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

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At dawn the next day, Princess Donglin dressed up and took the royal carriage to Yanjing City.

At the city gate, officials from the Ministry of Rites of Qing were waiting to welcome them. Princess Donglin's carriage team entered Yanjing along the royal official road. Princess Donglin secretly lifted the curtain of the carriage and saw the armored guards on both sides of the road.

The soldiers guarding the city held their heads high, holding red-tasseled spears in their hands and with sharp eyes.

Tall and majestic city walls, prosperous streets in the distance, and houses lined up one after another.

Princess Donglin sighed in her heart, Daqing is indeed a powerful country. Donglin can hardly compare with it.

Princess Donglin was looking around curiously when she suddenly noticed a burning gaze. She looked at the officials from the Ministry of Rites who were accompanying her. Among the crowd, a young official in red official uniform stood out.

The man was very handsome and bookish. He was looking at Princess Donglin in astonishment, as if he was seeing an old friend.

Princess Donglin vaguely sensed that something was wrong, so she deliberately smiled at the young official.

Princess Donglin is meticulous and always maintains a naive and lively image to the outside world. Everyone thinks she is a simple-minded little princess.

Her bright smile surprised the young official even more.

Princess Donglin lowered the scarlet carriage curtain and asked the maid beside her, "Who is that twenty-something official from the Ministry of Rites on the left?"

The maid flipped through the book and said, "Princess, this is Yan Yunting, the Right Vice Minister of the Ministry of Rites. He is a young talent from a prominent family and is said to be highly regarded by Emperor Qing."

Princess Donglin was thoughtful and kept the man's name in her mind.

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The next day, Shen Wei sent people to prepare a place for Princess Donglin to stay. Regardless of whether Li Yuanjing accepted Princess Donglin or not, according to the rules and regulations of the Ministry of Rites, Princess Donglin had to stay in the palace for a few days.

If she was conferred the title of concubine, she would be canonized in the palace.

If she was given to a relative or a minister, she would be married in the palace.

While Shen Wei was arranging the reception arrangements for Princess Donglin, she also summoned Zhang Miaoyu, intending to organize some entertainment activities for the concubines in the harem.

Zhang Miaoyu sat beside the Luohan bed and flipped through the arrangement plan written by Shen Wei: "Playing cards and mahjong, embroidering in the window, sitting by the fire and reading ancient books, listening to music and riding horses... Oh, this palace is so lively."

Shen Wei nodded: "Once you enter the palace, it's like entering a deep sea. It's hard to leave for the rest of your life. Concubines are trapped in a small square courtyard all day long. If this goes on for a long time, they will be depressed and unhappy. It's really pitiful."

The concubines in the Qing Kingdom's harem were lifeless.

Many beautiful girls entered the palace with the goal of winning the emperor's heart, but were hit hard by reality. Most of them became depressed, unwilling to socialize, and rotted alone in their bedrooms.

People cannot live without social interaction.

Being lonely for a long time can easily lead to depression, and the slightest stimulation can easily cause psychological distortion and abnormality.

The psychologically twisted concubines were like the mentally ill patients in a lunatic asylum. They either died of depression or committed murder and arson. They were pitiful and dangerous.

Shen Wei is in charge of the harem. She recently revised the palace rules to allow the families of more than a dozen concubines in the harem to enter the palace twice a year to relieve their depression. In addition, Shen Wei also organized some decompression entertainment games for the concubines to participate in.

Let the concubines drink tea, play cards, and play with the children together when they have nothing to do, adding some fun to the boring life.

Zhang Miaoyu held her chin up, still quite worried: "It's a good idea, but they may not appreciate it. Those concubines are all ungrateful, they just want you to fall out of favor as soon as possible so that they can take your place."

Shen Wei sighed: "It's enough to do what one can do."

In fact, the best way to relieve depression is to let Li Yuanjing accompany those concubines. The emperor goes to that palace to sleep today, and goes to this palace to lie down tomorrow, trying to make sure that everyone gets the same treatment.

But unfortunately, Li Yuanjing was a king with real power. The noble families that hindered him fell one after another, so he did not need to rely on concubines to stabilize the court situation. Li Yuanjing was not the kind of tyrant who was greedy for women. Now his heart and eyes were full of Shen Wei. He stayed in Shen Wei's palace most of the time, and occasionally stayed at other concubines' places.

In Li Yuanjing's heart, Shen Wei is both a delicious feast and a tasty cabbage porridge. She tastes good no matter how you eat her. She has all the best qualities of women in the world.

Li Yuanjing’s food is never tiring and is always delicious.

Li Yuanjing often came to Yongning Palace to rest. He didn't mind the trouble, but Shen Wei was annoyed. Some time ago, Shen Wei tried to persuade him to go to other palaces to spend more time with the concubines.

Li Yuanjing's face turned black on the spot.

Shen Wei was so exhausted.

Over the years, she has played the role so well that she has firmly established herself in Li Yuanjing's heart. If Shen Wei insists on persuading him to treat everyone equally, the affectionate persona she has cultivated for several years may collapse, and Li Yuanjing may doubt her sincerity.

Shen Wei did not dare to persuade her anymore. She silently counted the days on her fingers. The child still had more than ten years to grow up, so she had to endure it for the time being.

Kick him out again after retirement.

"Weiwei, you are such a special person." Zhang Miaoyu held her chin with her hand, a little regretful, "It's a pity that the emperor is unwilling to depose the queen, otherwise you would definitely become a virtuous queen who will go down in history."

Shen Wei smiled and said, "The imperial concubine is very good, but if it is too full, it will overflow."

If Shen Wei became the queen, as the mother of a country, she must be dignified, virtuous, and set an example to persuade the emperor to treat everyone equally, instead of being trapped in rigid rules for the rest of her life.

As a concubine, she did not need to follow rigid rules. If she occasionally did one or two acts of kindness, she would be praised by everyone.

People's requirements for a concubine are much lower than those for a queen.

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Near noon, the Princess of Donglin Kingdom arrived at the palace in her luxurious carriage and drove into the majestic and solemn palace walls.

A princess from a small foreign country was not qualified to be received by the emperor. Therefore, the rules for receiving her were in charge of Shen Wei, who was in charge of the harem.

Shen Wei, along with high-ranking palace ladies and officials from the Ministry of Rites, were waiting at the Dongwu Gate.

In late autumn, the leaves of the ancient trees outside the palace gate turned yellow and fell, revealing bare branches.

Zhang Miaoyu stood behind Shen Wei, stretched her neck to look around, and muttered: "I hope this Princess Donglin has self-awareness, behaves herself, and doesn't cause trouble."

Princesses from powerful countries are respected wherever they go. Princesses from small countries may sound noble, but in reality they are not as good as the daughter of a fourth-rank official from the Daqing Kingdom.

The armored imperial guards led the way, and the crimson carriage drove slowly and stopped at the entrance of the palace road. The eunuch put a footstool on the carriage, and the maid opened the heavy crimson curtain, held Princess Donglin's white hand, and carefully helped her get off the carriage.

Princess Donglin was wearing a gorgeous golden wedding dress, with her long hair tied up high. She saluted Shen Wei neither humbly nor arrogantly: "Donglin Princess Zhenmin, I greet Concubine Chen."

Princess Donglin raised her head.

As the autumn wind blew, the golden hairpins in her hair swayed gently, and her beautiful face came into everyone's sight.

Shen Wei was stunned.

Princess Donglin, who came from afar, had eyes and eyebrows that were somewhat similar to Zhaoyang.