Harem Daily Life

They stayed in Mengcheng for another four days. After Qi Yizheng had finished his work, he rushed back to reunite with the main force. Then the southern tour team set out again, heading for the last stop - King Yong's fiefdom, Youzhou.

Youzhou governs four cities, eleven counties and countless small villages. It was a fiefdom granted by the late emperor himself when King Yong was ten years old.

The carriage was driving on the official road, Tao Yanyan spread out a thick blanket and lay down to sleep. Qingfeng and Mingyue now followed their own talents and tried to sleep as much as possible when they had nothing to do to maintain their strength.

But sleeping all the time would make people tired, so one of them read a storybook while the other did needlework, and they managed to do a lot of things along the way.

Tao Yanyan was a little bored, so he wanted to learn more about this era, but he didn't know where to start, so he asked, "The next stop is Youzhou. Do Concubine Hui and Prince Yong live there?"

Mingyue had served Concubine Hui and had received her instruction in calligraphy. When asked by Talented Lady Tao, she answered, "Yes, Talented Lady. After the crown ceremony, Prince Yong went to Youzhou to settle down. Concubine Hui missed her son too much, so she asked for the grace of the Queen Mother and Your Majesty a year later and went to Youzhou. Counting the time, it has been almost three years."

"Was it hard for you to serve Concubine Hui before? I think she is really blessed to be able to leave the palace in this life." Tao Yanyan sighed from the bottom of his heart.

You have to know that for a woman who enters the palace as a concubine, it is harder than ascending to heaven to leave the palace in this life. For someone like Concubine Hui, who is now at most in her forties, if she is in good health and takes good care of herself, the second half of her life will be quite exciting.

With money, status and no husband, you can live comfortably until old age.

Mingyue thought for a moment and said, "When Concubine Hui was young, she was a famous talented woman in the Great Zhou. Her father was the Grand Tutor, who was also the teacher of the previous emperor. After entering the palace, she gave birth to Prince Yong. I heard that both mother and son were quite favored, otherwise Prince Yong would not have been crowned king and granted fiefdom at the age of ten."

"How many years younger is Prince Yong than Your Majesty?" Tao Yanyan asked.

"He seems to be one year old. I'm not sure about the exact age, but he is definitely less than two years old." Mingyue said.

Becoming king at the age of ten?

Tao Yanyan thought that He Linzhang was made the crown prince at the age of ten, which showed that the late emperor still attached great importance to his son He Linzhang.

Therefore, when the royal family chooses an heir, they will most likely consider whether he is born to the queen and whether he is a legitimate son. A noble birth is still quite attractive.

"I heard that several princes still live in the capital and have not gone to their fiefdoms. Prince Yong is quite open-minded and is willing to leave the prosperous capital." Tao Yanyan felt that Prince Yong was a very smart man. It was better for him to develop in his own territory than to make a living under the eyes of others.

"After your majesty ascended the throne, several of the emperor's uncles launched rebellions, which were later quelled one by one by your majesty. Prince Yong had just turned twenty at that time, and he asked to go to his fiefdom. In the past few years, he only returned to the capital during the Chinese New Year. The year before last, he brought Concubine Hui back with him, and last year, Prince Yong returned alone. It was said that Concubine Hui had caught a cold and was unable to get up." Mingyue answered while doing needlework.

Tao Yanyan looked at her strangely and said, "Mingyue, you are well-informed. You know all these things."

Mingyue immediately said, "Before, I served in the palace of Concubine Hui. Before the talented woman entered the palace, I also served in the West Garden where the concubines lived. Concubine Hui asked Prince Yong to send New Year gifts to several concubines in the palace, and I learned some news."

"Do the concubines have to do a lot of work on a daily basis? What do they usually do?" Tao Yanyan used his imagination to think about his future retirement life.

Mingyue thought for a moment and said, "There weren't many things to do. The concubines didn't like young maids to serve them. They always preferred older maids. So the maids and aunts served them closely. At that time, I mostly did rough work. The concubines and imperial concubines usually gathered together to listen to operas, talk, eat snacks, and bask in the sun. If the empress dowager summoned them, they would go to the empress dowager's Cining Palace to sit down."

Tao Yanyan imagined a group of middle-aged women sitting together gossiping and reminiscing about the past, and she couldn't help but shudder.

My God, when you are young, you fight with each other and compete with each other for beauty in front of the emperor. Now when you are old, you have to chat together and accompany each other until death. It's really crazy.

Tao Yanyan made a decision immediately: in order to make her future retirement life more comfortable, she decided to be kind to others and make friends with a few like-minded sisters in the palace, so that when she no longer has a man in the future, they can live together in their old age.

So Tao Yanyan, who had been giving up, finally found the thing he wanted to do most at the moment - to discover some young sisters.

I wonder if this goal can be achieved?

As for why she didn't give birth to a prince as favored as Prince Yong, so that she could live out her retirement years with her son in his fiefdom?

Tao Yanyan had three main considerations: first, giving birth was too dangerous and could result in death; second, raising a child was too difficult and she feared she did not have the ability or means to have the child grow up smoothly and healthily in the palace; third, she could not pin her hopes on the next emperor. Who knew if the next emperor would be kind enough to allow her and her child to be reunited and enjoy their old age?

Therefore, Tao Yanyan decisively gave up the plan of giving birth to a spoiled son, simply because the variables were too great and she couldn't handle it.

Seeing that Tao Cairen was lost in thought, Mingyue asked, "What is Cairen thinking about? Why are you so lost in thought?"

"Oh, I was thinking that if one person is well fed, the whole family will not be hungry." Tao Yanyan smiled and said. He thought, since he has a second life, he should take good care of himself and the body of the original owner, and live happily until old age.

Mingyue was confused and thought that Tao Cairen's thoughts were too jumpy. He was just asking about the concubines' daily lives, so why did he suddenly think about food?

But looking at the time, it was indeed almost time for lunch, so Mingyue put down her needlework and prepared to go get her meal when the carriage stopped.

Sure enough, the carriage stopped after a while. Not far away from here was a town on the official road. The large army did not enter the town, but set up camp in a wide area near the river and made a fire to cook.

Mingyue was just about to go to the imperial kitchen to wait when she saw a young eunuch beside the emperor hurrying over.

The eunuch came to the carriage and said in a friendly manner, "Ms. Tao, His Majesty has summoned you to have lunch with him. We have your favorite lion's head and steamed shrimp."

Qingfeng and Mingyue looked at each other, both of them were very excited. They actively helped their talented lady to fix her makeup, comb her hair, and smooth out the wrinkles on her clothes.

"Talented lady, do you want to put on some more makeup?" Qingfeng asked. However, when he saw that Tao Cairen had red lips, white teeth, and rosy cheeks, it seemed that she did not need to put on any more makeup.

But she had seen other concubines put on makeup before meeting His Majesty, so she asked too.

Tao Yanyan said indifferently: "No need, it's just a meal, no need to prepare anything special."

If you didn't come specially to ask me, I wouldn't want to go, okay?

When dining with He Linzhang, I still have to remain a lady and cannot eat freely. How can it be as comfortable as enjoying delicious food alone?