Harem Daily Life

Tao Yanyan looked at the eldest prince lying on the couch, her eyes darkening. She stepped forward and said, "Queen Dowager, Shuang'er has been punished, and I have nothing to say. But when I was not around, the eldest prince bullied the twins who were so much younger than him. I feel bad about it. Please, Queen Dowager, make a decision for the three of us, mother and son."

The Queen Mother glared at the eldest prince, then looked at Empress Tao, who rarely showed weakness, and said, "He Ye deserves punishment. Then punish him by making him copy the Classic of Filial Piety ten times. He is not allowed to leave Yongxing Palace until he finishes it."

This mild punishment is nothing compared to Shuang'er's ten beatings.

However, Tao Yanyan also knew that the Queen Mother had made this decision and he could no longer refute it. He had to secretly note this in his heart and report it later.

"Grandmother, my grandson will be twelve years old in two months. I think it's better for me to leave the palace and set up my own house before the time comes, so as to avoid becoming a thorn in the eyes of others and being disliked in this palace." The eldest prince took the initiative to ask to leave the palace and set up his own house. The empress dowager and Tao Yanyan were a little surprised.

The Queen Mother looked at the eldest prince steadily. "It's your father's decision whether to leave the palace and set up a residence. A while ago, your tenth uncle left the palace and set up a residence. The house he moved into was the house of a second-rank official whose property was confiscated. If you were to leave now, I don't think you would have enough time to build a new residence. Besides, the war with the State of Yan just ended not long ago, and the treasury doesn't have any extra money to build you a residence."

The eldest prince acted very reasonable and said, "Grandson, you know, I don't want to burden my father, so please ask the Empress Dowager to ask my father to give me the Rong family mansion that was confiscated earlier."

The Rong family's mansion was the best among all the houses that were raided. It was close to the palace and was well maintained. When He Linzhang was considering granting a mansion to the tenth prince of the late emperor, he had considered the Rong Mansion.

Tao Yanyan didn't say anything. She looked down upon this mansion anyway. If He Ye insisted on leaving the palace, she would be happy to do so.

Even if the censor came to impeach her as a stepmother for neglecting her stepson and letting him leave the palace and set up his own home at such a young age, she would not be able to do anything about it. Keeping him in the palace would always be a disaster. It would be better to let him go far away so that he would be out of sight and out of mind.

The empress dowager did not agree on the spot. She only asked the eldest prince to reflect on himself and copy the book seriously, then she took people back to Changchun Palace.

Tao Yanyan waited until Eunuch Qin had beaten Shuang'er with ten boards before he had someone carry Shuang'er back and leave Yongxing Palace.

On the way, Tao Yanyan was very worried about Shuang'er's injury, but Shuang'er did not seem to be in any pain. When they arrived at Changle Palace, Shuang'er was able to get out of bed and walk.

"Shuang'er, you..." Tao Yanyan wanted her not to move, lest the wound would be difficult to heal.

Shuang'er smiled and said, "Don't worry, Madam. Eunuch Qin has told the executioners that they held back and didn't hit me at all. I don't feel any pain at all, it just looks scary."

However, Tao Yanyan was still worried, so he asked Chang Tai to go to the Imperial Hospital to get the best wound medicine and come back to apply it to Shuang'er.

"Your Majesty, is the eldest prince making such a fuss just to leave the palace and set up his own residence?" Qingfeng was confused.

"If he wants to go out, he can just go and ask His Majesty for permission. Why does he have to use our two young masters as a scapegoat and make them unhappy?" Qingfeng was indignant.

Tao Yanyan sneered, "Who can possibly guess what he's thinking? He spends all day thinking about how to harm others. We normal people can't understand that. But since he wants to leave, I won't stop him. The Queen Mother and His Majesty will decide whether he stays or goes."

Mingyue hugged He Xiaobao, who had come to listen to the gossip, and said, "So, if His Majesty agrees to this, then all the property left by Concubine De will be sent to the eldest prince's residence along with his."

Tao Yanyan frowned when he heard this: "Not only will we have to give him all of Concubine De's savings, I'm afraid His Majesty will have to give him another estate."

At that time, He Linzhang gave the late emperor's tenth prince tens of thousands of taels of silver as a gift for him to leave the palace and set up his own residence.

Every prince has this to do when he leaves the palace, it is unavoidable.

Tao Yanyan felt a pang of pain at the thought of giving tens of thousands of taels to the eldest prince. It was more painful than asking her to take out 100,000 taels to repair the canal.

His mood instantly turned bad. Tao Yanyan was too lazy to even take care of the children. He went into the study to write and draw, hoping to find some other way to make money.

He Linzhang came over at night. He already knew what happened during the day. He went to the twins' room to check on the two children. They were both sleeping like little pigs, as if there was nothing on their minds. He felt relieved.

Seeing that Tao Yanyan was still bored in the study, He Linzhang washed up and went to call for help.

"Why don't you take a rest? What are you doing?" He Linzhang surrounded Tao Yanyan from behind and watched her write something on the paper.

"I'm thinking of ways to make money. Today, the eldest prince mentioned to the Queen Mother that he wants to leave the palace and set up his own residence when he gets older. I thought that every prince needs a sum of money when he goes out, so I have to find a way to make some more."

He Linzhang found it funny. It turned out that the little queen was worried about money.

He said, "He Ye, I've already prepared this, so you don't have to worry. The subsidy for the Tenth Prince was left by the late Emperor, so I just handed it over on his behalf and didn't spend any of my own money."

Tao Yanyan glanced at him and said, "In the future, there will be Jin'an, Yucheng, Xiaobao, Xuan'er and the others. I also want to give them some after they find their husbands. Sigh, being a parent is really tiring."

He Linzhang held her in his arms. "Don't worry about Jin'an. I will directly give him land. All the land is his. It will be more than silver. I will not treat him unfairly. As for Yucheng, he is the legitimate son. In the future, the whole country will be his. I will not treat him unfairly. As for Xiaobao, compared to Jin'an, he will only get more, not less."

Tao Yanyan listened to He Linzhang's arrangements and touched his face: "Your Majesty is a good father."

He Linzhang was amused by his compliment and moved closer: "Oh, just a good father?"

Looking at his cocky look, Tao Yanyan finally knew who Yu Cheng inherited his cocky look from.

She rolled her eyes and said, "Your Majesty is still a kind and good emperor."

He Linzhang raised his eyebrows, clearly still not satisfied: "What else?"

Tao Yanyan pouted and glared at him: "Your Majesty, just tell me what you want to hear."

He Linzhang kissed her face: "I think I am also a good husband."

Tao Yanyan: "..."

"What? Yan Yan thinks I'm not good enough?" He Linzhang looked at her without blinking, feeling a little aggrieved.

Tao Yanyan had no choice but to go along with it: "Okay, okay, Your Majesty, how can it be not good?" It would be even better if Your Majesty didn't have so many harems and courtyards!

Tao Yanyan didn't continue the topic and offered her red lips to him to avoid him asking more questions.

It was rare for the little queen to be so proactive, so He Linzhang was naturally overjoyed. After a while, he carried the little queen back to the bedroom.