Time flies, and the uneventful days always pass quickly. Ten days have passed since Empress Xin was confined to the cold palace.
For the past ten days, Guan Zhiyue has spent her time exercising and growing vegetables in the backyard. Yes, that's right, growing vegetables. The bok choy in the backyard is already ready to be separated and replanted.
Guan Zhiyue planted vegetables in the morning and started exercising in the yard in the afternoon. After ten days of unremitting efforts, she finally reduced her weight to 222 jin today, which means she met the conditions for space upgrade by five jin.
"Phew... It really wasn't easy, not easy at all."
"How is it, Little Tuantuan? Can I upgrade my space now?" Guan Zhiyue stared at the three identical numbers on the electronic scale, sighed with relief, and excitedly called out to Little Tuantuan inside the space.
The little brat inside the space said with an arrogant look, "Congratulations, host, you have successfully lost five pounds. The space will now be upgraded, which will take about half an hour."
Guan Zhiyue nodded excitedly. She had already waited so long, what was another half hour?
"Bilian, where have you run off to again?"
Guan Zhiyue looked around the courtyard, and then called out loudly to Bilian, who had disappeared somewhere.
Bilian ran over excitedly from the backyard and said, "Your Highness, the gate to the courtyard on the back mountain has been built. It looks so beautiful! I secretly went out for a while, and it was so great! Now we can leave the palace directly!"
Guan Zhiyue frowned and said, "This is a problem I haven't thought through."
"Your Majesty, what's wrong? Are you unhappy?"
Guan Zhiyue shook her head and said, "Wouldn't this count as leaving the palace without permission?"
Bilian seemed to have discovered something, her eyes widening in disbelief as she looked at Guan Zhiyue and said, "Your Majesty, what should we do if the Emperor finds out?"
"hiss...."
Guan Zhiyue gasped, frowning slightly, and said, "Should we send someone to ask the Emperor for a guarantee?"
Bilian, not quite understanding, said, "Your Majesty, how can you accept this? The Emperor doesn't like you at all, this..."
Guan Zhiyue had a headache, so she followed Bilian to the back of the Cold Palace. There she saw that more than forty palace servants were guarding the gate. They had already installed the gate to the outside, but they still needed the master's permission to leave. If they went out without permission and the emperor found out, they would be beheaded.
The group of people all looked at Eunuch Liu Debao, because he used to work in the Empress Dowager's palace, so everyone listened to him. After all, in this palace, besides the Emperor, the Empress Dowager was the most powerful person, and they figured that if anything happened, the Empress Dowager could still control the Emperor.
"Eunuch Liu, what do you think of this?" A young eunuch looked at Liu Debao with a questioning gaze.
Liu Debao also looked pale and didn't know what to say. Guan Zhiyue also came over from outside and said to everyone, "Thank you all for your hard work lately."
Upon hearing Guan Zhiyue's voice, everyone immediately turned around and prepared to kneel before her. Guan Zhiyue raised her hand and said, "There's no need for such formalities."
"I have come here today to ask you for a definite answer. If you can gain my trust, I will ensure your safety. But if you betray me, I may abandon you."
Upon hearing that this time it was truly time to kneel, the servants all knelt down in a flash, shouting, "Please rest assured, Your Majesty, we will certainly be loyal to Your Majesty the Empress."
Guan Zhiyue looked at these people and said, "Alright, then all of you get up. Eunuch Liu Debao, find two literate servants to guard this gate every day. Everyone who goes out to work must register, both when they come and go. Anyone who dares to turn a blind eye or not register will be beaten to death with sticks."
"I made you register in order to protect you. Of course, if you leave through this door and never come back, then I will certainly let you know why the flowers are so red."
"In addition, as everyone knows, my family is the Jianwei General's Mansion, and there are naturally some soldiers in the family. I have already written to my brother and asked him to send people to protect your safety during the reclamation, so there is no need to worry about the ferocious wild beasts in these desolate mountains."
The palace servants trembled upon hearing this. They knew what the Empress meant; she meant that while she would protect their safety, it was more important to keep them from running away.
