fifth form

Chapter 2156 Harem
In Changxin Palace, the Empress Dowager was in a state of unrest and could no longer concentrate on crafting a cultivation technique tailored for the new emperor.

She paced back and forth for a long time.

"Someone, please go to the Pepper Room of Weiyang Palace!"

It was almost 12 o'clock when the Empress Dowager stopped and called the palace maids.

"Empress Dowager, it's too late now. The Pepper Room is probably heavily guarded and difficult to enter..."

"Don't be afraid of Li Guang, he doesn't dare to hurt me!"

The eunuch in the palace advised her, and the empress dowager stopped the suggestion and ordered people to prepare the carriages and horses quickly.

The carriage was quickly pulled out, and eight palace lanterns were hung high.

The two demon horses with ghostly fire flashing in their eyes kept taking small steps. When the empress dowager got into the carriage, the two demon horses that were good at traveling at night began to gallop quickly.

"No one is allowed to enter the Weiyang Palace at night without your Majesty's permission!"

After running for a quarter of an hour, the scolding voice came as expected.

The Empress Dowager ignored the scolding of the guards. She lifted the curtain of the carriage. Under the light of eight palace lanterns, the Empress Dowager's face was clearly visible.

The feeling of her head being locked came to her mind, and the Empress Dowager's face suddenly turned, her eyes fixed on the dark shadow that was difficult to see clearly in the darkness.

She pointed to her head, hummed softly, and then retracted her head that was sticking out of the carriage.

"Hurry and report to His Majesty that the Queen Mother has entered the Weiyang Palace at night!"

Li Guang's voice rang out just as the Empress Dowager had expected, and another guard quickly shouted to pass on the message.

No matter how fast the carriage was, it couldn't be faster than the speed of sound transmission. The Empress Dowager didn't need to think about it carefully. She knew very well that as soon as she stepped into the Pepper Palace, the new Emperor and Empress would definitely come out to greet her.

She breathed a sigh of relief, but when she touched her forehead, the empress dowager discovered that it was covered in cold sweat.

Li Guang, the chief of the Weiyang Palace guards, had the right to kill anyone who disobeyed the rules and trespassed, according to the order of the late emperor. With this order in hand and Li Guang's great reputation, few dared to disobey. Only the Empress Dowager, who was in power, forcibly confiscated Li Guang's Heaven-shaking Arrow.

In the imperial palace, only the Empress Dowager had the power to disobey the rules of the Weiyang Palace.

And at this moment, the Queen Mother knew very well that she had won the bet.

Once something happens, it will happen again. Li Guang did not dare to target the Grand Empress Dowager, and now he did not dare to target the Empress Dowager, thus allowing her to pass smoothly.

After several years, the laws and decrees of Emperor Jing were no longer effective, and Li Guang became increasingly restricted.

The Empress Dowager was worried and anxious, while the carriage was speeding through the palace gates and passages.

"Jiaojiao, is His Majesty still practicing martial arts?"

When the carriage stopped, the empress dowager drew aside the curtain and saw only the empress and four palace maids greeting her outside the Pepper Room. This made her face frown slightly and she turned to ask the empress.

"Mother, His Majesty should be in the singer's room in Princess Pingyang's mansion right now!"

The queen bowed and presented the gift, and when she raised her head, she heard a very quick complaint.

"Your Majesty has been obsessed with this woman all day long, neglecting government affairs, not practicing martial arts, and has not returned home at night for a long time!"

"Oh?"

The Queen Mother got off the carriage and glanced at the Queen.

The emperor sits on a vast empire, and even if he has the most beautiful women in the palace, he cannot help but attract their attention when he meets women of different types.

It is not uncommon for the new emperor to like other women, and it will be normal for him to like ten or eight women in the future.

As a queen, as long as she could maintain her position, she could only choose to be tolerant in such matters. After all, the one who truly possessed the supreme power in the Han Dynasty was the emperor, not the queen.

