Traveling through the harem: the favorite concubine

Chapter 114

Ruyi turned around, feeling a little sour in her heart.

She couldn't help holding Zhao Qingze's hand tightly, and suppressed the surging emotions in her heart.

Zhao Qingze glanced at her, but in the end he didn't say anything, and the two walked into Ci'an Palace hand in hand.

At this time, the Empress Dowager Cixiao was sitting on a high position, and all the concubines in the harem above the ranks of concubines were seated below the Empress Dowager. Except for the third concubine Xian Deli, who was sitting next to the Empress Dowager, all the other young concubines were seated. Bottom of the head, and above them, sat the concubines who lived in the palace.

When Ruyi and Zhao Qingze walked in, it was the first time they noticed that there were so many people in the palace at a glance.The concubine plus Zhao Qingze's concubines, as well as their respective concubines, unexpectedly filled the already large and somewhat empty main hall of the queen dowager.

Empress Dowager Cixiao who sits on a high position is naturally admired by all the stars.

Concubine Xian sat quietly on the left hand side of the Empress Dowager, Concubine Li sat on the right hand side of the Empress Dowager with a smile on her face, but Concubine De, who was higher than Concubine Li, actually sat second from the left hand of the Empress Dowager.

Concubine De's seat arrangement surprised everyone present. Concubine De should not be placed in this position, regardless of her status or her close relationship with the Queen Mother. Guess, Concubine Biansheng De's face was indifferent, holding the teacup like an old monk in meditation.

Ruyi and Zhao Qingze walked in hand in hand, Zhao Qingze's women naturally had ugly faces and their hearts were turbulent. Even the concubine and the queen mother also had a slight glint in their eyes, but Concubine De, after a flash of sadness in her eyes, fell into the ancient well again. Wave.

Her thin body was leaning on the chair with her head lowered, as if she had no sense of existence.

The Empress Dowager Cixiao's gaze quickly swept over the third concubine Xian Deli who was sitting beside her, then stood up with a smile, and said: "The emperor is here."

Everyone present stood up and saluted Zhao Qingze.

Zhao Qingze yelled lightly, but walked up to the queen mother with Ruyi, bowed slightly, and called out: "Mother queen."

Ruyi knelt down respectfully: "The concubine pays homage to the empress dowager."

"Don't be too polite."

The Empress Dowager smiled kindly, and stretched out her hand to help Ruyi.

Ruyi still thanked him honestly, and just stood up, standing behind Zhao Qingze.

"Speaking of which, since the Ai family sent Concubine Zhao to the emperor's place, they have never seen her again. Now that I see her, I almost don't recognize her."

Empress Dowager Cixiao smiled and spoke slowly.A pair of eyes fell on Ruyi's face and looked at her.

Ruyi didn't know what the Empress Dowager meant, but she still replied respectfully and politely: "Thank you, Empress Dowager, for remembering me."

The Empress Dowager smiled when she heard the words, and said with a slightly reproachful tone: "The imperial concubine is still so well-behaved."

After all, he said: "The emperor and the noble concubine should sit down quickly!"

Then his eyes fell on Aman who was following behind Zhao Qingze and Ruyi, who was being held by the nanny.

"This is the grandson of the Ai family. The body of the Ai family is not good enough. It is the first time I have seen it. Hurry up and give the Ai family a hug."

The queen mother was about to open her hand as she spoke, Ruyi's heart skipped a beat, and she looked at it worriedly, but before she could say anything impulsively, Zhao Qingze suddenly reached out to block the queen mother's hand, and personally reported Aman from the nanny's hand, Then he said in a calm tone: "The prince is too restless, I'm afraid he will hurt the queen mother, so let me hold her!"

As he spoke, he hugged Aman and sat on the vacant seat directly above the Queen Mother.

The queen mother slowly put down her hand, with a stiff expression on her face, but she forced a smile: "Look at what the emperor said, Ai's family hugs his grandson, it's so easy to get hurt. Besides, the emperor is holding the prince himself, I'm afraid Is it inappropriate?"

The royal family has always had the custom of embracing grandchildren but not sons, but looking at the emperor's skillful movements, I'm afraid this is not the first time he is embracing a prince.

"The queen mother is too worried."

After Zhao Qingze finished speaking, he didn't explain anything further. It seemed that he just wanted to use this sentence to send the Queen Mother away.

The expression on the Empress Dowager's face froze again, and the fire in her heart was about to burn.

Concubine Li looked away from Aman who was being held in Zhao Qingze's hands, but she suddenly smiled and said, "The imperial concubine should sit here as a concubine!"

