Wanchun Palace was dead silent.
The Queen Mother went crazy.
What should she do then?
Concubine Yu was extremely depressed. From childhood to adulthood, she could only rely on the relationship between her mother and the empress dowager to become childhood sweethearts with Emperor Yongxi.
If the late emperor had not taken a liking to her, she would have long been the Crown Princess and Empress of Emperor Yongxi.
Now she has been demoted and confined to her house, and her mother and the empress dowager cannot be relied upon. It is impossible for her to deal with Bei, who is protected by Emperor Yongxi, on her own.
"My Lady, something terrible has happened."
"What is it?"
Concubine Yu's face darkened.
"The Emperor wants to reorganize the harem and release a group of people from the palace."
"Let a group of people out of the palace. Who are they?"
Concubine Yu didn't quite understand.
"The concubines who have never slept with the emperor and the elderly palace maids."
Concubine Yu's expression changed suddenly.
No one knew that she had never slept with him.
Every time Emperor Yongxi came to Wanchun Palace, he only played chess and drank tea with her, and rarely had the chance to eat with her.
Never touched her.
Even my mother and the Queen Mother didn't know.
She had also been dissatisfied, but she was too proud to bring herself to take the initiative, so she chose to endure it, thinking that one day she would impress Emperor Yongxi.
Now that Emperor Yongxi wants to let the concubines who did not sleep with him leave the palace, he must be targeting her on purpose.
Concubine Yu was almost crying with anger. She didn't know how she had offended Emperor Yongxi to make him look down on her like this.
Obviously he wasn't like this before.
From childhood to adulthood, he protected her so much that even the princess and Concubine Jiang did not receive the same treatment as her.
Why is that?
Concubine Yu couldn't understand.
"I want to see the emperor."
Concubine Yu ordered the palace maids to pass the message to Emperor Yongxi.
"I obey your command."
The palace maid was about to leave when Concubine Yu said, "Forget it, let's take a look first."
Maybe it's not her. She is the daughter of the prime minister. Letting her leave the palace would be a slap in the face of the prime minister's office.
She must have been overthinking it.
Thinking of this, Concubine Yu hated Bei Lingyao so much.
It was believed that it was the vixen Bei Lingyao who seduced Emperor Yongxi, so Emperor Yongxi sent the concubines who did not sleep with him out of the palace.
Although Taizu had done such a thing, it was because he was old and he issued an edict that concubines who had not slept with him could leave the palace and remarry.
Emperor Yongxi was only 25 years old, in the prime of his life. If he had not been drugged by Bei's love potion, how could he have issued such an order?
It can be said that Emperor Yongxi's decree shocked the harem.
In Fengyi Palace, Bei Lingyao was speechless as she listened to the insults directed at her by people from various palaces.
It was Emperor Yongxi who did the work, and she was the one who was scolded.
She couldn't understand why Emperor Yongxi did this, and she didn't think she could make Emperor Yongxi give up his harem.
Bei Lingyao took people to Taiji Palace.
"Your Majesty, the Empress is here."
In the Imperial Study, many ministers were begging Emperor Yongxi to withdraw his order.
Although Taizu had a precedent, that was in his later years when he was always ill and there were many young concubines in the harem, so he allowed them to leave the palace and remarry.
At that time, no one in the court opposed it, and they even praised Taizu for his kindness.
But Emperor Yongxi is different.
When the court officials heard that the queen was coming, they also had some thoughts in their minds. Like the concubines, the first thought in their minds was the queen.
"The Queen is here."
Emperor Yongxi stood up and was about to go out to greet him. He waved his hand to the ministers and said, "You all may withdraw. I have made up my mind."
The ministers were disappointed, and an old censor could no longer contain his frustration, "We will go to pay our respects to the Empress."
Another minister pulled him aside and said, "You are getting old and confused. The Queen is pregnant with the Emperor's heir. We cannot afford any mistakes."
This is the emperor's first child. If there is an accident during pregnancy, the lives of the entire family will be at stake.
The old censor finally held back, but still stubbornly refused to leave. "Since the Empress is here, we must pay our respects to her."
The ministers did not leave, but they moved a little further away from the old censor to avoid being implicated.
Bei Lingyao was led by Emperor Yongxi's hand into the imperial study, and was stunned when she saw the surprised looks on the ministers' faces.
"Your Highness, we pay our respects to Her Majesty the Queen."
"Please stand up, everyone. I am sorry to bother you."
Bei Lingyao looked apologetic, and actually she came at this time on purpose.
"Don't bother me, I'll take my leave."
The ministers thought that the old censor would be stubborn, but they didn't expect him to remain silent. They suddenly felt that there was no need to stay any longer.
If Bei Lingyao was not pregnant, there would definitely be ministers who could not help themselves.
But at this time, no one dared, nor did anyone act stupidly.
As soon as the ministers reached the door, Bei Lingyao couldn't wait to speak to Emperor Yongxi, "Your Majesty, I have received the Emperor's decree that the elderly palace maids should leave the palace for retirement. Why should even the concubines be forced to leave the palace and remarry? They were selected to enter the palace and are already the Emperor's concubines. How can they survive if they leave the palace?"
When the ministers who had not yet left heard this, they felt that they had misunderstood the queen.
The queen's words touched their hearts.
Among the concubines released by Taizu in his later years, few lived well.
"My mother has given me medicine twice. I've always had trouble having children, and now I'm injured. Even if I recover, I shouldn't summon my concubines, otherwise it will be detrimental to my health. Rather than leaving them alone in the deep palace, it's better to let them out and find a new life."
"Your Majesty is merciful. However, if you want to let the concubines leave the palace, there must be a rule. After all, they have served the emperor for a lifetime, so we cannot treat them unfairly. If they don't want to leave the palace, then they can stay."
"The Queen is magnanimous. I will obey you. However, I will not participate in the selection of concubines in the future. I am still young and want to see our prince grow up and have many children and grandchildren. I cannot let the beauty of women harm my health."
Since Emperor Yongxi said so, the ministers had to give up their advice.
He just felt that it was not easy for the emperor either.
It’s no wonder that the Emperor and the Empress Dowager fell out after the Empress Dowager drugged him twice.
After all, it was the Queen Mother who hurt the relationship between mother and son first.
Fortunately, the Queen Mother was not her biological mother, and she was crazy, so she really reaped the consequences of her own actions.
After the incident in the Imperial Study, Bei Lingyao's reputation for being magnanimous, virtuous, and kind spread.
The wet nurse was extremely happy. Her master had a bad reputation in recent years, and he was not living well in the Bu family, and the Bei family did not recognize him.
It’s great that now all the hard work has paid off and our reputation has been reversed.
After returning to Fengyi Palace, Bei Lingyao asked her subordinates to come up with a set of rules.
This was her first thing to do as queen, so naturally she had to do it beautifully.
The next day, Bei Lingyao summoned the concubines.
Since she was pregnant, the concubines were exempted from paying their respects in the morning.
Now all the concubines are called here to discuss leaving the palace.
Concubine Yu was under house arrest and did not come.
The concubines were relieved to learn that they would not be forced to leave the palace and that it would be up to them to do so.
Not every concubine was truly loved by her family; some were merely tools for marriage alliances.
Once a concubine is abandoned and expelled from the palace, her fate will fall into the hands of her natal family.
It would be better to stay in the palace. Life can’t be that bad.
Bei Lingyao said, "You can write a letter to your parents first and then make a decision."
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