lady, please calm down

At the hour of Mao, the sun begins to rise.

The sunset glowed on the yellow and green glazed tiles above the palace, representing the royal family, and shone brilliantly.

The shadows deep inside the hall and deep in the palace that never see sunlight form a sharp contrast between light and dark and the luxurious brightness.

After more than ten years of expansion, the Lin'an Imperial City now covers an area of ​​more than 1,500 acres.

With such a vast palace area, the manpower required for daily maintenance, sweeping, making tea, cooking and other trivial tasks is naturally not a small number.

At its peak, the Zhou Dynasty had more than 3,000 palace maids and over 1,000 eunuchs.
Last month, Chai Yuanyi, who was designated by Chen Chu as the Grand Master of the Zhou Royal Family, arrived in Lin'an and moved out all the concubines. Chen Chu asked Cai Huan to dismiss about half of the palace people.

Two thousand people were left behind to be responsible for the operation of the imperial city.

When Chen Chu went south in April, he was accompanied by three groups of soldiers, and there were no palace maids accompanying him.

However, when Cai Huannan came, she picked some palace maids with simple backgrounds and high loyalty from the Tokyo Imperial City and Huaibei.

Although the fifty or sixty people brought by Cai Huan had been arranged to serve as eunuchs in various important places, it could not change the basic fact that the palace was almost entirely populated by old people from the previous dynasty.

Cai Huan knew that the situation in Jiangnan was complicated, so in order to ensure Chen Chu's safety, she took him to live in the West Garden, which was adjacent to the imperial army station outside the palace.
Originally, Cai Huan planned to wait until the situation in Jiangnan was somewhat settled and the Cui Zaidao incident was settled before she could free up her hands to gradually tidy up the harem, but she didn't expect that the Funing Palace would be haunted.

"Your Highness, I have not seen the ghost of Mrs. Cao Zhang, but I heard from Li Tongshi of our Funing Palace that she also vaguely saw Mrs. Cao last night. In my opinion, people who died unjustly have great resentment. Your Highness should persuade His Majesty to go to the temple to burn incense to avoid being haunted by the wronged ghost."

In the main hall of Funing Palace, Cai Huan sat on a gold-lacquered chair with a dragon head and a phoenix and pearl tassels, looking at the chattering Wang Shanggong in front of her, feeling angry and powerless.

This Lady Wang was originally my mother's personal maid and had lived in the Cai family for most of her life.

Cai Huan was brought along on this trip south precisely because she was short of people. Now Wang Shang Gong, the fifth-rank palace lady in Funing Palace, has no problem with her loyalty. She had taken care of Cai Huan for a few years when she was a child, and the relationship between them went beyond that of master and servant.

But now, Cai Huan's head hurt after hearing this, and she immediately scolded: "Cao Zhang is a woman who committed a crime. How can it be considered an injustice for her to commit suicide? Moreover, Your Majesty is the true emperor. The destiny is with you, and even ghosts and gods are afraid of you! How can you be afraid of that lonely ghost!"

The theory of ghosts and gods has always been mysterious. Even though Cai Huan herself does not believe in them, it does not stop her from using this narrative method.

Wang Shang Gong was scolded, and she couldn't help but glance at Cai Huan carefully, and then looked at Concubine Cai who was still trembling slightly beside her, and couldn't help but muttered softly: "Your Majesty is not afraid of ghosts and gods, but Ru'er can't stand it. If she makes trouble again, Ru'er will have to suffer."

It would have been better if she hadn't said it. After saying this, Ru'er's face turned even paler, and she looked at Cai Huan with tears in her eyes, as if the latter was the only one who could save her in this world.

Cai Huan was speechless. She patted her forehead in annoyance and muttered to herself, "I was so blind. How could I let Grandma Wang become the chief housekeeper of the Funing Palace?"

On the side, Yunzai, who had just heard the imperial concubine's explanation in the West Garden, roughly understood what the imperial concubine meant. He could not help but secretly wink at Wang Shanggong, who was also from Huaibei. According to what the imperial concubine had just said, someone was playing tricks in the Funing Palace last night. As the chief steward of the Funing Palace, Wang Shanggong should now carefully analyze for the imperial concubine who is the most suspicious.

But she insisted that there was something fishy going on in the palace.
But no matter from which angle you look at it, Wang Shanggong cannot be the one who is "playing tricks". Since she is not a bad person, the only explanation is that she is "stupid".

