Chapter 82 No One Is Sincere

Concubine An, An Yuyue, counted on her fingers and realized that it had been almost a year since she had seen the emperor.

When she heard that the emperor had arrived at Yuhe Palace, she was so frightened that she rolled off the bed and fell hard.

She was hurriedly helped up by the maid, and she was hastily put on an outer robe. Without even having time to comb her hair, she rushed to the outer hall to welcome the emperor in a panic.

Xiao Jin looked at her coldly: her face was sallow, her hair was messy and even tangled, she looked sleepy and had no manners at all.

The nameless anger in his heart suddenly rose again: "It seems that I disturbed your sweet dream?"

"No... no! Absolutely not!" Concubine An was so scared that her tongue was tied. "It was I... I never expected that Your Majesty would come to Yuhe Palace. I... I..." She kept saying "I" for a long time but couldn't explain it clearly.

Xiao Jin's brows furrowed deeper and deeper, his tone filled with undisguised disdain: "Are you always like this? Is it because the harem mistreats you, or have you ruined yourself?"

An Yuyue fell to her knees with a thud. Hearing such frank disdain, she almost buried her head in the ground: "My appearance is disheveled and I have disturbed Your Majesty. I beg Your Majesty to forgive me..."

Xiao Jin felt upset for a moment. He casually picked up the cold tea on the table and took a sip. Then he frowned in disgust: "This tea is extremely unpalatable! I don't believe that the Shangshi Bureau would even withhold decent tea from you!"

An Yuyue shuddered, thinking that the Shangshi Bureau was now in charge of the powerful Yun Shanggong, and hurriedly chose her words carefully: "The Shangshi Bureau has never been harsh to me. It's... it's because I'm lazy. The new tea I was given has not been opened yet, so I used... last year's old tea." Her voice became softer and softer as she spoke.

Xiao Jin rubbed his throbbing temples vigorously, stood up, and glanced at Yuhe Palace with disgust.

The hall was old and lifeless, with an indescribable dullness. "Your taste... I remember you are..." He tried to recall her background.

An Yuyue seemed to have grasped a life-saving straw and hurriedly looked up: "My father is Yuyiwei An..."

"Okay, I got it." Xiao Jin interrupted her impatiently, obviously not really remembering it.

An Yuyue's heart sank again and she lowered her head again.

Xiao Jin felt increasingly suffocated as he watched her timidly obey. He suddenly said in a cold voice, "Get up."

An Yuyue didn't understand what was going on and stood up tremblingly.

Then, she heard the emperor throw out a sentence that made her unbelievable: "From now on, Concubine An will be promoted to Concubine An, and she will be awarded a jade ruyi."

……What? !

An Yuyue was completely stunned. This was it? After being so slovenly and unruly, being so disliked by His Majesty... he could still be promoted and rewarded?

It wasn't until the maid behind her quietly tugged at the corner of her clothes that she came back to her senses and hurriedly knelt down again: "I...I thank your majesty for your grace! Long live your majesty!"

She followed the emperor to the palace gate in a daze.

Xiao Jin suddenly stopped and asked without turning around, "Who else lives near you?"

Concubine An (she was still getting used to this new title) quickly replied, "Your Majesty, nearby is the Anhe Palace, where Noble Lady Yu, Concubine Wen, and Concubine Zhou live..."

Xiao Jin just said "hmm" and left, leaving her and the unexpected jade ruyi in the cold night wind.

Concubine An's words "Farewell, Your Majesty" were stuck in her throat and disappeared silently.

Zhang Fuan, who had been living in fear, finally caught up with him. Seeing that the emperor was still awake in the middle of the night and was wandering around the harem like a ghost, he was so anxious that sweat covered his forehead: "Your Majesty, this old servant..."

"I didn't call you." Xiao Jin's tone was cold.

Zhang Fuan forced himself to smile apologetically, "This old slave...this old slave couldn't sleep either, so I thought of coming to serve Your Majesty..."

Xiao Jin glanced at him and pointedly pointed out, "Really? Are you afraid that I'll break into the harem at night and cause some unpleasant incident?"

Zhang Fuan wiped the sweat off his face in the cold wind and laughed dryly: "I dare not, I dare not..."

"Don't dare? I think you're getting bolder and bolder!"

As he was talking, he actually strolled outside the Anhe Hall.

Zhang Fuan had just signaled for the eunuch to go forward and pass on the message when Xiao Jin raised his hand to stop him. "The lights are still on," Xiao Jin said, a dark glint in his eyes. "I want to hear what my concubines do in the dead of night."

Zhang Fuan groaned inwardly, but he could only agree. He waved his hand to silence the eunuch guarding the door, bent his body, and followed the emperor quietly to the room with the brightest lights.

As I approached, I heard the chattering of several women coming from inside, and there seemed to be a light sound similar to the collision of dominoes.

Noblewoman Yu's voice was a bit nonchalant: "Well, His Majesty won't be coming anyway, so let's just play our own games! It's your turn to play a card, why are you just daydreaming?"

Zhou Cairen's tone was a bit self-deprecating and resigned: "I am already twenty-four years old, and still a talented person. The number of times I have seen Your Majesty from afar can be counted on two hands."

Concubine Wen's voice was filled with resentment and bitterness. "Back then, my father said that with my looks, I'd eventually be the most favored in the six harems! What happened? I can't even compare to Yun Zhao! His Majesty keeps her in a side hall of Yanying Palace, with her in front of him every day. How can he even look at people like us?"

Lady Zhou seemed to pat her on the back. "Sister, it's a shame for your appearance. But if His Majesty doesn't come, we can have a quiet and comfortable life, right? We'll have food and clothing, and a stable life. When we get old, we can die in the palace and have a good end. What are you comparing yourself to with Yun Zhao? She's the legitimate daughter of a duke, and her father and brother command a large army! His Majesty keeps her by his side, but who knows if he's trying to control the Yun family?"

Noble Lady Yu immediately echoed, "That's right! You mustn't mess with her! She's now a fifth-rank imperial concubine, in charge of six bureaus, and has immense power! Us little bastards have to politely greet her when we meet. Think about how Noble Concubine Su was demoted to a commoner before? That's a lesson for us!"

Lady Wen muttered quietly, "She was having an affair... She's lucky she wasn't sentenced to death..."

Zhou Cairen lowered her voice, but it was still clear: "Think about it! Who is the King of Qin? He used to be Yun Zhao's fiancé! And who is Su Mingli? The daughter of the Prime Minister! Your Majesty will deal with them according to the owner, and weigh the pros and cons! People like us who have no family background and no favor from the emperor, please keep your tails between your legs and don't cause trouble! Do you understand?"

Lady Wen sighed deeply: "Alas... our harem, at most, only has a dozen people. We really don't have anything we want..."

Zhang Fuan, who was outside the door, broke out in a cold sweat and wanted to rush in and shut their mouths immediately, but Xiao Jin's cold eyes nailed him to the spot.

Xiao Jin's face turned pale, and he turned and left without saying a word.

Zhang Fuan hurriedly followed, only to hear the emperor's suppressed angry voice: "Tomorrow, separate the three of them! Rearrange their accommodations, the farther away the better!"

"Yes, I will obey your order." Zhang Fuan quickly agreed.

Xiao Jin strode out of Anhe Hall with big strides. The three concubines inside knew nothing about this and were still immersed in their own card games and complaints.

The night wind was colder, and Xiao Jin's face was darker than the night.

In this huge harem, he couldn't find a woman who truly loved him and whom he liked!

Unconsciously, following his subconscious, his footsteps stopped again outside the side hall of Yanying Palace.