After Consort Yi ridiculed Consort De and saw that Consort De did not respond, she also felt it was pointless and did not continue. She was straightforward but always knew her limits; enough was enough. If she went any further, Consort De would have a reason to play the victim to the Emperor.

Consort Yi: "Which one is Consort Shu?"

An Ning didn't expect that she would have a solo scene; in fact, Consort Yi had met her before.

During the imperial concubine selection, all the young women whose family backgrounds were qualified to become princes' wives were summoned by the four imperial concubines and the two imperial concubines, the only difference being the number of times they were summoned.

An Ning stood up: "Greetings, Your Majesty."

Consort Yi looked at Anning with a smile in her eyes: "I met you twice during the selection of concubines. You live in Changchun Palace, which is right next to Yikun Palace. You can come and chat with me when you have time. I would be very happy to do so."

"With Your Majesty's words, I will certainly visit you often."

Of the four consorts, only Consort Yi resides in the Western Six Palaces. Consort Wen is clearly not doing well, and it's likely that Consort Yi will be in charge of matters in the Western Six Palaces in the future. Therefore, An Ning will not offend Consort Yi and can maintain a good relationship with her.

Of course, she also befriended Consort Yi because she knew that there was no possibility of a good relationship between her and Consort De.

Consort Yi: "Your sister seems to have a straightforward personality, which I like very much. By the way, Consort De, I remember that during the selection of concubines, you often called Consort Shu over to talk. It seems that you also like Consort Shu very much. Why don't I see Consort De talking to Consort Shu?"

peaceful:……

Consort De: "Sister Yi, you have such a good memory. I do indeed like Consort Shu. It's not like you, sister, are talking to Consort Shu, so I don't have a chance."

Consort De gently eased Consort Yi's predicament with just a few words, and Consort Yi didn't mind at all.

It had become a habit for him to engage in verbal sparring with Consort De when paying his respects.

Consort Hui suddenly spoke up: "Since Consort Shu has just entered the palace, I am in charge of some palace affairs. If there is anything inappropriate, please send someone to tell me directly. I will not tolerate those who are lazy."

Consort Hui is trying to curry favor; her son is growing up and needs her support. Anning's father, Fei Yanggu, holds a high position in the court and is still a staunch royalist.

Even if we can't win him over, we should still be on good terms with him, at the very least we can't let him defect to the Crown Prince's camp.

Consort Rong followed Consort Hui and said a few nice words to Anning. Her thoughts were similar to Consort Hui's. Consort Rong's third prince was growing up and would soon be able to serve in the court. She did not want to offend Anning, whose family was quite powerful.

An Ning thanked them one by one.

For this, An Ning couldn't help but thank the original owner of the body for giving her a good family background.

Many people cast envious glances at An Ning. Even though her appearance wasn't top-tier in the harem, the confidence brought by her family background allowed her to live a decent life even if she wasn't favored, not to mention that she was currently considered favored.

Consort Tong emerged at this time.

"Greetings, Your Highness."

"My sisters, please get up."

Everyone stood up and then sat down.

As is customary, Consort Tong acknowledged the palace affairs of the four consorts and Consort Tong over the past two weeks. In fact, the palace affairs handled by the four consorts were merely routine reports, and Consort Tong had no right to interfere with them.

Afterwards, Consort Tong inquired about Consort Wang, whose child was still young.

"Consort Wang, the Fifteenth Prince was ill. Is he feeling any better?"

"Thank you for your concern for the Fifteenth Prince, Your Highness. With the care of Consort De, the Fifteenth Prince has recovered."

"That's good. The child is still young. Please have the wet nurse take good care of the young prince's health. If anything happens, please find the imperial physician immediately. Consort De, there are many children in Yonghe Palace, so please take good care of them."

Consort Wang: "Your Majesty's teachings are correct, and I will keep them in mind."

Consort De: "Your Majesty is right."

Then Consort Tong turned her attention to An Ning: "I'm sure you all know Consort Shu. You are all veterans who have served the Emperor. Consort Shu is young, so please take good care of her in the future."

