Li Rong received Pei Wenxuan's reply the next day. She took a look at the wedding dress he had drawn, and after thinking for a while, she picked out another wedding dress design and handed it to Jinglan: "Tell the Ministry of Rites to get the one with phoenix embroidery."

Jinglan was stunned for a moment, and couldn't help but ask: "Didn't Mr. Pei choose the Peony one?"

"Actually, both are fine," Li Rong said as she cleaned her hands. "I'm just using the process of elimination."

After hearing this, the maids beside her all lowered their heads and laughed. After the group had played together, Li Rong calculated the time and decided that it was time for her mother to get up, so she went to the Weiyang Palace to pay her respects as usual.

Normally, she had to go to see the empress every day, but during this time, she was investigating a case and was in prison, so she hadn't seen her mother for a long time. She took a handkerchief from the side to wipe her hands, then turned around and led people to the Weiyang Palace.

As soon as she arrived at the gate of Weiyang Palace, she heard bursts of laughter from the women inside the palace. Li Rong walked in with a smile, and saw that almost all the concubines in the harem were there. Her mother Shangguan Yue was sitting on a high seat, laughing with everyone.

"What amusing things are you ladies talking about that make you laugh so happily?"

Li Rong walked in, asked with a smile, then bowed to the queen on the throne and said, "Meet the Queen Mother."

Then she turned around and bowed to the four noble concubines above her: "Greetings, ladies and gentlemen."

"It turns out that our Xiao Pingle is here," she just stood up, and a soft voice sounded. Li Rong looked up and saw that it was Concubine Rou who was looking at her with a smile, "Hurry up and sit down."

The word "Rou" in "Rou" is taken from her real name, Xiao Rou. She was born in an ordinary family. She entered the palace early in her youth and became a palace maid. Because of her cleverness, she served Li Ming from a young age. It is said that when Li Ming was still a prince, he did not live a happy life. Xiao Rou accompanied him in the cold palace to spend his youth, so that Li Ming always had a special feeling for Xiao Rou. Later, when Li Ming was still a prince, Xiao Rou was married to a minister by the queen at that time. However, not long after the marriage, Li Ming became the emperor. After a few years, the minister died of illness at home. Xiao Rou first became a monk, and later met Li Ming in a temple. After a spring breeze, she returned to the palace and has been favored in the harem for decades.

With such abilities, her appearance must be quite good. Now that she is nearly fifty years old, she is still very well maintained and still has charm. Compared with the empress who is seven years younger than her, she is not inferior.

She is now the head of the Four Concubines, assisting the Empress in managing the harem, and is also good at socializing. When Li Rong came in, the Empress did not say anything, but she spoke first.

Li Rong smiled gently and nodded slightly to express her gratitude.

The maid set up a small table just below the left hand of the empress. Li Rong sat down behind the table. As soon as she sat down, she heard Concubine Shangfangrou ask the empress, "I heard that Pingle's marriage was recently decided. Is it true?"

"The imperial decree for marriage has been issued," Shangguan Yue said calmly, "It's Pei Wenxuan, the eldest son of the Pei family."

"Is he Pei Lizhi's son?" Concubine Rou smiled. "I saw that child three or four years ago. He was indeed very handsome. Pingle," Concubine Rou turned her head and looked at Li Rong. "I heard that you investigated the Yang family with him?"

"Your Highness," Li Rong said gently, "You haven't even married yet, so it's inappropriate to say these things. Let's change the subject."

"Pingle is shy," Concubine Duan next to her tried to smooth things over, and looked up at Concubine Rou, "Look at how shy Sister Rou is, she is not one of us old people, who will answer you if you ask like this?"

Concubine Rou raised her round fan and smiled softly, and everyone in the palace burst into laughter. Li Rong raised her teacup and took a few sips, but smiled without saying anything.

The concubines laughed for a while, and then the queen asked them to leave. Concubine Rou sat there without moving. After everyone left, the queen turned to look at Concubine Rou and asked, "Do you have anything to say?"

"I just want Pingle to help me."

Concubine Rou smiled and looked at Li Rong. "Pingle used to like to be alone and not very close to other sisters and brothers. Now she is getting married. During this last period of time, many sisters want to spend some time with you and listen to your teachings. So I thought, why not let Pingle take some time every day to communicate with other princesses in the palace." After saying this, Concubine Rou turned to look at the queen. "What do you think, Your Majesty?"

The queen frowned. She knew that Concubine Rou had come with bad intentions. She was about to refuse when she heard Li Rong say, "Okay."

Concubine Rou was slightly stunned. Li Rong raised her eyes and looked at Concubine Rou: "What's the expression on your face, Madam? Do you think Pingle won't agree?"