After all, Concubine Li stood up and wanted to give up her seat.

Ruyi just wanted to say that there is no need to trouble, but found that if she didn't sit here, she would probably sit more than ten meters away from Zhao Qingze.

The Empress Dowager glanced at Concubine Li, then at Concubine Xian, and said with a smile: "The noble concubine is honorable, you child only cares about giving way to the noble concubine, but you have forgotten this."

After all, he looked at Concubine Xian.

Concubine Xian's body stiffened slightly, but she didn't say much, she stood up with a smile, and said with a smile: "The imperial concubine should sit here as a concubine."

After all, he wanted to go to the back.

For a moment, Ruyi was really embarrassed.

She didn't sit in this seat today, and she didn't sit in it.The Empress Dowager Piansheng said again with a smile: "Concubine Zhao Gui has always paid her respects to Ai's house in the past, this seat is really not reserved for Concubine Zhao Gui, it is a grievance."

"You don't have to move." Zhao Qingze smiled suddenly, reached out and pulled Ruyi to sit beside him.

The first seat is actually a couch, which is divided into two sides by a small table on one side, the space is very large, and it is more than enough for two or three people to sit on one side.

"You don't have to worry about the mother, it's fine for the noble concubine to sit by my side."

As he spoke, he placed Aman between the two of them. The three of them sat together, a family of three, as if isolating everyone else present.

In this way, in the main hall of Ci'an Palace, the jealous jar was almost overturned for a while, and even those concubines couldn't help but feel a little jealous.

They are all women in the harem, and they were also concubines of the Supreme Emperor before, but when they were favored by the Supreme Emperor, they never received such treatment.

Although Ruyi's appearance is good, it is far from the beauty of the country. In addition, she gave birth to Tianyou and hurt her body, and now her face is covered with heavy makeup. In this harem full of flowers, she can only fall into the second place. inferior.

With a modest background and average appearance, such honor and favor added to the body made everyone even more resentful.

All mothers dislike the woman their son likes, even this son is disliked by her.The Empress Dowager Cixiao looked at Ruyi with a trace of inconceivable meaning, but she said with a smile on her face: "Why didn't you bring the little prince here today? Speaking of which, the imperial concubine is really a hero of the royal family. I gave birth to two such smart and healthy sons for the emperor."

Empress Dowager Cixiao's eyes fell on Aman, but she couldn't help thinking of the little baby who was named Prince Shen. The baby was born, and she was sent outside the palace without her knowing. Haven't seen it.

"The noble concubine has made great achievements through hard work."

Zhao Qingze nodded approvingly, stretched out his hand to hold Ruyi's hand, and smiled at the Queen Mother under Ruyi's somewhat surprised gaze, "It just so happened that the Queen Mother mentioned this matter today, and I was thinking that the noble concubine gave birth to a second child for me." The prince's contribution is enough for me to be promoted to the position of noble concubine."

"emperor……"

The Empress Dowager's gaze fell on Zhao Qingze's face in an instant, and a small exclamation was vaguely heard in the hall.

But Zhao Qingze didn't care about this, he just smiled and said: "It's not normal for a concubine to give birth to a child, why is the queen mother so surprised?"

The queen mother forced a smile, and said: "It's an ordinary thing." What's more, the baby was a prince.

The Empress Dowager looked at Ruyi with complicated eyes, and sighed in her heart for Ruyi's good luck. She gave birth to two sons one after another. Even if other women left Zhao Qingze with heirs in the future, she might not be able to shake her position.

"What position does the emperor want to promote to the noble concubine?"

In fact, everyone knows that Ruyi has already achieved the position of noble concubine, and the position of empress, she comes from a humble background, and it is related to the country, so I am afraid that she will not be able to take the position of imperial concubine.

But Zhao Qingze was not unexpected in this matter, on the contrary, he followed everyone's speculation and said with a smile: "The noble concubine will be promoted to a higher level, let's become a first-rank imperial concubine!"

As soon as this remark came out, although everyone had expected it in their hearts, the sour taste became stronger and stronger. Although the imperial concubine is not a queen, she is also a detached existence in the harem. The emperor did not establish a queen, could it be because of this concubine Zhao ... No, it was kept by the future imperial concubine.

Although there are no express regulations in the harem, the rules have always been like this. The imperial concubine is equivalent to the deputy queen. There are only two situations in the past. Under the circumstances, the imperial concubine will be in charge of the affairs of the harem.The second is to be used after the death of the high-ranking concubine who was very favored by the Holy One.

