Don't be a salted fish, the daily life of the concubine in the palace

Liu Ruyan turned her head, the cold wind blew up the black hair at her temples, her face was so beautiful that the white plum blossoms blooming behind her lost their color in front of her.

Shen Wei felt sad that she was not able to serve the King of Yan during her pregnancy. The King of Yan stayed at Liuli Pavilion half of the month, and in the remaining half of the month, in addition to going to the Prince's Mansion to discuss official business, he went to Liu Ruyan more often.

Liu Ruyan was aloof, but she was really beautiful. In the entire Prince Yan's mansion and even in Yanjing, Liu Ruyan was definitely the most beautiful woman. Before she married the Prince of Yan, she was the "most talented woman in Yanjing", with both beauty and talent.

Not to mention Prince Yan, even Shen Wei was moved when she saw it.

Winter is the season for Liu Ruyan, her beauty blooms in the snow.

Liu Ruyan replied to Li Yao in a cold tone, "After the heavy snow, the plum blossoms fell and withered, which was really pitiful. Pick up these petals, grind them into plum powder, and make them into incense, which can also extend their life."

Xuemei squatted on the ground silently picking up flower petals.

She hated winter the most. Every time Liu Ruyan had a weird idea, Xuemei, the maid, had to run around to help her.

Today she picks plum blossoms to make incense, tomorrow she prunes the plum trees, and the day after tomorrow she sweeps the snow off the plum trees. She is so busy that her hands are covered with frostbite, but her monthly salary has not increased yet.

Seeing that Liu Ruyan was wearing thin clothes, Shen Wei kindly reminded her, "It's freezing cold, Concubine Liu should wear more clothes. It's hard to recover from winter illness."

Liu Ruyan glanced at Shen Wei indifferently.

The snow was white, and Shen Wei was dressed in a plump manner. Due to her pregnancy, Shen Wei's face was also rounder, like a furry and rich cat in the snow.

Liu Ruyan didn't like Shen Wei's tacky outfit and said calmly, "I'm in good health, you don't have to worry."

Facing Liu Ruyan's distant tone, Shen Wei was not angry at all, but rather felt quite surprised. Oh, this Liu Ruyan's cold and unapproachable look is really pretty.

Shen Wei couldn't help but take a few more glances. Liu Ruyan's face was so white that you couldn't see her pores. Her nose was high and her eyes were beautiful.

Li Yao was afraid that the two concubines would have a conflict, so she quickly opened the food box and handed over a piece of steaming hot plum blossom pancake: "Concubine Liu, Yao'er and Concubine Shen made plum blossom pancakes, and I'll give you one to try!"

Looking at the small plum blossom pancake in front of her, Liu Ruyan's beautiful face was slightly angry.

She frowned and turned back to question Shen Wei in disgust: "As the old saying goes, when the world is quiet and the rain stops, it takes several lifetimes to grow plum blossoms. You actually made plum blossoms into cakes! It's so, so vulgar!"

The plum blossom is noble and aloof, and is the most beautiful flower in the world.

This Shen Wei actually made plum blossoms into tacky scones.

Shen Wei was scolded for no apparent reason and was speechless for a while.

You grinding plum blossoms into powder to make incense is no better than me making plum blossoms into scones!

"Xuemei, let's go!" Liu Ruyan felt very uncomfortable. She didn't want to see Shen Wei's round face again.

In Liu Ruyan's opinion, Shen Wei is only beautiful but not knowledgeable.

Xuemei raised her head from the snow, carrying a basket full of plum petals, and followed Liu Ruyan with difficulty.

Xuemei squatted in the snow to pick plum blossoms for too long, and her legs were frozen and numb. She almost fell after taking two steps, but Cailian helped her up.

Cailian and Xuemei were once colleagues and had some friendship. Cailian looked at her increasingly thin face and the chilblains on her fingers and could not help but say, "Xuemei, you have worked hard."