However, Yun Zai was too embarrassed to look down on Concubine Wang. If the Queen hadn't said it, who would have thought that such ghost and god matters were actually a foreshadowing for murdering others in the future!

Just like Concubine Cai, whose face is pale at the moment, if she were to be tormented twice again, she would definitely be terrified and uneasy. Maybe without anyone doing anything, she would be scared to death after a long time.

Yunzai couldn't help but start to worry about Wang Shanggong. She had heard from Concubine Cai that what the Imperial Concubine hated most were "stupid people".

"Your Highness, if you don't believe me, I will call Li Tongshi in and you can ask him in person."

Wang Shang Gong turned around and pointed outside the palace. In the morning light, the palace maids and eunuchs who were on duty in Funing Palace last night were already waiting outside the palace. The official Tong Shi who was responsible for recording the dates when the emperor visited the concubines in Funing Palace stood in the front.

The team of more than 20 people was quiet and the palace maids and eunuchs were all well-behaved and looked harmless.

Cai Huan only gave him a cold glance, then looked at Wang Shang Gong, her fox eyes slightly narrowed, as if she was thinking seriously about something for more than ten breaths, and then she suddenly said: "Grandma Wang, I will reward you with some silver, you can go home and retire."

"what?"

Grandma Wang, who had barely even warmed up to the position of Shang Gong, was caught off guard. She looked at Cai Huan in shock and stammered aggrievedly, "Sanniang, I entered your family when I was a teenager. Before I came to Lin'an, Madam asked me to help you take care of the trivial matters."

Grandma Wang, who had no idea where she had gone wrong, still wanted to use her feelings to redeem herself.
But before she could finish her words, she heard a sound of footsteps outside. Turning back, she saw Yue Rong, who was beside Cai Huan, leading a team of soldiers into the Funing Palace.

Everyone inside and outside the palace was shocked.

A few breaths later, Yue Rong came in and said, "Madam, Captain Xu is here."

"Well, let him in."

"Your subject Xu Xiaoyi greets the Imperial Concubine."

"No gift."

Cai Huan raised her hand and then slowly said, "The Queen is far away in Huaibei now. I have been asked by His Majesty to take care of the six palaces. Today I have something to trouble Captain Xu for."

"Please give your orders, Madam."

"Kill these filthy people who are secretly communicating with foreign officials outside the palace. Find a secluded place and avoid shedding blood, so as not to pollute the palace."

As soon as the words fell, everyone looked at Cai Huan, all with expressions of astonishment.

The grievance on Wang Shanggong's face instantly turned into fear, and even Tiedan, who had already known some of the inside story, looked surprised.

Ru'er was even more confused. There was a ghost in the palace, why did the Queen kill people?
Xiao Yi did not immediately accept the order, and continued to stand there with his fists clasped, but heard Cai Hua say faintly: "The dispute in the front court has spread to the harem. The servants outside the palace are pretending to be mysterious and trying to do something bad to Your Majesty. The emperor has the final say on what to do in the front court, but in the harem, no one can jump up and down in front of me!"

In such a huge palace, more than twenty lives disappeared silently.

The Funing Palace was exceptionally quiet this morning.

Everyone in the hall seemed to be frightened and no one spoke for a long while. Finally, Tiedan, who was sitting at the side, spoke first: "Are they really in contact with foreign officials?"

Facing Tiedan's question, Cai Huan rolled her eyes, as if Tiedan's question was very stupid.

Tiedan was frustrated and couldn't help asking, "Why don't you let someone interrogate him properly?"

"This is a crime punishable by the death of nine generations of the clan. Who among them would dare to admit it? Besides, we have no evidence."

No evidence? How dare you say that?
What happened today was totally against Tiedan's three views. She was a little angry and kept silent.

Beside her, Wang Shang Gong, who had been in great fear, was possessed by her soul at this moment, and could not help but break out in a cold sweat. Last night, Li Tongshi brought several palace maids to treat her to a drink.

At this moment today, they have stepped into the gates of hell?

Wang Shanggong secretly raised her eyes to glance at Cai Huan, and felt that the charming fox face of the Third Lady, whom she had watched since childhood, now looked as terrifying as an evil ghost.

When she was in the Cai family, the most she did was to manage the servants for Lady Wang and assign some cleaning chores. She had no political sense and did not understand what Cai Huan meant by "the dispute in the front court has spread to the harem."