"How could that be?" Concubine Rou laughed, "I know that although Pingle seems cold on weekdays, he actually has brothers and sisters in his heart."

"Your Highness," Li Rong tapped her palm with her golden fan, "as if I don't have any brothers or sisters in my heart. You are really insulting me."

Concubine Rou was so angry at Li Rong that it was difficult for her to smile. She could only turn to look at the empress and said, "Look at this child. I haven't seen him for only two months, but he's already so sharp-tongued."

"I've always been thinking about my sisters," Li Rong said softly, picking up her teacup. "There are many things I want to teach them. I think Concubine Rou should just organize something. I'll teach my sisters for two hours every day. How do you think?"

"Lecture?"

Concubine Rou was stunned: "What do you want to say?"

"The Queen Mother is always keen on Buddhism. I will talk to you sisters about Buddhism and some daily etiquette, so as to cultivate your mind and etiquette and avoid making mistakes. I heard a few days ago that Hua Le beat a maid in the yard?"

Hua Le is Concubine Rou's eldest daughter, and she is used to being arrogant. When Concubine Rou heard this, her face changed drastically, and she immediately said, "Is this true?! Then you should discipline her properly."

"Okay." Li Rong smiled. "With the queen's words, Pingle will do his best."

When Concubine Rou heard this, she suddenly felt uneasy. Li Rong looked at the sky and then asked, "Does Concubine Rou want to stay for dinner?"

This was like driving the guest away. Concubine Rou had finished what she had to say and stood up and said, "No, you are here for the Empress, I won't disturb the deep love between you two as mother and son."

As Concubine Rou spoke, she exchanged a few words with the Empress and then left, fanning herself.

Li Rong saw the Queen was about to stand up, so she stepped forward to help her up. The Queen stood up with her help, and said rather unhappily, "Why did you agree to come down just now? She clearly had bad intentions."

"Since she has bad intentions, how can I refuse her?"

Li Rong helped the empress walk to the courtyard and said in a gentle voice, "If I don't respond now, she will go to my father to talk nonsense again, saying something about cultivating sisterly affection. My father is used to listening to her. I'm afraid the decree will come down tomorrow."

“That’s disgusting.”

The queen frowned, showing her continued disgust. Li Rong chuckled, "So let's not take this bitch to heart. You are the queen, the most noble woman in the world, so just be a queen. If that woman wants me to cultivate feelings, we should agree. Father will think I am more reasonable."

"If she..."

"She won't do it herself." Li Rong walked with the Queen in the garden and said slowly, "After so many years, don't you understand her methods? This time, I was allowed to cultivate relationships with several princesses, which was actually an opportunity for them to get in touch with me. Some of them are stupid. She doesn't have to do it, someone else will do it naturally."

"You have figured it out." The Queen heaved a sigh of relief after listening to Li Rong's well-reasoned analysis. "Then you need to deal with it well."

"Don't worry."

Li Rong said calmly, "Things in the harem are just a few tricks. You don't have to worry. In fact, we should be happier."

"What's there to be happy about?" The Queen said gloomily, "I don't think there's anything to be happy about right now."

"If my marriage had no value, Concubine Rou would not have thought of ways to destroy it. She is now causing trouble for me, which can only prove one thing."

"What?" The Queen turned around, and Li Rong laughed, "Pei Wenxuan is probably going to be promoted."

The Queen was stunned for a moment, then sighed, "The more I see you young kids, the more I don't understand you. You sent Chuan'er to the Northwest. I was really scared in the past two months. I was afraid that Chuan'er would get into trouble on the battlefield, and I was also afraid that he wouldn't be able to handle the affairs of the Northwest well. His Majesty used this as an excuse to send him away. I can only ask your uncle for help. After all this trouble, the Shangguan family was really hurt. Chuan'er didn't get any credit, but you are still very happy." The Queen's eyes were red. "I really have to wonder which side Pei Wenxuan is on."

"Mother," Li Rong raised her hand and held the Queen's shoulders, comforting her, "Don't worry. In fact, you should think that if you can't understand it, it's even better, because it proves that it's even harder for Father to understand. It's not a bad thing for the Shangguan family to lose a little now. Mother, there is a very simple truth," Li Rong advised, "Hide the blade, so that when you kill someone, you can kill them with one blow."

"Then you have to have a blade too."

The queen was a little anxious, but Li Rong just smiled and said nothing. She went to the dining area with the queen and they sat down together. The queen washed her hands in the copper basin and said, "Your uncle helped me this time and made a request to me."

"Um?"

"He wants to send Yaer to the palace."

Hearing this, Li Rong paused in her action of washing her hands. The Queen took the handkerchief from the side and looked back at her: "Ya'er, do you still remember her? You saw her when you were little."

