The Virtuous Concubine

Today, the news spread all over the palace. The emperor officially issued an order, ordering Grand Secretary Suo Etu Rong to be the chief envoy, Grand Secretary Li Xunzun to be the deputy envoy, and to enthrone Niuhulu as the empress. This news spread quickly to every corner of the Forbidden City like a spring breeze.

Before the official enthronement, Kangxi sent officials to the rear hall of the Imperial Ancestral Temple to offer sacrifices to heaven, earth and ancestors.

The concubines in the harem were not eligible to participate in most of the processes. Only when Empress Niuhulu received the imperial seal in the palace, they had to accompany her all the time and witness with their own eyes the process of Empress Niuhulu receiving the imperial seal and becoming the empress.

But this was not an easy matter, because they had to get up at five in the morning and go to Kunning Palace where the queen lived, and then accompany Queen Niuhulu until the ceremony was over. Malu, a pregnant woman, knew the process early and went to sleep in the afternoon, and then bought a few pregnancy-preserving pills at the urging of the system just in case.

Concubine Tong couldn't sleep at all. Tomorrow she would have to kneel down and ask Nianhulu to say that the queen was auspicious. She was anxious and her feelings towards Kangxi became complicated. Nianhulu completely attracted her hatred and resentment.

Since the day Liuying admonished her, she often went to Liuying to talk in private, and that night Liuying stayed with her until dawn.

"Your Majesty, these are only temporary." Liuying gently consoled, "In the harem, the situation is ever-changing. Only by keeping calm can you remain invincible."

Imperial Concubine Tong sighed. She knew her maid had a point, but she couldn't calm down: "Liu Ying, have you never loved before? I have been with the emperor since I was a child, but now I am asked to bow to someone else. How can I swallow this?"

Liuying almost lost her composure after hearing this - what do you mean by "have I never loved before?" She handed Concubine Tong a glass of honey water, trying to calm her down: "Your Majesty, I understand your feelings. But even if you are pretending, you have to pretend to be tolerant and generous. Harmony in the harem is also a big deal for the emperor. If you handle this matter well, the emperor will look at you with new eyes."

Concubine Tong nodded and closed her eyes to take a nap.

She knew that Liuying's words contained both sincere concern and considerations of interests. She decided that no matter what, she would attend tomorrow's ceremony with the most elegant attitude and not let anyone look down on her.

As the sky gradually brightened, Concubine Tong, accompanied by Firefly, began to prepare for the canonization ceremony. She would wear the most gorgeous clothes and the most appropriate makeup to appear in front of everyone, showing her demeanor as a concubine.

She knew that this was a war without the smoke of gunpowder, and she had already lost, so at least she had to lose with dignity.

On the day of the enthronement, Kangxi personally went to Fengxian Hall to pray to his ancestors for a smooth enthronement ceremony and for the new queen to bring new prospects to the royal family.

On the day of the enthronement ceremony, the Hall of Supreme Harmony was solemn and dignified. The ceremony table was set up in the center of the hall. The imperial seal symbolizing the status of the empress was placed in the center. The imperial seals for the noble concubines and imperial concubines were placed slightly behind them on the left and right sides, with clear levels of distinction.

After Kangxi finished praying in Fengxian Hall, he would move to Taihe Hall to inspect the empress's imperial seal. The princes and officials would wear court robes and stand by according to strict court order. The scene was quite spectacular.

The chief and deputy envoys held the imperial seal and performed the enthronement ceremony at Jingyun Gate, while the eunuchs respectfully took the imperial seal and delivered it into the palace.

The newly crowned empress would receive the imperial seal and perform the ritual ceremony in Kunning Palace. Afterwards, Kangxi would lead the princes and ministers to perform the ritual ceremony to the Grand Empress Dowager and the Empress Dowager in turn.

All the concubines in the harem also made up according to their ranks, put on the auspicious clothes corresponding to their positions, and arrived outside the Kunning Palace before the appointed time.

The splendor and bright lights of Kunning Palace hurt many people's eyes.

Nanny Chen was busy helping Empress Niuhulu put on her court dress. The queen's court dress required the cooperation of eight palace maids to put on all of them, so only Yueli, the palace maid who was usually more popular with Empress Niuhulu, was there to arrange and entertain the concubines.

The concubines were not allowed to sit either, but had to stand in two rows in the main hall of Kunning Palace according to the rules of rank.

In the Qing Dynasty, the left was the most respected, so Concubine Tong was naturally in the left column, and the position behind was broken, so Concubine Xi Hesheli led the right column. Ma Lu, as a favored bannerman, was assigned to the right, and in front of her was Concubine Jing Zhangjia, the least favored concubine.

Malu naturally stood still without looking sideways, and did not dare to ask for any privileges at this time because she was pregnant. But when she knew that the person in front of her was Jingpin Zhangjia, her heart moved.

Is there any relationship between this Zhang Jiashi and Zhang Jia Jingyi? In the previous life, Jingyi became a concubine. Was it related to her? She quickly asked the system: "Can I see the details of this Jingpin?"

The system is busy using the probe to scan the status of Malu and the concubines. It is unknown when this group will gather together next time! If the tasker does not take this opportunity to check the favorability, he will have to do it himself.

After hearing this, the system replied to her: "What details do you mean?"

Malu: "How many people are there in the family, how many cows are there in the land, what kind of personality he has, what he has experienced, etc."

The system shook its head: "That's too difficult. I don't have the information authority for this small world. You can only rely on yourself."

The system reminded her: "You are not very popular in this palace!"

Malu looked at them and her eyes widened, clearly unable to understand. "I have been doing good deeds all my life and have hardly had any contact with them. Why do they hate me so much?"

The system showed her the favorability of the concubines. The data on the screen was almost all red, which was frightening. Most people's favorability was only between 20 and 30, which was the level that if you saw Malu fall into the water, you would throw a brick at her.

The person who had the best impression of her was Concubine Nianhulu, who was about to become the queen, in the back hall of Kunning Palace. It was 45 o'clock.

What surprised Malu the most was that the last time everyone came to visit her, the silent noble lady Guo Luoluo had a favorability rating of 40 towards her, ranking second in friendliness, and Concubine Hui, who cared about her so much that she specially asked for a seat for her.

Huipin's favorability towards her is 0.

Moreover, the system gloated and reminded: "0 is the limit of the detector, not necessarily the limit of Huibin."

Malu was about to burst into a curse, so it could be even lower, right? But she also remembered that she couldn't do anything in this situation, so she could only look up at Huipin in front of her left.

Huipin seemed to sense something and looked back in the direction of Malu. She saw Malu looking at her and their eyes met.

Huipin did not show any embarrassment or unnaturalness at being peeped at. Instead, she smiled gently at Malu.

Malu was not to be outdone and responded with a friendly smile that was full of trust and was 100% genuine.

But this smile inevitably caused great harm to Malu. She gritted her teeth and said to the system: "She actually smiled at me?"

The system's voice sounded in Malu's mind, with a hint of teasing: "It seems that Concubine Hui has a good impression of you. Why don't you scan it again to see if it's wrong?"

Malu was very dissatisfied with the system that was taking advantage of his misfortune: "Get out of here, get out of here! You're going to break my defense and make a fool of yourself at the ceremony. I'll show you how I'll deal with you!"

The system laughed. Aren’t you broken in defense now?

At this time, Empress Niuhulu appeared.