The morning meeting ended unhappily once again. After seeing that Consort Hua had fallen ill, the situation had escalated to an even more serious level, and the other concubines sighed inwardly.
She hadn't even had a few days of comfort before she had to swallow her anger and be bullied again. She'd been sick all this time; why didn't Heaven take Consort Hua away from her?!
Songzhi followed Consort Hua, occasionally glancing up secretly, looking as if she wanted to ask but dared not.
Seeing that she was upset, Consort Hua said directly, "Just say what you want to say."
Upon hearing this, Songzhi said, "It was one thing for Your Majesty to be strict with other concubines in the past, but now that Your Majesty's mind has changed, why make enemies in the palace?"
Consort Hua scoffed, "Do you think they'll be grateful to me just because I'm kind to them? They've suffered so much at my hands over the years, they hate me to the core."
"At this point, even if I wanted to get along with them, it would be impossible. Moreover, the Emperor is very suspicious. If I were to change my personality, he would definitely become suspicious. It would be better to maintain the status quo."
With her two little pigtails on her head, Songzhi talked to Consort Hua while keeping an eye on her surroundings to see if anyone else was around, and she really did look a bit like Mickey Mouse.
They are now dancing on the edge of a knife; they can't be too careful.
Songzhi said, "Your Majesty is right, but Noble Lady Fucha is a newcomer and has the backing of the Fucha clan. Besides, every concubine goes through this, so why do you have to make things difficult for her now?"
Consort Hua said disdainfully, "The Xia family is foolish, and Consort Fucha is no less so. I know the Emperor; he wouldn't even look at someone like that."
Songzhi thought about it and realized it was true. The emperor had favored many concubines, but he didn't really care about many of them.
Like Consort Fang, who was left to die in the cold palace, even when she was at the height of her favor, she dared to try and rival the Empress. And what was the result? She miscarried and ended up in the cold palace. Those whose virtue did not match their position were bound to suffer misfortune.
However, this also reveals the emperor's cold-heartedness.
Songzhi said, "Consort Fucha is spoiled and arrogant. Before, because Consort Cheng was favored, she even gave Consort Cheng a hard time."
"However, after being sick, his temperament has softened considerably. It seems he suffered a loss, so he spends his days trying to please Jingren Palace."
"As for Consort Shen, she has served the emperor the most recently and is now very popular in the palace. However, she is quite cautious in her actions. Despite being so favored, she has not been very arrogant. She is also kind and gentle. All the concubines speak well of her, and the servants also say that she is kind."
Consort Hua strolled leisurely, talking to Songzhi as she walked to the edge of the Thousand Carp Pond.
With a single glance from Songzhi, Lingzhi, who was following behind, nodded knowingly and withdrew. A moment later, a bowl of fish food was handed to Consort Hua.
Watching a group of koi carp tumbling and chasing each other over a little fish food in the water, Consort Hua felt a sudden surge of emotion within her.
"Songzhi, do you think these koi fish look like women in the imperial harem?"
Actually, what Consort Hua wanted to ask was whether these koi fish resembled her in the past.
Songzhi said, "Your Majesty's body is of immeasurable value; how can the koi in this Thousand Carp Pond compare to her?"
Consort Hua said, "I am truly no match for these fish."
"Never mind, let's go back."
*
Hibiscus Pavilion
Sun Miaoqing had someone pick a few plum blossoms from Yimei Garden to put in a vase, but although it had snowed for several days in a row, the red plum blossoms in Yimei Garden had only just formed buds. Not a single blossom in this bunch of plum blossoms had bloomed.
I arranged these plum blossoms in three vases: one in the bedroom, one in the living room, and one on the kang table.
Looking at her masterpiece, Sun Miaoqing said, "It's best if they're all buds like this. They can bloom slowly indoors and won't need to be changed for half a month."
An Lingrong sat on the other side of the kang (a heated brick bed), holding a book on the history of the Ming Dynasty, reading it with great interest.
His brows furrowed at times and relaxed at others, clearly showing he was deeply engrossed in the task.
Although Sun Miaoqing also felt that reading more books in her spare time was very beneficial, it was tiring! In any case, she rarely had the patience for it now.
Sun Miaoqing asked, "Is the History of Ming Dynasty really that interesting that you can't put it down?"
An Lingrong's rosy cheeks resembled the most delicate peach blossoms. She smiled gently at Sun Miaoqing, her lively eyes filled with joy.
"What I used to read were either precepts and instructions for women or recipes for spices and incense. Now that I have the opportunity to read these, I suddenly feel that my horizons and mind have broadened considerably. No wonder everyone says that reading makes people wise."
[An Xiaoniao has evolved! From now on, we can't call her An Xiaoniao anymore, we have to call her An Fenghuang!]
An Lingrong smiled shyly. Actually, after hearing the name An Xiaoniao for a while, she had gotten used to it and thought it was quite nice.
Sun Miaoqing said, "It seems that this history of the Ming Dynasty has given you a lot of insights."
An Lingrong nodded. "My sister said that people don't do things without a reason, and the emperor certainly doesn't."
"So when I read the history of the Ming Dynasty, I always think carefully about how I would think and act if I were in that situation. Then I found that everything in the world has its roots and the general trend is something that cannot be easily changed by human power."
"Take Zhu Yuanzhang, for example, the founding emperor of the Ming Dynasty. His achievements were extraordinary and incomparable to those of ordinary emperors. However, he also made many mistakes, especially ordering his concubines to be buried alive with him."
When the words "funerary sacrifice" were mentioned, a hint of fear appeared in An Lingrong's eyes. After all, she was now a concubine, and there were precedents of such sacrifices in the Qing Dynasty.
Fortunately, in the years after entering the pass, even without children, they could find a place to settle down in the backyard of the Cining Palace or the Shou Kang Palace. The Qing Dynasty placed great importance on filial piety, and the new emperor was quite lenient towards the concubines left behind by the deceased emperor.
Sun Miaoqing also hates these two words. She used to think they were cruel, but now she wishes she could just delete them from the dictionary.
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