The Self-cultivation of a Salted Fish Concubine

King Jing stayed with Xie Run for three days as he had some peace and quiet.

It was not until the fourth day that there was some clue about Concubine Yun's miscarriage, so he went straight to the main courtyard.

The princess was currently dealing with the accounts in the backyard.

After hearing the announcement, she put down the account book in her hand, stood up and saluted, "Your Highness, I greet you."

King Jing gave him a hand and said, "Get up."

After saying that, he sat down at the top.

Also invited were Concubine Ning and Fang Yuaner.

During these days of being confined to Lanxiang Garden, Concubine Ning's life was not easy at all.

She thought of many ways, but failed to get the message out.

The people around him were taken out for interrogation one after another.

Even her closest person, Mother Zhang, never came back after she left.

Concubine Ning felt like she was being roasted on the fire every day.

Today, King Jing asked someone to invite her to the main courtyard.

She felt inexplicably relieved.

It felt like there was a knife hanging over my head, and today it finally fell.

King Jing took the tea handed to him by the maid, took a sip, and then said, "Since everyone is here, bring the person up."

Soon, a young servant was brought up.

Then, Mother Zhang and Concubine Ning's maid Zhenzhu were pushed up, and the half-dead Wen Xiang was also there, but she was kneeling at the back.

In such a situation, it was naturally impossible for King Jing to come out and question the people.

Eunuch Shi'an stepped forward and said in a shrill voice, "Concubine Ning, I'm sure you are familiar with the three people in front of you, right?"

Concubine Ning was a little depressed and snorted coldly, "Mother Zhang and Zhenzhu are both my people, so of course I know them."

As for the servant, Concubine Ning glanced at him and said calmly, "Who is this person? I don't know him."

Eunuch Shi'an: "This man is a servant from the Weiyuan Marquis's residence. He came to the palace ten days ago and said he was delivering something."

Concubine Ning's face instantly lost all color.

Upon seeing this, Eunuch Shi'an said calmly, "According to what the princess said, I have indeed found out that the Weiyuan Marquis's Mansion bought a batch of safflower a few days ago. They also sent a servant to visit them on the same day, saying that the mansion was delivering something to Consort Ning."

"This young man has already admitted that the gift he gave that day was the red flower."

Concubine Ning's legs went weak and she almost fell off the stool.

She looked at King Jing with hope, "Your Majesty, I don't have..."

When Eunuch Shi'an saw that King Jing was frowning and obviously impatient, he immediately quickened his tone.

"I have also found out that someone saw this servant meet with Madam Zhang. I'm afraid these red flowers entered the palace's backyard through Madam Zhang's hands."

As for why no red flowers were found in Lanxiang Garden, that’s actually quite simple.

It is not difficult to destroy this kind of thing. You can dissolve it in water and pour it out, or bury it in an inconspicuous corner.

The problem is that he stays around all the time, as if waiting to be caught.

Shi An continued, "The people in the Princess's Courtyard and the people in Concubine Ning's Courtyard have never interacted much. But half a month ago, Miss Wenxiang broke one of the Princess's jade bracelets, and Miss Zhenzhu happened to see it."

"This bracelet is a Kunxue jade bracelet that the princess brought from the Xia Dynasty. There are only two in the entire palace. One is in the princess's hand, and the other was given by the princess to the former concubine Ning. That's why the two of them suddenly started to interact."

As he spoke, Shi An glanced at the princess at the top of the table: "I believe the princess can still find the bracelet now."

Since the princess's jade bracelet was broken, if the princess still has another jade bracelet, it can only be the one that belonged to Concubine Ning.

It can also prove that pearls and fragrance are secretly connected.

The princess glanced at Mother Li beside her.

Mother Li immediately sent someone to look for it in the warehouse.

After a while, a complete Kunxue jade bracelet was brought up.

Mother Li's face was serious. "Your Highness, this is not the princess's bracelet. The princess's bracelet has a word engraved on the inside of the band, but this bracelet doesn't have it...Your Highness, you know that."

The Kun Blood Jade Bracelet was handed to Prince Jing, who glanced at it calmly and said, "This is definitely not the princess's bracelet."

Now that things have come to this, what else is there that you don’t understand?

The medicine bought by Weiyuan Marquis Mansion was delivered to the palace through Zhang Mama's hands.

Zhenzhu, who was beside Concubine Ning, used her bracelet to get close to the princess and smell the fragrance. She put a lot of safflower in Concubine Yun's pregnancy-preserving medicine, hoping to cause Concubine Yun to have a miscarriage and put the blame on the princess.

Concubine Ning's face was as white as paper.

She racked her brains, trying to come up with a rebuttal.

Eunuch Shi'an pulled out a stack of papers from his sleeve and respectfully presented them to Prince Jing: "Your Highness, the confessions are all here, signed."