Today, there is no empress in the harem, so what is the difference between Ruyi sitting in the imperial concubine's position and an empress?

Feeling the needle-like gazes of everyone, Ruyi felt extremely uncomfortable. She thought she was just here to greet the Queen Mother, but she didn't know that Zhao Qingze would mention this matter.

Speaking of which, Ruyi would have almost forgotten her identity if it wasn't for the people calling her the imperial concubine, the imperial concubine, and the imperial concubine. No matter how high she rises, for her, the difference is not too big, and it will not have much impact on her life.

"Since the emperor has made this decision, the Ai family naturally agrees."

The queen mother felt extremely uncomfortable. She didn't say anything that she wanted to say, but Zhao Qingze was lucky enough to give her such a trick, which completely broke her plan.

"It's just that the Spring Festival is approaching, and the Concubine's canonization ceremony will probably coincide with the Spring Festival!" The Empress Dowager looked at Concubine Xian with a perplexed look on her face, with a kind smile on her face, "The Emperor loves Concubine Xian, let Concubine Xian take care of it." I have to do the palace affairs, but I also have to feel sorry for Concubine Xian, Concubine Xian is in charge of the palace affairs alone, and now it is the Spring Festival palace banquet, and the conferment ceremony of the noble concubine, I am afraid I will be exhausted."

Zhao Qingze heard what the Empress Dowager meant, but smiled, and did not take the Empress Dowager's words, and said: "There is no need to hold the canonization ceremony of the imperial concubine, and both the imperial concubine and I don't like red tape. The book and the imperial concubine are enough."

"Your Majesty, you must have wronged the imperial concubine!"

The queen mother didn't believe that Ruyi would be willing, so she smiled and said softly, "If the imperial concubine feels wronged, feel free to bring it up with the queen mother, and the queen mother will decide for you."

Ruyi knew that she was making a raft for the Queen Mother again, and felt a little impatient, but raised her head with a smile on her face and said, "I am not wronged, and I also feel that there is no need to hold a ceremony."

"Your concubine has thought it through!"

The queen mother didn't expect Ruyi to answer like this, for a while, she didn't know what to say, so she asked again.

At this moment, Ruyi didn't have the timidity just now, but replied with a smile: "I think it's good to be simple."

"The temperament of the noble concubine is very similar to that of the emperor. No wonder the emperor loves the noble concubine so much."

The smile on the Empress Dowager's face also fell, and she spoke in a flat tone, and then said to Zhao Qingze: "The emperor likes simplicity, but after all, it is the royal family, and it can't lose the royal style. First, it was the Mid-Autumn Festival and the Longevity Festival. The emperor was escaping the summer heat. In the palace, Aijia wanted to tell the emperor that the emperor would not hear it, but he couldn’t avoid any festivals or ceremonies, which would damage the honor of the royal family.”

Zhao Qingze listened calmly and did not speak.

The Queen Mother got excited, and said again: "When the Supreme Emperor was in power, the palace was so lively, and the emperor's harem was empty, but now even these palace banquets have been cancelled. The life in the harem is happy. It would be too boring."

"Since mother loves to be lively, Concubine Xian will organize the Spring Festival banquet properly!"

Zhao Qingze waited until the empress dowager had finished complaining before he said a word, and then slowly said to the empress dowager: "When the empress dowager was over, the expenses for palace banquets and celebrations were heavy. Negligence. If the Empress Dowager likes it in the future, she should spend more and make the Empress Dowager more lively! Who made the Empress Dowager the one who gave birth to me!"

What Zhao Qingze said smacked of different intentions, and the sarcasm made Empress Dowager Cixiao feel a little offended.

This is to say that she only cares about her own enjoyment and does not consider the community.

The Empress Dowager Cixiao finally swallowed her anger, and then she smiled calmly and said: "Look at what the emperor said, since it is for the community, how can the queen mother only consider herself, since the community is important, but there are some important celebrations, which can be kept simple, but It can't be avoided, the emperor, do you think this is the truth?"

"What the queen mother said is very true."

Zhao Qingze replied bluntly, and didn't say any more, only choking the queen mother.

The words have already reached this point, and the words are not speculative at all. Zhao Qingze has said all that should be said and explained. Naturally, he is not in the mood to sit down anymore, so he prepares to leave with Ruyi.

The empress dowager was so angry by Zhao Qingze at the moment because of the tightness in her chest, and she also knew that it would be useless to talk about some things, so it was better to figure it out slowly, but she waved her hand, on the surface that she never wanted to see the three embarrassing things in front of her again. people.

(End of this chapter)