Meng Qi walked into the magnificent Kunning Palace with mixed feelings. The bluestone floor tiles under her feet were painted with different patterns and gold edges. Every inch seemed to be telling of the dignity and majesty of imperial power.
Princess Yong'an took her hand and walked to the right. Meng Qi smelled the woman's fragrance, and the cheerful laughter quieted down from the moment she entered.
Meng Qi didn't look up. She walked to the center of the room in small steps. Looking at the futon on the ground, she took two steps forward and knelt down. "Your servant Meng Qi pays respects to Her Majesty the Queen. May Her Majesty live a thousand years, a thousand years, a thousand thousand years."
"Hurry up and get up! There's no snow today, and it's freezing cold. Are you freezing?"
Meng Qi was helped to her feet by the palace maid. She raised her head and put on a perfect smile, looking at Empress Gao who was sitting in the main seat. "It's not cold. The carriage will go directly to the main gate of the harem. Your Majesty Meng will carry the warm sedan chair you like to ride to the alley of Kunning Palace. I'm sorry to bother Princess Yong'an to go and greet you."
Empress Gao smiled and nodded, "Good boy, come here. Madam Sang and Secretary Guan said you learned very well, and it turns out it's true."
Meng Qi took two steps forward, bowed, and said, "Your servant is dull and has many things to learn. I will need to learn from them more in the future."
Before the Queen could say anything, a woman sitting to her left covered her mouth and laughed, "Look! That's why they say the Queen's vision is unique. In just one month, the two nurses have transformed Fourth Miss Meng."
Meng Qi turned her head to look, and recalled carefully in her mind that the person who spoke should be Concubine Zhen, the mother of the eighth prince and the niece of Concubine Xian.
The Queen was displeased when she heard Concubine Zhen's words. It was as if, without this month, Meng Qi would be nothing more than a village girl in the wilderness. But she didn't show it on her face. She took Meng Qi's hand and asked her about her daily life in detail.
Meng Qi seemed to have not understood what Zhenpin had just said, answering the Queen's questions seriously. Occasionally, she would be a little cautious, and sometimes, after answering, she would look up anxiously as if she felt something was wrong.
After the Empress finished her questions, Meng Qi turned to Concubine Zhen and bowed. Concubine Zhen stood up and said, "I didn't know Fourth Miss Meng was coming to the palace today. I've disturbed the Empress for so long. I'm sure the Empress has many things to arrange. I'll take my leave now."
The Queen nodded. "As I just said, just go find Concubine Xian. She has all the medicines there, and they've all been used. She knows exactly how to use them, how much to use, and how long to use them. It's much easier than what I have here."
Concubine Zhen gave a forced smile and said, "Yes, thank you, Empress, for the reminder." After that, she led the palace maid out of the hall without even glancing at Meng Qi.
The Queen rubbed her forehead and called the head aunt of Kunning Palace, "Is everything arranged?"
"Yes, it's arranged."
The Queen nodded and said, "Let Yong'an take you there and stay there first. Have a good rest today. Tomorrow, the concubines from all the palaces and princesses from all the prefectures will come to pay their respects. You can meet them then. Although you have been to the palace before, there are so many people and things to do, I'm afraid you won't recognize all of them. You will be coming and going frequently in the future. Even if you don't know who lives in which palace, at least you should have an idea of who lives in which palace."
Meng Qi was not at all surprised by the arrangement for the queen. In fact, Queen Gao was not favored by the emperor. The reason she was able to sit in this position was because the Gao family made great efforts and lost several male descendants in the battle for the throne of Emperor Jing'an.
Another reason the Emperor named her Empress was that she was very virtuous in his eyes. The Emperor had praised the Empress more than once for her tolerance in handling matters in the harem.
The queen was defined by her virtue, so she always appeared virtuous to the emperor. She was virtuous to the concubines, just like the concubine Zhen just now, who relied on her relationship with the virtuous concubine and the fact that she gave birth to a son, and dared to interrupt the queen. She was virtuous to the princes and princesses, and it was obvious from Fanghua that her food, clothing and other expenses were better than Yong'an's, but the queen still had to put on a smile to prevent the princess from finding any evidence to complain to the emperor. She was virtuous to her daughters-in-law, just like the matter of Meng Qi this time, she personally arranged everything in the palace to let the emperor feel her attention. After all, the royal family hadn't had a wedding for many years. No matter what Meng Qi's reputation was, it was a marriage granted by the emperor himself. The more the queen valued it, the happier the emperor would be. As for what the future would be like, it had nothing to do with her.
Therefore, the empress is very cunning and calculating, but sometimes she is also very helpless. When the crown prince is in power and most of the other concubines have sons, if the empress wants to make plans for her son, her virtuousness is very important in the eyes of the emperor.
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