Concubine Ning only felt a loud bang in her head, and something collapsed in an instant.

She cried out weakly, "Prince..."

At this moment, Fang Yuan'er was suddenly helped up by her maid and slowly bowed to King Jing.

"Your Majesty, I also have something to say."

King Jing took the confession expressionlessly and flipped through a few pages without showing any anger. He simply said calmly, "Speak."

Fang Yuaner had endured for so long just to wait for this day.

She looked up and met King Jing's gaze, tears welling up in her eyes. "Your Highness, my last miscarriage was not accidental. I was framed!"

King Jing's eyes were dark and deep, so sharp that they almost cut people.

Fang Yuaner's heart was beating rapidly, but she suppressed her nervousness and spoke slowly as planned.

"Although Qiulan has a reckless personality, I have repeatedly warned her to behave herself. Even if she really wanted to vent her anger on my behalf, she couldn't have kept it a secret from me."

She suddenly stood up and walked over to the kneeling Zhenzhu. "Qiulan's actions were all instigated by Madam Liu. But why would Madam Liu harm Concubine Yun for no reason?"

Fang Yuaner chuckled, "I sent someone to investigate, and they happened to find out that Mama Liu had met someone before the incident..."

She suddenly demanded, "Pearl, where were you at the first quarter of the evening on July 3rd?!"

Perhaps because she saw that Concubine Ning was hopeless, or perhaps because she was frightened by Shi'an's punishment and became weak, Zhenzhu cried continuously and said tremblingly, "I went to see Madam Liu. I did it, I admit it, and I beg the prince and princess to spare my life!"

"I am just following orders..."

"Follow orders?!" A surge of anger rose from her chest, and Fang Yuan'er pierced her palm with her bright red nails. She turned around, took two steps, and slapped Concubine Ning twice with her backhand.

Two snapping sounds were heard, and the crisp sounds echoed throughout the room.

Prince Jing, who was sitting at the top, had a frown on his face, but the princess was watching the show with great interest.

Fang Yuaner finally spoke with a tearful voice after she had slapped him, "These two slaps are for my unborn child!"

Fang Yuan'er looked at Concubine Ning with eyes full of resentment and murderous intent.

At the Qixi Festival banquet, Concubine Ning slapped her twice, and then relied on her status to let the maid slap her in public.

Fang Yuaner will never forget the humiliation she felt at that moment.

Turning around, Fang Yuan'er's delicate face was once again filled with grievance and resentment. "Your Highness, Concubine Ning asked me to help her host the Qixi Festival banquet. She wanted to use me to harm Princess Ruyi. She was trying to kill two birds with one stone."

"Princess Ruyi was lucky enough to escape. But I, unfortunate enough, was unable to protect the unborn child in my womb... Now she has viciously plotted to murder Concubine Yun's child." Fang Yuan'er burst into tears. "This vicious woman, every time she stays in the backyard, the concubines there will be walking on thin ice, with no peace..."

"I beg Your Majesty to seek justice for me and Sister Yun!"

After Fang Yuan'er finished speaking, there was dead silence all around, with only the sound of King Jing casually flipping through the confession.

After an unknown amount of time, everyone felt a chill on their backs.

King Jing then calmly said, "Ning has deliberately plotted to murder my heir. I have demoted her to a concubine and confined her to the Orchid Fragrance Garden, never to leave."

"Those who participated in the murder of the heirs of the royal family."

"Death with a stick!"

After saying this coldly, King Jing stood up and said to the princess, "Jue'er will be raised by the princess for a while. After the New Year, he will be moved to the front yard."

Before the princess could speak, Concubine Ning crawled forward on her knees and grabbed the hem of Prince Jing's clothes, "Your Highness, I am guilty, but Jue'er is your biological child..."

King Jing glanced at Eunuch Shi'an.

Eunuch Shi'an immediately said, "Hurry up and drag him away!"

Before Concubine Ning could finish her words, her mouth was stuffed and she was dragged away.

Prince Jing said indifferently, "I will leave first. The princess will handle the rest."

He had just taken a step when he heard the princess call out, "Your Majesty, I have something to ask you."

King Jing has always treated his queen with respect.

What's more, she was innocently implicated in this incident.

King Jing's tone softened a bit, "What's the matter?"

The princess spoke softly, "Concubine Yun gave birth to Princess Ruyi for His Majesty, and she has made great contributions. If it weren't for this accident, she might have given birth to another child for His Majesty."

King Jing's eyes darkened slightly.

Princess: "I heard from the Imperial Physician that Concubine Yun was severely injured this time. Not only will she not be able to conceive, but her health will also be much worse than before. I am thinking of asking for a concubine position for her. What do you think, Your Highness?"

King Jing lowered his eyes and thought for a moment. "Everything is up to the princess. Yun was injured this time. Please open the warehouse and send her more tonics."

