The Job of an Imperial Concubine

"Bang!" A teacup fell to the ground and broke into several pieces immediately.

The Empress Dowager stood up calmly, "Ai's hands are shaking, clean up."

"Yes," the palace man hurriedly knelt down.

The queen mother glanced at the torn teacup, turned around and entered the inner room.

A few days passed, the emperor has not turned over the sign of the women in the harem, and the queen mother has not intervened in this matter. Of course, the queen still sat in the Jingyang Palace as motionless as a mountain, and the entire harem was eerily peaceful.

On a very hot day, few people are interested in visiting any gardens. Zhuang Luoyan will not be so stupid as to wander around at this time. Anyone with a discerning eye can see that the Queen Mother intends to intervene in the affairs of the harem, but the Queen pretends to be stupid. The emperor was not too willing.

Two days ago, a little concubine who did not have eyes came to the Empress Dowager to be cute and flirtatious. Yesterday, the Empress found a mistake and beat her up a lot. It seems that the Empress is also a ruthless character. As for the queen's actions, the emperor did not express anything, which made the meaning even more obvious.

"Master, people from Kang'an Palace have come to pass the news, saying that the Empress Dowager invited you to go to Kang'an Palace to listen to a play after noon." Yun Xi walked in and said in a low voice, "I heard that many masters have been passed on."

"Listen to the opera?" Zhuang Luoyan raised his eyebrows, the opera on this stage is not as good as the one off the stage, what is the purpose of the empress dowager making these things up?

"The queen mother invited me, how could I not go," Zhuang Luoyan got up lazily, "I'll go to sleep for a while, call me again at lunch."

Ting Zhu and Yun Xi looked at each other, seeing the master's appearance, thinking that there would be no major problems, they retreated with peace of mind.

"Who else did the Queen Mother pass on?" Concubine Shu Guifei lay on the beauty couch, served by two maids, and even spoke a little more lazily.

"Returning to Master, I heard that there are Empress, Concubine Xian, Concubine Ning, Concubine Rou, Xu Zhaorong, Ye Shurong, Su Xiuyi, Zhao Chongyi, Concubine Yangui, Concubine Jiang Xian, Concubine Lin, and Concubine Ye Ronghua." Lingsha replied carefully.

"There are quite a few people," Concubine Shu said with a sweet smile, "But the Queen Mother even invited Concubine Lin?"

"I guess I invited Ye Ronghua who was demoted, so I invited Concubine Lin to cover up people's eyes and ears," Lingsha replied.

"Who knows what it means," Concubine Shu opened her eyes, "There is a scene between her and the queen on the left and right, so we are happy to watch the scene."

After lunch, Zhuang Luoyan tidied herself dignified and upright, and boarded a chariot to drive to the Queen Mother's Kang'an Palace. The sun was very hot on this hot day, so she stretched out her hand to cover the sun on her forehead, squinting her eyes Looking at the guard of honor in front of him, if he read it correctly, it was the emperor's holy car.

"Your Majesty, there seems to be Zhao Chongyi at the back," Gao Dezhong whispered.

"Oh?" Feng Jin, who had a canopy to shade the sun, was not embarrassed by the sun. He looked back and frowned, "It's such a hot day, why is she out?"

"I think it's to go to Kang'an Palace of the Empress Dowager," Gao Dezhong explained, "The Empress Dowager invited all the masters to listen to the opera today, it must be at this moment."

"The queen mother is very interested." Feng Jin's tone was flat, and he glanced at the white sunshine outside the canopy, "Since this is the case, I should go and listen to it after I finish processing the scriptures."

Seeing the emperor's guard of honor leaving from another direction, Zhuang Luoyan knew that he was not going to Kang'an Palace, so she wiped the sweat from her brow and said, "Hurry up, it will be bad if you make the empress dowager wait for a long time."

When they arrived at Kang'an Palace, the Queen's Ye family sisters had already arrived. After Zhuang Luoyan sat down for a while, other concubines also arrived one after another.

Looking at the drama excerpts presented by the eunuch, Zhuang Luoyan hesitated, one is that she doesn't like these, and the other is that she doesn't know what the contents of these dramas are, if someone violates someone's taboo, it is not beautiful.

As soon as the play started, it was a lively and jubilant scene. Zhuang Luoyan watched the performers on the stage perform, covered the corner of her mouth with a handkerchief and yawned.

"When you get old, you just like to watch something lively," the Queen Mother said to the concubines with a smile, "Whichever play you like, you can watch it yourself, don't worry about Ai's family."

Everyone said yes, but no one really went to order a play that the Queen Mother didn't like to watch.

After several plays were over, a few court jugglers came out, their performances made Zhuang Luoyan a little bit interested, and the other concubines also exclaimed after watching.

"This juggling is like this. You look like this, but your eyes are actually deceived," the Queen Mother laughed. "It can be seen that they are not only fast in their hands and feet, but also good at acting. What does the Queen think?"

"The daughter-in-law is ignorant, what the queen mother said, the daughter-in-law thinks so," the queen exclaimed, "These performances are really thrilling and wonderful."

"The Ai family just said so, whether it is accurate or not, only they know." The queen mother pointed to the artists on the stage, asked someone to reward them with something, and then sighed: "If there are a few more now It's even more lively when the child is around Ai's family."