At this moment, her only thought was to stay as far away from Cai Huan as possible. "Your Majesty, just now, Your Majesty said that I should return to my hometown to retire. I am indeed old and cannot do the job well. Thank you for your mercy." Upon hearing this, Cai Huan smiled gently. "Grandma Wang, please come to Xiyuan to find me later. You have been managing my family for most of your life. I will prepare some money for you so that you don't have to worry about food and drink when you return to your hometown."

"Thank you for your kindness, Madam. I have saved some money. My three sons have all started their own families and careers. They can support me without any money. I will go back and pack up, and leave today."

After saying this, Wang Shang Gong bowed again, said goodbye, and left the Funing Palace as if escaping.

Cai Huan looked at Grandma Wang's embarrassed but fast-moving figure, and was distracted for a moment, then said to Yue Rong: "Go to the West Garden Palace to get two thousand strings of bills, and make sure to let Grandma Wang take them. By the way, the journey back to Huaibei is not short, and it is not safe for her to carry so much money. Yue Rong will go out of the palace to ask Miao Kuimiao, the shopkeeper of the North-South Merchants Bank on Ma Xing Street, if there will be a caravan heading north in the next two days, and take Grandma Wang with them."

Yuerong took the order and left.

Ru'er's maid Yunzai looked at the ground, but she was very confused. When the imperial concubine said to kill people just now, she did not hesitate.

At this time, she was taking great care of an old servant. It was as if there were two people living in Concubine Cai's body.

The hall fell silent again. Cai Huan looked around and saw Yun Zai with his head down looking at the ground, not daring to breathe. Ru'er was always keeping an eye on her, and when she saw Cai Huan looking at her, she quickly forced out a flattering smile.

Tiedan, on the other hand, sat upright, looking straight ahead, refusing to make eye contact with Cai Hua.
Cai Hua suddenly asked: "Now, do you think I'm hateful?"

Tiedan continued to look ahead without saying a word.

Ru'er waved her hands quickly and said, "No, no, Your Majesty must have her reasons for doing this."

Yun Zai was so frightened that he fell to his knees with a thud.

Seeing this, Cai Hua couldn't help but curl her lips and reveal a self-deprecating expression, and said: "During the Zhou Dynasty, for nearly two hundred years, the officials and celebrities whose birth and death years could be found lived an average of sixty-two and seven months, but most of the Zhou emperors did not live to the age of fifty."

"."

Tiedan and Ru'er stared at Cai Huan, a little confused, not understanding why she suddenly brought up this.

Cai Hua continued, "Forty percent of the royal family's offspring die young, even less than the babies of ordinary people. Why do you think this is the case?"

Tiedan remained silent. Ru'er grew up in a deep house after all, and there were things she had never seen or heard before, so she said carefully: "I'm afraid it's caused by the concubines in the harem competing for favor."

"This is just one of the reasons." Cai Huan nodded and continued, "There were 14 emperors in the Zhou Dynasty, but they experienced two extinctions and the throne was passed to the side branches. This is not a big blame that the women in the harem can bear."

"My lady is saying."

"During the last days of the Tang Dynasty, military leaders and eunuchs could replace the emperor at will. The so-called Son of Heaven was in danger from day to day. After the establishment of the Zhou Dynasty, it took the last days of the Tang Dynasty as a lesson and strictly guarded against military leaders and eunuchs. However, those powerful civil officials were not good people. Haven't you heard about the pestle case in the year of the reign of King Jing of Zhou?"

This pestle-beating case is old news from fifty years ago.

The reigning Emperor Zhou learned that most of the mountains, rivers and streams in the south of the Yangtze River were occupied by gentry and wanted to bring them back to the court. As a result, he experienced a protracted confrontation with all officials.

One year later, late at night, Emperor Zhou was attacked by a group of palace maids holding medicine pestles while lying on the dragon bed. His forehead was broken by the pestles and bleeding.

But the Emperor of Zhou was lucky enough to escape the disaster. Although he executed more than a hundred palace maids afterwards, he did not dare to investigate further.
Tiedan understood what Cai Hua wanted to say this time, and couldn't help asking, "Were those palace maids instructed by the civil officials?"

