The Virtuous Concubine

The freedom of love promised to her by this system is almost non-existent. There are only eunuchs, maids and concubines in the palace, and she is not prepared to fall in love with any of these three types of people. It is not realistic to wait until she is old to have a second spring, because by then she will be so old that she will only have wealth, power and six children. Who dares to make Yongzheng the stepfather? The nine clans are tired of living, right?

But when Malu thought of this, she couldn't help but chuckle - the only worries left were wealth and power, and she really wanted them!

Seeing that Malu had cheered up, the system breathed a sigh of relief. In fact, it didn't want Malu to be trapped in such a life, but both she and it needed points as energy.

If Malu can ascend to the position of Queen Mother and does not forget the hardships she has suffered before, she may be able to prevent future girls from having to suffer this kind of hardships. Of course, this will also earn points for the system and Malu, because this is a great thing with immeasurable merits.

Malu didn't know any of this. He just continued chatting with the system about their first meeting today, then checked in for lunch, and then retreated back to his own small room to count the rewards he had received today.

This reward was quite strange, but Malu thought it might be Liang Jiugong and Wei Zhu's own decision. Not only was there 24 taels of silver on the plate, which was Malu's half-year salary, but also bracelets, earrings, hairpins, and collars that only concubines could wear!

Looking at these things, Malu frowned. It's not that these things are bad, on the contrary, these things are of medium and high quality that can be used by people of high status, especially the silver-plated gold-inlaid pink tourmaline flower pot hairpin, which is full of brilliance and can be worn by people of higher status without being disrespectful.

It's not that she was being hypocritical. Malu had been preparing for so many years just to become Kangxi's concubine. She just complained a few words at the last minute. The information was revealed to her by someone close to Kangxi, which showed that she had made good progress in her mission.

The only thing she was struggling with was whether she should just let Kangxi succeed so easily and sleep with him as Kangxi wished. The two of them hadn't even gotten to know each other yet, so they just got on the bus first and bought the ticket later?

It is better to find an opportunity to play hard to get for a while, so as to cultivate feelings. After all, people will not cherish what they get easily, which is a universal truth.

But playing hard to get is easy to go wrong, after all, this is the majestic Emperor Kangxi, not the unreliable Fourth Uncle in some TV series. Malu and the system discussed for a long time, and finally decided to take a two-pronged approach, trying to meet Kangxi more often, but being as reserved as possible when serving tea, and trying to reduce their presence as much as possible.

Make Kangxi feel like a hunter, but in fact he is the prey.

Thinking of this, Malu remembered that he had not used the props today, so he used the detector to record Kangxi's whereabouts.

After several months of investigation, she roughly knew when Kangxi would appear where, and what his mood would be like when he was there. If she used money to find out, it would be a serious crime of spying on the emperor, and she would not be able to find out.

Kangxi would get up around 5 a.m. every morning, eat and read, and then attend court sessions, sometimes until noon. After dinner, he would ask ministers to explain his statecraft to him, or review memorials himself.

Aunt Shuyu was the busiest at this time in the afternoon, because if there were ministers, the number of times and the number of people who needed to serve tea would increase. After Kangxi finished reviewing the memorials, he would have some entertainment, and the location of this entertainment was very wide.

He would go to Chunouzhai to listen to operas, Ruyi Pavilion to look at paintings, and occasionally visit the Imperial Garden. Sometimes, when there were not many memorials to be submitted, he would even go out of the palace. Outside the palace, he often went to Tong's house or the suburbs of Beijing.

At night, he would flip the cards or go to the Queen's palace. In recent years, Kangxi's favorite place to go was Ulanara, who later became Concubine Hui and the mother of the eldest son Yinzhen.

Malu looked at the places where these emperors often appeared, thinking about where it would be more appropriate to meet them by chance. First of all, she was a maid in the tea room of the Qianqing Palace, so she couldn't run around the palace. She had to have a suitable reason to appear and act.

Collecting dew or picking flowers is barely acceptable, and it is OK to use them to make tea or snacks. But first of all, the Imperial Kitchen does not have such things, while Chunouzhai, Ruyi Pavilion and the Imperial Garden do. And the use of them must be harmless, otherwise picking a precious variety would be like stealing the property of the palace, which would easily cause disputes.

The Imperial Garden is the worst choice, as there are too many people and it is easy to bump into the concubines. It is not impossible that after meeting Kangxi, the concubines will find a reason to beat him to death. It is better not to consider it unless it is a last resort.

After thinking about it, Malu decided to choose Chunouzhai as the place for their first encounter, because he needed some Xifu crabapple fruit to make snacks. The imperial kitchen definitely didn't have this.

Thinking of this, Malu began to prepare materials and plan the encounter scenario in full swing. Kangxi had just listened to the opera a few days ago, and he would definitely not go again in the near future, so he still had time.

Malu was very busy. In addition to learning how to make tea and snacks every day, she also had to think about what clothes she would wear and what makeup she would put on. She even found out what plays Chunouzhai would be performing in the next period of time and studied them up.

From the perspective of others, Malu quickly fell silent after she stood out in front of the emperor, and her glory was gone. However, no one dared to ridicule her, after all, she was now the emperor's appointed maid to serve tea.

Liang Jiugong did remember this girl who looked like a peony in bud, but the emperor had just appointed a large number of concubines and set up a system for the positions of concubines, so he was very busy and had no time to try her out. Although Liang Jiugong wanted to please the emperor and send Kangxi another person he liked, he could not help thinking, "This girl's luck has not arrived yet."

Moreover, he saw with a cold eye that the girl was not picky and aggressive, but rather avoided the emperor's tea service whenever possible, and she probably had no intention of doing so. Therefore, he never mentioned this matter to the emperor, thinking that the emperor's heart was unpredictable, as if Kangxi's heartbeat that day was so fleeting.

There was also a small episode that frightened Malu. On that day, after Malu and Aunt Shuyu finished serving tea, they were about to go back, and they met Concubine Tong who came to deliver soup to Kangxi in the Palace of Heavenly Purity!

Aunt Shu Yu led everyone to pay respect to Concubine Tong and were about to leave, but Concubine Tong noticed Malu who was lowering his head beside Shu Yu and stopped them.

At this time, Malu was already standing next to Aunt Shu Yu. After all, the emperor had appointed her to serve tea and snacks, so logically she should stand next to Shu Yu who was serving tea to the emperor.

Seeing Aunt Shuyu being called, Malu's already nervous heartbeat became even faster. She had found a way to avoid the fate of being a tool for Concubine Tong to bear children, but when she saw Concubine Tong again, she would still have uncontrollable emotions that affected her.

Concubine Tong asked Kangxi about his daily tea drinking habits, gave him some instructions, and then asked leisurely, "The lady next to you is really pretty. When did such a pleasing person appear before the emperor?"

Concubine Tong was actually quite surprised. First, most Manchu noble ladies were judged by their family background rather than their appearance, so the tacit agreement was not to choose a very pretty maid to be placed beside the emperor. Otherwise, if a maid looked more ostentatious than her master, wouldn't it be infuriating? This was not the style of Nianhulu or the late empress.

Secondly, this maid was not only beautiful, but also made her feel vaguely uneasy and out of control. That was why she rashly stopped the people in front of the emperor, wanting to carefully figure out what was going on.