Harem Daily Life

He Linzhang also wanted to talk to her, but he had never coaxed anyone before and was unfamiliar with the business. Since Tao Yanyan took the initiative to talk, He Linzhang naturally accepted it.

Tao Yan said, "I really, really, really hate Li Cairen now. She always refreshes my cognition again and again. When I was punished to copy the palace rules, there was a rule that you cannot poison others at will. If you violate it, you will be punished with thirty strokes of the cane at the lightest, and death at the worst. But for Li Cairen, this palace rule seems to be meaningless."

He Linzhang moved his lips but said nothing.

Tao Yanyan continued, "Your Majesty always gives her a break. You demoted the imperial concubine who gave birth to your eldest princess to a commoner and sent her to a nunnery. What about Li Cairen? Shouldn't she be treated the same way?"

He Linzhang wanted to hold her hand, but she avoided him. She just wanted to see his attitude today.

He Linzhang said helplessly: "The imperial concubine harmed the queen, the mother of the country, her crime is unforgivable. Li Cairen she..." He Linzhang himself could not find an excuse.

Tao Yanyan sighed, "Your Majesty wants to protect her, but the result of protecting her is that she becomes even more outrageous. She brought her sister into the palace with the intention of joining forces to compete for favor. Who knows what kind of chaos these two will cause in the future. Yes, you may think that they are of low status and can't do anything weird, but it is precisely because of their low status that they will try their best to climb up. What they will do is really unpredictable."

He Linzhang pondered for a moment and said, "I will have people keep a close eye on them and will never let them harm you."

Tao Yanyan knew that the possibility of He Linzhang directly killing the two sisters was very low. After all, he had the friendship of a powerful elder brother who died for the king, and the friendship of Li Cairen who accompanied him for many years. He could not ignore it.

Hearing that He Linzhang was trying to make a big deal out of a small matter, Tao Yanyan stood up and said, "Now that we have come to this, I will not say any more. Your Majesty, please take a rest. The imperial physician said that you need to conserve your energy. I cannot help you much here, so I will take my leave first."

After saying that, he bowed, turned around and walked out, leaving He Linzhang alone in the empty room.

Seeing the concubine leave angrily again, He Linzhang pinched his eyebrows and felt his head hurt even more.

After that, for several days, He Linzhang did not come to Changle Palace again, and no one sent anyone to invite Tao Yanyan, so the two of them drifted apart.

Qingfeng and Mingyue saw it all and were very worried, but they didn't know how to comfort the empress, so they could only take good care of the three children and told them not to bother the empress.

At the beginning of September, the Queen came out of her confinement and the palaces resumed paying respects to her husband.

Tao Yanyan sent someone to send his three children to elementary school early in the morning. He then dressed up and went to Fengyi Palace to pay his respects in a very good mood.

The queen also looked well, a little plump and had a dignified temperament.

"I haven't seen Your Majesty for a long time, and I miss you so much. Your Majesty has taken good care of herself. Her figure seems to be even better than before she gave birth to the third princess." Concubine Zhou was the first to flatter her.

Tao Yanyan listened with his brows lowered and spoke very little.

The queen smiled and said, "When a woman gives birth, her figure will inevitably change. Concubine Zhou will try to please me."

After saying this, he looked around at everyone and said, "Many of you have been in the palace for many years. You should think of some new ideas and invite His Majesty to come more often. You should give birth to children for His Majesty as soon as possible so that you can have children by your side."

Lady Li laughed and said, "Your Highness is right. But His Majesty has been in Changle Palace all year and hasn't been to the harem recently. We can't see His Majesty even if we want to."

As soon as Lady Li finished speaking, everyone looked at Tao Yanyan. She became the target of everyone's criticism and endured everyone's resentful gazes.

The queen looked at Tao Yanyan and said, "It has been two years since Concubine Tao entered the palace. She is favored by the emperor. Please ask the imperial physician to check her health. She needs to take good care of herself!"

Tao Yanyan smiled and said, "The imperial physician said that I have a cold body and it is not easy to conceive. I often advise Your Majesty to visit other palaces more often. Fortunately, you finally listened to me recently and stopped coming to my place."

Tao Yanyan passed the blame on to me. It’s not that I didn’t try to persuade him. I persuaded him to leave. Now it’s up to you guys to catch him based on your own abilities!

Everyone looked at her suspiciously, but at least they didn't treat her as a target anymore.

After chatting for a long time about whether the emperor would come to the harem, the queen said: "In half a month, it will be His Majesty's birthday. You must behave well then. Don't always say that His Majesty won't come. You must also learn how to strive for it yourself."

"Yes, we will keep it in mind." Everyone stood up and responded to the queen's words.

The queen waved her hand and everyone sat down again.

"This birthday banquet is a big event. I heard that the envoys from Yan will come to congratulate this year. The Ministry of Rites and the Ministry of Internal Affairs are in charge of it. All those above the rank of Beauty will be present. I have limited energy, so I need help with the preparations."

As soon as the queen finished speaking, Shu Fei said, "I want to share your worries, but I am powerless. The third prince is very difficult to feed. I can only apologize."

The Queen nodded and said, "It's not easy for you, Concubine Shu, to take care of the Third Prince. I should remind His Majesty to give you a promotion. I will ask for instructions in the next two days. Wait for my good news."

Shu Fei quickly thanked her: "Thank you, Queen, for your concern."

Concubine De looked around and said, "I can do my best, but I am not good at preparing banquets. As long as your majesty doesn't mind and tells me something, I will do my best to do it."

The queen smiled with satisfaction and said, "My Lady of De, you are so thoughtful. I'll have to trouble you to invite the ladies from various families."

When Defei heard this, she thought it was not a big job and readily agreed.

The queen looked at Tao Yanyan again: "Where is Concubine Tao? You are a concubine, higher in rank than them, so you should take the lead."

Tao Yanyan stood up and bowed: "I am still young and inexperienced, so I am afraid I can't help but make things worse. But since Your Majesty has given me the opportunity to gain experience, I can't refuse. Whatever Your Majesty wants me to do, I will do my best."

Seeing that she at least did not refuse, the Queen raised her eyebrows and said, "Then you will be responsible for the rehearsal of the program. The Palace's Music Department will rehearse it, and you will just be in charge of the review."

Tao Yanyan smiled and said, "Yes, I obey your command."

The performance of this show is the most difficult part to control. Tao Yanyan sneered in his heart, thinking that the Queen really thought highly of him and actually entrusted such an important matter to someone who had never planned a large-scale banquet.

But Tao Yanyan is not afraid. With her experience, is she afraid that she can't organize an evening party?

After receiving the task, the people from the Music Department sent a list of programs and a person to explain the situation: "Your Majesty, the program is fixed every year and has certain regulations. Please review this program list. If you want to change it, you have to make it in the next two days so that you have time to rehearse."

Tao Yanyan opened it and took a look. The names of the programs seemed quite appropriate.

"How about this, I'm free today, so I'll go watch the rehearsal with you. If there's anything you want to change, I'll tell you right away."

The man had no choice but to take the program and go back to report, thinking that in the past no one would watch the rehearsal before the preparations, it was really hard to fool Concubine Tao.