The empress knew that the empress dowager deliberately made it difficult for her to know herself. She had no children under her knees. She had been an empress for many years, and she and the emperor were husband and wife when they were still princes. Except for the princess who died young, her stomach did not even have a slight movement. As the empress of the palace, she has no children under her knees. , is indeed a big shortcoming. Although the queen's heart is bleeding, she still has a smile on her face. "The first prince and the second prince are still young. If they are older, they can run and dance." Fanned, "When the weather cools down, if the Empress Dowager misses the little prince, let them come to the Empress Mother to see her." Didn't the Empress Dowager embarrass her because of Ye Shurong's child loss? She can bear such embarrassment.

Zhuang Luoyan listened to the confrontation between the two, and praised the empress' style in her heart. If ordinary people would have been too embarrassed to speak, the empress would have said that the empress dowager missed the little prince. She heard that the two princes were fostered in In Concubine Xian's Palace, one was fostered in Concubine Ning's Palace, but it was only fostered and not named. It can be seen that the emperor did not intend to raise the status of the two princes.

"It's better to let them take good care of them. It's not good for children who are half-grown," the queen mother said nonchalantly, and continued to watch the performances of the artists on the stage, obviously not wanting to continue talking with the queen.

In the feudal era, the relationship between mother-in-law and daughter-in-law always seemed to be a big problem. Why should women make things difficult for women. Zhuang Luoyan sighed secretly, and peeled a grape into her mouth. Although the grapes were delicious, peeling them made her hands tired. She wiped her hands with a handkerchief, not wanting to move again. Ting Zhu, who was fanning her, saw this, poured her a cup of tea again, and whispered: "Master, this tea really quenches her thirst."

"The court lady of Zhao Chongyi is very considerate," said Yan Guifei, who was sitting next to Zhuang Luoyan, looking at Tingzhu, as if thinking of something, "but she looks familiar."

"She waits by my side every day, so it's not surprising that Concubine Yangui has seen her." Zhuang Luoyan smiled, apparently not caring what Concubine Yangui said.

"I remembered, isn't this the little maid who was next to Concubine Yao back then, she made some mistake and was kicked out by Concubine Yao, and then she went after Concubine Yao gave birth to a little princess, I never thought that you would be by Zhao Chongyi's side. Concubine Yangui raised her eyebrows and looked at Zhuang Luoyan, "Did Zhao Chongyi not know about this?"

Zhuang Luoyan smiled, "There are quite a few servants around me, how can I ask so many, as long as they serve with all their heart, that's all."

"Sister is really a simple person," Concubine Yangui guessed that Zhuang Luoyan was just talking hard, she took a sip of tea with a smile, and turned her head to watch the trick.

Ting Zhu didn't think that Yan Guifei still remembered this incident. She used to serve Yao Concubine in the early years, but Yao Concubine had a bad temper. She accidentally made a mistake and was kicked out. It wasn't a big deal at first, but When Concubine Yangui said this, the meaning changed.

The master of the harem doesn't like to use slaves whose former master has passed away or who has fallen out of favor. After all, it is not auspicious. She looked at her master with a pale complexion. Seeing that her expression was normal, she felt a little relieved.

"The emperor is here!"

The emperor hadn't been to the harem for several days, but now the eunuch's voice made all the concubines look forward to it, waiting for the emperor to take a fancy to him and receive the favor.

"Today's show was quite lively." Feng Jin sat down and watched the trick for a while, and said, "I thought that Ye Shurong's child would be lost, and I was also sad for a long time, but today I am relieved a lot."

As soon as these words came out, the smile on the Empress Dowager's face couldn't hold back, but she had to continue, "It's not good for the Ai family to see that the harem has been dull. The emperor loves children, so let Ye Shurong have another one. Don't worry too much." Too sad."

"The son is just sad. Now that the son is young, the queen mother doesn't have to worry too much." Feng Jin took a sip of tea and said indifferently: "It is the son's greatest comfort that the queen mother can live a happy life. If the queen mother is still worried about the son The matter of the harem is the son's unfilial piety."

The Queen Mother forced a smile when she heard this, and watched the play for a while, then said she was tired, and everyone present got up and bowed to leave naturally, but Zhuang Luoyan could see that the Queen was obviously relieved.

After the chariot walked a certain distance, a young eunuch chased after him, seeing someone who seemed to be beside Gao Dezhong, Zhuang Luoyan asked, "What's the matter with this father-in-law?"

"Master Zhao, the emperor rewarded you with some tea leaves for dispelling the heat, and Eunuch Gao asked his servants to bring them to you," said the little eunuch very politely, holding a beautiful wooden box in his hand, and the tea leaves inside were very precious.

Zhuang Luo went down to the chariot to thank her, and after the little eunuch left, she went up to the chariot again, caressing the wooden box in her hand, and smelled the faint fragrance of tea leaves after opening it.

Gao Dezhong saw Xiao Anzi came back, so he asked, "The tea has also been delivered."

"Return to the general manager, it has been delivered, and Master Zhao asked the servant to thank you." The little eunuch replied honestly.

"How can the master thank our slaves!" Gao Dezhong knocked the little eunuch on the head, turned around and walked into the house.

The little eunuch looked up, and knew that the manager was going to report to the emperor.