An Ning handled this situation well.

You can say a few words, but only touch on the subject; you must never say it too often, as it will annoy others. You can say it, but you must not do anything openly to the other concubines.

All I can say is that men are quite difficult to please.

After dinner, since it was still early, the two went to the study together.

"My beloved concubine's study is becoming more and more impressive."

An Ning's face showed genuine joy: "Thanks to Your Majesty's permission to borrow books, I have been thinking of copying books since I have nothing to do. I have already copied quite a few. I can't keep the borrowed books to myself. Copying them down means I can look at them whenever I want, which is a wonderful thing."

"Among all the book lovers in the harem, my beloved concubine is number one. However, she still needs to be careful with her eyes and not hurt them."

An Ning nodded: "Thank you for your concern, Your Majesty. The people around me have said the same thing. When I was reading travelogues, I found that people on boats at the seaside like to play mahjong after going out to sea. I found it quite interesting."

I designed a jade pendant to use for amusement, but after the Imperial Household Department sent it to me, I remembered that His Majesty has forbidden gambling, which has left me somewhat at a loss."

Kangxi now understood why she had sent him soup. He wasn't upset, as he was used to the women in the harem having requests. It was normal; it would be frightening if they had no requests at all.

What are your thoughts, my beloved concubine?

"I've made many changes to that jade pendant; it's not much different from the horse-drawn paddle. I'll just play with it in Changchun Palace. What does Your Majesty think?"

Emperor Kangxi did dislike gambling, but he also knew that it was something that couldn't be resisted. He did indeed behead people because of gambling, but those were just pretexts.

"If my beloved consort likes it, then it's fine for her to play around with it. The Fifth Prince and the Ninth Princess are not young anymore. I'll have someone send a deck of cards to the Empress Dowager later, so that she can have some fun and pass the time."

An Ning was taken aback when she heard this, but then she realized what was happening, and the gratitude on her face became more genuine.

"Thank you, Your Majesty, for thinking of me."

The jade plaque had the Empress Dowager's connection to it, so if others knew about it, they would only say that the Emperor was filial and it wouldn't affect her. This shows that when the Emperor cared about someone, he considered all aspects carefully.