Inside Yonghe Palace, Consort De held the Sixth Prince Yinzhuo with a worried expression: "Since winter began, His Majesty has not come to Yonghe Palace. He is about to bestow titles upon the harem. Granny, what do you think His Majesty means by this? Could it be that he has really been bewitched by a little girl?"
The old nanny standing nearby also looked unwell upon hearing this. As her master's confidante, she naturally shared in his glory and misfortune, and she longed for his well-being.
However, she couldn't possibly guess why the Emperor wouldn't come.
“Your Majesty, His Majesty is probably just infatuated for a while. No matter what, she is only a Noble Lady now. Your Majesty has the Sixth Prince, so you will definitely be promoted to a higher rank. No matter how much Noble Lady Shu is favored, if she doesn’t conceive, His Majesty will not promote her to a higher rank.”
The emperor's favor in the harem is important, but children and rank are even more important. However, Consort De was not at ease, fearing that Noble Lady Shu was a special case.
Yinzhuo, the character "Zuo" means both good fortune and monarch. With such an auspicious name, Consort De would naturally raise her son well.
"What the old woman said is right. The grand bestowal is the most important thing now."
If she could obtain the rank of imperial concubine, she could finally live peacefully in Yonghe Palace.
The inner palace seemed very peaceful until the end of November, when something happened in Consort Jing's palace: the Seventh Prince was diagnosed with a foot ailment.
The imperial physician said it was a congenital foot ailment. With proper care, walking would not be a problem, but a limp was inevitable.
When Emperor Kangxi learned of this, his expression darkened. His son had been born with a foot ailment, which was not a good thing.
There's an insult that goes, "If you have a son, you'll be born without an anus," which shows that only bad deeds will bring retribution on your descendants. His other sons were fine, but the Seventh Prince was in trouble. In addition, he found out about Consort Cheng, so it was inevitable that he would take his anger out on her.
He's fine; the one with the problem is Consort Cheng, his mother.
Thus, Kangxi reprimanded the imperial physicians for their negligence and then had the imperial edict promoting Consort Cheng to the rank of Imperial Concubine Cheng disposed of.
Kangxi's logic was that he was never wrong, and if anything was wrong, it was someone else's fault. What an overbearing theory! But since he was the emperor, such thinking became perfectly normal.
In early December, Emperor Kangxi issued an edict to bestow titles upon the imperial harem. Consort Tong's rank was thus confirmed, but she did not receive the title she had hoped for. Similarly, Consort Niohuru's rank as a Noble Consort was also confirmed, and she even had an additional title than Consort Tong: Noble Consort Wenxi, a two-character title. It is unknown what Emperor Kangxi was thinking.
Consort Hui, Consort Rong, Consort De, and Consort Yi were promoted to Imperial Concubine, but their titles remained unchanged.
Below that, some were promoted to Changzai, and Changzai were promoted to Guiren. Only Youqing was promoted from Guiren to Pin without a title. The name Shu has a decent meaning, so it's not a big deal. After all, the rank is real, and Pin can occupy a main position in a palace.
In addition to this, there was another matter: Youqing was going to move to Yongshou Palace.
Yongshou Palace and Jingren Palace are symmetrically located on either side of Qianqing Palace. Consort Tong lives in Jingren Palace, but Yongshou Palace is empty. Moreover, many people are eyeing Yongshou Palace!
A few days ago, Emperor Kangxi ordered the Imperial Household Department to renovate the place. Originally, Consort Cheng was the most likely candidate to move in, but she was unworthy and revealed at the last minute that her son was born with a disease.
The main hall of Yongshou Palace is naturally not suitable for a noble person to reside in.
As for her accommodation, Youqing didn't have any particular requirements. She was fine with either a large or a small place, but moving to the palace would be a bit of a hassle.
If others knew what she was thinking, they would be furious. If others knew what she was thinking, they would say that she was being ungrateful and didn't know how to appreciate the favor. They would say that she was despising such a great favor.
Fortunately, moving the palace was troublesome but not her responsibility. She only needed to send one person. She had been promoted to the rank of Consort, and many of her food, clothing and daily necessities needed to be replaced anyway. The old ones were sent back to the Imperial Household Department, and the new ones were sent directly to Yongshou Palace. She only needed to move the items from the storeroom over.
Youqing usually entrusted Sangzhu and Chengying with managing the trivial matters. They were trustworthy and capable. She only had a list of the items in the warehouse and didn't know exactly how many items there were.
Both of them were happy to be able to move to the main hall of Yongshou Palace, not for any other reason than that Jiangxuexuan was too small as a storeroom and they were almost out of space to store their things.
Yongshou Palace is great! It's the main hall of the palace, at least there's a place to store the things in the storeroom.
When Youqing moved into Yongshou Palace, it was already the end of December, and the New Year was just a few days away.
At the end of the year, Emperor Kangxi was naturally busier than usual, and he visited Youqing much less often. He didn't have time to dine with her, and he would only occasionally stay overnight at her place, leaving before she woke up the next day.
Only Consort Youqing lived in Yongshou Palace. Originally, there were other people living in Yongshou Palace, but Emperor Kangxi had them move elsewhere before the palace was renovated.
The newly renovated Yongshou Palace is naturally exquisite and magnificent, showing great care in every detail. In the past, she lived in Jiangxue Pavilion, keeping the courtyard gate closed all day, acting as if she didn't like to be disturbed, and others didn't dare to come to her door. But Yongshou Palace is different; the palace gates are naturally open during the day.
On the day of the investiture, many empresses were together. That evening, Kangxi did not go to the residence of Consort Tong, who was known as the deputy empress, but instead went to the residence of Consort Youqing.
Despite her humble origins and lack of children, Youqing's elevation to the rank of concubine demonstrates that her favor was not merely temporary.
Some harbored resentment and plotted against her, while others harbored ulterior motives, hoping to curry favor with her and gain even a little bit of her favor, ideally by conceiving a prince so that they would have something to look forward to in their later years.
Regardless of what she thought, as the year drew to a close, Yongshou Palace was bustling with activity. Everyone had their own thoughts, which made Youqing very tired. She finally understood why most of the concubines in the harem died young. They were exhausted from scheming all day long, which was very mentally taxing. A peaceful mind without worries is the way to maintain health. Calculating and scheming all day long, and getting angry at the slightest dissatisfaction, will make them age quickly and shorten their lifespan!
My dear reader, there's more to this chapter! Please click the next page to continue reading—even more exciting content awaits!
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
