Chapter 227: Making Things Difficult

The next day,

As usual, Song Zhaohe got up early and went to Yonghe Palace with other concubines to pay their respects to Concubine Chen.

After paying respects and returning to his own palace, Song Zhao originally planned to rest for a while.

But before they could sit down, Kang Yubin, who was beside Concubine Chen, came.

He smiled flatteringly and bowed to Song Zhao.

"Hello, Concubine Yi. Concubine Gui invites you to Yonghe Palace. The Emperor promised you yesterday to learn how to assist in the management of the six palaces. Concubine Yi happens to be free now, so she can teach you."

Song Zhao smiled and said, "I understand. Please go and tell the Imperial Concubine. I will be there shortly."

Kang Yubin bowed and stepped back.

Yunshan saw him leave the palace through the diamond-shaped window, and then he said to Song Zhao angrily:

"The Imperial Concubine clearly did it on purpose! If you said you wanted to teach the Majesty, why didn't you let her stay after paying respects? She had to wait until we returned to the palace, and then she asked someone to call us back! Isn't this just tormenting me?"

Compared to Yunshan's anger, Song Zhao seemed quite calm.

"Let her be. We can't stand her torture for a few more days anyway."

Yunshan couldn't bear to see his wife being wronged, but there was nothing he could do at the moment, so he could only remind her:

"Then let me change your clothes for you? Your Highness is afraid of cold weather, and since you are pregnant, there are seven or eight charcoal basins in the palace, so it is very hot and stuffy.

Your Majesty's clothes are too thick. When you were paying your respects just now, I saw that you were sweating. There are many rules in the Imperial Concubine's Palace, and it is not convenient for Your Majesty to take off your outer clothes in front of her. It is better to change into something thinner to avoid suffering."

Song Zhao thought for a moment and said, "For outerwear, a light and thin one is fine. But for undershirts and small clothes, both must be padded. The warmer the better."

Yunshan didn't ask any more questions after hearing this and just did as Song Zhao instructed.

Later, when Song Zhao rushed to Yonghe Palace, he saw that on the desk in the inner chamber, there were volumes and compilations of various sizes piled up like a mountain.

Imperial Concubine Chen leaned leisurely on the warm seat, smiling and saying:

"Since you want to be the head of the household, you must first know how expensive firewood, rice, oil and salt are. These in front of you are the expenses of each palace in the harem for the past three years, as well as the daily expenses of the 6,300 palace servants in the palace. Please read them one by one and familiarize yourself with them first."

Her move was obviously intended to make things difficult for Song Zhao.

Whether it is the expenses of the harem or the daily expenses of the palace servants, these accounts will be summarized and analyzed by a dedicated person at the end of the year, and the data will be listed in a 'summary'.

After reading the 'Total Essentials', you can get a clear picture of your expenses for the year without having to bother checking them one by one.

But Song Zhao knew that Concubine Chen had not called her here today to teach her how to assist in managing the six palaces, but clearly to give her a warning.

So she didn't argue, sat down at the desk and started to read through the books one by one.

The inner chamber of Concubine Chen is much warmer than the main hall.

In addition, in order to calm her mind and protect her pregnancy, she lit benzoin in the palace.

The smell, when heated by the heater, is most likely to make people sleepy.

Song Zhao looked at the densely packed small characters in front of him, and soon felt tired and couldn't help yawning.

Concubine Chen was like an eagle with sharp eyes, always watching Song Zhao's mistakes.

Before Song Zhao finished yawning, she started to grumble, "The Emperor has granted you so much power, but I don't think you care much about it. You've only been watching for a quarter of an hour, and you're already sleepy?"

After a pause, he ordered solemnly, "Kang Yubin, go move all these account books to the corridor outside the house and let Concubine Yi stand there to look at them. It happens to be sunny outside right now, so let her get some sun to clear her mind."

The palace servants were very quick and nimble and quickly moved the things out.

The moment Song Zhao walked out of the inner bedroom and stood in the corridor, he took a deep breath and felt happy and refreshed.

Her cotton midriff and undershirt were cold-resistant enough, and the corridor was sheltered and windless.

Standing in the corridor is always more comfortable than staying in the inner bedroom which is like a furnace.

The account book that Song Zhao was flipping through at this moment happened to be the account book of Zhaochun Palace where Concubine Hui lived.

She looked at the expenses from above. The regular silver paid by the Ministry of Internal Affairs to Concubine Hui alone was as much as one thousand taels a month.

Song Zhao and Huipin were both concubines, and were specially taken care of by Xiao Jingheng, but their monthly allowance was only eight hundred taels.

