Chapter 1 Inviting the Emperor at Midnight

At three o'clock in the night, everyone in the palace had gone to bed.

"Get out! Get out of here!"

A loud shout, accompanied by the sound of porcelain breaking, sounded particularly sharp and piercing in the silence.

The palace maid Rong Xin was awakened instantly. She was about to get out of bed while touching her clothes when she saw Yun Qin on the bed next to her was also awakened. She was looking out the window with a look of surprise on her face.

Even though he saw this face every day, Rong Xin was still a little stunned. The girl had dark eyebrows, red lips, and skin as white as cream. In the cold moonlight, she seemed to be glowing.

After the Chinese New Year, Yunqin looked even better...

Rong Xin thought inappropriately that if such a good face was born in the master, it would be a great thing, but if it was born in someone of their status, it would be a disaster.

"Sister Rong Xin..." Yun Qin turned her head to look at her, her almond-shaped eyes slightly opened, revealing some coquettishness, "Is that the Queen's voice?"

Rong Xin came back to her senses and quickly packed herself up while saying to her, "Don't worry, the queen is bound to be emotionally unstable during her pregnancy. I'll go over and take a look first. You should pack up and come back quickly. The queen will get angry again if she can't find anyone."

"Okay." Yun Qin responded and turned over.

He walked out closely behind Rong Xin.

The chilly wind outside the door cleared her hazy mind instantly, and she realized that it was still dark outside.

Yun Qin sighed in her heart. Who could have imagined that she, who had never gotten up early, would now have to get up earlier than a chicken, sleep later than a dog, and be on call at any time.

It has been three years.

Thinking of this, she couldn't help but count on her fingers. She would be sixteen next year, and there were still nine years before she was released from the palace at the age of twenty-five.

Nine years...

Nine years is not a short time, but it is not a long time either. She is just a little palace maid now, and she has no relatives outside the palace. If she wants to support herself after leaving the palace, she must strive for a promotion and a raise, and work hard to save money.

The master was recently found to be pregnant, and the emperor specially gave her a small kitchen. She planned to learn some skills from the cook, and open a snack shop after leaving the palace. She can also make some Western-style snacks, and she will make a lot of money by then.

Yun Qin walked towards the front hall with light and quick steps, and slapped her face to clear her mind of distracting thoughts.

Her master, Concubine Hui, entered the palace two years ago, and Yun Qin followed her as soon as she came out of the Shanggong Bureau.

The current Emperor Xuancheng has been on the throne for just three years. During these three years, he has selected more than twenty concubines to enter the palace. Except for Concubine De in Zhaohua Palace who gave birth to a prince, no concubine in the palace has been pregnant.

So when the emperor found out that his mistress was pregnant, he was naturally overjoyed. As soon as the fetus was stable, he immediately promoted her and gave her a title. The day before yesterday, she was still Concubine Su, but today she was to be called Concubine Hui.

This was supposed to be a happy event, but the atmosphere in the main hall was a little stagnant.

After Huipin entered the palace, she was quite favored, and the emperor would come to visit her when he had nothing to do. However, since she found out that she was pregnant, the emperor only came once and went to Yukang Palace for three consecutive days.

Concubine Liu lived in Yukang Palace. She entered the palace at the same time as Concubine Hui and had the same status, so it was natural that they had many frictions on a daily basis.

Concubine Liu has an outgoing personality. These days, she even publicizes how many bowls of rice the emperor eats, and she has been in the spotlight. Usually, Concubine Hui always outshines Concubine Liu, but now seeing her hair so lush, she naturally feels uncomfortable.

Coupled with the sensitive nature of pregnancy, Huibin's temper could easily explode.

As she turned around the corridor, Yun Qin heard the voice of scolding.

"You want to show up in front of the master but you don't have the brains to say anything. Everyone knows that the emperor has gone to Yukang Palace. Who dares to tell the master? But you insist on going there. If you make the master angry, I think you will have enough heads to chop off!"