However, they really had no intention of running away, because although the desolate mountain looked nice, the terrain was quite complex and towering. And as she said, there were no ferocious wild beasts, but there were definitely plenty of poisonous insects, snakes, and ants. They didn't want to die while crossing the mountains before they could escape. It would be better to stay in the palace and at least have a full meal.
But since the Empress did this, she must have her own reasons. All they, the servants, need to do is obey. Seeing that everyone already knew the rules, Guan Zhiyue was no longer worried. Now she just needed to focus on growing grain.
Now, as long as I can eat my fill and the people who follow me can eat their fill, that's enough. Why worry about anything else?
When Guan Zhiyue returned from the back mountain, half an hour had passed. The space had already been upgraded and was just waiting for Guan Zhiyue's inspection.
"Bilian, go boil some water for me! I'm a little tired. I'll go lie down in my room for a while. If I'm not awake yet, put the hot water on the stove and I'll take a bath when I wake up."
Bilian certainly knew how hard her mistress had been dieting these past few days, and it seemed to be working. So she was very happy to see her mistress like this.
"Yes, Your Highness, please go and rest! As for what you said about seeking help from the young general, I will take care of it as soon as possible, so please don't worry!"
Guan Zhiyue felt that she was a promising student and nodded with relief. Then, without looking back, she went into the house, closed the door, and lay down on the chaise lounge.
She didn't want to lie on the bed covered in sweat. She would just lie on the chaise lounge for a while. Besides, she didn't come into the room to sleep, she came to check out the space.
After Guan Zhiyue tidied everything outside, she slipped into the space.
Upon entering the space, her eyes lit up. What was originally the size of two floor tiles had now become the size of six floor tiles. The small thatched hut had become a bamboo hut, and the spiritual spring water cave, which was the size of a chopstick, had become a cave with an opening the size of a small bowl. The water inside was also crystal clear. The small black soil had also become much wider, and the area that was originally shrouded in black mist seemed to have opened up.
"My God! This..."
"Hahahaha... Hahahaha... I never thought I, Guan Zhiyue, would have a space now! Humph! Time travel? I'm not afraid of that anymore."
"With spatial protection, I have the world at my command!"
The little ball flying in mid-air also seemed to have grown a bit, but it wasn't obvious. The most obvious change was that the space it was in had expanded.
"Little Tuantuan, can I plant vegetables in this land now?" Guan Zhiyue asked, looking at Little Tuantuan who was still floating in mid-air.
Little Tuantuan said with a smile, "Of course you can, but host, I still remind you that it's better to grow some practical things."
"Pshaw! I just want to eat fresh vegetables right now. You don't understand, you don't understand."
As Guan Zhiyue spoke, she walked towards the entrance of the small spiritual spring, squatted down, and gently reached in with one hand to slowly scoop up some of the spring water. She couldn't wait to drink it down.
"Hmm, I feel like this spring water is different from the last one. This one feels even more comfortable!"
Little Tuantuan said proudly, "That's for sure. Now this water has the effect of losing weight. Every time the space is upgraded, it not only expands the original small things, but also adds different effects to the original things."
Guan Zhiyue's eyes widened in surprise upon hearing Xiao Tuantuan's words. She stared at Xiao Tuantuan and said, "So, does that mean I don't need to exercise anymore, and all I need to do is drink this water?"
Little Tuantuan flew to Guan Zhiyue's side, looked at her with a blank stare, and then said angrily, "You fat slut, what are you thinking?"
"The upgraded spiritual spring water does have weight loss benefits, but it's only a supplementary effect, you understand?"
Guan Zhiyue got angry when she saw the brat who was taking advantage of her, and reached out to grab Xiao Tuantuan.
"I have primal power inside me that I can't release anywhere. I wonder if I can release it on you?"
Guan Zhiyue got up from the ground and chased after Xiao Tuantuan in this small area of only six square meters.
Because Xiao Tuantuan can fly in the air, there is a lot of upward space, so it looks like she is falling into the bottom of a bottomless abyss. Guan Zhiyue can't get up and can only watch Xiao Tuantuan run wild above her head.
"Ugh... Damn it, I'm so angry, so angry."
