Soon, the head maid of Jingren Palace led in seven beautiful young women. Following the rules, everyone paid their respects to the Empress and then to the ladies-in-waiting of their respective palaces.
The process went very smoothly. After the ceremony, the Empress casually gave a few words of advice: "Now that you have entered the palace as concubines and have learned the rules, I hope that you sisters will serve the Emperor wholeheartedly and keep to your duties. I look forward to you sisters bearing children for the Emperor."
Everyone replied in unison, "Yes, Your Majesty the Empress."
The Empress smiled and nodded: "Yes, please sit down and talk!"
"Thank you, Your Majesty the Empress."
After speaking of the new concubines, the Empress turned to the old servants from the Prince's residence and smiled even more kindly: "If this applies to the new concubines, it applies even more to those who served the Emperor in the Prince's residence. There are many vacancies in the high positions of the harem now. If any of them can conceive and give birth safely, I will definitely petition for their promotion."
After the Empress finished speaking, Consort Qi couldn't help but laugh and say, "Your Highness Consort Nian should hurry up! With Her Majesty the Empress being so generous, the next promotion would be to the rank of Imperial Noble Consort!"
The Empress's face stiffened, and Consort Nian was also unable to feel happy.
Consort Qi's instigation was simplistic and naive, but the Empress was genuinely afraid that one day Consort Nian would give birth to a prince, and Yinzhen would be so pleased that he would bestow upon her the title of Imperial Noble Consort.
After all, Yinzhen had made exceptions for Consort Nian many times before, allowing her to use many things that only Imperial Noble Consorts or even the Empress could use.
The rank of Imperial Noble Consort is equivalent to that of a secondary empress. Generally, the existence of an Imperial Noble Consort is only due to the death of a Noble Consort, the empress's mistake, or the absence of an empress.
Unless Consort Nian is about to die, the Empress would not want to see either of these situations.
Consort Nian thought of her daughter who died at birth and the child she never gave birth to.
Both of them lost their expressions, and no one wanted to get involved. Some drank tea, while others ate snacks.
Consort Nian glanced at Consort Qi: "Her Majesty the Empress is magnanimous, but unfortunately, Consort Qi may not have that blessing."
Consort Qi could no longer laugh.
She was two years older than Yinzhen and had long since ceased to serve him in bed. Having a son and receiving a promotion were naturally none of her concern.
Consort Qi forced a smile at the end: "Then I will wait and see when Your Highness's good fortune will arrive."
Consort Nian said calmly, "I am young, I can wait."
A cold glint flashed in the Empress's eyes upon hearing this.
Consort Nian herself may not have realized it, but sometimes, her words and actions did indeed challenge the dignity of the Empress.
The greetings were almost over, and soon the Empress found an excuse to send everyone back.
After the concubines left, the Empress's face darkened. She returned to her room and casually asked, "Let's make it public that Consort Nian is pregnant! Since she's pregnant, she should take good care of herself and not hogging the Emperor's attention, thus hindering the newcomer from producing offspring for the royal family."
"Yes, Your Highness, I will arrange it immediately."
As for the Imperial Noble Consort, a cold glint flashed in the Empress's eyes. If Yinzhen really did that, then she wouldn't be so ruthless.
She wouldn't dare kill the emperor, but as a concubine from the Han Banner Army, there were plenty of ways to make her suffer.
When the new concubine entered the palace, Yinzhen did not begin to favor her. Instead, he stayed alone in the Hall of Mental Cultivation for a few days. During this time, news of Consort Nian's pregnancy spread.
In Yikun Palace, Consort Nian frowned: "Didn't I say not to spread this out for the time being? What's going on with the news outside?"
"Your Majesty, please calm down. I have investigated. It was Physician Cheng from the Imperial Hospital who took Your Majesty's pulse who was careless and let people see that he had prescribed medicine to prevent miscarriage for Yikun Palace, which is how the news got out."
Consort Nian frowned: "That Imperial Physician Cheng's medical skills are mediocre, and I didn't expect him to be so useless in his work as well. This pregnancy of mine cannot afford any mistakes. Send a message out of the palace and ask Mother to help arrange a competent imperial physician."
As for that Imperial Physician Cheng, investigate him. If there's nothing wrong, arrange for him to leave the palace! His carelessness means he's destined for a short life, even if he stays in the palace.”
"Yes, Your Majesty."
"Now that the news has spread, we should summon an imperial physician and inform the Emperor of this good news."
"Yes, Your Majesty."
In the afternoon, Su Peisheng came into the Hall of Mental Cultivation to report good news.
"Your Majesty, a report has come from Yikun Palace that the Imperial Concubine is pregnant, and it has been more than a month."
Upon hearing this, Yinzhen immediately smiled.
Consort Nian was his favorite, and he naturally wanted to have a child with the woman he loved, either a boy or a girl.
He immediately stood up and said with a smile, "Let's go to Yikun Palace to see the Imperial Concubine."
Su Peisheng smiled and bowed, saying, "Yes, Your Majesty."
When Yinzhen arrived at Yikun Palace, Consort Nian rushed forward to pay her respects, but Yinzhen quickly stopped her and helped her up, saying, "You are pregnant, so there is no need for you to pay your respects. Sit down and talk with me."
Consort Nian said coquettishly, "It's not even been two months yet, it's not a serious injury, Your Majesty doesn't need to be so careful."
Yinzhen disagreed, saying, "We can never be too careful with our children."
Consort Nian was even happier upon hearing this.
After sitting down, Yinzhen asked, "What did the imperial physician say? Is the child alright?"
"Everything is fine, but because of my pregnancy last year, I need to take some medicine to prevent miscarriage for a few days, but it's nothing serious."
Yinzhen felt bad thinking about the unborn child: "Take good care of yourself during your pregnancy. I will tell the Empress that you don't need to pay your respects during this time."
Consort Nian looked moved, but her eyes held a hint of unease as she asked, "Wouldn't this be a bit inappropriate?"
"Consort Jing's pregnancy wasn't good at first either, but Hongzhao was very healthy, which shows that rest and recuperation were effective."
Consort Nian thought of Hongzhao, who was indeed a lovely child. However, the child was not hers, but rather the child of her beloved husband and another woman. No matter what, she could not be happy.
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