People outside the palace dared not say anything openly out of respect for the imperial authority, but rumors and gossip always circulated behind their backs.
"Your Majesty, Lady Jun has been brought into the palace. I heard from someone close to the Emperor that he sent her directly into the Gan'an Palace." Huicao, the head palace maid of the original owner, knelt in front of Lu Qingyan and told her the news she had just learned.
Lu Qingyan chuckled coldly, thought for a moment, and waved her hand, saying, "Bring out the plaques for those who have served the emperor to the emperor. Make the plaques for each palace and hang them up again. Also, invite Consort Li to my palace for a small gathering."
Consort Li is the one in the palace who most resembles Consort Li; their appearances are similar, and so are their titles. The Emperor only visits her a few times a year, yet his favor remains constant. When the original owner controlled the harem, she didn't seem to try much to win the Emperor's favor, yet she always managed to evade the palace's open and covert attacks. Sending her to the Emperor's side now is undoubtedly a good pawn.
Zongzheng Shen's heart was now completely devoted to Bai Li. Although he was a seasoned lover, what he wanted was to win Bai Li's heart, not just her body. Of course, he had to put in a lot of effort to achieve this.
Although the main mission is to protect the Lu family, Lu Qingyan doesn't intend to let Zongzheng Shen have an easy time. He hurt the original owner so deeply and the Lu family so severely, so Lu Qingyan naturally wants him to experience the same suffering. Lu Qingyan plans to start by hurting Zongzheng Shen's heart, and the only person he truly cares about is Bai Li.
For several days in a row, Zongzheng Shen stayed in Bai Li's palace. There was no news from the inner palace about where he was staying. Zongzheng Shen had never done anything like this before. He stayed in the palace for two months without resting. This not only shocked the concubines, but also the Empress Dowager, who had not been involved in affairs for a long time. She summoned Lu Qingyan to ask him about it.
However, Empress Lu Qingyan had never held a high position in the harem. After the Empress Dowager said a few words to her and saw that she couldn't answer, she could only wave her away in annoyance. Meanwhile, Consort Li had been waiting for Lu Qingyan in her palace for a long time.
Lu Qingyan didn't stoop to being the annoying person who sowed discord between Zongzheng Shen and Bai Li. Instead, she kept placing Consort Li's nameplate at the front of the table and had people send messages to Consort Li's palace every day, saying that Zongzheng Shen had chosen her to serve him in bed.
Although Consort Li pretended to be indifferent to fame and fortune and not to compete for favor in public, how could she be such a person in her heart? If she were, she would not have entered the palace in the first place.
Lu Qingyan's teasing fueled his ambition. Consort Li waited in the palace for a long time, but the Emperor never arrived, and she couldn't help but resent the Empress. She wondered if the Empress had come up with some way to deal with her.
But the Empress was the Empress after all, and even though she had such suspicions, she didn't dare to question her directly. Coincidentally, an imperial decree arrived from the Empress's palace today, summoning her there, and she immediately became restless.
Could it be that the Empress knows everything she said behind her back, and now she wants to settle accounts with her? The original owner did do something similar when she was jealous of someone, so it's no wonder that Consort Li is overthinking things.
"Your Majesty the Empress summoned me. Is there something you need?" Recently, Lu Qingyan had been showering her palace with gifts, and each time she would have the palace servants make a scene, creating the illusion throughout the harem that Consort Li was currently very favored. Consort Li herself also felt as if she were being held in the Emperor's palm, so she couldn't help but feel a little smug. Although she hadn't seen the Emperor for a long time, because the gifts hadn't stopped, Consort Li always believed that the Emperor actually loved her.
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