Chapter 304 Wei Yanwan 44
The death of the eldest prince had a much greater impact on Hongli than when he was alive. It is hard to say whether this is ironic or not.
What is even more ironic is that the death of the child whom Ruyi had raised and truly loved made Hongli, who felt even more lonely, determined to marry Ruyi as his queen.
As the imperial concubine who assisted in the management of the six palaces, Wei Yanwan should have been busy arranging the affairs of the Emperor and Empress' Palace. However, she had no interest in doing so. So on the third day after the Emperor issued the decree, the imperial physician diagnosed her with pregnancy.
So this task was gloriously distributed among several concubines, and she only had to accompany Ruyi and the emperor to eat and drink, and act as a mascot.
The ceremony of crowning the queen was as grand as it was back then. The concubines knelt on the imperial steps, looking at the royal couple standing in the highest position, each with different thoughts in their minds.
A new emperor appoints new ministers. From then on, all traces of Empress Fucha in the palace disappeared completely, and was replaced by the era of Empress Wulanana Ruyi.
Jia Guiren was also released at this opportunity and was restored to Jiapin.
The power in the palace is reshuffled again, with a new queen and a new struggle about to begin.
"Your Highness, I pray that the Queen will be well."
Ruyi sat upright on the main seat of the Yikun Palace, looking at the concubines below who were all bowing in unison. Her mind was filled with thoughts, and after a moment she spoke, "Everyone, get up."
"Thank you, Queen."
Everyone thanked the Queen and sat down, waiting quietly for our new Queen to speak first.
However, Ruyi's first words weren't a reprimand or a set of rules. Instead, she instructed Rong Pei to distribute the gifts she had prepared to everyone present. As the saying goes, "Many gifts are appreciated," and seeing Ruyi so kind, the tense atmosphere relaxed.
"Now that the children of Noble Concubine Ling, Concubine Chun... and Concubine Jia are all of school age, I have prepared a set of Hu brushes for them. You can take them back and use them later."
"I thank the Queen for the reward."
Naturally, Wei Yanwan led the group to express their gratitude to the Queen. Then Ruyi also took care of the other princes and princesses in the palace. Finally, there were gifts prepared for the concubines. They were all practical and good things, so everyone stood up and expressed their gratitude again.
The Queen had already spoken, so naturally, the concubines, having received the gifts, should join in the conversation. Wei Yanwan then began chatting with Concubine Chun, who was beside her, regarding the Queen's gift. Unexpectedly, Su Lujun, driven by a desire to curry favor with the Queen and having a feud with Concubine Jia, couldn't help but pick on her when she saw her in red.
"Today is the day to celebrate the Empress's wedding, and Concubine Jia is dressed so beautifully."
Concubine Mei, enjoying the fun, immediately laughed, "Sister Chunfei, how did you know that Concubine Jia was here to celebrate the Empress's big birthday? If she was really here to celebrate, shouldn't she have been more discerning and dressed appropriately for her status? Look at what she's wearing, how does she look like a concubine?"
Jiapin naturally refused to be outdone: "I don't have so many thoughts in my mind, but I always remember that the emperor said he liked me to wear red."
"That was when Jiapin was a concubine, right? You were still young then. Now there are so many fresh newcomers entering the palace, how come you haven't made any progress?"
"You!" Concubine Jia was furious. She pointed at Concubine Mei and said nothing. Instead, she smiled and said, "The Empress didn't say anything. It's not your turn to meddle in other people's business. Empress, do you mind?"
Ruyi couldn't remain silent when Jiapin pointed her out, so she just smiled politely and said, "Your Majesty and I are husband and wife. If Your Majesty has no objection, then naturally I have no objection either."
"The Empress is the new Empress, but this Yikun Palace is the old palace. I remember that Yi means to assist, to assist the Empress Kunning... You are now the Empress, why haven't you moved out yet?"
"Even though Jiapin is a concubine, she cares about the six palaces. She even cares about where I live. She really puts a lot of thought into it."
Seeing that Jiapin was trying to belittle Ruyi's status as the Queen, Concubine Yu was unwilling to tolerate it any longer. She sneered and said, "The Queen is the Queen. No matter where she lives, she is the master of the Central Palace and the Emperor's legal wife. Jiapin should take care of herself and take care of herself."
"Although they are both legal wives, there is always a difference between a second marriage and the original wife." Jiapin seemed to have grasped their sore spot and became proud: "By the way, Concubine Chun, I remember there is a saying in the folk, is it called a second wife or a concubine? You are from the Han Army Banner, so you must know better than me."
"I never thought that you, a tribute girl from the Yu clan, would know so much about the folk customs of the Qing Dynasty."
Wei Yanwan then slowly picked up the tea on the table, took a sip with a smile, and then slowly said, "It's just that people should know their place. The Empress is now the master of the Central Palace, and this is the harem, not a place where those small families can be unruly. Jiapin is already an old woman, she wouldn't have forgotten the rules of serving the Empress in the past, right?"
"If she really has forgotten, then it shows that her previous deference to Empress Xiaoxian was all false."
Shu Fei also couldn't stand Jiapin's behavior and spoke directly. After the two of them squeezed her like this, Jiapin was speechless. However, her eyes were full of malice, and she even pointed at them and said:
"Don't get complacent, you'll fall down sooner or later!"
Ruyi had already learned from the Emperor what she had discovered from Jiapin that day. She was already dissatisfied with her, and now seeing her malicious intent so openly, she felt even more disgusted. She immediately clapped her hands and said:
"Jiapin openly behaved rudely in front of me. Is she showing contempt for me?"
"The Empress does not like me, so naturally she thinks I am at fault in every way."
Seeing that she still showed no remorse, the others present also became unhappy. After a series of arguments, Ruyi finally sent people to lock her up again and made her copy scriptures in Qixiang Palace to relieve her anger.
From then on, she was gradually forgotten in the palace, and the concubines who had originally respected the queen began to have other ideas.
It was true that Hongli got what he wanted that day and began to favor the queen alone every day. He even ignored others when he visited his ancestors and tombs or toured Songshan and Luoyang. The two of them seemed like newlyweds getting married for the first time and lived in harmony.
Even those concubines who gave birth to children rarely saw the emperor.
Unfortunately, Ruyi, who was immersed in the tenderness and love of her lover at this time, did not realize that she was completely immersed in the beautiful dream of husband and wife, and even often forgot her identity as the queen.
However, there was one surprise, that was Concubine Ling, who gave birth to twins, a boy and a girl, in the year the emperor and empress got married.
This was a very auspicious sign. If Hongli had not been somewhat sincere towards Empress Ruyi, he would have immediately made her an Imperial Noble Consort.
But precisely because she could not be promoted in rank and her mother's family was from the bannermen family and had no one to help her, the emperor always wanted to compensate them. He simply gave her the surname Zhangjia to elevate Wei Yanwan's status, and externally referred to her as Zhangjia Yanwan.
It is not known whether Hongli did it intentionally or not, but he turned the harem into a three-way balance of power: the queen, the imperial concubine, and the empress dowager who was hiding behind the scenes and was not willing to retire completely for the time being.
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