After the laughter and playful banter subsided, Gu Jiangli began to plot how to deal with those concubines.

In a few days, it will be the Hundred Flowers Banquet in the palace. All the concubines will be there then. It wouldn't be bad to drop a bombshell in front of them.

Gu Jiangli continued to spend the next two days with the emperor. The day before the Hundred Flowers Banquet, she did not rush to see the emperor, but went to the Empress Dowager's Wenhua Palace instead.

She looked shy, placed her hand on her lower abdomen, and told the Empress Dowager that she was pregnant.

The Empress Dowager was taken aback at first, then upon seeing her expression, she jumped up from her chair in surprise: "You just said you... are pregnant?"

Surprise mixed with joy, and the Empress Dowager couldn't help but smile.

Gu Jiangli nodded shyly, "I just had the imperial physician examine her, and she is indeed pregnant. However, His Majesty is unaware of this yet. I think we can give His Majesty a surprise at the Hundred Flowers Banquet tomorrow."

"Good, good, good..." The Empress Dowager quickly took her hand, tears welling up in her eyes.

For the emperor, this was indeed a pleasant surprise.

What difference does it make whether the emperor finds out a day earlier or a day later if Gu Jiangli becomes pregnant?

The Empress Dowager agreed to Gu Jiangli's plan without any hesitation.

She lowered her head slightly, her heart filled with emotion: "It seems that my prayers on the mountain were not entirely useless. Heaven has finally opened its eyes and allowed Heng'er to have his own child."

She choked up a little at the end, then suddenly seemed to remember something and asked Gu Jiangli, "So the reason you dared to ask me that day was because you knew you were pregnant?"

Gu Jiangli smiled and said, "Actually, I wasn't quite sure that day either. It's just that my tastes had changed those few days, and my period wasn't on time, so I had this guess. At that time, I was just thinking that I could get the Empress Dowager to give in and see how sincere I am to His Majesty. I didn't mean to disobey you."

"It's alright, it's alright." The Empress Dowager was very happy. "You're pregnant now, so you have to be careful. This is Heng'er's first child. If there's anything you want, just tell me and I'll arrange it."

The Empress Dowager made no attempt to hide her joy, and Gu Jiangli did not refuse her kindness.

Before leaving, he took quite a few things from the Empress Dowager's palace.

As soon as Gu Jiangli left, the Empress Dowager closed the door and refused to see anyone.

She knelt on the cushion, clasped her hands together in prayer before a statue of a deity, and murmured scriptures incessantly.

————

Lotus followed Gu Jiangli, glanced at the eunuch behind her carrying several treasures, and said softly, "Your Majesty, I just saw many palace servants passing by here. I imagine the news of you taking gifts from Wenhua Palace will soon spread to the other concubines."

"Spread the word, the faster the better. If we don't arouse their jealousy, how will they reveal their true colors at the Hundred Flowers Banquet?"

"That's true. Perhaps Consort Rou and Consort Rong are gritting their teeth in their room right now."

"Gritting your teeth isn't enough; you have to make them suffer a bit too."

Several palace maids in Yongning Palace were beaten by these two men, who claimed that the maids had disrespected them.

In the imperial harem, any concubine of slightly higher status could easily deal with any palace maid.

Unfortunately, they bullied the wrong person.

Now that the Empress Dowager and the Emperor are on her side, it will be difficult for these concubines to cause trouble again.

The next day.

The Imperial Garden was bustling with people.

The concubines from all the palaces have arrived.

This is the annual Hundred Flowers Banquet held in the imperial harem, which is nothing special in itself, but it is a good time for the concubines to compete with each other in front of the emperor.

On this day, even the least favored concubines can see the emperor. If they are lucky enough to get a second glance from the emperor, they may be able to escape their fate of being out of favor.

Therefore, even though they were more afraid of the emperor than anything else, they still tried their best to dress up, hoping to win the emperor's favor today.

When Gu Jiangli arrived at the Imperial Garden, he saw beauties dressed in long dresses of various colors, with exquisite makeup and eye-catching hairstyles, more beautiful than the flowers blooming in the garden.

It's clear that everyone put in a lot of effort.

Gu Jiangli also dressed up carefully, but her style was different from theirs. The more glamorous they were, the more elegant Gu Jiangli became.

She wore a light green brocade dress with cloud patterns. Compared to the red and yellow dress, the light green color seemed particularly pale, yet it stood out quite a bit.

She could be spotted at a glance in the crowd.

Consort Rou and Consort Rong would not ignore her either; their expressions changed immediately upon seeing her.

The two women walked towards her one after the other, just like sisters.

The two of them held very high positions in the harem, so as soon as they moved, the talking in the Imperial Garden immediately stopped, and all eyes turned to them.

"You must be the princess sent from Yunjiang? You've been in the palace for almost three months now, and this is the first time I've seen you."

The speaker had delicate features. Lotus whispered to Gu Jiangli, "This is Consort Rou, and the one next to her is Consort Rong."

Consort Rou's voice was so gentle that no one could detect any ill intent from her.

But Consort Rong Zhao on her side was not like that.

Consort Rong held her chin high, looking down on everyone, and said to Consort Rou, "Sister, it's perfectly normal that we haven't met Consort Yun. Since she entered the palace, she's been waiting in His Majesty's palace every day. We've never seen her visit any other consort's palace or befriend any of them. After all, she's a princess, and I guess she looks down on us ordinary consorts."

As soon as Consort Rong finished speaking, the expressions of some of the surrounding concubines changed.

Everyone could tell that Consort Rong's words had a hidden meaning. On the surface, she was explaining why they had never met Gu Jiangli, but in reality, she was implying that Gu Jiangli monopolized the Emperor's favor, enjoyed exclusive affection, and was extremely arrogant, looking down on the other concubines.

With just a few words, he stirred up trouble between Gu Jiangli and the other concubines.

Gu Jiangli could understand Consort Rong's thoughts, but few of the other concubines could.

After all, it was a fact that the emperor stopped summoning other concubines after Gu Jiangli entered the palace, so it was understandable that these concubines were dissatisfied with Gu Jiangli.

Gu Jiangli did not want to argue, and said to Consort Rou, "Your Majesty, please forgive me. I grew up in Yunjiang and do not know the rules of Tianyuan. I have only heard that in Tianyuan, the Empress is the most respected in the harem, and all the concubines should pay their respects to the Empress every day."

"But when I arrived at the Tianyuan Palace, I discovered that the Empress had passed away many years ago. With no heir in the palace, I thought I no longer needed to pay my respects to anyone."

"When Consort Rong said that today, I realized that I have indeed never paid my respects to any of the other concubines in the palace. However, I have been a concubine since I entered the palace, and concubines of lower rank than me should not require me to pay my respects. Above the rank of concubine, there is only one Noble Consort Rou."

"Since Consort Rong thinks my behavior is inappropriate, according to Consort Rong, shouldn't I be able to pay my respects to Consort Rou every day?"