Your Majesty, please do not disturb, the empress only wants to engage in business

Chapter 220 The Servants

A cold wind blows into the night.

The Liuchun Pavilion was not as brightly lit as usual.

The emperor had not summoned her for the past two days, but Qiao Yanran remained calm and did not take the initiative to seek him out at this time.

For some time now, she has been by the Emperor's side, and she has already been watched by many people in the palace. Now that Consort Rong has returned to the public eye with her child, she can finally relax. Even if the Emperor has stopped summoning her recently, it is not necessarily a bad thing.

This winter is much better than last year. The fact that Qiao Yanran can still sit by the heated table reading at this time, wearing only a nightgown and covered with a thin blanket, is proof of that.

In fact, winter in the palace was much better than in ordinary households outside.

It was only last year, thanks to the Emperor's ingenious idea, that the craftsmen under his command developed this thing called a heater. It not only avoids the discomfort of being too close to charcoal fire, but also eliminates the smoky smell, making it much more comfortable.

Houses in the north are small, and because of the freezing weather, winters are always tough. It's alright during the day, but if you sleep in an open space at night, you're bound to get sick from the cold.

Even beggars on the street knew to find dilapidated houses to hide in and gather more dry grass to keep warm. For families living in the capital, charcoal was a very precious commodity in winter. Saving a little bit would save them money and food, so that they could live a slightly more comfortable life.

The invention of heating was a good thing for people all over the world. Even though it was only used in the northern regions, it still benefited many people. Since the emperor himself came up with it, it was considered an achievement of the emperor. No one dared to touch it. Otherwise, the powerful figures behind the mines would not have stood by and watched their interests be harmed.

However, while this thing harmed the interests of the powerful and wealthy, its benefits were also quite obvious.

Qiao Yanran's maternal family is in the capital, so she naturally knows the trends in the capital. If this thing appeared in the capital last year because people wanted to flatter the emperor, then this year it is being used genuinely.

The principles behind these things are not difficult. Warm pavilions have existed since the Qin Dynasty, and the north has always had underground heating systems. It's just that the emperor's creativity simplified these things further. After they were passed on to the aristocratic families in the capital who valued enjoyment, skilled craftsmen naturally innovated and made them even more suitable for enjoyment.

Ordinary families use the simplest version, which is cheap and usable; wealthy families naturally have their own preferences. This autumn, when the palace installed it, they used a new technique, using ceramic pipes to carry water and bamboo woven panels to cover the room, ensuring that even when the nobles were sitting on the heated kang, their legs would not feel hot.

A kettle can sit on the charcoal brazier outside, keeping the water warm for a long time. This makes the indoor temperature more comfortable and keeps it warm for longer, without causing discomfort due to large temperature differences.

Although there wasn't much water that could be put in the charcoal brazier, even in the imperial harem, the charcoal fire cost a lot of money.

In the palace, only the emperor was entitled to use the first batch of hot water. Only after the emperor used the remaining water could it be passed down to the lower-ranking officials. Not to mention that the emperor and the concubines did not like water that was too hot. This kind of water, which was placed on the charcoal fire and then cooled down a bit, was exactly the temperature that the emperor liked best.

With this, the eunuchs and palace maids no longer had to get up half an hour early every day to boil water in the small kitchen. Winter was already hard enough, and the winter days in the capital were long and unbearable. Who wouldn't want to rest a little longer if they could sleep in the room?
Needless to say, the comfortable temperature inside the room, without any sudden changes in temperature, was a great advantage—it didn't make people uncomfortable, nor did it require constant changing like a charcoal brazier. For the master, who could sleep soundly at night, there was naturally no need to worry about being too hot or cold; at worst, the master would be covered with a thick blanket. However, it was a difficult time for the servants on night duty. The eunuchs on night duty could bring an extra blanket and hide in the corridor to enjoy the warmth of the underfloor heating, but the palace maids sleeping in the room had to endure the temperature fluctuations. Although sitting in their clothes and lightly sleeping by the master's bedside was not a comfortable thing to do in itself, the sudden changes in temperature were the most unbearable.

To outsiders, the personal maids were considered to have a rare level of respectability, and this was indeed the case for them as well.

The discomfort behind this facade of respectability is like a price to pay, something you have to endure.

Even masters might not understand these things, but these servants are all in the same situation; no one would suggest to their masters that they increase their workload.

Although there was no overt communication among them, a subtle yet close alliance had formed in their hearts.

This is the core reason why Yao Jinse often interacts with these servants; there are some things that people outside that social class cannot possibly know.

Therefore, even though Bai Tao and others were mainly responsible for communication and coordination, Yao Jinse still needed to overhear from time to time to feel at ease.

It was precisely because of this that she was able to know that the seemingly calm Liuchun Pavilion was actually under a tense atmosphere: the more favored Qiao Yanran had been recently, the more bewildered the servants of Liuchun Pavilion were now that the Imperial Concubine's child had been born.

Everyone was worried about their future, but Qiao Yanran's composure clearly did not affect the servants.

Pampering someone is nothing more than using one's looks to curry favor and thus receive some meager favors.

Qiao Yanran's own plan was excellent. She was not only beautiful, which suited the Emperor's taste, but she was also good at solving the Emperor's problems. She could always offer different insights into the Emperor's troublesome issues. She was able to control the boundary between interfering in politics and resolving doubts, which shows the effort and ability Qiao Yanran had put into this aspect.

Among the new concubines who have entered the harem in the past two years, she is unique. Even He Yunqing, whose family background is better than hers, cannot achieve the same feat of being a beautiful woman by the emperor's side.

But people are always like this: they are not worried about scarcity but about inequality, yet they desperately want to be the one who benefits from inequality.

The fact that the Imperial Concubine was able to regain favor after giving birth to a child shows that the favor had never left her. People in the palace always say that a mother's status depends on her son, but after actually getting to know the situation, you realize that many children in the harem only rise to prominence because of their mothers' status.

Weren't those princes who fought tooth and nail for the throne all born to the emperor's favored concubine? Without their mother's favor in the harem, they wouldn't even have the right to compete for the throne.

Xie Yun'an was able to succeed to the throne because he was cunning enough and his disguise was convincing enough. Another reason was that the Empress Dowager was not particularly favored among the many beauties in the harem. She only had a son, so she had someone to rely on.

But if you think that having a child guarantees support, then the same applies to princesses; it doesn't necessarily have to be a prince.