...
After Jingyan left, Granny Ye and Qingke went into the hall.
Granny Ye said with concern, "Princess, you have been taking medicinal baths since you were a child. The medicine not only gives people a natural fragrance, but also has a natural bewitching effect."
"His Highness was panting several times after he went out. You must cover it up carefully until you are sure."
"It's nothing. I just wanted to calm him down. I can't really rely on this stuff," Yue Jiang said, not really caring.
Soaking in medicinal baths is also a way to train their allure. Over time, this stuff gets into their bodies, but its effects are neither great nor small.
It can make even the most unruly and lecherous men fall at her feet, and even the most virtuous and noble gentlemen can restrain themselves when disturbed, usually using other fragrances to mask their irritation.
But this thing is so irresistible to many ordinary men that Yue Jiang saw many low-class beauties from the Yue Kingdom, and before she could even use her tricks a few times, the men were already filled with lust.
The methods the Moon Kingdom used against these people were nothing like those in the novels Yue Jiang had read before, where someone would be given a poison and forced to obey if they didn't want to die, with the antidote provided monthly.
They would take homeless, lonely women with some beauty and raise them in luxury, turning them into beauties.
Some people, accustomed to comfort, are unwilling to endure hardship; others, unwilling to provide amusement for others, are willing to suffer and elope with a man they've only met briefly.
The Moon Kingdom doesn't bother hunting down beauties of low value; they often let them go, because the men they choose can't protect them.
With its alluring fragrance, it becomes like a piece of fatty meat, tempting and coveted by many, without the inexhaustible supply of perfumes to mask its allure.
Those poor women are like the most beautiful butterflies in a glass jar. They have no freedom inside the jar, and once they leave, they cannot adapt to the cruel life outside. They will soon perish and die.
If you want to live, you have no choice but to seek powerful protection from above.
Jing Yan was the first man Yue Jiang had ever met who could suppress his body odor.
Yue Jiang smiled and didn't think too much about it, then asked, "How's the investigation into the interpersonal relationships in Jing Palace going?"
Qingke stepped forward, looking worried: "I've found out, it's quite complicated. Princess, you'll have quite a few enemies in the future."
After a long time, Yue Jiang figured out the interpersonal relationships within Jing Palace.
There are two empress dowagers in Jing Palace: Empress Dowager Cheng and Empress Dowager Zheng.
Empress Dowager Cheng was the wife of Emperor Jing who crashed into a pillar in the main hall of Anguo. She had no children, came from a noble family in the old Jing Kingdom, and her family was at its zenith when Jing Yan's grandfather was alive.
Empress Zheng's family was of lower social standing than Empress Cheng's. Her family had accompanied Jingyan's grandfather when he was sent to the Jade Kingdom as a hostage. In the Jade Kingdom, Empress Zheng always accompanied Jingyan's grandfather.
It is said that Empress Dowager Zheng had a deep affection for Jing Yan's grandfather. After returning to the country, she was made a Noble Consort and was the birth mother of Jing Huaixu. Her son ascended the throne and became Empress Dowager.
The two empress dowagers fought each other for many years. If it weren't for the fact that Empress Ye, the wife of Jing Huaixu, was chosen by their husbands, the empress would probably have to come from one of these two families.
Without the Empress to contend with, the two women each arranged for their own nieces to reside in Jing Huaixu's harem.
They are Empress Dowager Cheng's niece, Consort Cheng Wan, who has a son named Jingshuo, who is nineteen years old this year.
Zheng Qinghong, the niece of Empress Dowager Zheng, had a daughter, Jingning, who is nineteen years old this year, and a son, Jinglu, who is eighteen years old.
The princes had all grown up, and the two women each placed high hopes on the children born to their maternal families.
Empress Dowager Zheng's attitude was intriguing. Even though Jing Yan was her own grandson, she didn't care much about him. Instead, she favored Jing Lu, the son of Consort Zheng, who shared a blood relationship with her.
As a result, Jingyan and Jingyi, the brother and sister, had a distant relationship with Empress Dowager Zheng.
Jingyi, in particular, was not loved by her own grandmother, the Empress Dowager, but was pampered by Empress Dowager Cheng. Jingyi deeply respected and loved Empress Dowager Cheng.
Both empress dowagers had nieces and grandnieces from their maternal families by their side.
Cheng Suyun, the grand-niece of Empress Dowager Cheng, and Zheng Yutong, the grand-niece of Empress Dowager Zheng.
Regarding these two grandnieces, the two empress dowagers each wanted to emulate how they had placed their nieces into Jing Huaixu's harem in the past, and instead place them in Jing Yan's Eastern Palace.
Back then, Empress Dowager Cheng's niece was one rank higher than Empress Dowager Zheng's niece, both due to the entanglement that Jingyan's grandfather had with Anguo.
Everyone in the Jing Palace had always assumed that Cheng Suyun would inevitably become Jing Yan's official Crown Princess, but unexpectedly, Yue Jiang snatched her away.
Jingyi's closeness to Empress Dowager Cheng and Cheng Suyun makes sense in her causing trouble for Yuejiang today, all for the sake of Cheng Suyun.
"Princess, I have heard that His Majesty prefers Consort Zheng to Consort Cheng of the Jing Kingdom. Consort Zheng is His Majesty's cousin."
"Do you think that if the two empress dowagers' nieces were to enter His Highness's Eastern Palace, His Highness would also favor his cousin?" Qingke asked worriedly.
Yue Jiang raised an eyebrow, disagreeing: "The information we found already says that Empress Dowager Zheng prefers the princes born to her nieces. If Jing Yan knew that Empress Dowager Zheng disliked him, how could he possibly like Zheng Yutong?"
Yue Jiang was a princess from another country sent to marry a foreign ruler; there were rumors circulating among the six palaces about such marriages.
If a marriage alliance is to be formed, the groom's country should agree not to take concubines for a year and to treat the wife with respect. However, this does not mean that the husband should be mistreated, since the princess can arrange for concubines from among the people she brings with her.
Jingyan may not seem interested in a life of pleasure and debauchery at the moment, but getting married and having children is a major event for him.
Who knows if he might take more concubines in order to have more offspring, or if he might get married, find pleasure in them, and fall in love with them?
If that's the case, Yue Jiang can't stop it, but she won't fall in love with Jing Yan. Being the Queen and the Empress Dowager of a country is a great blessing.
As long as Jing Yan's future lovers don't test her limits or deliberately play tricks on her, she can just enjoy her life.
But these two empress dowagers' grandnieces might not be able to stay at peace. Yue Jiang doesn't want to be entangled with them like Empress Ye was with Consort Cheng and Consort Zheng.
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