Harem Daily Life

When Concubine Li saw the emperor speaking for Concubine Rong, she felt unhappy. She was furious thinking that the Queen Mother was deliberately making trouble for her.

"Your Majesty, can the ceremony for Concubine Rong be held a month later? I don't want to be on the same day as others. I just want to be the most special one in your heart."

As she spoke, Concubine Li leaned into He Linzhang's arms and said, "When I was young, I followed my brother to the horse farm. The first time I saw Your Majesty, I fell in love with Him. I know that my status is not worthy of Your Majesty, and I dare not hope to become Your Majesty's wife, but in my heart, I always hope that Your Majesty will treat me as the only one!"

He Linzhang frowned: "Isn't my treatment of you special enough?" In terms of favor, Concubine Li is definitely better than the queen and even exceeds the legal wife.

Concubine Li wiped her tears and said, "But His Majesty is also very good to Concubine Tao! Although His Majesty has been visiting me all day these days, he is also thinking about Concubine Tao, and every day he asks Eunuch Zhang to go to Yingyue Pavilion to deliver things to Concubine Tao. Even... even last night, His Majesty called out the word Yan Yan while he was half asleep and half awake!"

He Linzhang said helplessly: "Yan Yan sprained his ankle while trying to save you. I sent Zhang Fuhai to take a look. Is that not too much?"

Concubine Li choked and said, "When I am better, I will go to thank her in person. But I don't want Your Majesty to be with me while his heart is with Lady Tao. When I heard Your Majesty calling her name last night, my pillow was soaked with tears!"

"Ah..." He Linzhang sighed: "My identity means that I cannot be alone with you. Sometimes you have to think for yourself."

Concubine Li wanted to cry again, so He Linzhang had to persuade her: "Okay, okay, please stop crying. Your eyes are swollen. Someone, is the food ready?"

In the end, Concubine Li had no choice but to stop crying and accompany the emperor for dinner.

He Linzhang didn't have much of an appetite. The meals in Concubine Li's palace were prepared by the chefs in the imperial kitchen. They were the same few dishes over and over again, and he was tired of them after more than 20 years.

Thinking of the tiger skin chicken feet and spicy dried fish he had eaten in the afternoon, He Linzhang paused, finished a bowl of rice in three or five bites, and put down his bowl and chopsticks.

"You should eat more. You have to take care of your body. I still have memorials to review. I will go to the study in the side hall first. Come back later."

Concubine Li watched the man go away, and tears began to well up in her eyes again.

Maybe because of the miscarriage, she has been particularly tearful recently. She wants to cry at the slightest provocation and is in a very depressed mood.

When she thought about the fact that she would never get pregnant again, her heart felt like it had fallen into an ice cave. She had never expected that the harm caused by this miscarriage would be so serious. Her second half of life would be hopeless!

Concubine Li clenched her fists: This matter is not over yet. Although the Queen Mother has a rift with His Majesty, she has not paid a price!

Concubine Li thought about it, looked in the direction the emperor left, her eyes darkened.

Under Concubine Li's repeated requests, He Linzhang had no choice but to go to Changchun Palace the next day to discuss with the Empress Dowager about postponing the ceremony of conferring Concubine Rong's title as a concubine.

The Queen Mother glanced at him and said, "Once a word is spoken, it cannot be taken back. Rong Fei has given birth to the eldest prince, so it is legitimate for her to be promoted to De Fei. Why should it be postponed? If she doesn't want to be married on the same day as others, then she can postpone it. Anyway, she will be out of the confinement next month, which is perfect!"

He Linzhang was holding back his breath: "Queen Mother, she has already lost her child, can't you accommodate her a little?"

"She can't even protect her own child, and she acts like a spoiled brat. Why should I accommodate her? The Emperor dotes on her, but that doesn't mean she can step on Concubine Rong, who already has a son, to get promoted!" The Queen Mother was also angry, and her tone became heavier.

