Harem Daily Life

Tao Yanyan looked over and saw a girl of about sixteen or seventeen standing before him, dressed in a pink dress. The hem of her skirt swayed gently in the breeze, like a peach blossom dancing in the wind. Her features bore a resemblance to Shu Cairen, but she lacked Shu Cairen's imposing presence, giving off a more refined air.

"Well, are you coming from Changchun Palace?" Tao Yanyan looked at the route Shu Yunyun took and asked.

Shu Yunyun smiled and said, "Yes, this morning, I delivered the Queen Mother's winter clothes to Changchun Palace, and she held me aside and talked for quite a while."

The boasting in her words was too obvious. Tao Yanyan raised an eyebrow. The Queen Mother must be having breakfast, or just finished it. With all the delicious food in front of her, how could she have the heart to talk to you? However, she didn't expose her, and smiled and said, "Shu Siyi is from the Shu family. The Queen Mother feels close to her."

"Yes, I think so too. The empress dowager has lived in the deep palace for a long time and has no one to talk to. After I enter the palace, I can spend more time with my aunt and help her relieve her boredom." Shu Yunyun exaggerated her role, as if the empress dowager would be very bored without her.

Tao Yanyan was too lazy to listen to her monologue. Yunuo came over and hugged her legs, pointing in the direction of the carp pond and said, "Mother, mother, we are going to play over there and fish."

Tao Yanyan smiled and said, "Okay, let's go." After that, he took Yunuo's hand and left without even looking at Shu Yunyun.

Shu Yunyun frowned, looked at the direction where the Queen and her group left, and said leisurely, "This Queen is too frugal with words."

The maidservant beside her kept her head down the entire time, and only looked up after the people had walked away, excitedly saying, "The Empress was so close to me just now! I've been in the palace for three years, and finally I've seen the legendary most beautiful woman in the Great Zhou Dynasty. Wow, the Empress is so beautiful! I really want to reserve her face in my next life."

Listening to the young palace maid praising Empress Tao's beauty, Shu Yunyun felt a little uncomfortable, her face darkening. "She's already given birth to three children, and she's old. How can she be pretty?"

The little palace maid was stunned. It was obvious that the queen was still very beautiful!

She didn't know how she had made Shu Siyi angry, so she left the Imperial Garden with Shu Yunyun without saying a word.

Over at the Carp Pond, Qingfeng saw that the Fifth Princess and the Fifth Prince were being taken out for fun, so she whispered in Tao Yanyan's ear, "Just now, Shu Siyi was flaunting her status in every way she spoke. I've inquired about her, and she's just a concubine of the Shu family, a daughter of a concubine. I didn't expect her to be so arrogant."

Tao Yanyan looked at the playing children and said lightly: "Don't forget, she originally wanted to come in as a concubine." The person who wanted to be the master now became a female official. The gap in her heart must be quite big.

"Your Majesty, do you want someone to keep an eye on her? Otherwise she'll overthink things and do something inexplicable." Qingfeng asked. She couldn't stand Shu Yunyun's sense of superiority of claiming to be a member of the Shu family.

Tao Yanyan shook his head: "No need. Instead of wasting time on her, it's better to think about how to increase the income of the imperial estate and make more money."

Over the past few years, the imperial property has maintained a steady output, with each sector contributing substantial amounts of silver and gold. However, further breakthroughs have proven difficult. First, productivity levels are limited; without increasing productivity, there's no way to increase production capacity. Second, sales channels are crucial; expanding them is crucial to generating more revenue.

"Do you have an appointment with Concubine Xian today to discuss the distribution of the monthly salary and reward money at the end of the year, as well as the New Year's palace banquet?" Tao Yanyan asked while feeding the fish with a handful of fish food.

Qingfeng nodded: "Yes, I'm afraid that the virtuous concubine should have gone to our palace by now."

Tao Yanyan brought his group back to Changle Palace, and sure enough, he saw Concubine Xian already waiting in the palace.

"I took my two children out to play and came back a little late. I'm sorry to have kept you waiting for a long time." Tao Yanyan said a little embarrassedly.

The virtuous concubine hurriedly smiled and said, "I haven't been waiting for long, but today I would like to trouble Your Majesty to make a decision." As she said that, she asked someone to hand over the accounts.

"The palace has not had any new recruits in recent years, and the servants and maids have not been recruited. Furthermore, some maids have retired due to age, so this year's monthly allowances and bonuses will be lower than last year. Your Majesty, please review this."

Tao Yanyan glanced through it and saw that it was indeed less than in previous years. "Well, that saved several thousand taels. I thought it would be better to increase the reward silver again to make everyone happy."

The virtuous concubine nodded and said, "I think it's okay. This way, everyone will work harder to serve you, and there will be more hope in the future."

"It's up to you to decide how much to raise. You don't have to come back to me." Tao Yanyan trusts Concubine Xian very much and will delegate power when it is necessary.

After discussing the monthly allowance, Consort Xian moved on to the New Year's Palace Banquet. "I'm thinking that many of the concubines haven't had their rank promoted in years. It would be better to promote them all before the New Year's Festival. Then, when the families can attend the banquet, it would be a relief to see their daughters enjoying themselves in the palace. What do you think, Empress?"

Tao Yanyan naturally wouldn't stop him, as it was a favor. "Very well, please bring out the list. I'll take a look at it and then ask His Majesty to make the final decision."

The two matters were quickly settled, and Concubine Xian was about to go back to finalize the arrangements. Just as she was about to stand up, Tao Yanyan stopped her and said, "I have another matter that I want to arrange after the New Year, so I'll tell you about it first."

Upon hearing this, Concubine Xian immediately sat up straight.

"Several of the senior maids around me are about to be released from the palace due to age. I've thought that they've served me for so many years, they're very loyal, and they've learned a lot of skills. I want to make some arrangements for their future so that they have some security and can continue to make use of their strengths."

The virtuous concubine nodded and said, "The several senior palace maids that Your Majesty has brought with you are naturally the best. I wonder how Your Majesty would like to arrange them?"

"I think we should let them serve as ladies-in-waiting and arrange them to work in the imperial estate."

Xianfei was taken aback for a moment, then smiled and said, "The imperial estate is under the personal management of Her Majesty, so arranging a position for it shouldn't be easy. However... it seems that the current management is handled by palace servants or externally hired stewards, and the female officials don't have much to say. Only Manager Sun, who previously left the Clothing Bureau, is still in charge of the garment workshop, but it seems that no other women have taken up any positions."

Tao Yanyan nodded. "That's true. So I want to reorganize the imperial estate, forming different lines, adding some management positions, and assigning the right people to them. I have a preliminary idea. Come with me and I'll draw it for you."

The virtuous concubine followed Tao Yanyan to the study, where Tao Yanyan explained while drawing the structure.

"I am at the top, followed by the Imperial Household Department. The Imperial Estate is part of the Imperial Household Department's responsibilities. Currently, this structure is only divided into a few lines. I would like to add an operations line, primarily responsible for foreign sales, to further subdivide the positions. I would also like to add an external expansion line, primarily responsible for the expansion of industries outside the capital..."