Harem Daily Life

Ever since Marquis Zhongyong proposed to make Concubine De the empress, but the emperor did not agree to it, the news that "Concubine Gui and Concubine De are competing for the position of empress" quickly spread throughout the harem, and all kinds of undercurrents surged in the harem.

The concubines in the harem began to think about their own ideas. Some concubines who had a close relationship with Concubine De did not hesitate to stand on Concubine De's side. They firmly believed that Concubine De had a prominent family background and the eldest prince, and would definitely become the empress in the future. Therefore, these concubines began to actively approach Concubine De, trying to gain the upper hand.

The other group of concubines chose to stand on the side of the Imperial Concubine, led by Concubine Ning, Liang Zhaoyi and Zhou Zhaoyi. They believed that the Imperial Concubine's family had become increasingly powerful in recent years, her father and brother were both officials in the court, and the Imperial Concubine had twins, so she was favored by the emperor. In addition, the Imperial Concubine had helped them before and had frequent visits, so they were most happy to see the Imperial Concubine promoted, which was also a guarantee for their second half of life.

The two factions of concubines took their positions, neither willing to be outdone, and tried their best to fight openly and secretly to win over forces for their own camps.

Some concubines chose to remain neutral, neither leaning towards Defei nor supporting Guifei. Some had long since become indifferent to the cruelty of the palace struggle and were unwilling to get involved in it, lest they get burned. Some, like Shufei, Li Cairen and Lu Cairen, had grudges against both sides and could not stand on either side.

In Yongning Palace, Fu Xin brought Shu Fei some medicine and helped her get up: "Your Majesty, it has been more than a month since the Third Prince's incident. You must take care of yourself and don't worry too much, or you will hurt yourself!"

Shu Fei saw the dark medicine, covered her nose and turned her head away: "Is this the last dose of medicine?"

Fu Xin nodded: "Imperial Doctor Xu said that the queen is suffering from deficiency of Qi and blood, and will eventually need long-term care. You will not drink any more medicine after you finish it today."

Shu Fei swallowed the medicine with patience, wiped her mouth, and tears fell unconsciously: "My Kang'er has been growing up in medicine jars since he was a child. I thought that after a few more years of nursing him and conditioning his body, he would be able to stop taking medicine and be like a healthy child. I didn't expect that..."

Now they are separated forever and she will never be able to hold that soft child in her arms again.

Shu Fei's eyes darkened, and she pinched the corners of the quilt with both hands, as if she wanted to tear it into pieces: "What's going on with the eldest prince? Why hasn't there been any movement recently?"

Fu Xin said hurriedly: "Reporting to the queen, we have arranged people, but... there are suddenly two eunuchs around the eldest prince. Those two eunuchs are quite skilled and keep a close eye on him, so it is really difficult to succeed. In order to avoid alerting the enemy, so... we haven't taken action recently."

Shu Fei frowned, "De Fei is really alert and found someone to protect her. Humph, since she took over the six palaces, it is convenient for her to find helpers. It is not easy to meet such skilled eunuchs." After Shu Fei finished speaking, she was suddenly stunned and looked at Fu Xin and said, "Go and check where these two eunuchs worked before and when they came to Yongxing Palace. Make sure to find out the details."

Fu Xin understood, took the bowl of medicine, and went downstairs to do his work.

Zi Ling picked some fresh flowers from the yard and brought them in to put in a vase. Seeing that Shu Fei was lost in thought and her cloak had fallen to the side, she went forward to pick it up and put it on her: "Your Majesty, the weather in April is still a little cold, be careful not to catch a cold."

Shu Fei hummed, looked at the vase she had just placed, and asked, "What are the Lu sisters doing recently?"

Zi Ling thought for a moment and said, "Ever since His Majesty asked Liang Zhaoyi to take the fourth princess back to raise her, the Lu sisters have often been hanging around the Qinzheng Palace, hoping to see His Majesty, but His Majesty has ignored them. This Li Cairen is eager to regain his favor."

Concubine Shu snorted coldly, "Thinking back on how glorious she was, she was the most favored in the entire harem. She didn't even care about my status, and she didn't even give face to the Queen Mother. Now she has ended up like this, it's really a world of difference. But considering her contribution in exposing the eldest prince, I will put aside the past grudges and help her."

Zi Ling was startled and asked suspiciously, "Your Majesty, do you mean to help her regain her favor?"

Zi Ling was unsure and said worriedly, "Your Highness, the Queen Mother has always disliked the Lu sisters, and His Majesty also hates them now. If Your Highness helps them, will it displease the Queen Mother and His Majesty? Besides, Your Highness has already rewarded them with a thousand taels of silver last time, and thanked them for their contributions."

Zi Ling doesn't want Shu Fei to get too close to the Lu sisters. After all, these two sisters are not good people either.

Shu Fei sneered, "Do you think I'm really helping her? I just want her to stand out and fight for it, to make things difficult for Concubine Tao. Now in the harem, no one can compete with Concubine Tao. She has received this unique favor, which is really annoying. Humph, Your Majesty still intends to make her the queen? How can I let her have her wish?"

After Shu Fei finished speaking, she asked Zi Ling to find all the best fabrics in her warehouse and send them to Li Cairen.

"Let her make some new clothes and dress them up. When the opportunity arises, she can show them off to His Majesty."

After all, she was someone who had once captured the emperor's heart, so Shu Fei was quite confident that Li Cairen would regain the emperor's favor.

The finest cloth was delivered to Baozhi Pavilion, along with a set of brand new jewelry. Li Cairen, whose position and salary were not as high as before, was naturally very happy to receive these things. She wanted to keep Ziling for a cup of tea and ask some more questions, but Ziling did not stay. After explaining what Shu Fei said, she left with a cold face.

As soon as Zi Ling left, Lu Cairen said angrily: "She is just a maidservant beside Concubine Shu, and she dares to be disrespectful in front of my sister, bah."

Li Cairen sneered, "It's not the first day you've known that in the palace people flatter the powerful and bully the weak. When I was in my heyday, not to mention Shu Fei, even the former queen, the former imperial concubine, and the De Fei were all defeated by me."

After Li Cairen finished speaking, she remembered that she was able to return to the palace with the help of the former queen, so she said with a smile: "These people think they are smart, but they are defeated by me again and again. The former queen would never have thought that I deliberately provoked her to stab me. Hahahaha, if it weren't for her knife, I would not be able to see His Majesty again. If I can't see His Majesty, how can I show my pitiful side and make him pity me and take me back to the palace."

Lu Cairen looked around and reminded her, "Sister, you'd better be careful. We sisters only need to know about these things. Don't be impulsive and show off to others!"

Li Cairen rolled her eyes at her and said, "Look at your courage, you useless thing!" After that, she stroked the fabrics sent by Shu Fei and said, "Someone, send these fabrics to the Clothing Bureau and make two new clothes for me." Jing'er stepped forward, carefully took the fabrics and left.