Harem Daily Life

"Father, please let my mother go! I cannot live without my mother. Please have mercy on me!" The eldest prince knelt outside the imperial study and pleaded for Concubine De with tears in his eyes. The scene looked very miserable.

In the imperial study, He Linzhang closed a memorial and rubbed his eyebrows in annoyance.

"Your Majesty, the eldest prince is still young. I will send someone to send him back right away." Zhang Fuhai lowered his head and prepared to go out, but He Linzhang stopped him.

"Forget it, let him come in and I'll talk to him face to face."

The eldest prince entered the imperial study and knelt down crying, and was immediately pulled up by Zhang Fuhai.

"Cry, cry, cry! How can a prince cry like this?" He Linzhang looked at his eldest son who looked a bit like him, and his anger rose all of a sudden: "You are at least half responsible for your mother's current situation!"

After He Linzhang finished speaking, he dismissed everyone and left the eldest prince alone in the imperial study.

There was no one around, He Linzhang looked at his eldest son and said earnestly: "He Ye, you are eight years old, it's time for you to be sensible. Everything that happened today stems from He Kang's death, don't tell me you didn't know!"

Being stared at by his father's sharp eyes, He Ye shuddered unconsciously.

"When you pushed He Kang into the water, although there were witnesses, your grandmother and I did not hold you responsible due to insufficient evidence. We were protecting you. But Shu Fei's son did die. He was my own son and your grandmother's grandson! He Ye, your mother took this wrong step because of your reckless behavior and the harm you did to your brothers."

After He Linzhang finished speaking, he took several deep breaths before calming down. He didn't want to reveal the cruel truth, but if he didn't tell it, his eldest son would never realize his faults. Now that such a big incident had happened, he still had the nerve to beg for mercy. He really couldn't tell right from wrong.

He Ye opened his mouth and wanted to argue, but when he met He Linzhang's eyes that saw through everything, he didn't say a word in the end.

"Father, I know I was wrong. I was really careless at the beginning. I hope you will not blame me."

"Oh." He Linzhang chuckled. "If you knew you were wrong, you should have known it today and shouldn't have come to plead for your mother. Your mother indulged you and doted on you, and you became lawless. I am very sad. This time, she arranged for someone to kill someone in the inner court of the palace. After killing Lu Cairen, she went to Concubine Tao's palace and tried to assassinate her again. This is really a heinous crime. I am merciful not to kill your mother."

He Ye clenched his fists. He knew that his trip here was completely useless.

"He Ye, your mother will never be able to come out again in this life. I will choose another mother for you to raise you. When you are twelve years old, you can leave the palace and set up your own home. From now on, you have to take care of yourself." After He Linzhang finished speaking, He Ye looked at him in disbelief.

For a prince, not living in the Eastern Palace but building a residence outside the palace is equivalent to saying that this prince is not the heir to the throne.

He Linzhang knew from the eldest prince's astonishment that he understood the meaning of his words, and said coldly: "Go back, and wait for me to choose a foster mother for you, and then you can live with her."

He Ye didn't dare to say anything else. He stood up and walked out, still thinking about what his father had just said about him leaving the palace and building his own house.

He is now extremely anxious, not for rescuing his mother, but for his grandfather's protection.

After returning to Yongxing Palace, the eldest prince looked at the bleak scene with an expressionless face. He locked himself in the study and called Haitang in to talk.

"I know you have always had a way to contact my grandfather." The eldest prince looked at Haitang and said, "Try to pass a message to my grandfather and tell him that my mother cannot be saved. Ask him what I should do next."

Haitang looked at the eldest prince who looked obviously more mature after returning from the imperial study. She felt that the eldest prince seemed a little different from before, as if he was more profound and more difficult to understand.

Thinking that her master had gone to the cold palace and the young master had grown up overnight, Haitang wiped away her tears, nodded, and retreated respectfully.

The eldest prince felt as if there was a huge anger in his body that he couldn't vent. He stood up and paced back and forth. As he walked, he became more and more manic. He didn't know where the little man got the strength from, but he picked up a solid wooden stool and slammed it to the ground.

One, two, three times... He didn't stop until the stool was smashed to pieces.

When the palace servants heard the noise, they all came in to check. However, when they met the eldest prince's angry red eyes, they did not dare to rush forward. They just stood at a distance and waited for the eldest prince to get tired of smashing things before they went over to clean up.

On Tao Yanyan's side, Chang Tai reported all the news he had found out: "De Fei was already confined last night, and was escorted to the cold palace early this morning. However, Your Majesty did not check the things that De Fei brought with her. I checked and found that she brought a lot of food, clothing and daily necessities."

Tao Yanyan smiled and said, "Just take him with you. I guess there's no chance for him to come out after he goes in this time."

Chang Tai added: "His Majesty is selecting a foster mother for the eldest prince. It seems that Concubine Li, Concubine Fang and Concubine Zhou are all under consideration."

Tao Yanyan raised his eyes: "Zhou Zhaoyi... Mingyue will go and remind her, telling her that the eldest prince has a bad temper and is difficult to raise, and let her think about it herself." Considering that he was fairly familiar with Zhou Zhaoyi, Tao Yanyan informed her first.

Mingyue nodded and walked out.

"Your Majesty, should we keep an eye on the cold palace?" Chang Tai was undecided and wanted to ask his master's opinion.

Tao Yanyan thought for a moment and said, "No need. Changle Palace will probably be busy next. We won't care where Defei goes. However... we should pay attention to Shufei."

Tao Yanyan thought that with Shu Fei's personality, she would probably not give up.

Qingfeng filled a cup of tea for Tao Yanyan and said, "Your Majesty, you are the only one with the highest position in the harem now. Will the power of the six palaces fall on your head?"

Tao Yanyan drank his tea, counted on his fingers, and held his forehead with his hand, saying, "Before, because I was used to you, I didn't train more people. Even when the Ministry of Internal Affairs wanted to send people in, I declined. First, there really is not much work, and it would be a waste to keep so many people to serve me. Second, I can't get used to people I don't know well. But now I think about it, I should have let each of you take a few apprentices earlier."

Qingfeng and Changtai looked at each other and saw hope in each other's eyes.

"Your Majesty, what you mean is that if His Majesty gives you the power to rule the palace this time, are you willing to take over?" Qingfeng's tone was full of excitement. She had long wanted to see her own queen walking around in the harem and killing everyone.

Chang Tai rubbed his hands and thought to himself, if the empress was in charge of the six palaces, then he would be able to take advantage of the power of the empress and rise to the rank of first-class eunuch!

By that time, his gossip network would surely cover every corner of the harem.