Chapter 139 Chapter 139 "Your words are too poor." ...

After Liang Jiugong finished reading the imperial edict, Li Shuyao and Qingyao were still squatting with their knees bent, unable to recover for a long time.

Liang Jiugong was probably used to this kind of scene, as his smile remained undimmed. He held the imperial edict in both hands and said gently to the two of them, "Empress Ling, Empress Yi, please accept the edict."

Li Shuyao and Qingyao seemed to have just woken up from a dream and bowed their heads to express their gratitude.

Even when she held the bright yellow cloth in her hands, Li Shuyao felt a sense of unreality. She was made a concubine just like that?

Isn’t it next year, the 20th year of Kangxi’s reign? How come it’s suddenly brought forward?

After seeing Liang Jiugong off and returning to the bedroom, Li Shuyao unfolded the imperial edict in her hand in disbelief and read it again and again.

She had gradually become accustomed to traditional Chinese characters over the years. She squinted her eyes and scanned the document up and down, accurately picking out the key points from a large number of boastful words - it was just a preliminary announcement, and the enthronement ceremony would be held in August next year.

...It seems that there is no mistake, and everything is consistent with history.

After Li Shuyao finished reading her own imperial edict, she turned to look at Qingyao's.

After reading Qingyao's, she turned around and asked Nanny Yan, "Who else will be crowned as a concubine this time?"

Nanny Yan had been serving her the entire time. Li Shuyao had assumed that after asking, she would have to wait for Nanny Yan to go out and inquire about the matter before getting any results. However, Nanny Yan answered immediately, "Those who were conferred the title along with the two empresses this time also included Consort Hui and Consort Rong."

After she finished speaking, she turned her head and glanced at the gate. Seeing that no one was around, she moved closer to the two of them and whispered to Li Shuyao, "This time, Your Majesty will be the first of the four concubines."

Then he looked at Qingyao and said, "Your Majesty should be ranked third among the four concubines."

Qingyao was stunned.

Before she could speak, Li Shuyao couldn't wait to speak, "Who is the last one?"

Nanny Yan: "Empress Rong."

Among the concubines, Rong Fei can be regarded as a model of non-competitiveness.

Perhaps it was because she had been with the emperor for too many years, and had two sons and a daughter, all of whom had been raised safely and healthily until now, Rong Fei had become less and less concerned about the emperor's favor. No matter whether the emperor came or not, her life was the same.

Every day, she was either busy preparing medicinal food for Changsheng or teaching Ergege the art of music, chess, calligraphy, and painting. The rest of the time, she was either sighing or on her way to beating up little Yinzhi...

Li Shuyao sometimes suspected that it was not that Rong Fei did not want to compete for favor, but that Yinzhi had completely exhausted all her energy.

After beating Yinzhi during the day, instead of serving the emperor at night, it would be better to cover yourself with a quilt and have a good sleep.

Li Shuyao nodded: "Oh."

She guessed that Concubine Rong might not care much about the ranking of concubines, and it was good enough to have it.

It was Concubine Hui.

Li Shuyao did not forget that Concubine Hui had an older brother.

As the biological mother of the eldest prince, she couldn't even take the position of the head of the four concubines. Concubine Hui was open-minded about it, but the Nalan family outside the palace, who were forced to be relatives of Concubine Hui by the original novel author, might not be able to accept it.

Li Shuyao was thinking that she should go to the Yanx Palace someday to test Concubine Hui's attitude.

Then it was Qingyao.

Li Shuyao suddenly turned her head to look at her best friend beside her, "Qingyao..."

Before she even uttered a word, Qingyao seemed to have guessed what she was going to say.

The stunned expression on her face had completely disappeared, leaving Li Shuyao unable to detect any clues. She calmly waved the round fan in her hand and said in a gentle voice, "Ranking third is already very good."

Li Shuyao still felt a little uncomfortable in her heart, as she always felt that she had snatched Qingyao's things away.

