Amid Consort Ning's worries, Consort Ling's expectations, and Chen Yuwei's composure, time marched forward, entering the crucial month of August.
In recent years, as Hongli (Emperor Qianlong) continued to indulge himself, the time people spent living in the Forbidden City became increasingly shorter.
Putting aside other matters, every summer, Hongli would definitely go to the Yuanmingyuan or the summer palace; he would never stay in the Forbidden City.
Whether Chen Yuwei and the others go or not doesn't matter. Hongli will definitely bring his new favorites with him, and he will also take in a few new favorites at the imperial palace.
In today's imperial harem, everyone knows that to serve the emperor, one needs to be young, beautiful, and have a good figure. As long as one has ambition, everyone will have a stage to showcase themselves.
Just like this time, Hongli plans to celebrate his birthday at the Yuanmingyuan Garden and also hold this year's Mid-Autumn Festival banquet at the same time.
Therefore, as early as the beginning of August, he summoned Chen Yuwei to express his attitude.
Listening to Hongli's extravagant description, Chen Yuwei understood that this man was going through a final frenzy, seemingly determined not to stop until he had spent all the money in his private treasury.
While inwardly complaining that Hongli was old and his eyesight was failing and his mind was not clear, Chen Yuwei turned around and summoned the servant in charge of related affairs in the Yuanmingyuan, reminding him to do his best to carry out the emperor's orders.
"We absolutely cannot cut corners where we shouldn't; we must complete the tasks assigned by the Emperor meticulously."
Chen Yuwei feared that these people didn't know the importance of things, after all, the Imperial Household Department in the palace had been exploiting people several times, while the Yuanmingyuan had not been affected at all.
Normal people certainly wouldn't think of Hongli as too serious, since they themselves were living very comfortably in the Yuanmingyuan, so there was absolutely no persuasiveness about them.
"Your Majesty, rest assured, this servant understands. I guarantee that His Majesty will be satisfied with this matter."
The steward who came over was a fat man, all fleshy and chubby. He trembled as he spoke, not because he was scared, but simply because he was too fat.
"You'd better act as nicely as you say. You all know the Emperor's temperament perfectly well without me having to remind you."
"Every family has one or two relatives in the palace; one must not act rashly and implicate oneself and one's family."
Chen Yuwei knew that Wei Hanyu was dishonest, so what she said didn't sound like much, but upon closer inspection, she felt that every word was a reminder.
Especially when it came to regulations and layouts, Chen Yuwei practically pointed her finger at them and told them not to cause trouble.
Once the emperor gets angry, he won't consider the possibility of the law not punishing everyone; he will only choose to treat everyone equally and throw all those who have made mistakes into the Department of Punishment to be tortured.
Steward: ...
"Your Majesty, how could this servant dare to do anything behind the Emperor's back? That would be asking for trouble."
The steward cried out that he was wronged. He would never do such a thing. Who was it that was disrespecting him and speaking ill of him? How could he do such a thing?
Although he knew that among so many palace servants in the Imperial Household Department, there were bound to be some who were bold, shrewd, and short-sighted, who would bury themselves in trouble because of a few taels of silver.
But this person definitely couldn't be himself. He had already become the eunuch in charge of the garden, so he couldn't possibly be thinking of doing something rash.
“Your Majesty, I didn’t say it was you, I just couldn’t help but remind you.”
Chen Yuwei picked up the teacup beside her and took a sip, while telling the steward not to be nervous.
“If you don’t want people to know, then don’t do it in the first place,” Chen Yuwei tilted her head, her gaze sweeping over the thick layer of fat on the other man’s body. “You’ve always been a smart man, and I never worry about you.”
However, not everyone under my father-in-law was as loyal as he was.
The father-in-law also needs to be careful not to be implicated by others; he mustn't suffer in silence.
Steward: ...
Hmm, something doesn't quite feel right about that. Could it be that the Imperial Noble Consort really knows something and is deliberately leaking information to him?
Someone is planning to cause trouble at the Emperor's birthday banquet, which could very likely implicate him.
If that's the case, he'll have to be on his guard and figure things out properly.
After leaving the Imperial Noble Consort's chambers, the head eunuch went back and began investigating the people around him.
Believe it or not, as long as you're not blind, and there are plenty of people around who like to tattle, it's incredibly easy to find someone to stir up trouble.
Soon, the head eunuch caught several shifty-looking eunuchs.
Without wasting words with them, the head eunuch simply threw the person into a secluded, empty hall in the garden to serve as a lowly palace servant.
As for why he drove them away instead of secretly dealing with them to quell his anger, it was because the matter involved these people was too big, and the head steward felt that he was too insignificant to get involved.
If he is unaware of the situation, he might escape unscathed if the information is leaked. Otherwise, whether he is aware of the situation and doesn't report it, or he is aware of the situation and dares to report it, he will be the one who suffers.
People like the chief eunuch are all sperm from the palace.
They may not have an outstanding background or a pleasing appearance, but they can certainly figure out the gains and losses.
It was clearly a losing proposition, so the head steward naturally had to quit.
However, even if he didn't want to do it, since Chen Yuwei had spoken first, the head steward still gave a brief report on the matter.
"You're dishonest, stealing money meant for doing favors?"
Chen Yuwei found the excuses given by the head steward to be very perfunctory.
The eunuchs below suddenly had a lot more money; anyone with a brain would know they had been bribed.
Unfortunately, the head steward couldn't find out anything himself and dismissed the person by saying they hadn't done anything clean.
It's probably because they don't want to touch it, but then they feel bad about not doing it.
Chen Yuwei tapped her fingers on the table and muttered "slippery" under her breath.
Xingkui twitched her ears and asked if they should temporarily restrain the people who had been thrown out.
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