This made Guan Zhiyue so angry that she drank seven or eight handfuls of spring water before her surging, primordial energy was finally suppressed.
"Hey, host, I forgot to tell you earlier, you're still in the evaluation period. Don't gain weight back again, or you'll end up back to square one. You'll have no one to blame but yourself!"
Guan Zhiyue's hand, which was still drinking water, suddenly stopped. She mechanically turned her head to look at Xiao Tuantuan, who was floating in mid-air. She opened her mouth wide in disbelief, spat out the water that was still in her mouth, and glared at Xiao Tuantuan, wanting to pull him down and give him a good beating.
"Hahahaha... Host, you're really making me laugh to death."
Guan Zhiyue lowered her head and endured it again and again. With her fleshy body, she silently said in her heart, "Little Tuantuan, you just wait and see how arrogant you will be when I catch you."
"snort!"
Guan Zhiyue snorted and left the space. Seeing that Bilian hadn't entered the room yet, she lay down on the chaise lounge, thinking about what she should plant in the black soil inside the space. After all, it was a space, and it couldn't be wasted.
This made her think hard on the chaise lounge, and she wanted to plant something as soon as possible.
"Sigh! This is really a dilemma. The vegetables in this yard are still seedlings and can't be eaten yet. This could really kill me."
As Guan Zhiyue thought about it, she yawned and actually fell asleep, feeling drowsy.
The Imperial Garden.
"Your Highness, look how beautifully the lotus flowers are blooming this year!"
"Absolutely! And those daisies and snapdragons, they're all blooming so beautifully!"
"Consort Zhuang, you seem to be enjoying yourself quite a bit lately?" Consort Shen looked at Consort Shu beside her with a smile on her lips and a dagger in her eyes.
Consort Shu was also one of the four consorts. Her name was Zhuang Jie, and she was 16 years old. She was a fairly standard beauty, but she liked to gossip. (Her father was Zhuang Gongcao (an assistant official to the governor, in charge of examining and recording merits), whose name was Zhuang Wenwu, an old man in his forties.)
Today, Consort Zhuang was dressed in a light and alluring white see-through dress, her hair half-loose. Without much ornate decoration, she looked like a pure white lotus compared to Consort Shen beside her. Her pure and innocent demeanor seemed like that of someone who had been violated but was willing to accept it. She was the kind of person that would make any man feel sorry for her. She was thin and small, with fair and cold skin, and a pitiful appearance. Compared to the arrogant Shen Na beside her, any man would definitely take a second look at Consort Zhuang, who was dressed in white and dressed in simple white.
"Sister, what do you mean? I don't know."
"Oh, Sister Zhuang, you really have a bad memory!"
About five days ago, when the Emperor passed by the Imperial Garden, he saw Consort Zhuang wearing the same outfit, strolling in the garden. Whether it was intentional or not, the clear sky suddenly turned into a torrential downpour. Consort Zhuang's thin gauze dress was soaked through and barely visible in the rain. This was something Li Qiji, who was sheltering from the rain with her, had never expected. Consort Zhuang sat on a stone bench in the pavilion of the Imperial Garden, shivering. Soon her lips turned white and lost their original color. Seeing Consort Zhuang shivering on the stone bench, Li Qiji draped his outer robe over her shoulders.
Actually, Li Qiji wasn't being kind; he just didn't want to see disgusting things that would pollute his eyes. Although he had countless beauties in his harem, he was still a virgin. He disliked these women; they were all pretentious, vicious, and all wanted to get into his bed. This made him feel particularly disgusted, as if these women would do anything to get him.
The topic returned to Consort Shen and Consort Zhuang. After hearing about this, all the women in the harem were extremely envious of Consort Zhuang, who had actually received the Emperor's personal care.
"Sister, please enjoy your shopping! I won't keep you company any longer. After all, I caught a cold a few days ago and my body can't withstand any more exertion. I'll take my leave now."
Consort Zhuang greeted Consort Shen lightly and then, with her palace servants, brushed past Shen Na.
Seeing this, Shen Na felt like her lungs were about to explode with anger, and she started roaring on the spot.
Of course, Guan Zhiyue was unaware of all this; she was now focused solely on losing weight and had no other distractions.
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