Harem Daily Life

Shu Cairen was re-appointed as a fifth-rank beauty and had the opportunity to attend a palace banquet. She tried on the new dress specially prepared for the banquet, but she was not satisfied with it no matter how she looked at it.

"Is this how the Imperial Clothing Bureau has been fooling around in the past two years? Why is the style so ugly? The colors don't match well either, making my skin look darker." Lady Shu looked left and right, her face full of disgust.

The maid Cuiwei looked up and saw that Concubine Shu had indeed darkened over the past year or so, having been exposed to the elements and living outdoors with the Empress Dowager. She was no longer as fair as she had been in the palace. She had no choice but to say, "If you're not satisfied, why don't you ask them to take it back and redo it? There are still five days before the New Year's banquet, so there's still time."

Concubine Shu glanced at her. Her former maids, Fuxin and Ziling, would never have allowed such a style to be brought to her. The new palace maid was indeed not as considerate as the one she had brought from the Shu family. It was a pity that those two were dead, and now she had no confidant.

"Go ask what color the Queen is wearing. I absolutely cannot be uglier than she is." In Shu Meiren's heart, she looked down on Tao Yanyan. She believed that Tao Yanyan's current success was entirely due to His Majesty's favor. But now that His Majesty had left the palace due to poisoning, Tao Yanyan had no one to back her up. It was time to dampen her spirit.

Cuiwei had no choice but to go to the Clothing Bureau, and sure enough, she saw that the new clothes made for the queen had not been delivered yet. It was a bright red winter dress with a circle of white fur around the collar, which looked warm and elegant.

Cuiwei couldn't help but touch it, but was stopped by the embroiderer from the Shangyi Bureau: "Please don't touch it. The Queen's dress is made of very fine materials. If you damage it, you can't afford to pay for it."

Cuiwei was startled, but pretended to be calm and said, "I won't touch it, why are you making such a fuss? By the way, I came here on the orders of my mistress. I wanted to ask if there were any other colors of clothes? She wasn't satisfied with the one I sent her before."

The embroiderer did not dare to make the decision and immediately went to ask for help from Manager Liu.

Manager Liu heard Cuiwei's words clearly. The corners of her mouth twitched as she said, "Each palace chose the styles and colors two months ago. Concubine Shu was just promoted, and we didn't originally plan to make hers. If we need to make a last-minute replacement, we can only avoid the styles and colors chosen by all the concubines. It's really not convenient to match them now."

Cuiwei said with a dark face: "You can't let my master wear something she doesn't like to attend the palace banquet, right?" Due to Concubine Shu's status and power, Manager Liu was very embarrassed for a moment.

"Or, is there anything already made that I can exchange with my beauty?" Cuiwei said, glancing at the winter clothes that had been changed aside.

Manager Liu followed her gaze and couldn't help but say angrily, "I advise you to stop giving bad advice. The only dress that's ready now is for the Empress. The fabric is a rare pearl brocade that only comes once every few years. It can only be used to make clothes for the Empress. The remaining fabric was used to make a small jacket for the Fifth Princess. No one else will get one."

Cuiwei rolled her eyes at her and said, "So what do you say we should do now? My beauty is the niece of the Empress Dowager. If she is not satisfied with what she is wearing, she will definitely complain to the Empress Dowager."

Manager Liu choked, his breath stuck in his chest. After a while, he said, "Then choose a color she likes, and our clothing department will remake it for her within three days!"

Cuiwei thought about it and decided that this was the only way, so she chose a color that would make anyone look whiter, and asked Manager Liu to make it and send it for trial wearing within three days.

After Cuiwei left, several embroiderers gathered around Manager Liu and started talking.

"This Lady Shu is really hard to please. The clothes I gave her are so beautiful, but she's not even satisfied."

"Just now, I saw that Concubine Shu's maid had her eyes fixed on the Empress's winter coat. If I hadn't stopped her, I'm afraid she would have snatched it away."

"The Queen is beautiful, and looks good in anything she wears. Even if Lady Shu wears the Queen's dress, she still looks inferior."

Manager Liu was now in a state of great headache. He waved his hand to stop them and said, "Stop standing here talking. Hurry up and make the new one. Didn't you hear that we only have three days? Let's get started."

Everyone had no choice but to put down their work and make a new dress for Miss Shu.

Manager Liu looked at the Queen's clothes and felt that it was not a good idea to keep them in their clothing department. They had to send them away as soon as possible to prevent others from seeing them and becoming tempted.

When the new dress was delivered to Changle Palace, Tao Yanyan took one look at it and fell in love with it. She went to the inner room to try it on and found it fit perfectly. The color was also very bright and matched the atmosphere of the palace banquet.

"This fabric seems good. I've never worn it before." She touched the fabric and it felt very good.

Qingfeng smiled and said, "Your Majesty, this is a new tribute of pearl brocade from Jiangnan. I heard it takes several years to weave a single piece, so it's really rare. The remaining fabric is running low, so I made a small jacket for the Fifth Princess."

Tao Yanyan suddenly realized that he had never seen it before.

But when he thought that only Nuoer had it and the other children didn't, Tao Yanyan felt a little guilty.

"Next time, tell Manager Liu that if you have this kind of fine fabric in the future, you don't have to use it all to make clothes for me. Divide it into several small portions and make clothes for Xuan'er, Yue'er, Min'er, and Nuo'er. It's a pity if the adults use up all the fabric after making one piece. It's more cost-effective to make clothes for these little princesses."

He Yue, who happened to come in looking for Tao Yanyan, heard what she said and was a little tearful for a moment. She quickly calmed herself down before stepping into Tao Yanyan's bedroom.

"Your Majesty, your son greets you." He Yue greeted him and, seeing Tao Yanyan's new clothes, couldn't help but praise her, "Your Majesty, you are fair-skinned. You look so beautiful in this red dress!"

She had just heard Tao Yan say that the fabric of this dress was rare, so she didn't dare to touch it, but just stood aside and admired it silently.

Tao Yanyan took her hand and sat down, asking, "Yuer, you came here at this time. Is there something you want to ask Mother?"

He Yue nodded, somewhat embarrassedly saying, "I received a letter from my biological mother, saying that she is very ill and wants me and Min'er to go see her. However, she doesn't live in the capital now, but in Yuecheng. I don't know what to do."

Tao Yanyan had heard from Chang Tai that the deposed former Queen Wang asked Li Zongguan to deliver a letter to the Second Princess. He did not check the contents of the letter, but it turned out to be about this matter.

Tao Yanyan said, "Do you want to go see her? If so, the Queen Mother will send someone to take you sisters there."

Wang had already severed ties with the two sisters, but if she was terminally ill, Tao Yanyan would not stop the children from seeing her.

Tao Yanyan decided to give He Yue the choice of whether to meet or not.