The person who spoke was Rong Xin who had come earlier, and the person who was scolded by her was the little palace maid Ajing.

After hearing this, Yun Qin understood a little bit about what happened and was about to step forward to ask a question.

The curtain of the main hall was suddenly lifted, and another senior palace maid, Rong Zhi, walked out and glanced at the three of them with a gloomy face.

Different from the others in the palace, Rong Zhi entered the palace with her master and was the most trusted by her master.

Although Rong Xin was the maid in charge, Rong Zhi was the one who had the final say in Chunxi Palace. Even her name was given after her.

Yun Qin, who was glanced at by Rong Zhi, immediately had a bad feeling in her heart.

It’s okay to ask someone to call for the doctor in the middle of the night, let’s not go to Yukang Palace to invite the emperor!

As expected, Yun Qin just came back to her senses when she saw Rong Zhi's eyes on her. "Your Majesty is not feeling well. Go to Yukang Palace now and invite the Emperor over."

Yun Qin's heart skipped a beat when she heard this, and before she could react, Rong Xin pulled her behind him.

"Rongzhi, let me go. Yunqin doesn't go out often, and she probably doesn't even know which way the door of Yukang Palace opens."

Rong Zhi glanced at her and sneered, "You are the maid in charge of this palace, and we are still waiting for your instructions."

Seeing Rong Xin's expression change, she became more proud and glared at Yun Qin, "Why don't you go quickly! This is the order of the Empress. Don't think that you can do anything just because someone is backing you up. The Empress still has the final say in Chunxi Palace!"

When she heard her mention the Empress, Yun Qin knew that this was indeed what the Empress wanted. It would be unlucky for anyone who happened to be involved in such a thing.

Unfortunately, she is enough.

Yun Qin walked out from behind Rong Xin and said to Rong Zhi, "Sister, you are right. How dare we disobey the Queen's orders? Let me ask you a question, sister, do you want to invite Doctor Yu to come with you?"

Rong Zhi could tell that this meant that she was just a messenger. Even if Yun Qin listened, she was following the Empress's orders, not her, Rong Zhi's.

Rong Zhi's expression changed now, and she looked at Yun Qin with eyes that looked like she wanted to eat someone. "You have no right to speak here, so hurry up and go!"

Yun Qin glanced at her, then slowly lowered her eyelids, bowed, turned around and left.

Rong Xin grabbed A Jing who wanted to argue with Rong Zhi, and looked at Yun Qin's leaving back with a worried look on his face.

"Sister hasn't come in yet, does the Queen need to go and invite her?"

Yun Qin listened to the voice behind her and walked out of the palace.

As soon as she came out, her back, which had been straight all this time, suddenly slumped.

According to her experience from reading so many novels about palace fighting, going to invite the emperor in the middle of the night would not have a good ending, whether the emperor was invited or not.

If you don't invite your master, he won't spare you. If you invite your rival, he won't spare you. Even the emperor won't have a good impression of you.

Yun Qin clenched her fists. At least this was an opportunity, an opportunity to make a name for herself in Chunxi Palace.

After what happened today, Rong Zhi would only make things even more difficult for her, so this time she had to invite the emperor into Chunxi Palace no matter what.

Thinking of this, Yun Qin went back to Chunxi Palace, found the eunuch Xiao Dezi, whom she was familiar with, and asked him to invite Doctor Yu.

Xiao Dezi was the eunuch on night watch today. He knew everything about the front hall and knew that the queen had not ordered a doctor to be called. He felt a little embarrassed when he heard this.

"It's not only to help me, but also to help yourself. She controls the inner palace like an iron barrel. How can you make a breakthrough by yourself? If I invite the emperor, I will naturally mention you in front of the queen. If I don't invite him, when the queen is angry, Doctor Yu will come in handy. It's just a matter of running errands. It won't do you any harm."

After hearing this, Xiao Dezi immediately laughed and said, "Sister, what you said is good or bad. How dare I disobey your orders?"

"Stop talking nonsense and go away."

"Yes, I'll go now."