are not on good terms? He actually let me live so close to Concubine An..."

Eunuch Hua, who was leading the way, could vaguely hear Ji Anni talking to herself, but he couldn't hear it clearly. He just heard the key words "Noble Concubine An" and "near". He thought Ji Anni was happy to live near the East Palace, so he said, "Your Majesty, the Emperor probably thinks that as long as you live in the right courtyard, close to the East Palace, you can visit Prince Ming often in the future."

After hearing this, Ji Anni suddenly realized that the emperor had this intention in granting her the title of Living in the Right Courtyard.

Alas... Why do all of them remember that she has a Prince Ming, but only Ji Anni always forgets the existence of her own son... Looking up at the eaves of the East Palace behind her, Ji Anni sighed in her heart: "Why can't Prince Ming be fostered in the Baogui Concubine? In this way, I can visit Baogui Concubine often."

"Your Majesty, we're here." Eunuch Hua stopped.

When Ji Anni heard this, she looked up and the first thing she saw was a double-opening red painted wooden door with two stone lions standing outside the door, which looked quite impressive. There was water sprinkled on the ground, and the pillars beside the door were also freshly wiped, which seemed to indicate that the place had just been cleaned.

"Your Majesty, please come this way." Eunuch Hua bowed and led Ji Annie up the stairs.

Pushing open the red door, a small garden full of flowers appeared in front of us. There was also a small pond in the center of the garden, with a two or three meter long stone bridge over it. Carps swam around in the pond, and the moss and algae set off the spring scenery, which was very beautiful.

Ji Anni couldn't help but take a deep breath and exclaimed "Wow". Although this place is not as luxurious as the Imperial Concubine's Palace, for Ji Anni, a city kid who has lived in a building since childhood, having her own big yard is more exciting than dreaming.

There were about a dozen young palace maids cleaning the corridor in the right hall. When they saw Ji Anni and Eunuch Hua, they hurriedly greeted them.

Ji Anni also showed them the kindest smile. She walked along the front porch with her hands behind her back, admiring her new home. After taking two steps, she suddenly stopped and saw a familiar figure.

The good mood suddenly fell to the bottom. The excited smile on Ji Anni's face disappeared instantly, replaced by a surprised and unfriendly expression, and she stood there blankly.

Because the familiar figure she saw was none other than her good neighbor from now on - Concubine An.

Concubine An seemed to be directing the maids and eunuchs to clean up the dust. When she saw Ji Anni coming, she came forward and said, "My dear sister, I finally saw you. These maids are so slow. They haven't finished cleaning for an hour. Why don't you go to my sister's East Palace to rest for a while? You can also meet Prince Ming."

Concubine An's kindness and enthusiasm made Ji Anni feel at a loss. She wondered when did she become Concubine An's "sister"?