Ye Jinyun and the other two finished their meal in the courtyard and stayed in the cool shade for a while. When it gradually darkened, they said goodbye to each other and returned to their rooms.

After a bath, Ye Jinyun wore only a thin inner garment and lay quietly on the couch with a storybook in her hand, while Qing'er fanned her gently.

Yin Zhu walked in from outside the hall, leaned over and whispered in her ear:

"My lady, Xiao Quanzi just heard that the emperor has summoned Concubine Ye to sleep with him tonight."

"Well, she's quite capable. It's worth my trip this afternoon. Got it. You guys should go and rest first. I'll read for a while and then go to sleep. You won't have to wait on me anymore."

He waved his hand and asked Qing'er to go with him to rest. She was not afraid of the heat to begin with, and the night breeze was blowing into the house, so Qing'er didn't need to stay by her side and fan her.

After watching for a while, she stood up, stretched, and went to bed. She had to get up early every morning to exercise with Lin Qingtang, so she went to bed early at night.

…

The news that Ye Cairen was serving the emperor in bed quickly spread throughout the harem, and all the concubines were shocked. The emperor had not summoned anyone to serve him in bed for several months, so why did he suddenly choose her? This made everyone feel a sense of crisis, and they hurriedly sent people to find out how Ye Cairen had attracted the emperor's attention.

Upon hearing this, everyone felt a surge of resentment. They had made a delicious summer treat and relieved the emperor's worries. Why hadn't they thought of these methods? They immediately became annoyed at their own uselessness.

Yuxiu Palace

Shufei also received the news about why Ye Cairen was in the emperor's bedchamber. She remembered this person, the beautiful young lady. She didn't expect that she had some ability to attract the emperor's attention among so many concubines. She really had misjudged her at the beginning.

It seems that with her face and abilities, she will continue to be favored in the future. The harem has been quiet for so long, and there will probably be some trouble soon.

…

The emperor was very satisfied with Ye Jinrong's sleeping with him that night. As he had not released himself for a long time, he called for water three times in Chengqian Palace that night. The noise in the palace gradually subsided in the second half of the night.

Ye Jinrong was also exhausted, and her legs were still trembling when she was helped back to the palace by the palace servants.

Chen Fuquan was looking at the emperor bathing with a satisfied expression on his face, thinking secretly in his heart:

This Concubine Ye is so beautiful and clever. Judging from the emperor's behavior, he will probably summon her to sleep with him in the future. If she is lucky enough to conceive a prince, she will be able to secure the position of the emperor's favorite concubine.

The next day, the emperor issued an edict to raise Ye Jinrong's position and directly skipped the promotion of her to Jieyushi. This made the women in the harem jealous. The emperor promoted her to the position of concubine after only serving her once in bed. It can be seen how much he likes her.

Even the imperial concubine felt a sense of crisis towards her. When Ye Jinrong went to pay her respects in the morning, she made her squat for a long time before letting her stand up.

For the next two days, the emperor summoned Ye Jinrong to sleep with him, and on the next day he went directly to her palace. This made Bai Ruoli, who lived in Yufu Palace with her, very angry.

There were two people living in Yufu Palace, one was constantly favored by the emperor, and the other had never even seen the emperor. Every day when the palace maids from the two palaces met in the courtyard, the palace maids from Yilan Palace were very proud, and the maids around Bai Ruoli were so angry that they closed the door and stopped causing trouble.

Ever since Ye Jinrong started serving the emperor, the emperor would summon her to the imperial study every afternoon, not for anything else, but just to have a bowl of cool fruit shaved ice.

After Xianglan made the fruit shaved ice, she personally brought it to the emperor. The emperor ate the fruit shaved ice with the beautiful woman fanning him. He really enjoyed it and became more and more fond of her.

Seeing how favored she was, some people in the harem gradually became restless and began to take action secretly.

…

It has been almost a month since Ye Jinrong won the emperor's favor with her fruit shaved ice. During this period, except for staying alone in Chengqian Palace, the emperor summoned Ye Jinrong to sleep with him.

Seeing how favored she was because of a bowl of fruit shaved ice, all the concubines followed suit and began to research new things in the palace that could please the emperor. Even the imperial concubine could not sit still and ordered her subordinates to make the shaved ice. She did not believe that after she made it, the emperor would still favor Ye Jinrong alone.

Sure enough, after several attempts, the people under the imperial concubine finally imitated the fruit shaved ice. The imperial concubine happily asked someone to invite the emperor to taste it.

When the emperor heard that the imperial concubine had ordered people to make fruit shaved ice to please her, he gave the imperial concubine a favor and went to her palace. After tasting the shaved ice and finding it tasted the same as the one in Yufu Palace, he praised her a few words and rested in her palace.

For a time, all the palaces started making shaved ice, thinking that if the imperial concubine could lower herself to imitate others, why couldn't they follow suit? Now, whoever had fruit shaved ice in the palace would have the opportunity to gain favor, and they certainly couldn't miss it.