Huipin's monthly salary of one thousand taels is almost as much as that of a concubine.

Song Zhao felt a little puzzled, but he didn't think too deeply about it.

After all, Huipin's mother's family was very wealthy and gave a lot of money to the court every year.

With this kind of thing where the money goes out of one pocket and into the other, it's understandable that Xiao Jingheng gave her more monthly allowance.

After looking at the account book for a while, Song Zhao felt his eyes a little sore, so he raised his head and looked into the distance.

When I looked up, I found that a thin layer of white had appeared in the courtyard.

The first snow of this year fell without any warning.

*

In the inner bedroom,

Concubine Chen took a short nap, and when she woke up, about half an hour had passed since she sent Song Zhao to the corridor to read the accounts.

Liu Yue helped her get up, and she casually asked, "How is it? Did she slack off outside?"

Liu Yue snickered and said, "Eunuch Kang is watching her closely and won't let her slack off for even a moment."

Then he ran to the diamond-shaped window and opened it a crack.

"Look, Madam, it's snowing outside. I see that Concubine Yi is wearing thin clothes today. Even if she is standing in the corridor and the snow doesn't fall on her, she must be very cold!"

"Is it snowing?"

Concubine Chen came to the window and looked at the white snow outside. She immediately glared at Liu Yue and said unhappily:

"What a fool! She can't get cold after giving birth, otherwise her uterus will be damaged and her life will be over. Why don't you ask her to come in?"

Liu Yue was inexplicably scolded by Concubine Chen, and was also confused, "This... Her Majesty ordered her to stand in the corridor, how dare this servant..."

"Useless idiot!" Concubine Chen rolled her eyes at her in disdain, "Go call her in."

Liu Yue was about to leave when she heard Concubine Chen calling her back.

"Make some brown sugar ginger tea when you come back. It's the first snow day. I miss the taste and I also want to warm myself up."

When Song Zhao was called in, Concubine Chen didn't even look at her. She just took a picture book and started flipping through it.

But this time, Song Zhao discovered that next to the originally empty desk, there was a charcoal basin for some reason.

Not long after, Liu Yue came in with a pot of hot brown sugar ginger tea and added a cup to the jade cup in front of Concubine Chen.

As soon as Concubine Chen took a sip from the cup, she immediately spat it into the jade pot beside her, frowning and complaining:

"How do you work as a clerk? Who do you want to make sick by putting so much brown sugar in it?"

Liu Yue was so scared that she kept admitting her mistakes, "Your Majesty, please forgive me. I will cook some new food for you..."

"Goodbye." Concubine Chen raised her eyelids impatiently, pretended to glance at Song Zhao unintentionally, and said:

"The end of the year is approaching, and the emperor wants the harem to keep things simple. Since it has already been cooked, don't waste it. I can't drink it, but Concubine Yi is not that delicate. Give it to her."

Song Zhaoguan was cautious and would hardly touch the food and drinks from other people's palaces.

So even though Liu Yue poured her a glass, she just thanked him for his grace but was reluctant to drink it.

Seeing that she didn't drink, Concubine Chen got a little annoyed, "Just drink this reward from me while it's hot. Why are you being so pretentious?"

As a result, Song Zhaocai had no choice but to raise the cup.

I secretly thought that no matter how domineering Concubine Chen was, she would never dare to drug her openly.

This brown sugar ginger tea is just a little hard to drink, but it's probably not a big problem.

Only then did he bite the bullet and take a sip.

Unexpectedly, the ginger tea tasted warm and had a moderate sweetness, without any of the greasy sweetness described by Concubine Chen.

Song Zhao was puzzled for a moment, raised his eyebrows and looked at Concubine Chen,

But she still looked down on everyone. She rolled her eyes at Song Zhao and continued to look at her sketchbook.

Seeing that even at this point, there are still people asking when Song Jie will be the exclusive lover, in order to avoid being criticized for not dating, I have to say this in advance:

The idea of ​​this book is the same as the comment I made above. Feudal patriarchy has been suppressing the awakening of women's gender consciousness (it sounds harsh, and it still is now). So after Sister Song finally awakens completely, all she wants from the women in the harem is absolute equality. In the end, they unite together to resist the oppression of patriarchy. It's not a love story that indulges in petty love from beginning to end.

Moreover, even if the dog emperor wanted to favor Sister Song alone, Sister Song would think he was stinky and tell him to get out.

This damn emperor is so disgusting, I don’t understand why anyone would still want to see him and Sister Song being so loving.

Sister! You should eat something good!

There is one more to come~

( ＇` )