"Isn't that nonsense? If the officials hadn't set up such a big pie, who would risk the heinous crime of exterminating the entire clan to assassinate the emperor? Even if he was the emperor, wouldn't he still have to swallow his anger after the incident? He was also framed by the officials and gentry as "treating the palace maids harshly and causing them to rebel"

After Cai Hua finished speaking, Tiedan couldn't help but frown and said, "If they dare to treat Your Majesty like this, I will kill them!"

"Hehe~" Cai Huan was very satisfied with Tiedan's statement and said with a smile: "Of course they dare not do this. That's why they use this trick of pretending to be ghosts. Imagine, if there are rumors of ghosts in the palace every now and then, those who are interested only need to tamper with your Majesty's diet, and then your Majesty's health will get worse day by day until he dies in a certain year. Doesn't it fit the story of wronged ghosts seeking revenge?"

By then, even those loyal generals in the Huaibei Army will not be able to see anything unusual. Your Majesty is in his prime, so they cannot influence him, but the prince is young, so they have the opportunity to influence him."

After hearing this, Tiedan and Ruer fell silent.

In their view, the harem was a place for women, but they never expected that it would be so closely related to the general situation of the world.

After unifying their thoughts, Cai Huan continued, "Tiedan, no matter how good your kung fu is, you can't stop these arrows. Now the queen is in Huaibei, and I have no helpers around me. You need to help me and His Majesty do something."

Tiedan hesitated for a moment, but still said, "Go ahead, Concubine."

"Starting tomorrow, you will take Ru'er and gradually dismiss all the palace servants. Everyone must be replaced within a month. I originally wanted to wait until Xiao Cui's matter is resolved before taking action, but now it seems that I can't wait any longer."

"Yes!" Tiedan agreed. After Ru'er realized that there was such a big connection behind what happened last night, she couldn't help but say in fear: "Fortunately, the imperial concubine came to Lin'an! If I were the only one in the palace, I would be deceived by the villains and suffer their tricks!"

At this time, Xiao Yi, who had finished his work in a "secluded" place, returned and asked for a meeting outside the hall.

Cai Huan had Xiao Yi brought in and asked calmly, "Is it done?"

"Replying to the Imperial Concubine, the twenty-two palace maids and six eunuchs have all been disposed of. What do you want to do with the bodies?"

Xiao Yi, who was doing this for the first time, looked a little unnatural, but Cai Hua said, "Find two cars to load them and send them to the outside of the palace. When the officials leave the court, hand them over to Sang Yanting for disposal."

"!" Xiao Yi looked stunned.

So many people were killed at once, and others had no time to hide carefully, but Concubine Cai wanted to drag the corpses out of the palace gate for all the officials to see?

Is it appropriate to do this when we know that many officials are behind this matter?

Cai Huan saw through Xiao Yi's thoughts and squinted her eyes towards the front court. She said, "Since they did it on the first day of the month, why do they blame others for doing it on the fifteenth? I want these ignorant dogs to see what will happen to their lackeys!"

The words were full of murderous intent. Xiao Yi calmed himself down, clasped his fists and left.

At the beginning of the Chen hour, the sun rises in the east and the sky becomes bright.

Cai Huan took Tiedan and Ru'er to the West Garden slowly. On the way, she said, "If Ru'er is afraid, she can pack her things and move into the West Garden."

The emperor, the imperial concubine, and the concubine Hui all lived in the West Garden, so naturally she was more than happy to do so.

Tiedan thought for a long time and suddenly asked, "Sister, since you already know that someone is trying to murder His Majesty, why don't you tell him and let him kill them all?"

Hearing that Tiedan changed his address to sister from "Imperial Concubine", Cai Hua couldn't help but smile, and then said, "Do you think His Majesty doesn't know?"

"Then why doesn't Your Majesty take action against them?" Tiedan asked ignorantly.

"The time has not come yet." Cai Hua said mysteriously, and then said: "If we don't let those people jump higher, it will be difficult for us to tell who is loyal and who is treacherous."

After hearing what Cai Hua said, Tiedan hesitated for a few breaths, looked at the ground and said uncomfortably: "Sister, among the more than 20 palace maids this morning, was anyone killed by resentment?"

Cai Huan looked calm as she stared at the rising morning sun, and said slowly and firmly, "As long as someone wants to harm your majesty, I will kill a few palace servants, or even bloodbath the entire Chu officialdom. What can I do?" (End of this chapter)