Guilt gradually stained her delicate features, which made Qingyao's heart soften again.

She found that she really couldn't have any negative emotions towards Shu Yao. When she heard Nanny Yan's words earlier, she didn't feel any resentment. After all, she had seen the emperor's favoritism towards Shu Yao and was prepared in her heart.

The only thing she coveted was whether her position in the emperor's heart would be second only to Shu Yao?

Just like Shu Yao said before, everyone has a desire to make progress.

Although the harem is peaceful now, sometimes there are still some small competitions among the concubines in certain aspects.

In the past, before Shu Yao entered the harem, the competition between concubines basically took place when they went to pay their respects to the late queen. One would talk about what reward she had received from the emperor, and the other would talk about how many times the emperor had visited her this month.

One said that the emperor praised her elegant appearance, while the other said that the emperor praised her slim figure.

It's boring to go back and forth.

Later, Shu Yao also entered the harem.

Originally, they thought that the scene of Emperor Taizu neglecting the harem and favoring only one person would be repeated, and the concubines were ready to fight. But who knew... Shu Yao turned out to be such an innocent and harmless person.

She seemed to be completely innocent, and she could only hear the first level of jealous gossip between the concubines.

Today, it was said that when the emperor went to see her, he saw that she had lost weight again, and asked her worriedly if she was not used to the food in the imperial kitchen.

Although he was clearly bragging about his figure, Shu Yao came up and said, "Isn't it, is it? You also feel that the food in the imperial kitchen has not tasted good recently, right? It seems that a new chef has come in and he is a little confused about our taste. Oh, I miss the food before."

In the past, yes, food.

Anyone with a discerning eye knew that before Shu Yao was granted the title of imperial concubine, she lived in the back chambers of the Qianqing Palace. The emperor doted on her and even allowed her to have her meals served from the imperial kitchen of the Qianqing Palace.

When the concubine who had been secretly boasting about herself heard her words, she was so angry that her nose almost became crooked.

But he didn't dare to say that the imperial kitchen of the Palace of Heavenly Purity was not as good as the imperial kitchen of the harem. He moved his mouth for a long time and could only spit out a dry sentence, "Is that so? Haha, so that's it."

Two days later, she heard someone boasting that the emperor had given her several pots of her favorite chrysanthemums, praising her for her integrity.

Shu Yao stepped forward and asked, "Integrity? If it's integrity, shouldn't I give you bamboo?"

…

After scenes like this happened many times, others would think carefully before speaking to Shu Yao.

It’s not that I’m afraid that the words will be unpleasant, but I’m afraid that the words will be too complicated and Lingpin won’t understand. Wouldn’t I be the one who gets angry later?

At first, some people thought that Concubine Ling was probably a black sesame cold noodle bun with a white and soft surface and a black and hard inside.

But after a long time, everyone can basically see that this girl doesn't care about black or white, soft or hard. She is simply a silly girl who can't distinguish between friend and foe, and sees everyone as a good sister. She will be happy if you give her some food, and it's okay if you don't.

Who would bother to fight with her again?

Not only do I not want to fight with her, but when I'm with her, I often don't even want to talk.

——Thus, the harem enjoyed a rare period of peace and tranquility for several years.

Only today did a few cracks appear.

Realizing that her mood was fluctuating, Qingyao stopped fanning herself and pinched Li Shuyao's wrist.

Li Shuyao immediately understood and waved to Nanny Yan, who then tiptoed out.

Li Shuyao asked Qingyao: "What's wrong?"

Qingyao shook her head, as if she was having trouble speaking. After a long while, she slowly spoke, her voice inexplicably hoarse, "It's true, I'm still a little sad."

"I didn't feel it when I received the decree, but when Nanny Yan said it, I felt a little sad, but I soon got over it. Concubine Hui, Concubine Hui has been pretty good to me over the years. She has an older prince, and my Yinqi is so young."