“Oh, I remember.”

Li Rong came back to her senses and said hurriedly, "I remember she went back to Youzhou a long time ago."

"I will be back from the capital next month and will attend your wedding." The queen chatted casually, "Chuan'er is not a child anymore. I plan to choose a concubine for him next year. I'm starting to look for some good candidates now. The Crown Princess will definitely be Ya'er. As for other good families, you can help look for them."

Li Rong did not say anything. The Queen took the chopsticks and ate while saying, "After marrying Ya'er, I want to marry him four concubines. For the selection of concubines, the girl is not so important, the background is more important. Please help me choose two from the families of military generals. Chuan'er has no military power, so he is always a weak link."

The Queen chatted with Li Rong while eating.

Li Rong spoke little in front of the Queen, and it was the Queen who did most of the talking. After the meal, the Queen felt a little tired and planned to take a nap, so Li Rong took her leave.

On the way back, she sat in the sedan chair and thought about the queen's words.

In his previous life, Li Chuan did marry Shangguan Ya, and then married four concubines. Shangguan Ya had a similar temperament to her, and they knew each other when they were young. Later, they separated because Shangguan Ya went to Youzhou. After she came back, she became his brother's wife, but it did not affect their relationship.

The matter of marrying a concubine did not have much impact on Shangguan Ya. She was a woman with a very strong mind. She looked noble and cold on weekdays, but she would act like a hot-tempered elder sister once you got to know her. Family was everything to her, and the rest were her own hobbies. She drank, played chess, and painted, and lived a very carefree life.

When Li Chuan didn't favor her, Li Rong even thought of a way for her, but Shangguan Ya just looked at the internal accounts and waved her hands: "Don't affect my position as queen, just give me some face, and get out of here as far as you can at other times. If he wasn't the emperor, who would have the patience to care about him?"

This sentence shut Li Rong up, but Li Rong also knew that Shangguan Ya was definitely not forcing herself to smile. As a person of such a celebrity temperament, she was probably really annoyed when she saw Li Chuan.

But just because it did not affect Shangguan Ya does not mean it did not affect others. The four concubines fought each other, and in the end, two died, one became a nun, and the remaining one was more open-minded and stayed in the palace with Shangguan Ya for the rest of her life.

If you calculate it this way, no one will have a good ending in life.

Knowing this is the outcome, do you still want to follow the same path and let it happen again?

Li Rong tapped her palm lightly with the fan, thinking quietly.

Qin Zhenzhen must never enter the palace again. It would be best if she and Li Chuan never meet again after this.

And Shangguan Ya...

Li Rong hesitated for a moment, not knowing how to make a decision.

She took a deep breath, rolled up the curtain, and instructed Jinglan, "Send someone to Shangguan Mansion. If Miss Shangguan Ya comes back, send someone to report immediately."

"yes."

"Also," Li Rong thought for a moment, "ask Pei Wenxuan to write me a letter. The general idea is to ask the messenger to deliver the letter to me, asking me to go to a place where he and I can meet, and telling him that he has something to give me. Then have him carry the thing with him every day and be ready to respond to my summons at any time."

"yes."

Jinglan responded and came down.

After Li Rong gave all these instructions, she lowered the curtain and leaned against it to rest.

Pei Wenxuan's letter was delivered the next day through someone in the princess's mansion. There was a lot of stuff in Pei Wenxuan's letter. Li Rong took a look at the letter he wrote according to her requirements, and after confirming that he had understood the main points, she put the letter on her body.

Then she opened Pei Wenxuan's letter and saw only three sentences: "How to decide on the wedding dress? Have you encountered any difficult problems? And, Your Highness is very rich."

When Li Rong saw this "His Highness is very rich", she couldn't help laughing. She took the letter away and looked at the other miscellaneous things Pei Wenxuan gave her. She found that he had counted her property and her expense budget.

Li Rong took the teacup from Jinglan while looking at the list. Jinglan looked at Li Rong's smile and couldn't help but ask, "What are you looking at, Your Highness? Why are you smiling so happily?"

"Master Pei is still very capable."

Li Rong held the cup in one hand and took a sip of tea, then put the cup down and threw the account number that Pei Wenxuan had brought over into the brazier used to burn paper.

After washing up, Li Rong received news that Concubine Rou had already booked teaching locations for several princesses. Li Rong nodded, got up and walked over, and found that Concubine Rou had booked a place in the waterside pavilion of the Yu Garden.

"Her Majesty said," said the eunuch who led the way, "It's hot in summer, and it's cool in the waterside pavilion. It's perfect for Your Highness to have a lecture with the princesses here."

Li Rong responded and walked into the pavilion. As soon as she entered, she saw that her six sisters had already arrived.

