Everyone says that life in the palace is tough. In just these short two quarters of an hour, Xiu Ning experienced hardships unlike anything she had ever faced before. Just exchanging a few pointless pleasantries took a lot of effort.
Xiu Ning silently exhaled, took Chun Yu's hand, and the two of them turned a corner and headed towards the west side hall of Qixiang Palace, where they would soon be staying.
At this moment, three people were already waiting at the entrance of the west side hall.
Upon seeing Xiuning appear from a distance, the three of them quickly went to greet her.
"This humble servant, Xiao Zhuozi, greets Your Highness."
"Your servants, Xuancao and Xuanting, greet Your Highness."
Xiuning was taken aback, then waved her hand, "Get up quickly, are you people assigned by the Imperial Household Department to serve us?"
Speaking of which, Qixiang Palace is quite large. When the head maid left, Chunyu managed to get some information out of her. She said that there are more than twenty servants in the entire palace, with palace women being the most numerous and head maids being the fewest.
Of course, so many people have nothing to do with Xiuning. Given Xiuning's current rank, there are only four people who can be assigned to serve her in the side hall, and Chunyu, whom she brought in, will take up one of those spots.
Now that I've done the math, the number of people actually matches up.
call
That's good. It saves us from having too many people and breaking the rules, and then getting teased by others, which would be a loss for us.
“Replying to Your Highness, we servants are all newly assigned from the Imperial Household Department. Please give us your instructions, Your Highness,” Xuancao curtsied, speaking neither humbly nor arrogantly.
"I just arrived today and don't know much about Qixiang Palace yet," Xiu Ning smiled and waved to Xuan Cao. "Xuan Cao, right? Please give me a detailed introduction. As for Xuan Ting and Xiao Zhuozi, you can go down with Chun Yu first."
"Don't worry, Chunyu is my personal maid. You can tell Chunyu anything you want to say."
"Yes, this servant understands."
Xiuning turned around, gave Chunyu a meaningful look, and then took Xuancao's hand and entered the main hall of the side hall.
The master and servant split up to try and find out the situation at Qixiang Palace as quickly as possible.
It took about 15 minutes for Chunyu to walk in from outside.
Xuancao had already been sent away by Xiuning, who was now sitting at the octagonal table drinking warm tea.
"master"
"You're back," Xiuning smiled, and seeing Chunyu's eager expression, she quickly waved her hand, "Did you find out some good news?" It was so obvious that it was hard for Xiuning not to notice.
With a soft "Mmm," Chunyu took a step forward, then lowered her voice and said, "Something happened next door." After saying that, Chunyu pointed outside.
Xiuning glanced at it and asked, "This just happened?" She had only just entered the palace.
Chunyu nodded, "Just a short while ago, Xuanting, Xiaozhuozi, and I had a brief chat about the situation in the palace, including the palaces where the concubines reside, and then we saw palace servants running around in a panic at the main gate."
Xiao Zhuozi had sharp eyes and liked to run errands to gather information. He recognized the background of those palace servants: "They are from Yongshou Palace."
As she spoke, Chunyu lowered her head and added to Xiuning, "According to Xuanting and the others, the neighbors next door are making a fuss every few days, calling in the imperial physician. Recently, it's been happening even more frequently."
Xiu Ning blinked upon hearing this. "What a coincidence?" Was she really feeling unwell, or was she putting on an act for others?
It should be noted that Consort Shu was pregnant with a prince, and during the re-selection, she was even bumped into by Dong E Jingxin. This suggests that after recovering, her condition not only did not improve, but she was also left with sequelae.
Chunyu hesitated, "He must really be feeling unwell," otherwise why would a perfectly healthy person pretend to be sick? Wouldn't that make him an easy target for others?
Xiuning's eyes flickered. "Who knows? Let's wait and see."
"By the way, how's the search of the other people's sleeping quarters going?"
Chunyu responded, "Your Majesty, I have learned that of the five new concubines who have entered the palace this time, apart from Your Majesty who lives alone in Qixiang Palace, two Mongolian concubines have moved into Yanxi Palace, and two Manchu concubines have moved into Jingyang Palace."
Originally, the concubines in the harem, apart from the Empress who lived in Kunning Palace, the Consort Shu who lived in Yongshou Palace, Consort Ma Jia who lived in Zhongcui Palace, Consort Nara who lived in Chuxiu Palace, Consort Zhang and Consort Sun who lived in Xianfu Palace, and Consort Borjigit who lived in Yonghe Palace, mostly the remaining female officials who had served the Emperor in bed were in the rear hall of Qianqing Palace. Occasionally, one or two might be favored and sent into the harem, but they would disappear without a trace within a few months.
After telling the master about the sleeping quarters of several important concubines in the harem in one go, Chunyu seemed much more relaxed.
Xiu Ning pondered the information Chun Yu had shared, then touched her chin. "Of the two newly arrived Manchu concubines, isn't one of them from the Hesheli clan, making her the Empress's cousin?"
Chunyu nodded, "Yes, but the blood relationship isn't very close," she could be considered a member of the same clan.
With the confirmation of Consort Hesheli, a person suddenly popped into Xiuning's mind.
Consort Xi, of the Hesheli clan, was conferred the title of Consort in the sixteenth year of the Kangxi Emperor's reign, and afterwards she seemed to disappear without a trace, with no other records of her in the imperial harem.
At first, Xiuning thought that this person was brought into the palace by his family after Empress Hesheli died young, and that his purpose was to take care of the Crown Prince Yinreng, whom the Empress had given birth to with her life.
However, the Empress's family still sent her younger sister, Consort Ping, of the Hesheli clan, to the palace.
Therefore, Consort Xi must have entered the palace before the Empress died, and there must have been a significant conflict of interest between them.
The current concubine Hesheli is very much in line with Hesheli's attitude: to have a child through surrogacy!
Tsk, it seems even the Empress's life isn't easy. Without a son, she's pressured by her family; with a son, others want to harm her. She's truly troubled from all sides.
However, these things have nothing to do with Xiuning for the time being; she is not yet of a high enough status to be targeted by the entire group.
In the afternoon, the package that Xiuning brought into the palace was delivered by the palace servants of the Imperial Household Department.
Because the purse contained enough contents, the package was well preserved, and the contents were not disturbed.
After letting Chunyu and Xuancao tidy up the package, Xiuning sat down in front of the dressing table and started removing the jewelry from her head.
As a lowly concubine, she did not need to immediately pay her respects to the Empress Dowager, the Empress Dowager, or others. Even the Empress in Kunning Palace could only be visited after she had officially served the Emperor.
'If it's about serving you in bed, it'll probably be tomorrow or the day after.'
She mentally assessed the timeline and realized that entering the palace today was definitely not an option. Perfect timing! She could use this free time to adjust herself and try to make a good impression on Emperor Kangxi during their first close encounter, thus paving the way for future favor.
"My lady, I have prepared hot water. You have been busy all day. Would you like to take a bath to relax?" Chunyu walked to Xiuning's side and asked softly.
"Okay, go ahead. We don't have anything to do today, so let's go to bed early and get up early."
Xiuning nodded, got up, and left with Chunyu's hand in hers.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