"Forget third place, even last place is what we deserve."

"I'm sad because just now, I actually had a little bit of reluctance in my heart. It was really just a little bit, not a lot."

"I just feel a little sorry for you and Concubine Hui, Sister Rongfei..."

Li Shuyao was confused when she heard this.

Ah, she just asked Nanny Yan a few questions, why did Qingyao's heart turn upside down?

The more she listened, the more she felt something was wrong. When Qingyao said the word "I'm sorry," she hurriedly held Qingyao's hand and said, "Then what you said would make me feel even more sorry for you."

"I, I'm not worthy of my position. No, no, that's not the word. What is it?"

"Anyway, I've only been in the palace for too short a time, so I'm not qualified to be the head of the Four Concubines."

"I was just thinking that I should go and apologize to Concubine Hui someday... but after thinking about it for a while, I felt that I hadn't done anything wrong."

Li Shuyao pursed her lips with an innocent expression. After all, her position as the head of the four concubines was not obtained by stealing or cheating. It was the emperor himself who gave her the title.

She also felt that she was very obedient. She had been in the palace for so long and had not harmed anyone. She had even helped the emperor a lot...

Qingyao showed a sad expression, shook her head, and said to Li Shuyao: "No, I'm not sad about this."

She said, "I am sad. I actually had those unwilling thoughts. It seems that I am a little greedy..."

She was obviously already very good. After just a few years in the palace, she had surpassed most of the old people in the palace, but she still felt it was not enough.

Li Shuyao suddenly realized that it was not a self-deprecating part.

She thought... it was something like that, the two of them hugged each other and cried bitterly, feeling that they were unworthy, and then tomorrow they would go hand in hand to apologize to Concubine Hui and Concubine Rong.

Although she thought about it, she didn't feel that she was unworthy in any way.

In fact, Qingyao’s emotions are easy to relieve.

Li Shuyao coughed lightly and said, "I don't think there's anything wrong with you."

"I've said before that everyone should be ambitious. If not, why would you enter the palace?"

"If you don't make progress, why do you need to take the imperial examinations? Why do you need to become an official?"

"Look, the Emperor's wish is for peace and prosperity. Shouldn't he also have such thoughts? Is he greedy too?"

Li Shuyao still remembers that when she said this, she lowered her voice, leaned close to Qingyao's ear and spoke quickly. Then she carefully turned her head to look towards the door and the window. Seeing that no one was eavesdropping, she breathed a sigh of relief.

Shaking Qingyao's hand, she continued, "It's human nature."

"Furthermore, only people with high moral standards would reflect on themselves so often."

"If it were someone else, like Hesheli, a concubine, let alone the title of concubine, even if she were given the title of empress, she wouldn't reflect on whether she deserves it. She might even complain about why she wasn't given the title earlier... That's called greed. What you're doing is nothing..."

Li Shuyao's unfinished words were finally blocked by Qingyao's hand.

There was no longer any sadness or timidity between Qingyao's beautiful eyebrows, but instead a hint of helplessness.

After carefully looking around, he raised his hand and poked Li Shuyao's forehead several times, and said in a voice of disappointment: "How dare you say that!"

Li Shuyao was very dissatisfied. "She dared to think so, why shouldn't I dare to say it?"

Although she said this, her voice was still low. If Qingyao had not been so close to her, she would not have been able to hear what she was shouting.

It was like a kitten that was only two days old and whose eyes were not even open yet, but it was already baring its claws and yelling at its owner, without any killing power.

Qingyao sighed: "You."

Li Shuyao pointed at herself with a smile: "Me."

Qingyao stopped talking.

Although he felt that it was wrong, he couldn't help but follow Li Shuyao's words and think deeply about it. Then, he couldn't help but burst out laughing.

While laughing, he said to Li Shuyao angrily: "You are too poor."

Li Shuyao: "..."

What do you think, huh!