Work overtime

Chapter 764

The "Liu Xian" possessed Concubine Hua because it absorbed the spiritual energy of heaven and earth in the palace. Its magic was so powerful that it took half a month for the monks and Taoists to completely subdue it. Concubine Hua finally regained her normal mind and no longer had to be tied to the bed.

However, because she was weak and needed rest, the emperor continued to exempt her from paying her respects, and in disguise she was confined to the Yaohua Palace.

Two months later, in April, Concubine Hua's health had recovered a lot, and she began to resume her morning meetings and greetings every other day.

Everyone found that she was like a different person. She was still cold and indifferent to others and often rolled her eyes, but she was respectful to the Queen. She was no longer like before, always snorting to express her disdain for what the Queen said.

Moreover, after every morning meeting, he would take out the Buddhist scriptures he had copied or his reading notes and give them to Jiang Yuebai to learn from him. Sometimes he would ask about the pronunciation and writing of uncommon characters in the Buddhist scriptures, sometimes about the meaning of the Buddhist scriptures, sometimes about which way of writing a character looked good, and sometimes about his appreciation of Tang poetry.
When Hua Fei asked questions, her face was full of sincerity and respect.

Jiang Yuebai admired his diligence and curiosity very much, which made others feel anxious.

It's just looking for trouble and talking about nothing. It's very abnormal to be attentive to others for no reason.

What is Concubine Hua planning to do? Is there some conspiracy?
The option of repaying a favor was the first one to be crossed out.

Was he trying to challenge the Empress to a duel on Mount Huashan, show off his talent, and ultimately defeat her? Was he trying to gain a relationship with her? Was he trying to retaliate against her by asking for advice, making her overworked and unfavorable to the heir in her womb?
After all, the last time the Empress went alone to visit Concubine Hua who was haunted by the "Liu Xian" was spread all over the harem like a miracle. Especially since Jingyang Palace was changed to Yaohua Palace, this incident was shrouded in mystery.

It was said that the Queen was a real fairy who came down to earth and frightened the "Liu Xian" in Concubine Hua, so that Liu Xian finally took advantage of the situation and ran away.

In order to prevent Concubine Hua from harming the pregnant Empress, every time Concubine Hua went to ask for advice, Concubine Nian, Concubine Rui, Concubine Lu, and Concubine Wu would gather around, ostensibly to study and discuss, but in reality to monitor. Concubine Wu was very favored in the past few months and often accompanied the Emperor, so the Emperor promoted her to a higher rank.

Concubine Lu advised Rui Zhaoyi not to meddle in other people's business as a pregnant woman and to go back to the palace to take care of the baby. Rui Zhaoyi said that she was afraid that Concubine Hua would ask the Empress some tricky and obscure questions, and Concubine Lu would not be able to handle them. At that time, Concubine Hua would become more arrogant and the Empress would lose face, so she had to stay to help and calm the situation.

In the crowd, if there is a theory, there will be argumentation, and if there is argumentation, there will be refutation. Everyone couldn't help but express their own opinions, supporting or refuting the opinions of others. Sometimes they argued over the interpretation of a poem until they were red in the face, and no one was convinced. Originally, Hua Fei's consultation and discussion alone turned into an academic seminar led by Hua Fei to provide materials and topics.

Everyone discovered that Concubine Hua was still quite capable.

Hua Fei's handwriting is beautiful and angular, her understanding of Buddhist scriptures is quite insightful, her reading notes on poetry appreciation are quite aesthetic, and her short essay on her views on a certain issue is quite profound and impressive.

This must be a way to embarrass the Empress. Who would have thought that the Empress was not only not angry, but also praised Hua Fei with all kinds of good words, rewarded Hua Fei, and praised Hua Fei in front of Li Beichen.

Concubine Hua has become the talented woman that the Queen Mother described as "diligent in study, quick in thinking, serious and focused."

After hearing about it, the emperor not only gave Hua Fei a lot of good things, but also wrote a piece of calligraphy by himself and gave it to Hua Fei.

How can this be tolerated.

Everyone was dissatisfied with Concubine Hua's competition for favor, and they stayed up late to practice calligraphy, and spent time in the harem library Wensi Pavilion to look up information and write their experiences, so that they could consult and discuss with the Empress, just asking the Empress to praise them and reward them with some good things.

Everyone in the harem was very excited. They often bumped into their colleagues at the corner of Wensi Pavilion.

Because of the complicated affairs of the palace, Concubine Lu did not have much time to spend in Wensi Pavilion to write down her thoughts and reading experiences. One day, she could not help but shake Jiang Yuebai's arm with tears in her eyes.
"Your Majesty, we are in the same group. We are true friends, and we are doing this for your good. Concubine Hua has bad intentions. Maybe Concubine Hua has been possessed by Liu Xian. The real Concubine Hua is long gone, and the current Concubine Hua is actually Liu Xian. Your Majesty, please don't be fooled by her."

Rui Zhaoyi and Nian Zhaoyi on the side said that it was right and well said.

Everyone was curious about what Jiang Yuebai said to "Liu Xian" that day. Jiang Yuebai said, "I told Liu Xian that if you want to become an immortal, you must first learn how to be a human being. Only when you understand how to be a human being and what is benevolence, righteousness, propriety, wisdom and trustworthiness, can you talk about becoming an immortal."

