Harem Daily Life

When Tao Yanyan and the others saw Mingyue running away, they all laughed together, and bursts of laughter could be heard in the hall.

He Linzhang returned from lunch at the Empress Dowager's and heard laughter from afar. When he entered the room, he saw the young empress's smiling face and asked, "What are you so happy about?"

When the little queen learned about Mingyue and Yingyi last night, she was happy for a long time and didn’t know what good news would happen today.

Tao Yanyan extended her hand toward him, and after he sat down, she fell into his arms: "Your Majesty, does Yingyi have any bad habits? I don't want Mingyue to be entrusted to the wrong person."

He Linzhang knew that Tao Yanyan was very kind to the palace maids around her and was very concerned about their future. After thinking for a moment, he said, "Greediness, does that count?"

"Yingyi is just like Qi Yizheng, both are extremely greedy. When something delicious appears, their noses become particularly sensitive."

"It's human nature to have a good appetite, so it doesn't count. As long as you don't like visiting brothels or gambling, everything else is fine."

He Linzhang was stunned for a moment, and suddenly remembered that he had quite a lot of women. He asked nervously: "Then, since there are so many people in my harem, is it considered bad to be with Yan Yan?"

Tao Yanyan blinked her eyes. "Before I was born, I didn't care about your relationships. After I was born, before you loved me wholeheartedly, I didn't care either. But after you loved me wholeheartedly, if you fell in love with someone else, then I would care. When I care, I get angry, and when I get angry, I don't want to pay attention to you, and when I don't want to pay attention to you, I want to leave. Your Majesty, please experience this for yourself."

After Tao Yanyan finished speaking, she stood up from him and said, "I will go and see the twins. If Your Majesty wants to rest, please go and rest first."

After saying that, he ignored He Linzhang's resentful look and left with Qingfeng.

He Linzhang touched his nose, feeling that the little queen seemed a little... angry.

Qingfeng also felt that his queen was a little angry, because her mouth was pouting and she was throwing a tantrum.

Thinking of what the Empress had just said to His Majesty in the palace, Qingfeng cleared his throat and asked, "Empress, are you angry with His Majesty for having so many concubines?"

The Empress was usually quite kind to the concubines in the harem, kind and generous, and no one would have thought that she didn't like them. But Qingfeng just felt that the Empress was irritating His Majesty, even though she was very generous in letting it go.

"Hey, Qingfeng, people can be quite hypocritical sometimes. I'm clearly mad at him for having three thousand beauties in his harem, but he can only say that he doesn't care. In fact, I really want to beat him up."

Qingfeng was so frightened that she almost pulled her ears off: "Your Majesty, you can't say anything about hitting His Majesty casually, or you will be punished. I am deaf today and didn't hear anything. Your Majesty, please don't say it again in the future."

Seeing how scared Qingfeng was, Tao Yanyan slapped her in a funny way and said, "I know. I'll keep my mouth shut."

After saying that, he made a gesture of closing his mouth.

He Linzhang tossed and turned in the bedroom, feeling a little uneasy. Fortunately, Tao Yanyan came back happily after a while, as if nothing had happened.

During the Lunar New Year holiday, many places were closed. Because the capital had snowed, some families set up porridge stalls and distributed porridge out of kindness. The north of the city was the slums of the capital, and their living conditions had remained poor for many years, so most of the people who came to receive porridge were from the north.

"Hey, stay away from him. Look at the rash on his hands. I'm afraid he might have some disease."

A young man was scratching his itchy body. His sleeves were too short to cover his arms, and the exposed skin was dotted with red spots, which was quite scary. The crowd silently moved away from him, covering their mouths and noses and pointing at him.

After receiving the porridge, the man quickly left with his head lowered. He had to go back and share the porridge with his two children. Since his wife had contracted a disease from him and had no money to treat it, she died not long after. She was buried in a mass grave in a thin coffin.

The family was so poor that they could barely afford to eat. The two children didn't even have decent clothes during the New Year. They couldn't leave the house or get food, so they had to starve at home. Fortunately, someone offered porridge, so he brought a clay pot to receive a jar, which was enough for the family of three to eat today.

Because he had been walking with his head down, and the road was slippery with snow, the man fell to the side of the road after walking for a while, knocking over the pottery pot in his hand and spilling the porridge all over the ground. Doctor Liu had just returned from his post at the palace when he saw a man in thin clothes pouring porridge mixed with snow into a pottery pot on the side of the road. He frowned and asked the driver to stop the carriage.

"You can't eat this porridge anymore. You'd better pour it all out, otherwise you'll get sick if you eat it." Doctor Liu advised.

The man sighed as he continued to put the porridge into the pot without looking up. “If I don’t pick it up, there will be nothing to eat. I have two children at home who need to feed.”

Doctor Liu shook his head, called the driver over, and handed him some silver: "Go to the front and buy some big buns, and some food for him."

When the man on the ground heard this, he raised his head and stopped what he was doing.

"Okay, don't eat the dirty stuff. If you eat it, you will have a stomachache and have to spend money on medical treatment." Doctor Liu advised again.

The man then obeyed and poured out the dirty porridge in the pottery jar. He stood in front of Doctor Liu at a loss, holding the empty pottery jar.

Doctor Liu had sharp eyes and noticed the red spot on his arm at a glance. He frowned and said, "What's that on your arm? Let me see."

The man hurriedly pulled up his already short sleeve to cover it up, saying hurriedly, "No, no, no, they say it's a rash, and they're afraid the disease will spread to you, so please don't look at it."

Doctor Liu stroked his beard and said, "It's okay. I'm a doctor. Let me take a look. Maybe I can cure it."

When the man heard this, he looked at Doctor Liu in disbelief, then immediately put on a silly smile and quickly extended his hand. However, he was still very nervous and said, "Let me make it clear first, you took the initiative to see me, and I don't have the money to pay for the consultation."

Doctor Liu nodded and looked at the rashes carefully. The more he looked, the more frightened he became.

After reading it, he said seriously, "You are such a poor person, yet you still have no self-control and are always looking for women."

Doctor Liu saw that it was syphilis. If she hadn't been unclean, how could she have gotten this disease? He was really angry at her for not fighting against it.

The man lowered his head in panic. He cursed himself, "I was confused for a moment and went to Zuichunlou. Who would have thought that I would contract this disease at that time? It also harmed my wife... My wife also recovered from the disease and died on the 26th of the twelfth lunar month."

As the man spoke, he burst into tears. Doctor Liu shook his head and said, "Don't cry. What's the point of crying now? What were you doing before? Okay, take these buns and rice and go home first. Tell me your home address, and I'll have someone send you medicine in a few days."

The man took the food from the driver and knelt down before Doctor Liu. "Thank you so much, Doctor! If you can save my life, I will never be able to repay your kindness."

Doctor Liu thought about it and realized that venereal disease was not so easy to control. The capital did not prohibit the operation of brothels, and there were many red houses and brothels. The north of the city was the most mixed, and if the disease could not be controlled, the consequences would be disastrous.

In the end, he did not return home, but went back to the palace to ask for an audience with His Majesty.