Cailian secretly put her frostbite cream into Xuemei's hand. In the cold winter, Shen Wei sympathized with the servants working in Liuli Pavilion and specially rewarded them with frostbite cream and a lot of warm cloth.

It can be said that in the entire Prince Yan's Mansion, the servants working in the Glazed Pavilion have the best and most comfortable winter.

Xuemei's smile was uglier than crying. She quietly put away the frostbite cream and said, "I'm not tired."

Woohoo, she is not suffering, she has a hard life.

...

After leaving the palace garden, Shen Wei and Li Yao continued to visit Zhang Miaoyu.

As I was walking, I saw two servants in the distance carrying a mat wrapped in layers, walking quickly towards the backyard.

The ground was slippery in winter, and the servant accidentally fell. The mat rolled down twice, revealing the skinny body of a woman inside. The body was thinly dressed, skinny, and the skin exposed was blue.

With eyes wide open, he died with his eyes open.

Li Yao screamed in fright, and Shen Wei quickly raised her cloak and protected Li Yao in her arms.

"Master, please forgive me. I will carry the body away right away!" The two servants hurriedly got up, rolled the concubine's body into a straw mat, and carried it out through the back door.

Li Yao trembled, tears filling her eyes: "Aunt, I'm scared..."

Shen Wei comforted her: "Don't be afraid, let's go to Huaxiangyuan and sit for a while."

Shen Wei held Li Yao's hand, glanced at the rolled straw mat, and sighed in her heart. This winter was particularly cold, but Shen Wei had no worries about food and clothing, as she had a warm room and warm clothes.

The concubines of low status in the palace had a hard life. Their charcoal and monthly salary were withheld, and they had to weave and embroider in the freezing cold to earn money to survive the winter.

Several unfavored concubines would freeze to death every year.

Concubines like Liu Ruyan can still live well and have distinct personalities without the favor of Prince Yan, because they have good family backgrounds and confidence.

But those concubines without any family background were helpless and trapped in a square courtyard all their lives, relying on charity from others to survive. When they died, a roll of straw mat was thrown away, and no one knew where they were buried.

Li Yao asked innocently, "Aunt, the aunts living in the southwest courtyard also have charcoal fires in winter. Why don't they use the charcoal fires? Have they used up all the charcoal fires?"

Shen Wei had no way of explaining the cruelty of the palace's backyard to an eight-year-old girl, so she could only gloss over it casually.

Seeing that Shen Wei avoided the question, Li Yao secretly made up her mind to go find the princess tonight and ask her mother to send more charcoal to those concubines so that they would not freeze to death.

...

It was dark and snow was falling heavily. A layer of white snow soon accumulated in the yard.

The room was warm and cozy. The Prince of Yan was staying in the Glazed Pavilion tonight. The two of them had not fallen asleep yet, and they were chatting on the soft couch in the warm pavilion. There was a plate of plum blossom baked cakes on the table. The Prince of Yan ate several pieces when he first entered the room. He liked the taste of the baked cakes very much.

King Yan's big hand covered Shen Wei's pregnant belly, feeling the activity of the baby in her belly. King Yan smiled and said, "This child is kicking me again. He has the same personality as me. He will definitely be a naughty child in the future."

During Shen Wei's pregnancy, she had been working tirelessly to make the presence of her unborn child felt in front of King Yan in order to inspire his fatherly love.

Prince Yan watched Shen Wei's belly grow bigger day by day, and felt the baby's fetal movement for the first time. He was surprised and moved. It seemed that the child had already had a spiritual bond with him before he was even born.

King Yan couldn't wait for the birth of the child and wanted to hold this lovely child in his arms.

The King of Yan was feeling the baby's movements when he heard Cailian's footsteps outside the house. Cailian hurried into the warm room and told the King of Yan through the gauze curtain:

"Your Highness, Xuemei from Qixue Pavilion is here. She said Concubine Liu suddenly had a high fever and fainted. Xuemei asked Your Highness to come over."