Chapter 2481: Quarrel (Thanks to the reward from the book friend "Si Qinglanyu")
After taking a boat into the Daming Palace, Manbao found that the Daming Palace looked more... barbaric.
The Daming Palace had a brief period of renovation after the Emperor and the Empress Dowager brought Prince Gong and Mingda and several other princes' daughters to escape the summer heat. Unfortunately, it was short-lived and was interrupted within two months due to funding issues. In those two months, only one of the palaces was half-built. However, the palace was empty after it was built, with no furniture or anything else inside.
Later, the emperor was always very poor, the inner treasury was in a state of deficit, and the national treasury was strictly controlled by the court officials. As soon as he showed the intention of building the Daming Palace, from the Wei Zhi to the sixth-rank censors would write to dissuade him, believing that the people were only now safe and there was still a long way to go before national peace, so it was not a good time to carry out large-scale construction.
The emperor listened to the advice and later put the Daming Palace behind him.
Later, due to mourning period, it was not possible to build large-scale projects; last year, there was a western expedition and the national treasury was out of money, so the Daming Palace... well, let alone construction, even repairs were rarely done, so the grass and trees grew a little wildly. Manbao stood on the boat and looked at the weeds on both sides of the river, shook his head slightly, and thought that the emperor's house was so good, with so many houses, but he could actually let his home become deserted like this.
When they arrived at the ferry, the eunuch stopped the boat and let Zhou Man get off.
After Manbao got ashore, he walked to see the palace that was being renovated by the Ministry of Works.
There weren't many people here, mostly people from the Ministry of Works and conscripts. However, this time the emperor couldn't build a palace, but wanted to renovate it.
The emperor asked the Ministry of Works to select the two largest palaces and directly build walls to seal them off. At that time, the princesses would be in one palace and the princes would be in another palace. Men and women would be vaccinated separately, and people inside could only enter but not leave.
A very long alley was built between the two palaces to allow the imperial physicians to travel back and forth between the two palaces.
So once the royal family moved in, the two palaces would be sealed off, and even food would be delivered via hanging baskets.
The reason for being so cautious is that this is the Daming Palace, which is too close to the Taiji Palace, so they want to prevent the smallpox from leaking out.
Originally, vaccinations should have been carried out in the imperial farm, as it was the safest place.
Unfortunately, the emperor was reluctant to let his descendants suffer any injustice, so six people lived in one room in the imperial farm, and it was a hastily built house made of earth and stone, which was no match for the palace in Daming Palace.
Here, at least one room per person is guaranteed.
That's right, here each person has a room. The emperor was so generous that he had a long screen made to divide the large room into two. Not only can a little princess or princess live in one room, but the princesses and princesses can also bring a palace maid to serve them.
Well, the selected palace maids are all around sixteen years old, and they all have to be vaccinated like their masters. Unless there are any accidents, they will continue to serve their masters in the future.
Man Baolai came to check whether the two palaces were really sealed and whether there were any secret passages that could pass things inside and outside. This kind of thing was not a big problem in the imperial farm, but it was a taboo in the palace.
They also had to check whether the pharmacy prepared for their Imperial Hospital was compliant, as well as the hygiene of the palace.
After checking today's work, Manbao grabbed her hands and looked up at the craftsmen busy at work. As she watched, she felt that with the fine work they did today, it would probably take several years to build the rest of the Daming Palace, and that was if the emperor was very rich.
If the money is not available, it may take more than ten years to build.
Manbao shook his head, noted down their project progress, and left.
It's almost time for her to leave the office. Once she takes the boat back to Taiji Palace, it should be about time for her to leave the office. Well, she still has to walk back to the Imperial Hospital, which is quite far.
But when she thought of the makeup box in the Imperial Hospital, she became motivated again.
Manbao happily took the makeup box and left the palace. Before she left the house, she saw Bai Shan waiting outside the palace gate.
Manbao immediately stepped forward with a smile, and the guards checked her makeup box, staring at it with sharp eyes.
Manbao said generously: "This was given to me by Princess Gong."
Of course, the guards did not think of this as a bribe, but a reward.
Zhou Man was one of the most rewarded foreign officials they knew.
Prince Gong and the former King of Yizhou do not count.
The guards cast an envious glance at her, noted down what she had taken out today, and then let her go.
As soon as she came out, Bai Shan reached out to take the makeup box. His hand sank, and he steady himself before asking, "Why would Princess Gong give you a gift?"
Manbao said, "Let's talk in the car."
Daji came to pick them up from the yamen and take them home.
When they got in the car, Manbao rubbed his sore arm and said, "This is a bribe from Princess Gong. She said it was to add to my makeup."
Manbao paused and said, "Prince Gong definitely doesn't know about this. I think they will definitely have a quarrel when they return."
Bai Shan was puzzled, "Why are you arguing?"
Manbao thought for a moment and said, "If I gave Lu Yue a very expensive gift in private and said that you asked me to give it to you, would you be angry?"
Bai Shan and Lu Yue did not have a very good relationship, and they basically maintained a superficial harmony because they were both students of Chongwenguan.
Well, there is also Zhao Liulang to mediate.
If Manbao gave Lu Yue something in private and said it was from him, Lu Yue would think that Bai Shan was trying to make peace with him, and Bai Shan would definitely be angry!
Bai Shan glanced at her and asked, "Will you give Lu Yue a gift?"
Manbao shook his head. "We have no vested interests in him. Not to mention that we don't have anything to ask of him, even if we did, we don't agree on how to handle things, so naturally we wouldn't ask for anything."
She paused and said, "But Princess Gong is a gentle person."
She is just too gentle, so she cannot make the decision for Prince Gong, and it is even difficult for her to influence him.
Zhou Man was right. Prince Gong and Princess Gong did have a quarrel. It could be said that it was Prince Gong who unilaterally scolded Princess Gong until she cried.
On the other side, in the main hall of Taiji Hall, the couple, it was the empress who was scolding the emperor, "Sanlang's wife wanted to give Zhou Man a gift, why did you point it out in front of Sanlang?"
"Didn't you say that Sanlang's wife wanted to ease the relationship between them and Zhou Man?"
The Queen: "...But do you think Sanlang is willing? You know his temper. If you point it out to him, he'll just feel embarrassed. In the end, it's Sanlang's wife who will be wronged, and their relationship may not be able to ease."
She said, "It would be better to let Sanlang's wife send it quietly. It doesn't matter whether Zhou Man has a good relationship with Sanlang or not. As long as she has a good relationship with Sanlang's wife, that's enough."
This is the survival wisdom of the harem. Except for some grudges that are impossible to resolve, all other conflicts are just you men competing with each other, and we also have our own relationships.
In fact, Zhou Man and Prince Gong did not have any real deep hatred. They just had different positions because of the position of crown prince.
Zhou Man has never dealt any damage. She has always been healing and saving lives, but the person she saved was the prince.
Therefore, the queen believed that as long as time was long enough, the grudge between them would fade away. Regardless of whether it existed or not, Zhou Man was an upright person and would not harm others for this, so it was better to let nature take its course. The emperor's interference was completely a good intention that ended up in a bad way.
See you tomorrow
(End of this chapter)
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