Chapter 30 Cold Palace
"Cough cough cough..."
Xi Que pushed open the door of the room assigned to her by the eunuch, and started coughing because of the dust.
The eunuch guarding the cold palace came over with a bucket of water in a flattering manner: "Hey~ Miss Xi Que, please step back. How can you do such rough work? Your servant Xiao Xuanzi will clean it up now."
Jiang Xinyue took two steps back to prevent the dust from dirtying her clothes. If nothing unexpected happened, she would have to wear this set of clothes for a long time.
Taking out a few silver coins from her sleeve, Xi Que smiled sweetly at him: "Eunuch Xuan, you are too kind. You and I are both servants serving the master, regardless of status. Thank you for your trouble. Let's clean up quickly and let the master move in!"
Little Xuanzi took the reward silver in a daze, and went to clean the room with Xi Que under Jiang Xinyue's gentle smile.
To be honest, he just wanted to flatter the nobles to get some benefits because he saw that the nobles were getting good looks in front of the masters and ladies.
The ladies who were expected to be demoted to the cold palace were all arrogant and looked down on the masters when they first came in.
He was used to it long ago, as they either beat or scolded him, or verbally insulted him and called him a dog slave.
In the end, those ladies, some crazy, some desperate, knelt at his feet and begged him to go find the emperor.
He had seen all kinds of people.
But there had never been a lady as peaceful, gentle, and kind as Zhen Guiren.
Even the maids around her were very polite, and did not look down on him because he was a eunuch in the cold palace.
Now he understood a little bit why the empress and the ladies came to see Zhen Guiren off.
Who would not like such a character?
It was called cleaning, but in fact it was just wiping the dust and sweeping the floor.
There was nothing else in the room of the cold palace except a bed, a table and two stools.
There was not even a decent blanket on the bare bed board.
Xiao Xuanzi smiled awkwardly: "My noble master, this... The Imperial Household Department rarely sends allowances to the Cold Palace, not even two or three times a year..."
In other words, the allowances for the Cold Palace were all pocketed by the Imperial Household Department.
Jiang Xinyue nodded while sitting on the stool: "Then I'll trouble Eunuch Xiao Xuanzi to go to the Imperial Household Department again. I'll ask Xi Que to write a list for you, and you go and get all the things I want. By the way, do you have paper and pen?"
"Yes, yes, yes..."
Xiao Xuanzi didn't believe that the Imperial Household Department would give it to him, but he still felt a little lucky.
What if?
Then he would have done something for the noble master.
Changxin Palace -
Concubine Li really had a high fever in the evening. The emperor wiped the sweat from her forehead with his own hands and took care of her until nightfall. Concubine Li was finally better.
Emperor Xuanwu didn't eat all day.
Although Xia He was slapped, the emperor had already banished the noble lady to the cold palace. She didn't hate the emperor at all. Instead, she couldn't help but persuade him: "If the noble concubine knew that the emperor was so worried about her health, she would definitely wake up early. Please take care of your body, so that the empress won't be sad if she knows!" Emperor
Xuanwu stood up and felt dizzy. Fortunately, Wang Dequan supported him. Xia He was startled and almost reached out to help him, but she shrank back halfway.
The emperor, the supreme ruler, looked tired: "I will go back to Chengqian Palace to have dinner first and come back later. You take good care of the noble concubine. The imperial doctors are waiting outside. If you have any problem, you can come to me."
Xia He nodded: "Your servant respectfully sees the emperor off."
After leaving Changxin Palace, the tiredness on Emperor Xuanwu's face disappeared and he walked quickly: "Zhenfang...Did the noble lady go to the cold palace?"
Wang Dequan had to jog to keep up with the emperor's pace: "Your Majesty, she will go there in the afternoon."
The emperor's footsteps paused slightly, and the atmosphere became a little quiet in an instant.
Wang Dequan carefully observed his expression and guessed the emperor's thoughts, saying, "Zhen Guiren comes from a family of scholars. I'm afraid she has never suffered such hardships since she was a child. The cold palace is in ruins. Should I go to the Ministry of Internal Affairs to make some arrangements?"
In fact, the emperor had already investigated Zhen Guiren. Although she came from a family of scholars, she was the daughter of a concubine, and her biological mother was once a popular dancer in the Ruyang Marquis's mansion. Her background was low.
Zhen Guiren was not valued by the Shaoqing of Honglu since she was a child. Her stepmother regarded her biological mother as a thorn in her eye and tortured them a lot.
This abused life did not improve until Zhen Guiren was eleven years old and showed her extraordinary beauty.
The Shaoqing of Honglu Temple sent her to the palace so that she could pave the way for Jiang Yutong to win favor.
"It's up to you."
The emperor replied, and Wang Dequan knew that the emperor still cared about the precious people in his heart.
I just don't know if the Shaoqing of Honglu Temple regretted it. The concubine who he used as a springboard entered the emperor's heart, while the legitimate daughter who was entrusted with an important task had long turned into a pile of bones, and her best years were buried in this deep palace.
When Xiao Xuanzi returned to the cold palace, he was dumbfounded.
He never thought that one day he would be able to control the eunuchs in the Ministry of Internal Affairs who had their eyes on the top of their heads.
They were polite and moved all the things that the precious people needed to the cold palace. The room
was fully equipped with everything including a bed, a green gauze curtain, a dressing table, red charcoal, a pear blossom cabinet, a screen, a bathtub, and daily necessities.
The cold and simple room was instantly filled with items, looking a bit like a lady's concubine.
Xiao Xuanzi was full of admiration for Jiang Xinyue.
At dawn, Concubine Li Gui woke up from her coma in a daze, and saw Emperor Xuanwu dozing off at the head of her bed.
"Emperor... cough cough..."
She just uttered one word, and her hoarse throat could not speak. She coughed twice heavily, and the feeling of being blocked in her throat disappeared.
Emperor Xuanwu was startled: "My beloved concubine is awake?"
Concubine Li closed her eyes and sat up with the emperor's support: "Your Majesty, what happened to me?"
The emperor ordered Qinghe to bring warm health-preserving porridge: "My beloved concubine fell into the water and fainted. I was scared."
Concubine Li seemed to have just remembered and hugged the emperor's waist, tears streaming down her face: "I...I almost thought I would never see the emperor again."
"Silly girl, how could that be?"
Emperor Xuanwu patted her on the back: "I won't let anything happen to my beloved concubine."
He took the porridge from Xia He's hand, scooped a spoonful to his mouth and blew it to cool it before feeding it to Concubine Li Guifei: "You have been unconscious for a day and a night, and you haven't eaten a grain of rice. Drink this porridge quickly."
Looking at the entire harem, the only concubine who could let the emperor stay by her side for a whole night and feed her porridge in
person was Concubine Guifei. That Zhen Fangyi... Oh no... No matter how favored Zhen Guiren is, she is not as valuable as a finger of Concubine Guifei.
In the Xihe Palace, Jiang Shunyi laughed heartily: "Let's go to the cold palace to visit Zhen Guiren tomorrow! After all, we are sisters, and we can't let her down, right?"
She didn't know that even if Jiang Xinyue was in the cold palace, she didn't treat her badly.