He Linzhang narrowed his eyes. "It's not that Concubine Li is childless. How did she lose her child? Doesn't the Queen Mother feel any apology at all? Even if the child was born in Concubine Li's belly, it is still my blood after all. No matter how much you dislike Concubine Li, you shouldn't take it out on the child!"

The Queen Mother slammed the armrest of the chair and said, "How dare you! I have already said that I did not punish her to kneel that day. She was the one who wanted to kneel and could not get up. When she saw you coming, she suddenly went crazy and wanted to bang her head against the wall. I have nothing to do with her losing her child!"

He Linzhang clenched his fists, his eyebrows and eyes reddened: "Concubine Li was afraid of the Queen Mother, and she knelt down to plead guilty because she was afraid. Even if the Queen Mother didn't punish her directly, she was indirectly scared!"

The Queen Mother was so angry that she gasped, "She is still afraid of me? In front of you, she is a delicate little white flower. When you are not here, she has never been respectful to me! Humph, I will not argue with you, a blind emperor. Go away. The ceremony for Rong Fei's enthronement has been set on the sixth day of the first lunar month. It cannot be changed!"

He Linzhang persuaded her with both reason and emotion: "Empress Dowager, Concubine Li's brother died because he saved me. I promised to treat Concubine Li well for the rest of her life."

The Queen Mother also calmed down and said earnestly: "Emperor, Lord Lu's achievements were mediocre, but he was directly promoted from the sixth rank to the second rank. Commander Lu was buried with the ceremony of a prince, and the Lu family received countless rewards. Concubine Li entered the palace as a third-rank imperial concubine. On the first day of serving the emperor, she was made a concubine and given a title. You have already repaid the favor! So many soldiers died in the suppression of the rebellion of the vassal kings, and only their Lu family received the most generous rewards. Isn't it enough?"

He Linzhang was speechless for a moment.

"A minister dies for his lord. He is kind, righteous, and loyal. He should be treated well, but he cannot hold on to his gratitude forever, right? If you would repay anyone who saved you, then when Mengcheng was flooded, Lady Tao led people to save you regardless of her own safety. Shouldn't you have directly promoted her to the position of consort? Didn't you always stick to your principles and wait until Lady Tao had a son before giving her a reward?"

"Haha, how come you have no principles when it comes to Concubine Li? A few tears from her make you dizzy and you can't tell east from west! Open your eyes and take a good look. There are so many good concubines in the harem who are pure in character and devoted to you. How can you be so blind as to love a white lotus to death every day!"

The empress dowager was so angry that she wanted to call out the late emperor and scold him, saying that both father and son were equally blind!

The mother and son parted unhappily. He Linzhang felt depressed as he sat in the sedan chair and unknowingly arrived at the door of Yingyue Pavilion.

Xiao Jinan sat on the doorstep and knocked with a small hammer. When Xiao Quanzi saw the emperor coming, he hurriedly took Xiao Jinan to pay his respects to the emperor.

He Linzhang looked at the small hammer in Xiao Jinan's hand, which was much smaller than the average hammer, and asked, "What is Jinan doing?"

Little Jin'an raised his head, opened his big eyes and said in a baby voice: "Your Majesty, my sister said: Even though this world is full of holes and broken, there are always people who are repairing it and warming the world. I am repairing it!"

He Linzhang suddenly felt less depressed. He hugged Xiao Jinan into his arms and said, "Let's go and see your sister."

Tao Yanyan was lying on the couch, bored, letting Qingfeng massage her legs. When she saw the emperor coming in with the child in his arms, she smiled and said, "Your Majesty is here!" She wanted to get up, but He Linzhang stopped her, "No need to be polite, all of you go down."

After handing the child to Qingfeng, He Linzhang sat next to Tao Yanyan and massaged her legs himself.

Seeing the sadness on his face, Tao Yanyan stood up and put his arms around his neck: "Your Majesty, is there something on your mind?"

Her white fingers stroked his brows: "Your Majesty, frowning easily causes wrinkles, which affects your appearance. Yan Yan will smooth them out for you."