Perhaps because she was young and not sophisticated enough, the Queen did not see through the matter, and instead had a lot of grudges. "I heard that Jiaojiao had some conflicts with a woman named Wei recently!" the Queen Mother asked.

"Mother, it's the one with the surname Wei," the Queen complained, "She relies on her singing ability to charm Your Majesty recently. I thought Your Majesty was in an important period of cultivation and there was no time to waste, so I asked mother to have someone scare her!"

"It's alright!"

The Queen Mother waved her hand, indicating that there was nothing wrong with the Queen's behavior.

"Where are Your Majesty and the woman surnamed Wei?" asked the Queen Mother.

"His Majesty was angry about this, and appointed Wei Changjun and Wei Qing as imperial attendants. The status of the woman surnamed Wei also rose, and now she can live in the Shufang!"

"It's in the Shufang room!"

The Empress Dowager went into the Pepper Palace at night not to listen to the Empress's nagging, but to find the new Emperor to communicate.

She had no right to care about the new emperor finding a new lover. At this time, the empress was living in the Pepper Palace, while the favored woman was only living in the Shu Room. This was a very obvious difference in treatment.

This is a treatment only available after being favored. It is very likely that the other party lived with other palace maids before entering the palace.

The Queen's mother was Empress Dowager Dou, who had been favored and accustomed to a life of luxury since childhood. Moving into the Pepper Palace was like moving to a new house for her, and she had no sense of gratitude or favor at all.

But for the empress dowager who had spent many years in the harem before finally gaining the throne, these were all things she had experienced.

She was a successful woman around Emperor Jing, but there were hundreds or thousands of women who disappeared in the palace like weeds.

People like the woman with the surname Wei were common in the palace. Their low status meant they were destined to be just a plaything, and the emperor would forget about them when he got tired of them.

The Empress Dowager gave a few words of advice, which made the Queen very happy and relieved.

"I'll take my mother to the Shufang!"

Upon hearing that the Empress Dowager had some important matters to discuss with the new Emperor, the Empress quickly recommended herself.

"No need, you should go to bed early. I know where Shufang is!"

The Empress Dowager reached out and grabbed a lantern, but she was already walking far away. The Empress chased after her for several steps, but she felt that she could not catch up with the Empress Dowager's fast pace.

"The Queen Mother has been keeping a close eye on Your Majesty's practice. That lowly maid delayed Your Majesty's time and will definitely be reprimanded by the Queen Mother!"

Ever since the new emperor came to the throne, the empress dowager has been paying close attention to the new emperor's practice. In addition to daily instruction from famous teachers, she has also arranged for many people to customize the new emperor's practice, and then allowed the new emperor to study according to the rules.

Under this rigorous training, the new emperor has hardly slacked off over the years.

Anyone who lets the new emperor slack off will become a thorn in the Empress Dowager's side, and may even be targeted more obviously than the Empress and Dowager Dou.

Looking at the Queen Mother's receding figure, the Queen stretched lazily, feeling that tonight was truly a comfortable and pleasant night.

"Chu Fu, why didn't the female medical officer Chunyu Tiying come back yet?"

The queen felt relieved, and then asked a woman beside her who was dressed as a palace maid.

"Empress, our Han Dynasty has a vast territory. If Chunyu Tiying does not enter the city but practices medicine in the countryside, it will be very difficult to find her," replied the woman called Chufu by the queen.

"Our Imperial Medical Clinic is terrible," the Queen said angrily, "I've spent fifty million dollars at the Imperial Medical Clinic, and they gave me so many medicines, but my stomach didn't swell up!"

"Don't be anxious, Madam. You can't rush into childbirth. I've heard that some men in the countryside have health problems, which makes it difficult for women to get pregnant. Maybe this isn't a problem with your health!"

"Ok?"

The queen tilted her head and thought about it. She thought about it for a long time and finally felt that what Chu Fu said might make sense.

What if it wasn’t her health that was problematic, but the new emperor’s? All the medicine she had taken over the years would have been in vain.

The person who really needs medical treatment may not be her, but the new emperor.