Rui Zhaoyi was puzzled. "Benevolence, righteousness, propriety, wisdom and trustworthiness are Confucian ideas. What do they have to do with Taoism's immortality?"

Jiang Yuebai said calmly, "To become an immortal means to be free from desires and worries. If you really understand how to be a human being, you will naturally be free from worries." Everyone was confused and didn't quite understand, so they quickly said, "The Queen is so great."

In response to Jiang Yuebai's statement, Rui Zhaoyi, Lu Jieyu, and Wu Guiren, the three most talented ladies in the harem, held a small meeting to study and discuss in depth, and finally came to a conclusion:

The Queen is so high that she sees through the essence of the problem. She is definitely a true immortal. Because immortals come to the human world to experience the tribulations of life, experience the joys and sorrows of life, and return to heaven after being liberated again. Benevolence, righteousness, propriety, wisdom, and trustworthiness are the magic weapons to improve the realm.

Jiang Yuebai just said it casually, but they found a bunch of evidence and wrote a short essay jointly and submitted it to the Queen for correction.

Jiang Yuebai looked at the essay that quoted classics and made arguments from multiple angles, and his mouth twitched. I think many official statements in the previous life came from this way. But because it was written so well, someone was sent to read it out at the morning meeting and praised it highly. He also gave actual rewards and called on everyone to study it and write down their thoughts.

There was no reward for the thoughts and experiences this time, but everyone turned in an exceptionally good number of them. Even Yuan Xipin, who had never liked reading since childhood, wrote a 500-word essay, which was revised by Rui Zhaoyi and Lu Jieyu three times and expanded to 800 words. It was well-organized and profound, and could be called an excellent work.

With such encouragement and affirmation, Concubine Yuan Xi developed an interest in reading. She would go to Wensi Pavilion to read books when she had nothing to do, so that she would not be unable to understand what others said when speaking at the morning meeting, and would not be able to know the answers when asked about her opinions.

The harem presents a good atmosphere of love for learning and pursuit of progress, which surprised Li Beichen. He didn't know how Jiang Yuebai did it, so he could only ask Jiang Yuebai for advice.

Jiang Yuebai thought about it and told Li Beichen that it was to set up a role model. This role model should be very different, someone who has a lot of skills but likes to slack off. If this role model works hard and does something interesting, he should be praised and rewarded.

Li Beichen quickly found a typical example.

Li Beichen first held a private meeting with him to do ideological work and assigned him tasks privately, then publicly praised his efforts and progress and rewarded him.

Then he would assign tasks, find someone to help him revise and improve his essay, and praise him privately from time to time. After doing it several times, he would read out a good essay that had been revised repeatedly as a typical material at the morning court, and ask the officials present to give their opinions and suggestions.

Several undercover agents were arranged to further elaborate on the points worthy of praise. Then the draft, which had been revised after the morning meeting, was sent to the State Council for further revision and turned into an official document, publicly praising him and giving him a small promotion.

Sure enough, after tasting the sweetness, the minister became more confident and worked more seriously than before. Because of his good performance, he did better and better.

Immediately afterwards, Li Beichen successively promoted several ministers who were dedicated to their work and had outstanding achievements. In particular, the three types of ministers were those who came from humble backgrounds, were young and inexperienced, and were not good at flattery, which deliberately highlighted the emperor's pattern of recruiting talents without any restrictions.

It really played a very powerful role in promoting the emperor. The establishment of these typical cases allowed the ministers to see the possibility of being promoted through hard work rather than seniority. After all, as a minister, whether for the public or for private, loyal or treacherous, they all hope to be appreciated and reused by the emperor.

After the ministers rolled up their papers, there were more memorials to be submitted and more time for heart-to-heart talks, so Li Beichen became even busier. His headaches often occurred, making him feel miserable. Fortunately, Jiang Yuebai was by his side, massaging him.

He almost lived in Kunning Palace and moved all memorials to Kunning Palace for review. In his spare time, he would take Jiang Yuebai to visit the Imperial Garden to appreciate flowers, drink tea, and play the piano.

Thinking of how he longed for his father's visit and company when he was a child, he would go to the palaces of Concubine Nian, Concubine Yuan Xi, and Concubine Jin Hui from time to time to visit the children and the pregnant Concubine Rui, and have dinner with them, but never stay overnight.

It was already hot at the end of April, but the temperature suddenly dropped. The temperature change was too great. The fifth prince was born weak and had a sudden high fever and convulsions. Although the Imperial Hospital tried its best to treat him, he unfortunately died.

Nian Zhaoyi cried her heart out, she was in tears all day long, had no appetite, lost a lot of weight, and fainted several times.

This made Li Beichen very worried, and he accompanied her almost every night in May. Jiang Yuebai was also very sad, and visited her twice accompanied by Lu Jieyu. She suspected that the child's death might be related to inbreeding.

When Li Beichen was comforting Nian Zhaoyi, he asked for it several times to make his cousin happy. He also asked the manager of the Jingshifang for a list of concubines who were suitable for pregnancy. He saw Zhou Xuanshi's name, gave her a fertility pill, favored her once, promoted her to a concubine, and moved her to Jingren Palace, nominally to accompany and guide Nian Zhaoyi. In fact, he was going to give the baby to Nian Zhaoyi to raise after the birth.

Zhou Da Ying thought that the emperor had abandoned her, and she was trembling with fear and treading on thin ice. She took extra care of Concubine Nian and did not dare to act rashly at all.