Inside the Hall of Mental Cultivation.
The emperor had just fallen into a deep sleep when the acupuncturist gave him an acupuncture injection.
Eunuch Zhang quietly lowered the curtain and followed the court official into the outer room.
Seeing that the director looked unhappy, Eunuch Zhang asked softly, "Director, how is His Majesty?"
The court official sighed, "How can His Majesty cultivate himself properly when these ladies behave in such a way?"
Eunuch Zhang also sighed: "The Empress is ill, and the Imperial Concubine is also ill. It's not easy for the Crown Princess, a daughter-in-law, to manage His Majesty's harem."
It would be easy to explain if the queen was really ill, but the key point is that the queen is not in the palace. People who know the inside story are fine, but people who don’t know the inside story will become suspicious when they see that the queen has not shown up for a long time.
"What should we do?" The director and eunuch Zhang looked at each other in confusion.
The emperor needed rest to recover from his illness, but as the emperor of a country, he didn't even have a place to recuperate.
Eunuch Zhang sighed deeply: "What do you think this is?"
The director of the hospital had nothing to say. He patted Eunuch Zhang's shoulder sympathetically. As an imperial physician, he could still hide away, but Eunuch Zhang, who was accompanying the emperor, had to face these concubines all the time.
He shook his head. "Don't sigh so much. Take good care of yourself. I'll have someone come over to check your pulse later. You can't collapse. His Majesty is relying on you."
"Thank you, Dean." Eunuch Zhang hurriedly thanked him. Even he, who served the emperor closely, was not qualified to see the imperial physician. However, since the Dean had given the order, the one who came to see him would definitely be the imperial physician.
The director of the hospital went to prepare medicine for the emperor. The changes in the pulse from one moment to the next required timely adjustments to the dosage of the medicine. If these concubines did not come, there would be no need to adjust the dosage of the medicine this time.
But after this incident, the director of the court felt that the burden on his shoulders was even heavier. It would not be impossible to use strong medicine, but the emperor's health was precious, so how could he dare to use it?
If anything happens, his nine clansmen will not be enough to pay for Your Majesty's life.
Eunuch Zhang stood guarding the emperor's bed. After much deliberation, he ran to the East Palace to ask to see Qin Wan.
When Qin Wan heard that the emperor's condition had worsened despite the concubines' commotion, she asked solemnly, "Hasn't father always been fine? Why did he suddenly become so seriously ill?"
Eunuch Zhang's breath hitched, his head lowered as he quickly thought of an excuse: "Your Majesty, the illness wasn't serious originally... The imperial physician said to rest and he was almost recovered, but now they've made a fuss... then..."
Qin Wan knew that Eunuch Zhang couldn't tell her the truth, so she waved her hand to stop him. "Alright, stop talking. I get it. I have a plan. They're all idle, so just get them busy."
Qin Wan immediately picked up her pen and drafted a memorial, handing it to Eunuch Zhang: "Please take a look. If it's acceptable, have someone draft an imperial edict and have the emperor stamp it."
Eunuch Zhang glanced at him and smiled, "This is a good idea, Crown Princess. They'll all be quieted down. It's just that it's His Majesty's order. Why go to all this trouble to pass it on?"
Qin Wan smiled softly, "I'm afraid they won't think it's the emperor's order, but will only think that I'm overstepping my authority, or that Concubine Min is monopolizing the emperor's favor and doesn't want them to compete for it. Just go ahead and do it, eunuch."
Eunuch Zhang bowed in agreement and took the memorial to show the emperor first. After all, this was an imperial edict. Letting the Secretariat draft the edict first and then send it over, wasn't that overstepping one's authority?
The Crown Princess doesn't understand the rules here, and if he doesn't understand them either, he'll be beheaded.
When the emperor woke up and saw the memorial, his face lit up with joy: "Okay, okay, let's do it, let's do it."
The emperor did not even need to summon the Secretariat to draft the edict. He wrote it himself. He did not care about wasting the scrolls at all and wrote several edicts in one breath.
Qin Wan meant for them to listen to the imperial edict together and copy scriptures to pray for the victims.
The emperor assigned tasks to everyone. After Concubine Li finished the embroidery, he asked her to embroider a picture of Guanyin and send it to the temple for worship.
Those who are good at female work or calligraphy and painting are assigned tasks according to their specialties so that they have no time to make trouble.
After the imperial edict was passed down, all the concubines became obedient.
You have to be honest. It's the 24th day of the twelfth lunar month. All these things need to be done by the 30th day of the twelfth lunar month. How can you have time to go to the Qianqing Palace to ask for an audience?
When it came to Lu Linglong, she had nothing to be good at, so the emperor asked her to go to the Fengxian Hall to burn incense for her ancestors, chant scriptures and pray for blessings, and she had to kneel for six hours every day.
Lu Linglong felt like the sky was falling. She immediately grabbed the father-in-law who was delivering the decree and asked, "Am I the only one going, or are they all going?"
The eunuch replied respectfully, "Of course, the ladies each have their own tasks. Please don't make it difficult for us."
Lu Linglong finally calmed down a bit, but she still wanted to ask, "What are they doing?"
The father-in-law did not hide anything and told them one by one: "Concubine Li wants to embroider a Guanyin statue, and it must be at least three feet tall. Concubine Min wants to copy Buddhist scriptures, and Concubine Li can make pastries. The pastries offered in the next few days need to be made by Concubine Li herself, and..."
The father-in-law naturally didn't say that Concubine Min only needed to copy the Buddhist scriptures once, which would take half a day, nor did he say that Concubine Li's pastry only required some talking. He simply listed the tasks that each concubine in the harem had to do, and finally concluded: "Concubine Min had to take care of palace affairs, so she copied fewer Buddhist scriptures. The others worked day and night to finish before the 30th day of the twelfth lunar month."
Lu Linglong felt much more balanced. Even though she was unwilling, she had to accept her fate and go to Fengxian Temple to chant scriptures and pray for blessings.
The emperor was finally able to recuperate without being disturbed by anyone.
Qin Wan continued to stay here while the Sixth and Seventh Princesses were busy with the New Year's preparations. The Eighth and Ninth Princesses and others had nothing to do, so they followed along to learn. It didn't matter if they knew how to do it, it would be nice to just spend some time there. What's more, there were many delicious foods and drinks here.
Qin Wan saw that this was not a solution, so she asked the princesses, "What do you do on a daily basis?"
The Eighth Princess glanced at the Seventh Princess who was settling accounts and said, "Just play along with Seventh Sister."
"Don't you want to read and learn to read?" Qin Wan wondered. The Sixth Princess and the Seventh Princess were all literate. Although it was almost the end of the year and the court had sealed the period and all the schools were on holiday, the princesses should not be idle.
Qin Wan has many brothers and sisters in her family. Some like quietness, while others cannot sit still. No matter which type, they can always find something to do.
Instead of being like the Eighth Princess and the Ninth Princess, who were clearly not interested but just stayed aside and couldn't concentrate on learning.
The Ninth Princess lowered her head and said, "There are only maids in the palace to teach etiquette. We all learned to read and write from Mother, so we don't know much."
Qin Wan frowned. "There's no teacher in the palace to teach you how to read and write? Even the daughters of merchants would have female teachers at home to teach them. You are princesses, how could you be treated so neglectfully?"
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