Quick Transmigration: Leisure

The city gate.

Xia Youmi sat inside the carriage, chatting with her brother whom she hadn't seen for half a year about their recent lives. Outside, two personal maids, Shiyi and Shirong, stood guard, along with guards and eunuchs sent from the palace.

She recounted being assigned to a palace in the northeast corner, with a large bamboo grove behind it—a truly delightful place. A cook arranged by her family would come to the palace on her birthday to prepare her own small kitchen. The palace maids assigned to her had also been trained by Granny Zou; Shiyi and Shirong were exceptionally capable. She had also made contact with the familiar imperial physician, and after sending gifts to the Empress Dowager, her request to live in seclusion was granted.

"In short, the most important thing for you all while you're away is to take good care of yourselves."

"Everything is going well for me in the palace. If anyone tries to cause trouble, we'll see if they can withstand my intervention."

"Well, little sister, be careful with your strength," Xia Yuan instructed.

"Yes, we need to seize the vital point directly so that they can't cause any more trouble in the future." Xia Sheng nodded, agreeing with the idea of ​​striking a balance.

"Don't be afraid! As long as your brothers are here, your maternal grandparents' family is here, and your grandfather's influence remains, no one in the capital can upset you. As for Jin... that kid, don't even try to compete for that little bit of favor."

"According to our plan, from now on, the sea will be wide enough for fish to leap freely!"

Xia Sheng patted his chest and assured them that if the emperor refused to release her in the future, they had a second plan: to steal her away.

"Haha!" Xia Youmi was amused.

I wonder if the people in the future were angered by this, but in every life she receives genuine protection from her family. Despite what she perceives as obstacles—such as orphans and widows, severed ties, and years of separation—as long as she doesn't get caught up in the core conflict of the main storyline, she manages to handle her relationships with those around her as well as possible.

Time was of the essence, so most of the letters remained in writing, with the system scanning and backing them up every year and then destroying them on the spot, without anyone handling them.

......

The second year of Chongze.

He brought the cook prepared by his maternal grandparents into the palace, thus beginning his true life of seclusion.

Instead of paying respects at dawn and dusk, I sleep until I naturally wake up.

The palace staff was quite simple. One person she could trust was a head matron surnamed Wang, whom she had brought from home; she was Xia Yuan's wet nurse, someone she had been close to since childhood. She had two personal maids, both of whom had accompanied her to the border; they were skilled and quick-witted. There was also a cook named Qian and a physician named Ji, who were usually away from the palace on duty.

In addition, there were those assigned by the palace according to custom. Several second- and third-class palace maids did cleaning and maintenance work. Two eunuchs mainly ran errands and fetched things. There were also several palace servants who served the bamboo grove, who were also counted in this palace. All of these were managed by Granny Zou, who was assigned by the palace, and Xia Youmi never interfered.

Although it was located in a remote area, there were still palace servants who were good at listening to gossip. The gossip was passed on to Shi Rong to collect, so she could listen to it whenever she wanted.

Her dowry was generous, and Xia Sheng sent another batch before she went to war.

So much so that they didn't even need to think about making money; it was enough to maintain their carefree lifestyle. The palace servants could only secretly rejoice; no one dared to say anything outside, lest someone else snatch their good job. Just like the protection provided by some negative reviews in their previous lives, they would occasionally pass on vague, bad news to those who inquired about the situation.

Early March.

That day, Ye Ruilan came to see Xia Youmi.

When the report was made, she was still eating breakfast, while the morning meeting of the harem had already ended for a while.

He quickly rinsed his mouth and went to the front hall to greet them.

"Imperial Consort Sister!" Xia Youmi called out affectionately.

Only Ye Ruilan would come to this palace; everyone else would be turned away. As for the other three powerful figures—the Emperor, Empress Dowager, and Empress—they wouldn't travel such a long distance to see her.

"I overslept! Why did you come all the way here? You could have just sent someone to announce my arrival, and I would have gone directly to Yunlan Palace to pay my respects!" Xia Youmi carefully helped Ye Ruilan sit down, not daring to neglect her six-month pregnant belly.