The princess bowed slowly, "Then I, Yun's concubine, would like to thank His Majesty first."

Fang Yuaner, who was standing by, heard their conversation and her heart started beating fast.

The princess actually asked for the position of concubine for Concubine Yun?!

The number of concubines in the royal palace's backyard is limited to four.

Now Concubine Yun has taken one position, and when Concubine Rou bestows two more, there will only be one position left.

After a while, King Jing went out to provide disaster relief and brought back another savior, promising her the position of concubine.

By then, all four concubine positions would be gone, wouldn't she still have to be a lowly concubine?!

Thinking of this, Fang Yuaner felt unwilling.

Her eyes rolled, her hand subconsciously fell on her abdomen, and she gritted her teeth and decided to give it a try.

Suddenly, Qiuxiang shouted, "Master, what's wrong with you?!"

When King Jing turned his head, he saw Fang Yuan'er's slender body falling down softly.

Qiuxiang, a maid, couldn't even support the person and he was staggering from side to side.

King Jing gave a look and Eunuch Shi'an immediately went to help.

After a period of chaos, Fang Yuaner was diagnosed with being less than a month pregnant.

The princess congratulated Prince Jing with a smile, "Congratulations, Your Highness. Children are scarce in the harem these days. If Concubine Fang can give birth to a son for Your Highness, it would be a great contribution."

The princess was just too lazy to fight, but she knew everything the women in the backyard were thinking.

After congratulating her, the princess said, "If you consider the last miscarriage, Concubine Fang has already been pregnant twice. She is indeed a blessed person."

"She suffered a great deal of injustice during the Qixi Festival banquet. Since the prince has already granted Concubine Yun a promotion, why not reward Concubine Fang as well and bring more joy to the mansion to dispel the bad luck that has been going on for the past few days?"

This time, King Jing did not agree immediately.

"We will discuss this matter later."

The princess didn't say anything more and stopped there.

———Fangfei Garden

"Master, great news! The princess has prayed for your grace and wishes to promote you to concubine."

Concubine Yun was being helped by the maids to drink medicine.

After hearing the news, I felt very calm.

Concubine Yun had a faint smile on her lips and whispered softly, "It is indeed a good thing. Today, everyone in Fangfei Garden will enjoy it."

The maids serving on the side all bowed and congratulated happily.

There seems to be only one level difference between a concubine and a maid, but in fact there is a huge gap!

There is no limit on the number of concubines and maids in the palace. In essence, they are all slaves of the palace and cannot be considered as the prince's legitimate concubines.

If the princess is a tyrant and cruel person, no one can resist her even if she is beaten or sold.

There are many concubines like this in the royal palace and the backyard, the only difference is whether they are favored or not.

But who can say that they can be favored forever?

If they cannot remain favored for their entire lives, the fate of those unfavored concubines will be the same.

But if she became a concubine, that is, a legitimate concubine of the royal jade butterfly, whether she was favored or not, her position and status would be there, and her life would not be difficult.

Even if you make a serious mistake and are demoted, it is not a matter of just one word.

But you have to go through the royal family and follow the formal procedures.

Generally speaking, even if the prince does not favor a concubine, he will only ignore her and will never demote her unless she makes a serious mistake.

The ancients always believed that family disgrace should not be made public.

If the matter is brought to the clan office, the family scandal will be exposed to the public, and no normal man would do that.

So when Fang Yuaner told Prince Jing that Concubine Ning was a traitor and had stolen the soap recipe, Prince Jing did not get angry, nor did he even think of demoting Concubine Ning.

It was then that Fang Yuan'er realized the benefits of the status of concubine, and she also knew that in order to overthrow Concubine Ning, she had to make a big mistake.

After sending the person out, Concubine Yun pushed away the medicine that Fangse fed her and shook her head gently.

She lay down lazily, her beautiful face pale without a trace of blood, revealing a bit of weakness.

Fangse quickly took a pillow and placed it under her waist, then slowly helped her lie down. She said with a distressed look on her face, "Master, why are you doing this?"

She unconsciously lowered her voice and said, "If you had given birth to a boy, you might have been able to be promoted to concubine due to your contribution to the pregnancy, and you would have had someone to rely on for the rest of your life. Even if it was a girl, that wouldn't be bad either... Why bother to degrade your body like this?"

Concubine Yun's fingers couldn't help but clench the quilt and whispered, "Do you think I want to take risks with my body?!"

"The princess revealed that Lady Rou had already selected two people for the prince, and they will enter the palace after the Mid-Autumn Festival."

"These two are both daughters of officials. First of all, they are at least concubines. If Concubine Ning is not overthrown, Concubine Rou will grant two more concubines. The new Fang and Xie are both quite favored by the prince. How can I possibly compete with them?"

Concubine Yun pursed her lips and said, "I can't wait!"