Consort Yi smiled and replied, "Your Majesty is right. I was just saying that I would like to ask Consort Shu to visit my Yikun Palace more often in the future!"

Consort Tong gave her a "you've done a great job" smile: "With Consort Shu in the Western Six Palaces, I'm very relieved to have you looking after her."

An Ning: "Thank you both for your concern, Your Majesty. I am deeply grateful."

Then they talked about some trivial matters, none of which were big deal.

There wasn't the fierce fighting I'd imagined. The most intense part was the back-and-forth banter between Consort Yi and Consort De, which wasn't particularly heated.

An Ning sensed the attitudes of those around her. The Imperial Concubine and the Fourth Concubine seemed to treat her quite well, but she also knew that she had not yet touched their interests. Their interests lay in palace power and her son's future.

As for Kangxi's favor, in reality, they were old and their children were grown up. At most, Kangxi would visit their palaces to sit and chat. At night, he would summon the concubines, ladies-in-waiting, and noble ladies-in-waiting to serve him in bed.

An Ning was favored by the emperor, and apart from the young concubines who had entered the palace in recent years, very few people really cared about her.

Seeing An Ning's demeanor, the young concubines dared not offend her easily.

Consort Tong put down her teacup: "It's getting late. My sisters, please come with me to Shou Kang Palace to pay our respects to the Empress Dowager."

Everyone rose and followed Consort Tong to Shou Kang Palace.

Upon arriving at Shou Kang Palace, under the guidance of Consort Tong, the ladies of the rank of Consort and above followed her into the palace. The other concubines could only pay their respects to the Empress Dowager at the palace gate; they did not even have the right to see the Empress Dowager.

Even so, quite a few people, more than a dozen, were still able to enter the Empress Dowager's palace to pay their respects.

I can't help but sigh again, how blessed Emperor Kangxi was!

The Forbidden City is not small, but the living quarters for the imperial concubines are not very large, and there are a lot of people. To be honest, Anning thinks that these beauties would probably be more comfortable living in their own families than as Kangxi's women!

She was alright. Changchun Palace had bad feng shui and not many people. Kangxi also had the favor of giving her eight rooms to choose from. In the palaces of the four consorts, there were many concubines, and those of lower rank could get three rooms if they were in a better position, while those of lower rank could only get one room.

Anning's thoughts drifted away in an instant, and she returned to the main hall. After paying her respects to the Empress Dowager, the Empress Dowager chatted happily with Consort Yi and occasionally asked Consort De a few questions.

The Fifth Prince, born to Consort Yi, was raised by the Empress Dowager, as was the Ninth Princess, born to Consort De.

Only the two of them could gain some face in front of the Empress Dowager.

Moreover, they were speaking Mongolian, which Anning couldn't understand, and even the original owner of this body hadn't learned Mongolian.

The room was filled with concubines, the only exception being the First Consort standing next to Consort Hui, who had given birth to four daughters in a row, and her face was terribly pale.

Consort Hui always remained silent in front of the Empress Dowager, acting as if the mother-in-law and daughter-in-law didn't exist. An Ning was amazed by this and decided to go back and ask if there was any explanation for this.

I had heard before that the Empress Dowager was not involved in any affairs and treated the younger generation in a similar way, except for the two who were raised by her. It was only because of Kangxi that she treated the Crown Prince with more favor.

It seems that Consort Hui and her daughter-in-law are not well-liked by the Empress Dowager!

After leaving Shou Kang Palace, An Ning immediately returned to Chang Chun Palace.

"Why didn't Your Highness go for a stroll outside?"

After each audience with the emperor, the concubines in the palace liked to stroll together in the garden.

"I'm hungry, I don't have the time."

In the palace, people normally eat twice a day, but snacks can be eaten anytime. She has a small kitchen and gets hungry quickly, so people around her have gradually gotten used to her not-so-small appetite.

Upon hearing this, the nanny immediately lost all interest in anything else: "The small kitchen has breakfast prepared, I'll go get it."