"You're always joking around." Ye Ruilan looked at Xia Youmi's unmade-up face with an increasingly kind smile, feeling a little relieved.

"Isn't this because I'm worried that my sister will get tired? Our little prince won't be happy about that."

"Afraid I'll get tired? Then take my burden." With that, he ordered the maids behind him to bring out the food.

Those neatly stacked ledgers clearly indicate that someone has come to handle palace affairs!

Danger! Xia Youmi almost jumped up in shock.

"What are you doing? No!" Xia Youmi hurriedly waved her hands, her face instantly contorted in distress.

"Take it back quickly, I don't want to look at that thing."

Ye Ruilan found it amusing and explained, "If you don't look, who will? Right now, in the palace, besides the seriously ill Empress and me who is pregnant, the only other person in a high position is you, Consort Xian. It is only natural for you to take over the palace affairs."

As he spoke, he added a sip of tea, picked up another pastry, and slowly savored it, as if he was certain that she would accept it.

"Good sister, I've been practicing swordsmanship since I was little, and I get a headache whenever I see arithmetic, don't you know that?" Xia Youmi declined.

"If I make a mistake, I'll have to ask my sister to clean up the mess for me, which will only make things more difficult for you."

After taking a sip of tea, Xia Youmi firmly ordered the account book to be taken back.

“My brother knew my temperament all along. He asked His Majesty for a favor, so I will never have to deal with palace affairs for the rest of my life.”

"Please, have mercy and let me sleep in a little longer."

"You can call me to join in the fighting and killing, dear sister! Sister Lan! Please have pity on your little sister's stupid brain!" Xia Youmi tugged at the other's sleeve and began to whine.

Seeing this, Ye Ruilan had no choice but to give up and had the account book taken back.

She held Xia Youmi's hand and stroked it, filled with emotion, "Although my energy is limited, since you've said so, I won't trouble you."

I can finally relax.

As she said, there are not many high-ranking positions, and there is only one concubine, who is of low status.

Consort Zhuang was initially a maid who taught Lian Shaoyuan about human affairs, later becoming a concubine. After giving birth, she was promoted to maidservant, and after entering the palace, she was granted the title of Consort. However, she came from the humblest family and was illiterate. Her rise to a high position in the palace was due to her daughter's status and the generous gifts bestowed upon her by the new emperor.

These three nobles are all from impressive backgrounds, but their official ranks are significantly lower. Entrusting palace affairs to them would be a slap in the face to ourselves.

Therefore, the only one who could rightfully take over was Xia Youmi.

That's why they came to test the waters, to see if he was truly docile or just pretending to be weak while actually being strong.

Xia Youmi understood Ye Ruilan's thoughts and didn't blame her for testing her. This was a common practice among noble ladies in the capital, and if they weren't careful, they wouldn't last long.

However, not wanting to get involved was also a genuine feeling. Having experienced the various frustrations and grueling commutes and overtime work in my later life, it would be foolish for anyone to give up this life where they can steal moments of leisure.

Don't talk about vying for favor and becoming Empress Dowager. The child isn't even born yet. Even if it is, there's no guarantee it will be born normally, and even if it is, there's no guarantee it will be raised well. Even if it is raised well, there's no guarantee it will rise to power, and even if it does, it's not guaranteed a good life; it will have to compete with the new Empress for a foothold.

It's really not going to please anyone.

Unless you're forced onto that path, if all other paths are painful dead ends, then you can take a gamble.

After seeing Ye Ruilan off, everyone breathed a sigh of relief.

For the next month, she paid attention to palace gossip.

What kind of imperial concubine is pregnant, yet she still clings to power in the palace?

The Imperial Concubine was favored, and His Majesty only visited her palace.

Consort Liang provoked Consort Zhuang and was punished by copying a book a hundred times.

The imperial concubine fell and went into premature labor at seven months!

Ok?

what?

An investigation revealed that it was the inconspicuous Consort Sun who was responsible! Her methods were extremely crude, yet they managed to bring down Consort Ye.

Sun Changzai insisted that it was to avenge the loss of her son.

This not only shifted the blame onto the imperial concubine, but also saved her from death.

He was simply banished to the cold palace!