Among these six sisters, two sisters, Changle and Huale, are already over the age of marriage. Changle is the daughter of Mei Fei, one of the four noble concubines. She is of noble status and is quite favored. She is used to not getting along with Li Rong. Huale is the daughter of Rou Fei. She inherited Rou Fei's usual smiling tiger attitude, but in private she is very violent. The remaining four princesses are all under the age of fifteen. They look like children. The age difference with Li Rong is too big, and they have little intersection.

After Li Rong went in, Changle turned around and looked over, and immediately laughed: "Hey, my sister is here."

Li Rong laughed and said, "You guys are here early. Please sit down."

As she spoke, Li Rong sat in the first seat. After several princesses sat down one after another, Changle looked at Li Rong and said with a smile, "I heard that sister was betrothed to the eldest son of the Pei family. Sister is used to being pampered. The man she is betrothed to must also be a favored son of heaven, with an extraordinary status, right?"

Li Rong said nothing, but spread out the book in front of her: "Let's recite the Diamond Sutra first today."

"Why?" Changle was delighted when she saw that Li Rong did not answer. "Sister, is there anything you cannot say? Is Mr. Pei an important official in the court? But he is also young. Even if he is not as powerful as Minister Su, he is at least a sixth-rank official, right?"

"Changle," Li Rong looked up at her and said gently, "If you don't like today's lecture, I can teach you something else."

"Oh?" Changle raised her eyebrows, "What else can my sister teach me?"

"Jinglan, go to Weiyang Palace and invite Nanny Sizheng here."

Jinglan received this and left. Changle didn't understand what was going on and continued, "Sister, just tell me."

"Changle," Hua Le hurriedly advised, "I heard that Pei Wenxuan is just an eighth-rank official. Please don't poke my sister's heart."

Li Rong said nothing, drinking her tea calmly.

After a while, an old woman holding a ruler came over following Jinglan. After entering the room, she bowed to Li Rong.

"Your Highness."

"I have been ordered to teach the princesses the rules of being princesses. I wanted to give them a lecture, but it seems that the sisters have forgotten even the basic palace rules today. So I will let the chief nanny teach you again."

Hearing this, everyone's faces turned pale. Li Rong turned to look at the younger princesses and said, "Just let Changle and Huale learn it. The other sisters are still young, so forget about it."

"Pingle, you dare!"

Changle slammed the table and pointed at Li Rong. Li Rong smiled and drank her tea calmly: "You have no respect for your superiors. Why would a princess slam the table? Madam Si Zheng, what do you think we should do?"

"Slap your face and hands."

"Slapping someone in the face is disgraceful to the royal family," Li Rong said calmly, "Just hit him."

The people around him didn't dare to move. Changle sneered, "I want to see who dares to touch me today?"

"No one dares to touch you," Li Rong looked up at everyone, "Who am I going to touch? I am the eldest princess, and I came here under the name of Concubine Rou to teach several princesses. Today, can't I even uphold the palace rules?!"

As she spoke, Li Rong suddenly stood up, raised her finger and pointed at Changle, angrily saying: "Hold her down for me!"

As soon as the words fell, Jinglan and Jingmei rushed forward and grabbed Changle. When Changle's maid wanted to rush forward, Li Rong glanced at her and said coldly, "Think carefully, if you offend your superiors, you will be beaten to death."

Several maids were frightened, and Si Zheng Ma stepped forward, raised her hand and mercilessly hit Changle's palm with ten boards.

Changle screamed, but Li Rong remained calm as before and said, "Get out after the fight. I still have to give lectures to my other sisters."

As soon as he finished speaking, the voice of a young man talking was heard outside. After a moment, the young man lifted the curtain, and everyone was stunned.

Li Rong looked up and saw a handsome man. He was wearing a black coat embroidered with golden birds, with a single shirt underneath. He was holding a small fan in his hand. He looked somewhat like Su Rongqing, but his features had a arrogance that Su Rongqing did not have.

Su Rongqing, who was talking to him, was standing behind him. When the curtain was rolled up, Su Rongqing's smile had not faded. The curtain was slowly pulled up, and Su Rongqing's eyes naturally fell on Li Rong. The voice of talking stopped abruptly, and he and Li Rong looked at each other silently.

One was standing and the other was sitting, looking at each other. The man in black next to them was the first to react. He knelt on the ground and said loudly: "Your humble servant Su Ronghua has brought my brother to see Your Highness!"

The author has something to say: [Small Theater]

The Queen: "Rongrong, Concubine Rou wants you to participate in the palace fight, aren't you afraid?"

Li Rong: "Why would you be afraid of beating up kids in kindergarten?"

Queen: “…”