Harem Daily Life

Steward Li looked around and saw that they were all Queen Tao's people. He felt relieved and said, "Some time ago, the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the Ministry of Justice jointly reviewed the six-month accounts of the Tianlao. They found that His Royal Highness Prince Jing was giving quite a lot to the Tianlao. Not only did he often send food and daily necessities, but he also spent over a hundred taels of silver, most of which was used to improve the lives of Prince Liang and the First Prince."

Those who were imprisoned in the Tianlao were usually royal relatives, powerful officials, or prisoners involved in major political cases. There were rarely people who would specifically build relationships with such people or send them benefits. After all, they were all major criminals, and no one wanted to be involved or implicated.

Tao Yanyan pondered for a moment. She knew that Prince Jing valued friendship more than He Linzhang's other brothers, and this was what he would do.

"If it's Prince Jing, it's okay. He is just that kind of person." Tao Yan said.

Steward Li thought for a moment and reminded him, "Prince Jing is kindhearted. I'm worried that someone inside might have some inappropriate thoughts. If they make a mistake, it would be bad for Prince Jing."

Tao Yanyan nodded: "Okay, I understand. I will remind Your Majesty to be on guard."

Li Zongguan couldn't stay any longer, so after completing his errand, he hurried back. Tao Yanyan asked Jiang Gonggong, the eunuch in charge of the temporary palace, to distribute the ice cubes Li Zongguan brought to each courtyard according to their weight. Although the temporary palace was cooler than the palace, having ice cubes would make it easier to survive the summer.

Because Shu Cairen had a low rank, she originally could not get much ice cubes, but considering her special status, Tao Yanyan still gave her the amount that only a concubine could use.

"Cairen, it's good to have ice cubes here. You will sweat less and your wound will heal faster." Xiao Tang and the others put ice cubes beside the bed and fanned Shu Cairen.

Shu Cairen's legs have not yet fully healed, and she has had two high fevers during this period. She already had some pain on the right side of her body, and this time her leg was injured. The new injury and the old illness made her miserable.

Looking at the ice in front of the bed, Shu Cairen sneered, "She's great at pretending to be nice, but she's also ruthless when it comes to harming others. By the way, I asked you to find a way to send a letter to the Shu family. How come several days have passed and there's still no news?"

Xiao Tang hurriedly said, "Teacher, the letter has been sent to Eunuch Zhao, who is out shopping. He will go out shopping again tomorrow, and only then can he bring back Master Shu's reply."

Shu Cairen's expression improved a little. She was just waiting for the Shu family to help her. Even if they couldn't help much, she had to let the Shu family know that she had suffered a loss and been beaten by the Queen Mother.

The Shu family must help her get justice.

The next day, Eunuch Zhao brought a letter from the Shu family to Shu Cairen. Shu Cairen opened it hurriedly, but the more she read, the angrier she became.

After watching it over and over again three times, Shu Cairen wanted to get up right away and rush to the Shu family to question his father and mother. Why did his daughter get beaten and they still said it was all his daughter's fault!

"I'm so angry, so angry!" Shu Cairen threw the letter to the ground: "No one can be trusted, no one can be trusted!"

She was so excited that her movements were a little too big, which affected the injured wound. The scar that had finally healed showed signs of cracking, so Xiao Tang quickly applied medicine to her.

"Cairen, don't get too excited. The scar has just healed!" Xiao Tang advised while applying medicine.

Shu Cairen took a deep breath, and the pain finally made her choose to repeat to herself three times: I'm not angry, I'm not angry, I'm not angry, before she slowly calmed down.

"I never thought my father would ask me to endure it, and even told me to admit my mistake to the Queen Mother and ask for her forgiveness. Humph, it was clearly her who did the shameful thing, so what's wrong with me exposing it? Everyone blames me and refuses to help me at all."

Xiao Tang stepped forward and advised: "The Queen Mother is a noble person, and the Shu family also depends on her for survival. Master Shu is advising the talented person to endure it, and it is also for the talented person's own good."

Shu Cairen now has a deep sense of powerlessness. There is no one around her who can be relied upon and no one can help her.

But she was unwilling to give in. The jealousy was about to overwhelm her.

During the Ghost Festival, Tao Yanyan had people prepare gold ingots and paper money in advance, and burned them in a remote place in the palace after nightfall.

Qingfeng and Xianglan arranged the things in piles. There were a lot of things to burn this year, some for Concubine Yin, the former Imperial Concubine Wen, and the former Empress. These were all burned for the young masters.

There were also ones for Empress Tao's biological mother. Tao Yanyan had someone make a bunch of new ones, but she didn't say who they were for. She did it herself and asked someone to move away so that no one could hear what she said.

"I am using your body now to burn some paper money for you. Feel free to use it. If it's not enough, come to me in your dreams." Tao Yanyan stood up after the fire burned out and looked at the flickering stars without saying a word.

Qingfeng stepped forward and said, "My Lady, it's late, let's go back!"

Tao Yanyan nodded: "Have someone clean it up. Don't let any sparks fall, or else it might cause a fire in such dry weather."

Qingfeng agreed, left the two eunuchs to clean up, and then returned to the bedroom with a lantern.

Before she could even wash up, Eunuch Zhang rushed in: "Your Majesty, someone has come from the capital, saying that Prince Liang has escaped from prison. Your Majesty sent me here to report this, saying that I will not be coming tonight."

Tao Yanyan frowned: "How could someone escape from the prison?"

Eunuch Zhang had no choice but to say, "I heard that Prince Liang has been feeling unwell recently, so he asked Prince Jing to call in a doctor to help treat him. Today is the Ghost Festival, and the guards at the prison were worried about the ghosts seeking revenge, so they left their shift early. As soon as they relaxed, Prince Liang knocked the doctor unconscious and took Prince Jing with him. His Majesty was furious and sent people to surround Prince Jing's mansion, but Prince Jing's wife kept protesting, saying that Prince Jing must have been held hostage by Prince Liang and had not conspired with him to escape."

Tao Yanyan frowned, thought about it, then got up and went to He Linzhang.

"Why are you here? It's late, go and get some rest." He Linzhang was wide awake, waiting for news about the search in the capital.

"Your Majesty, I've heard about Prince Liang's affairs. I don't think Prince Jing is part of his group." Tao Yanyan said with a firm gaze, "Prince Jing has no ambitions. I previously appointed him as a regent to provide a check and balance. Your Majesty should know his character and his loyalty to you."

Seeing the young queen's anxious look, He Linzhang stepped forward and held her hand: "Is it because you were worried that I would implicate Prince Jing that you came here overnight?"

Tao Yanyan nodded and said, "I heard that His Majesty has surrounded Prince Jing's residence. Princess Jing and the children in the residence must be terrified."

He Linzhang patted her arm and said, "Don't worry. As long as Prince Jing is innocent, I will not blame him. But right now, his whereabouts are unknown, so we have to surround Prince Jing's mansion."